Tomato stunt: EarthBox edition
A few weeks ago, I tried to entice our garden guru Holly Hayes to test out the EarthBox, a planter that purports to grow great veggies with less water and fertilizer. I was intrigued …especially since we Californians are being encouraged to conserve water in this drought year.
But Holly had already gotten started on her yearly tomato stunt. She suggested we do dueling stunts. Trying to keep up with Holly is a pretty intimidating prospect, but I’ll give it a try. I really want to be more eco-friendly and I’m a sucker for home-grown tomatoes. This gives me a guilt-free way to add two more tomato varieties to my summer garden.
The hype: The product’s Web site, www.earthbox.com, touts “homegrown vegetables without a garden” and says you can double the yield of conventionally grown fruit with less fertilizer and 20 percent of the water.
The particulars: This experiment is not cheap. A complete EarthBox system, which comes with the planter, casters, plastic aeration grid, watering tube, two black plastic covers, vermiculite and fertilizer, is about $60. You’ll also need to buy 2 cubic feet of potting soil and your plants. All told, I spent about $75. (You can only place two tomato plants per container and the company recommends buying the accompanying staking system, but at $30, I am going to try to jury-rig my own stakes.) I found the EarthBox locally at the Summerwinds Nursery on Almaden Expressway, but you can also order it online at www.earthbox.com.
The setup: It took me about 30 minutes to read the directions and set up the planter on a sunny spot on my deck. First you take out all the pieces, add the casters to the planter box, which should make it easier to move around. Next, fit in the aeration grid, stuff potting soil in the corners and add starter water. Once the water is in, you start adding the rest of the potting soil, wetting it intermittently. You add in the vermiculite and create a mound for the fertilizer.
At this point, you put on the soil cover, which looks like a black shower cap. The cover should reduce evaporation, keep the soil warm and protect the plants from pests and diseases.You are supposed to cut a little “X” in the cover and place your plants in the holes. Thisis a little tricky. My plants went in off center and left a gaping hole on one side. I’m gonna find some black electrical tape to try to close up the gap.
The tomatoes: I went with smaller varieties: Mama Mia romas and Sweet 100 cherries. Wish me luck. I’ll keep you posted on how the tomato plants do and how easy it is compared with my normal planter box of veggies.
I hope you’ll follow along. And if you have the EarthBox planter, share your results with the rest of us here at The Dirt.
I’m on my 3rd year with Earthbox, so far I’m 0 fer 2. The first year-tomatos from OSH, I got a lot of scraggly, puny tomatos - I may not have followed their directions to a t, last year I bought the tree tomato, it does grow to 8 ft high, but unfortunately a virus overtook it, yield - 1 tomato. This year I bought 2 plants from the M-n parking lot sale, and so far, so good, they’re looking pretty good. Warning - on hot summer days they easily use a gallon of water!
I have used 2 Earthboxes for the past 5 years and have had great results. I only grow tomatoes (1 box of Early Girl and the second Burpee Julian grape hybrid). I start my plants from seed and transplant them to the boxes once they’re 6-inches tall.
I have a watering timer for each box. I found that you can severely effect the plants if you do not keep the reservoir full. I love the setup once and forget maintenance during the season. I use 1×3 redwood stakes secured inside the Earthbox with nylon tie wraps.
I’ve found that I have very little problems with insects. It also seems that the plants produce longer than if they were planted in the ground.
This summer my 4 tomato plants are thriving in two “Self-watering patio garden”s. I found these boxes with wheels in the Lee Valley Garden Tools catalog, when looking for a solution to increased shade on my raised planter beds. There’s plenty of sun on the patio, but that’s not where my raised beds are. So this year the tomatoes travel with the sun, and are doing much better than last year. I’m also experimenting with planting soil. The box with Kellogg Patio Plus planting soil holds one each of Ace 55 and Sweet 100, and one basil plant. The box with Gardener and Bloome soil holds one each of Better Boy and Red Beefsteak, also with one basil plant. So far they are neck and neck for height, strength, and blossoms, with a twice a week watering. I cut down some old round tomato cages for supports. The snails haven’t found a way into the boxes. Yet. I have photo but can’t figure out how to attach it to this blog.
If there is standing water under an Earthbox, what about the mosquito problem? Aren’t we supposed to get rid of all standing water in our gardens to prevent mosquitoes? I put Mosquito Dunks in my bird baths. They are safe biological mosquito control.
This is my first year using the Earthbox (actually two Earthboxes) and am amazed by the rapid growth of my crops. I planted two regular Prize Winning Early Girl Tomato plants which after 25 days are now over 31 inches tall, from a mere 8 inches, when planted.
I have a total of 18 plants growing in the two Earthboxes including hot peppers, green peppers, spinach, cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes, and yellow peppers. My biggest challenge is tying the plants off to optimize the sunlight intake of each plant.
I used a netting device, supplied by Navlets in Pleasant Hill, to hoist the plants from one box and devised my own netting device made of concrete form stakes and copper tubing for my second box. About twice a week I cut the wire ties supporting my babies and retie them for optimum growth.
The boxes are sealed at the top with plastic to prevent evaporation, and each box is requiring ONE GALLON OF WATER EACH DAY, mixed with two tablespoons of VF-11 plant food! I am a firm believer in the VF-11 miracle food.
I have a weekly picture documentation of my plant growth for anyone interested. Also, it is a great conversation piece bringing the neighborhood together.
I am a soil engineer by trade and it figures that I would find something as this, with the good help of my boss, Dan, to keep me busy when not working.
Please email with comments or to request photos.
Wow, thanks for all the great tips and hints. After about three weeks in my own EarthBox, my tomato plants are more than twice the height. I’ve tied them to green, plastic garden stake but that might not be up to the job for too long. I’m already getting blooms. The promise of sweet tomatoes to come …
I’ll report more fully next week and post a follow up picture.
S
I really need help. We have an Earth Box and have beautiful tomato plants about five feet tall and full of tomatoes. The trouble is most of them have blossom-end rot. We have pulled about 25 off with this condition. Does anyone have a solution for the rest of the tomtoes?
THIS IS FOR NAOMI OPPENHEIMER: BLOSSOM END ROT CAN BE CONTROLLED BY ADDING ABOUT 2 CUPS OF DOLOMITE OR HYDRATED LIME TO THE POTTING MIX BEFORE YOU PLANT THE SEEDLINGS. MAKE SURE YOU USE POTTING MIX AND NOT POTTING SOIL!IF BLOSSOM END ROT DEVELOPS DURING THE GROWING SEASON, MIX 1/4 CUP OF HYDRATED LIME TO A GALLON OF WATER. SPRAY THE MIX DIRECTLY ON THE PLANTS OR ADD IT TO THE WATER RESERVOIR THE NEXT TIME YOU WATER YOUR EARTHBOX.