The EarthTainer "Farm" Update June 1 - Tomatoes, Peppers, & Cukes

[rnewste]

Anne,

I put a Cooleraoo sun shade over the EarthTainers to keep the fruit from excessive sunscald. As we are in a heat wave this weekend, I put up the shade on Friday.



I have sequenced the start of additional tomato plants for planting end of May, and additional 'Tainers the end of June. This should give me a continuous supply of tomatoes through Christmas.

Raybo

[SIP Gro-Tubs]

Raybo

What is the shading percentage of your Cooleraoo sun shade?

Never have heard of Cooleraoo before.

Terry

[aclum]

Hi Raybo,

Your coolaroo sun shade looks pretty "cool" (groan LOL!). One of my shades is the same or similar and it really makes a difference in this heat wave we've been having.

Interesting about your "fall crop." I guess I'll start looking for some leaders starting towards the bottom of my plant to grow out maybe starting in early July (think I'm a week or two behind your scheduling of things). Or, if I can't locate a good one, try grafting a cutting onto the base of the main leader.

Anyway, looking good!

Anne

[rnewste]

Terry,

The Cooleraoo fabric I use is 80% uV blockage. I just put it up when the Sun gets too intense. Do a Cooleraoo search on Amazon.

Anne,

I would recommend you root suckers right about now, for planting in July - better than trying to keep an older plant producing. That will give you a nice Fall garden.

Raybo

[tnkrer]

Hi Raybo,
Couple of questions ..
1. What are the white covers on first two tainers in that picture? Is the purpose to keep the soil surface cool?
2. What is the typical yield from one plant in the cuke-tainer? (lets say for diva). And how many cuke plants does one tainer support? I grow my cukes in a big SWC planter and for next year thinking about switching to earth tainers.

Thanks

[GnomeGrown]

Looks fantastic as always.

[rnewste]

tnkrer,

The two sections attached to the 2 EarthTainers are deflector shields to direct the overspray from the lawn sprinklers away from the plants. They are actually half sections of the lid cutout held in place with some twist ties. The reflection of the Sun makes the detail hard to see in the photo.

I start about a dozen cuke seeds per 'Tainer and generally harvest about 20 DIVA cukes per 'Tainer, over the Season.



Raybo

[tnkrer]

Thanks Raybo .. I haven't grown diva yet. Planning to add those next year.
I had grown boston pickling last year, I got about 20 cukes from one plant (I had 4-5 in my large SWC last year for a total of 90 cukes) before those plants succumbed to gray mold or some other kind of disease.

[Chrissykin]

Ray, I used three cups of Garden Tone with my corn in my earthboxes. I also bought the Gurneys sweet corn food to supplement. How much and how often do you throw down the tube? Also do you cage your sweet corn?

Thnx, Chris

[rnewste]

Chris,

I follow the Gurneys recommendation on the package and do a soil drench from the top. I use the old Gurneys corn fertilizer which is water soluble - not sure about their new stuff.

I use the same tomato cage method to keep the corn stalks corralled.

Raybo

[Chrissykin]

Raybo, do you use a smaller netting on the cucumbers?

[rnewste]

Originally Posted by Chrissykin

Raybo, do you use a smaller netting on the cucumbers?

For the panels on the lower cage, I use the 3.5" mesh netting cut into panels 5 strings by 8 strings. For the top cage section, I use the same 7" netting I use for the tomatoes.

Raybo

[Chrissykin]

Originally Posted by rnewste

For the panels on the lower cage, I use the 3.5" mesh netting cut into panels 5 strings by 8 strings. For the top cage section, I use the same 7" netting I use for the tomatoes.

Raybo

Ahh, I thought the netting looked smaller

[meadowyck]

Im with the others AMAZING as always. We are all drooling over those beautiful plants.

I'm going to have to go back and read your directions on making them, as we are now about to move to a really small space so this is the neatest and simplest idea to go with.

[rnewste]

Jan,

For small spaces (condos, etc.) I would recommend building a few initially using the design for the 14 gallon Rugged-totes. They are easier to move around and work quite well. Their only "drawback" is the lack of a clip-on cage solution as per the 31 gallon design.

http://earthtainer.tomatofest.com/pd...tion-Guide.pdf

Raybo