Here are the pics from today, I hung all the revolutionary planters and topsy turvys, all have tomatoes in them, as you know I have 38 tomatoes, 14 varieties, so I put the ones I could afford to lose in the topsys and revolutionary planters as you gotta water them, water them, water them all day long.
Here are the two topsy's with the dead cukes in the bloommaster and homemade bloommaster, I have more cuke seeds going on inside of course.
And here, and yes you can laugh, it's fun to be able to laugh with one another ya'll, my tomato tree that I bought, one actually made it, is supposed to grow to be 8 ft tall, put out 60 lbs of toms and they should weigh in at 2 lbs each, according to the advertisement, we shall see hey?
Here are my favorites:
Just look at those toms in the lay flat bags go to town:
And here are the 5 gallon grow bags and the 2 revolutionary planters full of toms:
Go Joy Go
Bob: Those hanging revolutionary planters are supposed to be self watering; but the self watering bowl is on top and I wonder if the water is evaporating or the tomatoes are drinking it up, as I'm out there 4 - 5 times a day filling them. I planted the tomato tree in coconut coir also; I put jungle grow on the very bottom of the planter because the coir was so light it would fall through the holes; but then I put coir the rest the way up.
Here is a thought also; I have those Garden Patch boxes and I believe you said you had some also? Anyways, you know where you put the potting mix in the wicking holes? I thought I would fill them with coir perhaps? I bet it'd stay moist then? Or is that a mistake?
joy
Sure, why not, can't hurt
Oh, wow! ~ Joy, what a collection. Your favorites caught my eye. What healthy tomatoes. Two of them look like trees! And what lush deep green foliage.
What varieties are those?
Thanks!
Annapet
Hello, EVERYONE! I miss you all since I haven't been here in a while.
Annapet: Those are chocolate cherry tomatoes, I have more of those and the romas than any other kind. I'm anxious to see how the brandy boy turns out as I've never had one of those. I used Bob's bury the stem techinique with all the tomatoes this year, I think that is one of the reasons they are doing so well. The ones you see in the topsy turvy's and revolutionary planters are ones that were given the bury the stem techinique while in the 5 gallon grow bags of coir Bob sales, then I plucked them out and transplanted them into the topsys and revolutionarys. I figure it will give them a better chance of making it, having raised them in the 5 gallon bags first. Then I inserted my favorites I received from Burpees into the 2 square footers and Bob's 5 gallon grow bags. The two ones that are large had a head start in the greenhouse and made it through the trials and errors and I think will be my healthiest plants.
joy
Chocolate Cherries? Wow, I just got mine from Territorial Seeds yesterday and I already love them. I am dying to try BB's BTST (I love the acronym!). My Facebook should read, "Annapet is a fan of BocaBob."
Moonglow: I've never been fond of cherry tomatoes, always preferred the big meaty ones that you can just slice and eat with a fork; but, have lots of family members and friends that love the cherry ones. I got the chocolate cherry ones as my granddaughter doesn't like tomatoes; but loves chocolate and possibly this wlll encourage her to eat some tomatoes? I love tomatoes myself.
joy
Ok folks, I tried my experiment with the coconut coir in the wicking sections of my EBs and GPs, when following the directions which say to wet the medium in the wicking part, guess what happened? It fell through right into the reservoir. I'm sure some people will step forward and say this didn't happen to them, and that's fine, I know a groupie when I see one, it doesn't work folks.
My suggestion is this; put the coir in the middle of the EB or GP where the root of the plant will be, that way the roots will be where it is the most moist (the coir absorbs the water-thus making it moist at all times), you want the roots to be able to absorb the water from the bottom of the reservoir and if you put coir in the wicking device spaces it will fall through into the reservoir and it will also keep the water right there; but, if you put the coir in the middle of the GP and EB it might work. Time will tell. I know we all spend a great deal of time growing our plants, loving our plants and when we get to the planting stage, we don't want failure. Failure costs us money and time and I feel it my obligation to report all results from my experiments.
Now, my suggestion if you want to use coconut coir in the wicking part of the EBs and GPs you line the wicking part of the EB or GP with weed cloth or something like a screen, that will keep it from falling into your reservoir where when it gets wet, it will expand and decrease the amount of water available to your plants.
joy
I think you are going to have a jungle in your yard very soon.
David Paul: I hope so. LOL I noticed a spider on one of my tomato plants today and then tonight noticed what appears to be aphids, so I will have to spray tomorrow for them. No horned catepillars yet though (whew)! It rained here most the day.
joy
What a great thread Joy. When do you expect first fruit in Florida?
Wulfsden: Thank you Wulfsden. Not for a while yet; just got them all out of the greenhouse and safe in their little homes. Will post more pics when they get bigger though.
joy
I'm curious what you are going to do if the tomato plants in the topsy turvy hanging planters grow to reach the ground. Let them sprawl along the ground?
Did a hole and reach down to pick tomatoes from below the level of the ground?
^_^
Joy.........with all those different types of growing systems, you should be able to understand the "ups and downs" of gardening after this season. Stay ahead of them bugs!! They have already hit me hard this year plus I lost two early girl tomato's to early blight. Breaks of the game I guess.
David Paul: LOL That is cute. I had thought about what to do if that happens and think I will wind up putting weed cloth under it eventually.
Jaywhacker: I hear you there, I already broke out the fertilome triple action plus and sprayed my tomatoes' leafs. When I saw the spider, I realized there were aphids, then I saw signs of aphids and said, "well it's time and did spray both sides of each leaf on each plant". I do have dipel dust if I need to break out the big guns. The Triple Action Plus is supposed to take care of the horned catepillars also; but, will have to wait. I used the leftover pest control spray on my canna lilies out front, as something is munching on them already.
joy
Hello
I want to ask you in your experience which metod or pot you like the most : revolutionary planters, topsy, bags, EBs, normal, etc
I am reserching to do the best grow and low mantenice posible
This is for a experiment in large city with out green spaces .. only some roof and balconys or small yards
I hope you can help me
pdisan, We are all experimenting! The winner, so far, seems to be earth boxes. It has been my experience that all plants do best when planted in the ground, however if the soil is bad, or as in my case, sun is a problem, the garden has to be portable. The planting medium is also up for debate. What works in one area, doesn't necessecarily work elsewhere. For example coco coir and perlite works well for me where our summer is dry, but Joy , who gets a lot of summer rain, found it holds too much water. Watering is also an issue...I have to water my earth boxes daily, but they sell a watering kit for them, which requires that you have a water source that can remain on.
Expense is another issue, and we have tried several "home made" containers, made from storage containers or 5 Gallon buckets. Not pretty, but they work.
Spend some time and read some of the threads on this site to decide what would work best for you. I know it's a lot of reading, but the folks on this site have done a lot of research that can't be summed up in a paragraph or two.
Good luck, and happy gardening!
pdisan, If you start with the post by tellutuna, at the top of this site, there are some links to the pertinent threads.
pdisan, I think OCCCarol summed it up well--everyone's climate/situation is a bit different. Sometimes it takes some trial and error. I switched to containers due to limited space and poor soil. So far, I've had good success with Earthboxes and Smartpots. However, both must be watered consistantly--I now use watering systems on both. I"ve been successful without the watering systems, but it takes much more time on a daily basis.
I know several members here have had good success with e-buckets. Just do lots of reading on these threads, and keep asking questions. Enjoy your experiments and remember that gardening is always a learning experience.
I think it actually depends on what you're growing in the container. I've gotten to where I prefer my 5 gallon self watering buckets for my tomatoes; but still prefer the EBs for my eggplants and bell peppers. I do prefer the smart pots for my potatoes. Don't like the hanging planters at all. The trick with the coir up here in this part of FL is to not use straight Coir, mix in some perlite and you have the right mixture. I'm going to try stackers this time for my strawberries and EBs, I messed up using the hanging topsy turvys for them. My peppers didn't do well in them either.
joy
