Hello Group!

This is my first post!

I'm new to gardening and have only had one season trying to get my lawn to look good again and a tobacco season, under my belt.

I've planted some tomatoes and sweetcorn and they have sprouted.

I'm planning on putting them into Planting Bags. But i've heard lots about root space and depth and how plants need to spread their feet. Certainly tobacco needs a good 30cm at least to root.

So i'm wondering if 5cm thick bags of soil are going to do the trick? Or should I take several of them, cut out the tops and bottoms and stack them together, making a kind of planter? If I had three of them on top of each other, that would provide a really deep bed of earth to root into.

What do you think about my idea?

Bman

"Bman" wrote in message
...

Hello Group!

This is my first post!

I'm new to gardening and have only had one season trying to get my lawn
to look good again and a tobacco season, under my belt.

I've planted some tomatoes and sweetcorn and they have sprouted.

I'm planning on putting them into Planting Bags. But i've heard lots
about root space and depth and how plants need to spread their feet.
Certainly tobacco needs a good 30cm at least to root.

So i'm wondering if 5cm thick bags of soil are going to do the trick?
Or should I take several of them, cut out the tops and bottoms and
stack them together, making a kind of planter? If I had three of them
on top of each other, that would provide a really deep bed of earth to
root into.

What do you think about my idea?

Bman

For tomato plants I get a large bucket, empty half the growing bag into it.
Then plant.

Have good results each year I do it. Much better than using a regular bag.
Consider 'ring-culture'!
Bottomless bucket, sitting in a deep pan full of gravel.
Fill bucket with compost.
Fill tray with water.
Plant out.
The soil provides nutrients and stability.
The gravel and water provides a moist micro climate and a constant source of
water.
Roots grow down and out into the gravel.

Never managed to get decent sweetcorn so can't help ther.

Dave

"someone here" wrote:

I'm planning on putting them into Planting Bags. But i've heard lots
about root space and depth and how plants need to spread their feet.

For tomato plants I get a large bucket, empty half the growing bag into
it.
Then plant.


This year for my tomatoes I plan on putting 3 plastic plant pots with the
bottoms cut out, into a grow bag, and filling the pots with soil. I hope
that'll give the plants more space for roots, and make it easier to water.

Bman wrote:
So i'm wondering if 5cm thick bags of soil are going to do the trick?
Or should I take several of them, cut out the tops and bottoms and
stack them together, making a kind of planter? If I had three of them
on top of each other, that would provide a really deep bed of earth to
root into.

Sounds very tricky with sweet corns. I never grow less than 10 plants -
and like you I tried with grow bag and it wasn't successful at all as
the corns were heavy and didnt' get enough root space. They grew wobbly
and some fell and I had to prop them, attach them etc. and by late
August the whole thing looked more like a conceptual art installation
than a bed of sweet corns ) The idea to stack the bags for the sweet
corns is a good idea but how many sweet corn plants can you do in this
way? They need to get pollinated together - they need plenty of air
around them too. Last year I lost half my crop to the badgers - you
need to protect these well because all creetures just adore sweet corns!

La Puce wrote:
Bman wrote:
So i'm wondering if 5cm thick bags of soil are going to do the trick?
Or should I take several of them, cut out the tops and bottoms and
stack them together, making a kind of planter? If I had three of them
on top of each other, that would provide a really deep bed of earth
to root into.

Sounds very tricky with sweet corns. I never grow less than 10 plants
- and like you I tried with grow bag and it wasn't successful at all
as the corns were heavy and didnt' get enough root space. [...]

It's not just a matter of stability. Sweet corn isn't suitable for
containers, in the ordinary way containers are used, as for reliable
results it's best grown in a block with plants 18" apart each way to
encourage wind-pollination. You could do it, but it sounds like a
hassle.

Moving on from sweet corn, I theorise that stacking growbags would
probably result in either a horrible mess of spilt compost, or the
bottom layer not receiving enough water. Instead, maybe each bag could
be cut in half, and each half stood on end and used as a rather wobbly
separate container. I don't know if that idea would work, so I'd invest
in some cheap black buckets instead. I used to grow my tomatoes in
square tubs made by halving those tough black 25-litre things dairy
hypochlorite comes in.

--
Mike.

Hi,
I have grown tomatoes in double grow bags for many years with ewxcellent
results.
place one grow bag on top of another cut a cross in top grow bag as you
would normnally, sccop away compost, then cut bthrough to bottom grow a hole
about 4 to 6 inches diameter, place bone meal in bottom and stir well.
now ensure even coverage of compost and plant toms, etc.
using 2 grow bags gives more space for roots.
As to watering, pierce bottom bag to take a length of 32mm waste pipe with
elbow one end which sticks out, block other end, pierce, or drill several
sma ll holes along pipe, and insert long ways, water into elbow until full.
Depending on size of holes this could keep bags well watered for quite some
time.
Hope this helps.
As far as sweetcorn is concerned, I have only grown this outdoors.
regards
Cineman
"Bman" wrote in message
...

Hello Group!

This is my first post!

I'm new to gardening and have only had one season trying to get my lawn
to look good again and a tobacco season, under my belt.

I've planted some tomatoes and sweetcorn and they have sprouted.

I'm planning on putting them into Planting Bags. But i've heard lots
about root space and depth and how plants need to spread their feet.
Certainly tobacco needs a good 30cm at least to root.

So i'm wondering if 5cm thick bags of soil are going to do the trick?
Or should I take several of them, cut out the tops and bottoms and
stack them together, making a kind of planter? If I had three of them
on top of each other, that would provide a really deep bed of earth to
root into.

What do you think about my idea?

Bman


--
Bman

cineman wrote:
Hi,
I have grown tomatoes in double grow bags for many years with
ewxcellent results.
place one grow bag on top of another cut a cross in top grow bag as
you would normnally, sccop away compost, then cut bthrough to bottom
grow a hole about 4 to 6 inches diameter, place bone meal in bottom
and stir well.
now ensure even coverage of compost and plant toms, etc.
using 2 grow bags gives more space for roots.
As to watering, pierce bottom bag to take a length of 32mm waste
pipe with elbow one end which sticks out, block other end, pierce, or
drill several sma ll holes along pipe, and insert long ways, water
into elbow until full. Depending on size of holes this could keep
bags well watered for quite some time.
Hope this helps.
[...]

While the more simple-minded among us just tip the growbag stuff into
pierced buckets or something, and get just as many tomatoes for half the
price and a fraction of the effort!

--
Mike.