vertical stacker question...what color...

Hello! I'm ordering Agro Towers through the coop but I have a question about whether the color of the pots matters. Will black be too hot for strawberries and veggies? The black is a little cheaper than the white and terra cotta. Thanks for any insight and/or suggestions anyone would like to offer!

Krahill: Just my two cents worth and not to criticize a coop; but I think you will find you can get this cheaper,much cheaper through a members business right here. Go to instagarden.com and check it out. I went to that coop thread and was simply amazed at the high prices and then went to the instagarden site and sure enough a lot cheaper, like in $80 cheaper, that's too huge to not warn a person about here.
joy

Joy, I would always want to be warned if a coop was more $ than somewhere else, especially, a fellow member.
I did my best to research and find the best price.
I checked the instagarden price and it would be $101.70 for the same thing the coop has for $58.50.
The instagarden 6 compartment stacker is 16.95 each piece. The coop is 58.50 for 6 pieces, also with 6 compartments.
If I am figuring something wrong, please let me know.

chris

Joy, I think Chris is correct that instagarden is priced PER PIECE and not PER STACK (6 pieces) like the coop even though the picture at instagarden's site shows the entire stack. Thanks for looking out for me though!
KRae

My bad, I'm sorry, I didn't realize that the coop was only charging $58.50 for 6 pieces, I thought it was for one piece with 6 compartments per piece for one piece. As far as the color black is not really that much cheaper and it does hold the heat so you need to consider your area that you live in and when you will have things planted in it.
joy

Joy,

Thanks for your input about the color. I didnt really think about the heat. I ordered 2 stacks of the black and 2 stacks of white.
It does get very hot here, I will see how they do this year and if there is a problem, I guess I could paint them if I have to.
If I thought about it before I ordered, I would have ordered all white.

I dont host many coops, I only do them, if we can all get an exceptionally good wholesale deal, that would only be available with a large purchase.
I could have actually gotten them a little cheaper, but I would have had to take delivery of the entire palet loads, and then ship out to everyone. It really wasnt worth all the extra work though.
If you ever see one of my coops that you think is overpriced or even equal to retail, please, please, please, feel free to dmail me and let me know, so I could announce it to everyone.
Co-op is going to be open for a couple of weeks, if you need an extra stack.

chris

Thanks for your input, Joy. I figured for the cost of a couple cans of spray paint, I will just get the terra cotta which is the color I like anyway! Yay! Can't wait to get started with the vertical gardening. Although, here in SW Wisconsin, we are supposed to get 3-7 inches of snow this weekend - YIKES.

Thanks so much, Chris, for hosting.
KRae

I can't afford anymore items this Spring; but, if they do this again I'd definately be interested; but I do have my eye on the NJ self watering ones.LOL I was out transplanting my brandy boy tom and my burpee's burger tom into the sqaure footers and the mail lady honked, wiped my hands on a towel and she said "Don't rest yet; your just getting started and laughed" Today is the first dry day we have had all week, and sure enough 5 of my rainbow peppers came in. I brought them in the house to keep them in the shade a few days and then the phone rang, my neighbor reading my mind of course, and warned me that Tuesday we are to get temps of 38 degrees at night, so will wait on putting the toms in the topsy turvys and revolutionary planters, for another week and be prepared to snatch my 3 fairy tale eggplants and peppers back into the house. I put the square footers into the greenhouse, all I can do now, til after Tuesday. Then if it looks warm and dry and sounds warm and dry, I have the green light, and can finish. Gave about 7 more toms away again today, everyone was ecstatic about how big they were. LOL
joy

BTW, thanks for posting the question, because I've never even been to the Coop forum before. But today I ordered a stack of the terra cotta pots. Now maybe I'll transplant some of the seedlings that are crowding my bags instead of killing them when I thin.

You're welcome DesertJake! So how do you keep things from frying in the Arizona heat? (I have family in Gilbert and Prescott.)

Well, since this is my first year planting I couldn't tell you. :-)

I know from friends that some things thrive here in the heat (zucchini, melons), and the stackers appealed to me because I was thinking I could move them to an area with a little more shade when the sun and heat get way more intense.

I did plant some things that I was told it was too late to start, like leaf lettuce, just to see what happens. I figure the best education is experience.

It is really going to be nice having all these new grow pole farmers on the forums. Now I wont have to feel like the lonesome stranger. Back through the years I would occasionally post something about growing in stacked containers and no on.....repeat.......no one ever answered back then but Boca Bob. There seemed to be very few of us but now that is sure changing.

About the color of the pots......like everyone else........ I just assumed the white pots would run cooler...so that's what I started with. Some of the NJ stackers I have bought recently are terracotta and stone because I got a better price on them. Since we are basically "water farming", I dont think overheated pots will be a problem as long as we are irrigating properly.

Jake, you might stick that lettuce in the shade of your house and put a little mist cooler over them and see what happens. When I lived in Arizona, I had a freind who had mist cooling on her back patio and it worked great. I think I extended the life of some lettuce once by setting them under a table because I read somewhere that in some climates you could grow it in early summer in the shade. I certainly share you idea of learning by doing. Too much of the stuff I have read turned out not to be right for my area.

Jaywhacker: I have leaf lettuce planted to; but it is almost done I think? I planted cabbages too, and they seem to be doing better in the greenhouse right now. I think all this rain has hurt my melons in the lay flat bags and the EB. Of course, it could be that possibly it isn't warm enough for them either right now. We have a night Tuesday, where the weather will dip down to 38 degrees. I transplanted 2 of my Burpees tomatoes into the square footers and left them in the greenhouse with all the other tomatoes; but am waiting another week or so before transplanting any toms to the topsy's and revolutionary planters. I will more than likely rush in my peppers and eggplants from the greenhouse to my house Tuesday night, as I only have 5 peppers and only 3 eggplants, don't want to chance losing them. I think my maters are probably pretty touch right now and can take some harsh weather as long as they are in the greenhouse.
joy

It is strictly amateur time when I start playing around with any kind of vegetables except tomato's and the way I grow tomato's is kind of hit or miss too. Harlequin bugs moved in on me today........just looks like hundreds of them. You could hear them buzzing in in squadron formation and landing on my brussel sprouts and a sunflower plant and it seems like they like the alyssum flowers as a resting place between attacks on my brussel sprouts. My straw berry plants are setting right in the middle of all this but the bugs dont seem to be bothering them. I will get something to get rid of them tomorrow. I wish I had taken a picture of them. They were unbelievably thick. Seems like any plant in the cabbage family draws more than their share of bugs and diseases. I am thinking I will just rip those Brussels sprouts out and compost them. If I need cabbage, I will buy one of those monsters from Gymgirl or Boca Bob. That should last me a whole year.

Free shipping to you Jay !!!!!!!

oh, no, I got cabbages planted right next to my candy apple onions and carrots and then just planted another right next to my strawberries and artichoke, only got one of those left. My melons in the EB croaked already, too much rain? The ambrosia ones in the grow bag that was the hanging one and I converted to a laying one croaked already too; but, the melons in the lay flat bag of Bob's is still cranking out leafs. Is it too cold for them I wonder? I'm ready to move my eggplants and peppers in at a moments notice due to the weather forecast for Tuesday evening and have kept my toms in the greenhouse. Oh, I added a cup of lime to each grow bag now, as they are almost to the top with coir now and wanted to add it just for insurance, as a friend of mine didn't and has BER now. The guy at Home Depot told him to use bone meal to get rid of and prevent BER? Where does Home Depot find their employees? I looked on my bag of bone meal and didn't see calcium or magnesium on there anywheres?
joy