Plant towers?

[Jeremy brua]

I was thinking about takeing some 4"PVC and drilling 1/2" holes ever 6" down two sides of the pipe. Fill it with soil and planting herbs and other plants in the holes. Will this work and what could be grown in it?

Thank you,

[ElizabethB]

Sounds interesting. Marlin makes several very good points about water, nutrients and plant size. Rosemary, sage and basil are out. Too large. Oregano, Marjoram, some thymes, mint, straw berries may all do well. Sounds like a fun experiment. Keep us posted.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Bury the pipe, like a fence post or use a Christmas tree stand to keep upright.

Put a smaller PVC pipe down the middle for watering or drip tubing or soaker hose.


Eric

[ElizabethB]

Eric as always you ar brilliant. A soaker hose down the middle of the pipe would be awesome. You are so inventive For stability - in addition to burying the pipe maybe take a 5' length of real heavy rebar like 1". Pound 2' into the ground leaving 3' above than bury your pie around that. My brother used pvc for frames in his square foot garden and they did not hold up well in high wind. G make vertical growing frames for me from rebar. No problem with the wind. May add some stability to your tower. good luck

[ReptileAddiction]

I agree the soaker hose dose sound like a good idea. I don't think that the pvc would work because the water would all just go to the bottom. I think the best route would be soaker hose because it would evenly distribute water. If you make holes close enough together but far enough apart to allow adequate room to grow they could probably cover the pvc then it wouldnt look to bad. If you lined the inside of the pvc with weed block then cut X's where you are going to plant you would have less soil falling out. before they were established.

[DoubleDogFarm]

The center PVC pipe would be capped at the bottom. You drill weep holes up the length of the pipe. You fill the pipe quickly to the top and it slowly drains out. You still may get more water at the bottom, not sure. Maybe holes are larger at the top and progressively get smaller towards the bottom.

1/4 drip tubing would be my choice. The emitters need 10Psi to open and water evenly.

Eric

[Jeremy brua]

Would a bagged potting soil hold water better then dirt or strait compost?

[rainbowgardener]

Yes. You can't use regular dirt, it is too heavy and dense and packs down. You want the soil to stay aerated.

Did you see this thread on the strawberry tower:

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... 62&start=0

It is a similar idea.


Having a watering tube down the center would solve most of the watering issues. Otherwise, it is not clear to me which direction they would go. Mg suggests water lovers at the top, drought tolerant at the bottom.

But water drains down.

When they make herb spirals:

https://howlingwolffarm.blogspot.com/201 ... rdens.html

They put drought tolerant at the top, and water lovers at the bottom, because that is where the water accumulates.

Maybe it depends on how good the drainage is underneath the set up?

[digitS']

You will learn how little volume there is a 4" plastic pipe, Jeremy. I had reason to measure the gallons in a similar pipe, once. It was surprising to me.

Let's say you have a 60" pipe with an inside diameter of 4". I'm not real good with math but bear with me:

volume = πdh

volume = 3.14 x 4 x 60

volume = 754 cubic inches

volume = 3.25 gallons

(π = pi ~ 3.14) (231 in³ = 1 gallon)

Any pipe in the middle of your 4" pvc would take up soil space so you will be down below the equivalent of 3, 1-gallon pots.

Your plants had probably better be small or few in number if they are only growing in, say, 2 1/2 gallons of soil.

You may want to think of no watering pipe inside your 4" pipe if it is placed on the horizontal instead of the vertical. That is the way plants are sometimes grown in greenhouses. And yes, a drip system would take up almost no room and a gravity-feed 1/2" watering pipe would provide very little water.

Steve

[ElizabethB]

Ok - I am going to throw my 2 cents in again. The resposes have gotten me thinking

As Digits points out soil volume is an issue. Maybe use a 6" - 8" pipe. More volume. Bury a good bit of it - 2' - 3' I think threading the PVC over heavy rebar for stability will help. Don't know how tall you want your tower to be but I am thinking rebar 1/2 way up. You can thread a soaker hose over the rebar from the top of the pipe to the bottom. Hmm - Marlin has a good point. I would add soil to the bottom the lowest hole - water it to let it settle then add more soil and plant in the hole. Tht would eleminate air pockets and give your plants nice moist soil to start with. IDK aboout weep holes. I am thinking yes on the section of the pipe that is buried to start with. Monitor the soil moisture up and down the length of your tower. If you have areas that are too wet you can always use a very small drill bit and add weep holes. My choice of soil would be a mix of bagged soil with fertilzer and compost mixed.

BTW - if you don't want the white pipe to be an eye sore - spray paint

I am really intrigued by your idea. Can't wait to hear about your progress.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Different option. Soiless

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcdtIx1PkS8

Eric

[prettygurl]

I second taking ideas from the herb spiral.

[Jeremy brua]

Different option. Soiless

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcdtIx1PkS8

Eric

I really like that idea. I found some red basil that dosn't grow to large that I might try.

[estorms]

Wouldn't that PVC pipe get too hot?

[rainbowgardener]

Wouldn't that PVC pipe get too hot?

No, it's plastic, why would it? Metal would heat up like crazy in the sun, plastic doesn't.

[estorms]

That's good to know. I want to support some raspberries this summer. I planted three Lathums last summer and I am hoping they make more of themselves. I know the other briars on my property are really good at it.