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Have a great invention to help with gardening? Are you the self-reliant type that prefers Building It Yourself vs. buying it? Share and discuss your ideas and projects with other members.

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Old February 24, 2008   #16
amideutch
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Ray, I would suggest using Mycorrizae on one Plant when planting in your EB and treat both plants the same otherwise. If your going to use a fertilizer strip make sure the P (Phosphorus) is no more than 3. Ami
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Old February 24, 2008   #17
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And just to nip something in the bud before it even gets posted, Adam and Jamie of Mythbusters are generally NOT aware of the science behind each myth. They feel it makes for a better show, and allows them to "think outside the box". It also means that they are going to experience "real world" conditions rather than conditions in a lab. I don't think someone has to be a tomato expert to try some of these things.

Towards the end of a myth, they usually will then consult an expert to get that angle.
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Old February 24, 2008   #18
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One comparison that I'm planning on this year is to test the use of the 'hair mat' vs. no hair mat. The claim is that it boosts tomato production by 48% on average. Hard to believe, but we'll see.
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Old February 24, 2008   #19
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One more:

Using same everything, except:

One container has one plant and comparing with one container with two plants.

Which container produces more tomatoes ?

dcarch
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Old February 24, 2008   #20
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Rats!! So now I've got to build 25 EarthTainers instead of my current build plan of 24, to now house the single "orphan" control plant. I have three candidate varieties of which I have 3 seedlings each now growing: JD's Special C-Tex, Purple Haze, and Earl's Faux. So, which variety would you choose for the "2-on-1" yield experiment??

Ray
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Old February 24, 2008   #21
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what is a "hair mat"; a human hair mulch?
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Old February 24, 2008   #22
dcarch
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rnewste View Post
Rats!! So now I've got to build 25 EarthTainers instead of my current build plan of 24, to now house the single "orphan" control plant. I have three candidate varieties of which I have 3 seedlings each now growing: JD's Special C-Tex, Purple Haze, and Earl's Faux. So, which variety would you choose for the "2-on-1" yield experiment??

Ray
Earl's Faux. I am growing a few this year.

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Old February 24, 2008   #23
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I have been using EB's for just over a year now. I have tried a few A, B tests.

How about using Worm Castings in 1 box? I just cleaned out my boxes last week in anticipation of planting my tomato seedlings. I found more production in the boxes that I used Worm Castings. I will do more A B tests. I am convinced though.

I would also suggest another test w/ MG Regular and MG w/ Moisture Control. My test tells me the Moisture Control is not needed in these boxes.

Try another w/ Miracle Grow and Pro-Mix or Sunshine #4 or another w/ Pro Mix BX w/ Pro Mix w/ Biofungicide. I really like Pro-Mix and Sun GRO. They are lighter mixes. Also, while cleaning my boxes out I noticed that the boxes w/ the Miracle Grow smelled like a sewer and the boxes w/ the Pro-Mix or Sunshine did not smell at all.

I can probably come up w/ more but I think we have all come up w/ enough to keep you busy building more Boxes.

Nancy
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Old February 24, 2008   #24
JohnnyRock
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The hair mat is a mat of human hair sold as a commercial product, which has been in the news recently. It sounds gross at first, but no worse than some of the other stuff we put on our tomatoes :-). It's been discussed in this thread:
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=7836
The commercial website is http://www.smartgrow.net.
JR
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Old February 24, 2008   #25
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Nancy,

Miracle Grow with M.C. vs Pro-Mix sounds like a good "A/B" experiment. I will buy some Pro-Mix and add that as #10.

I would also like to do a "TomatoTone vs. Osmocote" fertilizer comparison, if someone would like to send me a cup of Osmocote in a zip-lock bag.

Ray
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Old February 24, 2008   #26
TomatoDon
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I think the suggestion of comparing actual harvest totals of one plant in one container vs two plants in one container is a veyr good/important test to try.

Also, try to monitor soil temps every now and then. As to ground temps at a certain depth vs HB soil at same depth, color or container, maybe insulating one HB, comparing temps and production, etc.

Don
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Old February 24, 2008   #27
rnewste
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Don,

Yep! I will do the 2-to-1 plant production yield with Earl's Faux as suggested by dcarch, for "A/B" Experiment #11. So one more open slot.....

Regarding monitoring soil temps, etc. I do have a "Day Job", so that seems too much for me to take on this year.

Ray
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Old February 25, 2008   #28
dice
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Quote:
Can you explain a bit more on your experiment? What
exactly do you want put in Side "A" of the EarthTainer, and
what do you want put in Side "B"?
Side A: 1 cup of dolomite, mixed in
Side B: 1 cup of gypsum, 1 cup of epsom salt, mixed in

Both sides get the same amount of no-calcium fertilizer.

(I'm ignoring the sulfur in the gypsum here. At most it
will increase nitrogen uptake on side B, which won't
affect whether Side A gets BER. The epsom salt proportion
probably needs to be adjusted to get magnesium equality.
I didn't take the time to calculate exactly how much
magnesium is in one cup of dolomite and in one cup of
epsom salt, but if the dolomite is broken down into calcium
and magnesium adequately over the course of a single season,
both sides should have plenty of magnesium.)

Does side A get BER?

(I already know that that gypsum added in spring
can make the difference between BER and no BER
in a roma plant in a particular row in my garden.
The second year, with gypsum added and no BER,
was actually drier than the first year, when it got BER,
and besides it got it during the rainy season, so low
soil moisture was not the cause the first year. I just
want to know whether dolomite lime is comparably
effective.)

I'm thinking of agricultural research that showed
no increase in production in fields limed in spring
until the following year. Why the following year?
Why wouldn't it make a difference the same year
that the fields were limed? Does it take that long
for dolomite in soil to be sufficiently broken down
for the calcium and magnesium in it to become available
to plants? Or was it merely a calcium migration in soil
artifact produced by only top-dressing the lime and not
tilling it in? (Mixing it in homogenously in the potting
mix eliminates calcium migration in the container
mix as a variable.)

If the dolomite is broken down sufficiently to supply
calcium in the same season that it is added to container
mix, there should be no BER on either plant. If it takes
a whole year for the calcium in it to become available
to plants, then side A should show some BER.

If both plants get BER, we have only shown that one
cup of dolomite or one cup of gypsum was not enough
for that cultivar, given the nitrogen levels in the fertilizer.
Using HEB's takes low soil moisture out of the test as a
possible BER cause. But I would want to be careful with
the pH-raising effect of dolomite. Less maybe, more
probably not, unless your container mix has a particularly
low pH. Real world, you might find that a cup of both
in one side is what you need, to keep pH where you want
it while still raising the available calcium above what you
get from one cup of dolomite.

That was my idea. I won't feel insulted if it takes lower
priority than other tests on your list. (We do want you to
be able to eat these tomatoes, after all.)

I am still undecided whether to build any of these myself.
If I do, I can run that test myself, but I would be hand-filling
the HEB's, not as consistent as your automated watering
system, and moisture levels matter for BER testing.
(I still have to read up on how to test pH in container mix,
which tends to not dissolve easily in water.)
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Old February 25, 2008   #29
TomatoDon
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Ray, I sent you a pm.

Don
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Old February 25, 2008   #30
dice
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PS: A test for BER should probably be done with
something disposable, like a couple of roma plants
that are naturally more prone to getting BER, rather
than wasting a big, delicious slicer on it.

Also, there is the question of whether the calcium compounds
leach down into the water supply in rainy weather and then
get wicked up by both sides. (This test should probably be done
in separate containers, rather than with two plants in a split
container, unless the container is inside a greenhouse and the
AWS is its only water supply.)
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Last edited by dice; February 25, 2008 at 03:23 PM. Reason: typo
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