Growing sunflowers in containers is technically possible, but it is important to choose the right-sized container for your plant. Most varieties of sunflowers grow several feet tall, sometimes reaching five to six feet. The mature size of your sunflower variety will dictate the size pot you’ll need. Check the seed packet to see how big the sunflowers will get, and choose a pot accordingly. For dwarf varieties, herbs and flowers are fine in 2 to 5-gallon bags.
The ideal size and type of planter for growing sunflowers in containers will depend on the variety of sunflower you are growing. Larger varieties will require larger containers, while smaller ones will require smaller ones. Choose a container that is at least 10 to 12 inches in diameter and has a larger capacity and better load-bearing capacity.
For dwarf varieties, start them in pots indoors and pot them out into the tubs when they are about 6 inches tall. When seedlings are several inches tall, transplant them to larger pots that are at least 12-18 inches deep while making sure they are spread out. In other cases, dwarf varieties should be grown or transplanted in a 1 to 2 gallon pot, while mammoth varieties should be grown in at least a 5 gallon pot.
Sow seeds individually in 10cm pots of peat-free, multi-purpose compost. Cover the pots with a clear plastic bag and place them in a warm spot. The bag is reusable and has enough seeds for several crops. The best before date for this product is 2 years.
📹 How to Grow Sunflowers Successfully At Home 🌻
00:00 – Intro 00:36 – History & Background 01:31 – Flower Structure 01:46 – Tracking The Sun 02:37 – Cover Cropping 03:13 …
Can you overwater a grow bag?
Overwatering a grow bag is unlikely due to the air circulation on all sides of the plant’s roots, which allows oxygen access and allows excess water to evaporate. Grow bags benefit from frequent waterings in drier climates, but can be placed in a water reservoir for less frequent watering. Drainage holes are not necessary for fabric grow bags, as the fabric material easily drains excess water and allows air flow to prevent rot or decay. If you’re concerned about adequate drainage, consider using a growing media with extra drainage, such as promix or coco coir.
How big should my grow bags be?
To ensure optimal growth, it is recommended to allow 5 gallons per big plant, but avoid growing two indeterminate tomatoes in the same bag. Larger grow bags may compete with plants with larger root systems, so it is better to mix a tomato with a shallow-rooted crop. Budget concerns arise when using larger bags, as they are pricier and require more soil. Smaller bags can be used for smaller crops like cabbage, lettuce, or spinach.
A 25-gallon grow bag, which is more like a medium raised bed, is suitable for small fruit trees that need to be moved indoors in winter or sweet potatoes that are more productive with larger tubers. However, it is important to consider the cost of filling the bag with soil and the difficulty of moving it once full.
What is the size range of sunflowers?
The Common Sunflower is a member of the Asteraceae family, which includes the Sunflower family. It produces one or more heads of flowers, with two types: ray flowers and disk flowers. These flowers can have male and female parts, or either one or the other. The ray flowers look like petals, but each is an individual flower. The disc flowers are at the center of the head, inside the ring of ray flowers.
There are 52 species of sunflowers, all native to North America and Mexico. The Common Sunflower is 1 to 3 meters tall, with a stiff stem and coarsely hairy leaves. Single heads are borne at the end of branches, with each head generally having 13 to 30 ray flowers and 150 to more than a thousand-disc flowers. Both the ray and disc flowers are yellow, with the disk flowers being 1. 5 to 2. 5 mm wide. The entire head is 4. 5 to 10. 5 centimeters wide, much wider in cultivated forms.
The Common Sunflower is found across the conterminous U. S., likely native to the central and southern portion of the range and Mexico. It is also found as an introduction from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, Northwest Territories, Alaska, and Hawai’i. It is cultivated and has escaped in much of the world.
The Common Sunflower flowers in July to October depending on its location. It attracts numerous bees, beetles, and butterflies, while finches, small mammals, and insects eat the seeds. The plant is annual and reseeds itself in suitable areas.
How big of a grow bag for peppers?
To direct seed and grow bell peppers in outdoor pots, use containers with a 3-gallon volume, 5-10-gallon sized containers for groups, or large self-watering containers with a water reservoir. For hot climates with extreme summer heat and drought, use 3-5-gallon sized porous grow bags. Choose outdoor container potting mixes with humus/humic acid and some mycorrhizae. If seeding into garden beds or raised beds, amend the soil with organic compost and humus or use a complete raised bed mix that contains both. These tips are essential for successful growing bell peppers in hot or dry climates.
What is the best potting mix for sunflowers?
To ensure healthy sunflowers, it’s essential to balance water needs and avoid over/underwatering. An ideal potting mix should include organic matter, perlite, vermiculite, and pH 6. 0-7. 5. Nutrient-rich soil is crucial for growth, ensuring both macronutrients and micronutrients are present. Sunflowers thrive with just enough water, but too much can lead to root rot. It’s crucial to find the right balance, watering when the soil feels dry but not turning the pot into a swamp.
What is the best container for sunflowers?
Sunflowers flourish when cultivated in containers that facilitate optimal drainage and wind resistance. These include whiskey barrels, terracotta containers, and plastic decorative pots. It is essential that the container is sufficiently robust to withstand windblown debris. It should be noted, however, that the browser in use does not support cookies or JavaScript.
How many pepper plants can you grow in a 10 gallon bag?
A video has been prepared which provides detailed guidance on the selection of an appropriate container size for pepper plants. This will be made available via a link in the description.
What size planter for sunflowers?
The size of a sunflower depends on its size, with smaller varieties growing well in planters. Cultivars 2 feet or less should be planted in a 10 to 12 inch diameter planter, while those 4 feet or taller require a larger pot. All sunflowers grown in containers should have drainage holes and be placed in full sun. Well-draining, moisture-retaining soil is essential, and a good quality general purpose potting soil works well. For larger pots, mix the potting medium with vermiculite to reduce weight.
What is the best growing medium for sunflowers?
Sunflowers are known to flourish in soil types that are well-drained, including clay loam, silty clay loam, and sandy loam. They flourish in soil with a pH range of 6. 0 to 6. 8, which is characteristically acidic. It is advised that a soil test be conducted prior to planting. For varieties reaching a height of 2-5 feet, a distance of 6 inches should be maintained between plants, while taller sunflowers should be spaced 1 foot apart and giant sunflowers 2 feet apart.
How to grow Russian giant sunflowers?
To grow sunflowers, sow them in early spring to early summer outdoors, preparing the ground well and raking to a fine tilth. Sow 12mm deep in rows 45cm apart. For giant sunflowers, sow them indoors in late winter/early spring, individually in 7. 5cm pots at a temperature of 15-18C. Grow in good light conditions, harden off, and plant out when frost has passed. They prefer a sunny open site but can grow in most sites and soils. Delivery times for plants, bulbs, corms, tubers, shrubs, trees, and potatoes are stated on the product page or in your order acknowledgement page and email.
How many cm does a sunflower grow?
The sunflower, renowned for its towering, golden stature, exhibits a vast array of morphological variations. Specimens may attain heights of up to three meters, while others reach a mere 50 centimeters. They are ideal for placement in vases on windowsills. In order to ascertain the identity of the individual completing the form, a CAPTCHA is required. Nestlé is currently developing a solution and encourages users to visit their global website at nestle. com for further information. Furthermore, a solution is currently being developed.
📹 How To Use Fabric GROW BAGS For The Container Garden Of Your Dreams
Have you ever wondered how to use fabric grow bags to create the container garden of your dreams? I share 7 container …
If you enjoyed this article, please “Like” and share to help increase its reach! Thanks for perusal 😊TIMESTAMPS here: 0:00 Fabric Grow Bag Benefits 2:41 Tip #1: Sizing Grow Bag 4:58 Tip #2: Locating Grow Bags 8:17 Tip #3: Grow Bag Longevity 9:47 Grow Bag Brand Comparison 11:16 Tip #4: Potting Soil 12:58 Tip #5: Mulching & Irrigation 14:14 Tip #6: Fertilizing Grow Bags 16:54 Tip #7: Refreshing Containers 18:07 Never Plant This In Grow Bags! 22:09 Adventures With Dale
I’m 81 and 4’9″ and find that 7 gallon is the max that I can handle weight-wise. If I had your guns, 20 gallon would be doable. I have 40 bags growing everything on my deck. I made your potting mix and set up everything on timed drip tubing. Our Dallas summer was brutal, but everything held together thanks to your shade cloth article. Love my grow bags!
I’ve had great luck with grow bags in Houston Tx. I learned the hard way to use bigger containers; I won’t use anything smaller than 5 gallon next summer. I would offer two pieces of advice for others who live in a very warm climate: Use tan grow bags, not black, for anything not super heat loving such as sweet potatoes, melons, Malabar spinach, and the like. It makes a HUGE difference. They’re a tiny bit more expensive but not much. In addition to piling mulch thickly on top of the soil, you can also pile it around your grow bags. This will help insulate them. It doesn’t even have to be nice hardwood mulch; things like grass clippings or leaves or green material work just fine.
I loved my fabric pots here in the Pacific NW. Only July-Aug was a challenge since that’s only months we don’t rain almost daily. 😂. Even my Dalhias overwintered believe it or not. Not common in other pots. I loved 2 things. They prevented my heavily surrounded trees and hedges from invading the pots like they will any large tubs you can’t easily move. AND slugs and squirrels tended to avoid them. But my neighbors complained. No soft pots allowed they said. And neither were my colorful 5 gal bucket pepper garden in back yard. We have people that complain about handles on fabric pots AND buckets. I’m not kidding. 😢
We live in the icy cold Southwest Wyoming. We can’t grow in ground, our soil is far too alkaline soil. We grow exclusively in fabric grow bags, and black plastic containers. We had the most amazing harvest of tomatoes, chili peppers, including super hot chilies, onions (using companion planting) multiple herbs and flowers for our pollinators! We had the absolute most bumper crop that we have ever had! We have very limited space. We grew an amazing crop of cucumbers as well! Rock on, brother! Even from the icy north of Wyoming! We also grew 100 lbs of potatoes and 15 lbs of onions!
My elderly mom grew up in the Appalachian mountains of WV in a large family, the youngest of 10 siblings. They had no refrigeration and they grew and canned everything and had a root celler dug into the bank of a hill for potatoes, onions, etc. She said my grandpa had 9 different gardens situated on the hillsides anywhere there was a flat spot you could plant some rows. And she said when he harvested his cabbages he would just dig a hole, line it with straw, and bury them deep in the dirt. Then through the fall and winter he would just go out and dig them up as needed. You just remove the big outer leaves and the inside would be fine. I garden because I absolutely love it, but back then they did it because they had no choice. They HAD to or they would starve. Great website. Thanks.
Two things I do with grows bags to retain nutrient and water. One is placing saucers under the grow bags. The other is adding compost to the grow mix, around 25% to 33% of the total mix. Normally I never use compost in plastic containers, but for grow bags there are lots more drainage and aeration so it is forgiving and less prone to becoming anaerobic. The compost help with retaining the moisture and nutrients.
I’d still be using that torn bag 😂 I just started using grow bags (Epic Gardening’s brand) this year and I love it more than I expected. They are lined on the sides so they don’t dry out so much. One big tip is not to water if you want to move your bag (if it’s a big one) because they get super heavy.
I grow in Herbs in 3 gallon, Peppers in 5 gallon,,tomato in 7 and 10 gallon, Smaller squash and Zucchini in 10 gallon, and Potato, Onion, Carrot, and large Squash in 25 gallon. In total, maybe 120 Fabric Grow Bags for the past 5 years. Typically add 5 to 10 per year. One thing I do when building my soil, is 1/3 Peat, 1/3 Old Soil from my Compost piles, and 1/3 new soil. I typically fertilizer with organic granular once a month (April – Sept) and I use a liquid fertilizer once a week. the use of Compost, Leaf Mulch, Straw, is why I am comfortable with the granular. As well as a refresh each spring when starting the bags, I find myself refresh soil w/ soil/compost from my piles at least once per summer. That adds the biology/organics to help break down the granular.
I love my grow bags… I have over a hundred of them. It started when my daughter told me she was getting married and I got a quote from a florist. I have a substantially large greenhouse and we decided to grow her flowers since it was an outdoor wedding. The grow bags made it very convenient to hull the flowers to the venue (for outdoor use, of course). Then I had 50 5 gallon and 50 10 gallon bags to use for other things and crop after crop (annuals) I just get better results. For that “micronutrient/macrobiotic” punch… try making feted swamp water and adding it once a week. Smells terrible but works miracles. I downloaded the Dynamic Accumulator spreadsheet and try to balance out nutrients in the compost swamp water by adding a few different local plants to the mix every week. It’s been working really really well.
I don’t have room for an in-ground garden in my small backyard, so I use GreenStalk vertical planters and fabric grow bags and put them on my large outdoor patio. I put my grow bags on rolling plant caddies for ease of moving them around. I also put the bags in heavy duty plant saucers so that when I water them, the excess water drains into the saucer, which the bag wicks up from the bottom. The fertilized water isn’t wasted when doing this. I like the Hydrofarm Green Premium Saucers online from Grow Green MI. The water in your area must not be very hard. The water in my area of south Texas is very hard. By the end of the growing season, my bags have a whitish coating on the outside.
We who have been perusal world events knew this was coming, my feelings are ‘I DO NOT COMPLY’ don’t let their scare tactics stop you from doing anything that is good for you. We’re going through the same tyrannical governmental over-reach in Aus. I appreciate you sharing your wealth of knowledge, we need this more than ever right now.
I have several acres of land but I prefer grow bags much of the time due to pests or predators. I have to move my plants on occasion so it helps a lot. I also have a large covered deck and move my garden under it during the high heat of summer instead of using shade cloth. I’ve had better success growing both potatoes and sweet potatoes this way. I have to keep the deer and bunnies out of them so the extra height of the grow bags help tremendously. I’ve even grown popcorn in 10 gallon grow bags. I plan to try lots of new crops in grow bags. We are constructing the main garden still with deer fencing so this works well for my purposes right now.
I’m growing individual dwarf pea plants in one gallon grow bags. So far, so good. To water and fertilize, I’ve been putting the bags in a well filled kiddie pool, with fertilizer, and a little soap to keep the bugs off the surface. I dip when they’re dry. I’ve been doing that with a lot of things in grow bags. Peppers seem to really dig that schedule.
I can’t get over how much useful information you always manage to pack into your articles, amazing! I’m planning on trying some garlic in grow bags so perfect timing, I’m sure the same size for potatoes would work for garlic. I don’t know why but my instincts prevented me from ever planting my fruit trees in grow bags, my reasoning was probably that I doubted it for long term use. I’m glad I watched this and have valid reasons to go by now. Thanks! Aww poor Dale, how did he hurt his paw?
Thanks! I’ve been making your recommended potting mix for some time now. Only I have switched to more often using vermiculite instead of perlite because vermiculite holds water more here in the hot desert. I also sometimes experiment with mushroom compost instead of steer manure. Also I add worm castings. But your article on making soil has been very helpful to me and saved lots of money.
I use a mix of growbags and raised beds. I use mostly ten gallon and thirty gallon growbags. The ten gallon bags are used for pollinators, and determinate tomato plants. The large bags are used for squash, melons, and potatoes. I have three Greenstalk Towers for peppers and strawberries. The rest of my garden is 8 raised beds of various sizes, a feed barrel cut in two, an 8 for long cattle panel trellis, a 10×12 polytunnel greenhouse, and a mound that I use for an inground herb garden.
Love your website, this spring I put in a garden in a very small area, for the first time in 20 plus years. I put in 3- 3’x4’ raised beds and 50 or more grow bags set on a drip system watering twice a day. We live in 9A, this garden produced an abundance of everything I planted and we are still harvesting many vegetables. I did pull out many vegetables to prep for my fall planting, my seedlings will be ready by the end of the month to be planted. We are looking to move so this is the reason behind the raised bed and grow bags, The moral to this garden story is grow bags WORK AMAZINGLY! I started perusal your website and the grow bags were mentioned and I just wanted to say, thank you!
Trace elements in the soil is important for our health. A bag of Azomite takes care of this, adding trace elements in powdered rock form to your soil that optimizes plant growth and ends up organically on your dinner plate. A little goes a long way. Store bought produce, say broccoli, for example, has around 1/8th the original elements in them because they use the same fields, give the three elements for fertilizer, but do not add trace elements. Another way is to grow something like comfrey, a plant that roots go down several feet into the soil that mines these trace elements and concentrates them in the leaves. Grow comfrey in an isolated spot because it spreads, cut the leaves, compost, and then use this to add to your potting soil. Other plants do this as well, alfalfa, some clovers, you can look this up to start your own element mining compost plants. PP The sun heats up dark planters and can cook your root systems, and the water evaporation acts like a swamp air conditioner. Cluster bags still in easy reach so bags will shade each other, and share sides so less moisture is lost, root systems do not over heat. PP I found by accident a certain amount of clay actually helps retain moisture though the right ratio of clay to potting mix has not yet been figured out. I did notice using deep mined clay soil without weed seeds in the planting mix helps them stay more damp, but the roots do not penetrate as deep, so a little experimentation would be needed to get the right ratio of clay to potting soil.
Great info. I just built a new house on top of a solid red clay 5 acres. No way I can put anything in this clay without a ton of work. This coming season will be straw bales and grow bags. Hey there is a article idea for you. Growing in hard clay. I am in the same zone but in GA. We are famous for our red clay.
I live in North central Florida where the summers are brutal. The fabric grow bags are fabulous in that the plants really love the aeration but as you pointed out, the soil dries out really fast. The upside of that is what comes out so readily also goes in as readily. I am currently growing 40 corn plants in 10, 5-gallon fabric bags. I put them in a kiddy pool with an inch or so of water. The corn is doing so very well. Yes, I have to put mosquito dunks and such in the water but I have yet to water the eternally thirsty corn plants com the top and they are not stressed at all. The downside of that is the bags will probably wear out after a couple two, three years but, like you said, they are not unduly expensive. So, putting the pots in something that can hold an inch or two of water, especially in the summer, is a great idea. Yes, definitely a good potting mix. I am using 60% peat moss, 40% compost and a bit of lime to even the pH. The corn plants are so happy.
Great article! I bought so many grow bags from TEMU..very cheap! for under 8.00 I got 4 10 gallon bags. For 8.00 I got 2 20 gallon bags. I even got a 30 gallon bag the size of a kiddie pool for 5.00. They are good quality just about the exact same as ones I bought from Amazon last year. I also bought a kiddie pool 3 years ago from dollar general for 7.00 and its been my herb garden for 3 years now! They work great just poke holes in the bottom! My herb garden took off the very first year..now its all filled in again most came back and in spots that were empty I added more herbs and onions. I did that and saved the grow bags for bigger plants like my peppers, beans tomatoes etc..Love your articles and wealth of gardening information.
As someone who has commercially gardened with cloth pots for 10 years, I can say I got best results when I used pots that are twice the size as their plastic counterparts. That is to say cloth and plastic pots are equal size will not produce the same size plant. ( for me) Root growth laterally does not occur as vigorously due to the aeration in cloth pots. The result was a more expensive soil bill. Great article.
Awesome advice! I had a great summer with cucumbers from grow bags. Watermelon, literally side by side with in-ground : bag = no fruit, in-ground = massive melons. Strangely, the Cantaloupes did great from the bags. But what he said here, the bags will drain of water quickly, so be watering in the hot southeast states.
So informative! You have very concise topics including solutions to problems. There is a lot of bad advice when it comes to gardening floating around out there. For instance, how to amend the soil depending on what you are trying to grow and the type of container you need. It’s like humans taking vitamins, you can either enhance your health or really make yourself sick. We forget that plants are living things and need the proper nutrition. I am 72 years old and can tell you that I have lost more time and money following bad advice. I was raised helping my parents in the family garden. I continued gardening as an adult. I have started planting in containers and raised beds. A new adventure for me. I will be perusal your articles closely for advice on how I can be more deliberate jn my garden so as to not strain so much and have greater success. Looking forward to your next article!!!
You are my go to gardener! This past year was my best after following your advice with the 20-20 -20 fertilizer. I have never watched a article of yours without learning something new. I canned my tomatoes for the first time and I have to say it was because I had so many tomatoes!!! It was fun and exciting to see the fruit grow. Thank you for your guidance and encouragement!
These are great for tubers. I just dump them out in my garden card, sift through them for the harvest, and dump the soil back in. So much easier than forking and digging and breaking tubers. To replenish the soil, I stuff the bottom with the leaves and stems of the potatoes or sweet potatoes, then cover that with the soil, then follow up with legumes planted in them.
I have 8 of those 80L grow bags. Handles rotted off after 3 months but bags seem OK still. Mine are a kind of canvas grow bag. Takes a LOT of soil to fill just one of them. The first 8 hours of sunlight is best for most plants. About storing those bags – hard to find a decent place to store all that soil over the winter. I plan on mixing in about 20% mostly composted leaves in my potting soil. I MAY mix in some Soil Moist crystals just to hold extra water. I plan on setting my grow bag into a LARGE planter so I can just subirrigate by filling the container. No loss of fertilizer due to watering. Purpose was to plant watermelons in it. Going to be hard to duplicate Fox Farms soils…. For my USED potting soil, I cook my soil to 204F to kill bugs, eggs, and pathogens. Can’t afford all new potting soil, just a couple of bags…
Hi and thank you so very much for all your excellent articles! Being a transplant from rural Connecticut, I have learned a ton from you about growing in this much warmer climate zone. I am temporarily living just south of Raleigh in an apartment, and this was my first time ever patio gardening and using grow bags. Everything grew really well, but I was wondering if I do anything now to prepare the soil in the empty grow bags for next year besides removing the plants and roots from each grow bag? And in the spring will I need to add in some new potting soil mix to each grow bag to freshen the soil before planting, or do I just plant and then fertilize ? Thank you again.
Hi there. Can’t tell how much I truly appreciate your informative articles. I love that you give examples of what plants go with what sizes of fabric bags. I do love using these but never know what goes in what. This has helped tremendously. I need some advise on when (times of year) and how often to fertilize container fruit trees (not in grow bags)? I have semi-dwarfs: Apple, Little Cado, Fig, and several citrus. I live on the central coast of California. Thank you. Much appreciated.
about 5 years ago I picked up some of the 12 gallon fabric pots and they worked great until our summer rolled around. I am in Dallas zone 8a and I was unable to keep them properly watered during the heat of the summer. In all I would recommend for people that live where there is rain most of the year.
Another informative and timely article! In my backyard garden (NJ, 7a) I have 2 raised beds and about 20 grow bags. When I moved here, 3years ago, I started using them because I wanted to be able to move them as needed, as my garden plans changed. I moved some to change location. But I also wanted the option to move any diseased plants away from others. I have a question about a few rules as they do or don’t apply: Do the “rotation of crops” and the “no till” rules apply to grow bags? I’m going to (re)watch the articles referenced in this article, as I plan next year’s garden. Thanks, Christine (South Jeresy)
It just amazes me that more emphasis is not given to how much heat is generated by the “BLACK” pots. whether fabric or plastic. I personally paint my large plastic pots an off white and buy my cloth pots in a light tan color. It really helps in the summer sun. Why bake your root system in Black pots ???
Hello! I am new to your website, two days to be exact and been perusal your articles all day. So happy to find your website with the same weather climate.. I am 57 and now becoming interested in gardening. Your website is perfect since we live in the same state. I live in North Carolina as well. In Garner to be exact. You’re around Wilmington. I’m really interested buying your fig cutting and persimmons and more. Anyway I can visit your garden rather shipping? Thank you!
Would you please make a article on how you store your grow bags inside for the winter? I have hardwood floors and am worried about leaks over the winter. By the way, the weather in Tulsa will hit freezing Monday morning. I’m covering my outdoor planters with plastic over the weekend to see how far along I can keep my 110 gallon planters and 5 gallon plastic buckets growing. The tomato plants we going to die, but so be it. I’m curious to see how the beets, carrots, garlic and onions do in these planters through the winter. I pulled down the cucumbers and cantaloupe vines down today in the 50s with light rain.
This was a wonderful article! Although I am surprised to hear you adamantly against the grow bags with perennials and trees. It was my understanding that grow bags allow plants to air-prune and create much stronger root systems. I wonder if it would be less traumatic to a perennial grow bag plant if one were to cut the bag open when up-potting, or maybe used a knife along the interior edges before trying to remove it from the bag.
I live in Baltimore suburbs and have a ant problem. They are the small brown ones. I an not sure if they are called sugar ants or what lol. I have put ant granuals around the foundation to try to kill them but found them carrying the granuals into my grow bags! Really?!!! The nerve of these pests! I am wondering if they will eat the leaves on my broccoli, beans, tomatoes etc. Shall I leave these pests alone not worth my time? Love your articles btw! God Bless you and your growing!❤
Figs are easy to grow in high quality (thicker) growbags. Uppotting is no problem either – just use a long knife and slide along the edge in a circle, then pull down the growbag and do the same at the bottom where roots may have grown into the fabric. Never had thick roots coming through the fabric and the RdB fig tree is about 6 years old in a 10 gallon growbag uppotted once from 5 to 10 gallons.
We had a complete yard reno on our Very tiny yard. I bought 3 micro-dwarfed apple trees for my husband and we had to use 20 gallon grow bags until the yard was ready. Unfortunately, due to delays, we cannot plant them until spring. We’re in Maine zone 5b. Any suggestions on how to overwinter without a garage or basement? Transplanting in the spring? Hopefully, I haven’t already doomed them. 😢
What do you do to mix your dirt? I am having to amend the bulk of the red dirt that my home is on, as it’s a relatively new construction. I live at the top of a hill, so I have to dig out and level. I end up with a lot of rocky soil. I am building another in ground raised bed, so I end up with tons of terrible topsoil that is red and rocky. Last year when I made my first one, I spread all of the dirt on a tarp and mixed everything (new soil, compost, mulch, fert, old soil) with a shovel. It was exhausting and felt incredibly inefficient. Thank you!
If you enjoyed this article, please “Like” and share to help increase its reach! Thanks for perusal TIMESTAMPS here: 0:00 Fabric Grow Bag Benefits 2:41 Tip #1: Sizing Grow Bag 4:58 Tip #2: Locating Grow Bags 8:17 Tip #3: Grow Bag Longevity 9:47 Grow Bag Brand Comparison 11:16 Tip #4: Potting Soil 12:58 Tip #5: Mulching & Irrigation 14:14 Tip #6: Fertilizing Grow Bags 16:54 Tip #7: Refreshing Containers 18:07 Never Plant This In Grow Bags! 22:09 Adventures With Dale
YOU are so right!! I have both cloth (10 lbs) grow bags and a couple of plastic tubs BOTH require adding nutrients and constant watering to get decent harvests. The tubs I planted peppers and cherry tomatoes, they did great for me. But the grow bags dried out much quicker and didn’t produce as much. I planted more tomatoes, peas, and yellow beans all seem to be doing much better in the cooler weather. I keep perusal for a potential frost to pick all the tomatoes and cover the peas and beans. GREAT ADVICE!!!
Thank you so much for the timely info regarding fruit trees! I bought my grow bags as “air pruning pots,” not as a cheap alternative to a plastic pot. As a beginner, I thought I was doing the right thing by my trees. I guess now I will need to rethink! Our sun is harsh nearly all year round and we have a drought predicted, so I will need to look at something that doesn’t dry out the soil so fast.
I’ve decided on container growing just this January and I find your information super helpful. I’ll also be taking your note on mixing my own potting mix. I plan to place these grow bags on my deck. Do you have any non-expensive recommendations on what to place the 20gal grow bags on so it doesn’t rot the deck wood?
I like and ‘like’ all your vids, but thought you would talk about adding mycorrhizal spores, rock dust, earthworms, biochar, maybe even leaf mould to your containers’ potting soil. Also, is there some place you talk about drip trays to capture and recycle nutrient-rich water that drains through containerized plants? I like to use them, but it may be possible to overdo it. @TheMillennialGardener
One thing I don’t understand is people saying how grow bags are super easy to move. They are, but so is a plastic bucket (ok no handles but come on). I like them for the cheap cost, but in hot summers they dry fast too (which is also why I don’t add stones or gravel in the bottom), and sometimes roots or other plants can just grow trough them.
Confused here. I used your ratio for soil to grow bags and I have way more than I should that I cant fit and now Im confused about my ratio. Did I put too much compost in each now. Mercy. Here was my takeaway formula from your article. #crying 3 – 20 gallon grow bags •\t2.2 cu feet peat moss (holds moisture & the nutrition added) •\t2 cu feet top soil •\t2 cu feet compost (cow manure) •\t100 lb play sand (promotes drainage) •\t5 gal bucket of perlite (drainage & aeration) •\tMulch for the top (shredded pine wood)
I respectfully disagree with the use of non organic fertiliser, I add worms from the garden when I see them to the grow bags and if you move then there’s usually a few under the bag, adding mushroom compost organic fertiliser and worms from the garden I have amazing bio in my grow bags, there is never a reason to use non organic fertiliser in your garden in my experience. I have amazing yields
I recommend perusal Robbie and Gary.. Robbie container gardens and she is able to feed her containers organically… maybe take into consideration that organic fertilizing on the cheap is doable before telling every one it’s not…. And you can have worms and a network of things working for you in your containers… again I strongly suggest learning more about container gardening from Robbie, she has a lot of info tips and tricks! But please don’t tell viewers you can’t get all the great things when you really can! Please continue to learn about container gardening from someone who’s done it for years longer then you. She’s full of good information!
Jacks is great but i dont think you need so much phosphorus i would try switching to jacks 20-10-20 and see if that works for you, its been found that too much phosphorus is really bad for our underground environment and doesn’t have as much of a benefit as we used to think outside of seed production. Unless you are not allowing the water to drain into the ground, then you are good! take a look at Dr. Bruce Bugbee’s research its fascinating
You know a pesky problem I’ve been having since forever? And I know I’m not alone. I never see any gardening websites talk about it. LEAKS! Simple garden hose leaks. Over tightening, under tightening, should you double up the gaskets? When to use teflon tape, when you don’t need to? Quick connects, are they worth it, what are the best ones, etc. No gardener can be successful without first mastering these basics.
I’m really interested that you mix organic and inorganic fertilisers as this is a subject never even hinted at usually. Most of us want to do the no dig organic grow method, anything to help the soil, but personally I find that I never have enough top quality fertiliser which matches the strength etc of fertilisers out of a box And many of us have old containers of say miracle grow or the like which we would like to use up, and don’t know how much mixing can be done without harmnful effects to natural soil organisms.. If you could elaorate on this sometime it would be so useful. We don’t know the science behind any mixing or what damage we may or may not be doing to soil which we are trying to improve. It is a dilemma.
Not a fan of these fabric bags for trees and plants that will see repotting. The plant roots grow into and stick to the fabric, and when you go to repot the roots are difficult to get off the fabric walls without a lot of root damage. Also, fabric bags dry the soil out way fast and use way more water than plastic containers. The best way to container garden is just use 5 gal buckets with a few drainage holes drilled about 1.5″ above the bottom to make a shallow water reservoir in the bottom. Same goes for using plastic 55 gal barrels cut in half to make true 25 gallon containers. For larger plants and trees a half barrel can be used to make a custom container with removable sides by simply cutting the bottom 1.5 to 2″ off to make a shallow water tray, and then cut what’s left of the barrel vertically so that the remaining tube section can be closed in slightly to fit down inside of the water tray section. Then just wrap a couple straps around the upper tube section to stop it from opening up when filled with soil. Congratulations, you just made a large container for fruit trees and other large plants that the straps can be removed, and the tube section also removed so that you can have the entire dirt rootball exposed to manually prune the roots every so often and then just reinstall the tube and straps afterward.