Growing in soil bags.

[Everlong]

Have you tried gardening in soil bags?

I always grow tomatoes in bags and always get great results. I recently wrote an article on growing tomatoes in bags, based on my experience. Have you tried growing anything else in them, I haven't tried anything else.

Whats your take on the subject? Have you tried it?

[mdvpc]

Everlong:

Nice article. Lots of us grow in grow bags-if you do a search, you will see some of the threads. What size bags do you grow in?

Welcome to the forum!

[Everlong]

Hey thanks, I grow in cattle food bags, I got plenty of those lying around everywhere. They are the same size as the 25 kg fertilizer bags, but I don't know how much soil they hold, but their size is more than plenty.

What sizes do you use? What would you say is the smallest size that can be used for tomatoes or say bell peppers?

[mdvpc]

Everlong:

I know some folks, especially Tania that posts here, grows in as small as 3 gallon containers. I grow in 5 and 10 gallon grow bags.

[amideutch]

Everlong, welcome to Tville and yes we have several folks growing in bags and containers. Last year I grew Brandywine Cowlicks in a 10 gal Smart Pot and this year I'm growing two tomato plants in the same 10 gal Smart Pots I used last year. Also grow in plastic containers 5-7 gal and 26 qt. styrofoam Ice Chests. Ami

[Mischka]

Originally Posted by Everlong

Have you tried gardening in soil bags?

I always grow tomatoes in bags and always get great results. I recently wrote an article on growing tomatoes in bags, based on my experience. Have you tried growing anything else in them, I haven't tried anything else.

Whats your take on the subject? Have you tried it?

You're not going to use this site to promote articles YOU'VE written and get paid for every time someone clicks on the link you post.

Original link deleted and thread locked.

As a service to our members, here is a copy of the article in it's entirety.


Growing tomatoes is not for everyone. Most tomato plant varieties require a lot of space, and regular sized pots aren't big enough for a plant to achieve full potential. Growing in containers amounts to a significant amount of cash. What is the best way to grow tomatoes? Let's examine the mesh bag.


Growing Tomato Plants


There are hundreds of different tomato varieties - they come in every color and size. Colors include white, green, yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, black, striped, and variegated. The sizes of the fruit range from about the size of a marble to the proportion of a cantaloupe.
Most plants become very large and occupy a fair amount space; their roots need room to expand as well. This is why although most tomato plants can be grown in a regular container, a plant with little space to develop will never achieve its full potential, thus affecting the yield.
Growing tomato plants in containers requires the pots to be large, and these can be quite expensive. Tomatoes are heavy feeders, and the pots imust be large enough for frequent aplications of the fertilizers required to keep them going.
The mesh bag method is cheaper, and it can allow you to grow a full-sized tomato plant in a sunny corner of your garden. This is an ideal technique for city dwellers, who have little space and a tight budget. It not only allows people with limited space to successfully grow tomato plants in their home, but they also obtain healthier plants because this method of growing helps to prevent certain diseases.


What You Will Need

• Plastic mesh bags, one per plant. (The ideal type of bags are the industrial ones that are used to distribute grains, fertilizers or cattle food. They can be found in a garden center or in any rural establishment, and the size is perfect too).
• Canes (one or more per plant).
• 2 parts compost
• 2 parts aged cattle manure (not chicken, it has too much nitrogen)
• Bone meal (one lb per bag)
• Wood ashes (half a lb per bag)
• A handful of crushed egg shells.
• Straw or preferred mulching material

If there is one thing that you can never have too much of when growing tomatoes, is calcium. Calcium is essential for a good fruiting season and healthy fruits. Lack of calcium will cause blossom end rot. Any source of it is welcome. Wood ashes are a great source, but it may become a problem with the soil pH. Egg shells are a great source too, but it only becomes available when it is decomposed, so it serves as an organic slow release source of calcium. Bone meal provides calcium, but it also provides phosphorous, which is essential for fruiting and flowering.

Preparing The Potting Mix

1. Mix the compost and aged manure thoroughly.
2. Add the bone meal (usually less than a pound per bag)
3. Add the wood ashes (half a pound per bag)
4. Mix until uniform.

Setting Up The Bags

1. Fill three quarters of the bag with the mix.
2. Place the bags, in a standing position in a full sun location (5 hours minimum)
3. When the seedlings have three or more leaves transplant them to the bag.
4. Place a handful of crushed egg shells on the bottom of the planting hole, mix it a bit with the soil.
5. Place the training cane. As the plant starts to grow you will tie it to the cane.
6. Fill the rest of the bag with straw or your preferred material.

Caring For The Plants

Growing tomato plants is easy, and it is not too hard to care for your plants, they can be quite hardy, and tolerate most conditions well.
There are two ways to train your plants, as a single stalk or to let them grow naturally. Both have their advantages, to let them grow naturally provides you with more fruit, but smaller in size, while training them as a single stalk provides you with less fruit but larger in size.

To train them as a single stalk you need to cut every side shoot the plant produces and tie the stalk to a single cane.

To allow them to grow naturally you might employ a tomato growing cage, or you can use multiple canes, to train the multiple shoots.

Watering should only be done if there is no rain during the week, one inch per week is sufficient. Watering becomes more critical when the plant starts fruiting.

Regular watering will prevent your fruit from splitting and getting blossom end rot. My advice is to choose one day of the week and always water on that day, twice a week if it gets too hot.

When watering, never splash the leaves or the fruit, and try not to splash the soil or mulch so that it will get on the leaves. This is essential to avoid fungus and diseases.

No fertilizer should be necessary, but should you choose to fertilize use fertilizers low in nitrogen and high in phosphorous.

An advantage of this method is that, when the growing season is over you just cut the plant down, and you have a bag full of rich soil ready to be used on any other project. This soil should not be used for another growing season of tomatoes.