Earthtainer problem

drallred · July 23, 2011

Ok, I have a few questions and pictures to show. We took out the old tomato plants as the heat here in Phoenix has killed them, at least that is what we thought.

All but one was uniform in moisture, the one that was not was a marsh/swamp in the soil. Can't figure out why it is so wet, but we are using automatic watering system. When we took out the soil, it smelled very rotten and was very very wet. The basket in the bottom had collapsed, could this have caused it. The plants did very well and produced lots of fruit, the first 115 degree day did the Pink Girl and Cherokee Purple plants in so we are pressing them for the fall crops. The box with the Cherokee Purple is the one with the problem.

We planted Big Boy, Sweet 100 cherries, Cherokee Purple, Pink Girl and Russian Black.

So, here is the questions.
1. What would cause the soil to be extremely wet when the others were not?
2. How can the collapse of the basket be prevented?
3. We used a garden compost in the soil mix, what would be the best to keep the soil moist not soggy?
4. Has anyone else experienced this problem?

Pictures.
This is a picture of the top before we removed the soil. Notice the green moss growing.

This one is of the bottom of the container showing the collapse and some roots.

Lastly, this is the only real root that got into the water, it accounted for all the roots seen above.

Here is a picture of the garden when it was growing great.

That is it, the plants did very well except for BER and would like to know how to do better as we are starting our seeds now for the winter (not so cold) garden now.

July 23, 2011	#1
drallred Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Mesa, AZ Posts: 14	Earthtainer problem Ok, I have a few questions and pictures to show. We took out the old tomato plants as the heat here in Phoenix has killed them, at least that is what we thought. All but one was uniform in moisture, the one that was not was a marsh/swamp in the soil. Can't figure out why it is so wet, but we are using automatic watering system. When we took out the soil, it smelled very rotten and was very very wet. The basket in the bottom had collapsed, could this have caused it. The plants did very well and produced lots of fruit, the first 115 degree day did the Pink Girl and Cherokee Purple plants in so we are pressing them for the fall crops. The box with the Cherokee Purple is the one with the problem. We planted Big Boy, Sweet 100 cherries, Cherokee Purple, Pink Girl and Russian Black. So, here is the questions. 1. What would cause the soil to be extremely wet when the others were not? 2. How can the collapse of the basket be prevented? 3. We used a garden compost in the soil mix, what would be the best to keep the soil moist not soggy? 4. Has anyone else experienced this problem? Pictures. This is a picture of the top before we removed the soil. Notice the green moss growing. This one is of the bottom of the container showing the collapse and some roots. Lastly, this is the only real root that got into the water, it accounted for all the roots seen above. Here is a picture of the garden when it was growing great. That is it, the plants did very well except for BER and would like to know how to do better as we are starting our seeds now for the winter (not so cold) garden now.