Justaguy, Tom Mobley has a had unbelievable success with just 14 14 14 in his pot n pot method. I am totally new at this business, my dad who just past away this year at 99 always had a large veggie garden in NC, but I was never interested until now at 72 ! I have put some MG in the water once they started blooming, but this first big beef is unbelievable (seems to be my favorite word this morning :>)). Our weather here is very subtropical, I have two very large mango trees that people said would not survive this far north and west (away from the Atlantic and gulf stream), but put them on the South side of my 12 cbs wall of the hangar and they have done extremely well. People keep tomatoes producing here from fall until June when it apparently is so humid that they fail to set new fruit. Typical day high here summer is 92 and 90% humidity and 70 low at night. Lots of rain in summer, we've had zip where we're located here west of port st lucie this winter and spring. Sorry about how dark the pictures turned out and with my palmetto background it is really hard to see how large the first bigbeef is in the bucket. Will try again to make a picture. bernie

but has anyone used or can compare Wal-Mart's self-watering planters with other sw designs in the market place? The WM sw designs are available in the traditional window box-, hanging-, and tub-size planters. An easily removable bottom screen also fits on top a water reservoir. Wal-Mart changes who they buy from frequently and regionally so it is impossible to say if I know of the specific containers you are familiar with. Having said that the primary difference between the Wal-Mart SW containers and the Earth Box, Gardener Supply and others is the size of the water reservoir. An Earthbox has a 2 gallon water reservoir and the Gardener Supply box has a 4 gallon water reservoir. The Wal-Mart units usually have a water reservoir measured in quarts, not gallons. This is the first critical difference. To my way of thinking the only reason to use a SW container is to extend watering intervals. I have a Wal-Mart self watering trough that is 30" long by 6 inches wide by 6" deep and another trough of the same interior dimensions that isn't self watering. The Wal-Mart self watering unit needs to be watered more often then the non self watering. Sounds backwards, but it's true. The bottom aeration means faster drying out. Not bad for plant health, but bad for those looking to extend watering intervals. I tend to skip any SW design that has a reservoir measured in any increment less than gallons. The three differences in designs between the WM's sw planters and the EB units are (on the wal-mart unit): no fertilizer stips used Earth Boxes are unique not so much in terms of design, but methodology. They are intended to be covered so no rain top waters and a fertilizer strip consisting of granular, non water soluble fertilizer is placed on top once and that's it for the whole season. Any self watering container can be adapted to the same methodology and it works quite well. It is the ultimate in convenience for those who do not wish to guess over fertilizing how much and how often. no upright watering pipe (buttom/side watering spout), and an open system (not covered like EB). WM's sw open models are probably easier to use (watering through a wider buttom watering spout instead of into a narrow upright pipe... unless the planters are positioned low on the ground) and cheaper if the design works well. There are significant differences between the Wal-Mart, EB and Gardener Supply Units. With Gardener Supply they have several choices and I refer only to their rectangular self watering unit also sold as a bundle under the name 'Tomato Success Kit'. The EB has a vertical tube to add water and an overflow hole in the side making overwatering impossible. The Gardener Supply unit is initially a bit trickier and those who do not read instructions will have problems. The aeration screen is supported by 4 pyramidal supports. For indoor use all is well, there is no overflow hole. For outdoor use those 4 pyramidal supports are designed to have a pliers taken to them and the top twisted/pulled off to make openings. This makes overflow holes. This is clearly explained in the included instructions, but many do not read instructions and experience failure due to swamped plants. Sad, but true. The GS boxes have water gauges that no others have indicating when the reservoir is full. The Wal-Mart containers are simply filled from the mid or bottom section until the reservoir is full, but again their volume capacity is much smaller than the others making the self watering feature of limited use. All self watering containers can have a cover and fertilizer strip patterned after the EB instructions to make fertilizing a non issue. All can skip the cover and fertilizer strip. All can have either a covered (to reduce water loss to evaporation) or uncovered application. The primary difference is price, potting mix volume and water reservoir capacity. In my years of using SW containers my opinion is that the Gardener Supply units are the best value. Earth Box units are close second place (they are different dimensions but hold the same volume potting mix, but the GS box holds 2x the water). The Wal-Mart units, like most Wal-Mart products are cheaper and you get what you pay for. The limited water reservoir size makes them not much use as self waterers. There is another option and it is the Grow Box by Garden Patch. It is roughly the same as the Earth Box, but less money. Unlike GS and EB there is no option for wheels or trellis system and the plastic used isn't as durable under sunlight so they deteriorate faster. Skip them is my advise, again you get what you pay for. Finally, the last difference I consider worth noting is that the Earth Box is slightly more expensive than the Gardener Supply Box both of which are more pricey than the Wal-Mart crap (and it is crap). So forget the Wal-Mart crap and between the EB and GS boxes which should you buy? Here is how I decide. The GS box has a 4 gallon water reservoir and the EB a 2 allon reservoir. Both hold the same volume potting mix while exact dimensions vary a bit. I use the GS boxes for tomatos, cucumbers, pumpkins and other water pigs. I use EB for peppers, herbs, beans and annual flowers. Simply put, the more water a plant uses per day the more likely I am to use a GS box over an EB. The higher the nutrient requirement of the plants the more likely I am to use a GS box over an EB since I can top feed with the GS box. However, there is only one self watering container system that is fully supported online and that is the Earth Box. They have their own forum with members and employees providing feedback which is of immense value to those new to SW container gardening. EB also has full planting charts detailing how many to plant per box and how to arrange them. Simply put EB goes the extra mile to make one's initial foray into professional SW containers a success. My advice is for newbies to get Earth Boxes. Those more seasoned can get GS boxes or make homemade bootleg versions.

actually, the Gardner's Supply Self Watering Container has niether aeration pipes nor an aeration screen. I don't have an empty one, but when one finishes I will post some pictures. they are doing great for me and NancySil (of PVC trellis for earthbox design fame) has also used them for years. I have 5 of them side by side with a real Earthbox, and they are doing as well as the Earthbox. Joe, why don't you get one for next year and try it...may stir your creative juices some more!!!! I will try to remember to let you know if they go on sale at GS. I have pictures of the interior of the Johnnie's Self Watering Container you show on your site, if you would like them... I also have some photos of the new ones from Johhnies, which I don't like as well because it is slightly smaller than the old one, not as easy to patch if holed by a moron with a weed eater, and only has one water exchange spike into the bottom. I am making some of my own containers with 5 gallon buckets from HD and Lowes, some 5 gallon square pickle buckets, and also more from 4 gallon drywall compound buckets, which have the singular virtue of being free - every drywaller is dying to get rid of them w/o having to pay for disposal...a neighbor has a drywaller acquaintance who will even drop them off in his yard!!! I am using a standard design such as most are using, but have standardized on using 2 10oz clear solo cups in the base for water absorption....obviously much less volume is needed since the new style Johnnies has only one small spike of maybe two ounces going into the water, and it is supporting a giant Druzba tomato quite well, thank you....just can't really get my mind about that, though...in any case, I think it is probably impossible to have too much volume in the water absorption probes, but fatal if no water is getting into the root zone, so I have choosen to err on the side of excess. anyone with 70 tomato plants (almost all in containers) for a family of two cannot be accused of excess in any other way!!! Michael P.S. also have a lot of happy friends!!!

Weirdtrev- Thank you, the "calabaza" pack said 300-400 pounds is possible so that sounds like an Atlantic Giant. That said the vine looks just like the Big Max. Our first frost around here typically isn't until late October. I'm glad I have the two pumpkins set that I do. I tried growing some a few years ago and the squirls would get them as soon as they set. No sign of that problem. Thank you very much for the insight. Hopefully my Atlantic Giants will bloom soon. It has been really hot (aveage high 89) for July and not one drop of rain until today. We got quite a bit of rain today so I think that will help a lot.