Thanks nil13 for clarifying it. Soil as in both. I am referring to container gardening whether done through potting soil and fed by irrigation water or through normal yard dug up soil and fed by manure etc. and contrasting it with hydroponically grown vegetables. Actually I saw one post where this guy had those 5 gallon hydroponic dutch buckets filled with the inert medium perlite and fertigated manually thrice a day and got great results for both tomatoes and cucumbers - which are large plants. He showed the root size and they very very fibrous and therefore too many but the overall size of the roots was very small compared to the normal container grown tomatoes. They recommend atleast 10 gallon and preferring with the bigger the better when tomatoes are grown in containers and here this guy did it hydropnically in a 5 gallon bucket with a larger production. This whole thing just made me wonder if i were to take a 5 gallon container and fill it with a good quality well draining potting soil and feed it thrice with a water soluble fertilizer, will I be able to get such a fibrous root structure and such a level of production? Infact why should I even bother myself with potting soil. i can fill the entire pot with perlite and get it fertigated thrice. Potting soil is required when you want moisture to he held up for more time. If I am going to feed it thrice, perlite is fine. It too can hold a certain amount of moisture which should be sufficient to last between waterings. Perlite has the added advantage that it is inert and therefore can be used a number of times unlike potting soil which is not recommended to be used for a second time. So I have two cost savings. Lesser quantity of soil and soil which can be used more than once. What do you think? This post was edited by saood on Thu, Feb 13, 14 at 6:57

Well I posted but it didn't show up try again. No the bottom container doesn't have holes but it will now!! I've got a couple of the milk crates I'll look for more at garage sales this summer. Cap is off!! Thanks.

They should pop back in a day or two. If not the roots or stem may have been damaged in the process. You did water them and there is a way for water to drain correct? Over watered plants will wilt too.

Pineapple is easy. Just use any three to five gallon container. Whatever you like. The first one I grew is two years old. It's in a five gallon container with three mini roses. Its three foot wide and at least a foot tall. We only get one month of summer - August so it's starting to get a growth spurt as the weather hits 80. Hoping for my first homegrown pineapple this year. I have a bunch of first year ones in three gallon containers and they're getting more sunlight and double the size in a few months. Just bought a couple and placed them in a 20 gallon container with herbs and strawberry.