Water Bottles

I brought my tomato and pepper seedlings outdoors for watering on this beautiful sunny day - Happy Easter, everyone! I think I've got some real nice plants this year.

I really like the cut-off drinking water bottles for this - thanks again for the idea, Gymgirl. Being straight-sided and narrow, they work real well in trays - maximizing horizontal space and allowing for the growth of deep roots without tipping. There's no saving the bottles for re-use, but they cost only a dime each and that included the drinking water.

When I transplant these into the garden, I'll cut the bottles off but leave the ring the labels are on. I'll dig holes for tomatoes with a post hole digger, narrow and about a foot deep. I'll pinch off all but the top two branches and bury the tomato stems deep, sliding the label ring up to just above ground level to guard against cutworms. Peppers get planted at ground level, but I'll still leave those label rings on.

The individual tomato seedling pictured is a Sweet Ozark Orange. Spring has finally arrived - I'm mowing grass, flowers are blooming, and the fish are biting!

yours look great, i have been fighting watering problems with mine a lot lately, i have one good looking paul robeson, all the others leave a lot to be desired, and I have even had to restart some seed as i have lost 3 other plants to over watering. then i overcompensated i think when i tried to fix it and killed them of thirst.

oh, and the peppers on either side are banana peppers, and the green cone shaped thing in the cup is an experiment im trying, ive read that you can re root lettuce and other vegetables from the stores and grow them again--of course they wont be as well formed as the original, but its still fun to try, it is iceberg lettuce by the way.

This message was edited Apr 20, 2014 4:09 PM

its a good thing my life does not literally depend on these, i am proving to be quite the yellow thumb this year as opposed to green ;)

Awesome Ozark! Did you just poke a couple of holes in the bottom? Are you bottom watering?

I really agree about the tall but slim containers. And I really like your idea about leaving the ring for both the label and pest defense. One of those invaluable >aha!< tips gardeners are so good as to share. Very cool.

"Awesome Ozark! Did you just poke a couple of holes in the bottom? Are you bottom watering?"
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I clamped a 1" x 1 1/2" stick upright in a vise, put each cut-off water bottle upside down on the stick, and drilled three 3/16" holes in the bottom of each bottle with a cordless drill.

No, I'm watering from the top and just filling the bottles to the rim when I water. My watering problems went away when I started mixing 1/3 good soil from my garden with the MiracleGro Potting Mix I grow seedlings in. You know potting mixes - they're either sopping wet or bone dry, no in between. The soil content evens that out and I seldom have to water, my seedlings seem much sturdier and healthier (soil microbes, maybe?) and I even get mini-weeds. :>)

i had never thought of the potting mix / garden soil mixture for fear of what they say that soil in containers compacts too tightly, but i suppose the potting mix blended in would sort that out?

I just up-potted my seedlings into the bottles today. I put about an inch of soil in the bottom and tamped it down good and then put my seedlings in and filled the bottle up with Happy Frog mix. I have holes in the bottom and still watered from the top for the first time, but not too much. However, from now on I will use some peroxide in the water. That should take care of any overwatering.

Trying to figure out what kind of containers you have put yours in Ozark. I see how you have wedged them in with the square pots. But, what is the high-sided container? That is what i need.

Jeanette

I'm rooting some tomato cuttings in 12 oz coke/soda/pop cans. I stab 3 or 4 drain holes in the can bottom with a #1 Phillips screwdriver, then cut the top off just below the shoulder of the can. The sides are perfectly straight and the can is deep enough to put a good-sized cutting all the way to the bottom. So far, just testing for later this summer. I will take cuttings of the plants that do best and replant fro the fall. That's assuming the original plants don't survive the summer heat.

Sam-- your seedlings look great. I have tiny fruit set on my SOO! It's going to be a long wait though. : )

David

"But, what is the high-sided container? That is what i need."
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I made those with treated 1" x 4" x 11 1/4" fence board ends, 3/8" x 4" x 24" exterior plywood sides, and galvanized metal roofing 12" x 24" bottoms, put together with deck screws. It helps that still another of my hobbies is carpentry and I raise my seedlings under lights in a shop full of nifty toys, a.k.a. tools.

The trays were built several years ago to each hold eighteen red 16-oz. WalMart plastic cups in six rows of three - but those cups are narrow at the bottom, wide at the top, and very tippy if the tray isn't full or when handling them outside of the trays. Turns out, these same trays will hold thirty-six half-liter water bottles, nine rows of four.

I have four trays but only used three and didn't fill any trays up this year, but the change to drinking water bottles effectively DOUBLES the number of seedlings I could raise under the same 4' lights from 72 to 144. Since the water bottles shape the plant roots better for transplanting and the bottles aren't so prone to tip over, I'm really liking them.
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Edited to add: David, congrats on the Sweet Ozark Orange tomato you have set on. I've sent seeds to about 150 people this year, and you've got the first 'mater I've heard of!

This message was edited Apr 20, 2014 7:08 PM

Last year I transplanted Tomato seedlings into the cardboard cylinders that frozen orange juice comes in. Worked about as well as the water bottles you are using, but around here the water bottles cost a lot more than 10 cents!. Punched some holes in the sides near the bottom with an ice pick, put them in a tray and bottom watered them. The metal bottoms rusted a bit but the plants did fine.

Sam,
Your tomato seedlings look GREAT! I'm so glad the idea is working for you. And, you can get all the drinking water bottles you want for free -- just ask around your neighborhood and find out who buys the same straight-sided brand of drinking water as you do.

Viola!

Now, tell me, what did you do to get such sturdy stems so fast? I'm guessing your ambient room temperature has been hovering somewhere around 60-65°, yes? no? And, did you use a fan at all?

Finally, what are the temps outside now? I see you're hardening off already. That's some fast movement going on!

Hugs!

Linda

I hadn't thought about using cardboard frozen orange juice concentrate cylinders for this. I can see they'd work just fine - we buy our lemonade and limeade that way, too. Good idea.

Before I settled on the water bottles, I thought about using soda or beer cans like David tried. They're cheap, straight-sided, and slick - the root ball ought to slide right out and unlike water bottles those could be re-used.

I wanted to open aluminum cans like a can of beans, to keep the edge along the upper rim. If I cut them off just below the rim, then they'd be sharp as razors and I didn't want that. I found that our kitchen can opener, anyway, won't reach deep enough to open those and I didn't pursue it any further and went with the water bottles.

The cans are an idea to investigate next year, though. If I can find an opener that will work on them, I've got a poker buddy who could supply me with enough tall 16-oz. Coors Light cans for the season in just a few games (burp). LOL

Linda, we posted at the same time. Even though I'm talking about beer cans too, I'm REALLY happy with the water bottles.

My carpenter shop is kind of part of our garage. The doors to it are kept closed, it has a concrete floor, one small north window, and I keep the heat duct in there closed. You're right - the winter/spring temp in there is a steady 62, perfect for growing seedlings under lights. There's a ceiling fan, and I switch it on occasionally, on low speed, for the plants.

I think mixing 1/3 garden dirt into my Potting Mix has a lot to do with the good color and sturdy stems. It was a big improvement when I started doing that.

No, I'm not hardening off yet - I just put the trays outside yesterday to water so they wouldn't drip indoors. The last couple of days have been 70-75 and I'm working in a short sleeve shirt. But, last week we had a couple of nights get below freezing, the coldest one 24 degrees!

This is still Missouri in April, and I trust the weather about as much as I'd trust Maggie, our beagle, to watch my hamburger for me. LOL

after reading up on ozarks method of mixing in the garden soil with potting mix, that was todays mission, to add a good layer of some of the soil from the garden bed that i plan to put them in with the potting mix they are currently in. we will see how well mine react to it :)

This message was edited Apr 21, 2014 2:35 PM

Thanks, Sam!

My tomato stems are thickening up without any perceptible increase in height. I hope that means that my light source is doing its job and not that I've changed some component of their environment that's stunted them. Over a single 1020 tray we have 2 CFL bulbs, which are supposed to,give off more light than fluorescent tubes.

13Turtles,
Cud you post a pic of your light setup, please?

I sure will. Right now I only have shots with the lights on, so you can't really see what we did, but I'll get some new ones today. Here are the first: oh, and I'll try to remember to take vertical ones!

I like the reflector hood. Looks like a section of clothes dryer vent pipe or round heat duct?

Yup. We just unsnapped the seam, then spread it with threaded rod with nuts both inside and out. Really bounces that light around.

My thought is that you are growing them in the perfect conditions. Lights are close enough and temps aren't too warm. I'd rather have short stout seedlings then leggy ones. But I'll take what I can get. Lol They will grow taller when they are ready.

Thanks for the confirmation. I have a tendency to think I'm being too optimistic when it almost always turns out I'm not thinking highly enough, so I'm told. :~)

I am not sure why, but my plants all of a sudden got real thick stems and the height is good. I planted them all in water bottles today so we'll see how they like it. I can't get my DH to find the Mychorizae or I would water them with some of that. I am, right now, in a scooter around the house after my surgery. The planting stuff is all in the basement. So, I have to rely on him, who is not a gardner, to get all of my stuff. What a pain.

Oh well, the plants look good, and the water bottles seem to be good. will let you know how they progress.

Do the water bottles y'all are using have the circular ribs? I tried that and did not like it because it makes it hard to get the plant out when you are ready to transplant. Or, are you using a different kind of water bottle?

I can empathize Jnette. I'm sorry, and hope recovery is quick.

Good idea about the Mycorrhizae. I'll have to get some.

I'm trying different cheapo drink containers. I found a pack of 7-8 inch ones that might do well. I also got the whatsit cups -Dippy?- that everybody dislikes for being tippy, which of course I found as well. So I taped three together at the top. They still wiggle but they won't tip unless I brush them off the shelf.

I think it's still too early to be planting out here, but the direct sow veggies are coming up nicely --- 2 peas, 3 lettuce, 2 spinach, kale n onions from fall,

Marty,
I use the large 20 oz. Sam's Choice Purified Drinking Water bottles from WalMart. They're not sold in Sam's Clubs, and they're not marketed as a WalMart brand product. Go figure.

A case of 28 bottles runs about $3.50. These are larger in diameter, and have much less of a dip in the "waist". They're very sturdy, too. And, yes, they have circular ribs. I checked, and most all of the water bottles I've seen have circular ribs.

I had to bite the bullet and accept that each bottle must be sacrificed at transplant time, in order to get the tomato seedling out without damaging it. My process is to use my utility knife to score the bottle around the bottom first (from hole to hole, following the drainage holes I poked on the bottom sides). Then, I score from the bottom to the top edge of the bottle, on two opposite sides, creating long flaps. I peel these back, and turn the seedling out, right into the palm of my hand. The whole root ball stays intact, and undisturbed.

I find that moistening the soil in the bottle just a little bit beforehand keeps the root ball together better than trying to release a dry root ball. The soil will fall apart on you, otherwise.

Hope this helps!

Linda



This message was edited Apr 23, 2014 7:52 AM

This is the 20 oz. Sam's Choice Purified water bottle I use. A case of 24 is $3.50 or so...

This message was edited Apr 23, 2014 7:52 AM

This is the pic from the Walmart site...

Good buy LInda!! If I were close to a Wallys I would get them. You can leave them in those a lot longer than the smaller ones like I am using, and the price is the same as what I pay for those small ones at the grocery store.

Linda is right. For the price you can throw them away. However, it sure would be nice to be able to save them from year to year, but you can't stack them and they would take up a lot of room. Kind of a tossup, but the biggest thing is the landfills are filling up with the plastics so bad. But, I suppose you can recycle them. We don't have a recycle place to leave them

Marty, did you plant your kale like lettuce? Do they come up in individual plants? Or leaves, I guess. I was given some seeds and have never grown it before so looking for ideas in how and where to plant them. I am only working with deck planters this year. OK, so when you want to use the kale, do you cut it, or pull the whole plant? .

Guess I should ask the person that gave me the seeds, huh? >grin

I'm going to be growing kale in the future, for green smoothies. I'm currently growing some from seeds someone gave me. It's a smooth leafed kale, not the ruffly-edged kind. I learned a few things:

►Kale is a cool/cold weather plant. Too much heat makes it swoon.
►If growing outside the cool/cold season, grow it in bright shade, where it's cooler...
►Harvest the leaves as you need them, but leave the main plant growing. It'll keep producing until it fails -- which, might be a very long time.
►Keep it moderately moist through the season. It faints when it's thirsty...
►Since it's a leafy plant, it might like some high nitrogen fertilizer to keep it nicely greened up and producing, well, greenery, LOL!

Hope this helps!

Thanks Linda. Big help. I will try to get them in soon. Going to plant them in a deck rail planter
When did you plant your seeds? You are in a lot warmer climate than I am. Different as night and day. Oh well, will try it anyway. We had a light snow today but hopefully that is the last one. .

Sorry Linda; I had a devil of a time finding the thread where you asked for pictures! lol. Maybe the previous ones were enough, but here are some more anyway. I've also made up a tutorial with step by step pics, cuz someone else on another thread was interested.

Oops, finger bounced off the send button.

Weird, they don't appear in the order I added them. Hope they make sense.