Container Makeover, Denver

[Gerardo]

Dig the progression. Paying off soon.

[Ricky Shaw]

Thank you everyone for the nice comments. I'm hoping the reflective surface will help with the psyllids, it's said that many under leaf pests are confused by the brightness and depart. I'm not for insecticides and like to beat them with mechanical means.

Nematode, the gray ones are 10 and 15gal fabrics, the blacks are 10gal smartpots, and the white are 7 and 10 gal plastic. I'm running different sizes and using a couple different mixes this year for and comparing results. The ferts stay the same, Floranova on the seedlings and Hydro-Gardens Tomato 4-18-38

[Worth1]

You have those darn psyllids too?
It seems they are everywhere this year.

Your place looks nice and I always look to see what is new and next.

Worth

[Ricky Shaw]

The tomato patch is set. There's 33 spots and had plenty more seedlings, but I stopped at 29. Yep Worth, the psyllids are terrible, but they better have packed sunglasses for the trip to my place this year.

8 Crnkovic Yugoslavian
6 Mat-Su Express
5 Rebel Yell
4 Sungold F1
2 Olive Hill
2 Daniel Burson
2 Eva Purple Ball

[Barb_FL]

Everything looks great and so neat. Your plants look big already.

That is still a lot of plants to feed daily - Did you have that many last year? - My season is in total wind down mode since the night time lows are too high for fruit set and the humidity is back to typical Florida.

When you have time tell us about the mixes you are trying out. I'm really interested thinking that I won't reuse 95% of what I have now.

[Ricky Shaw]

Barb there were 34 toms in 500 gals of mix last year, and 29 in 300 gals of potting mix this year. Probably no less garden time because there will be more pruning, but considerably less expense as the nutrient/water needs should be much lower also. It's still a lot of watering and plant babysitting, but I have more time than money and it's invigorating to a large degree.

Those Sungold seeds you sent were aces, every seed germinated and all were strong seedlings. I kept 4 and passed 8 along to friends and family. Thank You

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by Ricky Shaw

Barb there were 34 toms in 500 gals of mix last year, and 29 in 300 gals of potting mix this year. Probably no less garden time because there will be more pruning, but considerably less expense as the nutrient/water needs should be much lower also. It's still a lot of watering and plant babysitting, but I have more time than money and it's invigorating to a large degree.

Those Sungold seeds you sent were aces, every seed germinated and all were strong seedlings. I kept 4 and passed 8 along to friends and family. Thank You

Good to hear re: the SunGolds, The CY seeds you sent did great also. I still have big green fruits on two plants. I look forward to sowing the others in August.

I find the mix is my biggest expense too. I was surprised how much PH UP I used - 4 of the 2.2 lb bags.

I will be following your thread though out the summer. Have a great season.

[BigVanVader]

Ricky everything looks great. Which bags do you prefer out of the ones you've tried?

[Ricky Shaw]

Van of the fabric pots I like the cheapest Root Pouch from MegaGreenhouse. The Smartpot fabrics work just as well, but more expensive. On the poly bags, this will be my first toms grown in them. Last year cukes and squash did well in the 10gal white plastics. I'm done with the black plastic 10's. They were too hot, took more water and the plants were smaller.

[Nematode]

Do the fabric pots clean up fairly easy or do the roots grow through the sides and prevent dumping the media?

[Ricky Shaw]

Nemetode the rootballs were clingy, but not bad. At the end of the season I cut the plants down and left about 6" stem for a handle. After they dried out, flipped'em over and gave them a couple whacks, and the whole ball pulled out.

[Ricky Shaw]

In my mad max parched world of the future garden, things are chugging along well. I started most of the cukes and zukes outside this year with good germination on all varieties, even on last year's packs of Diva and Spacemiser zukes.

Early tomato impressions: Olive Hill from Marsha is a bulky monster with tons of blossoms, I'm hoping production matches up. First to set tomatoes was AKmark's Crnkovic, three days earlier than my Crnkovic, then Mat-Su Express, Sungold, and not yet plants.

[AKmark]

Good luck this season Ricky, hopefully it will be as good as last year.

[Ricky Shaw]

Appreciate the good wishes and thank you for the seed. Your Crnkovic is the earliest and most vigorous of the 3 lines I've got going the the Mat-Su Express #8 is doing excellent also. I appreciate all your help and patience in answering the countless questions and hope things end up well after what has been a difficult year for you. Thank you my friend.

[Ricky Shaw]

Things continue to fill in and overall health of the garden is good. The potato leaf plants again this season are dealing better with the heat than regular leaf and I'll continue shifting that way next year. The Olive Hill is the tomato star so far, strong and huge fruit sets on both plants. I've half buried and cut larges holes in the bags for squash and cukes and that has cut down on fertigating considerably and the plants seem to do as well or better so far.

fabric and poly bags 7,10,15 gallon/ chem-gro 4-18-38