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General discussion regarding the techniques and methods used to successfully grow tomato plants in containers.

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Old March 30, 2006   #1
MsCowpea
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Default NEW Earthboxes-testimonial

I am a big fan of Earthboxes (have no connection with them). I have 7 of the 'old' kind and just reordered another one as I heard they were redesigned.

I recommended them to someone at work and she ordered one and just brought it in.

WOW, it is even better than before. I was actually expecting that they would make it with cheaper materials but they did not do that. For those that have an old one --they have changed the design to a one piece insert--they no longer have all the little individual pieces that fit together in the bottom to hold up the shelf.

I also have a zillion regular containers and a few EB knock-offs plus just got self-watering containers from Gardeners Supply as I want to do a comparison but still prefer EB design.

They are EXPENSIVE-cost with shipping 45.00. However my older ones are going on 8 years (probably closer to 10).

You can make one for $10 worth of rubbermaid (I have those too) but if you want to splurge this is an excellent product.
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Old March 30, 2006   #2
Emaewest
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Quote:
For those that have an old one --they have changed the design to a one piece insert--they no longer have all the little individual pieces that fit together in the bottom to hold up the shelf.
That sounds like how I made mine last year--I nested one Rubbermaid container into a larger one, with pond baskets for wicking chambers inserted through the bottom. It was easier than trying to figure out how to make supports for a shelf.

OMG--they stole my idea!
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Old March 30, 2006   #3
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Default Probably a Stupid Question, but here goes....

Exactly what is an Earthbox?

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Old March 30, 2006   #4
MsCowpea
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Sorry Rhonda, I already nestled 2 storage boxes together a couple years ago. I think that everywhich way that you can possibly copy an earthbox has already been done. We are lucky they don't sue us all for copyright infringement.

MMS:
http://www.earthbox.com/
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Old March 31, 2006   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MsCowpea
Sorry Rhonda, I already nestled 2 storage boxes together a couple years ago. I think that everywhich way that you can possibly copy an earthbox has already been done. We are lucky they don't sue us all for copyright infringement.
Actually, I copied the idea from someone else (maybe it was you?!)

They could only sue us on copyright infringement if we tried selling them; otherwise, there's no law broken (I checked. )
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Old March 31, 2006   #6
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Rhonda, That's good to know. Feel less guilty now. You did not get your double box idea from me--I don't remember where I got the idea -probably online. My main 'teacher' was a fellow named dreamster who was very generous with all his EB knock-off ideas. I still prefer his design over others. farkee
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Old March 31, 2006   #7
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Actually, I just remembered that the person who *did* give me the idea was at Dave's Garden, but I think he/she got the idea from someone else as well.

Still, we were doing it *before* Earthbox started making them that way, so they probably got the idea the same way we did; from someone else trying to build their own "fake" Earthbox.
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Old April 3, 2006   #8
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Yup, love'em. Genuine Earthboxes and homemade earthboxes are the perfect growing enviroment for tomato roots. The only thing that even comes close in my opinion is a raised bed filled with beautiful friable soil.

The homemade kind also make a wonderful gift. I gave my sister some tomato plants last year. She killed them of course. So this year I made her one of my homemade earthboxes from Rubbermaid totes. All she needs to do is to put water in the tube. If it works for her, it will work for anyone.
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Old April 3, 2006   #9
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Tim - excellent idea! I have given away many plants only to hear of their demise due to neglect.

BTW, I've built two of the homemade ones. I had a little trouble finding inexpensive pond filters but landed some on eBay. My cost works out to be less than $15 per unit.

I planted one this weekend. I'm using the EBs for my all-organic vs M-Gro trial. Like MCP, I'm also seeing how they stack up against Gardener's Supply SW containers.

For anyone looking for cheap SW containers, Big Lots is selling some in our area. I picked up some and will see how they do this summer.
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Old April 4, 2006   #10
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I use what are called net pots for hydroponic gardening in place of pond filters.
They come in differnt sizes so it depends on what type of container you are making.

I got some heavy duty ones from someplace but I can't remember where --they were similar to these:

http://www.oregonhydro.com/-net-pots...de6d51a891104c


You can usually find a hydroponic supplier pretty close -to either go there in person or save on shipping since they would be shipping locally.
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Old May 4, 2006   #11
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Okay, for those of us that do not know the secret of the faux earthboxes, could you give us a step-by-step on how to make them from Rubbermaid-type containers??

Much appreciated,
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Old May 4, 2006   #12
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Check the thread just below this one posted by Tim

http://www.tomatoville.com/viewtopic.php?t=384
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Old May 5, 2006   #13
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Thank you, Mantis!! That is SUCH a good link!
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Old May 10, 2006   #14
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[quote="Emaewest"]
Quote:
Originally Posted by MsCowpea
They could only sue us on copyright infringement if we tried selling them; otherwise, there's no law broken (I checked. )
copyright concerns words written down.

Patent refers to inventions like Earth Box.
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