Has anyone tried these earth boxes? If so, what results did you have? Inquiring minds would like to know before a purchase is made..
Thanks, Kris
Earth Boxes
Kris, I tried my first earthbox this summer. I was quite impressed with the growth of the plants I put in it. I got it too late to try veggies so I planted 8 flowering plants. All did very well. I used Whitney Farms potting mix, which is what I like the best of what is available in my area. Also used 9-3-4 organic type fertilizer down the center. Just followed the directions that came with the Earthbox. I live in a very dry climate, so one of the things I had to be careful of was to keep the bottom resevoir full of water. Also since i am in zone 5 all the plant material has been frozen now. I think you would like to use the Earthbox. Donna
Thank you, Donna...I have been very tempted to get some, after reading about them, but wanted to get the 'real' scoop on them..I guess your praise made up my mind..
Thanks again
Kris
I like the EarthBox! Had a great crop of sweet potatoes this fall. Just took delivery yesterday on five more. While the initial price may seem steep, they are durable. One gardener in another group reported that the first one in his collection is now ten years old but still ready to go again. We've had a uncommonly big rainfall count this year - 42 inches thus far and more expected. Much of it came in deluges that kept us indoors for days, but the drain on the box kept the plants from drowning. I rate this as a very good product. Yuska
P.S. I ordered the boxes this time from National Gardening Association - delivery time was faster.
Well, that did it..I ordered 3 boxes to start...but ordered from www.earthbox.com . This late in the year, it really does not matter how slow they are unless they are MONTHS slow..LOL
Kris
Hi Kris,
3 years ago I ordered one for myself and one for my daughter. She lives in Seattle 400 miles from me. She loved hers. Don't remember what she had in hers. I put strawberries in mine. But I had a disease go thru my whole deck and killed everything in site.
So, I gave her mine too. She went home with mine and ordered 8 more. She then had 10! This time she planted all vegetables in them. Everything from corn to peas, tomatoes, cucumbers etc. You name it. The reason she likes them so well she can move them to different places on her deck. Tomatoes need sun, peas need shade.
You don't always have that option with a plot of ground.
I think you will be pleased. Jeanette
Should you order just the box or the box and the soil and the extra's?
George in San Antonio
I just ordered the boxes, didnt know you also could order soil....I imagine potting soil will work just fine (am hoping it will)..
Kris
I think my daughter uses locally purchased potting mix and fertilizer. Jeanette
I'll show you the difference between EB grown and other way. You can decide !
Another view.
Don't use potting soil !! Use a good grade of potting mix such as Pro-mix, Jungle Growth, Miracle Gro, etc. Do not use a mix with fertilizer mixed in if you intend to grow vegetables or you will over fertilizer and have a lot of growth but no crop. Use 3-4 cups of organic fertilizer as to 2-cups of 10-10-10 which is the ideal amount to use. Also use 2-cups of dolomite lime mixed into the potting mix as you set up the box. You will recieve instructions with your order. You have two choices when ordering:
1) Complete box includes potting mix, fertilizer and dolomite lime. $59.00
2) Box only ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- $29.00
Just follow their directions exactly and it's so easy.
I have seven EB's right now and would not garden without them. If you want to see more go to MY NEW GARDENat the tomatoe forum. Happy Gardening !!!!
Thank you for all that advice..I just bought 3 of the EB..and had planned on using Miracle Gro potting soil since thats what I use with everything I plant..but thanks to you now I know that will nto be enough and will have to amend it a little...
This is why I love Dave's Garden..so many others so willing to help each other..
Kris
Sorry T,
I didn't differentiate between potting "soil" and potting "mix". Jeanette
Jnette -- no problem !
Earthling ----- look for potting mix that does not have fertilizer. I use Jungle Growth. It works beautifully for my EB's although some say it looks to course. It comes in 2 cu.ft. bag and 3 cu.ft. which is a better buy. Around $9.00 at Lowes. Your EB's hold 2 cu. ft. so you'll have one cu.ft. left over. Be sure to use dolomite lime as it breaks down slowly thru time. My plants love it. If you need any info just let us know ?
I have used Earth Boxes for tomatoes and have had great luck with them.
My tomatoes are doing fantastic. Sequee gave me a tip about growing the very large heirlooms like brandywine. She said to put only one in the box and not two. Reasoning is they grow quite large and have a large root system so they'll produce more and healthier fruit. Plant marigold in front. I will put a pepper in some of mine along with nasturtium in others.
About dolomite lime. My Lowes finally recieved dolomite in two sizes. 5 lb. for$2.87 & 50 lbs. for $2.67. Does this make sense ? Well I bought the 50 lb. of course.
This message was edited Dec 30, 2004 1:53 PM
Earthboxes? Love em! I've been using them for years. They're a tad expensive but worth it. Also, you can buy just the replacement covers when your original ones wear out. At the moment, I have 10 EB's, but I'll be placing an order for 5 more this week. It's a great system. I just wish that I'd thought of it.
I am new to this site, found it when I went to order more EarthBoxes online. I ordered my first three eb's 5 years ago and am now up to 27. I have 35 acres, 1 of which WAS in a veggie garden. Somewhere on this site I read that someone had complained that eb's weren't good for anything but patio type tomatoes. Boy! Is she wrong! I have told so many people about them that I should have a distributorship. I also canned 15 qts of spaghetti sauce, 20 pints of salsa along with all the ones I give away and we eat...all from my earthboxes. My regular garden has superior soil, after amending it heavily every year for 8 years...BUT it still doesn't produce like the eb's. This year I am using my regular garden for lettuce, carrots and such that I can sow over and over during our short growing season. Am putting in an "earthbox garden" this year with railroad ties to heighten it and instead of dirt, it will have a pea gravel base. This will give the plants more warmth at night. Earthboxes aren't expensive in that they last for years and last year I paid $10 just for a plastic window box at Walmart!
I agree with you sunsdouble. I have seven EBs and am ordering six more. Speaking for myself they make gardening a pleasure and my tomatos love them. I heard the same thing about EBs only able to grow patio or dwarf plants. This is a false. You can grow most anything in them. All I can say is that person did not follow set-up instructions..
Hi Tplant...how are you doing. It's been a while since I posted here. Folks, I have been using Earthboxes for 5 years and have grown tomatoes, bell & hot peppers, cucumbers, romaine, broccoli, summer squash, raddichio and basil in them with great success. I now have a total of 14. I have had some blossom end rot issues with full size tomatoes (not cherry, grape or plum) and bell peppers. The problem seems to crop up when, as it tends to do often here in New Jersey, spring turns into summer almost overnite and the plants go through a large growth spurt. I mix 2 cups of Espoma 5-3-3 100% organic along with 1/2 cup each of bone meal and kelp meal into the soil before planting along with 2 cups of dolomite and 1 cup of pellitized gypsum (adds extra calcium without affecting soil pH). This along with a few sprays of a commercial blossom end rot spray have pretty much solved the problem. I think that mixing the organic fertilizer into the soil works better than the fertilizer stripe at least for me. It is very easy in my area to double crop with them as lettuce, radishes and even broccoli can be planted in early april and be ready before the end of May after which I plant my chilli plants, basil which I have started earlier in pots or even summer squash from seed. I've attached a picture of last years cucumbers taken at the end of June. If you have a spare box give them a try...they grow beautifully in the Earthbox.
Hi ritchh -- Nice to have you back ! The season is approaching and soon we will be hearing from all the EB'rs. You use organic fertilizer so it won't burn your plants. However I use 10-10-10 commercial and if I mixed I'd probably burn my roots.
Go over to the tomato forum and look up"My New Garden"? My son built it for me.
Beautiful plants, rictchh! Welcome back amongst the friendliest gardeners anywhere. :-)
Terri
Like to show you a picture of Suddath Brandywine(real formal with name in case Carolyn's watching LOL) taken 01/20.
This is the same Brandy taken just three weeks later. Growing in the EBs, my tomatos love them but I'm really impressed with this one. I've grown Brandys before and never did well. This one has three tomatos and loads of flowers.
This one leaned way over to the right to catch as much sun as possible. I had a window box on my chain link fence and I guess my Suddath didn't like it there so it leaned way over to get the sun. I removed the window box today and moved it down the line.
This message was edited Feb 15, 2005 8:12 PM
I have really enjoyed reading the info on earth boxes. I have contemplated buying them for a while and now I think my mind is made up. With that said, I was wondering what the difference in an earth box and a black rubbermaid storage box with plenty of drainage holes would be? Has anyone experimented with this? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks so much.
Hi rockdrky. There is a thread on the Tomato forum about Earth boxes. It talks about and shows a couple of pics of homemade containers.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/478460/
I don't know how to hyperlink this -if that is what you call it- but if you copy and paste it should work.
Cindy
OH, maybe I do know how to hyperlink. Hope this helps
This message was edited Mar 4, 2005 9:37 AM
Always wondered about the homemade box ? All the rubbermaids and other containers I've seen are to weak on the sides to hold 50+ lbs of wet soil. The sides will bow out thus allowing the soil to pack on the bottom and rotting the roots. The box may seem simple to build but they have a patent on it for a very good reason. I've heard of people building them but that's all I've heard. Never the results !!! I guess we will just have to wait and see ?
The EB sides are very sturdy and so is the screen that holds the soil. These combinations, combined, make for a very successful and sturdy box.
I've got a tomato plant in my homemade box but just transplanted it last weekend - I'll try to update and let you know how it does.
Shellydar --- If the sides are not bowing out and the soil (some is OK) is not falling into the water then it will work . The biggest problem is the sides bowing out from the weight of the potting mix. Two cu.ft. of mix when wet will weigh ay least sixty pounds which puts very heavy pressure on the sides thus bowing the container and allowing the mix to settle into the water at the bottom of the container.
Shelleydar, are the sides of your container bowing ? If not what name brand container did you use ? Does it have a cover ?
Tplant, I think it was a Rubbermaid..? Haven't had any problems with the sides bowing out - ya, it has a cover. We have $7 of material in it so if it doesn't work no great loss. The plant has two new leaves and I gave it a very small amount of slow release fertilizer today. It seems to like it's new home in the greenhouse.
I've got a small GH that gets REALLY hot in the summer - gonna put grow boxes in there this year and use it for peppers and maybe a couple of eggplant.
Though the initial cost of an Earthbox is kind of steep, remember that they last for many years. This will be my 5th season with my original 4 and they look just a good as the ones I bought last year. I don't know what their ultimate useful life will be but would have to guess at least 8 to 10 years, and I leave mine outdoors all winter.Tplant, with at least 6 inches of snow still covering my backyard and the forecast for this week being back to the 20's and 30's, your tomato plant pictures are making me want to move to Florida real soon. The way the weather has been here in New Jersey I may be planting in July!
Rich
I have a friend whose 1st two boxes will be entering their eleventh year of service this spring. Yuska
ritchh --- Just got back from Wal-mart. Took new pictures this afternoon and will be posting them soon. Big difference from three weeks ago....
Okay, so I'm not too proud to ask a stupid question. ( I am but I'm going to do it anyway) What is the dolomite lime for? It sounds as if you could spend a fortune on these things. I saw a picture of one made out of a large paint bucket. Would that be less likely to bow out on the sides? Linda
The dolomite provides calcium needed to prevent blossom end rot. Tomatoes grown in pots are very susceptible to that problem. It also raises the pH of the soil as tomatoes like a higher pH than most potting mixes provide. I've found that a cup of pelleted gypsum in addition to the dolomite works even better. A half cup of epsom salts can also be added to provide magnesium. You could also use the regular white powdered lime sold for lawns. The dolomite is preferred because it is naturally slow release in the soil. None of this stuff is terribly expensive and need only be added at planting time.
Rich
Hello, just new to this site. I just ordered 2 earthboxes the other day. I can't wait. By the way how many tomatoes can I expect from 2 plants in an earthbox?
About 40 from each plant.... but usually not all at once.
Help.
This morning before going to work I decided to place my 2 containers of tomatoes outside, I knew that it was not going to be sunny. It was chilly this morning but I thought that it would warm up as the day went, well it did not it has been cool the whole day. When I came home from work I could see that one of my tomato plants is pretty wilted, is there anything I can do to save it? The leaves are still green.
carminator1 --- It didn't drop in temp low enough to do any harm. Container plants must be watered heavily every day but don't place a saucer under the container as they also require good drainage. Like taking a dive off a diving board "You get soaked and then dry off." That is the way they like it. If you use Earthboxes just fill till the water comes out the overflow also on a daily basis.