Whiskey barrels and hay

[TomatoDon]

Does any one know the capacity in gallons of a half whiskey barrel? I'm guessing 20 gallons.

Also, when I've used them in the past I always fill the bottom half with hay as a filler. I think it is ok as a growing medium considering that the other soilless mix on top sifts down into it. I've even heard of people growing tomatoes in bales of hay, though I've never seen it. I think the hay helps aereation, is easy on roots, and helps keep the bottom drain holes from clogging.

I really like whiskey barrels for trying to get the earliest tomatoes, since they warm up faster. They really aren't good for late season crops, nor is any container in my opinion. Heat and watering become serious issues then. I get my first crop in barrels, then they play out with the heat, but by then the tomatoes in the raised beds are in full production. I usually plant only the earliest varieties in barrels.

Has anyone ever grown tomatoes in a bale of hay?

Anyone else used this method of hay as a filler in whiskey barrels? Any pros and cons to offer?

Don

[travis]

Don,

When you say "hay," do you mean straw?

I guess it doesn't matter if you use hay so long as it stays covered by a good layer of soil so that the weed seeds can't grow through it.

I would think straw, which around here generally is wheat straw baled up from wheat stubble left after the grain is harvested, is mostly free of wheat and weed seeds, would be a better choice. That way, when you dump it out at the end of the season and incorporate it into your compost pile or use as a soil amendment in the garden, there's no weed seeds.

Yeah, I've heard of folks growing tomatoes in a 5-gallon bucket of straw alone. Or planting seedlings into a bale of straw, 2 to a bale. They generally soak the bale of straw with a solution of high octane liquid fertilizer to counteract the rotting straw's depletion of nitrogen as it breaks down.

PV

[TomatoDon]

Basically, I meant straw, but I can't always get it here. Sometimes I just have to use hay, but I much prefer wheat straw for the same reasons you mention.

I see you are a LS fan. Did you see them with ZZ a few years ago?

Don

[travis]

Don,

I think it's Gimme who's the huge Lynyrd Skynyrd fan, although I dig'm as well. No, I never saw ZZ Top live, but I really like their sound.

I was at Woodstock One in '69 and have seen a lot of live acts over the years. Saw Hendrix three times, Dylan twice (30 years apart), and a few other biggies.

I grew up in Leland where Johnny and Edgar Winter's homeplace is (Winterville Plantation). How's tomato growin' down there nowadays?

By the way, the Papa Vic handle is in honor of an old man from Stoneville, MS.

PV

[TomatoDon]

You grew up in MS? I'm over near Oxford. Ever get over this way anymore?

Don

[MsCowpea]

Don I just posted this in the other thread about cages but I wanted to post it here in case people missed it.

Charles Wilber (HOW TO GROW WORLD RECORD TOMATOES) known for growing tall tomatoes also grows in whiskey barrels and harvests around 100 pounds per container (Better Boys)--I looked it up in my book. I highly recommend the book--the guy has got to be doing something right.

http://www.truehealth.org/tomatree.html

[demblu]

We grow our tomatoes in hay bales. Last year we had 2 bales with 2 plants per bale and couldnt use up all the tomatoes we had.
This year we have 18 bales with mostly tomatoes, but added green and colored peppers, cukes, and a couple of squash to the "farm"
We do have two sweet 100's in the topsy bags also.
Hay for us is wonderful as we are older and it saves our backs as well as our knees. We dont have to mess with the soil, or in our case the lack of it, and its so easy to just cut a spot and pop that baby plant in and let it go to town. Our neighbors that also had plants last year now all have hay bales also, cause with not much other than water and 2 feedings last year we had HUGE plants with so many fruits that they had to be tied to the fence to keep them from falling over, the cages were not big enough.

[NCTIM]

Demblu - I would really like to see some pictures. It's not that I don't believe you, because I do. Wheat Straw does make a good medium for growing based on what I've read.

I thought of trying to grow some as you have describred but just didn't get around to it.

How often are you having to water using the bales?

Tim

[demblu]

we water once a day. the bales do need more water, as they are open on all sides, but we feel the benifits out weigh the watering.
i will try to get some pics later today. right now we have grass growing on some of the bales, we did not get very good bales this year compaired to last year.