Wed, 2011/08/31 - 6:54pm
Hi All,
I haven't been around due to pre and post vacation whirlwind activities, hurricane Irene cleanup and work duties. I'll be back to document the misreable eperience I had with the earthboes both in the garden and on the deck this year and plans for the basement fall/winter projects.
Beth
Sat, 2011/09/03 - 5:08am
#2
Welcome back Beth, sorry to hear you've had a battering with the hurricane as well.
Sat, 2011/09/03 - 1:23pm
#3
Hi All,
The earthbox tomatoes in the garden declined rapidly in July. I think that putting them out where I've had trouble growing them in the ground was a bad idea. Not sure what they died from but some sort of fungal attack. It could even have been the soil fusarium I have out there - just because I set them on black fabric, there is still bare soil out there. Since then I learned that soil borne fungus can be transported by wind! Duh, should have thought of that. Earthbox tomatoes on the patio did OK. I chopped them down right before vacation so I wouldn't have to deal with them when I got back.
The big problem I had with 4 of the brand new earthboxes was that they developed leaks in the bottom! I lost my eggplant and had to disconnect the automatic watering system from the peppers. I emptied one last night and see the problem. The earthbox has two big cracks where the caster inserts into the box! I'll post pictures later - I need to call customer service. Even if they replace the boxes I still won't be able to use the casters. I don't think they are structuraly strong enough to withstand the twist the caster imparts. The earthboxes with the outrigger seem to be OK.
So, not a great year for tomatoes. I did start two that went into the ex-cucumber EB. We'll see if we get anything out of them...
Beth
Sat, 2011/09/03 - 7:46pm
#4
Bummer, Beth, sorry to hear all that with your tomatoes and earthboxes. 
Yeah, now that it's pointed out, it's clear that airborne (and insect-borne) fungus would be a problem, but... I wouldn't have thought fusarium would migrate into the earthbox, either, in foresight.
It's been a really bad year for fungus here. Not sure why. For Connecticut, it hasn't been an especially damp summer. Torrential rains, but isolated between fairly long sunny stretches. The plants on my 3rd floor balcony hit just as bad as the ones in the ground or on the driveway.
Hey, Beth, welcome back! I too just returned from Hurricane Irene, though I've been right here... minus power and Internet.
I'm curious to hear about your earthbox troubles. My tomatoes sure did the worst they've ever done this year, and I'm not sure why. The eggplant looks thoroughly fungused and ratty, but it's still producing more than enough eggplant.