[Stree]

As I said in another post,I am using growbags for the first time with some of my tomato plants .
Ready to put some in the other day, so growbags on the staging. Hmmmmmmmm, only about 4 inch of soil depth, not much to put a decent depth of root in, much less burying the plant stem a bit deeper.So.
I built a frame that holds the sides of the bag in fastened to the staging, so now the bag profile is square instead of a flat rectangle. Toms now planted nice and deep.

[J_B]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Garden-Growpot-Growbag-Watering-Pot/dp/B0054Z26US/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370005728&sr=8-1&keywords=tomato+growpots  is a link to what i use for my toms....very nice

[Stree]

Not quite sure why you pointed that out to me. I have a separate thread going about those. This thread is more about dealing with the flattened profile of the growbags which greatly reduce the soil depth.
Thanks anyway!

[Kleftiwallah]

I just repeatedly drop them from a height before opening them up.  Ditto bags of compost.

Cheers,   Tony.

[8doubles]

I put bought compost through the shredder , it comes out so light and fluffy i could sleep in it !

Tomatoes love it.

[mjw]

This year I am mostly using these grow bag watered products.  A massive 15 litre reservoir and cane support built into the base.
http://www.keengardener.co.uk/watering/6998-hozelock-grow-bag-waterer.html

[Ema]

If I had to use grow bags I would turn the whole thing on end and plant 1 per bag

[Nikkithefoot]

I tried an experiment last year.
growbag with grow pots (3 plants)
growbag as is (3 plants)
growbag as is with 2 plant pots buried to help watering) (3plants)
growbag cut in half and turned on end (1 plant in each end)
growbag turned onto skinny side (3 plants)

I was careful to make sure they all got the same amount of water, and had the same variety of tomato growing.

The results weren't that different TBH

In terms of watering the growpots were by far and away the easiest, quickest and least messy.
the growbag as is with no additions was a real PIA to water, very messy, and hard to get the water in the correct place.
the growbag with 2 plant pots easier than just the grow bag to water, but still slower than the grow pots.

In terms of cropping, generally a poor cropping year and quite belated, but all returned about the same level of crop.

In future I'm personally opting for the growpots if only to save time watering. The year before I could go 2 days between waterings as you can get a lot more in, not something I would recommend but in an emergency they don't suffer too much.

[Stree]

Thank you Nikki, for a considered and informative response,  much appreciated.
The comparisons are interesting in terms of yield and plant welfare being more or less equal across the choices but importantly point out the greater ease and control of watering with the growpots.
Exactly ( if not better!) the response I was hoping for..
Thank you again.