Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: shaun on May 09, 2007, 16:13
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this is the way i do mine,
cut the bottom out of a 2ltr pot
(http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o152/shaungill/P5090001.jpg)
put your tom plant in the bottom of the pot and fill will compost (i empty a grow bag out and use that)
(http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o152/shaungill/P5090002.jpg)
let the roots just go through the pot
(http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o152/shaungill/P5090003.jpg)
put the pot into the grow bag job done
(http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o152/shaungill/P5090004.jpg)
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I like it. I've never quite known how to use growbags.
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And I thought I was clever. I did something similar by cutting the bottom of a fruit punnet and planted my tom plant in so that it's protected from slugs and all...
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if you plant straight into the bag with no pot what happens is when you water them you tend to wash the compost out exposing the roots,also when you use feed you just water it into the pot ,this way you dont miss the target and get it all over the bag (its a man thing) :wink:
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hello, i have done the same this year with 1.5l pots but also put in some 3in pots either side as watering points, im doing a trial, 1 growbag with pots as above, one growbag planted direct, and also a 75 litre compost bag filled with border soil to see if any difference.
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I have done a similar thing with 5" pots. Another thing to mention is that I put my grow bags on their side.... this way you get a greater depth of compost for the roots to get into.... this was suggested to me by someone with lots of experience so I guess there must be something in it :D
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another one for bigger roots is put 2 grow bags on top of each other,cut the hole right through the top bag and cut just the top holes out of the bottom one :wink:
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luv the :idea: Shaun.
I will grow melons likewise and also put some sweet potatoes in the growbag. (tried for some slips from a sweet potato but no success)
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Good idea Shaun. I've never liked growbags. But that makes them look very useful :D
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I have some of those ring culture pot things that you use in the same way but it makes watering easier,in the grow bags where I use Shauns method I water using plastic bottles with the bottom cut out and a watering spike or bit of pipe wedged into the top and push these into the pots ,they are easier to see than pots between the plants and hold more water in one go.I will be trying this amongst the sqash this year as once the leaves grew I couldn`t find the pots next to the plant roots to water them.
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Good idea that, ive just made a little rockery type thing which i've filled with soil improver and earth. I've cut the bottom out of my grow bags ( containing 2 tom plants) and sat it in the rockery. I've got an old shower screen which goes diagonally over the top against a fence for protection... will see how it goes..... :D
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I have done a very similar thing with my toms in the greenhouse. As I'm new to growing toms I'm glad you all think this a good idea. The plants certainly look quite healthy at the moment.
I recently saw a garden centre selling what they tried to tell me was a new type of growbag called a 'kayak' growbag. The idea being you shake up the bag, rest it on its side thus getting better depth of compost. It did strike me that this was just a conventional grow bag with the dotted lines for the holes printed on the side instead of the top, but no the girl in the garden centre was adamant it was a great new innovation. Of course these growbags are a bit more expensive than your conventional growbag - do they really think we are that gullible?
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On from the topic of getting water actually to the plants in a growbag (rather than splashing everywhere else)...last year I cut some old 2" plastic water pipe into three foot lengths and cut one end at a sharp angle. I then pushed the pipes through additional holes in the bags until they touched bottom. Using a funnel, it made watering very easy.
The gardening experts will no doubt advise on whether or not its wrong to deliver water straight to the roots - but in any case we ended up with a good crop. :)
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On from the topic of getting water actually to the plants in a growbag (rather than splashing everywhere else)...last year I cut some old 2" plastic water pipe into three foot lengths and cut one end at a sharp angle. I then pushed the pipes through additional holes in the bags until they touched bottom. Using a funnel, it made watering very easy.
The gardening experts will no doubt advise on whether or not its wrong to deliver water straight to the roots - but in any case we ended up with a good crop. :)
I use growbags, but cut them open & empty them into large pots! Welcome to the forums, Chris, why not pop along to the 'Welcome To The Forums' forum, & say hello. (Apologies for the duplication with the 'welcomes' & the 'forums'!)
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The gardening experts will no doubt advise on whether or not its wrong to deliver water straight to the roots - but in any case we ended up with a good crop. :)
Welcome Chris. We have an in-house expression coined by a presently-exiled member ... "Werks fer me" !! :D
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Good shout Chris, and welcome.
That method works particlarly well if you have to water the toms in strong sunlight as you don't get splash back on the leaves, luckily my greenhouse is on the side of the house, so I just have to wait til the sun goes round the corner in the evening.
Also, if you're a bit wobbly at directing the water/feed, use the end of a plastic pop bottle as a funnel into the 2" tube.
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I did use the put the plants in pots and put in grobags method for tommie when i did them a couple of years ago. My main reasoning was to give the roots more depth. I put the grobags on the patio wall - they did well but grobags are sooooo ugly (I had 6, 3 with tommies, 2 with salad leaves and 1 with spring onions) that I really don't want to use them there again.
This year I am considering putting grobags in a tray and placing themon a counter in the leanto (which i am going to get hubby to build over the tumble drier). Then they will be south facing and behind glass - hopefully a little greenhouse type thing and less ugly than having them on the patio!
One thing I really did struggle with was supporting the tomato plants with canes in grobags. they just seemed really wobbly - like there wasn't enough depth to support them. I know you can get special cane supporting devices for grobags from garden shops - is that what I should be using?
Jaye
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The gardening experts will no doubt advise on whether or not its wrong to deliver water straight to the roots - but in any case we ended up with a good crop. :)
Welcome Chris. We have an in-house expression coined by a presently-exiled member ... "Werks fer me" !! :D
Also ought to explain, he was not kicked out, it's a temporary - hopefully - self-exile!
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That's really neat Shaun. I had probs with bags (watering and slugs) last year, but this looks good. Cheers. Soon be spring!
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So Sean you aren't just a pretty face??? nice tip I have Onenote'd this.. cheers