BocaBob's January Pics

Here's some pics from today:

I've been picking tomatoes for 4 weeks now

Hangin cukes

Sweet Charlie strawberries almost ready

European seedless cukes

My first lemon cuke

Icabon Eggplant

Head cabbage coming along

Strawberries in a Hydro-stacker

Buttercrunch lettuce

Granex onions

Romaine Lettuce

Some pickings

Everything you see is growing in Coconut Coir and in containers (of different types)

See ya around

BocaBob

BocoBob,

It looks like you got all straight A+'s this year. You must be doing something right. do you replant for Spring?

If I may ask a question about your drip system, why are some of your lateral lines brown and some black?

Jerry

Thanks Jerry, Yes, I will replant everyrthing I'm growing now. Currently planting tomato and pepper seeds, Chinese cabbage, onion plants, cukes, bush and pole beans, eggplant, and I never stop planting lettuce year round. I'll give watermelon and cantaloupe another try this year. Last year I had pollination problems.

I have a few different sizes of micro tubing I'm using for different drip irrigation and they come in different colors.

BocaBob

Wow, how beautiful!! Your gorgeous fresh veggies are really making me hungry! It's great that you can plant all year round. We are supposed to get up to 10 inches of snow when this snow storm ends!
Is the head cabbage planted in the 39" Lay Flat Coco Coir grow Bag?

BocaBob: I've been watching your posts and trying to learn all I can about container gardening and coir as a growing medium. What type of container are your lemon cucumbers growing in?

BocaBob, What a beautiful garden you have. It makes Spring feel closer for me here in TN just to look at it. You are your own best ad man. Devota

Bob.........Are you still watering 3 times a day and using that fertilizer you sell on all your plants?

Boca Bob, great to see your coir planted garden. It snowed here again yesterday, then I think some rain in the night. At any rate very heavy 2-3" of snow to try to move. i think there is now with all the settling about 12" of wet heavy snow where other snow not piled on top.

Here in my back of beyond area I haven't seen any coir, I didn't check yet at HD, they may be getting some in. I want to try stuffing my Parks Bio-Dome sponge holes with the coir. Donna

Bob: Your veggies look delicious, Your and TPlants' tomatoes always look so delicious. I will be planting my seeds somewheres around the middle of February maybe a little earlier on. Then around the 17th or 16th I'll be scatting down your way. Hope to see you and Tplant both when I get there. I did the yahoo maps to all the places I'm shopping at, and it's only a little over 600 miles one way, so, I should be fine, about an 8 hr - 10 hr drive is all.
joy112854

gardadore - yes, in a lay flat bag. My Chinese cabbage is also.

mom2goldens - The lemon cuke is growing in a 5 gallon coco coir grow bag

jaywhacker - No, I've changed to one good soaking a day because I wanted to make sure the coco coir got fully wet and some drained to waste. Definitely using the same fertilizer on all my veggies.

BocaBob

Bob.........Nothing beats that type fertilizer. Some people might assume it is just for hydroponic gardening but that is misleading. I didnt use it this year because I wonted to try slow release fertilizer in all my type of pots with an ocassional tap of soluable ferts just to see if I could make it work. I was kind of worried that it might not work in the vertical systems but it did work OK. Probably only I would know the difference because I could judge it from the year before. One thing I did notice. On the vertical poles using slow release pellets in the pots and an occassional half hand full added to the diffuser pot on top plus ocassional weak soluable feed, I had lots more roots form in the pots. It is like the roots were searching for fertilizer down the middle of the pots. In fact, roots grew from pot to pot right down the center and locked all the vertical pots together. LOL I had 5 vertical pots all locked together so tight I had to poke a long knife in there and cut the roots to seperate the pots. My son is lots stronger than me. He was able to lift all five vertical pots up and off their pole and they were all just stuck together. Boy, what a mass of roots. I dont think I saved any money at all compared to the hydroponic type ferts I had been using the previous year. Especially when local suppliers mostly sell in smaller packages so they can charge more.

When I used the type of fertilizer you are selling now in the previous years, the plants had less roots and more lush growth and disassembly was much easier and quicker. Between these experiments I have made and after looking at the results you are getting, I think I am on the right track.

If you are able to only water once a day, thats a big savings on fertilizers right there. Now If I can just manage to get my automatic watering system set up, I will be off and running for the new year. You keep posting and I will keep learning.

Bob how do you choose whether to use your 5 gallon grow bag or the long one? I know you can get 2 tomato plants in the 5 gallon, but 4-5 plants in your long white ones. How would I know which one to use for what plant? thanks!

Also, can you put dolomite and 10-10-10 inside the grow bag just like you would with an EB?

Darkmoondreamer,
I believe the answer has to do with a deep vertical grow bag vs. and shallow, long vertical grow bag. Tomatoes and some other plants throw roots pretty deep. Other plants have a shallow root system and don't require the depth of BocaBob's vertical grow bags. So -- deep root system = 5 gallon vertical grow bag; shallow root system = shallow, long grow bag.

Thanks Gymgirl! I appreciate the answer....Now....if I can just figure out which plants have long/shallow roots, LOL! I always have something to ask, can anyone tell I'm new to veggies?

Karen,

I'm finding out more and more the choice of the 5 gallon bag or the lay flat is personal. What I mean is that I have seen pictures of professional greenhouses using the layflat bags with 3 tomato plants in each one. I have also seen the 5 gallon ones with 2 tomato plants in them . I personally put only one tomato plant in the 5 gallon bags and don't use the layflat ones for toms. I think the layflat bags would be great for viney plants like watermelon, cantelope, and winter squashes. I have bulbing onions in them too. I plant 14 onion plants in each one and they are doing fine. The bottom line I think is most veggies will grow just fine in either type as long as you water and feed them correctly.

BocaBob

Thank you so much Bob! So, how would you add fertilizer to the lay flat bag? I am a real dummy, LOL!

Karen,

I use a water soluble fertilizer like Miracle Gro or my commericial one. Tplant has slit open the lay flat bag and has added the dolimite lime and 10-10-10 to his. He needs to chime in here and ket us know how that is working. With the water soluble type, I would water daily and feed once a week or as per directions on the box.

BocaBob

OK! Here I am! I slit the side with a razor and pour one cup 10-10-10 in
to it and then use masking or white duct tape to close it up. No need for lime in the lay flat bags as I do not grow tomatos in them but lettuce and stringbeans do great in them. With the coir I only use dolomite and 10-10-10 in my EBs or large gro bags for tomatoes as they love the dolomite because of the mineral content but it wouldn't hurt to add a few tablespoons of dolomite in the lay flat bagsfirst by mixing it in then adding the fertilizer on the side and the plants on the other side. Organic fertilizer would probably be better in the lay flats as you would not have to worry about root burn. I'm careful so I don't have root burn with anything.

Haha, just wrote you a Dmail dear Tplant, asking the same question! Thanks!

I know! Figured it wouldn't hurt to answer the question both ways to help others also?

I plan on growing tomatoes in my lay flat bags, 36 plants, 3 per bag. So I'll let you know how that goes.

This is going to save me from digging up my front yard and ruining all my pretty red much we have down there. Fingers crossed all comes out well.

Also, will be using the bulk coir in pots as growing medium and amendment to some other organic soil I have here left from last year. (Want to use up what I've got.)

I figure my tomatoes are going to run me around $25.00 per pound this year. LOL!

Oh, well, you have to have tools right? :) hehehe!

Bocabob --- This may not fit in with your topic but I must let you know about two Don Juan roses I bought this summer from Home Depot. I planted them alongside of a Don Juan that I've had for almost a year with the older being in the center and the newer on each side for affect. They are a beautiful, fragrant, climbing red rose .Using the exact same container and same fertilizer to match plus using the coir for the first time the growth of the new roses has been spectacular plus they are now equal size and in full bloom more so than the original? I couldn't believe the difference. They love the coco coir. As soon as I am better I will take pictures and post them on the rose thread. Sure glad I used your coir and from here on that is all I'll ever use for my new calla lillies which are on their way plus my dinner plate Dahlias and gladioli.
Ted

Here's a couple of new pics:

Here's a black beauty eggplant in a 5 gallon grow bag w/ coco coir

Acorn winter squash flowering, growing in a lay flat grow bag w/ coco coir

Strawberries coming along nice in a Hydro-Stacker w/ coco coir

A hole bunch of granex onion plants in 5 gallon grow bags w/ coco coir (5 to the bag)

Buttercrunch lettuce growing in my homemade Ebucket

Boco Bob
I just read your post on Jan. 10
Picking tomatoes.for 4 weeks.
I'am sooooooooooo jealous .
If I could just get my kids and grandkids to move!!!!
FAT CHANCE

~Terry