Veggie Earthbox for possible Sally growing?

[bohmars]

My parents use this really nifty box called an Earthbox, and their website is: http://www.earthbox.com/index.html
The more I look at this, the better it looks for a couple of Salvia plants, despite the fact that it is marketed for veggies.

We have two right now that are growing tomatoes and they work really well, as the pictures attest to:


The plants are huge, they grow quickly and strong, and there are just oodles of tomatoes on the plants.
If these things work this well for Salvia, we could be in business- I just don't know if I want to drop $50 on one.

What do ya'll think?

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thanks for the image help, JARG!

[JustAnotherRegularGuy]

First you have to upload your picture to the gallery. Then view your picture in the gallery. Right click on the picture and "copy the image location". In your post click on the "Insert Image button. It will make a tag similar to this [ img ][ /img ]. Then just paste the image location in the tag. so it looks similar to this: [ img ]http://www.salviasource.org/images/gallery/2020.jpg[ /img ] (Note I had to put extra spaces in the img tags so they would show up in this post). And that's how you post pictures.

JARG

[GWYNGELLI]

I think it is an excellent idea. I have used earth boxes for veggies and I know how good they are. I am growing a salvia plant in a pot instead only because I know I will have to bring my plant inside when cold weather returns. I am limited on indoor space so an earth box would not be practical for me to bring indoors. Otherwise you could not go wrong with an earth box. The soil would always retain the perfect amount of moisture with no chance of overwatering, the box is plenty big enough for root growth, and the fertilizer you add is readily available for the plant. It would be foolproof.
I do not know if you plan to grow outdoors or indoors, but if you have the space for an earthbox I say go for it.

[nick97]

Nice idea. I've bookmarked it. I may order one in the future.




-Nick

[Madmax]

It's just a self watering planter, albeit a pretty fair sized one. The raspberrieries in mine grew like weeds, but lately they look like they've caught a wilt of some sort. You can get a perfectly serviceable 5 gallon self waterer at any Wal-Mart for around $10, plenty for a single plant and still light enough to cart into the house for the winter.

[bohmars]

cool deal, I'll look into the walmart version instead. Thanks for the heads up!

[GWYNGELLI]

One more thing to point out about the earth box. Not only is it self watering, but it's design allows plenty of oxygen to the root system. I have not seen the Wal-Mart version so I don't know, but if it does not do the same then you could be inviting a case of root rot. You say your parents are using them. I would suggest you take a close look at the design and the instructions to see if there is truly a match at Wal-Mart. The earth box draws water from only 2 corners of the planter, the rest is a water/oxygen reservoir as the soil is devided from that reservoir with a screen.
I know I don't hold the rank of cultivater here as I have not sought for it. But I am 38 years old and have grew a few things. I had a wonderfull corn harvest from the earth boxes a couple of years ago. The only complaint I have about that is that it became top heavy and had to have supports to keep storms from blowing them over.
Don't know what went wrong with the raspberries, but my corn was great and I did it 2 years in a row. Just trying to help. Maybe it is the same at Wal-Mart, But really compare carefully.

[Madmax]

The planters I referenced are round planters that draw water from four points via soil capillary action, which is exactly what the Earthbox™ does on larger scale from only two points. They're one and the same, but the Earthbox™costs substantially more and utilizes more soil per plant. The advantage of the ones I use is a substantial weight savings since the plant is growing in no greater soil volume than it needs, the Earthbox™ carries a weight penalty due to it's greater volume(75# vs 35# per plant). A mature salvia can be contained in a planter of 3-5 gallons size, an Earthbox™ is nearly twice that with commeasureate weight. Granted an Earthbox™ can contain two plants, but who wants to wheel that indoors at season's end? The Earthbox's only other advantage is top dressed fertilizer and a weed blocking cover, which can be done with any planter.