EarthBox

SadisticPeppers · Feb 29, 2012

Hsa anyone had any experience trying to grow peppers with EarthBoxes. I'm curious because I've seen flyers and also perused the website for EarthBox, and it looks like a decent, somewhat foolproof method for growing plants.

I'm curious since I wanted to know if it was any good prior to plunking down $50 for one.

And in case anyone doesn't know about it, the website is http://www.earthbox.com

LUCKYDOG · Feb 29, 2012

Do a search there are some who have tried and you can also try earthtainer http://www.earthtainer.org/In_The_News.html there is a construction guide on the bottom and this is what I had reasonable success with last year http://www.globalbuckets.org/

LGHT · Mar 1, 2012

I have really good success in an Earthbox. My only gripe is they where not quit big enough so I essentially found a DIY video on youtube on how to make your own for $20 and uses a 30 gallon container instead of a 15. Don't go by the earth box plans that say use 6 seeds. Even with 2 plants only my pepper plants didn't have enough room and couldn't really grow to their full potential in size. However one I put 2 in the 30 gallon home made box my plants grew a lot larger and produced more fruit in the process.

roper2008 · Mar 3, 2012

Peppers grow very well in earthboxes. 4 plants in earthbox works well.

Tman · Mar 3, 2012

Looks perfect for when the summer heat is in full effect.

LGHT · Mar 7, 2012

roper2008 said:
Peppers grow very well in earthboxes. 4 plants in earthbox works well.

You can grow 4 plants, but in my experience event 2 plants seem to quickly outgrow them. I believe the earth box is equivalent to 15 gallons so 4 plants will be a bit crowded. In fact my home made box that was 30 gallons only got 2 plants and not surprisingly they produced a lot more peppers as they grew to around 5' tall each.

Cerberus · Mar 7, 2012

linky:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Ultimate-Vegtable-quotEarthBoxquot-For-CHEAP/

mouth on fire · Mar 8, 2012

For people that have grown pepper plants in the 5 gallon setup, like globalbuckets, what amount of fertilizer worked best for one plant? They mention 2 cups of organic 5-5-5, as well as mixing in dolomite. Has anyone found a better ratio for growing hot peppers?

LGHT · Mar 8, 2012

My first year I added dry ferts to the plant and they did ok, but year after year i've been working on getting more fruit out of each plant and just planting less plants overall. I'm down to about 20 plants and looking back those 20 provide a lot more yeild then my first year when I had 50. Things like upgrading to 10 gallon containers, and making my own custom earth boxes, and fertilizing via foliar feeding and adding worm tea seem to make a huge difference.

At first I thought I would spend a lot more time, but it's actually easier taking very good care of 20 big plants then it is trying to hurry up and take care of 50 small ones.

mouth on fire · Mar 9, 2012

LGHT said:
My first year I added dry ferts to the plant and they did ok, but year after year i've been working on getting more fruit out of each plant and just planting less plants overall. I'm down to about 20 plants and looking back those 20 provide a lot more yeild then my first year when I had 50. Things like upgrading to 10 gallon containers, and making my own custom earth boxes, and fertilizing via foliar feeding and adding worm tea seem to make a huge difference.

At first I thought I would spend a lot more time, but it's actually easier taking very good care of 20 big plants then it is trying to hurry up and take care of 50 small ones.

Okay, so you're cutting way back on the granular ferts and supplementing with other types of fertilizer. Good to know. Thanks for the info.

LGHT · Mar 9, 2012

mouth on fire said:
Okay, so you're cutting way back on the granular ferts and supplementing with other types of fertilizer. Good to know. Thanks for the info.

Actully I don't cut back on the ganular I don't use it. Not to say it doesn't work I've learned over the years that peppers need specific ferts at specific times of growth and if he give them not just what they need, but what they need and WHEN they need it they will reward you with a bountiful harvest. I also discovered foliar feeding and how much more effective and effeciant it is. As a result I now follow the GH MaxiSeries since the ferts where designed to be used in hydro they mix well in water for foliar feeding.

http://generalhydroponics.com/site/gh/docs/feeding_sched/GH-MaxiSeries-Charts.pdf

I don't use either the diamond, or flora nectar, but I did suppliment that with bi-weekly worm tea feedings. I little more time getting setup, but it's so much easier to just pump and spray feed the plants in my opinion.