Raybo's EarthTainer 'Farm' on May 1 (pics)

14 years ago

April turned out to be a pretty good month in Northern California this year. Temps hit in the 90's on 4 days, and the plants really loved it!

Bloody Butcher and Buckbee New 50 Day have set a number of fruit, with the Bloody Butcher now 28" tall:

The "Myth-Busters Challenge" between "Old" Tomato-tone and "New" Tomato-tone is becoming more interesting. Here is a pair of Goose Creek with the "Old" tomato-tone on the left:

The Goose Creek with the "New" Tomato-tone has caught up in overall growth, but is still not as lush green as the plant with the "Old" Tomato-tone.

The Ed's Millennium is still showing a "lead" for the "Old" Tomato-tone:

On these 4 plants (Big Beef, Celebrity, Carmello, and Dona) I used a 50/50 mix of the "Old" Tomato-tone and "New" Tomato-tone, apparently without any harmful effects to date:

The CornTainers continue to develop as I have staged seeding every two weeks:

I am experimenting with 5 different varieties in the 10 CornTainers to see which variety does best in this climate:

Stalks are thickening up and I am very happy I elected to plant only 15 stalks per 'Tainer as they already look overcrowded:

I am a little disappointed in the Candy Onions as they seem to be languishing a bit:

But the Snow Peas continue to shoot through the roof:

Hopefully, the month of May will be just as kind.

Raybo

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Comments (16)

sb158
14 years ago
Lookin' GOOD, Raybo! Outstanding, even.
farkee
14 years ago
Super update, I love to read about experiments.
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Okay, I have a beefsteak and cherokee purple in an EB, that I planted from seedlings on 4/8/09. I used 2 cups of the original Tomato-Tone (A new Ace hardware opened up in the area with the old stuff on the shelf. I grabbed a couple of bags. HeHe) Anyway, I had a little trouble with the leveling of the boxes and worked through that. My tomato plants are growing now. The beefsteak has about 10 little maters growing with lots of blooms popping up everyday. The creokee purple has about 5 maters with several blooms. But...they are no where near yours in height or production. Have yours been out longer or are my plants just destined to be smaller, etc? I am in NC, zone 7. Any suggestions?
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mangled, I have found that the EarthTainer extends the Season for me - both in the early Spring, as well as the late December crop. For reference, here is a photo taken on June 19 several years ago of plant status: Contrast that with the photos in my first post. The grow media in the EarthTainers warms up much earlier in the Spring as compared to the raised bed, so I am harvesting tomatoes now 4 to 6 weeks earlier in the Season. Also, the consistent water and fertilizer feeding in the 'Tainers helps the plants achieve constant growth. The Paul Robesons have grown 63 inches in the past 70 days. Corn is growing more than an inch a day. Likewise, later in the Fall I am able to grow crops like Snow Peas as the Sun's warmth on the sides of the 'Tainers keep soil temperatures higher than would be in the ground: I am also observing less soil borne disease and bug infestations vs. what I had experienced in the raised bed. Maybe the bugs just haven't figured out how to climb the sidewalls of the 'Tainers yet, but to date, I have yet had to pull a single weed. I am also saving a lot of water on my Bill as there is virtually no run-off (nor feeding weeds) as was the case in the raised bed. There are downsides, to be sure. Getting the right grow media combo mix has been an ongoing "science experiment" as straight Potting Mix keeps the plant's roots too wet in a self-watering container application, and the tomatoes can have a watered-down "hydroponic" taste. So this is an ongoing trial and error "tweak" to fine tune the 3:2:1 Combo Mix of Potting Mix, Decorative Groundcover Bark, and Perlite. My goal is to starve the plants with just enough moisture so they start to wilt on really hot days, but then recover overnight. As the Vineyard owners in Napa do with their grape crops in the Summer, this restriction of moisture provides the sweetest fruit. So it is with tomatoes as well. Balancing out the Combo Mix ratios and ingredients is what I am now working on this Season. Stay tuned..... Raybo
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tn_veggie_gardner
14 years ago
Dude...no hot tub picture this time? ;-) Just messin....plants looking nice.
rnewste
Original Author
14 years ago
tn,

Still just a bit too cool this week to get in there. 59 right now, and rain. Yep, I am happy for the rain!!

Raybo
greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a
14 years ago
Ya! Hurray for rain!
We've had a nice pattering all day up here in the foothills.

Nice pics, Raybo!

Josh
tn_veggie_gardner
14 years ago
Hot tubs are awesome when it's snowing.
rj_hythloday
14 years ago
Raybo, I'm curious about your corntainers. Some one in the SFG forum had 2 per SF and I thought that was crowded. I seem to remember you grew corn this way last year. How tall did your plants get and did you have full size ears? I have one per sf right now and am thinking about planting a second crop behind them.
kandhi
14 years ago
Raybo, what mix did you use for these, 5:1:1 or gritty mix?
rnewste
Original Author
14 years ago
RJ,

The EarthTainer holds 3.3 cubic feet of potting mix. This season, I spaced the stalks at 6" distance from each other.

Regarding last season, the plants exceeded 6 ft.:

{{gwi:30891}}

Production was satisfactory, but I spaced them too closely, something like 24 stalks per 'Tainer, and several of them never fully matured.

{{gwi:28847}}

The ears that did fully mature were about 6" to 7" long:

{{gwi:16854}}

This year already, the 15 stalks per 'Tainer really look healthy, so we shall see what kind of yield I get.

kandhi,

I use Miracle-Gro Potting Mix WITHOUT Moisture Control. The version with MC wicked up too much moisture in my early trials, and the one without MC works fine. It is also 25% cheaper on a cubic foot basis.

{{gwi:17662}}

Next year, I would like to experiment with some of Al's mix formulations to see if they improve on yield and longevity of use. I do agree with his view of bark fines, and as you can see in the above photos, I use bark fines during the growing season to screen the black moisture barrier from the sun, but when I pull out the root ball, I will let the bark fines fall into the hole, and mix them in with new potting mix for next season.

Raybo
tn_veggie_gardner
14 years ago
Raybo...that's some awesome looking corn. If my teeth could still handle it, i'd eat some...lol
rnewste
Original Author
14 years ago
Fruitset continues. Multiple tomatoes now on Bloody Butcher:

{{gwi:30892}}

and a big surprise is fruitset on "Dona":

{{gwi:30893}}

I thought Dona was not an early season variety, but more a mid-season one. Anyway, no complaints!

Raybo
sandy38
14 years ago
Raybo
You mention "new potting mix for next season." Should one replace all the mix in each container each spring?
Sandy
rnewste
Original Author
14 years ago
Sandy,

When I pull out the root balls in the Fall, I do not shake off the potting mix contained in the ball, in the container. My rough calculation is that with both plants extracted, I need to add back in about one cubic foot of new mix when planting the two tomato plants in the Spring. I simply stir in the new mix, then plant the tomatoes.

My plan is to do this for 3 successive years, then for season four, I will completely empty out the 'Tainer and start with 3.3 cubic feet of new potting mix. Plenty of other areas in the yard where I can use the old mix, or one could "solarize" the old mix and reuse it again. After all, it is "soiless".

Raybo
tn_veggie_gardner
14 years ago
Raybo,

I must grow some of that corn next year! =) Any chance of a seed trade?
rnewste
Original Author
14 years ago
tn veggie,

Sure, no problem on the trade. Let me see which corn varieties work best this season, then we can compare notes. I have a total of 10 varieties I am going to grow in my two crop seasons this year.

Raybo
thegreenone
13 years ago
Raybo, i've very interrested in the the result of the myth-busting experiment, but all pictures from you post on this topic has been removed (on photobucket)on this forum and others forums. Do you have a pdf/doucemnt of the result/finding from all the mythbustering?.

Raybo's EarthTainer 'Farm' on May 1 (pics)

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