Newbie to the Container 2008 Experience

[roamwhereiwant2]

Kudos! - you had an amazing container garden.

I'm inspired to try this next year. Like you, I rent a house, but I've got space for a small garden. I just don't have the room to plant enough tomatoes . . .

[ContainerTed]

Originally Posted by roamwhereiwant2

Kudos! - you had an amazing container garden.

I'm inspired to try this next year. Like you, I rent a house, but I've got space for a small garden. I just don't have the room to plant enough tomatoes . . .

Roam... I used to plant about 8 to 12 hybrids in my two raised beds. Then I found out the soil was full of jugleone from Bitter Hickory Trees and have gone to containers since. This year, with my 23 containers of varying sizes (mostly 18 gallon), I had 52 plants in all - a lot more plants. I also am able to bring one or two inside with this frosty weather the last few days - extending the season.

There are certain advantages to containers .

Ted

[earthbox13]

I remembered to take pictures.

It’s a nice sunny day here in Colorado so I took advantage of it and started breaking down the remaining containers. The two containers seen in the pictures below are from a Rutgers and a Sun Gold.

Image 1: This is the wicking chamber, reservoir potting mix separator, mesh and potting mix (I will use the word soil on the photos because it takes up less space.). I picked all of the components out of the container and placed them in a large tote. Note, very few roots went past the mesh and separator.

Image 2: What really sticks out are the positions of the roots against and along the sides of the mesh

Image 3: The potting mix is completely inundated with roots, essentially, on big root ball. I was able to pick the whole root ball out of the container.

Image 4: This is a picture of the bottom of the wicking chamber, reservoir potting mix separator. Very little root penetration, however, this is very different for the Sun Gold.

Image 5: Yuck!! This is what was left in the bottom of the 10 gallon tote. Some potting mix had made it through the holes in the wicking chamber ~ 3cups. The container was on the end of the tomato patch and received more sun and has more algae than the previous on I broke down.

Image 6: This is the potting mix. There are lots of small roots which clumped the mix together pretty good.

Image 7: The Sun Gold was a lot more prolific with root growth. These are the roots that went down the sides of the container. They went through the mesh I used and not around it. The roots were this thick all the way around.

Image 8: A comparison of the Rutgers and Sun Gold roots side by side. The Sun Gold roots were thinner as a result more broke while I was cleaning them.

Images 9 and 10: Close ups of each set of roots. There are definitely 2 main points from where the roots (lateral ?) extend and this is best seen in image 10, the Sun Gold.

Next year I am planning on using the landscaping fabric instead of mesh as recommended by Ray. If someone wants to see a photo from a different angle or component drop a line. I skimped on the Sun Gold breakdown pictures because I had to rinse my hands every time I grabbed the camera.[/font]

Well I have 10 more containers to clean up and a couple hours of daylight, might get a few done.

Scott

[newatthiskat]

This is a great pictorial of the season! With all the pictures on how things grow it helps us to design and improve on the containers we are going to make this next season. I think the landscape fabric is a great idea! It would not take much per season. Also I was thinking about the overflow holes that Ray has in his EarthTainer. If you drill holes in both the support tote and the container and placed a 1 inch diameter pvc pipe in the holes then it might work well as an overflow. I don't know if that makes any sense but I think that is how I am going to try to make mine for next season. Very good Job!
Kat

[newatthiskat]

Any chance that you have an estimated cost per container ?
Kat

[earthbox13]

These numbers are mostly correct. I still have 1” PVC, 4”PVC , hydrated lime and fertilizer left so the price may be a few cents less. I made 13 containers and many remesh (CRW) cages, especially to contain the Black Cherry tomatoes.

This is per container:
10 gallon tote $ 4.99
Support insert $ 0.99
4” PVC $ 0.37
1” PVC $ 0.23
Mesh $ 0.50
Potting Mix $ 5.25
Fertilizer to start ~ $ 0.25
Hyd. Lime ~ $ 0.21
Wht. Trsh. Bg. $ 0.09
Misc. Fert. ~ $ 0.80
CRW Cages $ 6.15
Seeds Donated
Zip-Ties have been in the toolbox forever

Total ~ $ 19.83 GIVE OR TAKE

Again, I can’t emphasize enough how much of a helpful resource many people from Tomatoville have been throughout this process.

Scott

[Moonglow]

Originally Posted by earthbox13

If I try to look tough in front of my wife she laughs. If I try to look tough in front of our cats they just ignore me. When I am trying to look tough in front of the tomato plants I can always think they are responding to me

Wow, on your EBs! Santa didn't bring me any . I must have been on his Naughty List. However, perhaps delayed in shipping.

Thanks for sharing.

[geeboss]

FYI,

Target has Rubbermaid 18 gal Totes on Sale thru Saturday 1/10/09 for $5.49