Yet more tomato plants

[wormgirl]

Veering back to the original topic, I bought a Mortgage Lifter yesterday. (More?!?!?!) At least, this one I bought because it looked to be very vigorous and in great shape (unlike the KB I "rescued.") On the bright side, the nursery gave me two awesome used nursery pots, approximately 8 and 12 gallons respectively, for free just for the asking. But then of course the extra plant meant I needed to buy one more bag of mix - which I forgot, and now will have to return next weekend when I want to plant beans and cukes. DANGER.

And to touch back to the Earthboxes, I noticed a lot of the self-watering planters at the nursery are made now by that same "novelty" company. They are nice looking, but quite expensive and you don't have access to the res. You just top water and hope you aren't drowing your plants. (I noticed a lot of these lately.) But, they might be worth a try, if they are basically using EB technology. I have no experience with SWCs so I resisted temptation, for now.

[jmsieglaff]

It is dangerous. I raise all my tomatoes from seed and purposely try not to acquire/buy more varieties for a given year than what I plant on growing. We have a great farmer's market here with great variety and quality of seedlings, so when I find a variety of a plant that is on the list for next year or the year after I suddenly say what the hell, buy it and get yet another bucket. A disease, but at least a healthy disease!

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by wormgirl

And to touch back to the Earthboxes, I noticed a lot of the self-watering planters at the nursery are made now by that same "novelty" company. They are nice looking, but quite expensive and you don't have access to the res. You just top water and hope you aren't drowing your plants. (I noticed a lot of these lately.) But, they might be worth a try, if they are basically using EB technology. I have no experience with SWCs so I resisted temptation, for now.

Jenn, to address EBs and other SWCs, the beauty and genius of them is that they are impossible to overwater. They all have a reservoir with a spill over opening, so you can't fill them beyond that. They draw water up from the reservoir via a wicking mechanism, using some of the potting mix packed down into the reservoir, and the rest of th potting media is held above it, but touching the part that wicks, so that water is drawn through the rest of the media at its own absorption rate.

[crmauch]

Well, I have almost 90 plants, but I have come to a realization. I usually try to have two of a variety in case one gets killed or isn't true to type, but this year I'm going to be giving away these spares and only plant one of any variety that isn't needed for breeding/evaluation purposes (see my breeding projects for this year at: http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=36562). Still not sure of the final count I'm going to be putting in and I want to finish planting out by around June 1st. Last year I planted through June, and figured I'd get something at end of season, but Late Blight killed all my tomatoes in early August and I got nothing for the June planting.

Now if it would only rain here.

[Gardeneer]

Well, it has been concluded here @ T'ville that one can never have too many tomato plants.
Also it have been established that you can always add couple of them no matter how many you already have.
The bottom line:
Don't feel guilty. You are quite normal, always wanting to grow more.

Gardeneer

[Cucumber]

Thanks heaps Ginger, Geoffrey44 has sent me a PM.

[wormgirl]

Marsha, that's why I'm confused about the explosion of self-watering planters I'm seeing in stores now, with no apparent access or overflow of the res. These are not Earthboxes obviously. The things I'm seeing are basically a planter with no drainage hole, and then an earthbox-type screen at the bottom. I actually even bought a few of these and took out the screen and made my own holes (they were a cute color and on sale).

I *guess* the idea is, excess water applied in top watering collects in the res and wicks as necessary until you come around and top water again. But if you applied way too much water or if the pot sits in the rain, it would be quite possible for it to be standing in water. With no real way to drain it out.

Earthbox seems to be a much better design. I think what I am seeing in stores is designed for the lazy and uninformed gardener?

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by wormgirl

Marsha, that's why I'm confused about the explosion of self-watering planters I'm seeing in stores now, with no apparent access or overflow of the res. These are not Earthboxes obviously. The things I'm seeing are basically a planter with no drainage hole, and then an earthbox-type screen at the bottom. I actually even bought a few of these and took out the screen and made my own holes (they were a cute color and on sale).

I *guess* the idea is, excess water applied in top watering collects in the res and wicks as necessary until you come around and top water again. But if you applied way too much water or if the pot sits in the rain, it would be quite possible for it to be standing in water. With no real way to drain it out.

Earthbox seems to be a much better design. I think what I am seeing in stores is designed for the lazy and uninformed gardener?

I am not too familiar with the store ones. No drainhole? Really? That seems to be a necessary given. Caveat Emptor I guess. I bought a few Growboxes, a similar SWC, but from using both for years, I can tell you the EBs are well thought out, much more so than the GBs, far better design. Both do have practically indestructible plastics that wont degrade in the sun, some folks are getting over 15 years use, and still as good as new. No, I don't have stock in Earthboxes. Heeee!

[wormgirl]

That's good to know. There is a reason Earthbox is the classic. I love all the DIY stuff people do , but I am happy to pay for someone else's R&D and labor to build the thing - IF if it is well designed and constructed.

Marsha, what do you like to use for your potting mix? I know it needs to have different properties than what I use for my open-hole containers.

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by wormgirl

That's good to know. There is a reason Earthbox is the classic. I love all the DIY stuff people do , but I am happy to pay for someone else's R&D and labor to build the thing - IF if it is well designed and constructed.

Marsha, what do you like to use for your potting mix? I know it needs to have different properties than what I use for my open-hole containers.

I am a very strong proponent of Promix BX. Best potting mix I have ever used. A 3.8 cu ft bale should range between $24-30.

[TNTiger]

I have 8 Earthboxes - one which was purchased this year after Novelty took over the brand. I am active on the Earthbox message board and from what I can tell, they are trying to keep making and selling the same quality product that we've been getting. There have been a few glitches but my new box with the AWS expansion kit is the same as the old ones.

I also use Pro-Mix BX and have had fantastic results. I would add more but I really think I've hit my personal limitations with gardening (for 2015 anyway)!

Keeping on topic - I had to get the 8th EB because I added more paste tomatoes (which did great in the EB last year). I also reconfigured my main garden to squeeze in more tomatoes and at last count, I'm up to 30 (which includes the 4 leggy leftovers that I trench planted on Monday).

I started most of my plants from seed and I found it VERY difficult to cull out any of the healthy plants. I gave away a bunch of them but held on to a few as back-ups. By the time I realized that I didn't need the backups they weren't very pretty anymore so I didn't think anyone would want them even though I knew that they would still turn into beautiful plants. I should have just put them in the ground 4 weeks ago - who was I kidding!

[Bipetual]

Originally Posted by wormgirl

Marsha, that's why I'm confused about the explosion of self-watering planters I'm seeing in stores now, with no apparent access or overflow of the res. These are not Earthboxes obviously. The things I'm seeing are basically a planter with no drainage hole, and then an earthbox-type screen at the bottom. I actually even bought a few of these and took out the screen and made my own holes (they were a cute color and on sale).

I *guess* the idea is, excess water applied in top watering collects in the res and wicks as necessary until you come around and top water again. But if you applied way too much water or if the pot sits in the rain, it would be quite possible for it to be standing in water. With no real way to drain it out.

Earthbox seems to be a much better design. I think what I am seeing in stores is designed for the lazy and uninformed gardener?

Wormgirl, I saw some pots at HD made by Fiskars that had no drain hole either, just a grid at the bottom. I wasn't sure if it was a self watering container or a cachepot to put a less attractive pot in. So for indoor use you would have to check to make sure you're not drowning them or for outdoor use you would have to drill holes? I think flower pots should be self-explanatory!

Earthboxes, on the other hand, are definitely read-the-instructions kind of items. But there ARE instructions, so that's cool. I just bought my first one and set it up yesterday. So Marsha, or TNTiger, is it true that those with addictive personalities should avoid earthboxes?

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by Bipetual

Wormgirl, I saw some pots at HD made by Fiskars that had no drain hole either, just a grid at the bottom. I wasn't sure if it was a self watering container or a cachepot to put a less attractive pot in. So for indoor use you would have to check to make sure you're not drowning them or for outdoor use you would have to drill holes? I think flower pots should be self-explanatory!

Earthboxes, on the other hand, are definitely read-the-instructions kind of items. But there ARE instructions, so that's cool. I just bought my first one and set it up yesterday. So Marsha, or TNTiger, is it true that those with addictive personalities should avoid earthboxes?

Yes Tamara, so freakin true!

[Tapout]

Mexico Midget is very very vigorous. I had a plant that grew so much it took over two adjacent abandoned cages and grew out the tops of those to.

[wormgirl]

Marsha and TNTiger - thanks for the input! Glad they are still making the same product. And I do keep hearing good things about the Promix BX. I saw some in the hydro store when I was picking up my Neptune's