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Container Gardening

Earth Box Mistake--What to Do?

16 years ago

I totally missed the "wetting" your mix before putting in the box. I have four 18 gallon boxes completely done, but I didn't pre-wet them.

What should I do?

thanks,

Propofol

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Comments (5)

justaguy2
16 years ago
Plug the drain hole and fill with water until above the wicking chamber area and into the planting mix itself. Let it soak for a day and you should be good to go.

Even this isn't strictly necessary if you have a few days to wait for the mix to wet itself.
propofol
Original Author
16 years ago
I have time, my plants are fine, so i think I will wait over the weekend and water if I need to!
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But will the results be better than a good container with a good mix? Impossible to answer. There is nothing stopping one from using a 'good mix' in an earthbox. How do you know where the PWT will be? There won't be one. Well, practically speaking there won't be one as the mix will never dry out. There is no excess water to drain away as all water is introduced from the bottom and works up via capillary action. If you have a small container with soil in it for the wick, the water will only wick so high right? Will the top layer get wet enough From humidity in the box? Assuming the potting mix can wick at all, it will wick to the top. The limiting factor is evaporation and if the top inch or two lose water to evaporation faster than the media can wick it up, then the top will be dry. This really is only an issue with young, shallowly rooted plants in a super coarse media comprised of materials that wick poorly. Once plant roots go deeper it's a non issue and with earthboxes it is a complete non issue as the top is covered which sharply limits evaporation. It sound to me that you would want to keep the reservoir kind of low. So the PWT is as low as it can get? With an earthbox the water reservoir should be filled to capacity in order to extend watering intervals. The height of the water in the reservoir will have no noticeable impact on anything other than the watering interval. The concept of a perched water table is irrelevant in a self watering container where the idea is to keep the mix evenly moist at all times. I am sure Al would disagree and point out that a fast draining, well oxygenated mix is still the way to go. And I am sure that there is still a perched water table. It's just that it really doesn't matter in a self watering container. Oxygen is introduced in the bottom of the media via an aeration screen so the area that typically suffers from low oxygen doesn't in an earthbox. I don't think earthboxes are the be all, end all of container growing, but for annual plants, particularly veggies, I think they are terrific and work well. Go ahead and get one or two and try it out. Just follow the instructions that come with each box and you should have no trouble getting great results.
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propofol
Original Author
16 years ago
Justaguy,

I've waited since the 4th but my box is still dry. After searching the forum, I'm thinking my mix is the problem. I forget exactly the type, but I know its Miracle grow Mix, not soil.

Tonight I will plug the hole and fill it above the wicking chamber. Does this "start" the wicking process, or will this be just how much I have to fill it each time?

I'm willing to mix in some peat and vermiculite if that will help the wicking process, because as it is, its dry on top of my box.

thanks

Propofol
justaguy2
16 years ago
I've waited since the 4th but my box is still dry. After searching the forum, I'm thinking my mix is the problem. I forget exactly the type, but I know its Miracle grow Mix, not soil.

The MG mixes (primarily peat) should wick fine once the hydrophobia (water repellency) is overcome. Tonight I will plug the hole and fill it above the wicking chamber. Does this "start" the wicking process, or will this be just how much I have to fill it each time?

One time. The problem seems to be that the mix was too dry initially. Peat and bark resist absorbing moisture once their moisture content drops below a certain amount. Not a huge deal, just a pain to get them to take on the water initially. I'm willing to mix in some peat and vermiculite if that will help the wicking process, because as it is, its dry on top of my box.

If you have a wheel barrow or even a trash can that you can dump the mix into and flood and leave overnight that would be the easiest means of solving the problem. It's just a one time thing.

If the design of your home made self watering container doesn't wick water to the surface even with a peat based mix then you can try vermiculite as it is a super sponge with water and has no issues with hydrophobia, but you might also take a look at the depth the of planting mix. If it is over 12" it's a waste of mix and makes it harder for water to wick that far against gravity.

I will just say this here to get it out of my system ;-) The commercial earthbox is superbly designed. It's really hard to improve upon it. Lots of folks start out building their own since the principle is really simple, but the devil is in the details.

My advice to anyone wanting to give self watering containers a try is to purchase a complete kit from the earth box people. This means the containers, the mix, the cover, the fertilizer... everything.

Try it for one season and then start doing the homemade thing. It's downright difficult to build a better mousetrap than the EarthBox if you haven't actually seen/used one to understand why it works as well as it does.
jeremysobczak
16 years ago
I have the EarthBox clones sold from Gardener's Supply. I've just been using regular organic potting soil and when I first put it in, I water from above. I give it a good soaking and then continue filling through the regular fill-hole. I do the same with self-watering containers made from pop bottles.

It's been working quite well. You can check my blog for pictures, if you like.

Here is a link that might be useful: Jer's GardenBlog

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