white tomato planting bags

[coffee5150p]

the bags i see with the plants growing in them , i have never seen them , where do you pick them up at , maybe next year i could double my plants .

[carolyn137]

GrowOrganic: Easi-Lift Grow Bags (12 Gal) from GrowOrganic.com

Here's where I bought mine and I know some others have used the same source. Notice under the 12 gal ones, that I bought, that other sizes are also available.

[coffee5150p]

ty , this site has the most info , always ready to learn more. thanks again 8)

[nctomatoman]

You are probably referring to the 5 gallon ones, which are perfect for growing individual dwarf varieties. Alas, they have been out of stock now for nearly two years - Peaceful Valley doesn't indicate why, or when they will become available again! Apparently the manufacturer has discontinued them, and I've not found another source!

[OmahaJB]

Wormsway.com has 5-gallon Sunleaves grow bags right now priced at $6.50 for 10. They are white on the outside and black on the inside. I bought some last fall along with some of the 10-gallon size. So far I'm happy with them, but there are no handles which isn't that big a deal considering the price.

Jeff

[nctomatoman]

Good point, Jeff - Peaceful Valley has black grow bags with no handles, with holes in the bottom, that are much less expensive than the white ones with handles - not sure how reusable they would be, and of course, you can't move them. They have all sorts of sizes.

[OmahaJB]

I've been watching my potato plants growing in the 10-gallon size, trying to guess if I'll be able to re-use those bags. At this point I'm guessing I will. There aren't any tears on the bags - yet. But it could be too that tomato plant roots would be tougher on them.

As far as moving them goes, I only have 11 bags in use right now, and haven't had trouble moving them. But for an elderly person, or someone like you Craig who has at least 100's going I can definitely see where the handles would come in handy.

I know one thing - I'm going to try saving the soil after I harvest! I'll clean out the roots, take out any soil that doesn't look good, and mix in some container soil this fall. Eleven grow bags @ 10 gallons each, that's alot of dirt! Those taters better taste better than any I've ever had before - hah. I've been adding a total of between 2 - 2.5 cu./feet each weekend so far. The cost is worth it but it is starting to get a little expensive in total cost.

By the way 'coffee', the black on the inside of the grow bags helps insulate the roots in cool springs, and the white on the outside reflects the sun back onto the plants and helps protect the roots from cooking.

Jeff

[carolyn137]

I asked Craig and Michael what they used for Grow bags and asked Craig what he uses in them and asked Craig and others who use them whether they keep the artificial mix, etc., from season to season.

I now have 26 plants going, 20 in white 12 gal Grow bags with handles and 6 in permanent containers and all looks well. Since I can't take care of then Freda, the lady who cleans and gardens for me does.

Some folks reuse what's in the bags and some don't. I know bcday reuses the stuff and Craig doesn't.

But after spending I can't tell you how much for bags and composted cow manure with humus and Professional Pro-Mix, I'm not about to throw all that out each season and buy anew.

No systemic diseases to worry about here, and of course not in the Grow bag stuff, and foliage diseases can be taken care of if they appear.

The only problem I have right now is that Freda insists that the bags should be much closer together than I want them. She's planted five of her own tomatoes here and I don't care what she does with them but I want 3 ft between bags and 4 ft between rows.

It's a stalemate but I'm still hoping.

I have to tell you that all those white bags lined up in rows do remind me of a cemetery and let's just hope it's not the death knell for my tomato plants.

[OmahaJB]

Funny you mention spacing between grow bags, Carolyn, as just today I spread mine out into a row. Now that they each have a fair amount of soil they don't need to be clumped up together. I'm guessing my potatoes don't need 3 to 4 feet of space between each bag like ind. tomatoes do.

Any idea if re-using container soil after growing potatoes would be any riskier disease-wise than after growing tomatoes? I'm just thinking of the potato seed that must be getting rotted out towards the bottom part of the container. I'd think that might be harmful to the soil moreso than a tomato plant would be. Just a wild guess, of course.

BTW, you & Freda must have some interesting conversations!

Jeff

[mdvpc]

The only problem with reusing the soil in a grow bag is the same problem with any container-tomato plant roots take over a 5 gallon, even a 12 gallon container. You can dump the soil out, take as much of the roots out as possible, then top off. Another thing I can think of is making sure there are worms in the soil after you pull your plants-I have seen worms finish off the roots over a winter. What i do is when I pull my summer plants, I plant kale, chard, spinach, garlic, cutting lettuces, arugula, valeriana, etc in the same container, making sure there are worms. So I get 2 seasons of use out of the container soil. And i am growing mano in 2 containers (not grow bags) that I used last year for the summer tomatoes, then garlic in the fall, and now have about 4 plants in each container. I am out of town, but will post a photo soon. Last time I checked they are doing fine.

[OmahaJB]

I hadn't thought of using worms to finish off the roots, Michael. Great idea! From what I understand red worms are the ones to use for compost, and I'm pretty sure Bass Pro sells those. They just opened up a store on the outskirts of Toledo in the little town of Rossford. I may have to take a drive over there at the end of summer and buy some to use in the soil. In fact, I want to check out that story anyhow, so I may stop there tomorrow to look around. Had thought about starting a compost bin, but I just don't have enough leftovers for them to munch on. I'd actually have to buy heads of lettuce just for them! Although at 89 cents a head that might not be a bad idea to get some worm 'stuff'.

[mdvpc]

JB-try it and see if it works for you. Glad you liked the idea. Here are the photos of mano-they have been in about 3 weeks. They are planted in containers with soil from last years tomato crop, and then garlic was planted in there. When I pulled the garlic, there were lots of worms. I have only been feeding them with liquid fert. The one on the left is being fed with Monty's 8-16-8 and the one on the left is being fed with Fox Farm 6-4-4, and will be changed to a blooming formula soon. The close up is the one that is getting fed with Monty's. The Fox Farm plants were smaller when they were put in.

[OmahaJB]

Plants look good Michael, and the containers themselves also look good. Better than my grow bags for sure! With a little luck I'll get good results re-using the soil. Will definitely be tossing in a few red worms when the time comes.

[mdvpc]

Jb-one thing you might think about doing-put some bokashi or other type of compost or kitchen scraps into the containers when you are resting them for the winter-the worms will finish off your roots as best as they can, then they will die if they dont have a food source. And what you want is in the spring to have a container with a good amount of worm castings-free or almost free fertilizer, without the left over roots, etc.

[OmahaJB]

Another good tip, thanks Michael. After posting yesterday I started thinking it might not be a good idea for me to put worms in the soil if I want to re-use it to grow potatoes in next year. Maybe I'm off-base on that, but I'm thinking the worms would have a feast on the seed potatoes. However, I could always use the soil for tomatoes instead without the worms being anything other than a beneficial addition.