earthtainer

[TightenUp]

why a strip of ferts and not just mix it in?

[rnewste]

Jeff,

Evenly dispersing the 2 Cups of fertilizer throughout the Grow Media would "shock" the plants. By putting it in a condensed strip, the wicking action and moisture movement via capillary action will tend to throttle dispersion of the nutrients as the moisture works its way into the core of the strip during the Season.

Alternatively to the one-time fertilizer strip, you can always use a low dose N-P-K liquid fertilizer on a monthly basis. The strip approach is more of a "set it - and forget it" low maintenance method - - so you can spend more Summertime in the Hot Tub.

Raybo

[elight]

Hey Ray, I meant to ask this a while back... I made some 5-gallon SWCs for a friend last month and since it didn't make sense to do a strip down the middle (since they just contained one plant each), I did a ring around the perimeter of the bucket. Think this will work just as well?

[rnewste]

elight,

I've never grown in 5 gal SWC buckets so can't be much help to you on this one. There are other TV members who have used them so you might want to do a new Thread re: 5 gal SWC fertilization.

Raybo

[Structure]

I used to have three 5 gallon bucket swc. Found them to be a PITA. Once plants get big, they are too thirsty and I have to water everyday. I used a ring of fert and that seemed to work fine in terms of growth. You can always add liquid fertilizer later in the season. MG works fine. If you're willing to pay the $ then some of the organics are marvelous.

[elight]

Thanks, Structure. I will give it a shot with the ring. I also found my plants to be very thirsty last year... So this year I am building an AWS so that the smaller 5-gallon containers don't run dry during the hot summer months.

[Rockporter]

I have four SWB 5 gallons and I ring the bucket with the ferts, I add the dolomite lime in the mix and I feed 1 teaspoon Calcium Nitrate slowly poured down the filling tube when I see the first set of flowers.

I also made a larger reservior by adding a third ring in the middle. Simply cut the ring off an extra bucket and place it between the upper and lower bucket. This does require your wick to be longer to extend to the bottom of the bucket but it still works fine. I used a Sobe drink container for my wick and cut a bunch of holes in it with my tool I use on making cards and punching holes. Sorry don't remember the name of that nifty tool at the moment but it reached all the way down to the bottom of the drink container.

I have grown two seasons in my buckets and have never had my plants go dry, as a matter of fact, even when the plant was loaded with tomatoes I only gave it about 1.5 to 2 gallons per day at the most. this means the bucket still had water in it because I think I am getting about a 3 gallon or so reservoir with my setup.

I am in the hot humid Texas coastline so if you are in a dry area it might be helpful to have a second watering if your plants are really large and have lots of fruit on them. Here is a photo of my buckets with a cage I made for them.

On another note; I don't recommend using the nylon with the fert strip trick. I had lots of ferts left in the nylon when I used that system on my second planting and had no ferts left that I could tell on the first planting without the nylons. I don't think my tomatoes really got all they could have on the second planting because of the nylons, so I went back to the original way of just ringing the bucket with ferts.

[elight]

Hey Rock, that is a great idea using a third bucket with the bottom removed to double the reservoir capacity! Wish I had thought of that last year. For the wicking basket, you could also use a taller deli container (like the kind you often get soup in). Of I recall correctly, when my plants ran completely dry last year, it took just over a gallon of water to fill them back up... I remember this because I used 1-gallon jugs to fill my containers. Of course this depends on how high your overflow hole is.

This year, I'm building an AWS to hopefully alleviate any watering issues. In addition to what my 3 5-gallon buckets and one EarthTainer can accommodate in their reservoirs, I will have another 30-35 gallons ready to feed into them. I'm hoping this will be enough water for 5-6 days.

[elight]

One other thing, Rock - what is the purpose of the calcium nitrate? To prevent BER? Where does one get it?

[Rockporter]

Originally Posted by elight

One other thing, Rock - what is the purpose of the calcium nitrate? To prevent BER? Where does one get it?

I shouldn't have opened that can of worms, lol. I can't really explain it much except to say that it provides the needed nutrients at a peak when the flowers just come in. I think the Dolomite Lime doesn't break down fast enough to allow the plant the magnesium it needs to uptake the calcium. I think that is how it goes, but don't quote me because I am not so positive. I just know it is what I have learned about growing tomatoes in a SWB.

Check your local nursery's because it's used in lawn care I think. You are looking for CANo3.

[Rockporter]

Originally Posted by elight

Of I recall correctly, when my plants ran completely dry last year, it took just over a gallon of water to fill them back up... I remember this because I used 1-gallon jugs to fill my containers. Of course this depends on how high your overflow hole is.

This year, I'm building an AWS to hopefully alleviate any watering issues. In addition to what my 3 5-gallon buckets and one EarthTainer can accommodate in their reservoirs, I will have another 30-35 gallons ready to feed into them. I'm hoping this will be enough water for 5-6 days.

I would be unhappy if my reservoir went dry because the possibilites of it not resuming the wicking process would kill me, lol. That's too much work to lose and I sure wish I could setup an AWS, it would make watering much easier but I also think that watering each one daily makes me go out and inspect my plants for any potential bug problem or diseases.

[Rockporter]

Originally Posted by elight

Hey Rock, that is a great idea using a third bucket with the bottom removed to double the reservoir capacity! Wish I had thought of that last year.

The holes were drilled at 5 3/4" from the bottom of the lower bucket for the water reservoir. I just went out to water this afternoon because of the high winds we have been having here these last couple of days. I filled the buckets last night around 10:00 pm and I have now filled them again at 2:00pm. The tomato plants with a lot of growth about 3' tall took about a gallon each already and the day is only half over. The smaller ones only took about a quart. I will recheck tonight, but again, I don't mind going out and watering my plants because I get to take a look at them each time and just knowing they have plenty of water makes me relax.

We will be having some really strong winds and tomorrow will be thunderstorms. I feel for all those from Oklahoma to Wisconsin who will be hit with tornados this weekend. Such destruction and the devastation of families that goes along with it.

[Riceloft]

Originally Posted by Rockporter

I shouldn't have opened that can of worms, lol. I can't really explain it much except to say that it provides the needed nutrients at a peak when the flowers just come in. I think the Dolomite Lime doesn't break down fast enough to allow the plant the magnesium it needs to uptake the calcium. I think that is how it goes, but don't quote me because I am not so positive. I just know it is what I have learned about growing tomatoes in a SWB.

Check your local nursery's because it's used in lawn care I think. You are looking for CANo3.

There's a seller on Ebay that sells it for cheap as well.

[elight]

The AWS is more out of necessity - I am often gone overnight or for the weekend. Otherwise, I agree - I'd rather be out taking care of the plants the "old fashioned" way. The containers running dry were surely just one of many reasons my plants had issues last summer. =)

[Rockporter]

Originally Posted by elight

The AWS is more out of necessity - I am often gone overnight or for the weekend. Otherwise, I agree - I'd rather be out taking care of the plants the "old fashioned" way. The containers running dry were surely just one of many reasons my plants had issues last summer. =)

Yes, I do sometimes feel tied down as it were because I cannot go too far or overnight since I don't really have anyone I could trust to understand the concept of the buckets.