Hello, Hello, Hellooooo!!
I have just recently gotten started with this "growing" thing and it's pretty dern fun!
I'm not sure whether this thread should be in this section or the vegetable section, but here goes.....
========
I live where there is no water and only sand. A friend of mine told me about how Romans used clay pots to conserve water!! He forced me to start researching them and I eventually found some videos that peaked my interest...
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97r3XvnM_SI
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5FwkVSWGks
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_1m1NjWLxA
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDeqcXCibbc
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-bydzRzT9Y
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd3u6G_PrS8
- https://www.greenculturesg.com/articles/may06/may06_self_watering_pot.htm
- https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=149164&sid=a5abff389c4bf814ac39eb50298bf342
So that's essentially everything I know about gardening right there!
I've got 5 tomatoes {1 super sweet 100 & 4 something heirlooms} and 5 jalapenos {1 mucho nacho, 3 regular, 1 regular that is waiting for a home}... and 9 of those 10 are in 1gal milk jug containers!!
All we did was cut a horizontal line in the milk jugs just a couple millimeters above the bottom of the hole for the handle. Bent a 1cm lip on the upper half, then inverted it so it would stay in place. Found some old white t-shirts, tore them into strips, knotted up one end and shoved them down in that "inverted cone" to make a dirt stopper and wick filter thingy!! (I'm sure you're familiar with this concept, if not just watch the videos above)
Anyway... I REALLY like this self-watering container stuff.
Reasons:
(1) Can water every 3 days!!
(2) No weeds in my setup!
(3) Less bugs. Only have to worry about the flying ones {had good results with hydrogen peroxide one year back!}
(4) Can move the plants if they're not in the optimum location {years back I planted in weeds at the top of a hill, this year I put a container "behind" a shed and realized my mistake after a week so I just "kicked" 'em a few feet to the side}
OK... So I'm a self-watering container guy for life now!
I just know that I'm going to have to move away from these gallon milk/water jugs, however. I like them a lot, and much better than a 2 liter container... BUT they're still not big enough.
My friend was throwing around ideas and suggested that 5 gallon containers are a good size.
What I want to know is what is the OPTIMUM depth and width tomatoes and peppers would need for soil?? Is depth more important than width? Is width more important than depth?
Imagining that sunlight, water, and soil conditions were perfect... how OPTIMUM could these self-watering containers be made?? 3 gallons? 5 gallons?
Long story short, I'm likely going to get a bunch of 5 gallon containers and cut a hole in the bottom to put even longer strips of white t-shirts as a wick. What to use as my water reservoir, tho??
Since these are supposed to be "everyday household items", I figured that a garbage bag would be sufficient. Just use some duct tape to hold the top of the bag (which is the reservoir) near the bottom of the container. Then dig a hole in the ground with a diameter slightly smaller than that of the 5 gallon containers!! Drop the bag inside, which is essentially just lining your dugout water hole reservoir. Then the rim of the 5gal container will rest on the rim of the hole.. if that makes sense to you...
- Any ideas on optimum width and depth for soil containers, and if one is more important than the other?
- Any ideas on optimum volume of water the average tomato/pepper uses in one day, one week, etc.?
OPTIMUM dimensions for Veggie Containers and Water Reservoir
Last edited by grndslm on Tue May 24, 2011 4:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Oops... I made a mistake and mistyped the first time!!
I highlighted the error by underlining the correction, for those who have already read it.
Anyway... I forgot to mention my current "soil situation" and what I should do for my last baby jalapeno...
SEVEN of the plants I used 50/50 [miracle gro] organic potting mix && [miracle gro] perlite.
I think this brand perlite is causing the tips to yellow because it contains fertilizer...
After reading that, I switched TWO into 60/40 mixtures since I had nothing else.
Now I have ONE baby jalapeno to plant, and I think I'm just going to try mixing some decently brown dirt down by a ditch with a tad bit of sand (this sand might have salt, however?). But I think I need to add something to the dirt to let it "leak", right???
I guess I've got enough of it I can just trial and error 'til it feels right.
I highlighted the error by underlining the correction, for those who have already read it.
Anyway... I forgot to mention my current "soil situation" and what I should do for my last baby jalapeno...
SEVEN of the plants I used 50/50 [miracle gro] organic potting mix && [miracle gro] perlite.
I think this brand perlite is causing the tips to yellow because it contains fertilizer...
After reading that, I switched TWO into 60/40 mixtures since I had nothing else.
Now I have ONE baby jalapeno to plant, and I think I'm just going to try mixing some decently brown dirt down by a ditch with a tad bit of sand (this sand might have salt, however?). But I think I need to add something to the dirt to let it "leak", right???
I guess I've got enough of it I can just trial and error 'til it feels right.
For my final jalapeno I decided to use mostly some clean dirt with a bit of perlite, then topped it with the organic potting mix.
It seems to be draining very slowly, but we'll see how she works.
I would like to figure out how I can use some local sand and why the salt would be bad in a 75/25 mixture of dirt / [salty] sand.
????
It seems to be draining very slowly, but we'll see how she works.
I would like to figure out how I can use some local sand and why the salt would be bad in a 75/25 mixture of dirt / [salty] sand.
????
Salt, regardless of the source, will burn the roots of a plant. Even salts from fertilizers will do so. This is especially a problem with container-grown plants, because the salts build up in the soil fairly quickly. In a container with a water reservoir, the salts that wash out of the soil become concentrated in the water in the reservoir, which is then reabsorbed into the soil.
The solution is to repot the plant in fresh soil every year, or to periodically drench the soil with water to flush out some of the salts. Distilled water should be used to drench the soil, because tap and well waters are actually a source of salts.
You can remove some of the salts from the sand by repeatedly rinsing it with distilled water.
I can't speak to any of your other questions, as I have had only poor results using containers with water reservoirs. Due to that, I avoid them. [img]https://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh27/Kisal_photos/dunno.gif[/img]
The solution is to repot the plant in fresh soil every year, or to periodically drench the soil with water to flush out some of the salts. Distilled water should be used to drench the soil, because tap and well waters are actually a source of salts.
You can remove some of the salts from the sand by repeatedly rinsing it with distilled water.
I can't speak to any of your other questions, as I have had only poor results using containers with water reservoirs. Due to that, I avoid them. [img]https://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh27/Kisal_photos/dunno.gif[/img]