Raybo's (Leak-proof) InnTainers - Doing It In The Bedroom (pics) - Page 9

rnewste · November 6, 2011

Naysen,

Two problems with doing this. First, the large gap will allow your Sunshine #4 Mix to slip through the opening and go down into the water reservoir. Second, when using a watering can, getting the spout into the smaller diameter opening on the filler tube will cause you to spill water on the floor - not a good thing.

Funny, but right now I am enlarging the 1-3/4" filler tube opening in my 6 InnTainers I made last year to now 2 inches so that I can move up to the 1-1/2" diameter PVC pipe. This will make it easier to get the spout of my watering can into the mouth of the filler tubes this year, spilling less (no) water on Dear Wife's bedroom carpet.

Raybo

z_willus_d · November 6, 2011

Ah, glad I asked. Ok. Well, maybe I'll just grab a 2" hole saw and go with the 1-1/2" as well. We're moving to a new "dream" (really her dream) home soon, and the last thing I want to do to dis-ingratiate myself to my wife vis-a-vis my already edgy hobby is start soaking dirty molasses water on the carpet floor.

Thanks.
-naysen

rnewste · November 6, 2011

Naysen,

Depending on where you have to put the InnTainers (carpet, hardwood, or concrete) this will help guide the "tolerance" for spilled water / liquid fertilizer, etc. In my case, I got the "Evil Eye" when Dear Wife noticed water stains on the carpet, so I assured her this Season of a steady hand, "zero spillage" policy on my part.

While the larger diameter filler pipe will reduce the volume of Grow Media, it is in reality, a fractional amount of the overall InnTainer capacity.

Raybo

tgplp · November 12, 2011

Hey Raybo! How're the plants doing now???

Taryn

rnewste · November 12, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by tgplp

Hey Raybo! How're the plants doing now???

Taryn

Taryn,

The seedlings are coming along fine:

Unlike others doing a Winter grow who now have mature seedlings with fruit-set, as we still pick outdoor tomatoes into January, my personal objective was to have a "delayed" indoor harvest. Ideally, I would like to have ripe indoor tomatoes starting in late January, continuing through February, March, April and early May.

By that time, my outdoor early ones like Cold Set, Stupice, and others will commence production in late May. Hopefully, I can sequence Varieties and seed starting times to be in a continuous cycle of harvesting tomatoes 365 days a year. I am sure this trial and error method will take me a couple of years to sort out - - and with the new release of Dwarf Project varieties, the fun is just beginning.

Raybo

tgplp · November 12, 2011

Hey Raybo, glad to see we are almost on the same page. My indoor winter toms are no where near flowering, and are a couple weeks behind yours. In fact, I planted the seeds about a week ago, and I am beginning to see tiny true leaves forming. Also, I just made an order with Tatiana to get all the new dwarf varieties, and I will plant those when they come. It'll be nice to get tomatoes in spring when we have yucky weather here in seattle. I love your idea of 365 days tomatoes! I'd like to try that, too. I am definitely going to run out of space in my house for tomatoes, but I'll try to squeeze them in.

Taryn

P.S. how did the foil around your plants turnout? I put foil around my seedlings, and am worried about them getting to much light or something.

lakelady · November 12, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by rnewste

Taryn,

The seedlings are coming along fine:

Unlike others doing a Winter grow who now have mature seedlings with fruit-set, as we still pick outdoor tomatoes into January, my personal objective was to have a "delayed" indoor harvest. Ideally, I would like to have ripe indoor tomatoes starting in late January, continuing through February, March, April and early May.

By that time, my outdoor early ones like Cold Set, Stupice, and others will commence production in late May. Hopefully, I can sequence Varieties and seed starting times to be in a continuous cycle of harvesting tomatoes 365 days a year. I am sure this trial and error method will take me a couple of years to sort out - - and with the new release of Dwarf Project varieties, the fun is just beginning.

Raybo

HA! Sure, rub it in Raybo

I've already forgotten what a homegrown tomato tastes like out here

BUT...I think it is very cool for people to try and have fresh tomatoes year round, however they can get it done, whenever they can get it done!

I would have to say, the new Dwarf project is really just adding more fuel to the fire

and some of us are going to be pretty busy playing around with them indoors too!

rnewste · November 12, 2011

Taryn,

Three advantages of the aluminum foil. First, it does reflect lumens (at a lower efficiency) to the underside of the leaves, which aids plant growth. Second, the reflected light tends to disrupt insects like aphids, white flies, etc. from nesting on these surfaces. Third, the foil acts as a pretty efficient moisture barrier by keeping in soil moisture near the top of the container.

Visit any Hydroponics Shop and look at their "grow chambers" and you will see all surfaces coated in reflective material. If it works for "cash crops", it surely must work for tomatoes.

Raybo

lakelady · November 12, 2011

Ray, I do have Fava Beans growing in one of your Inntainers! LOL...

I was afraid to try and build one, and well, had to wait for some parts anyway. By the time I got them done, I really didn't want to uproot my tomatoes and move them, and I wasn't going to move all of them anyway. So now I have two tomato plants in one inntainer, and yes, fava beans in the other! I might stick some herbs in with the favas as I have some baby parsley growing...

I did put foil on the tomato plant inntainer hoping it would prevent the gnats from the living room from making it their new home, and it seems to have worked!

Now, the only other place I can put more plants is in my bedroom and I'm just not ready to share it with the gnats, so until they get packing and leave, that idea is totally OUT. I have one that flits around in here anyway when i read at night. gotta get that sucker.

Thanks for sharing those great plans! I have checked, and rechecked the tubing, and nope, not a sign of a drop of water coming out at all, yay!

rnewste · November 12, 2011

Great job in building the InnTainers!!!

The aluminum foil can be tightly placed around the tomato stem, and this will inhibit the gnats from nesting in the Potting Mix, which is where they like to dwell. I would suggest you use the foil on your other container plants to isolate the moist Potting Mix.

Raybo

rnewste · November 15, 2011

As some of the seedlings are starting to approach 12 inches high, I kind of "panicked" today - - forgetting all about the small tomato cages for the InnTainers. After all, where do you get tomato cages now in the middle of November??

After trying Home Depot, Summer Winds Nursery, and Yamagami's in Cupertino, I happened to stop at Lowes for a set of casters for one of the rack systems, and on the way out through the Garden Center, I just happened to notice a stack of cages sitting off in the corner.

So I've now got the necessary 10 cages for the Dwarf and other plants which will need support as they load up with fruit. If any of you also forgot about tomato cages for your Winter grow, I suggest Lowes may be your only option at this time of the Season.

Raybo

lakelady · November 15, 2011

Here's another option if anyone needs one; visit a small privately owned garden center. They almost always have stuff left over from the summer season that is just packed in the back room. Mine is great about pulling things out for me when the season is over, they just ask me to wait a few minutes and then I'm good to go!

z_willus_d · November 16, 2011

Ray, are you actually dropping those three prong increasing concentric circle cages into your InnTainers for support? Or, did you have a different style of caging planned? I thought you would use the trellis netting at different intervals up the rack to support the plants and fruit? Is that not sufficient?
-naysen

rnewste · November 16, 2011

Naysen,

The trellis netting worked as expected last Season on large plants like Goose Creek, Indian Stripe, etc. This year, with many of mine being smaller tree-type, rugose leaved compact plants, I figured individual "cone" cages would work better. I bought the smallest ones I could find (about 30" tall). and will use a wire rope clip to fasten two of them together in each InnTainer. This should provide adequate support for my grow list.

These are the same ones I'm using in my outdoor InnTainer

to support the 2 pepper plants:

Raybo

z_willus_d · November 16, 2011

Ah, gotcha Ray. That's what I figured, now that you're growing those stumpy dwarf plants. If my ever get off the ground, I'll probably need something in-between, as the varieties I'm playing with are said to stretch to 4' in most cases. Add to that the tote, and I'd need 48" cages, which certainly will not fit side-by-side in the volume of an InnTainer. I might need a mix, with the small 30" cage on bottom and then the trellis netting above. I assume a rod or stake wouldn't get the job done alone.

November 12, 2011	#129
lakelady Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: northern NJ zone 6b Posts: 1,862	Ray, I do have Fava Beans growing in one of your Inntainers! LOL... I was afraid to try and build one, and well, had to wait for some parts anyway. By the time I got them done, I really didn't want to uproot my tomatoes and move them, and I wasn't going to move all of them anyway. So now I have two tomato plants in one inntainer, and yes, fava beans in the other! I might stick some herbs in with the favas as I have some baby parsley growing... I did put foil on the tomato plant inntainer hoping it would prevent the gnats from the living room from making it their new home, and it seems to have worked! Now, the only other place I can put more plants is in my bedroom and I'm just not ready to share it with the gnats, so until they get packing and leave, that idea is totally OUT. I have one that flits around in here anyway when i read at night. gotta get that sucker. Thanks for sharing those great plans! I have checked, and rechecked the tubing, and nope, not a sign of a drop of water coming out at all, yay! __________________ Antoniette

November 15, 2011	#132
lakelady Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: northern NJ zone 6b Posts: 1,862	Here's another option if anyone needs one; visit a small privately owned garden center. They almost always have stuff left over from the summer season that is just packed in the back room. Mine is great about pulling things out for me when the season is over, they just ask me to wait a few minutes and then I'm good to go! __________________ Antoniette

November 6, 2011	#121
rnewste Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Campbell, CA Posts: 4,064	Naysen, Two problems with doing this. First, the large gap will allow your Sunshine #4 Mix to slip through the opening and go down into the water reservoir. Second, when using a watering can, getting the spout into the smaller diameter opening on the filler tube will cause you to spill water on the floor - not a good thing. Funny, but right now I am enlarging the 1-3/4" filler tube opening in my 6 InnTainers I made last year to now 2 inches so that I can move up to the 1-1/2" diameter PVC pipe. This will make it easier to get the spout of my watering can into the mouth of the filler tubes this year, spilling less (no) water on Dear Wife's bedroom carpet. Raybo

November 6, 2011	#122
z_willus_d Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Eastern Suburb of Sacramento, CA Posts: 1,313	Ah, glad I asked. Ok. Well, maybe I'll just grab a 2" hole saw and go with the 1-1/2" as well. We're moving to a new "dream" (really her dream) home soon, and the last thing I want to do to dis-ingratiate myself to my wife vis-a-vis my already edgy hobby is start soaking dirty molasses water on the carpet floor. Thanks. -naysen

November 6, 2011	#123
rnewste Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Campbell, CA Posts: 4,064	Naysen, Depending on where you have to put the InnTainers (carpet, hardwood, or concrete) this will help guide the "tolerance" for spilled water / liquid fertilizer, etc. In my case, I got the *"Evil Eye"* when Dear Wife noticed water stains on the carpet, so I assured her this Season of a steady hand, "zero spillage" policy on my part. While the larger diameter filler pipe will reduce the volume of Grow Media, it is in reality, a fractional amount of the overall InnTainer capacity. Raybo

November 12, 2011	#124
tgplp Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Pacific North West, zone 8a Posts: 510	Hey Raybo! How're the plants doing now??? Taryn

November 12, 2011	#126
tgplp Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Pacific North West, zone 8a Posts: 510	Hey Raybo, glad to see we are almost on the same page. My indoor winter toms are no where near flowering, and are a couple weeks behind yours. In fact, I planted the seeds about a week ago, and I am beginning to see tiny true leaves forming. Also, I just made an order with Tatiana to get all the new dwarf varieties, and I will plant those when they come. It'll be nice to get tomatoes in spring when we have yucky weather here in seattle. I love your idea of 365 days tomatoes! I'd like to try that, too. I am definitely going to run out of space in my house for tomatoes, but I'll try to squeeze them in. Taryn P.S. how did the foil around your plants turnout? I put foil around my seedlings, and am worried about them getting to much light or something.

November 12, 2011	#128
rnewste Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Campbell, CA Posts: 4,064	Taryn, Three advantages of the aluminum foil. First, it does reflect lumens (at a lower efficiency) to the underside of the leaves, which aids plant growth. Second, the reflected light tends to disrupt insects like aphids, white flies, etc. from nesting on these surfaces. Third, the foil acts as a pretty efficient moisture barrier by keeping in soil moisture near the top of the container. Visit any Hydroponics Shop and look at their "grow chambers" and you will see all surfaces coated in reflective material. If it works for "cash crops", it surely must work for tomatoes. Raybo

November 12, 2011	#130
rnewste Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Campbell, CA Posts: 4,064	Great job in building the InnTainers!!! The aluminum foil can be tightly placed around the tomato stem, and this will inhibit the gnats from nesting in the Potting Mix, which is where they like to dwell. I would suggest you use the foil on your other container plants to isolate the moist Potting Mix. Raybo

November 15, 2011	#131
rnewste Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Campbell, CA Posts: 4,064	As some of the seedlings are starting to approach 12 inches high, I kind of "panicked" today - - forgetting all about the small tomato cages for the InnTainers. After all, where do you get tomato cages now in the middle of November?? After trying Home Depot, Summer Winds Nursery, and Yamagami's in Cupertino, I happened to stop at Lowes for a set of casters for one of the rack systems, and on the way out through the Garden Center, I just happened to notice a stack of cages sitting off in the corner. So I've now got the necessary 10 cages for the Dwarf and other plants which will need support as they load up with fruit. If any of you also forgot about tomato cages for your Winter grow, I suggest Lowes may be your only option at this time of the Season. Raybo

November 16, 2011	#133
z_willus_d Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Eastern Suburb of Sacramento, CA Posts: 1,313	Ray, are you actually dropping those three prong increasing concentric circle cages into your InnTainers for support? Or, did you have a different style of caging planned? I thought you would use the trellis netting at different intervals up the rack to support the plants and fruit? Is that not sufficient? -naysen

November 16, 2011	#134
rnewste Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Campbell, CA Posts: 4,064	Naysen, The trellis netting worked as expected last Season on large plants like Goose Creek, Indian Stripe, etc. This year, with many of mine being smaller tree-type, rugose leaved compact plants, I figured individual "cone" cages would work better. I bought the smallest ones I could find (about 30" tall). and will use a wire rope clip to fasten two of them together in each InnTainer. This should provide adequate support for my grow list. These are the same ones I'm using in my outdoor InnTainer to support the 2 pepper plants: Raybo

November 16, 2011	#135
z_willus_d Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Eastern Suburb of Sacramento, CA Posts: 1,313	Ah, gotcha Ray. That's what I figured, now that you're growing those stumpy dwarf plants. If my ever get off the ground, I'll probably need something in-between, as the varieties I'm playing with are said to stretch to 4' in most cases. Add to that the tote, and I'd need 48" cages, which certainly will not fit side-by-side in the volume of an InnTainer. I might need a mix, with the small 30" cage on bottom and then the trellis netting above. I assume a rod or stake wouldn't get the job done alone.