Hello all,
I use both homemade and commerical "EarthBoxes" I find it hard to find any difference in the final output between them. Every year I have one super performer, sometimes it is a commerical box, sometimes a homemade one. There are too many factors to try to figure out why, but I think the plant itself is the biggest factor.
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Username5 said "The commercial boxes are quite shallow, whereas the 'typical' homemade boxes using 18 gal rubbermade totes are quite tall by comparison. Something about poorer air circulation in the homemade boxes due to greater height of the planting medium"
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I have never heard or read this before and would be interested in reading it.
I control the depth of the soil by making the water reservoir taller, which actually is my favorite aspect of the homemade boxes -- they hold much more water. I can go a little over a week in the summer before the reservoir goes dry. That means I can actually go on vacation and not worry that my tomato plants will be dead when I return!
Also a taller reservoir means I use less soil. Which is a good thing because I don't reuse the soil for tomatoes. Each year I build some more raised bed Square foot gardens, dump the old tomato soil in them and grow herbs, garlic, flowers, etc.. in the new raised beds.