"madgardener" wrote in message
...
J.C. wrote:
I start seeds in styrofoam cups. I do exclusively square foot gardening
and have several boxes going. I use the 32oz cups that I buy in bulk from
Sam's Club. I put about 1 inch of potting soil in the cup.

When it comes time to plant I just cut the bottom out of the cups and
plant the whole things. This leaves me the proper amount of empty cup to
do the watering called for in the Square Foot Gardening book.

Well, everything that happens, wilt, browning leaves, low yield, bugs,
disease etc., happens because I PLANT THE DANG CUPS, according to my
wife. She, and others, say this is a definate no-no. I disagree. What do
you say and why?




after reading everyone else's responses, I've come to the obvious
solutions. Styrofoam however cheap is wrong only because you're leaving
the cups around the young seedlings, and your thinking is probably as
protection against cut worms, but in this case, everyone whose response is
deffinate is dead on the money. Wilt is from lack of enough nutrients,
browning leaves are fungal which the styrofoam doesn't allow the soil
around the plants to breath, bugs attack distressed plants to eliminate
them. Only the stronger plants survive. Distressed plants send out
inaudible signals to the insects to "come and put me out of my misery I'm
not well!" And low yields are from cramped roots. Had that happen myself
with a trial growing of some plants from seeds that had the exact same
problems as yours.

So here's the simpler solution: Everyone has helped with alternatives.
You could use cheap paper cups that will break down if planted. (no wax
lined cup, it won't break down fast enough). Your best bet would be to
watch for Lowes or Home Deprived to have sales on their seed starting
stuff. The peat pots are great and with their over purchasing for Spring,
you can pick up everything more than half price at the leg end of Spring.
Or you can order bulk garden cheap starting seed stuff from Garden Supply.
Park Seeds is a bit pricey but you'd have quality stuff. Same with Garden
Supply. Or you could check out Gardens Alive! and price their seed
starting stuff. Or Lee Valley Tools is another wonderful, reusable source
for seed starting stuff.

Don't let this set back discourage you. Are you burying the whole cup
into the soil once you punch out the bottoms? If you are, that's a HUGE
part of your problem. Another source would be a co-op or old fashioned
hardware store that always has Spring seed stuff. I'm sure they'd have
stuff still on the shelves. But the best bargain if you're frugal is to
hit Lowes (I know about Lowes personally having worked there for a few
years) or Depot when they're at the end of their season and want to get
rid of the seed trays, six packs, 24 packs, expandable coins that expand
when you soak them in water and plant (you can bury them in the ground and
after I cut the sides a bit, the roots push past the little tiny peat pot
and attain impressive sizes).

Any pots you start that will break down in the soils for your square foot
gardens will have to be buried completely. Even the peat pots. Because if
you leave even a little bit sticking out of the ground, the moisture will
wick out faster.

I've done Square foot gardening for decades and it works wonderfully.
(it's also called intensive gardening). And one inch of soil isn't enough
for a 32 ounce cup! I'd go with alternatives. Cheap paper that WILL break
down once buried and bottomed out will work. Once the seedlings are to
size, you could cut slits into the sides to expedite faster break down and
allow the roots to escape, the cup would protect against cut worms during
the early growth periods. as for the convenience of pouring a "specific
amount of water on each plant" being easier, consider the little micro
climate you've made that caused all sorts of wonderful homes for fungus,
molds, disease and bound up roots (low yields and unhealthy plants which
draw bugs to off them quickly, Nature is amazing).

Try these ideas and get back to us. Keep on Square foot gardening. I
still do. I grow tomato's and radishes and all manner of things in
containers on my deck only because I don't have enough ground on this
steep slope and too many trees to clear to provide a spot for a square
foot garden. I do have, however some self watering boxes a friend gave me
and I have now a spot I can clear out that will provide me over 7 hours of
direct sunlight and next spring I'll have for the first time a place for
my veggie garden!! Woo hoo!! Good luck to you, keep us posted.

madgardener up on the ridge, back in Fairy Holler, overlooking English
Mountain in Eastern Tennessee, zone 7, Sunset zone still intensive
gardening after almost 28 years....................

I'm not sure we are on the same page here. When I say Square Foot Gardening,
I'm talking about this: http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

If you are familiar with this method, as portrayed in the book, you will
recall that the method calls for making a "saucer" type impression in the
square and putting the plant right in the middle of that. Then, you water
each plant by pouring one cup of water into the impression either daily,
every other day or weekly, as the particular type of plant spec calls for.

Now, we are talking about some 100 boxes here. Having an employee going
around with a bucket and a cup and making sure he gets everything watered
properly is a waste of time and money in my opinion. So, I decided to
experiment by using a 32 ounce cup, leaving enough of it empty so as to hold
the alloted amount of water so the fellow could just go around with a wand
and fill up the cups. We only tried this with 12 boxes and we had a few
problems and my wife blamed everythiing on planting those dang cups.

I know styrofoam is not biodegradable so I know it does no harm to anything
in the box. I know that when we remove the plants to rejuvenate a box for
future plantings the roots are NOT rootbound or anything. I'm pretty sure,
as the boxes are filled with a plant medium mixture of 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3
well composted cow manure and other organic material, and 1/3 spanghum peat
moss, that there is ample aeration. So, what I am trying to determine is
whether or not the cups are detrimental or have I just run into a run of
fungus, disease or something.

For my two cents, I'd just soon take the started plants out of whatever they
are started in, and plant them directly into the square, but the problem
with that is, unless I'm following the guys around, they inevitably
overwater, washout or just plain wipe out a whole box.

By the way, anywhere near Jefferson City?


--
J.C.