flower tower

This is my tower of 5 terra cotta planters on a piece of rebar. I didn't think it would turn out this good.

Looks great. Do you have an earlier photo? I would like to see the "bones" of this.

Rose

No, I didn't take before pictures. I just used 5 pots, a 6 ft. piece of rebar, and some small seedlings I grew. I didn't know that I had placed it in the middle of the hosta. It hadn't started coming up yet.

Tammy - I love the plant tower. I'm going to keep that in mind for next year. I made one with pots laying down. This is an early photo. I can't find a recent one with it all filled in, but I will keep looking through my folders!! Eleanor

Found the more recent photo! Eleanor

These are lovely; the spilling effect is very cottage-garden and homey.

I really like that, grammyphoeb. I think next year I'll try that one next to mine. Was it hard to plant with it laying down like that? Or a little hard to water? I hardly have any dirt left in mine from the rain beating down on it.

Tammy - it was somewhat hard planting the pots laying down. It is difficult to water but I use the shower setting on my gardenhose and spray it in gentley. I also think I will try your plant tower next to my spilling pots next year!! Eleanor

This is how Disney does theirs, they have lots of money.

And they were nice enough to show how they did it.

Cool.

I bet you could do that with the round pans they use to feed and water baby chicks. They have a wire rack across the top, so the next one stacked ontop won't fall in....

Dave,

Those are too awesome!....Gives me some Ideas for next year....

Ed

Google this: http://www.theezgro.com/index.html

also google up stackapots......also verti-gro......and there are others similiar to that if you google "vertical growing".

The EZgro seems the best to me. The original 5 pot system comes complete with all necessary mounting poles (3/4 inch electrical conduit) and fittings and growing medium of perlite/ vermiculite (80/20 percent mix) and enough soluable fertilizer for one growing season. My total price for a single five pot system was $80 including $20 freight charge. Not being a salesman for EZgro here but I strongly recommend it because it is complete with the growing mix that makes it almost impossible to over water your plants. You do not have to purchase a timer and pump automated system.....simply pour about 3 pints of water/fertilizer solution into the top pot a couple of times a day when plants are small. As the plants get larger and/or the weather gets hotter, you can increase the water/fertilizer volume accordingly.

One five pot pole will grow twenty plants. I have eight poles in production at this time. That is 160 plants......all on poles.......most of them at eyeball level while standing......or sitting on a five gallon bucket. No bending and stooping and kneeling. At 75 years of age, stooping and kneeling becomes more troublesome. Actually, getting down is not much of a problem, I can just fall down......but getting back up gets more difficult as father time keeps pounding on me. I am really enjoying gardening on a pole....vertical gardening at its best. I have the timer/pump automated watering system using a 32 gallon garbage can to contain the fertilizer solution and I have to replenish that every other day so it is not a labor free system. I am now convinced that it can just as easily be done by hand pouring the fertilizer solution through the pots but the automated system is nice if you have to leave home for a few days.

I have 4 more poles to assemble for another 80 plant sites. This time I will try mixing osmocote type slow release fertilizer in with the perlite/ vermiculite growing mix and then just use a simple timer on a water faucet to run just plain water thru the pots. It should work just fine. I can always add as much soluable fertilizer as needed if that becomes necessary.

Lettuce, Radish and such stuff really takes off and grows well in this system. Tomato,s can be grown out of the top pots and allowed to hang down although I have not tried that yet. I have grown snapdragon, stocks, vinca, nasturtium, nicotinia, ivy, basil, oregano, pot marigold, etc and all do well.

I have one pole set up in a filtered shade location that I use to start seeds and propagate cuttings. The perlite/vermiculie mix as supplied by EZgro is just perfect for starting seeds and sticking cuttings. The moisture content seems just right without the possibility of waterlogging and damping off. With 20 plant sites per pole (4 plant sites per pot and 5 pots per pole equal 20 sites) sticking just 5 cuttings per site gives you 100 cuttings per pole. Or I can reverse that........grow 20 plants on the pole and take cuttings off of them. Let your imagine go wild while standing or sitting comfortably and playing around with your plants.

I guess I got carried away and talked too much but I am really enjoying my vertical growing system.

Great info Jaywhacker! Very interesting!

Tammy...Love your pots!

Planted this one a few month's ago, a mixture of herbs and fllowers. Love going out to the planter when I'm cooking and grabbing a handfull of basil, parsley, oregano and rosemary. This is a real cute planter and I'm thinking of getting another one just to showcase flowers!

KatG - I love your pots also. Now I don't know what to do for next year - I like the idea of making my own tower out of clay pots and rebar, but yours is also a good idea. I used two tiers of those for succulents when they outgrew a strawberry jar, but I like the way the flowers, etc. tumble out of the containers. Eleanor

Eleanor...just thought I would try this particular container out. It really is pretty cute when things grow. However, it is pretty plastic looking and I would definitely prefer terra cotta. I really am going to order another one though and plant flowers that will drape and completely hide the pot. It has a very unique little draining device in it also, that ensures that you don't over-water. It's been great for the herbs.

How do you make the tower out of clay pots and rebar? I think the spilling pots are so incredible, but I just don't think they would survive in this heat. You mentioned side-ways watering? I spend a lot of time watering everyday (and I love it!) with upright containers and they still wilt with the heat.

Kat

pic: overgrown containers.

Kat, here is a thread that shows the clay pots and rebar idea: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/611446/

Thank you so much mgh!

That really is pretty simple and very cool!

It sure is. I'm gonna have to try it next year....never did get to it this year.

KatG - my spilling pots are in the shade and we also planted some new grass just a few feet away so the sprinkler has been running on that and the pots get it to. But when i water with the hose I put the setting on shower and just spray it in - when the plants are young and the roots haven't taken hold you have to be careful.
mgh - I love the tipsy pots. Thanks for the link. I definetly have to try that one next year. My yard is going to be full of strange (whimsical) pots next year. I'm planning already!!!! LOL Eleanor

KatG, where did you get your plastic stacked pots? Those look really pretty.

Just a thought: if you don't care for the phoney terra cotta colored plastic, did you know that there is a paint made especially for plastic called "Fusion"? There is a very nice pale green called "honeydew" and a few other colors that would be nice for pots.

This message was edited Sep 2, 2007 11:26 AM

Thank's Woofie. Looked up that paint and it really is something else! From the pic's, it sure seems to do a great job. Good colors too. Have you used it? I think I read somewhere on the Kryron site that it was made by Sherwin Williams...they make good paint.

I bought that stacker from http://www.aracelystackers.com/index.html...they've got all different kinds also - hanging, rail, tubs, etc. Very good and fast shipping also. I'm running out of room for containers...so these are great as I can go vertical! hehe. Would like to do one with all overflowing plants.

Thanks for the info on the stacked pots. They're a bit on the expensive side, aren't they? But that site you posted has much better prices than the other places I looked. MUCH better. (Did you see the Pyramid Display they have on sale? Ooooh, but I'm tempted!)

Yes, I've used the Fusion paint and it seems to work well. I tried to take a picture of the one I painted with the Honeydew next to one of the fake terra cotta color pots, but the color in the picture didn't come out quite right. I'll attach it anyway. It goes on smoothly, but you have to be careful not to get the spray can too close or the paint will run. I did a small plastic pot in the light pink a year or so ago and it has held up well, even sitting outside in the weather. I'm trying it on some larger pots this year, so we'll see how well it holds up.


This message was edited Sep 3, 2007 12:05 PM

KatG,s stacked pots are called Stack-a-pots. If you google Stack-A-Pots website, you will see a list of dealers selling those products. Charlies greenhouses is one of those dealers. There is some variations in price. Stack-a-pot seems to be a very forward thinking company and is adding new features and designs all the time. For my purposes though, I am very pleased with the EZgro system as it comes complete with all mounting poles cut to size (3/4 inch electrical conduit) and complete with grow mix.

For those contemplating going to a stacked pot system, I would suggest you pay very close attention to what grow mix you use in the pots. Verti-gro provided me with a Coir-perlite mix. EZgro provided me with a perlite-vermiculite mix. None of the other stacked pot systems I researched provided grow mix as part of the basic kit price. The wrong mix in a stacked pot system can really eliminate their advantages.

This is my petunia tower. Used ready-rod, nuts & washers and old plant pots.

This is a 3 tiered basket

how did you do the 3 stacked one?

It is a 3 tier wire basket tower that I bought. The trellis tubing is hollow, but it is very sturdy.

very pretty:)

Thanks. I had started all the petunias from seed & had a lot. We've had several frosts, but it is close to house & still looks awesome. I put Smart-cote slow release for hanging baskets in all my containers. In August, I fertilize with miracle grow Ultra Bloom. Any day now we will have a major killing frost and it will be all over for the season, but so far they have not shown any sign of damage. The # of daylight hours has changed signifigantly, which affects the plants. Tonight we are forcasted for a little snow.

Very cool, Joanne!!