Ok, the choices seem endless and too similar. I am looking for just the vertical containers without the coir and everything else.
1. I am in a big ag area and can easily get coir, dolmite, perlite, vermiculite and everything else. So I don't want to pay to shop that weight.
2. Do the vertical systems only work with the fancy fertilizers that come with Ezgrow? I doubt it but want to be sure.
3. EZgrow has the container at the top for fertlizing can I do this manually as needed in each trough?
I am growing in two different zones... at home in 7/8 and in 16. The growing area in 7/8 is on a well and am very interested in minimizing water usage. I also am battling deer and rabbits and gophers so I want to cram as much as possible in a small space. I have several square foot beds, things in the grown (rasberries, grapes, blackberry, strawberries, blueberries flowers, herbs, etc.) but to minimize the complication of irrigating the space, I want to try the vertical growers to make it much easier to manage.
I am also looking at a couple of EB or making my own.
I have 140 seedings popping up under grow lights right now. LIke 27 heirloom plants.
I am not new to gardening but to intensive gardening (Square foot, etc)
I want to approach this the most economical way possible.
Do grow bags hold water good on a drip?
Thanks in advance!
I love all these threads.... gardening is an addiction!!!
EZGrow, NJ, BocaBob's commercial vertical containers
I have 100 EZgro pots mounted 4 pots to a pole and have 4 to 5 years experience with them. The small pot at the top of the stacks is called a "diffuser" pot. Its purpose is to diffuse the flow of water into the top pot of the stacks to prevent a hard blast of water from knocking the grow mix out of the pot. It is not necessarily there for any fertilization purposes although I have thrown some slow release fertilizer pellets in there thinking that ferts would then wash down thru the stack each time I watered. Seemed to work good although I usually also add a weekly application of liquid water soluable fertilizer such as miraclegro. You might also consider spraying your plants with a foliar spray occassionally if you think they need it. I have a water supply that is strongly alkaline and counter the alkaline effect by using miraclegro "Miracid" fertilizer applications.
I have had pretty good results using standard methods of fertilizing the stacked containers but I think many of the so-called "hydroponic" type fertilizers are hard to beat and more likely to have all elements needed for plant growth than some of the over the counter fertilizers found in most retail outlets. But experimenting with regular fertilizers which are more easily purchased locally worked OK too.
Hey Jaywhacker: Was wondering where you've been. LOL I've picked up the nickname "Bob the Builder" from my daughter as I'm now the happy owner of 37 E buckets and made 16 for others. I've come up with a brillant design copied from Gardeners Supply 2 tiered above garden bed, gonna make it from my collapsed picnic table and use my collapsed greenhouse frame for the garden hoops to put garden cloths on when needed. I'm also going to drill holes in the sides to poke soaker hoses through. I wish now I'd of invested in some stackers myself, think my strawberries would have loved it better than the strawberry topsy turvys I bought for them.
joy