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General discussion regarding the techniques and methods used to successfully grow tomato plants in containers.

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Old February 8, 2006   #1
angelique
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Default Easi-Lift Grow Bags

Hi All,

I am thinking about purchasing some Easi-Lift Grow Bags to grow tomatoes in. They have 12 and 15 gallon bags. Which should I purchase? Will the be significantly more growth in the 15 gallon bag?

Thanks.

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Old February 8, 2006   #2
mdvpc
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Angelique-I think its a matter of personal choice. 12 gallon are fine, 15 most people would say are better. Can you put more plants in a 15 than a 12? probably. 15 would lessen a teeny bit maybe your watering requirements, in my opinion would not change your fertilizing requirements. There will be more growth in 15, but significantly? I dont know. I assume you are going to buy the white grow bags? That is the way to go, cause I believe it will help keep your roots cooler than say a black or dark colored container.
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Old February 8, 2006   #3
angelique
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Hi Michael,

Thanks for the advice. Peaceful Valley Farm Supply is about an hour away from me in the lovely city of Grass Valley. They are the only merchant that I have found that sells these types of grow bags. I am definitely going purchase the white bags with the handles. I am planning on 1 tomato plant per bag. I found an online article that described planting 2 cucumber plants per bag.

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Angelique
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Old March 7, 2006   #4
fnsdo
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Default water emitter question

Have decided to redo my watering system for my grow bags, with a single spaghetti tube to an emitter in each bag.
I bought one 2 GPH (gallon per hour) emitter for each bag. The desert here requires lots of water for containers.
I can swap for 1 GPH emitters.
Anybody know which is preferable for container tomatoes?
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Old March 12, 2006   #5
Earl
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Is having handles really necessary? Has anyone put 3 or 4 heavy duty 15 gal. garbage bags inside each other and used them as grow bags? What would be the downside to doing it?
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Old March 12, 2006   #6
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Fred-Hope your tomatoes survived the rain and cold Phoenix got yesterday. I dont know the answer to the 1 versus 2 gallon drip system. Earl, I use the white ones, and they come with handles, because of the intense heat here in El Paso. The handles are handy when you need to move the container and also the container is very sturdy.
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Old March 12, 2006   #7
MsCowpea
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The grow bags stand upright on their own--3 or 4 garbage bags would not do this. Gro-bags would also look SO MUCH more neater and professional.
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Old March 12, 2006   #8
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I grow my tomatoes in huge burlap bags that I get free for the asking from a local coffee roaster. The bags are made of food grade jute and are quite colorful with the various designs and trademarks that are stamped on them. I've got bags from Africa, Mexico, and South America, all of the coffee growing regions of the world. Of course, these bags are what the green coffee beans are shipped in. I double them up because the first year I only used one bag, and by the end of the growing season the bags had begun to deteriorate somewhat and began to split near the bottom. Doubling them has resolved this problem. The seams of the bags and their inherit strength allows for them to stand up on their own with no added support of any kind necessary. I fill each bag with 2 forty pound bags of composted cow manure, plenty of perlite, and a couple of handfuls of espoma tomato tone. I then set them on the soil in my girlfriend's backyard. The tomatoes do fantastic and at the end of the season I can see where the roots have grown through the burlap and into the soil below. This will be the last year for doing it this way because I'm gonna build a nice big bed. It's been fun though, and we get alot of comments on doing it this way.
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Old March 12, 2006   #9
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You could also grow right in the bag of potting mix--sort of like the pre-filled bags of perlite that greenhouse growers use. Just cut an x in the bag. I tried it--but thought for looks alone I prefered containers.

The burlap bag idea sounds like a good idea.
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Old March 12, 2006   #10
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Yes, growing in the plastic bags is an option, but I much prefer the control I have with the burlap. The burlap has built in drainage properties with excellent wicking . Plus, I can pull up the top of the burlap bags to protect young plants during a bout with really bad weather.
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Old May 29, 2006   #11
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For the past couple years I grew tomatoes in MG Organic Potting Soil, not the potting mix; but the potting soil. Strange how well it worked. First Lady just thrived and was my best producing slicer last year. I just took a broom stick and made wholes in the back of the bages, plopped them down, made an X in the center of the front of the bag (Now the top) and planted. I did mulch the bags and watered about 3-4 times a week or less. Great tasting too. Trying First Lady in garden this year, to compare.

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Old June 19, 2006   #12
michael johnson
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Some of the best plants I have seen- were grown by a chap not too far from where I live, what he did was this- he didnt like the standard flat growbags usualy available over here in the Uk, as they are only about three inches thick and not deep enough for tomato growing, so he went out and bought the cheapest he could find -bags of 125 litre multipurpose compost ( 4 ) of them, laid them flat on his concrete patio- and then cut three oblong holes in each bag about 8" x 10" in size- into each of these holes he planted one plant-the holes were spaced equaly apart along the length of the bag, one in the centre and the other two about 6" inches from either end of the bag.


He had one of the best crops of toms I have ever seen, he fed them all season long with liquid seaweed fertiliser mix, and a little dry granulated (fish/blood/& bone fertiliser watered in, the bags retained a high water content and didnt dry out too quick.


A realy good crop alround, the plants were supported by canes tied in a wigwam fashion tripod.


Using these 125 Litre bags gave him a compost depth of between 6" to 8" inches and seemed ideal in all respects.
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