Tomatoville® Gardening Forums


Notices

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

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old July 17, 2010   #1
Mischka
Tomatoville® Administrator
 
Mischka's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: The Bay State
Posts: 3,206
Default How To Build An EarthTainer

How to build Ray's Earthtainer in PDF format. My thanks to Ray for this file!
Attached Files
File Type: pdf EarthTainer-Construction-Guide.pdf (1.51 MB, 1717 views)
Mischka is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 17, 2010   #2
rnewste
Tomatovillian™
 
rnewste's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Campbell, CA
Posts: 4,064
Default

If anybody ever needs help or is confused by the Instructions, just PM me directly here on Tomatoville, and I will be glad to assist.

If you live within 100 miles of San Jose, I will be glad to help you build them at your site (you just need to buy the beer!!)

Raybo
rnewste is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 17, 2010   #3
geeboss
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Fairfax, VA Z7
Posts: 524
Default




for you Ami



or


Last edited by geeboss; July 18, 2010 at 06:01 PM.
geeboss is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 17, 2010   #4
rnewste
Tomatovillian™
 
rnewste's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Campbell, CA
Posts: 4,064
Default

Gee,

I would have been happy with 6 bottles, but I will take your 18 bottle case in any event.

Raybo
rnewste is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 17, 2010   #5
Timmah!
Tomatovillian™
 
Timmah!'s Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Elizabethtown, Kentucky 6a
Posts: 754
Default

This is what I would hope to see after driving 100 miles.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg 1216990869-29494_full.jpg (15.0 KB, 1026 views)
Timmah! is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 18, 2010   #6
amideutch
Tomatovillian™
 
amideutch's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Germany 49°26"N 07°36"E
Posts: 5,041
Default

Pabst? What the heck is that! Your going to have to come up with some real beer as Timmah has pictured. Don't forget folks, Raybo makes frequent business trips to Germany. Ami
__________________
Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways,
totally worn out, shouting ‘...Holy Crap .....What a ride!'
amideutch is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 18, 2010   #7
Dewayne mater
Tomatovillian™
 
Dewayne mater's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: DFW, Texas
Posts: 1,212
Default

I'd drink Pabst if it were being served by those Fraulines I always see in the brau haus pics! Seriously though, Cali is home to some darn fine beers too like Sierra Nevada Pale ale, my all time fav.
Dewayne mater is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 4, 2013   #8
Faced1
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: WV
Posts: 14
Default

Any thoughts on using coco coir as the base instead of peat? I know that coco coir wicks MUCH better than peat, and has a higher air filled porosity (AFP) as well.
Faced1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 4, 2013   #9
rnewste
Tomatovillian™
 
rnewste's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Campbell, CA
Posts: 4,064
Default

I trialed Sunshine Advanced Mix #4 last year and did not have positive results with it. Too much moisture retention in this coir based mix. The peat based mixes give better results (also look at Virtex' Thread with what he used - excellent results).

Raybo

Note: The current EarthTainer design is now at version 3.8.
Attached Files
File Type: pdf EarthTainer 3.8 April 25, 2013.doc.pdf (1.67 MB, 262 views)

Last edited by rnewste; June 4, 2013 at 04:49 PM.
rnewste is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 4, 2013   #10
Faced1
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: WV
Posts: 14
Default

Sunshine advanced #4 is not a coir based mix, only 20% at the most. It is almost all peat and perlite.

I used sunshine advanced #4 for a while, but I stopped using it and went to compressed coco coir bricks. Sunshine advanced also has terrible quality control IME. I would get some bales that would work just fine, but some the pH was just awful.

Have you ever seen the autopots system? I used 50/50 coir/coco in them and it turned out really well for me.
Faced1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 4, 2013   #11
rnewste
Tomatovillian™
 
rnewste's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Campbell, CA
Posts: 4,064
Default

As Virtex did, I encourage everyone to experiment with different Grow Media components and post their results. Sunshine Advanced Mix #4 just didn't perform well for me. Perhaps a coir mix as you propose will have much better results, and we can all learn from that.

Raybo
rnewste is offline   Reply With Quote
Old June 4, 2013   #12
Faced1
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: WV
Posts: 14
Default

Well, I won't be building an earthtainer, but I am using coir as the base for my container garden this year. Many of my containers are 25 gallons, so we will see how it looks come end of season.

Last year's 10 gallon coir/mushroom compost/additives super sweet seedless hybrid tomato was over 40 feet long.
Faced1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 18, 2013   #13
Winemaker
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: El Dorado Hills, Ca
Posts: 47
Default

I'll preface my note with the comment that I didn't see anything in the City Limits rules that said to not discuss prices so please let me know if this is out of bounds.

I am already looking forward to 2014 and plan to build my first 4 Earthtainers. In trying to keep costs in line, I found that I can order 2 of the Pea Fences from Gurneys for $46.93, essentially $23.50 each vs the Burpee price with free shipping that works out to about $30 each. The difference being a 32 inch height vs 40 inch height. By the same token I suppose I could order 2 of the Burpees and 2 of the Gurneys to get an extended cage of 72 " vs 64" or 80". One of my Earthtainers will have Cukes, the others will all be Tomatoes, a few Costoluto Genovese Romas a cherry and some slicers. Seeing Ray's pictures I am a little concerned about the height needed. I am about 10 miles from Ray in Sunnyvale so climate is pretty much identical but maybe a few degrees cooler than Campbell. So, that is my long vacillating post. Do I spend the extra for the Burpees or go with Gurneys or a Combo.
Winemaker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 18, 2013   #14
rnewste
Tomatovillian™
 
rnewste's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Campbell, CA
Posts: 4,064
Default

Both the tomatoes and cukes will go well beyond the Gurney's cages. I recommend you wait over the Winter until Burpee runs a sale / free shipping promotion. Remember on your Burpee's order, when you place 2 (or more) in the quantity box on their web order form, the unit price is further reduced automatically when you checkout.

Raybo
rnewste is offline   Reply With Quote
Old September 18, 2013   #15
Winemaker
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: El Dorado Hills, Ca
Posts: 47
Default

Thanks Ray, I did see that reduction. It was just that after watching your 3 videos, it got me all excited about getting this project going. Burpees current price is $33 and then it knocks down to $28 with 2 or more and then free shipping with a coupon. So not sure if they have sales where they give an additional 10-20% plus free shipping it would sure make sense to wait. I'll go ahead and get the containers and get that part out of the way. Actually I can't start for another month or so anyway as I have a ton of Zinfandel grapes coming in next week that will keep me pretty well occupied for the next month.
Winemaker is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 10:30 PM.


★ Tomatoville® is a registered trademark of Commerce Holdings, LLC ★ All Content ©2022 Commerce Holdings, LLC ★