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Old June 27, 2014   #16
Barb_FL
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Thanks for the info: I watched the you-tube rain gutter videos. I had tried something similar without success. I used the bottom of some bunny cages I already had, drilled some drainage holes, and bought containers, cut the 3" holes for net pots and drilled air holes, placed the buckets on bricks so just the net pot is exposed to the water. I think the media stayed too wet. Maybe that is the difference with using a cloth bag.

I didn't see anything on his channel, re: using the Walmart bags in the rain gutters. Do you just cut the bag for the net pot?

I am still amazed how big and healthgy everything is with 5 gallon bags.
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Old June 27, 2014   #17
ricman
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Hello Barb,

The container media needs to be a potting mix like promix,miracle grow,stagreen or any good soilless potting mix. Whether you buy or mix your own it needs to be fairly fast draining and have good wicking abilities.

I just use a sharpie and trace around the net cup on the bottom of the bag and then cut out inside the circle. See Larry's video on YouTube named...Using A Walmart Shopping Bag as A Grow Bag On the Self Watering Rain Gutter Grow System. lots of good information in that video.

And yes you can grow big healthy plants with large tomatoes in a 5 gallon grow bag with the right setup and proper attention to detail.
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Old June 28, 2014   #18
luigiwu
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Barb,
I've use 5 gallon home depot buckets with the RGGS and its fine! For any type of sub-irrigation (incuding the Earthbox) you must have potting MIX (meaning it should be soil-less/peat-based.)

Yes, the airpruning effects of grow bags are much talked about but I have yet to see any true side-by-side production comparisons between say the same type of tomato, on the same gutter, with the same potting mix but ONLY with the container being different. I am trying two tomato plants this year in 7 gallon gallon root pouches!


Last edited by luigiwu; June 28, 2014 at 12:24 PM.
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Old June 28, 2014   #19
Barb_FL
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Luigiwu - your set up looks really good too. The 7 gallon root pouch is my favorite size. I have them in 2,3,5,7,10, 15 sizes.

I'm good with the potting mix so that was never my problem; I've bought potting mix from EB, Gardener's Supply (both when I had free shipping), Lambert's Organic (sold by HD), ProMix - I finally found it locally; I refused to pay for shipping; I've made my own from Peat Moss and Perlite. I've experimented adding some with cocoa fiber.

I know in my bunny cage bottom, it was a matter of being too wet; I've stopped adding water to the base and the tomato plants are looking slightly better.

But on the HD buckets, I dumped all the plants and used the same buckets, mix for EggPlant and they thrive.

Do you think the RGS is better than the double bucket system - the bottom bucket being the reservoir?
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Old June 28, 2014   #20
luigiwu
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Barb_FL View Post
Do you think the RGS is better than the double bucket system - the bottom bucket being the reservoir?
Oh yes ma'am! I can go on vacations now!! LOL! Seriously, I started with the global buckets (bucket in bucket last year.)
When I get up every morning, instead of spending it refilling each bucket reservoir, I am looking at the plants' health. Also with the 5 gallon buckets, my tomatoes and cukes did not make it through a whole work day (I can't come home mid-day to refill. They were so sad and droopy in the height of the summer.) The approx 3-inch high water reservoir at the bottom was not enough for these heavy feeders!
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Old June 28, 2014   #21
greyghost
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wonderful photos!!! Your tomatoes look great! Darlene
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Old January 12, 2015   #22
Vespertino
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I'm VERY interested in trying a variation of this setup. Has anyone experimented using different sized grow bags? I'm thinking of using the viagrow 7 gallon root pot instead of the walmart bags. Has anyone used them with a rain gutter setup? I saw a video of a gentleman in Japan using those to grow all sort of things on a rggs system.
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Old January 13, 2015   #23
luigiwu
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Vespertino,
I can recommend the ROOT POUCHES - for both the Kiddie Pool and the RGGS (both Larry Hall ideas.) The grey 3-4 yr rated ones (charcoal) can be had for super reasonable prices at Greenhousemegastore.com. Last summer I used 7 gallons and had two plants in each. I removed all except 2 for each plant. It was on a gutter system. I think you can do 5-gallon if you only wanted to plant one plant per pouch.
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Old January 13, 2015   #24
ricman
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Hello Vespertino,

The Root Pouches will work great in the RGGS, almost any container with sufficient volume will do fine. I think that the fabric pots really shine because of the air pruning of the roots, but even 5 gallon buckets work well. I wish you the best of luck.....

Rick
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Old January 17, 2015   #25
Vespertino
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Thanks guys! I think the RGGS system might be the perfect solution to my empty yard, without having to install expensive irrigated raised beds or re-do the whole sprinkler system. I'm going to give the root pouches a try. I used the viagrow plastic grow bags last year, and while they worked really well I had tons of roots growing out of the bottom, one had grown about 4 feet coiled under the bag. They're also only good for one season, the plastic gets too brittle and the bag breaks apart. But, they're dirt cheap and I'd say there's a lot of value there even if you can only use the bag once.

My hubs is on the OCD side and he doesn't like the look of container gardens. So I might modify the RGGS to look like this: http://imgur.com/a/yrkio?gallery

Douglass had posted something about that here:
http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=32876

I'm hoping to use something like that on a RGGS with a pipe rather than a gutter/trough for the water. The heat and dry weather here would evaporate the water out of an open trough very quickly. If I use a PVC or other pipe with round holes for the baskets to sit in snugly I hope that would reduce evaporation and prevent mosquitoes from getting into things.

If I use the root bags I'm going to assume I need some flat platform for them (with a hole cut out in the middle for the basket to go through) since the bottoms aren't rigid. Would a bucket top work or is something else recommended?

Thanks!

Last edited by Vespertino; January 17, 2015 at 11:51 AM.
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Old January 17, 2015   #26
Barb_FL
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Quote:
Originally Posted by luigiwu View Post
Vespertino,
I can recommend the ROOT POUCHES - for both the Kiddie Pool and the RGGS (both Larry Hall ideas.) The grey 3-4 yr rated ones (charcoal) can be had for super reasonable prices at Greenhousemegastore.com. Last summer I used 7 gallons and had two plants in each. I removed all except 2 for each plant. It was on a gutter system. I think you can do 5-gallon if you only wanted to plant one plant per pouch.

Luigiwu - Can you explain how the kiddie pool works? I have lots of root pouches from Greenhousemegastore; I've always bought the brown longest lasting ones. My favorite is the 7 gallon, but have lots of 2-15 gallon ones.

Does the root pouch just sit in water all the time? Do you need to let the water dry up sometimes so the roots won't be wet all the time? Do you need to put anything in the rootpouch for air - ie an upside down colander?

I am very familiar with SWC - EB, homemade containers, 2 bucket systems and happen to have 2 kiddie pools which I tried using for a strawberry bed; but ended up planting the strawberries in raised beds.
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Old January 17, 2015   #27
ricman
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Vespertino- It depends on how you orient the bag on the gutter system. The main thing is that the bag's sides do not sit below the water line, if they do the bags will drip. A bucket lid will work great, just anything so the bags sides do not droop below the water line. I also built a gutter garden using 4" PVC pipe with 3" holes drilled for the net cups and it worked great. Good luck work the RGGS.

Rick


Barb- I also had 1 kiddie pool set up last year and it worked great. I simply drilled a drain hole about 2" up on the side of the pool and kept it filled with about 1" of water at all times. I plumbed a float valve to mine so the water level stayed constant. You can check out Youtube for the design set up. Search for Larry Hall Kiddie Pool and you should see several videos. Good luck with the gardening.....

Rick

Last edited by ricman; January 17, 2015 at 11:03 PM. Reason: S
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Old January 18, 2015   #28
luigiwu
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Ves, Ricman has all the questions totally covered with great pointers. Myself, I used a bucket lid that I set inside the bag and did a cut out in the middle (both the bucket and bag) for the net cup. I used the 7gallon bags.

Barb, yes the whole bag sits in the pool (mortar bins work great for a smaller scale.) Rule of thumb is with smaller bags like 1 gallon, set your float to provide only 1/2-inch MAX water at atll times. so make sure there is a corresponding drain overflow hole. For the bigger bags like 7 inches, I think the recommendation is 2 inches?

AMAZING things can be grown in the smaller bags even... I'm trialing a whole bunch of 1 gallon root pouches set in boot trays this year for greens.
The third picture below is a pretty setup using 1-gallon root pouches and bigger. The stand is a contained resin stand (Home Depot) that is water tight. You can also see the float housing in that picture (though I don't think its hooked up because you can't see the supply hose.)



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Old January 18, 2015   #29
luigiwu
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Barb,
A man over on FB has built what I consider the cadillac of kiddie pools. I wish I had the space to do the same thing! So you see, the 'kiddie pool' just references an idea of setting pouches in a pool of water where the level is tweaked to match the pouch size.
Here are some pics:

Below: "Kiddie pools" made on top of concrete pad with pond liners.


Below: Float device to regulate water height in pools.


Below: Voila! So beautiful!



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Old January 18, 2015   #30
luigiwu
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Vespertino,
In the 'cadillac' example above, you can see how wonderful the root pouches can look without having to completely shroud them in wood paneling which might take away the benefits of air pruning (and obviously be $$)
All this talk is getting me super excited and anxious for 2015's grow season to be here already!
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