Taste difference - Page 2

Tania · July 15, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tania

Kath, for a wheelbarrow of compost I put 1 gallon of perlite and 1 gallon of vermiculite, generous amounts of coffee grounds, and about a gallon of saw dust (usually cherry, oak or pine) from our workshop. Sometimes I add 2 gallons of peat moss, but this year I did not do it. I also add a cup of my home-made fertilizer mix based on alfalfa meal, bone meal, wood ashes and various limes.

Edited to add: it is a very rich stuff, so you'll get a jungle of thick foliage

I also add about 30% of last years container mix, as it usually contains a lot of worm castings and worms.

kath · July 15, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tania

Kath, for a wheelbarrow of compost I put 1 gallon of perlite and 1 gallon of vermiculite, generous amounts of coffee grounds, and about a gallon of saw dust (usually cherry, oak or pine) from our workshop. Sometimes I add 2 gallons of peat moss, but this year I did not do it. I also add a cup of my home-made fertilizer mix based on alfalfa meal and various limes.

Somehow it slipped my mind that you grow on a large scale! Not sure I could access all those ingredients and scale it down to the amount needed to fill a few buckets but it's given me some ideas to play with- thanks, Tania!

kath

Tania · July 15, 2012

Kath, you do not need coffee grounds or saw dust - it is just I have them in large quantities (coffee grounds come from a local Starbucks - I get 6 large garbage bags every week

) Also, your fav fertilizer will do, I am sure!

If I have manure, I add it instead or compost or 50/50 (manure/compost)

kath · July 15, 2012

Thanks, Tania- looking again, the quantity's not so huge- a wheelbarrow full would be nearly used up filling a few 5 gallon buckets, right? I might be able to get some coffee grounds from neighbors or a local cafe, I guess. Horse manure and compost are no problem- sawdust? We've got some sawmills around here- what's the purpose of that ingredient? I'd worry about the decomposition/robbing nitrogen thing happening.

Tania · July 15, 2012

Kath, I think my large wheelbarrow is 3+ cu.ft, but I am not 100% sure.

sawdust has not purpose there, other than eventually it will decompose - as I said, I just got quite a bit of it from the workshop, so I use it everywhere (in compost, garden beds, and soil mix)

. You are correct assuming it will draw some nitrogen to decompose, but perhaps that's OK in my case, too much nitrogen is not too good for tomatoes anyway, and this compost/manure mix is surely rich in N.

kevn357 · July 16, 2012

My SWcontainer toms always tasted the same as in my garden. I never followed the no compost route for the soil mix though. Compost in your swc's or regular containers are perfectly fine. Just be careful with how much ferts you give them compared to the instructions.

Why anyone would want to buy a 3 cubic foot of mix for $20-30 and not use their own compost with a perlite and pine bark mix for a third of the price is very questionable to me. Not a big fan of the Earthtainer philosophy. Costs way too much and delivers the same results compared to other "earthbox" type styles of growing in swc's.

Tania · July 16, 2012

Low cost is a key for me also. Every year I have to buy 20 cu.yards of compost or manure for my garden, and get it delivered, in addition to our own 5-7 cu.yd of compost, and this is a considerable expense. I do not think I could afford buying commercial soil mix for my 100+ large containers, nor that I could afford building 100+ Earthtainers

Gardening gets expensive these days, and there are many ways to be creating about costs!

tam91 · July 16, 2012

This is the first year I've put bark fines in my containers, and whether for that reason or not, it is a disaster. Plants aren't growing well at all. I'm sure glad I have my other garden.

Before, I've used 1/3 topsoil, 1/3 horse manure or mushroom compost, and 1/3 peat roughly, and the plants have always done great.

kevn357 · July 17, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by tam91

This is the first year I've put bark fines in my containers, and whether for that reason or not, it is a disaster. Plants aren't growing well at all. I'm sure glad I have my other garden.

Before, I've used 1/3 topsoil, 1/3 horse manure or mushroom compost, and 1/3 peat roughly, and the plants have always done great.

What did you cut out when you added the bark fines?

I use pine bark or bark fines as my base now for my containers. It lasts a few years and keeps the medium from getting too clumpy and heavy. I learned early that a lot of N needs to be premixed in if one goes that route. Especially the first season I use it. The fines or bigger bark tend to suck everything up that they can as they begin to compost, especially the N. Composted Manure along with the pine bark works great for the first use.

I'm a cheap gardener and it works for me now. Otherwise pine bark is pretty overrated. Especially the first use in a container.

meadowyck · July 17, 2012

Tam91 I here ya on the horse or mushroom compost, two of my very favorite.

tam91 · July 17, 2012

I used a similar mix, just a bit less and added in the bark fines. It's a tough year here too though, horrendous hot dry weather, so I can't blame the fines for sure.

Tapout · July 22, 2012

I read some where about brix and ph levels of the tomato reflected how it tasted. Not just the brix level but how the ph of the tomato combined with brix level affected the taste. I hate remembering something but not knowing where I remembered it from lol. This all combined with the type of irrigation used. The level of leaching was considered a factor as well. Over all this is where the magic happens and it is something I need to study more. I am going through taste tests of my own and so far its inconclusive because of how bad the weather was this year to make a long term decision of growing out the varieties I did this year again. What I can deduce is how each of the varieties stands up to stress and disease so all is not lost at least I still have that.

Cole_Robbie · July 22, 2012

From what I read about Brix, it is useful for comparing different fruit within the same variety. However, it's not as useful to compare one variety to another using brix, because other compounds in the fruit can be bitter and balance out or negate a high Brix number. The fruit variety with the highest brix will not necessarily taste the sweetest.

mrs_dlight · July 27, 2012

I actually think some of my container tomatoes taste better than the ones I have had in the ground. I use topsoil lots of compost and worm castings. I also add an occasional composted rabbit manure. I think the location of my planters and my in ground plants makes the difference in taste. It's probably all in my head and they taste the same.

July 15, 2012	#18
Tania Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Anmore, BC, Canada Posts: 3,970	Kath, you do not need coffee grounds or saw dust - it is just I have them in large quantities (coffee grounds come from a local Starbucks - I get 6 large garbage bags every week ) Also, your fav fertilizer will do, I am sure! If I have manure, I add it instead or compost or 50/50 (manure/compost) __________________ Tatiana's TOMATObase

July 15, 2012	#20
Tania Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Anmore, BC, Canada Posts: 3,970	Kath, I think my large wheelbarrow is 3+ cu.ft, but I am not 100% sure. sawdust has not purpose there, other than eventually it will decompose - as I said, I just got quite a bit of it from the workshop, so I use it everywhere (in compost, garden beds, and soil mix) . You are correct assuming it will draw some nitrogen to decompose, but perhaps that's OK in my case, too much nitrogen is not too good for tomatoes anyway, and this compost/manure mix is surely rich in N. __________________ Tatiana's TOMATObase

July 16, 2012	#22
Tania Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Anmore, BC, Canada Posts: 3,970	Low cost is a key for me also. Every year I have to buy 20 cu.yards of compost or manure for my garden, and get it delivered, in addition to our own 5-7 cu.yd of compost, and this is a considerable expense. I do not think I could afford buying commercial soil mix for my 100+ large containers, nor that I could afford building 100+ Earthtainers Gardening gets expensive these days, and there are many ways to be creating about costs! __________________ Tatiana's TOMATObase

July 16, 2012	#23
tam91 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Crystal Lake IL Posts: 2,484	This is the first year I've put bark fines in my containers, and whether for that reason or not, it is a disaster. Plants aren't growing well at all. I'm sure glad I have my other garden. Before, I've used 1/3 topsoil, 1/3 horse manure or mushroom compost, and 1/3 peat roughly, and the plants have always done great. __________________ Tracy

July 17, 2012	#25
meadowyck Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: Brooksville, FL Posts: 1,001	Tam91 I here ya on the horse or mushroom compost, two of my very favorite. __________________ Jan “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” -Theodore Roosevelt

July 15, 2012	#19
kath Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: zone 6b, PA Posts: 5,664	Thanks, Tania- looking again, the quantity's not so huge- a wheelbarrow full would be nearly used up filling a few 5 gallon buckets, right? I might be able to get some coffee grounds from neighbors or a local cafe, I guess. Horse manure and compost are no problem- sawdust? We've got some sawmills around here- what's the purpose of that ingredient? I'd worry about the decomposition/robbing nitrogen thing happening.

July 16, 2012	#21
kevn357 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Parma, OH Posts: 147	My SWcontainer toms always tasted the same as in my garden. I never followed the no compost route for the soil mix though. Compost in your swc's or regular containers are perfectly fine. Just be careful with how much ferts you give them compared to the instructions. Why anyone would want to buy a 3 cubic foot of mix for $20-30 and not use their own compost with a perlite and pine bark mix for a third of the price is very questionable to me. Not a big fan of the Earthtainer philosophy. Costs way too much and delivers the same results compared to other "earthbox" type styles of growing in swc's.

July 22, 2012	#27
Tapout Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: NW Indiana Posts: 355	I read some where about brix and ph levels of the tomato reflected how it tasted. Not just the brix level but how the ph of the tomato combined with brix level affected the taste. I hate remembering something but not knowing where I remembered it from lol. This all combined with the type of irrigation used. The level of leaching was considered a factor as well. Over all this is where the magic happens and it is something I need to study more. I am going through taste tests of my own and so far its inconclusive because of how bad the weather was this year to make a long term decision of growing out the varieties I did this year again. What I can deduce is how each of the varieties stands up to stress and disease so all is not lost at least I still have that.

July 22, 2012	#28
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	From what I read about Brix, it is useful for comparing different fruit within the same variety. However, it's not as useful to compare one variety to another using brix, because other compounds in the fruit can be bitter and balance out or negate a high Brix number. The fruit variety with the highest brix will not necessarily taste the sweetest.

July 27, 2012	#29
mrs_dlight Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: upstate ny Posts: 11	I actually think some of my container tomatoes taste better than the ones I have had in the ground. I use topsoil lots of compost and worm castings. I also add an occasional composted rabbit manure. I think the location of my planters and my in ground plants makes the difference in taste. It's probably all in my head and they taste the same.