how would they make toms ripen sooner ?look thru container gardening

Many use Earthboxes for growing tomatoes and have for years. If you search 'Earthbox' here you'll find many discussions about using them.

But no, there is no claim that they produce ripe tomatoes earlier.

Dave

I use earth boxes they are great for mid size and small size tomatoes, but I don't think they produce ripe tomatoes any earlier than other containers.

There could be some truth to earlier fruiting, ripening not so much, but that goes for all containers and isn't particular to any one.

Growing in a container allows the root zone to warm up faster so the plants in containers would in theory get a jump start on the season over in-ground plants in the early spring.

It's for this reason that in my climate I no longer plant crops like peppers in the ground. I get much earlier and greater yields on peppers in containers than when they are in the ground since the heat helps them mature / grow faster in the early season.

That being said, I'm trying out some eartboxes this season over conventional pots since keeping up with watering / fertilizing in the hotter weather can be too much to handle when I get busy. That's really the only thing to consider when trying to decide on a container. Earthboxes require a ton less water and since it's a closed system, the fertilizers are reduced as well.

I agree with homegardenpa but for the same reason a cold front early in the season could cause them to stall. There's good and bad points to containers as well as in ground planting.

I currently have 7 Earthboxes and here in Texas we can grow something almost year round. I have an Early Girl right now that I started around first week of February trying to get some early tomatoes. It was about 4 inches tall when I planted it. I planted with a Water Wall and it is now almost to top of the Water Wall. Still getting some 30 deg. weather. I had limited luck last year as we had an exceptionally hot sommer. They don't do well in a Earth Box when it is that hot. We had nearly two months of over 100 deg weather last year. Even my 45 in the ground did not do any good. I find that herbs and greens so really well in the Earth Box. I have them under drip irrigation watering every other day to keep resevoir full. I put a couple plants per box. Cherry tomatoes do a little better it seems. I am getting ready to buy 3 more. Thing I like is you can just walk out on patio and pick what you want when you get home. Right now all but one of mine is already growing herbs, lettuce, cabbage, brussel sprouts, collards, and tomatoes. You can plant several plants in each unless it is something like tomatoes. Haven't tried bush varieties as I generally only grow indeterminite varities and mostly heirloom.

Since my last post I went to www.earthbox.com and looked at some of there videos. They had a video of a commercial tomatoe operation that grows in looks like hundreds of earthboxes. They use coir coconut husks as a medium. They use a Florida Weave support system with two plants per box it looks like but they have tremendous looking tomatoes that are uniform in size and with few blems. They pick before they get fully red. Looks like the way to go from a cost basis and sustainability. They are also organic completely. I increased my order to 6 boxes instead of 3 and if goes well will probably start buying a bunch more. I want to get completely away from produce from the food stores with the unrest in world I think we need to be more food self-sufficient.

I have a dozen Earth Boxes, Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers,cabbage,snap peas,have all done very well. Watermelon, muskmelon and corn have not.
Green beans and pole beans did fine however the amount of production was limited by the number of plants.
This year the 12 boxes will be planted as follows: 8 tomatoes, 1 hot pepper,1 sweet pepper,2 cucumber.

I use Growboxes instead of EB. This is the first year I am using them for tomatoes. Last year I had squash, cucs, basil, beets and onions in them. LOVED IT!! My 7 yr old son loves to take care of them - it's so easy!

Here is a link that might be useful: Grow Box

This is a lot less expensive and looks like it would work very well.

Here is a link that might be useful: Self watering

go to the container section on the garden web and you will find several threads on making your own. Yes they are cheaper to make. However about 3 years ago I made some using totes and others using 5 gal. buckets. They were cheaper as long as you don't count your labor. They
worked almost as well as EB, the problem is every year or two you have to start over. The heat and UV makes them hard and brittle and they crack and fall apart. I just don't want to spend the time and money to redo them.
I've added a few EB each year and now have what I need.
My oldest EB is 6 yrs old and still is in good shape.

Do not click on GROW BOX on garden girl post. You will get
unwanted Emails from someone saying they represent Earthbox
Do not know if it is a one time mailing at this time

That is strange.

The Garden Patch, the company that sells the Grow Box is a totally different company/vendor than Earthbox is. They are direct competitors and wouldn't have any reason to present themselves as "representing Earthbox". And Earthbox does their own direct marketing rather than using affiliates. I have dealt with both companies with no problems whatsoever.

Coincidence perhaps? More likely one of the millions of tracking cookies got you. Got to watch out for those sneaky cookies and clean them out regularly. :) That or someone just doing blanket mailings to anyone discussing Earthboxes - Google pulls up this discussion so it is easy to access.

Dave

hi Dave Yea it was strange never happened before. Was thinking the redirect from unknown sender maybe they get money for each hit. I don't see any intent for damage.

To click on Grow Box link in the posting then I go to my mail and see mail from unknown source touting Earth box (hard to figure) I to have done business with Earth box in the past so didn't suspect anything wrong but when opened didn't look like Earth box mail.
You may be right on the blanket mailing. Anyway Think Spring and have a great growing season We are just seeing bare ground here in ma.

I have been successful in growing tomatoes and eggplants in the compost bin. Year-round, all vegetable peels go into the bin, with some dead leaves added in November. Around April, I empty one $6-bag of Miracle-Gro potting mix on top of the rest, with about one-pound of garden lime; then, I plant my seedlings. It works beautifully with eggplant and tomatoes (determinate or indeterminate.) I continue adding vegetable peels and scraps all summer long. Around October, I remove and discard the tomatoes/eggplants, add some dead leaves, put the lid back on the bin, and wait for next April (zone 6). This system yields better results (i.e. more fruit -- tomatoes or eggplant fruits -- than Earthboxes and fabric grow-bags. Try it.

I have tried Earth Boxes and buckets. I like that they are compact and can be used in small spaces. I also like that they are self-watering, so I don't have to worry about over-watering my plants. Finally, I like that they are made from recycled materials.