grow bag question (mainly) and more

[bizzarbazzar]

I have never used grow bags, and want to buy about 100 this year, some for tomatoes and some for other veggies. I have an area on the side of my house which gets full sun, but its all cement.
<We broke up the cement last year in the back of the yard and under it was the worst soil, and we will be working on that soil so we are not ready to break up this cement on the side. To me it seems like a waste of space because there is not much I can do wit a 3 ft x 200 ft piece of cement. >
On too the question, is there a place to buy them in qty of about 100 or so? Also I would think the black ones would be best, but there are ones that are black inside and white outside, would those be better? This year I am going to use them on some of my not so favored varieties I am growing for my Dad (Marglobe etc.)
Any advice would be great

As you can tell I am drastically changing a lot about my gardening in hopes to have a "better" or shall I say "Improved" garden. And some things I am not familiar with may be incorporated in my garden. I may be using a daconil like product as opposed to a chemical free garden, I am going to stake ALL indeterminates instead of the 40 or so that I allowed to "sprawl" last year. I am going to attempt to compost AND vermicompost etc etc etc. So in the next few weeks I may just be asking more questions than I usually do. But I have been an old dog too set in my ways, and I know there are better ways out there. Thank you all for all of the help ...in advance...

[mdvpc]

bizzar-

http://www.groworganic.com/search.ht...tegory=catalog

I get mine from peaceful valley farm supply. They give a discount for quantities-be sure and check out their shipping charges before you order. They have many different sizes. I have never seen bags black on inside and white outside. They have white ones, and black ones. I use white during the summer and usually black during the winter greenhouse season-the black would get too hot for me during our 100+ temps. The white ones are very durable and can be used over and over again-I just empty them, rinse them out, disinfect and fill.

[angelique]

I live about 45 miles from Peaceful Valley Farm. To make a long story short, my tomato plants fried in the bags. However, my tomatillos grew great. I put a tomato cage over the tomatillo bag and they grew straight up (no bending over for me).

I am going to give growing miniture cukes a try in my 12 gallon grow bags.

I forgot to mention, peppers did well in the 5 gallon grow bags. I am going to try growing eggplants a try in this size.

Some people that I know use the bags during the winter to grow carrots. I gave it a try, but I am still undecided. This is my first year growing carrots and I think that I pulled most out too early...In other words, I don't want to give the bags a bad rap due to my lack of experience growing carrots.

The bags are very durable. The five gallon bags are easy to move around. The twelve gallon bags were a bit heavy for me once they were filled.

[mdvpc]

Angelique-Did you use the black plastic gorwo bags or the white ones during the summer?

[angelique]

I only have the white ones.

[bizzarbazzar]

Thank you for the info! The white outside with black inside ones I found on the auction site looking under grow bags. They only have about 30 auctions that are for grow bags.
I dont get the CA heat so I think I will be OK with that and I shouldnt have the frying problem...but I will keep a close eye on them in case.

I will order some from the place you mentioned. I checked shipping charges and Priority was cheaper than parcel post by 3.00 which is fine with me

[mdvpc]

I wanted to mention shipping cause sometimes the charges are real high-not just from Peaceful Valley, but everyone.

[Thomas]

Do you already have the medium to fill a 100 bags?

Just asking b-cause I would think you'd have plenty of time to amend your soil that was under the concrete. Hate to see ya spend money on bags and medium when maybe you could get your ground up to par.

Even if you could amend 3 foot strips for some sorta SFG type set-up may be easier and cheaper.?.?

[bizzarbazzar]

Fortunately I have plenty of soil/compost etc. It will be a few years or at the earliest next year before we break up the concrete over on that side of the house The area we already broke up has been more of a chore for us, than we planned, as we now have nowhere to dispose of the concrete. Its piled up behind the garage. The trash company will bring us a dumpster at 110 dollars each time they pick it up when full and we figure it would need emptied about 20 times. As for soil and compost for the bags, its prepackaged bagged miracle grow and canadian compost in bags. When we did our last wholesale order for the old store we ordered 2 pallets (one of each potting soil and compost) as we pay 10-30% as long as the entire order has no individual item over 300.00.

[montanamato]

Heather...Last year I used a small amount of grow bags from Peaceful Valley...I used the black type and some were on the concrete and some on the roof ( split level). That was the hottest summer on record and my plants in grow bags did better than my plants in black pots...Better ventilation, I guess. Perhaps the cooler nights we get keeps them from frying as easily , but I sure like black for the spring.

Jeanne

[bizzarbazzar]

Thanks Jeanne, I am glad to hear that. I feel like this has the chance to be a great way to utilize that part of the yard. I am going to get them from Peaceful Valley, and the black ones . You are right, we have cool evenings and that may benefit us in a way many others do not. I am going to order them tomorrow as soon as I can find my CC on my desk. hehehe (you would think I actually worked at this desk)

[OmahaJB]

Now that the '07 growing season is virtually over, I'm curious how the "grow bags" have worked out for everyone that used them. There seemed to be some that think the white bags are the way to go, and others who think the black bags work just as well and don't necessarily get too hot.

The reason I'm asking is I can get 10-gallon black grow backs for 79 cents each and probably will. I decided to ask first to find out if anyone had trouble with the black grow bags frying the roots of their plants.

TIA, Jeff

[mdvpc]

Jeff-I live in the desert Southwest, and always use the white bags from groworganic.com during the summer, and usually in my fall and winter greenhouse. I have used the black bags in the greenhouse during one winter, and they did fine. If they kept the plants warm, that was good.

I think you are going to have to try them out. I think it will depend on your summer temps. I dont think I could use the black bags in the summer because we have sustained temps over 90 degrees for months.

Let us know what you think. I will say, the black bags I only used once. The white bags I have used for several seasons.

[OmahaJB]

Thanks Michael,

I'll have to look again but I'm thinking the white bags on groworganic.com have handles so are over $3/each. I might be wrong but I'm thinking their 10-gallon bags w/o handles for $1.09 are black. I will have to look again to make sure.

I live in NW Ohio and we can get summers with alot of 90+ degree days. I wouldn't be surprised though if the black ones are ok to use here as well. The sun isn't quite as searing as in your part of the country.

I'll check out some more sellers on the internet as well. So far 79 cents is the lowest I've found for the 10-gallon size. Considering I'm planning on getting 40 bags cost is a factor.

Thanks again, Jeff

[mdvpc]

Jeff-They are about 3.49 for the 12 gallon-big difference in price. Dont know if you can reuse the black plastic, but it sounds like black is the way to go for you. Let us know how it turns out.

All the best.