Pugzley: You aint the only one needs something done with hair I look like the wild woman here, LOL Of course the men around here look like that too, so, I'm not too much different I suppose.
joy
BocaBob's repotting tomato plant experiment
Quoting:
it's heeeeer! I bought 5 tomato plants 2day and I'm toying with putting em in either the new Bocabags or my eBuckets. Its way ahead of my March 14th plant out date, but I'm willing 2 take a shot, especially since the portabilit of both would allow me 2 move with the sunshine N bring em in D the temps dip. Bob, how low can they go? Sounds like a Limbo commercial for Bocabags!
The Coco Coir Cometh!
Gymgirl
Congrats !!!! You Coir Girl you. What do you mean " how low can they go"?
BocaBob
Gymgirl
Life is a gamble! Live it to the fullest. Come frost time, slap a 5 gallon bucket over it.
Or if you are cutting off the bottoms of 18 gallon totes to make HEBs the part cut off makes good windbreakers for the HEBs. It's warming up here, I took a chance and went into town, hit radio shack first, spend almost $50 getting a memory card reader for my camera and a cord, then left and went to Ace's Hardware for a dollar sale that was going on and then went to Walmart for some necessities, got home and guess what? My camera is gone, the case too. It had to have disappeared somewheres between Radio Shack and home. I must have left the door unlocked and didn't notice til I got home. Man oh man, can't get another one til next month either. Even the memory cards are gone, so must do a return at Radio Shack tomorrow. (groan).
joy
OH NO, Joy!! Surely it will turn up? Oh gosh, I am sorry.....I hope you find it..
Joy, Sorry for your loss. Uhoh that wasn't funny. Hey, look under the car seat. That is where all my lost stuff ends up. .
Yeah, well I can always get another but there goes my memory card.
joy
Bummer Joy! I pray U can replace it soon. Bob, how low can the temps drop outside before the maters start screaming for an overcoat?
Mine last night (75 of them) made it through just fine in 35 degree temps
Gymgirl: I'm hopeful it is going to stay warmer here; as it got warm enough today to crawl out from under the covers and actually run around outside without a coat, I even made it all the way to town. It was forecast that this area was to get a freeze in the 17 degrees all weekend but that would break next week; but, maybe we will get lucky. My eldest daughter laughed at me tonight and said that Crestview is listed as the coldest city in Florida (frown). It hasn't snowed here though since 1989; so, that is good news right? I'll get the camera next month, I got two birthdays this month and valentines day for my two grandbabies, so, it will be next month for sure. Just placed an order with Spring Hill Nursery, they had a great sale going on and wanted to get that order out. Got lots of pretty flowers coming from them at great prices, they are having a sale where if you buy $50 worth of their stuff, you will get $25 off.
joy
joy
Bob more pictures when possible..I know your not up and moving around 100%. Can't wait to try the coir, I'm having to pot up the seedlings soon and uurg is about all I can say. This is NOT my favorite thing to do..
Gymgirl I'm with you we are going to plant out much earlier this year and cover with frost cloth. You've seen our staking system so all we have to do is push the EB's together and drap the cloth over the bottom wires to form a tent. I've saved some large water bottles as well as milk cartons to fill with warm water if needed also.
Great confirmation, Araness! I just wish my seedlings would go ahead and take off. They seem to be stalled, but I know they'll catch up once they go into the coir outside. Good part about the Bocabags is they can be rolled up and closed with a twist tie if the temps drop, at least protecting the seedling from winds. And they're light enough to be carried inside easily, so I'm gonna go for it!
Bob, I am waiting for the next pic of the tomato experiment, [last one was Jan 31rst. What does it look like 11 days later?
Well, I just happen to have taken a picture today. It's been very cool here and the growth very slow. But we had a few warm days lately so here we go: The plant is very healthy and I will cover the new growth with coconut coir tomorrow and take another pic.
BocaBob
Great looking plant!
I would like to plant a seed here. For the non-believers out there it would be good to have a picture of the root growth along the buried part of the tomato stem, the part that has been regularly covered as the plant has grown up in the grow bag. Say like at the end of the season when you dump the grow bags just remove the coir from the roots and take a picture for us.
Oh, I am one of the believers cause I used to bury about 6 - 10" of tomato stem when I planted out transplants. I know they produce better when they have lots of roots.
I will mark the bag and hope to remember to do what you ask. Good thought.
BocaBob
Wow, Bob that is beautiful!
The stem looks huge. I'm curious as to how many tons of tomatoes you're going to get off that plant. :)
I've been copying you and covering my stems with coir as they grow, they're getting very thick and sturdy looking,too. I have been tempted to pull one out and sacrifice one just to see what the roots are doing, but I can't bring myself to do it, they're all growing too happily right now.
I know this will sound like dumb questions but I gotta ask them, how long did it take from planting the seed to putting it in the grow bag, age wise for the tomato plant?
How long was it under the grow lights before going outside?
How long is it advisable to keep it inside before putting it outdoors?
joy
I am done with my experiment. It works just fine. Only one transplant time from the seedling stage into a 5 gallon grow bag as its final home. Thick, healthy plant and stem. Should be a producer. All I'm doing here is trying to save a couple of steps in the growing process of tomato plants. The plants are now supported by vine clips attached to twine. I expect them to grow to 12 feet like my first planting this past late summer.
BocaBob
"It's time to start growing your own food"
This message was edited Feb 18, 2009 7:40 AM
BocaBob, I'd like to learn more about grow bags - that's pretty new to me.
I've got several tomato starts in their 4" pots; the ones I started are in little coir pots, and the ones from the local hardware/garden store(s) (OSH and Wegman's in Redwood City) are in the usual little plastic pots, but we tend to do just one transplant from there to ground or strawbale.
Lettuces are growing great, and the red chard needs thinning, the parsleys - both curly and flat italian kinds, have been going great all winter for us. Picked up peas, beans, and melons as starts to go in next week or so... it's Spring!
RuTemple
so what do you want to know?
Bob