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applestar
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Re: Are there any Earthbox growers here?

I noticed a lot of the Earthbox users say they use ProMix BX -- straight? Nothing added?

Is ProMix BX considered "organic"? -- if growing in plastic container of any kind can be still "organic"....

ProMix BX doesn't have any fertilizers in it right? Just mycos and "bio fungicide" (whatever that is)?

Is ProMix BX plus organic fertilizer like TomatoTone better costwise than buying organic potting mix like Espoma? ($15 for 2 cu ft at local Ace's)

...does anyone use Espoma organic potting mix in Earthbox type planter? If so do you add fertilizer from the start?

Where do you get yours? Amazon prices (with shipping) are horrendous when comparing the Espoma Organic Potting Mix to the local Ace's price.

pepperhead212
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Not sure if it is the BX, but I will be getting some promix at a hydroponics dealer in Gloucester City. He said it was the same price as the Sunshine mix last year, which was cheap! I'll let you know the price later today.

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skiingjeff
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We use premix BX 2 parts to 1 part mushroom compost in our "earth boxes". It seems to be working great! I don't have any new pics of our boxes but here are the pics from our initial planting of our broccoli and kohlrabi starts:
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IMG_0601.JPG
They are so much bigger now so I'll have to take a new pic! So far we love the results and are glad we decided to use the "earth boxes" :)

pepperhead212
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applestar,

The kind I got is Promix HP, which has no limestone or vermiculite added to it (which I add, anyway). It was a 3.8 cu ft bale, for $41.00 More porous, thus better for the hydroponics, and maybe the earthbox types, as well. I'll probably add some coir (maybe 1:5) and some vermiculite, as well as the dolomite, and a handful of the "rare earth" powder I use in the hydro.

Image

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You are welcome. I love my earth box, but I do admit in my sun, the rubber maid tub is not uv resistant and it becomes brittle in about 4 years and needs to be replaced. But they are still cheap to make; just a little time consuming cutting out the lids. I can reuse the fill tubes.

I had my tubs on a bench off the ground and with a bamboo and CRW trellis 7 ft high and 7 ft long down the middle with 5 gallon and 18 gallon self watering containers on either side. I did cheat. I had a drip system on a timer to automatically fill the fill tubes. In the beginning it only needed filling once a week but when the tomatoes were in peak production in summer they soaked up 4 gallons of water a day and needed filling daily. I had chili peppers in 5 gallon buckets and I also had regular boxes (recycled styrofoam fish boxes from the fish distributor) on the ground in front of the bench for herbs (stevia, garlic chives, green onions, Mexican tarragon, basil). Unfortunately the tomatoes were attacked by tomato yellow leaf curl virus and the basil got downy mildew. After 4 years the diseases continue to persist, so the trellis was dismantled to make room for a hydroponic demonstration. I have more material to make more earth boxes at home and salvaged the buckets and fill tubes from the other containers. The containers were too brittle to even move.

The promix you have is the organic one. That is the one with micorrhyzzae.
There are other promixes in the black bag and sunshine #4 which are essentially potting soil peat moss and perlite and can be with or without added fertilizer or lime.

pepperhead212
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I got a lot of my single plant "Earthboxes" filled and covered today. I'm starting on my big ones - got the first one filled, but I have to start cutting the covers for those, and also order more bungee cords!

https://s24.photobucket.com/user/pepperh ... sort=3&o=0

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applestar
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Thanks for the info and pics --

@skiingjeff those look great! Looks like I will also be getting the ProMix BX -- the local distributor finder at their website pointed me to a local farmer market -- I called, somewhat skeptical, but it turns out they have a greenhouse and are selling from their own bulk-ordered stock for a very good price.

@Pepperhead, are you planting already or are you just getting ready? I've noticed you are very well organized. I really should try to do the same. I was going to run out and get a couple of those bales earlier until I realized I couldn't until I got the 20+ concrete blocks out of my SUV. :roll: -- finally got them out and ready to wash on the driveway with my kids' help, but was too exhausted to go buy them today.

The farmer market is very close to where I usually get big bags of TomatoTone... Or do you think I should start out with VegTone per recommended plant food at Earthbox website?... So I could get started as soon as I get back from shopping tomorrow :-()

@Imafan, I hope these 2nd hand totes will at least hold up for another year....

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@imafan26 - I'm wondering if the insides of the Rubbermaid tubs could be re-used, assuming it is the same model, and they haven't changed it once the outer part gets destroyed by light. I'm sure the support columns and wicking columns are re-useable, but if that cut to size lid, with all the holes cut in it could be re-used, that would be a major time saver!

I fill my EBs with drip lines, too. I had to tweak them, STS, by using different output emitters, and even had two emitters on the eggplant - the one that used the most. But I didn't grow tomatoes in it last year.

@applestar - no, I'm not planting yet, but it's not far away! I took next week off to plant tomatoes! LOL And eggplant, at the end of the week. That first large EB I got filled and covered is for my pea eggplant. Should be interesting to see how much water that thing sucks up!

Here are some of the tomatoes, while they were out hardening off today:
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I wouldn't go for the tomato tone - I'd get a more balanced NPK, rather than one going toward blooming, then later, if you want to trigger blooming, you can add more P and K. And with the organic ones you have to use more, since they are less concentrated. I just used a 10-10-10 fertilizer in the trench, then put a small amount of a soluble "bloom" fertilizer in the tube every few weeks, and had great results with those eggplants and peppers.

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the divider (lid) could be reused, but I had problems with them warping and collapsing. I may need to use more support tubes under mine. I am looking into finding styrofoam sheets to cut to fit. It should work out better. So far I have only been able to find 1/4 inch sheets, I am looking for 1/2 inch. They will be easier to cut using the old lid as a pattern, should not rot with contact with wet soil or water and should not collapse from warping.

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applestar
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@pepperhead -- thanks! I was thinking along similar lines for the fertilizer... That it's probably better to start with balanced npk and use the blooming/fruiting one later. Bt hey have all the Espoma line (except the citrus one :? But maybe they can special order it.

...what's the super wispy/cut leafed one? Is it Silvery Fir Tree?

pepperhead212
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That cut leafed one is Flamingo - one I grew for the first time last year, which I got from a lady in AZ, when I was looking for heat resistant varieties. It was mild last summer, so I couldn't tell if it was, but it was the first ripe tomato of the season, including cherries! Small tomato - 2-2 1/2" - but productive all summer, and a large, vining plant. Good flavor, as well.

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applestar
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...oooohhh... (Putting it on my Wishlist.... 8) )

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skiingjeff
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applestar wrote:Thanks for the info and pics --

@skiingjeff those look great! Looks like I will also be getting the ProMix BX -- the local distributor finder at their website pointed me to a local farmer market -- I called, somewhat skeptical, but it turns out they have a greenhouse and are selling from their own bulk-ordered stock for a very good price.
Thanks Applestar! The Promix BX does have vermiculite and perlite in it which is not as earth renewable as other things but yes, it is considered organic. Similar to Rainbow, I use and reuse plastic pots and now earth boxes so I don't feel too badly about using them. Good luck with your earth box experience. :)

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applestar
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Haha I know -- this is like taking a step backwards :roll: but I need to learn how this (SHOULD) work before I can start tinkering, so I'll go along with the recommendations. I like how pepperhead said he adds coir. I could maybe do that to supplement the box next year -- ProMix BX is said to last several years in the same box with just supplementing (and the dolomitic lime and ferts) ...better value in that sense than some of the others.

@imafan, I'm not a fan of using styrofoam.... :?

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applestar
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A local farm market turned out to be a pretty big operation with a second family farm near Trenton. They apparently bought a bulk load of these ProMix BX at a volume discount for their own use in their green houses and are selling them to customers out of their stock for $21.95 +tax. ...I got three... :()
image.jpg
These are the free second hand DIY planters. Looks like he used perforated drain pipes for support and wicking columns (they are black with a green stripe if that means anything).

He only gave me the lid for one tote -- are they critical?

pepperhead212
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That is a great buy for that promix! I am tempted to get my truck and go up there and stock up on it! Where is this place?

I found that the leftover lid on the first EB I made did not fit tight enough to hold the "cap" on, so I used my bandsaw for cutting the rest, which destroyed the lid. But maybe yours has a tighter fit. I just use bungee cords.

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applestar
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@pepperhead -- Sent you a PM :wink:

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skiingjeff
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our earth boxes have just cut up black trash bags on the top held by large rubber bands - no lids and they work just fine.

Nice pro mix find! :) Good luck with your boxes!

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Thanks! I think I'm ready to set them up :D I just have to find out when DH intends for us to go see the new Avenger's movie :lol:

MrBote
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I am doing well with tomatoes now with my home made earthboxes. This plant is 9 feet tall not including the planter which has it nearly 11 feet. It takes real lumber to support these heirloom tomatoes and the plants are loaded as well. Here is a few shots kind of showing a somewhat optimal planter for a single indeterminate. Still have to add bamboo stakes for some branch specific supports. My heirloom beefsteak.
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The base I made for it.
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Tomatoes everywhere and quite large.
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pepperhead212
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Great plants, Bote! My tomatoes are going in, starting tomorrow, and I got the two large (18 gal) boxes set up today, which I am doing the mycorrhizae experiment in, in which each pot has everything the same, except the myco added to one. Each will have one Beauty King and one Sweet Carneros Pink in it. The latter tomato I grew last year, and each plant in 3 different locations got BER on about the first dozen or so tomatoes, but never again the rest of the season, becoming one of the best tomatoes of the season. I am curious if the dolomite in the EBs prevents this, and I will have a third one in the ground, with the rest of the tomatoes, to see if the same thing happens.

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I got 4 more large earthboxes filled today, with 4 more left to do! I broke open the Promix HP, and am doing a sort of experiment, though not as exact as the myco experiment. I filled one of the two 18 gal ones with the rest of the sunshine 4 mix, adding some myco to it, then used the promix HP for the other one, and everything else the same, though I won't have the same varieties - there will be 4 different eggplant varieties, 2 in each. I'll see if either mix seems better, though with different varieties, it will be harder to compare.

I got my pea eggplant transplanted to its own earthbox - my first one of the season! It was not easy with that large plant, compared to the smaller ones I am used to. I cut a cross in the center of the plastic, large enough for that rootball to fit into, then dug out enough mix to drop it in. Then I loosened the plastic cover, and lifted it up, to fill in the empty area around the rootball, mounded the soil up again, then pressed the plastic back down, and secured it with the bungee cord again. I'll have to do the same with those huge peppers!.

MrBote
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Best thing I have found for plants susceptible to BER is, a low N, (in the case of tomatoes, a tomato specific plant food) fertilizer and adding calcium nitrate to the reservoir at the first sign of flowers. If I was using a high N fertilizer, I would use cal-mag instead. Calcium nitrate doesn't need microbial activity to make it available to the plant roots. The Espoma fertilizers have been working very well for me this year. When I remove the plants at the end of the season, there is this layer of resultant humus where the roots meat the potting mix, and there is this dense mass of fat, white root tips that look extraordinarily healthy.

Here was an experiment using both man made 10-10-10 (plant on the right), and Espoma Tomato-Tone (3-4-6). Both planted at the same time. The plant on the left has also has been topped 16" and it was around 9 feet tall. The 10-10-10 plant is definitely too much N for a closed system, IMO.

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This below, was an orphan plant that lived in a solo cup for almost a month after the others were planted. I was curious to see if the natural fertilizer could rehab this root bound plant, that had grown to around 16" in a solo cup. I didn't have high hopes for it, but it is surpassing the man made nutrient plant and on it's way to becoming a monster as well, again, just using Tomato-Tone. It's kind of late in the season for it to be starting with fruit, but we will see. At least I got to see it turn into a healthy plant, and I have no doubts it would be a top producer.

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The tomato tone plants are a normal, healthy green color, while the 10-10-10 plant's leaves are too dark and leathery, and the plant has had some intermittent BER as well.



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