I live in Ohio and there is no soil, just clay. So I thought that perhaps I would build some boxes to grow in. Does anyone have or know where i can get plans to build boxes?
Does Anyone have plans to make boxes yourself?
hi, gollem. in my case, it's not cost effective to do a custom kit. i have both EarthBoxes and Tomato Success Kits and plan on getting more a little at a time. people in this forum are really wonderful, and they will chime in soon enough. have fun!
i just posted a couple of links a few thread down, and here they are:
[HYPERLINK@www.tomatofest.com]
it uses the 31-gallon rubbermaid roughneck. he has many photos, and a very nice man to boot. his design benefits a very good cause in haiti, i believe.
tomatoville is free as well.
[HYPERLINK@tomatoville.com]
i hope this helps.
annapet
gollem
Hi and welcome. There are many great ways to grow in containers. I have Eathboxes, Hydrostackers and EZGro vertical units, and Grow Bags w/ coconut coir (which I prefer beacuse of their cost). Look around the posts in this forum.
BocaBob
Hi gollem,
I can sympathize with your "clay" problem. If I wanted to make bricks the soil here would be perfect, but for growing . . . the plants can't even get roots into the stuff.
I made several raised beds that I grow veggies and flowers in. I didn't use pre-planned kits, though. Too expensive. I bought some 1"x8"x12' pine boards at HD. I had them each cut into 4' and 8' lengths. The cutting was free. I screwed them together with 3" deck screws and an electric drill. I laid down several sheets of cardboard and then filled them with top soil. These beds work just fine. Because I did not treat the boards, they will eventually rot away. Right now they are three years old and appear to have many years yet to go on them.
The only problem I have had is that I put some of them over Devil grass, also called wire grass, without killing it first. It does try to come up into those beds and I have to pull it from time to time. We also have some type of broad-blade grass in the yard. This grass has not been a problem.
You don't really need any specific plans. Just figure out where you want them and how big you want them to be. Some people make raised beds 18-24" deep. The 12" has worked well for me.
Karen
Hey, Gollem!
I'm gonna be constructing about 10 eBuckets probably in the next few weekends, in time for my plantout the weekend closest to March 15th (The IDES of March!) Once I have my buckets, drill, and drillbits lined up, and my PVC tubing already cut to the proper length, I can put one together in about 10 minutes, start to finish.
LMK if you wanna make some and I'll tell you how. Piece 'a cake to make!
But are they successful? With the exception of Boca Bob's HEB's I've never seen any pictures of the fruit other than some plants growing in them? Just because plants grow in them does not mean tomatos will be produced so be careful. I can not recall any that are pictured loaded with tomatos? If someone has some , will you post them because that is a heck of a lot of time to waste and ruin a season if not done right to save a few bucks. I'd rather do it the professional way and get the best results than go hit or miss especially if I were new at gardening? You don't have to buy ten at a time but start off small but start off right? My real EBs have never let me down...
This message was edited Jan 26, 2009 11:11 AM
TPlant: I've gotten the whip out so my gardener guy will finish mine for me this week. Then I gotta start the seedlings and they gotta have time, I got confidence in my abilities, some times. LOL Hey, how much water do I put in the 40 bio sponges????? I want to get to planting my seeds here. I am having made as we speak: 18 HEBs and 3 HE buckets. The HE buckets are gonna get the Boca Bob treatment where I bury the stem every two days and the Boca Bob fertilizer treatment, wanna bet I get great tomatoes???
joy112854
Joy -- The domes should come with instructions cause it is dificult to say how much water to use. The sponges must be puffed up and wet. Pour out any excess water let stand a day or so, seed and add water according to instructions.
TPlant: I got half the set, the rest don't get shipped til next week sometime, I guess the instructions are in that. Hmmm, maybe they know how I like to jump head first into things? I used Gardener Supply's self watering seed starter kits to plant my cukes and eggplants instead.
Got 6 containers with the lavender eggplants and 24 with the cukes, I planted 2-3 seeds per container so I can weed the weak ones out later.
joy112854
Instead of messing around with the Bio-Dome why didn't you just get Bob's planter after all the mercandise you already bought from him? Shipping charges would have been the same or less?
Joy112854,
Yeah, what TPlant said....
TPlant: Because I had already purchased it 3 months ago.
joy112854
I have been looking for a float valve that will automatically control the water in the bottom of a grow box. Has anyone tried this little valve. It may fit inside the fill tube which would always keep the water at a constant height. You could tie other boxes together and it would maintain the same level in all boxes.
Float Valve
Valve uses fluid pressure, as opposed to a lever arm and ball, as the force to close the valve. The valve body is made of durable glass-filled nylon 6/6. Internal parts are of ABS plastic, silicone, and stainless steel. When properly installed, the valve will meet anti-siphon requirements. Automatically maintains desired water level in open tanks. Provides positive shut-off. Operating pressure: 1/2" - 0 - 100 lbs; 1" - 8 - 140 lbs. Flow rate approximately 80% of flow supplied to valve. 1", 40 psi will produce approx. 60 GPM; 1/2", 40 psi will produce approx. 19 GPM. Not FDA or NSF compliant. For use with water only, not for use with chemicals. Regular temp. valves up to 90° F. High temp. valves up to 150°F. Pipe fittings shown are not included.
Gollem,
Constructing eBuckets today at 2:00 p.m. Send me your phone number and I'll put you on my BlueTooth. LMK in the morning if you wanna join us long distance so I can plan on calling you. My cellphone plan doesn't count minutes, so no problem for me to call you. If you can't join us, I'll post detailed instructions for you tomorrow (they'll be fresh in my mind)
Linda
billggrubs, interesting float valve ya got there. Looks like something that could be used for other applications also. Where did you find it online?
GG...Have fun making those buckets today! Take pics!
Shoe (who woke up to 18º this morning)
Sorry I missed the big event. I have been where there is no phone or internet service since Friday afternoon. I took a bunch of young men to our cabin snowshoeing and snowmobiling. Just got back and saw your invitation. Sorry I missed it, but I would still like to know how you are building your eBuckets. I have built one, but experienced some problems finding something with holes in it for the platform to hold the dirt. I had the great idea of using plastic pegboard but couldn't find any locally and what I found online was way too expensive. What do you use for the base and what do you use to hold up the base?
horseshoe the link for the valve is below.
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/product.asp?catalog_name=USPlastic&category_name=6109&product_id=5866
billgrubbs For the basket in your eBucket try scrap piece of pvc pipe If you know plumber friend.
I used a 4" piece,.Will see if it works..My 1st time at this
Good Luck
Tubby
this is the method i chose to make mine...i've got one finished....the only part that's a little tricky is shaping the light panels...but once you get one shaped, you can use it as a template...and i was able to get 4 screens per panel
http://ournhplace.com/diyearthboxes.html
Thank you so much for the link to the DIY eBox. I thought about using the egg crate light panel, but thought the holes were too big. I never thought about putting nylon screen over it. I have everything I need to build one. I appreciate you pointing me to the information. I did add one additional feature. Instead of a drain hole,, I attached a 1/2 inch clear plastic tube coming out of the water reservoir that sticks up toward the top of the box and put a mark on it to show me the level of the water. I have it in the house and didn't want the water to overflow in the floor.
With this new information, I am ready to start on my next one.
KMart has "Homz" 18 gallon totes on sale for 3.99 this week, if anybody was waiting for a sale. They make great HEBs.
I stumbled across a very good design for a grow box
http://www.tomatofest.com/pdfs/EarthTainer-Construction-Guide.pdf
devota-thanks for the info on KMart totes. I bought 8 yesterday on my way home. I plan to make a few for myself, then several for other family members.
gymgirl I am still waiting for your pictures and design for the boxes you built.
Oh, Billgrubbs!
I'm constructing eBuckets! I don't do homemade Earthboxes (HEBs). I have nine patented EBs, bought straight from the factory. I'll take pics and post the construction instructions Saturday afternoon.
Linda
Hello Bill Being a carpenter (retired).& Lots of scarp lumber.Some treated.
I made my first one.Will make more..Would cost more if you have to purchase new lumber..
Also takes more time..But will out last the tote..
Tubby
Need to drill hole for fill tube.. Insulation will be barrier from treated lumber contamination & easy to seal for water..
What are you using for the base plate in the bottom?
The base plate is glass board .A fiber glass type material..Like used in meat processing plants ect.
approx. !/16" thick..Held up by 2,pieces of 4" pvc..Outer edges rest on insulation ledge as shown
Center piece of insul. is notched on bottom to allow water flow.Probably not necessary it was just laying there.So
Tubbytee, Looking good there.
Billgrubbs, I'm going to try two different types of HEBs today. I will take photos as I go. D in TN
Tubbytee,
I think you just solved my wick dillemma on my eBucket design. I've been wracking my brain trying to come up with something suitable to serve as the wicking basket in my eBucket. I need something that goes down far enough into the reservoir. A red solo cup is too tall, and needs to be anchored. But the plastic can split. I tried a small 4" pot like the $ store sells the little cactuses in. It fits the hole perfectly, but is not tall enough to go all the way down into the water reservoir. I think this accounts for the slow growth in my eBucket, if the water is not wicking up properly.
Guess what I'm gonna do now? Cut a square of fine wire screen, roll it into a tube, and stick that baby straight down the potting bucket hole till it sits on the bottom of the water bucket! No need to anchor anything at all. Just need to cut it so the overlap will hold. Packing the potting mix/coir down into the tube will force it open and snug enough against the hole so that it won't leak!
Thanks, Tubbytee!
Devota, what do you think about this design idea? LMK, cause I'm liking how you think!
Linda
Oh my! Thank you again Gymgirl! It just so happens that I have lots of extra screen. Bye bye Solo cups. Let's get you a patent on this before Jaywhacker sees it runs off to the patent office with it. LOL
You gotta love this forum.
D,
The more I think about it, the more I think it will work. Because even if the screen does extend up a bit into the potting mix, the perforations will allow it to do what it's supposed to do -- wick the water up! And, putting it down the middle would allow for packing the potting mix against it, anchoring it even more. Any roots growing down that far will just grow around the tube. Wow! I think I'm actually on to something, here.
Wish me well, I'm off to workshop. More later.
Okay gang. I don't know how to post all pix at once so bear with me as I show you what I did with Gymgirl's idea and a 30 gallon Stearlite box. This is the "parts display." Notice the 1/4 inch hardware cloth/rabbit wire.
Next I cut the hardware screen into a piece big enough and Latched it together with it's own painful little wires. Cut it a little longer than I needed so I could fold out every other tab so that it would stay put.
Next: marked the height of the box and cut it. added the wire wicking sleeve, [. I JUST LIKED THE SOUND OF THAT, Gymgirl. "WICKING SLEEVE."]
This view inside.
I forgot to show the process of drilling or punching holes for air intake and such but y'all already know that stuff.
This message was edited Feb 24, 2009 3:43 PM
Next I cut an "easement" diagonally at 2 corners so that it would sit down properly.
And the final product...now you see it...
And now you don't. I forgot to show where I drilled a hole for excess water about an inch and a half down from the aeration box. Soon I will fill it with Bob's good ole coir.
That's all there is. There aint no more.
Let's hear it for Gymgirl and her trusty sidekick.
This message was edited Feb 24, 2009 3:44 PM
tubbytee - I am not familiar with glass board. Where do you find it?
Devota - I am amazed at your wick pot solution. I have hardware cloth like that at home, but never thought about using it for that purpose. It is amazing what happens when several focus on the same thing. I am going to try that idea. I have 8 new totes to work with and I prefer not to use 2 of them to make one unit. I finally realized I can use the middle part of the top that you cut out to make the plate in the bottom if it is strong enough. If the glass board mentioned above is strong enough you could cut it in six inch strips (or the height of your wick pot. Next you cut it where you can connect the pieces together like the cardboard that is between bottles when you buy a case of them. I don't know what to call it. If you make them to form one or 2 squares, you could use one of the sections for the wick pot.
This explanation probably makes no sense. I don't know how to describe what I am thinking. If the glass board is sturdy enough, you could use it. I looked for plastic peg board for this design, but can't find any for a reasonable price.