2018 Container Garden-Tijuana, México

[Gerardo]

Hello Everyone, happy gardening this 2018 season to you all.

This thread will hopefully document growing in containers
of various types and sizes, and under varied conditions.

CONTAINERS
About 50 containers (nursery blacks in various sizes,
converted 5 gal water bottles, and 10-25 gal grow bags)
will house Cherries, Dwarfs, micros, determinates, and
other assorted plants.

Indeterminates will live in 75 hybrid RGGS slots (in short,
a 4 inch sewer pipe is filled with fertigated water permanently,
containers wick up via a coco coir-peat moss filled net cup
sitting under the 4-5 gallons of potting mix).

Doubling up in each slot, so that’s 150 indeterminates.

SUPPORT SYSTEM
RGGS slots will be supported with green trellis netting (6 in holes)
suspended from overhead stainless steel wires. Height
from ground to wire is right around 7 ft—secured below
via stapling to the wooden RGGS tube supports.
green trellis.jpg
I use large plastic clothespins to attach stems to the trellis,
so it’s pretty low stress.

Towards the end of last season there was significant weight
pulling the wires-trellis and they did fine.

Free-standing containers will have CRW cages, dollar
store trellises, and bamboo.

POTTING MIX
Potting mix will be 50:50 (new:recycled), with Royal Gold’s
Tupur being the major contributor. Price is decent and I like
that it’s a blank slate to play with. The recycled component is
a diverse mix that's been resting for months.

FERTILIZERS
Have a lot of osmocote I scooped up at 2 USD
per bottle. I’ll use it sparingly in combination with Tomato
Tone as part of a fertilizer strip for free-standing containers,
supplementing Magnesium-Cal Nitrate accordingly too.

For the RGGS slots, I’ll likely use Haifa Polyfeed with Micros
for the initial part of the grow and then switch to a formula
closer to ChemGro. I’d love to go with ChemGro, however,
the 25kg bags of Haifa products are priced lower
here in MX, so we’ll see if I can make it work.

All will enjoy periodic veg-compost tea via drench, and foliar supplements.

Inoculation with beneficial microbes will occur throughout the grow.

NEW ADDITIONS
This year’s addition will be shade cloth over these 75 slots.
I have to check what percentages are available/recommended
for our area when I head to the Ag section next week.

TEMPLE OF JANUS DOORS: OPEN.
On the insect front my citrus trees are starting to bloom, so
I’m already going hard at them trying to evict my favorite
interlopers.

Spinosad, garlic-superhot pepper infused oil, detergents,
DE, Met52EC, and copper round out the current integrated
pest management strategy.

And if I continue to see the little thrip b@$T@rd$ in the
blooms I’m gonna bite the bullet and buy Exalt (spinetoram)
just so I can watch them die writhing.

Die thrips, die!

[Gerardo]

I have 3 objectives this season.

1. Unravel Elgin Pink x Anna Maria’s Heart F2
   (selection criteria: hearts, compact plant, large fruit, taste!!!)
   
2. Grow out Spain, Eastern Europe, dwarfs, saving lots of seeds for distribution.
   
3. Eat delicious tomatoes

Here’s some of the already emerged ones:

• Better Boy
• Big Green Dwarf
• Dwarf Emerald Giant
• Dwarf Kelly Green
• Elgin Pink
• Fred’s TD
• Gribovsky
• Isolde
• Koroleva
• Larisa
• Orange Minsk H.
• P. Datterino dolce de Pacino
• Spudakee
• Summertime Green
• Zarca
• Villariego Grande
• Rosado Pastrana
• Cabezón de la Sal

Sowed, awaiting emergence.

• 54 cells of Elgin Pink x Anna Maria’s Heart F2
• 18 cells of Tyazheloves Sibiri
• Canestrino di Lucca
• Castellano
• Cheste
• Corazón de Huesca
• Cuarentena
• Elche
• Flor de Baladre
• Gallego
• Gigante Avila
• Limbo
• Lyana
• Marizol Purple
• Maskotka
• Mikhalych
• Morado Cuevas de San Marcos
• Morado Rondeño
• Morado Vejer de la Frontera
• Mozkorra Aretxabaleta
• Negro de Moratalla
• Pombriego El Bierzo
• Riojana
• Rosa de Teruel
• Rosado de Aracena
• Rosado Levante
• Rozovoe Rafaello
• San Marzano Redorta/Nano/Super/3
• Tradicional Olmeda de las Fuentes
• Zamorano
• Zaragozano de Utebo

Saving lots of seed, so I'll be aggressively fighting off invaders to minimize viruses and other fun stuff.

PS. I'd love to grow more Siberian tomatoes, alas, I've misplaced my seed bag and will have to continue searching. For the moment, Tyazheloves Sibiri and Orange Minsk heart will be the representatives. I really liked Tyazheloves S: excellent flavor, semi-det, and keeps for a very long time.

[Gerardo]

Mostly SPAIN
fa3bf19f-0e2e-4d43-8e3f-442d532f832a.jpg

small round pots, just right to start them
1b595a68-bf70-43eb-9a5b-3e15735d4995.jpg

Lots of sweet basil
459ccc18-79e0-4e51-8a87-93ab36222a8b.jpg


Overwintered peppers, hot. The one in the red container didn't make it.
cd320dc1-79a4-4d36-a2aa-c9666f8a4623.jpg

[asmx91]

Good Luck!!!
My Spanish are up, too!!!!

[Gerardo]

Originally Posted by asmx91

Good Luck!!!
My Spanish are up, too!!!!

great to hear, more good ones this year too!!! Hope the snow says goodbye soon.

[zipcode]

What variant of Haifa are you using? The GG?

[Barb_FL]

Best of luck with your garden. Looking forward to pictures.

What brand of Coco Coir do you use? I've been mixing 50-50 with Promix or the Lucky Dog Potting mix.

I used the cheap brick stuff up in quality of Wonder Soil. I relied on the rain some but ended up washing the cheap stuff until the water ran clear.

[Salsacharley]

You are committing a lot of space to Elgin Pink x Anna Maria's Heart F2! What is the appeal of this one?

[Gerardo]

Originally Posted by zipcode

What variant of Haifa are you using? The GG?

Yes, 18-18-18 GG. The "drip" is also available, although it seems to be more for soil.

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

Best of luck with your garden. Looking forward to pictures.

What brand of Coco Coir do you use? I've been mixing 50-50 with Promix or the Lucky Dog Potting mix.

Thanks! I used the cheap brick stuff up in quality of Wonder Soil. I relied on the rain some but ended up washing the cheap stuff until the water ran clear.

I usually buy the "open" bag at my hydro store, sometimes it's the very high quality stuff others it's the brick you mentioned. Doesn't matter much, only a wicking medium below the potting mix. I've seen the Lucky Dog, have not tried it, do you recommend? Tried the Ocean Forest once and some plants liked it a lot, others felt it was hot. Hard to predict which ones can handle the amendments.

This year Tupur (Royal Gold) is the mix of choice, decent quality coco coir, good bang for the buck. The absolute best Coco Coir I've tried is Bio Bizz Coco Mix, fun to run fingers through it. Silky Smooth.

http://royalgoldcoco.com/soils/royal-gold/tupur-pid-3

Originally Posted by Salsacharley

You are committing a lot of space to Elgin Pink x Anna Maria's Heart F2! What is the appeal of this one?

Taste, size of plant, and disease resistance in my neck of the woods. Also, I've gotta pick the right horses, so I want to have a sample size that allows me to see genetics at play. Curiosity mostly.

[Gerardo]

Fun stuff to grow in the cold.

[GrowingCoastal]

Cold? You can grow basil in the cold? How 'cold' is it in Tijuana in winter?

[Gerardo]

Originally Posted by GrowingCoastal

Cold? You can grow basil in the cold? How 'cold' is it in Tijuana in winter?

spine tingling 40s-50s

[Gerardo]

We have liftoff.

Somewhat yellow, the Kings Mix is hot apparently, or it's the cold evenings, or both.

I can live with it, as will the seedlings.

Next batch will start in Tupur.

No dense planting this year.

Spares in the mixing tub, looking forward to Spudakee.

Lots of Tyazheloves Sibiri, Cabezón de la Sal, and Villariego Grande.

thanks a million Andrey and Baikal.

[rocketFOOD]

Mine have been pretty slow to grow in these the cold nights and rainy days recently. Looks to be warming up though.

[Gerardo]

Originally Posted by rocketFOOD

Mine have been pretty slow to grow in these the cold nights and rainy days recently. Looks to be warming up though.

If the seedlings had grown up inside they would be further along. Citrus blooms agree with you on the warming up part. On a few of those nights I had to bring in my pooches. Let's hope for warmer evenings.