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General discussion regarding the techniques and methods used to successfully grow tomato plants in containers.

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Old March 27, 2012   #16
JamesL
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Raybo,
Good tip as always.
"Clawfoot Tubtainer" is going on the future consideration project list to consider.
It is probably about 15th on that list at the moment. Not counting the wife's list of course, which doesn't get the due consideration it deserves. (or so she says)
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Old March 27, 2012   #17
JamesL
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Raybo,
Good tip as always.
"Clawfoot Tubtainer" is going on the future consideration project list to consider.
It is probably about 15th on that list at the moment. Not counting the wife's list of course, which doesn't get the due consideration it deserves. (or so she says)
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Old March 27, 2012   #18
lakelady
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LOL you guys are funny....what will you think of next?
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Old March 27, 2012   #19
chalstonsc
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Brian,
have been growing dwarf mandarin type orange tree in 15gal.? bucket with rope handles I've seen mostly in Walmart in soilless Raybo type mix I also use for container tomatoes, peppers, eggplant...have had good crops every year in this container only with holes in bottom until last year when after five or six years and reaching three feet tall and four feet in circumference it became rootbound...root pruned and repotted with new soil and now loaded with blossom buds now just opening...so can do....sweet and seedless, but larger than typical mandarin, don't know type
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Old March 27, 2012   #20
dice
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Figure that the outer clawfoot tub with the reservoir would need overflow
holes drilled in it at about the level of the bottom of the inner tub.

I was simply imagining a tree in a plastic container and seeing
a mismatch, then wondering what would really be sturdy enough
for that and roomy enough for the roots. An alternative might be
a pair of galvanized, round, stock watering tanks with tapering
sides. (Usually they have straight, vertical sides, but a bit of a taper
would help the one holding the grow media fit inside the one holding
the water reservoir.)

It would not have the style of the pair of clawfoots, but fashions change,
and the stocktanktainer would be pretty much fashion-neutral, it seems
to me.

Another idea: use a galvanized stock tank to hold the grow media for
the tree, and build an ad-hoc reservoir for it out of a concrete base
and mortared together rock. That way you would have control of how
big the water reservoir is, where to put the overflow holes (a stick in the
mortar drilled out after it sets), you could cement in supports to keep
the stock tank up above the bottom of the water reservoir, you could
control what it looks like with what kind of rock you use, you could
completely hide the stock tank so that it fits into local concepts of
"natural decor", and so on.

A fair amount of work, but it should hold up to the elements, be UV-proof,
etc. If you decide that the inner container for the roots needs to be
bigger, you can mortar on a couple of more courses around the sides
to hide a deeper inner container.

(A Tomatoville member in Spain built some SWCs out of terracotta roof
tile. This is the same idea, only big enough and sturdy enough for a tree.)
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Old March 31, 2012   #21
brismith70
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UPDATE:

I went over to the EarthBox forum and did a search for peach tree. After sorting through about a hundred false positive hits, I found some information that there are a couple of people growing peach trees in EarthBoxes. They are also growing citrus trees. Neither of which like wet feet, so I am surprised.

So, with practically continuous warm weather, and with a constant source of water, would an otherwise deciduous tree fruit out more than once a year? Would that affect fruit quality?

I know I could just stop watering the tree to encourage it to go into dormancy, but what about starting up watering again? Would I have to top water for several weeks to restart the capillary action of the sub-irrigated planter?

If I were to use 25 to 30 gallon plastic half-barrels for this project, how big do you think the opening would need to be for the wicking chamber and how big do you thing the wicking chamber should be? A 6 inch opening one-gallon pot? A three-gallon pot?

Would you root prune the tree before starting this to shorten the tree's tap root and to ensure that the trees roots radiate out away from the trunk? Might this root pruning strategy also be used to help dwarf the tree and prevent it from outgrowing the container? If this is the case and you would do a root pruning every three to four years, then would I need to have something more sturdy than an EarthTainer as it is designed?

Just some questions I had and I thought that perhaps some or all of you might have suggestions.

Thank You,

Brian
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Old April 13, 2012   #22
brismith70
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UPDATE 2:

OK, so the weather here is going to take a dive for the next three or four days. The temperatures are going to cool off to the mid-60's and it may rain. I will not comment on the strangeness of the weather other than to say that this would be the perfect opportunity to go to the nursery and buy a peach tree and give my idea a whirl. So here's my plan...it involved a little math, so it took me a while...I am, after all, trained in the law. If I wanted to calculate even the simplest of geometric equations on a regular basis, I wouldn't have gone to law school...but I digress.

I found a website where a fella was planting fig trees in sub-irrigated (self-watering) planters. The information is at: http://figs4fun.com/bills_figs.html. He is making them out of half-barrels. His aeration bench is diamond mesh that sits on top of several 4" sections of 4" PVC pipe. Every 120 degrees, he has cut away areas on the edges that allows the soil to go below the aeration bench and into the water. He uses burlap to cover the lath to prevent the roots from entering the water reservoir and becoming entangled with the diamond mesh. Other than these changes, it is pretty much like an EarthTainer.

I was thinking that it might be a better idea to drill several holes in three of the sections of PVC pipe and use them as wicking baskets. This might better contain the soil in the water reservoir.

As for the potting soil that he uses, he says that his mix contains a lot of dirt and that he would recommend staying away from MiracleGro. He also recommends root pruning the trees every three years to maintain the health of the trees. Since he lives in New Jersey, he allows his trees to go dormant in the winter. I assume that I will have to do this too.

I have located the half barrels at both Lowe's and Home Depot. They run about $30. They have wood and plastic and I haven't decided which I will buy just yet. I think plastic would last longer and it wouldn't rot or leak, so I would prefer plastic if I can put my hands on them, but I will take what I can get. They are 25" in diameter and 17" tall. By my calculations, that is approximately 35 gallons. Instead of burlap, I am going to use the landscape fabric that I already have that's left over from my EarthTainers. The diamond mesh is approximately $7. The PVC pipe will run me about $4 for a 5' section of the 4" and about $3 for a 2' section of the 1 1/4". The tree will be $22. Total for this experiment will be about $65.

I will take pictures as I make this project and post them here when I am done.

Thoughts or comments?
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Old April 13, 2012   #23
JamesL
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Brian,
When you give a lawyer a math problem.....
Great website find. I bookmarked it already.

I think on the whole your plan works and you can't really go wrong with it as outlined. Worse case scenario - tree dies and you put something else in the pot.

A couple of thoughts.

Wood vs Plastic - Sturdiness, availability, cost, and aesthetics would appear to be the factors on the choice.

Bill has a photo that shows the inside of the pot with the PVC rings and the mesh. It looks like on that particular pot, it has some sort of internal braces (3) spaced evenly around the sides. http://figs4fun.com/fpix/FP866-15%20800.jpg
You could make an earthtainer style aeration bench and support it on them, (assuming your pot has something similar) or use 3 pvc pieces as support. Would add to your build labor and cost though.

Your idea - PVC sections as wicking baskets - that should work. Would assume you would cover the entire "bench" with the mesh and landscape fabric?
You had asked the question a week ago about wicking basket size, with no replies - I think Bill's website photo gives the answer - 3 sections.

What are you going to use as the grow media? Raybo 3-2-1? Dirt mix like Bill?

PS - If you end up with wood, you could use Tung oil, or a tung oil based product like Waterlox.
I recently used Tung oil, cut with Citrus solvent to redo hardwood floors. The Chinese sealed boats with it hundreds of years.
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