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Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: Carls3168 on April 24, 2008, 11:00:37
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First full year with a greenhouse and I was just wondering how many tomato plants I can put in a large growbag (the 3 foot type ones)
Plants will be in bottomless pots, stood into the grow bags.
Would 3 toms per bag be too many ??? if it is how about 2 toms, with a sweet pepper, or a bush tom in the middle ???
Any thoughts - or thoughts on how to maximise greenhouse crops? :)
wishing I'd got a bigger greenhouse... ;D
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Doesn't matter what size greenhouse you get - you'll always want a bigger one!! I put 2 toms in my growbags last year. Same for peppers but 3 chillies.
twinkletoes
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I also plant into bottomless pots on top of grow bags, 3 toms per bag. Peppers and Aubergines I grow in individual pots, ending up in 2 ltr ones sat on gravel covered staging, which heats up gently during the day and keeps their bums warm at night! I also tried growing cucumbers in growbags cut in half and stood on their ends last year, but did not have much success with that method so they will be in long pots again this year.
I grow cordon (indeterminate) toms only in the greenhouse, I made the mistake of mixing bush and cordon varieties together a few years ago and the bush ones were swamped by the more vigorous cordons.
I suspect you would have to be careful with your selections if you wanted to mix types of plants together, peppers and aubergines might be OK as they grow to more similar heights rather than cordon toms which will just keep going until you stop them!
I do grow my toms fairly close in double rows of growbags either side of the greenhouse and the staging at the bottom end for the peppers etc, but keep on top of pinching out sideshoots and removing lower leaves that look even slightly yellow or that shade a truss. Because I grow a lot of plants I stop them when they reach the top of my high sided greenhouse, but I know others train theirs right over the roof and beyond!
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I grow 3 Gardeners Delight plants in 1 growbag but for the other larger Toms I only plant 2 to a bag, I also use bottomless pots on the top of the bags - seems to work.
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1. 3' growbag? Depends on the capacity. Anything from 27 to 35.
2. I never grow more than 2 of anything. But - funny you should ask - I'm squeezing 3 into the (very poor 27l) tom bags this year.
3. Bush toms, Peppers & Aubs need a wide spread, so certainly no more than 2, & even that can get too crowded. Chillies, I agree, are much more skeletal.
4. The bottomless pot idea just shows how scanty most bags are as is. Mostly, I have halved the bag & added compost as the plant grows.
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i have ordered 75 litre bags, how many to those?
Good question by the way ;D
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Great!
I would suggest the same. Just that you won't have to add compost?
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Great!
I would suggest the same. Just that you won't have to add compost?
Which make of compost this year Tim? I recall you not being too impressed with last years selection if I remember rightly?
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Sorry Tim, they may not be 3-foot in lengh, but I can just fit two side by side in my 6-foot greenhouse. ;D
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In my growbag I grow 2 beefsteak toms and the other I grow 3 moneymaker, the tumbling toms go in hanging baskets with lettuce, basil etc.
I also grow 1 or 2 french margolds with the toms (both green house and baskets) to keep off pests as well as lettuce and a few raddish.
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I usually grow 3 per bag, in bottomless pots, the pot does give extra compost. When I pot on from 31/2" pots I use a double pot - I pot into a bottomless 1ltr pot which is sitting in a pot with a bottom. Then it can be put into the growbag when space allows. I do feed quite a lot. throughout its life. I also grow 3 peppers or aubergines per bag.
Can't wait for the taste of the home grown. :)
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That always amazes me - 3 Aubs. As I said earlier, with each plant being 2' across, it gets a bit crowded?
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I think that if you get the tomorite ones you can get 3 in ok but then they are probably 3 times more expensive to buy in the first place.
I am never happy about the depth of soil in growbags which is why I rarely use them. I like the idea of cutting them in half though and having two deep plantpots.
Tim, do they stand up ok? or do they have to be propped up in some fashion.
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1. The expensive ones still only have the same elbow room?
2. They stand up, but you still have to stake the toms. So the stake goes into the bag, as with a long one.
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Have you considered emptying the bags on to the floor as seen here.
The example shown is an 8' x 6' greenhouse;
(http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd27/tgalmanac/10-Plantedout.jpg)
The other side of the greenhouse (not shown) is identical
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Sorry, when I said tomorite I meant the large, deep, tomato growbags that are substantially larger and substantially more expensive.
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No confusion , Gary - my point was that no bag is larger than 40" (?) & 2 x 24" plants are crowded?
Nice thought, TG - & what are the containers? Nice & large? Do you change the beds each year?
I can't do that with my arrangement -
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Deb - see under 'Under Glass'.
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Nice thought, TG - & what are the containers? Nice & large? Do you change the beds each year?
The containers are off cuts fro 9" diam sewer pipes.
I only change the compost in the rings each year.
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Oh, they look bigger. And you don't change the border soil?
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Remember to give the growbag a good shake before planting anything in them. I forgot on two of them! ;)
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And you don't change the border soil?
Bearing in mind; if growing tomatoes, this soil will only contain the water seeking root, plus I use a method of rotation, for example Year 1 Tomatoes, Year 2 Peppers, Year 3 Curcubrits. So all I do is add a bit of farm yard manure each year to add a bit of humus to the soil.
In my big greenhouse I work with 4No. 8' x2' beds and these come into the rotation system as does my third 12' x 8' greenhouse with a continuous bed around the perimeter.
I find this work with me
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In my gro bags, I grow 2 toms, 2 peppers, 2 courgettes, infact 2 of everything, except sweetcorn........I get 4 of them in one bag................
But all my bags are slit across the width and folded in half. like saddle bags. They stand upright and will even hold a bamboo cane upright too. I do this as I don't have a crop bar along the length of my polytunnel and also the bag being upright holds more water then flat. I don't have borders either as the whole of my polytunnel is membraned.
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Sounds good to me :)
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peasmad, what a good idea ! - I'll try this idea, Space is at a premium...
But all my bags are slit across the width and folded in half. like saddle bags. They stand upright and will even hold a bamboo cane upright too.
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Thanks, TG - thought one had to change a border each year.
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Forgive my ignorance, but what is a bottomless bag ( I gather it is a bag with no bottom but....)? :)
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Bottomlees POT - on a Growbag - or on border soil??
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"Bottomlees POT"??
Now I'm really confused! :)
But still, what it one?
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Perhaps this photo of my tomatoes last year will help. The bottomless pots are filled with compost and sat on top of the growbags, which have holes cut out so that the tomato roots can grow initially into the pot, then down into the growbag as well.
(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l47/dlp133/Aug2007022.jpg)
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Thanks Deb P,
Are they bought specifically for the purpose or do you cut the bottom off existing pots?
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I just cut the bottoms off of pots I already had, some are slightly different depths and widths but as long as they are big enough to give a decent amount of root run ;D
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Thanks again Deb P!
Are they the same pots you grew the toms in, or did you transfer them into bottomless pots? (This is a whole new world to me!:))
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I usually grow 3 per bag, in bottomless pots, the pot does give extra compost. When I pot on from 31/2" pots I use a double pot - I pot into a bottomless pot which is sitting in a pot with a bottom. Then it can be put into the growbag when space allows.
That's how I do it but that's because I need the space for other things before I can clear staging out and lay out growbags.
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Thanks for the info! :)