Home Depot - Viagrow, Grow Bags are they any good?

[MrSalvage]

Hello I have a really shady 20x40 1st garden this year. I'm thinking it might get about 6 hours of full sun. Mostly morning and early afternoon. By 4pm the sun goes behind more trees. I can remove more of the trees but my girl is really starting to get mad at me.

Let me tell you I am really tired at this point between dropping about 11 tress so far and i have at least another 15 more in the way for maybe 2 more hours of sun. Its the only flat spot of ground we have except a narrow strip down back.

Anyway im thinking about calling that spot a bust for the year. Maybe I can find some things to plant in it that don't require so much sun. (IDK) So in the meantime I have been looking for a way to save my garden this year. I was thinking about grow bags to save on my budget some as i have already spent quite a bit on other stuff.

So i was wondering what kind of results could I expect out of the home depot grow bags.
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Viagrow - 5 Gal. Nursery Grow Bags (25-Pack) $12.97
Viagrow - 10 Gal. Plastic Grow Bag (25-Pack) $17.97


Now I have three sources of potting mix available to me.
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Miracle-Gro Potting Mix 50 Qt. $12.97
Pro Mix Bx 3.8 Cu. Ft. $36.99
Wonder Soil 2.5 Cu. Ft. $18.99

So i am just trying to find an affordable solution to save my 2016 season. Let me post some pictures of my 20x40 and some spots out back. I have a lot more questions. I have all kinds of projects going on as related to my wanna be 2016 garden. Maybe I can keep them contained in this post.

Thanks in advance for any of your time
Billy

[FourOaks]

In short, yes. I am currently using 80 of the Viagrow 7 Gal. bags. These are very good quality.

I grow maters for the farmers market, so I need a product that won't fall apart half way through the season. I would not hesitate to recommend these.

If your source dries up, I can also recommend SunLeaves brand. Excellent bags just as well.

[MrSalvage]

I want to grow maters and hot peppers the most. I do have other things like squash, cukes & melons too. I see that you use the 7 gallon bags for maters. How about peppers and other stuff? Could you recommend what size bags for those as well?

Tia
-b

[FourOaks]

Originally Posted by MrSalvage

I want to grow maters and hot peppers the most. I do have other things like squash, cukes & melons too. I see that you use the 7 gallon bags for maters. How about peppers and other stuff? Could you recommend what size bags for those as well?

Tia
-b

You can use 5 gallon for small tomatoes. I did it last year, but honestly 7 gallon for the usual varieties. If you have a variety of tomato that likes to get out of hand, upgrade to a 10 gallon.

I grow 2 pepper plants per 5 gallon. Includes Bell, Wax, Banana, Jalapeno, and Super Hots.

Other stuff. I don't know. You would have to expeirment. Cucumbers, I would guess a minimum of 7 gallon. Anything along the line of Summer Squash/Zuchinni, 10 gallon. And thats 1 plant per bag.

Last year we did toss some sweet potatoes in a 10 gallon bag. A critter came and ate the leaves down... so your results might very.

[FourOaks]

Also, to comment on your soil choices.. If you look around here a good bit, you will see plenty of discussions on making your own soilless media.

Both sides of the argument are easy to make. But if/when it comes down to cost, you can make your own and save some serious cash, depending on how much soil you need.

I posted a link in this thread:

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=40536

Its a link to Cornell Univ. "Peat-Lite" recipes. Lots of good info.

[jillian]

I ordered two sets of the Viagrow 5 gallon fabric pots from Home Depot to use for peppers. Love that they came with saucers. Seem to be very well made and are a bit taller than my other grow bags. It is these: 10 bags which include 10 saucers http://www.homedepot.com/p/Viagrow-5...-KIT/203554118

[luigiwu]

Root pouches are great and they come in different 'grades' - depending on how long you want them to last. I typically have the 3-4 year gray ones. The brown ones last a lot longer and are more $$. they are well priced here: https://www.greenhousemegastore.com/...pot-3-4-year/s

[MrSalvage]

Thank all of you for your feedback. I like both those types of bags you guys/gals suggested. The ones with the lids are really cool. I wonder how long they last? Maybe next year when my budget isn't hurting so bad I will get some of both that you guys linked.

So i wanna order (50) 10 gal & (50) 5 gal of the cheaper bags from the home depot website. I will put my big maters in those along with cukes, squash & melons. However I am also in need of the soil mix. Me being a beginner I don't want to get into mixing up my own this year. I hear the wonder soil goes direct in the bag with nothing else and works quite well. Sure i will need to feed the plants with some liquid fert.

So...

My math is a little fuzzy on how to figure out the amount I need. Like said I want to get the wonder soil for them. The wonder soil comes in 2.5 cu. ft. bags.

Any of you guys/gals know the math on how much I would need for that many of the cheaper grow bags?

Tia
-b

[MrSalvage]

Would this be figured in dry gallons? So 3yd³= 520US gal dry and if i bought 4 bags i could fill all the 10 gallons bags.

Is that right?

[Ricky Shaw]

Facts:

Not all grow bags are sized true to gallon.

The ProMix HP in the 3.8cf compressed bale, does about 4 of the 10 gallon bags or 8 of the 5's.

[MrSalvage]

If i purchased half of the bags above then 25 of each size would be 375 gallons. So 375US gal dry= 58.33388ft³

Hum 58 cubic ft.

So maybe i really need 24 bags of the wonder soil. Man that will bust the bank. I hope my math is wrong this time...

[Worth1]

There is about 1.3 cubic feet in 10 gallons.
Or ((about)) 0.36 cubic feet in a gallon.

I doubt it is dry gallons as this isn't used that much.

Worth

[MrSalvage]

Originally Posted by Ricky Shaw

Facts:

Not all grow bags are sized true to gallon.

The ProMix HP in the 3.8cf compressed bale, does about 4 of the 10 gallon bags or 8 of the 5's.

Looks like my second calc might be closer to the truth then. If my second calc is true then that's not good news at all. Hum I guess I need to figure out a cheaper solution like FourOaks was posting about.

Thanks for the ratio! That certainly helped.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Worth1

There is about 1.3 cubic feet in 10 gallons.
Or ((about)) 0.36 cubic feet in a gallon.

I doubt it is dry gallons as this isn't used that much.

Worth

I'll quote myself you you see I cam here to help you.

[FourOaks]

I see a bunch of people posted while I was working this all out...

Houston we have a problem.

Soil, is a persnickety thing to try to figure out. Some soil expands, some expands and then settles down a bit. You get the idea.

I wasn't familiar with "Wonder Soil" so I did some looking. It seems that HD sells it in the 2.5 Cu. Ft. bags that you speak of.

One of my questions was as to whether or not it is compressed of fluffy. On the package it says that it expands to "up to 70 Liters".

So 70 L converted to gallons = 18.492 So we will say 18 gallons.

You are interested in filling 10 Gallon bags. Nursery gallons are different then US Gallons. Unfortunately HD gives the wrong dimensions on the product. The dimensions they give are for a 21 Gallon bag.

We could assume that the bags, in real life hold 8 gallons of soil. I think thats a fair guess.

So 1 bag of Wonder Soil would fill 2, 10 gallon bags, with some soil left over. If the bags hold 8 gallons, then 4 bags of Wonder Soil would fill 9, 10 gallon bags, with nothing left.

You want to fill 50 bags. So at the rate of 8 gallons, that would be 22 bags of Wonder Soil. With a little left over.

Thats about $417...