Comments on: Tomato Bucket Vermi Experiment

By: Bentley

Bentley — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:46:07 +0000

Hi Jeff,
I hope to post an update this week. It’s been interesting thus far. I am starting to think that in general, when attempting these hybrid system (composting plus plant growing) it works best when a really large system is employed – especially with plants like tomatoes and their crazy network of roots.
I am also doing some hanging tomato gardens myself, and it will be interesting to see if these can work.

By: Jeff Kurtz

Jeff Kurtz — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 00:46:58 +0000

I, too, am looking forward to the progress you see. I have one upside-down tomato bucket going (out of five that I started with) and one tomato in a bottle.

The upside down buckets seem to have suffered from wet-feet, except one that I only filled half way with my vermipost potting soil mix.

The bottle plant (in a 5 gallon watercooler bottle with an access hole in the shoulder) is soing nicely, but none of these comes close to the plants in the lasagna gardens. I just don’t think that trying to reproduce mother nature can match mother nature.

Jeff

By: Barb V.

Barb V. — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 18:35:04 +0000

The sight of those tomatoes planted in that black soil got me itching to do likewise. I just transplanted leaf lettuce seedlings into very wormy verm-post. They will get light, but no sun on my patio. And my salads will be rich in nutrients. Mmmmm!

By: Bentley

Bentley — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:21:43 +0000

LARRY – I know what you mean! I found another one of these buckets (with a big crack in the bottom, no less) down in the basement and my heart skipped a beat.
So far I am really sold on this approach in general – so cool when you can just pick up the plant and move it wherever you want.
Also seems to be great for the tomato plants – the first ones I set up are huge now! Only issue seems to be water usage on hot dry days (doesn’t take long for the big plants to suck the bucket dry).
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TRAVIS – I think “Black Earth” in this case is mostly just a marketing term to make potting soil sound high quality. It can also refer to a type of soil, rich in organic matter that is excavated from certain locations (such as boggy/swampy areas)
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JILLIAN – That is definitely one of the dilemmas of worm composting. Next to impossible to remove all the cocoons and baby worms from vermicompost before using it. Given the fact that I have so much good composting worm habitat out in my yard now, this isn’t something I worry about anymore though.
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PAUL – Good to hear from you. I’ve been wondering how your lasagna beds have been doing. Glad everything seems to be going well thus far.

By: Paul from Winnipeg

Paul from Winnipeg — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 04:19:24 +0000

Can’t wait to see the results Bentley! My Tomatoes are doing very well in the Lasagna bed I added the worms to, and not as well in the one I didn’t. I have other differences between those beds, so I can’t completely credit the worms. It’s pretty convincing to me though.

By: Jillian

Jillian — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 06:08:37 +0000

I’m interested to see how this turns out. I sort the worms out of our castings before using in our container garden. We must miss some of the cocoons, because I always find worms in the containers.

By: Travis

Travis — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 23:22:49 +0000

What is this “black earth” composed of? Thanks!

By: LARRY D.

LARRY D. — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 22:42:52 +0000

Bentley,you are now what we officially call a bucket farmer.You will never look at a bucket of cat litter or other bucket without figuring out if parsley or carrots will fit nicely into them.
Next thing you know,you’ll be walking out on your deck to pick cucumbers.
Hey,think of it.Buckets also have a “Bucket List” they want to do before they go!