Confusion between EBs and Home Made EBs etc.

what i find hard to comprehend about the earth box, is how those huge tomato plants grow in a space of only 2 cu.ft.
and how you can grow 6, 8 and 12 each of other plants.....doesn't it seem like they would be crowded ??

Don't know how they do it but I grow the recommended amount of peppers in mine and while it is a lot of green they produce well and don't show any signs of being to crowded.

Hard to believe but very true. Actually the roots don't have to search for food as they would in the ground thus more plants in less space.

have you found that tomato plants required or benefited from additional feeding into the growing season ?

Not necessarily but I do occasionally spray them with Spray-n-Grow when I have some leftover after spraying my other plants but I know it is not necessary as THE TWO CUPS OF 10-10-10 LAST ALL SEASON.

I find that tomatoes are one of my biggest showoffs of the spray and grow. I started putting the Bills with it this fall, wont know for sure till after the spring. I know in the EB's the 10 10 10 is fine, but i general, I find anything just LOVES a foliar fertiliaing or dose of vitamins.

Bills ?

O sorry, Bills perfect fertilizer. It is sold with the spray and grow. I never used it because there is no hiding the horrid fish smell. I found some in the garage so went with it this year in the spray and grow. It was a winner too. I dont know if its better than say osmocoate or MG. But it sure is easier. Just put in the sprayer with the spray and grow. I threw some Murphys oil soap in yesterday with it. It helps it stick, but in my case, I needed some aphid aphixiation.

Garden Glory: I have some of the Sea Magic, that I plan on using in my baskets this Spring/Summer, just as I have aqua pads also. It sounds like the Bill's perfect fertilizer must have some of the same ingredients in it that the Sea Magic has, which is good for plants or so they say. We shall see right? LOL
joy112854

Yep, I have heard good stuff about it, like i say, they just love that foliar buffet.

Garden Glory: Are you using it when you water the EBs? Or how are you using it? I heard that the plants love it and it encourages growth, heard so many positive things about it. I was planning on using mine just for the topsy turvy types and hanging baskets this year, I have decided to line the hanging baskets with the aqua pads because it holds water, which will be great for the baskets, the topsy's and baskets have to be watered continuously throughout the day or they dry out, so the pads will work great as liners I think.

By the way, does anyone know if silver dollar corn that Park's sells is in anyway related to the same thing as the silver queen everyone has been talking about? I know the ears are smaller and was wondering which would be most suitable for the EBs.
joy112854

I dont put the spray and grow in the water, it is only good for 8 hours, or so they say. I will throw some MG, or Bills, or even some magnesium down in the water, but mostly I just go with the foliar feeding. I know the saying is to fertilize weakly weekly. Even tho the 10 10 10 is in there, I like something that really kicks that up a few notches. I get much less BER on tomatoes with the spray and grow.

Joy -- You can grow any size corn in an EB. The bigger the better.

did you catch this thread in the veggie forum? Dont know if it will help

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/918660/

TPlant: Thanks, I will then make sure I buy the Silver Queen instead of the silver dollar ones then.
GardenGlory: Yes, thank you, that is helpful.

joy112854

has anyone tried making an HEB like this yet ?

pic 2

I think it will work, at least once, might have to replace the styrafoam after that, the roots will grow in into it. I use packing peanuts to take up volume in big pots and they roots will penatrate it eventually.

Is your outsdie drain hole on the other side? Good luck

I've thought about using 1/2" galvanized hardware cloth covered with aluminum screen wire and sch 40 PVC pipe. For the cover I was thinking of the black ground cloth nurseries use under their potted plants. The only thing I would need to buy is the plastic container and ground cloth.

see "Simple Sub-irrigation Grow Box"

http://www.insideurbangreen.org/2008/07/sub-irrigated-grow-box.html

this looks easy and should work just fine

for the main support shelf in a self-watering grow box I am going to try an "egg crate" plastic diffuser (for overhead florescent ceiling lites). can get at HD and Lowe's

i was going to use the egg crate tile too until i found this design...looks like less hassle..except i think i'll double up on the support grid just to be safe cause there are not any results that i can find with building and using one this way....i'm just trying to figure out an easy way of sizing and fitting the foam for the shelf..

How are your roots going to get down in the water thru those tiny holes. Thats kinda the magic of an EB, the fact that the roots can grow and feed away down in the water, without soaking and rotting.

Angie: That one looks rather simple, I could probably make that one. LOL It looks like it'd work too.
Texas: Shouldn't you stay away from the PVC pipe? You can use copper, aluminum or something else, as the PVC has chemicals that can leach into your garden mix. Just something I've been reading about lately.
joy112854

glory, i thought the greatness of the EB was how it is set up to keep the medium constantly moist....i wouldn't think it would be necessary for the roots to reach the water should it ?

You might very well be right for veggies, Im actually growing some daylily seedlings in some and they like water beds, stc, so they in fact do like the water. Veggies might not even make it down there, I havent paid that much attention when pulling them up. I guess it depends on what your growing as to the magic lol They dont much like being watered from the top.

well we will see....i'm just wanting some home grown vegetables !

I hear that.

Angie: I got about 10 five gallon pails between my neighbor and myself, he is donating them to me, he wants space in his garage and I want HEBs. I wonder if that design will work for the 5 gallon pails, instead of using two pails to make one HEB, I would love to utilize all ten 5 gallon pails as 10 extra HEBs if I could, what do you think? I printed out the instructions you have, hope you don't mind.

joy112854

joy,

SCH 40 PVC is the plastic water pipe that carries our drinking water in our homes. I would think that if chlorine in city water or the natural minerals in well water doesn't create any problems then it should be OK for a fill pipe on a HEB, unless I am missing something about what causes the leaching. I really dunno?

Jerry

Texas: There was an article on using PVC pipe as fill tubes on the HEBs, this article was the one listed on the making HEBs thread. Also, the articles suggests that instead of just making the tube, you should cut a slant in the bottom of it. I was looking at Angie's directions where the stryofoam was used in the rubbermaid one and thought perhaps I could use some of the styrofoam I have and some of the many pails I, my neighbors and family members have into some HEB pails, I could then use them for my tomatoes, eggplants, and artichokes, freeing up more of my EBs for other things. I could also have enough to share with my little sister, as I have her getting into this now. LOL
joy112854

joy, they are actually not my instructions, so it's sure not a problem with me ! =)
and i think it would work in the 5 gal. buckets, i've actually thought about doing it myself but at the same time it seems like it would take away from the grow space, especially if you are putting tomato plants in them.....but i really don't know since i've never grown tomatoes in buckets or anything else for that matter....i just know they need lots of room to grow and lots of water

fiddle
Thank you thank you, I was lurking on the Afican Violet site and
they kept talking about this stuff that they use for setting their
pots on, that the got at home depot. Well, I went to HD and
couldn't find anything like they described. Then I read your
post that said it was a diffuser from the light department. I found
it and bought it today. Now I will try making a couple of homemade
EBs for non-edibles or veggies. depending on what I find out
about leaching.

Annie

Annie: I'm in luck I think, I checked the numbers in the center of the recycling symbols on the pails I have and they are the right ones!!!! My neighbor also directed me to a person I'm going to talk to this week, as I hear he has lots of pails. LOL
joy112854

funny u mention the recycling numbers....i got buckets that had frosting in them and also ones that had floor wax. they both have #2 on them......i'm not worried about all that, they'll be fine

People -- Why chance it? How do you know if they have been used a second or third time to hold something else? Why take the chance of poisoining yourself. Lowes and Home Depot have five gallon plastic containers for $5 ea. in their nursery dept.?

This message was edited Jan 2, 2009 1:15 PM

My husband who is a chemist says Tplant is right about not knowing
what may have been put in it after the stuff that was first in it. Just
make sure you know its whole history no matter what its number is,
even for the safe numbers.

If you want to know exactly what the numbers mean, this is a good
link. It is a pdf file so you will need the free acrobat reader to view it.


http://www.plasticfreebottles.com/pdf/Understanding-Plastic-Codes.pdf

Annie

thanks for the link, good to know, some plastics are OK

PAW!

Sorry to bust in on this thread but I need an answer FAST! I just cut my collard and mustard greens down to cook for dinner. Expecting COMPANY! The collards look great, but the mustard greens have these little white aphid looking things on the undersides of the leaves -- I suspect it's whitefly larvae. Is there any way to safely clean these leaves so I can cook them for dinner? PLEASE HURRY YOUR ANSWER. I left all the leaves outside in the grass.

I was thinking to wash them in a bucket of soapy water BEFORE I even bring them inside to finish cleaning them.

HURRY! HURRY! HURRY! ANYBODY WHO CAN HELP!

Try washing them off and that is all you can do!