Tomatoville® Gardening Forums


Notices

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

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old May 8, 2017   #1
NewbieGrower
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Ridgeland, MS
Posts: 68
Default Insulating containers from heat

Exploring ways to insulate my EarthTainer as temperatures are getting hot. Has anyone tried rigid extruded or expanded polystyrene insulation boards? Can get 4' x 8' board (Rmax Plus-3 1/2 in. x 4 ft. x 8 ft. R-3.2 Polyisocyanurate Rigid Foam Insulation Board at Lowe's $12). Typically used in building construction. Easy to cut, doesn't hold water and won't mold or mildew. Can use on exterior. Cut into four pieces to surround EarthTainer. Then make simple shell to go around that (wood, cloth, bamboo, whatever) . Maybe only need 3 sides. Can make a number of these from one board. Might this work?

Last edited by NewbieGrower; May 8, 2017 at 05:10 PM.
NewbieGrower is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 8, 2017   #2
Cole_Robbie
Tomatovillian™
 
Cole_Robbie's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Illinois, zone 6
Posts: 8,407
Default

If you get the foil-faced insulation, the strongest tape for it is metal ducting tape. If you just taped the corners, it's not coming apart.
Cole_Robbie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 8, 2017   #3
dmforcier
Tomatovillian™
 
dmforcier's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Dallas, TX
Posts: 3,825
Default

Look around the Containers forum. There were some really interesting threads last year, with pics. Might give you some ideas.
__________________


Stupidity got us into this mess. Why can't it get us out?
- Will Rogers


dmforcier is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 8, 2017   #4
NewbieGrower
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Ridgeland, MS
Posts: 68
Default

How about shading the container itself by leaning a short piece of plywood on 3 sides (E, W, S)? It doesn't shade the plant at all. Just the container.

Another idea I have is to wrap plastic tubing around the tote. Have a small pump circulate tepid or cool water through the tubing around the container continuously (day and night). This would stabilize the temperature of mix and water in reservoir.

For the plants, use shade cloth during brightest and hot part of the day.

Can't control mother nature. Last week temperature dropped to 45 degrees just one night with daytime temps in 70-80s. Predicted to happen again. Perfect recipe for blossom drop.
NewbieGrower is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
insulating

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 05:28 AM.


★ Tomatoville® is a registered trademark of Commerce Holdings, LLC ★ All Content ©2022 Commerce Holdings, LLC ★