EarthBox - Who Uses Them?

[Broke Down Ranch]

Boy, do I feel left out! I just learned about EarthBoxes last night - as a result I was dreaming about them all night last night!

Who here uses a self-watering container and do you like them??

 

[freemotion]

I use a home-made version for certain plants, and I LOVE them. I started making them when we lived in an apartment, and I grew amazing tomatoes in them. Now I grow lettuce and swiss chard, to keep them up and away from the slugs.

Here is my version: http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1967

 

[Broke Down Ranch]

I am thinking I need a LOT of these things! I found a pretty good site that showed step by step how to make one. I wonder if blueberrie, raspberries, etc would work in them? How did your tomatoes taste from it? I have read tomatoes from a SWC tend to be leggy and taste watery - was that your experience?

OH, that site I found is:

http://www.green-trust.org/freebooks/Earthbox.pdf

 

[obsessed]

Wow, never seen these before. I guess I would be great to take the guess work out of watering.

 

[Broke Down Ranch]

What I like is the air flow to the roots. And of course the whole self-watering thing....

I think I'll have to give some a try and see what I get.

 

[freemotion]

Remember, I was living in an apartment, so anything fresh was so wonderful. I planted grape tomatoes and we ate them by the bushel, it seemed. I let the plants grow, but you really need to top them. My first one was twelve feet tall, which delayed the fruit a bit, but I just had to see how big it would get. I had to let it flop down, I couldn't stake it straight up.

Tomatoes do especially well in the box because the water supply is so steady. I used a large storage tote for the tomatoes. You would need a smaller type of plant for a bucket, like a patio tomato.

 

[zynski]

I found a link to a somewhat similar setup. This one appears to be a little more High-tech but the concept is pretty much the same.

I'll probably give this one a try during the dark days of winter.

http://earthtainer.tomatofest.com/pdfs/EarthTainer-Construction-Guide.pdf