Earthboxes, and Earthbox clones, the answer for growing in droughts?

Fast Randy · Sep 12, 2009

I have used Earthboxes for eight years indoors. I use 5 earthboxes in the basement under one 1000w hps with a 6' light mover. I want 4 females per box or 20 girls so I place 8 germinated 6 or 8" seedlings per box and plan on pulling half of them. If feminized seeds I just put 4 per box. And I average 4lbs per light.

smellmyfinger · Oct 8, 2009

should the lime be used as directed??

smokeetreatz · Dec 9, 2009

fast randy - did you say 4lb per light

Hemphrey Bogart · Jan 27, 2010

smellmyfinger said:
should the lime be used as directed??

Just use a light soil mix of your choice and skip the lime. If you're using your regular medium of choice, why would you add the lime to it? Just use your normal soil/medium recipe and don't go too heavy on the nutrients.

FWIW, plants grew very well outdoors with the 'box and should perform just as well indoors with a few upgrades. The only things it needs is maybe an air hose going to the res with a diffuser or two and a drain on the bottom for flushing. The built in overflow drain is too high for flushing and you have to tilt the whole thing to flush it, not a huge issue, but it could be made easier pretty simply.

Hemphrey Bogart · Jan 28, 2010

smokeetreatz said:
fast randy - did you say 4lb per light

1 1K light on a mover.

If 16 zips=1lb then 4 lbs = 64 zips/20 plants = 3.2 zips per plant roughly...

moonymonkey · Mar 14, 2012

.hello,i started using the earthbox toooo....seemed liik it can b overwatered indoors...using moisture meter watering at 1and 1/2...using 5 gallons of soil and florecents lights som cfl...using 1 gallon and 1 qt of water to fill..it took 1 gallon to moisten soil before i planted..using pro-mix soil..i found keeping resovior filled all the time =overwatered...so i just let them dry out between watering,not only that found i had to to take meter readinds not only at both ends,but in the middle were it reads higher..ends at 1 middle reading 3,no good,middle needs to come down to see continueing growth...after i fought my way threw the jungle i found high moisture reading in middle...i kinda cautious about using larger lights to make plants grow,an still showing small signs of overwatering myself=calcium def. wen the potency cud b better.goota go with plants growing fast non stop,with betterpotency mm/

moonymonkey · Mar 14, 2012

also wanted to say i moisten soil,plant and dont water until,the soil dries before out before first watering the resovior,using a moisture meter an keep track of steady growth rates,compared to meter readings to mak any adjustments,besides waiting for them to droop...this was the way i had to do it to get good fast non stop growth,no signs of over watering...and potent buds....mm/

glockdoc · Mar 16, 2012

yea im giving this a try this year outdoors 100%, will be using slh clones and hopefully they get big! moony keep up with ur post on this thread to bring it back to life. i like backcountrys set up way way better. it was something i was dreaming up, didnt know if it would work and then seen this, well backcountrys set ups and thats what i want.

Desert Dan · Jul 5, 2012

On it!!! Good info.

DD

MadR1 · Apr 12, 2016

Most successful, easiest outdoor I have grown was in a 5 gallon DIY Earthbox bucket buried. Might have been only 2 oz, don't have a scale. It was mostly in the shade though! Watered once a week at first about a gallon, later 2. Want to do it in a tree next time for sure!

Maybe a good choice for beginners indoors also?

MadR1 · Apr 14, 2016

For indoor purposes, how about a simple design like this? A Cherry Tomatoe plant!

Just a 5 gallon bucket with a bunch of recycled plastic sealable containers full of holes at the bottom for the res. I got that idea from Google.

http://insideurbangreen.typepad.com/.a/6a00e3982480928833014e8a3822bc970d-pi

But, instead of a drainage hole at the level of the top of the res, this lower grommet, L fitting, and tube. (I should have added a screen, might get clogged?) Then, I could drain after the first watering. When the roots get more established, fill completely, then drain the amount needed to get the res level where it should be? Testing this on a patio. Am I missing something about this "wick" technology? Oh, could have been simpler. I could have put my grommet n tube higher at the overflow line, to have an easy way to direct the overflow into another bucket, for indoor use. Then, when you first transplant, simply use pre-moistened soil? Seems to me like filling the res right from the start would be likely overwatering? Don't see why you need the watering tube. Maybe don't need the grommet/tube/overflow at all, if you just know how much water to add?

MadR1 · Apr 15, 2016

The main advantages to this type of system, beyond low maintenance, seem to be eliminating under or over watering and conserving water.

Don't know why I am tripping on the overflow hole. You gotta pick up the bucket anyhow if it's insidoors. Easy enough to have a board over a Rubbermaid, to set it on while watering. Trying to eliminate that work. If it's already on a raised surface in the grow tent, something should work out.

MadR1 · Apr 16, 2016

A recipe for disaster, or a good easy screen to filter out dirt at the runoff/overflow hole? I put a small wad of some of this metal dish scrubber, in the inside hole of the elbow fitting there. Testing now. So far so good. Don't try to pull this stuff apart with bare hands, it will cut you. Remember it's sharp metal strips. I used sisors I didn't care about.

Hemphrey Bogart · Apr 26, 2016

I was digging through old photos and found a side by side pic of the plants I grew in earthboxes in 2011. I took this picture sometime in September. I think they were querkle or something...not sure and it doesn't really matter. The Earthboxes work and you will use less water...I just don't think you'll be growing trees in them due to the lack of space in the rootzone.

The only things I would do different this time are:

1. I'd use the cover that came with it.

2. I'd mulch the top.

3. I'd use Gro-Kashi as a top dress.

HB.

TectonicSeeds · May 14, 2016

Sup Hemphrey! I bet you could grow trees in em. In Alan's video from Gage Originals on youtube he stands in front of earthbox plants at Idunnpharm, half of which are taller than him with huge thick stalks

The Gro-kashi and cover should work well.

Im growing in my first earthbox right now and im having rapid growth. As a base i did
Peat moss
perlite
vermiculite.
Forgot to add dolomite so i added it in 1/4 strength as a topdress that i will reapply again at a later time.
Besides that the topdress consisted of a 1/2 inch layer of Cocoa Shell Mulch, close to a half inch layer of Worm Castings, and close to a half inch layer of Colorado Bean Compost! Sprinkled 2 tablespoons of Grokashi on the topdress and 2 teaspoons down the sip hole into the reservoir. Also 2 tablespoons of Em-1 down the sip hole. Just letting it be a stomach with the lactic acids, etc. I am super excited.

I made some diy 10 inch Sub Irrigated planters as well and they are doing great in a mixture of 4-5 parts peat, 2 parts perlite, 2 parts vermiculite, and 1-2 parts dr earth. going to add minerals next topdress for that one. The hypothesis is that we will use a 1/3rd of the nutrients and half as much water as we would need with conventional farming methods.

TectonicSeeds · May 14, 2016

my mix is like the Simple Gro-kashi Mix on the Gro-kashi website but i substituted the Malibu for earthworm castings + Colorado Bean Compost and forgot to mix in the dolomite and put it on top so its a bit different. lol

stoned-trout · May 14, 2016

I had like 10 of em once ..I bought them when they first came out..great design and easy to replicate .....yeehaw

TectonicSeeds · May 14, 2016

yup.i agree trout. i enjoy thinking of ways to make my own Sips as well. the 10 inch ones i did are small but should do the trick.

Im making a few 4x8 16 inch tall sip raised beds right now

for food and other herbs.

Ill also be building another around 100 gallons for some clones in a mini greenhouse ive got with a T5. covers going to end up coming off when they can veg without supplemental lighting around middle of june i think, and ill use the greenhouse frame to throw a trellis over when they go through the frame.

I will be so happy if the giant sips works well. Its worth a try. and its going to save me a lot of water and everything else too

TectonicSeeds · Jun 20, 2016

My Earthbox clone from May 9th through today June 19th. A few days ago i got a deficiency that was treatable the way you would treat Blossom End Rot in Tomatoes. Its mostly because i missed a top dress by 5 days. The plants in Sub irrigated planters grow so fast!

Art_of_Soil · Sep 22, 2016

@tetonic seeds.... Hows your earthbox container coming along? would love to see updates of your success

Earthboxes, and Earthbox clones, the answer for growing in droughts?

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