EarthBox Fertilizer Comparisons 2020

[MsCowpea]

This is an all organic box of Mountain Magic . It has 2 MM- I prefer 1 tomato per box as I do minimal pruning but thought I would try 2.
Already picked many tomatoes.

It was supplemented with BIg Bloom later on in the season. Should have begun it much sooner. ( Will now supplement with a liquid with organic ingredients but it is not organic (it has chelated minors) plus Meta K just to see how long it will produce before disease wipes it out totally.)

Did very well but I can see the tomatoes get a little smaller towards the end of the season in an all organic box and production goes down somewhat but still good. Brix was close to 8, flavor very good -equal to the other MM box in previous post.
Still need to find the optimal organic supplement and begin it perhaps a month (or so) after planting.

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[Ginger2778]

This Mountain Magic hybrid is still doing considerably well while others have already been removed. Extremely productive -I have already picked off many tomatoes. MM is one of my favorite tomatoes to grow.
It is a half organic (Tomato Tone 1 1/2 cups) and half synthetic (1 cup ) in the strip which may explain why it is still hanging in there. It was supplemented as well, mainly Texas Tomato Food (until I ran out) then this and that.

I really really like the flavor of MM . Sweet. The brix on this one was not quite 8. ( same as the organic MM). The flavor was equal to the all organic box. It was different but equal. The skin is firm but not too bad. I love the golf ball size. This got knocked over by wind recently so I did lose a few tomatoes. Johnny’s seeds says “High resistance to Fusarium wilt races 1, 2, and 3, late blight, and Verticillium wilt; and intermediate resistance to early blight. ”. Any degree of early blight resistance is important to me. I have grown MM ever since it came out.

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I'm not that big on hybrids but I might have to try this one, your description makes it sound wonderful. Sure is cranking out the fruit.

[Bronx]

I grew Mountain Magic a few years ago because it's supposed to be similar to Campari, which I like. As I recall they were vigorous and had a good taste.

This year I'm growing Campari F2 from seeds I saved in 2014. Started 3 seeds and 2 of them germinated; we'll see how close to the real thing these grow into.

MsCowpea, What variety banana is growing behind your tomatoes? Do you get good fruit from it? I had a banana tree at my old house for years but it never flowered. Others in my neighborhood had banana trees and I've seen flowers on them, so I don't know what I was doing wrong.

[MsCowpea]

I like Campari too. Hope your seeds come close. I tried a tomato that was described as a Campari-type cluster but it wasn’t as good.

Sorry, I don’t remember that banana variety—I think it was Goldfinger but I am just not sure. Took a workshop and bought some of the varieties recommended by instructor. We have several different varieties—all of them
produce bananas with little care from us. One thing I learned in the class is that there are 2 different types of banana suckers— sword and water (big round leaf) . You want the sword sucker. It is superior. One problem we have is them keeling over from weight of stalk—luckily people love green bananas and always want them. Sometimes we try and brace them but ripening bananas are very popular with wildlife.

[pepperhead212]

I just got some organic fertilizer from Ollie's - a tomato/vegetable 5-4-6 fertilizer, that I got 4 lb bags for $3.49 each, so I got several, even though I hadn't seen it, or any references to it. Anybody use it yet?
Ecoscraps Fertilizer
I am planning on using it in an EB set up with all new Promix, and 3 c of this mixed in, plus the dolomite and some worm castings, and growing the same two varieties of cherry tomatoes in one right next to it, with the only thing different being the non-organic 10-10-10 granular fertilizer in that fertilizer sock, which I use in almost all of my SIPs. So the only thing different will be the fertilizer - any "snacking" with misc. fertilizers through the feed-tube will be the same for both. I'll post my results.

[Bronx]

Finished prepping 7 of my 8 Earthboxes this past weekend (over-Winter snow peas are still growing in #8). Prepped 4 boxes 2 weeks ago and 3 this past Saturday. I dumped all the mix from the boxes, washed them out with a bleach solution and started over. Had a few tomato plants die earlier than expected last year so I wanted to eliminate the growing medium from the possibilities.

Found Pennington synthetic all purpose 10-10-10 at my local Lowes so that's what I'm using for fertilizer this year.

Tomatoes that I put in the boxes 2 weeks ago look pretty good, and so far one of the Campari plants has 3 baby tomatoes on it. Can't wait to see them fully grown and blushing.

I don't know how those of you with a lot of Earthboxes do it; after prepping just 3 boxes my back was killing me all day Sunday. And the weirdest part is Saturday night both my hands and fingers cramped up, which was very uncomfortable. I wanted eat some peanuts in the shell while watching a movie Saturday night, but because of the cramps I had to stop after just a few. Good for my waistline, though.

This weekend I'll be putting 6 sweet potato slips in one of the boxes, and 16 corn seeds in another. Then all that's left to do is wait for the pea plants to finish up, prep that box and plant some Fortex beans.

[peebee]

[mention]pepperhead212[/mention] I've been using the Ecoscraps fert for a few years now. Last year Lowe's had them at half off, same as what you paid cuz they are around $7 full price. It was going to be discontinued there so I bought 8 bags of the 5-5-5 & the ones you got. They worked great for me.
Target carries them so I got them online during their sale. I think I paid about $6 ea.

[pepperhead212]

@peebee That's good to hear, and now I'm glad I went back to Ollie's yesterday, and bought all of the bags they had left! I think I got 9. Of course, there may be more, but sometimes, what's there initially is all there is. I looked to see if anything else by Ecoscraps was there, but it was just that.

[coachmccree]

anyone try trifecta , or drjimz tomato secret

[Ginger2778]

I just got some organic fertilizer from Ollie's - a tomato/vegetable 5-4-6 fertilizer, that I got 4 lb bags for $3.49 each, so I got several, even though I hadn't seen it, or any references to it. Anybody use it yet?
Ecoscraps Fertilizer
I am planning on using it in an EB set up with all new Promix, and 3 c of this mixed in, plus the dolomite and some worm castings, and growing the same two varieties of cherry tomatoes in one right next to it, with the only thing different being the non-organic 10-10-10 granular fertilizer in that fertilizer sock, which I use in almost all of my SIPs. So the only thing different will be the fertilizer - any "snacking" with misc. fertilizers through the feed-tube will be the same for both. I'll post my results.

I haven't used esoscraps, but I just wanted to say that its very obvious, you clearly know what you are doing.

[MsCowpea]

Pepperhead,

Good luck with your experiment. I look forward to your results. Interesting to see if you see any taste differences. My tasting buddies and I definitely could tell the difference with the organic vs all synthetic fertilizer when comparing the same Juliet tomato. Of course, the worm castings may improve the flavor of even your synthetic box . That would be interesting to find out as I just bought some worms to get my own castings as I wasn’t sure about the expensive castings I was buying.
Your organic fertilizer certainly was a good deal. I am not familiar with it but I like the higher potassium. I will look for it before it disappears. All the organic fertilizers I tried did well (until diseases overtook them) though I still need to figure out a supplement for a protracted growing season. I still like Nature Safe as I can get it in 50 pound bags so that makes it much cheaper. Urban Farms BioActive did very well (until diseases struck) but that is expensive though I did buy a few more bags to continue experimenting. (Added) Always been a Tomato Tone fan as well. I also want to get a better handle on our common diseases that took down the plants so quickly.

Have you decided what you are going to supplement with?


In March, when Barb asked Raybo what fertilizer regime he was using currently he nicely obliged with an update so I thought I would ask Garden Doc about his experiment with EarthBoxes using Miracle Gro fertilizer. I posted to the Earthbox Forum and directed my question to Garden Doc. I just said that I saw on another forum ( which I didn’t name) that he said after a visit to the Earthbox Research Center he was going to experiment with Miracle Gro fertilizer alternating with calcium nitrate and I was wondering if he preferred that or his original ’snack’. Plus was he using a fertilizer strip as well or just the supplements? That was a question Barb asked and I wasn’t sure of the answer when I reread his original post. I also thanked him for all the experiments he did. When I checked back I was banned from the forum. Go figure. I went to the site where Garden Doc made the post and bumped it up hoping he would see it and know what I was asking about.

Finally got a chance to look at the mix I used on all of my boxes. So far I have checked just 3 boxes. Wanted to see if the box where I mixed in some organic fertilizer in the box itself was more broken down than when the strip was totally on top and compare to the totally synthetic box as well.
They all still had good texture and nothing was broken down into complete mud as was my experience using Miracle Gro potting mix in another experiment. It was hard to tell if there were any subtle differences without doing some potting mix tests. The mix I used had a large component of pine bark and that made a difference as it was very much intact and not as easily broken down. I know mixing in the organic fertilizer works well as that is what EB said to do for years but if you keep some or all of the organic fertilizer on top at least you can remove it should you want to.

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Tomato lover that flitted out of that Earthbox. Pretty tiny bird that flashes orange wings when it flies.

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Bronx, I feel your pain. Gardening can be backbreaking especially when completely revamping boxes like you did.

[Ginger2778]

Finished prepping 7 of my 8 Earthboxes this past weekend (over-Winter snow peas are still growing in #8). Prepped 4 boxes 2 weeks ago and 3 this past Saturday. I dumped all the mix from the boxes, washed them out with a bleach solution and started over. Had a few tomato plants die earlier than expected last year so I wanted to eliminate the growing medium from the possibilities.

Found Pennington synthetic all purpose 10-10-10 at my local Lowes so that's what I'm using for fertilizer this year.

Tomatoes that I put in the boxes 2 weeks ago look pretty good, and so far one of the Campari plants has 3 baby tomatoes on it. Can't wait to see them fully grown and blushing.

I don't know how those of you with a lot of Earthboxes do it; after prepping just 3 boxes my back was killing me all day Sunday. And the weirdest part is Saturday night both my hands and fingers cramped up, which was very uncomfortable. I wanted eat some peanuts in the shell while watching a movie Saturday night, but because of the cramps I had to stop after just a few. Good for my waistline, though.

This weekend I'll be putting 6 sweet potato slips in one of the boxes, and 16 corn seeds in another. Then all that's left to do is wait for the pea plants to finish up, prep that box and plant some Fortex beans.

Bronx, I got the garden stand from Earthbox. And I have a table on my patio. I put one EB into the stand, and 2 more on the table, then I can comfortably replenish those 3 boxes without bending. I have 48 of them, so I do 3 per day over the course of 16 days. Luckily, I have DH to do the carting and lifting I just do the prep. I start on the day I sow my seeds, (early September) so I know I have 6 weeks to get it done. Right now 2 Earthboxes have cucumber plants, and 3 have 3 varieties of beans, these all where tomatoes have been cut down, no additional prep.
In June I will have clear plastic surrounding and sealing off my Earthboxes that all have their mulch covers removed, solarizing, that gets it to 132F, effectively killing off everything.

Elaine, pretty crappy that they banned you. Makes me upset.

[pepperhead212]

Pepperhead,

Good luck with your experiment. I look forward to your results. Interesting to see if you see any taste differences. My tasting buddies and I definitely could tell the difference with the organic vs all synthetic fertilizer when comparing the same Juliet tomato. Of course, the worm castings may improve the flavor of even your synthetic box . That would be interesting to find out as I just bought some worms to get my own castings as I wasn’t sure about the expensive castings I was buying.
Your organic fertilizer certainly was a good deal. I am not familiar with it but I like the higher potassium. I will look for it before it disappears. All the organic fertilizers I tried did well (until diseases overtook them) though I still need to figure out a supplement for a protracted growing season. I still like Nature Safe as I can get it in 50 pound bags so that makes it much cheaper. Urban Farms BioActive did very well (until diseases struck) but that is expensive though I did buy a few more bags to continue experimenting. I also want to get a better handle on our common diseases that took down the plants so quickly.

Have you decided what you are going to supplement with?

I'll be supplementing them with calcium nitrate, and less of epsom salt. I'll go out today and put a tsp of calcium nitrate and a half tsp of epsom salt in each (about a third of this in the bucket SIPs, just eyeballing it), but I'll probably wait a few weeks until adding again, since the plants are small, and don't need much yet. Today, I'll also add some of the micronutrients, from the hydroponics - Karma, and a powdered substance, with silica, and other nutrients. These are just something I add to get them started, and the Karma again when tomatoes begin showing. And I'll wait and see how that organic fertilizer does for the growth and blooms, to see if I have to supplement it. I have an organic soluble "bloom" fertilizer that I got from that hydroponics place that went out of business a few years ago, but I have hardly used it; only a few times after a severe heat wave caused blossom drop, though most tomato varieties don't need a push, once the temp drops!

[MsCowpea]

. Elaine, pretty crappy that they banned you. Makes me upset.

I did feel like Ronald McDonald after being told never to go to McDonalds again. (That didn’t happen to Ronald, just a joke.)
My oldest boxes are over 20 years old. Always been an advocate and promoter even though I have regular containers as well. Look at all my threads here on TJ. Loved experimenting with them. I made frequent pilgrimages to Earthbox Research Center in Ellenton, Fl over the years just to see all the gorgeous vegetables in the EBs. I loved that place (still do) and the inventor and others working there were always so helpful. I think it is a separate entity from the corporate company. Many, many years ago I used to post very infrequently on EB forum with no problems. Anyhoo, it is what it is.

[Ginger2778]

. Elaine, pretty crappy that they banned you. Makes me upset.

I did feel like Ronald McDonald after being told never to go to McDonalds again. (That didn’t happen to Ronald, just a joke.)
My oldest boxes are over 20 years old. Always been an advocate and promoter even though I have regular containers as well. Look at all my threads here on TJ. Loved experimenting with them. I made frequent pilgrimages to Earthbox Research Center in Ellenton, Fl over the years just to see all the gorgeous vegetables in the EBs. I loved that place (still do) and the inventor and others working there were always so helpful. I think it is a separate entity from the corporate company. Many, many years ago I used to post very infrequently on EB forum with no problems. Anyhoo, it is what it is.

They are complete idiots. Your knowledge is far and above most and I have been to a lecture you did, and saw you give them a free plug. If only they knew. A$$hats!

[MsCowpea]

Thanks Marsha. I appreciate the support. I hauled a truckload of props (regular containers, books. samples of mixes and components. fertilizer, disease/pest products. plants, etc.etc) and always included an Earthbox. I promoted all their advantages and their foolproof setup. Told them you could reuse the mix and how to do that.

Despite inexplicable reaction to asking about a 3 year old fertilizer experiment involving alternating Miracle Gro with calcium nitrate (that may or may not have even been completed) I still love my EarthBoxes-they are a great invention. From the beginning, loved that you set it up with fertilizer and didn’t have to do anything else for the whole season other than water. Supplementation puts a bit of a kink in that simple concept but doable IF the results warrant it.

[MsCowpea]

Pepperhead, I also waited to start an organic supplement
while the synthetic was started immediately. Next time on some boxes I will introduce some type of organic supplement at the same time just to make it more comparable. I have several new ones to try. Plus I was pretty happy with the results of using just the organic strip considering my taste preferences and the yield I got but an effective supplemental boost would be great if it meant a greater yield and a longer season.

[MsCowpea]

Well, now is the time to straighten up the EarthBoxes used in experiments.

Re-using the mix: The man himself (Blake Whisenant-Earthbox inventor) said he liked to solarize the boxes in the summer (he resided in Florida-summer is the off season) with clear plastic. (I guess Northern folks have their freezing temperatures as a benefit???). (Barb did a great experiment verifying that clear plastic got hotter than black .)

Learned this from TV poster Marge who heard Mr. Whisenant speak at the Research Center in 08. He said don’t worry about roots—they will rot and add organic matter. Also told her group that he had boxes with soil 12 years old.
I know one time when talking to him he told me to reuse my soil as he had boxes 7 years old that were used twice in one year . So that would be 14 times.

I saw they used a standard peat based mix and that is what EB
recommends. I never got into reusing the EB mix because I amended it and used it in regular containers that I needed to fill every year.
But this time I am going to reuse most of them. I will also compare new mix with old for fun. Won’t add any new mix until the fall
but I can do the clear plastic cover.

Re: one or two plants in the box? Used to prune but years ago I found I just did not like skimpy leaf coverage. Too much sun scald and orangey red tomatoes. Plus leaves help with sugar production. I have toured commercial greenhouses , I know the yields with heavy pruning but sun does a number on the fruit so I prune for disease control (bottom leaves and air flow) only. Since I can be lax about the pruning I still prefer one plant in an EB though I can see 2 when going for maximum tomato varieties.

[peebee]

Elaine, I use my EBs twice a year but when can I polarize as Mr. W. suggests? I live on the opposite coast, in CA. We can garden year round here so my summer crops are in from late Mar to whenever they die, around Oct. Then my cool season crops go in till my summer seedlings are ready. Maybe the solution for me is to not use all the boxes for cool season veggies so I can polarize then? I do have raised beds for growing the greens etc.
My next question is, when do people in FL grow their cool season crops if you have such a season when you can? I'm trying to figure out when Mr. W. used his twice.

[MsCowpea]

Hi Peebee, So many people use earthboxes (and reuse mix) successfully all over the country I am thinking that you could skip solarization
as this recommendation is something that you do if you can but (maybe???) not absolutely essential unless you had a soil borne disease in your earthbox.
Most people are gardening through the summer into the fall and don’t have a time they could devote to solarization. (Added-But I have never
reused the mix so I am not familiar with the ends and outs in different areas of the country. )

But I hope people who reuse their mix and live in parts of the country where they garden though the summer and they don’t solarize their EBs chime in.
Hopefully they will tell you they reuse multiple times with no problems. And that removing top bit of mix and new cover is enough.
(Though I did read somewhere that someone had to start over with new potting mix all the time because of spider mites? )

Plus wonder if Mr Whisenant was speaking in terms of ‘ideally’ you should do this but not possible (or necessary??) in all areas. I did not hear that particular mini lecture just relaying what he told a group according to a TV poster who was there.
Even at the Research Center I don’t know if they cover all of them over the summer with clear plastic. Maybe they do but I don’t know. They also used to have a farm with 100s of them.

But any serious soil disease like fusarium would require action. (Ie new mix or some method of solarization)

Re: planting schedule
I think where he was they would plant in the fall and then replant in the spring. Maybe some crops could go all the way through the winter but that would depend how cold it was in Dec and Jan. Summer would be the off season.
Here in South Florida we plant in the fall and try and keep it going as long as we can before really hot temperatures start or diseases have wiped us out. We have several months to solarize properly.

You are in a place with such perfect weather . Doesn’t seem right to let your boxes sit idle so maybe try reusing until there is an obvious
problem that is soil related.

http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74145.html

Solarize in double plastic bag in one hour! Wow!
https://www.fresnobee.com/living/home-g ... 95652.html