Successful container gardening

Here are some of my pics for the end of November.

Earthboxes and grow bags with coco coir

romaine lettuce

more cukes

strawberries in a 5 gallon grow bag

tomatoes starting to ripen

more toms

Chinese cabbage

a close up

another variety of chinese cabbage

a cluster of grape tomatoes

Homestead tomatoes

Plum tomatoes

Pictures say a thousand words

Young tomatoes getting ready for transplanting

BocaBob

Great pictures! What an excellent testament to your abilities to connect with nature.

How are the wire cages anchored around the grow bags in the pictures of the climbing cucumbers?

I grow cucs up on cattle panels as it saves space and the fruits are much cleaner than when they lay on dirt.

Thanks Texas - Actually the wire cage around the cukes was to keep my cat out. I have found a much better method of supporting cukes, tomatoes, peppers, beans, and peas. I hang twine from a support above and use plant clips. They cost pennies each and are the best support I have ever used. All the professional greenhouses use them.

BocaBob

I have read about the twin & clip systems and wondered how well they hold up to the weight of a group of plants heavily ladened with fruit? Beans & peas, maybe OK, but cukes, tomatoes, & cantaloupes, I just don't know. Yes, I've grown cantaloupes upright on cattle panels. Sometimes it is necessary to build a cradle from mama's nylon stocking to support the cantaloupe. Otherwise the weight of the cantaloupe will pull the vine from the cattle panel.

Be sure to let's us know how you like the string system for the heavier stuff.

I haven't tried melons but for tomatoes and cukes no problem. Right now both my cuke and tomato plants are loaded with fruit with no sagging or broken stems. So far so good. If I do have any problems I will surely report it.

Purrty garden, Bob! Everything is coming along mighty fine!

And to see those red tomatoes this time of year is a treat to the eyeball!

Enjoy your veggies! (And that chinese cabbage will make some great kimchee!)

Shoe

thanks shoe!!!

Boca Bob: Beautiful veggies, and your strawberries look fabulous. I just got a catalogue in the mail where they are selling coconut coir pellets now instead of the peat pellets, they are even selling the hot house and mat along with the coconut coir pellets. Seems to be the rave, here is that website: www.GreenhouseCatalog.com
joy112854

Go Coconut Coir!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

Dave: I'm really thinking about that hot house with heat mat it is only $50 and has a heating mat, dome, 72 cells and comes with the 72 coconut coir pellets. I'm tied right now between making the decision to get it or the bio dome by Parks, as I think both of these would prevent my overwatering you think?
joy112854

Joy,

Do I understand you correctly that the heat mat, dome, cells, etc all together is $50? That sounds like a fair price depending on the mat size. How large is the mat in that kit? Because you might want to check out the DG Co-op offer for the same mats. I have the 20 x 20 (for 2 trays) plus the Park's Bio Dome and use it with my mat. I love it. The bottom container for the Park's Bio Dome is nice and sturdy and can be used for lots of things. But the coir cells look really appealing over the Park's cells. I have used the Park's cells for many years but they don't biodegrade well so I have stopped using them. I couldn't find the kit offer on the site, just the individual offerings.

Gardadore: You just have to type in Hot House with Heat Mat or item number HS-35, their phone number is 1-800-825-1925. I'm so tempted to get it. I was thinking about getting the Park's bio dome with heat mat and thermostat myself, as I know Boca Bob uses their bio dome and was thinking with my liking to overwater my startings the way I do, ( I use the regular peat pellets), maybe the bio dome from Parks and the sponges would prevent that? So; now I'm at a cross roads as to which one would work better for me. I have been wanting to get heating mats as I don't have any and I know the bio dome from Park's you don't have to waste seeds by planting more than one per sponge as they claim they pretty near all germinate.
joy112854

OK joy112854- listen closely before you spend to much money. I bought a Parks Bio Dome. It came with a first set of sponges. The Bio Dome is fantastic, the sponges are just so so. I aggree with gardadore about the sponges. After I used up the sponges that came with the Bio Dome, I used Coco coir ( not pellets) but from a 5 gallon grow bag. I stuffed the rehydrated coco coir into the holes of the styrofoam and it worked GREAT. And one $3.95 5 gallon grow bag's coco coir will fill hundreds of cells. When the plant is ready to transplant out of the cells, you just push up from the bottom and outm it comes, one beautiful root mass around the coco coir. Now the 60 cell Bio Dome is $24.95 and the 1 grow bag of coir is $3.95. Now check out the DG co- op for the mat.

BocaBob

In Japan they are replacing rockwell with coconut coir medium in their vegetable cultivation,the result was 16% higher yield(they were growing cucmbers).I won't be surprise if the yield % to be even higher.

christmas - Do you happen to have that article or where can I find it? Love to read the whole thing. Go Coconut Coir!!!!!

BocaBob

English Title: Cucumber Cultivation in energy-saving hydroponic system using coconut coir as growing media.
Publisher: Japanese Society for Tropical Agriculture.
cababstractsplus.org/google/abstract.asp?ACNO=20053137356.

Here is an active link to the report C-cactus gave above.

http://cababstractsplus.org/google/abstract.asp?ACNO=20053137356

Shoe
(edited to make the link live. sorry!)

This message was edited Nov 30, 2008 1:59 PM

Bob, after reading the report I noticed, once again, that the calcium issue keeps popping up w/relation to coir. Even using a hydroponic fertilizer there was still a lock-up of calcium. I think I'd recommend to folks to use a calcium amendment with coir.

Shoe

Shoe: I was noticing at the Aces' Hardware store that they sell bags of calcium in the garden section, with people talking about tomatoes and peppers needing calcium and magnesium to grow into edible tomatoes and peppers I was wondering why we are using lime instead of calcium? Also; couldn't this calcium just be added to the watering system, if you use coconut coir and if it would dissolve?
joy112854

Bob: That sounds like a great idea and I actually do need the heat mat. My problem is as you've probably noticed, I tend to overwater my seedlings. I wasn't sure since that is my problem which way to go with what to use, either the bio dome and sponges or the coconut coir. From reading your descriptions of the coconut coir, it holds in moisture so that the plants don't get too much water doesn't it? Now, does the bio sponges do that? From what I've been reading from Gardadore the sponges don't biodegrade well? What does that mean? And if the coconut coir has calcium deficiencies that wouldn't be good for my peppers and tomatoes, although, that is just for the period of their starting stage, they will go into the EB and then get all they need anyways I would think? Any comments here. Still trying to decide which way to go here? The peat pellets although nice, have a tendency to dry out too quickly I think; that is my reasoning for deciding to either try the bio sponges or the coconut coir.
joy112854

Shoe- Espoma puts out a garden lime in a 5lb bag. Calcium is 21%, Magnesium is 10%. Is this what you mean by a calcium amendment? They say on the bag it is the finest grade of pelletized dolomitic limestone available, or should bone meal do the trick?, or Gypsum like Jessica has said

Bob

This message was edited Nov 30, 2008 7:15 PM

This message was edited Nov 30, 2008 7:52 PM

joy112854- the coco coir has no nutrients in it. They all have to be added. For example, my fertilizer has all the necessary ingredients for healthy plants, we just need to get to the bottom of this calcium lock-up issue. Shoe seems to be really helping. I have noticed that the bio sponges dry out quickly, but I don't use them anymore once they were used up. They will break down, just seems like forever. I still want you to know I have hundreds of tomatoes on my plants and not one has BER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Peppers either. I'Ve checked!! What I do with the Bio Domes is I fill the cells with coco coir and plant the seeds. When I want to water (and feed) the seedlings, I lift out the styrofoam cell block from it's base, water them, let all extra water drain off, and then put the block back into the plastic base.

Bob: I will give everyone as much time as they need to answer this as I' won't be planting myself til late January or February for here. I know we put the startings in the EBs when they have grown a little; but at what stage do they need the calcium and magnesium; because if it isn't until they are put into the EB, then there isn't a problem for me with it, as I will add lime like the EB directions call for in my EBs and GPs from now on, the GPs didn't require it in their instructions, but from my experience this last Spring/Summer, I think my tomatoes and peppers failure might have been due to lack of calcium and magnesium and horned catepillars both. I bought the seedlings this last Spring/Summer though and this time I'm growing my own. So; the question really would be for me, when do these plants need the calcium and magnesium and do the bio sponges give them that if the coconut coir doesn't as I'm just using it for a starting medium right now.
joy112854

Joy,
Thanks for the Greenhouse order number. I'll check that out later.
The Bio Dome sponges worked well for germinating but you have to add amendments such as a liquid fish emulsion to the seedlings. The sponges don't biodegrade in the soil which means I find them there when I re-dig the soil for new plantings the next year! or even the year after that..! It's not a huge problem but I have since started germinating everything either in regular 6 packs or in cut up used cardboard toilet tissue rolls filled with a moist coir starting mix I always bought from Garden's Alive or Gurney's. (I am becoming concerned about some of their business practices recently so am steering away from them but I really liked the starting mix. Garden's Alive also carries a granulated Calcium.)The cardboard disintegrates in the soil and you don't damage the root when you transplant. I just save the rolls all year long!

BUT, I really like Boca Bob's suggestion for buying the coir in the 5 gallon packs and using that with the Bio Dome styrofoam base. I would add worm castings to the coir and probably some gypsum. I will definitely be ordering some of the 5 gallon coir packs for next spring. Do seriously consider ordering the mat from the Co-op. It really is a good deal and you can get the bigger one (2 tray) which would be better with the larger Bio Dome anyway.

Shoe, Is there a problem with using the Gypsum for calcium in place of the Dolomite Lime in the Coir? I have a 25 pound bag which I have been using for the last two years in the EB's and my regular soil. No problems with BER on the tomatoes. Jessica

This message was edited Nov 30, 2008 7:50 PM

Joy,
Our postings crossed. I don't believe the sponges have any nutrients but I am not sure since I don't know what they are made of. There is no problem with you using them this first year to use them up but as Boca Bob mentioned, they do dry out and have to be watched. Maybe he knows about nutrients in them.
Jessica

I think they are some sort of composted bark and some natural glue to make them spongy. They have No nutrients in them of any kind.

Bob

Thanks, Bob, that's what I thought. Like you said, they do take ages to break down!