Has anyone figured out if the homemade EBs are just as good as the real? I wanted to start sending "gentle" hints (ok so I was going to send a link and bash him on the head) to my Dad and Sister about the EB's as a B-day and X-mas gift idea since both are always buggin me to tell them what I want as gifts. Butttt if the homemade ones work just as well then heck I can say those gifts for my old stand by of gift cards to HD.
Saint
homemade vs. real
Okay...what the hay is EB??? Does it stand for Egg Baskets, Easter Buns, Egyptian Bongo?
:) Donna
lol..all of the above but also Earthbox, it's a really neat container that self waters and self fertilizes. People have wonderful results with them.
Lol...after I had asked the question I was looking at the other threads in the Container forum and realized what it meant. Silly me! It does look like that way to go for some things.
:) Donna
It does and I can get three of the real ones for about 106.00 (that's without the soil, fert and cover) or I could make my own for about 22.00 each and that includes the soil etc. Since I want to have at least 10 maters next year as well as cucumbers, lettuce, strawberries as well as potatoes and of course my herbs I'll need at least 10 I think. So it all depends on if I can figure out a way to hide the bank statement one month *G* Can see it now.."No, honey that 350.00 was for ahemm ahhh groceries, EB is a new grocery store!" Course then he might wonder why if that's the case we are eating lots of Mac' cheese and hamburger helper.
I've been using EB's for five years and honestly wouldn't ever give them up, I now own 14 of them. Tomatoes, Peppers, Cucumbers, Squash and most everything else I've tried have grown beautifully. I consider them a good investment as my five year old "originals" look as good as the one I purchased this year. I just don't know how long one made from a Rubbermaid container would last but I would have to say 8-10 years seems reasonable for the EB's. Here's a pic of two with Romaine Lettuce taken about a week ago at 4 weeks after transplanting. The lettuce grows so fast that in 2 weeks it will all be picked and they will be replanted with Summer Squash and Basil.
Rich
Rich, great picture. It does look like you'll have a bumper crop. Are the ones you made the black ones? What type of container is it? Are your instructions somewhere on a thread?
:) Donna
Thanks Rich...I'm going to start trying to order one a month then get several for gifts...can't wait to get my first one. Only problem is now trying to find something I can plant in it at this time of the year.
Will do..soon as I figure out what can grow this late...or early. This is soo not getting me to the store.
I saw that Wally world had "wanna-be EB's". They were fashioned after the first EB's that didn't have the removable screen but where you pushed the mix into crevices first, then filled them up.
They came in various sizes and the largest one held 1 cubic foot of mix. It cost under $11.00. You watered through a resivour(sp) on the bottom.
Don't know how well they work though
Phil
Humm I haven't seen them at my Wally World I'll have to go and check it out. I still have some okra I could plant and then of course my fall planting.
I can't tell you if they are better because we never bought a "real" one. Our homemade ones are working great.
I'm going to buy a "real" one to try planting in for fall and now that I know WW has a version I'll buy one of those too. Since it won't cost much extra to make one I think I'll get the DH busy on that and we can try them all three out and rate which one we think does the best job.
Saint
What a great experiment! Let us all know how it turns out.
Saint - I am using the make believe EBs from Wally World in addition to my real EBs. The mater plants in the make believe EBs are less than 1/3 the size of the ones in the real EBs. (Big Lots had the exact same self watering 1 cu.ft. containers for 6.99 vs 10.47 at Wal Mart)
They are better than top watering but they don't hold much water. Unless you can fill them up 2-4 times a day, I wouldn't plant any indeterminates in them. I think you can see one of the container ones in this pic and compare it to the EB plants. The containers work OK but the plant size and yield seems to be waaaaay down compared to the EBs. The one made from 5 gallon buckets over in the tomatoe forum looked interesting. I may have to make one like that. I'd recommend getting at least 1 EB. Then you could get your own comparison. I would not have believed the difference I got if I didn't see it with my own eyes. Ouch, just hit 91.5 degrees. I think summer has arrived.
Perrenial - The black planter's in Rich's picture are all Earthboxes not homemade. We have a garden here in MD but I bought my grandmother in FL one and they picked their first tomato yesterday! She was so excited - I was happy to help!
-Kim
Bump. Anyone else have any comments.. I'm in the same position and searching for answers... Buy real or make my own??
Susan
our homemade EB, growing a huge indeterminate, is producing 1# tomatoes daily now. i water fill the reservoir once or twice daily depending on the weather. here are a couple links from other discussions:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/478460/
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/492482/