[shokkyy]

I watched a Monty Don video showing how to use ring culture thingies on top of growbags to give more root space when planting tomatoes, etc. It seems a very good idea, actually. I don't use growbags for tomatoes, but do use them for cucumbers, so I might try it for those. Has anybody used this method? If so, did it work well, any problems?

[Rhiannon]

Yes i use ring pots on tomatoes, it makes htem a lot easier to water and there is a way which im sure he explained of how you water and where you feed....i dotn think tho you get much better yield? Ive used half and half last year and did not see a difference.

This year ive got some self watering pots and resoviour from Suttons seeds, plus grafted tomatoes  which i have never done before..

[8doubles]

I dig a trench in the greenhouse line it with polythene (compost bags) fill the trench with compost or sharp sand and then put the rings in. The extra volume around the rings gives a reserve on days when the tomato plants are extra thirsty, only need to water once a day .
Ring culture has always worked very well for me.

[Aunt Sally]

When I grew tomatoes in growbags I always used rings around them.

Cucumbers though don't like to get their stems wet 

[suziet88]

Yep - I use those ringy thingies for my tomatoes and it makes watering easier.  Not sure if there's a difference in the amount of crop produced though.

[shokkyy]

On the video I saw, I don't think he was suggesting true ring culture, just a way of using the ring culture widgets to give more soil depth to the plant so it has more root space. It kind of makes sense, because no matter how much you fluff up a growbag it's very little soil depth for a plant. The other option he suggested was to double up the growbags, i.e. put one on top of another, make a hole in the bottom of the top one and plant into the top one, so the roots can reach down into the bottom bag.

Don't know that I'd go out and buy the proper ring culture things, though, because even the flimsy poly ones seem pretty expensive for what they are. But I've got plenty of plastic pots and tubs lying around that I could cut the bottom off. I was planning on putting 4 cucumber plants in 2 growbags, so maybe I'll try the ring culture things on one bag but not the other, to see if there's any difference.

AS - I don't think he was suggesting to plant it deep so the stem's buried, just to give more space to the roots.

[8doubles]

Do not waste cash on 'proper' ring culture gizmos, a cheap (or free) florists bucket with the bottom cut out is just as good.

[snowdrops]

Asda give you the flower buckets for free whereas Morrison's charge you. There what I use I put 4 on gravel in grow bag drip tray thingy.Mind you I'm going to try in growbags with the pots sunk in on half my crop this year as an experiment.

[BabbyAnn]

I had some spare plastic flexible lawn edging left over which I cut into lengths and stapled into circles.  They work just as well without sacrificing any big pots 

[Stevens706]

Last 2 years I have used the flower bucket method for toms and cucumbers, great for toms but my cucumbers have been disappointing, two old boys on the plot just grow their cucumbers in the soil and they had massive plants and crops. I believe the pots had restricted the root system so I am going to stop using the buckets this year for cucumbers.

[mumofstig]

My cukes go in a wide pot, without the bottom, on the greenhouse border. I can then keep the top stem barely moist, so I doesn't get stem rot, but the border gets watered regularly. It seems to work well

[shokkyy]

I used to get a good supply of flower buckets from Sainsbury, but then they changed over to the square recyclable ones so no longer give them away. However, I do have a huge number of small plastic buckets that I buy my horse's feed supplements in. They're smaller but I think they'll do for sitting on growbags.

Last year I stuck my cucumbers in growbags next to my espalier cherry tree and they happily scrambled up through the tree, seemed to do ok and had a decent crop, but they did seem to start looking a bit tired after a while. I just wonder if that was down to lack of root space and/or nutrients.

[WhiteWolf]

Hi Everybody

This is a new idea to me.

So I have a couple of questions.....

[1] What size pots are we talking about?

[2] How much of the bottom of the pot would I need to remove?

[3] How far into the growbag does the pot need to be pushed?

Questions, Questions, Questions, Questions, Questions, 

Cheers in advance

WW 

[Kristen]

[1] What size pots are we talking about?

I would say 9" diameter, and probably about that high.

[2] How much of the bottom of the pot would I need to remove?

all of it

[3] How far into the growbag does the pot need to be pushed?

It can rest on the surface (although in practice I expect it needs to be pushed ina  bit to make it stable whilst the plants are young.

[WhiteWolf]

Thanks Kristen

I think this is the way we have to go this year, should make life a lot easier.

Regards

WW