General discussion regarding the techniques and methods used to successfully grow tomato plants in containers.
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#31 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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I didn't think a horse could live on grain alone.
Too much of it will cause them to founder and they don't have enough sense to stop eating it. Too much protein. Horses need hay too. Worth |
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#32 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
Posts: 6,794
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Ricky... ouch!
![]() The container mix that worked really well for me in the past was a mix of compost and peat, that I amended every year with fresh compost and kelp plus some other ferts. Tania also uses a 50/50 mix of peat and compost, so it's not that unusual for organic gardeners. The company that I buy from has a very nice compost made from fish discards and peat. They used to sell a potting mix of about 1/3 compost and 2/3 peat, which made up the bulk of my container mix, but sadly they discontinued the product as it was not profitable for them to produce. I can still buy the peat (in bulk only) and the compost, but I have to mix them myself. The mistake that made me decide to change out the container mix, is that one spring when they hadn't got delivery on their compost before planting time, I used my own garden compost which was only a year old and still had some layers of herb straw in it that wasn't broken down. It turned out that those compost piles were overwintering sites for sweat bees, and I ended up with tiny bees in the greenhouse - where I expected to control pollination myself. In consideration that some other tiny pests seemed to be getting established as well, I decided to cycle it all out to make a garlic bed and start afresh. Then I got the wrong stuff altogether last year, and now I have to do it all over again. ![]() ![]() The most sensible thing for me to do is to stick with what certainly worked in the past ![]() |
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#33 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
Posts: 6,794
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Worth, thinking about the debris found in a load of manure, the only thing remarkable in last year's was a large amount of plastic tags off of bread bags. Wonder if he feeds bread to the horses?
![]() Anyhoo here is the starting pic for my cruel test. If anything is meaner than leaving a runty tomato for seven weeks in a 9 cell, it would be sticking that runty root directly into this stuff with no amendments or other ferts. ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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#34 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Texas Coastal Bend
Posts: 3,205
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Check out the art you can make with old horseshoes. ![]() https://www.etsy.com/market/horseshoe_art
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In the spring at the end of the day you should smell like dirt ~Margaret Atwood~ ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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#35 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Bozeman, Montana Zone 6b
Posts: 333
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Got delivered free from my neighbor 1yd of horse manure. Nice until I found that he used herbisides on the feed and it killed most of my plants. So know your source!!!!!
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#36 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Vancouver Island
Posts: 5,928
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Sowing a few bean seeds in a pint of any mix or manure or compost is a quick free test to check for the presence herbicides. It will not detect insecticide or pesticides. If the plants emerge and appear normal all is well. If there is stunting, twisting, discolouration that would indicate the presence of herbicide such as glyphosate. A well known plant virologist and scientist here taught me that and it is common practice for me . You should have your answer in a week or so. Whenever I buy soil mix or amendments I think it is easy to do and can avert a disaster to check before adding to your existing garden or pots. Ask for a small sample if buying in bulk or getting some from a farm. Special caution with horse manure as of the types I know I think it is the most likely to have herbicide contamination. KarenO |
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#37 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2012
Location: massachusetts
Posts: 1,710
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FWIW Paris and other large european cities were fed on plants grown in composted horse manure.
It was swept from the streets, composted, and used in cold frames to grow a great deal of vegetables within the city limits. The rotting manure was used as a warm bed to keep plants growing in the winter. Used once and tossed to get maximum production. Can't recall where I saw this, maybe Elliot Coleman's book winter harvest? Their biggest challenge was not cold, but hours of sunlight. Bower you are on to something with the soil heater. Soil temp is more critical than air temp for plant health. |
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#38 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
Posts: 6,794
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Nem, too right about soil temperature, especially tomatoes.
![]() It's a funny coincidence that we're about the same latitude as Paris, and their shortest day is actually a few minutes short of ours. ![]() I need a pony! ![]() ![]() |
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#39 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: NewYork 5a
Posts: 2,303
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I like the heating method. We put in a radiant floor in a kitchen once. Small pump
recycled hot water from the hot water tank. Considered a few runs of the heated outdoor floor mats one bad winter a few yrs ago. Just plugs into an outlet. Outside the garden we have a big coil of black water tubing on a full sun rock outcropping. Also hooked up to an outdoor shower. Gets really hot, almost too hot for a shower some days. Gravity fed to a soaker hose for the grapes and just outside the main tomato bed. As long as the valve is shut during the heat of the day, a good long shower, then shut off for the rest of the day, warm water for the garden. But you will need some sun, ![]() Still trying to figure out NFLD. It is April-June that needs some warmth for the head start. I've been using the bean test this year. I would use the poo. After testing with beans or better, sacrifice a tom seedling. |
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#40 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Romania/Germany , z 4-6
Posts: 1,582
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I have some commercial horse pellets I use in containers. They are dry, and rated 2-2-2 nkp, so quite a bit lower than chicken, but not super low. I wouldn't put serious amount of it in the mix, too much starting fertilizer could be bad not just because it will burn the roots.
The texture after it starts breaking down seems quite fibrous so to say, so all in all I don't think it's a bad idea for containers if it's not contaminated. I use it as an organic matter source besides my usual chicken/molases based one. |
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#41 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
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I would never use any animal fertilizer in a container- it is just too strong.
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#42 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
Posts: 6,794
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Your posts reminded me, so I nipped down and took a pic of the Mini Moravsky test. Same seedling in pure horse puckey, one week later. Pretty sure there are no herbicide residues to worry about, anyway.
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#43 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Texas Coastal Bend
Posts: 3,205
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Now I would say that's a nice and healthy plant you have there. I'd be happy with that.
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In the spring at the end of the day you should smell like dirt ~Margaret Atwood~ ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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#44 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Dallas, TX
Posts: 3,825
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I wouldn't go that far. The plant doesn't look entirely happy, though the cause of it's discomfiture may not be its dirt. It does look generally healthy, and the spectre of herbicides is apparently eliminated.
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#45 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Texas Coastal Bend
Posts: 3,205
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What's not healthy about it? I don't see anything wrong with that plant. It's only been a week in the pot, it's probably still settling in from the transplant. I see nothing wrong with it.
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In the spring at the end of the day you should smell like dirt ~Margaret Atwood~ ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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