Any Coco Grower Questions?

Bob, they need a couple of those on the space station.

I'll call Nasa today LOL

This isn't a question...just a report... I did an experiment with a few of my tommy plants and discovered something else I didn't know.

I needed to bury some cherry tommys deeper and I took them out to place them lower down in the cups. I tugged at them gently and...
Imagine my surprise when they also came out of the not only the cups but also the little seedling cells baskets with ease. That was because of the coir being so light. The little plants lay there in my hand their roots undamaged, and I replanted them as I meant to. This morning they are as happy as they can be. I could never have done that with mix or soil.

Krylon makes a special paint that supposedly sticks to plastic, it's called Fusion. Online reviews for this paint is not that great, though.

http://www.amazon.com/Krylon-Fusion-Spray-Paint-Plastic/dp/B000B9103Q

I've done a lot of painting, professional and otherwise and no paint I've ever used stuck to anything super slick or plastic unless the correct primer was put on it first. Just a headsup for anyone thnking about painting their pots.

Getting right to the coir of it, here is an experiment that gets those 5 gallon coir grow bags to do a little pre-season work for you. You will need the bag of coir, a tomato seed, a stob to stick in the middle of the grow mix, and a distilled water jug (or milk jug) with the bottom cut out of it. Plant the seed near the stob. Tomato's and stobs are good companions, you can trust me on that. Set the jug gently down over the stob and press it gently into the coir to form a miniature greenhouse. Actually, so as not to waste any greenhouse space, you should plant at least 4 seeds. The two little seedlings you see in the photo are 2 of the four I planted 8 days ago. The other two should pop up later today cause the sun is shining and the greenhouse showed some condensation inside. Cooking along about the right temperature. I know cause I poked my finger in there. In my climate range, I should be able to grow and protect those plants under the jug untill all danger of frost is over. If you wont to really play it safe, plant a jug a week through the early spring. Some......maybe all.....should survive. If the plants are growing too fast under the jug before your last frost date. Lift the jug and carry it to a cool shady area to temporarily slow their growth. After all, you are the boss, you are calling the shots.

After the danger of frost is over, gently remove 3 of the tomato's for transplanting, trying not to interfere with the root structure of the one you will leave to grow in that grow bag.

Or if you have lots of grow bags and jugs and stobs, you can plant just one seed under one jug in each pot. That is known as the "winter sowing in place" syndrome. It is addictive and impress's the neighbors.
You can improve on that technique by combining it with Bob's method of starting out with the grow bag half empty. As your little tomato buddy grows, snip off its lower leaves, add more coir, and replace the jug. I suggest trimming the leaves of the tomato so they dont touch the plastic jug. This way your greenhouse keeps rising as your tomato keeps growing. You should be able to nurse the tomato along until frost damage possibilities are past. Judgment still has to be exercised as to when you should still provide extra protection to the jugged ones but it is easy to throw an old blanket or something over the top of the stobs of the jugerator system if you suspect the weather is going to do you dirty.

Great advice Jay! Linda, thanks for the heads up on that plastic paint, I have an old plastic table and chairs that I intended on painting this Spring with that stuff, and it is expensive paint!!

To show the effectiveness of the superduper jugerator system of springtime germination, look close at this photo. These are S.Capana sweet peas planted 10 days ago. One little sweetpea on the far right in that pot germinated outside the jugerator. You will notice that it is about half the size and looks puny compared to the ones from under the jug.

And, just where are we getting our stobs from?

From last years sunflowers........naturally.:-)

What a system !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jay, I think U should enter the terms "stob" N "jugerator" into the gardenology database!

Gymgirl: Don't feel bad, I think I suffocated mine, I got home and they were brown. 2 live plants in the lot. I aired out the greenhouse and hopefully, they will jump back to life, if not, back to square one.
joy

Well Ya'll.........its jugerator time.

Haha Jay, the Jugerator. I swear you should patent your idears! I got my Super Bad Big Boy 24" stackers today and even DH was impressed, they are HUGE! Will post pics in the morning.

Hey ya'll got a question for you. I just ordered some more bio dome sponges and was told they are on backorder, so I wanted to ask something. Can I use coconut coir in the Park's bio dome instead of the bio dome sponges. Both my coconut coir seed starting kits are in use and thought maybe I would use coir instead of the bio dome sponges, I believe someone mentioned a while back they had tried this?
joy

Yes joy, I switched to using coir in the Bio Domes after I used up my sponges. Worked great.

Bob

Okay, as promised, here is a picture of my Big Boy 24" stacking system. They are HUGE! I can taste those Purple Hull Peas already!

Ok, Just getting started with this container thang. Here is a pic of some of my maters in 5-gal grow bags. I know this has been addresses before on DG, but I'm too lazy to do a search. How much if any Dolomite Lime do I add to a 5-gal grow bag filled with straight coir? I plan to alternate feeding every watering with Medina Hasta Gro and MG - Tomato fertilizers, plus Epsom salt on occasions.

Jerry

Jerry your garden looks wonderful, so neat. I like your big stackers too.

Jerry it's 1/2 cup of Dolomite per 5 gallon growbag.

Bob: Thanks, I have the romas, vilmas, and chocolate cherry's to replace the the dead toms with now and soon as my pepper seeds get in they are going into the coir stuffed biodomes. So are the eggplant seeds as I know already I lost them. Peppers and eggplants are he fussiest aren't they?
joy

Karen, those stackers look good. And just think......they willl be there year after year after year.

And Jerry, seems like I read somewhere that the lime is not necessary with coir. The lime was necessary to counteract the acid nature of peat mix's but coir is not acidic. The fertilizer regime you have set up should supply calcium to your tomato's to replace the calcium that lime might have contributed.

Thanks Jay. I'll not use the Dolomite lime then. If it's only for the calcium, trust me there is plenty of calcium and lime in my well water.

Jerry

Jerry,
You will still need magnesium for your plants and it is found in the dolomite. It is essential to the formation of chlorophyll, the green pigment that gives most plants their color and enables them to carry on the process of photosynthesis.
Barbara

This message was edited Mar 6, 2009 10:06 AM

The directions for 1/2 cup Dolomite to the coir in 5 gallon grow bags came from Bob, so I don't know. If you don't want to use it then don't do it.

Ah...use the stuff, Jerry.

And add a tablespon of epsom salts.

The "MG - Tomato" contains 0.50 % magnesium. My plan also calls for Epsom salt (Magnesium Sulfate).

So, how much magnesium do tomatoes need for healthy growth?

Jerry

Ok. 1 last time. The recipe for the 5 gallon bag is 1/2 cup Dolomite lime, 1 tbsp Epsom salts and 2 cups fertilizer, right?

Yes Gymgirl, if you are using Bob's fertilizer I know you have to add the Epsom salts. Unsure if you're using other fertilizer..

Coco coir may safely be RE-sterilized by placing damp coir in a large glass bowl. Using your kitchen faucet hose makes this easy. Make sure you have approximately 1 cup of runoff water in the bowl. Nuke on high for 15 minutes. CAUTION! Bowl will be very HOT! Leave coir in bowl until it cools thoroughly, about 30 minutes. The rising steam will complete the process. NO unpleasant odor whatsoever! Now. Ask me how I know this.

Hahaha, okay, how do you know this? ☺

Cellphone caution. It is not advisable to work with coir and your cellphone at the same time, because the coir particulate is fine enough 2 work its way in 2 your cellphone trackball, and can cause it 2 jam. Ask me how I know this....

This message was edited Mar 6, 2009 12:40 PM

Dresmer, I destroyed so many seedlings I had 2 dispose of. And it didn't make sense 2 me 2 throw out the baby with the bathwater!

Darkmoondreamer: Where may I ask did you come up with the figure of 1/2 cup of dolomite lime per 5 gallon grow bag? For an earthbox which holds 2 tomatoes or 2 eggplants or 2 artichokes, you use 2 cups of dolomite lime and 2 cups of granular fertilizer (1 cup of organic fertilizer if you are using that). Now, I have planted one tomato in each 5 gallon grow bag, and one tomato in each 5 gallon bucket that was turned into a self watering one. I used 1 cup of dolomite lime in the buckets and 1 cup of fertilizer. Now, where does the 1/2 cup fit in, that doesn't seem to be enough calcium to me for one tomato and you could wind up with BER couldn't you? Remember coconut coir has no fertilizers at all in it.
joy

Ohh I got my 1/2 gal grow bags and I'm so pleased! Perfect size for growing under lights. I'll do as BB has done and roll down the bag and use the core..can't wait till I start seeds again in June or July

TPlant: Boca Bob told me to use 1/4th tsp epsom salts and 1/2 tsp of fertilizer per gallon? I went out and bought the Miracle Grow feeder today as it has a jar in it where you can put the fertilizer and you switch it to feed and it mixes fertilizer with water as you feed. I added 2 cups of Bob's fertilizer and 2 tbsp of epsom salts. Hey Bob, does that sound like it's ok?
joy

darkmoondreamer: Bob's fertilizer already has the proper amount of calcium in it, that is why you only add a bit of epsom salts, the epsom salts adds magnesium which is needed for the plant to take in the calcium; too much magnesium and you defeat the purpose of the calcium, too little same thing I would think.
joy

Joy.........

darkmoondreamer: Is that because you are using his fertilizer? Or because you are not using his fertilizer? Because his fertilizer has calcium in it and I was just wondering where and why that amount came up.
joy