Growing in containers

[bowdonkey]

I've messed around with potatoes in containers for awhile, but haven't made a total switch. Anyway this guy has made an excellent case for container growing. youtu.be/vlmeR79Odw0 and this youtu.be/dtfWSv8IsD8. He explains the process very well and explained why my results have been hit and miss. Now for something original. I make my grow bags from empty dog food and bird seed bags. I flatten them out and burn drainage holes about 6-7 inches up from the bottom. I use an old pipe about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Actually it's an old leg off a trampoline. Just heat the end up in a campfire, doesn't have to be red hot, and press down against the bag. The bag is on the ground, just push against it and you get 2 perfect die cut holes. I do this 3 times across the bag. Wear gloves, as the pipe acts like a chimney sometimes especially when a circle of bag catches fire in there. Probably best to use caution. Then roll down the top to about 2 foot tall. The bag will flatten somewhat when you fill it. Remember just 2-4 potatoes per bag depending on variety. I had to look up all of mine to determine if they were determinate or indeterminate. I tell ya, kicking over a bag is alot easier than digging them out.

[countrymom22]

Great idea! Thanks for sharing. I might try this myself as an experiment this year. Lord knows I have enough old feed bags sitting around.

[mogal]

bowdonkey, I missed this thread when you posted it. Are the bags you used woven plastic type stuff or a sheet of plastic "welded" into bag shape? I have both.

I've used more containers the last couple of years and plan to do more as my "get up and go" continues to do so. I got a plastic pet kennel about the size for a Brittany from a free pile that the seller thought he'd secured on his load along I-70. Instead it fell off his truck and he dragged it long enough that one corner of the top was gone. I used it with Pyr puppies a while but eventually it made its way to a corner and I forgot about it. When I found it last month, I wondered how I could repurpose it into a planting container. The top was still holey and both it and the bottom had the animal's entry. I took it apart, inverted the top and reversed front for back. After a little surgery to remove the part of the top that held the door, the top fit very well into the bottom. I plan to line it with a feed sack to keep the soil from filtering from the top into the bottom.

Most of my containers are cattle supplement tubs I get from my neighbor that hold about 20 gal. of water. I also have some big nursery pots I got from a freecycle post but I have to figure out a way to close the drain holes so I can drill new ones a couple of inches above the bottom to leave space for a reservoir of water. Basically, I'm planning a mini-hugelkultur bed in each container. Any input?

[bowdonkey]

Yes, they are a woven material. They last a season but are usually finished after that because the thread rots. They have a real nice container sold in England only at the moment, but once they are available here I may try a few. That one guy who I posted a link on, has got 13 seasons on his and they are still going. The problem with alot of the plastic containers is no UV resistance. I believe you can paint them and it gives them a few years. Google or YT that subject, that's where I seen that awhile back. I had no yield  consistency, I think it was due to not enough nutrients. Rigid containers are much easier to fill and move about if you have too. All the makeshift ones I used UVed out eventually. Most only lasting a season. Bags are a small pain to prepare, but the price is right. One more thing, place them  where you'll harvest them. The bags are difficult to move, most of time the thread gives way. 

[smokey]

I wish I'd seen this post earlier. Really good idea using the feed bags bowdonkey,!

My wife bought a bunch of the fabric planting bags from Amazon and we planted all our potatoes in them along with a couple of tomato plants.

I mixed soil with sphagnum peat moss, added some bone meal and 4-4-4 organic fertilizer and the potatoes are doing great so far and I'm looking forward to just dumping them out instead of digging.

We've put a lot of our plants in large pots and Earth boxes this year to save space in the raised beds. So far everything is doing well.

[bowdonkey]

I dumped a bag of Red Norlunds out yesterday, they were planted 5/7 . A bit early for here but we got enough small potatoes for a dish of baked rosemary potatoes for 4. Dumped it in the wheelbarrow and went through it all. EZ picking. I'll keep you all posted as the season progresses.

[mzgarden]

Somehow I missed this whole thread originally but have been seriously thinking about starting to convert to more containers and less in-ground, even with raised beds and mulch the grass weeds are a pain and I aint getting any younger. I would love to do peppers and tomatoes in old feed bags, sure have enough of them and and a steady supply so not too concerned if they only last a year. I've seen this guy's videos (from the OP) and would love to be able to grow rhubarb like his - but I tried to follow his idea this year and it didn't work out. Not to say anything bad about his ideas, I just probably messed it up. Try again next year.

bowdonkey, thanks for the updates so far.

[bowdonkey]

Mzgarden,I used compost, about 2-3 cups of wood ash and 1/2-1 cup of bone meal in the bottom third, mixed it up then some wore out potting soil to isolate the seed piece ( scab) from the wood ash , 2- 4 seed pieces depending on bag size and type of potato, then fill it to the top with used potting soil. Not the best, but the best I could do at the time. I'm big on using what I can produce on the place. I should know more in a month or two if thus worked. Been real hit and miss in the past. 

[Jolly]

Guy brought me some cattle tubs last week. Reckon I'll be experimenting this fall...

[jenn]

I've told this somewhere before but perhaps not in this board: when I lived in England they sold bags of soil- 2'x3-4'x4-6" - with holes drawn on one side varying spacing for one to cut those holes out and insert plants- had spacing diagram for tomatoes and peppers. I used these a good deal in my greenhouse there, and discussing with my organic gardening club fellow members I decided in the US we pot toms up forever so they are huge and will grow forever, but here they don't mind restricting the tom's roots which will make it decide to hurry up and flower and fruit- a good thing in shorter seasons like all of England. At the end of the season I'd dump the bag of dirt and plant roots into the outside garden compost heap. Moving from there to 6 acres in Alabama I never bothered with planting in bags again.

They were probably called grow bags but are much shorter- 4-6" deep- than the sacks they sell here to fill with dirt and use as pots. I'd lay one on the top shelf of my greenhouse for the toms and peppers to have lots of height room, and on a lower shelf have melons/ squash/ cuke plants also in these flat bags of dirt and fertilizer growing up string around the greenhouse so they only needed a short shelf space and access to escape the shelf on the side.

[mogal]

I've dumped most of those grow bags I got at auction and planted with potatoes and have been very disappointed with my results. I have 5 left. The vegetation has been beautiful but the potatoes have been small and sparse. Barely made my seed.

[bowdonkey]

Just dumped another bag yesterday.  They were Lehigh variety and got 14 potatoes. Most were good sized. And from a fist sized potato cut in half. This is the best the bags have ever done. Got 3 bags left, 1 Satina and 2 Rose Finns. My experience in the past was more like Mogals. I think it may be just more food for the potatoes under the seed piece and more diligent watering.

[bowdonkey]

Jul 27, 2022 0:50:58 GMT jenn said:

I've told this somewhere before but perhaps not in this board: when I lived in England they sold bags of soil- 2'x3-4'x4-6" - with holes drawn on one side varying spacing for one to cut those holes out and insert plants- had spacing diagram for tomatoes and peppers. I used these a good deal in my greenhouse there, and discussing with my organic gardening club fellow members I decided in the US we pot toms up forever so they are huge and will grow forever, but here they don't mind restricting the tom's roots which will make it decide to hurry up and flower and fruit- a good thing in shorter seasons like all of England. At the end of the season I'd dump the bag of dirt and plant roots into the outside garden compost heap. Moving from there to 6 acres in Alabama I never bothered with planting in bags again.

They were probably called grow bags but are much shorter- 4-6" deep- than the sacks they sell here to fill with dirt and use as pots. I'd lay one on the top shelf of my greenhouse for the toms and peppers to have lots of height room, and on a lower shelf have melons/ squash/ cuke plants also in these flat bags of dirt and fertilizer growing up string around the greenhouse so they only needed a short shelf space and access to escape the shelf on the side.

I'll be trying this next year. Even the 60 day varieties of tomatoes took 80-90 days to bear this year. 

[countrymom22]

I've found that my potatoes do better with less compost. Otherwise, I get lots of leaves and very few potatoes. But this year has been a crazy one for growing anything. At least around here.

[dw]

Looks like we could get frost next week so I need to decide what I want to cover ...probably a few tomatoes. My garden was bad this yr but I did hit 200 canned jars this week. Normally it's around 250 but I'm not done, yet.

[bowdonkey]

The last 3 were dumped and they did very well. Alot and I mean alot easier than planting the conventional way. I'm already setting up bags for next year. The only drawback so far is you have to stay on top of watering during the hottest times. 

[bowdonkey]

Update, about 2 months ago I got a dozen bags ready for next year. Primed them with about 8"-12" of half and half mixture of compost and old potting soil. They are all covered with plastic for the winter. Don't want them getting too wet, because they might take forever to thaw come spring. I'll probably do the same for planting next year.  2-3 cups of woodash/ bone char, 3-4" of potting soil to isolate seed piece from the woodash and then fill the bag to the top. If I can get this to work again  I may just never plant inground again. This was just too easy.

[Maura]

Thanks for this post. Because I have chickens again I have bags that I can use next year as grow bags. I just knew they were good for something!

[mogal]

Over the weekend DH and I were in the barn and emptied several feed bags I could use for grow bags. He started to fold one to throw away when I asked for it because I know we'll come up with some uses for the things. I think I need a sign that says "packrat."

[janinco]

Are you all talking about paper feed bags or cloth/woven ones? I have some commercial planting bags and didn't get good results from them this past year. I think too hot and they dried out. I'm going to follow Mogal's advice and sink them into trenches or something to help keep the roots cooler and mo moist. Sure have to do something!

[mogal]

Janinco, I save both paper and the plastic ones. I use the paper ones as the blocking layer on the garden then use hay waste to hold the paper in place. It usually lasts about a season before it adds to the fertility. We get dog/cat food in bags that are layers of coated paper for the labeling with plastic fused to the inside. Those are near impossible to repurpose because the paper will rot away if in contact with the ground but you're left with the plastic trash.

I haven't used the extruded plastic ones for much except for trash collection in the barn. The woven plastic has multiple uses, including planting.

[mzgarden]

Dec 8, 2022 20:20:43 GMT mogal said:

Over the weekend DH and I were in the barn and emptied several feed bags I could use for grow bags. He started to fold one to throw away when I asked for it because I know we'll come up with some uses for the things. I think I need a sign that says "packrat."

I'm with you saving those feed bags.  We have a big roll around trash can that one of the trash companies was going to get rid of because it didn't roll well any longer.  We put it next to DH's shop and we empty, fold and store feed bags in it.  We have a bunch and it's amazing how many things we've used them for - bags for trash of course, we keep one in the house for paper trash and it goes to the burn pile.  But, we've also opened them up and used them as drop cloths for small jobs. Our granddaughters like to put their painting projects on them to dry.   We've stapled them inside on our our barn walls to reduce wind coming through some of the more open spaces (very old barn, lol).  I drag one around in the garden to throw weeds and trash into for the fire ring.  I've grown lettuce in them, rolling the top down about half way and poking drain holes in them.  I've sewn carry bags out of them but not my favorite use.  Lots of uses for those bags.