Help, my tomato EB is drying out!!!!

17 years ago

Please help if you can. My tomato EB is dry. I water through the reservoir every day (most days twice a day).

I even tried to rehydrate the box but threading the soaker hose under the shower cap (just the sides of the mound not the top).

It seemed to rehydrate the mix. But now, anytime that I try to squeeze a handful of the potting mix, it is just dirt, It does not drip a little bit of water or even stick together in a clump.

At first I was plagued with slow growth because the box was not level. I leveled it off then got good growth. Now it is slow growth and about 10 tomatoes total had to be removed because of BER.

In the box, I have a Cherokee purple and a Beefsteak tomato.

Please help if you can.

choxie

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Comments (4)

justaguy2
17 years ago
What is the potting mix?

Did you compact this mix inside the wicking chambers?

Worst case scenario you end up having to remove the cover and you top water, but please provide the requested info so we can try to narrow things down a bit.
rnewste
17 years ago
choxie,

Running water down the sides of the EarthBox won't help. That just drains down the sides and onto the water reservoir. I would carefully raise up the moisture barrier, and try to slowly soak the potting mix directly at the plant's stem(s), so you saturate that area with water. Be careful to not wet the fertilizer strip.

It will take a few days of slow soaking (at least it does on my EarthBoxes) to re-moisturize the entire system. The key is slow soaking!!!

Raybo
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choxie
Original Author
17 years ago
Thank you both for jumping in here to help me out. I know that it is hard to help especially without pictures. I was taking weekly update pictures, but there was an accident that involved a 7 year old and a cat. Needless to say that in order to take a picture, it involves a clamp-like grip and some duct tape.

justaguy,
I am using MG potting mix (not the moisture control). This is second year mix. I did pack the wicking chambers very well. I put all my weight on it, and believe me that is a lot of pressure. I tried to go in and repack the soil in those corners and added some more potting mix. It was Sta-Green brand. (I do not like it like MG).

raybo,
I am not understanding how I would raise up the water barrier. Is this where I plug the overflow holes and let the soil soak up all the water from the reservior?
Or am I to just stand there with the hose on a light setting and mist or shower the soil where the plant stems are.

My sister told me to poke deep holes in the mix and pour water into them, kind of like you saturate a rum cake.

Um, rum cake.

Okay I digress.
rnewste
17 years ago
choxie,

I am suggesting you raise the moisture barrier (shower cap) about 6 inches, then directly soak the potting mix at the base of the plants. If you do this in repeated sessions, the entire system will then "re-wick" so moisture will again flow upward from the two wicking chambers, throughout the EarthBox.

Raybo