What's your verdict?

[J.C.]

I start seeds in styrofoam cups. I do exclusively square foot gardening and have several boxes going. I use the 32oz cups that I buy in bulk from Sam's Club. I put about 1 inch of potting soil in the cup.

When it comes time to plant I just cut the bottom out of the cups and plant the whole things. This leaves me the proper amount of empty cup to do the watering called for in the Square Foot Gardening book.

Well, everything that happens, wilt, browning leaves, low yield, bugs, disease etc., happens because I PLANT THE DANG CUPS, according to my wife. She, and others, say this is a definate no-no. I disagree. What do you say and why?

[Harry Chickpea]

Get a new wife?

Plants here are constantly growing through the little hole in the bottom of the black gallon pots and thriving, even when we don't want them to.

[J.C.]

I already have, 4 times but this one's a keeper, 34 years so far.

[Jimmy]

I would not" PLANT THE DANG CUPS". Who knows what kind of chemicals come out as it "rots"? Ever see the smoke when one burns?

Keep the wife, it's cheaper tan the alternative.

[J.C.]

Good point.

JC

[OmManiPadmeOmelet]

Styrofoam is inert... It does not biodegrade so it's a non-issue.

That's one of the problems with it in land fills...... :-(

It's kinda like nuclear waste. It lasts thousands of lifetimes.

Personally, I use peat pellets and soak them in miracle grow.

Works for me. ;-)

Use raised beds and the water is used more efficiently.

And mulch.

[J.C.]

Perhaps you missed my original post. I do use raised beds. The purpose for the cups is to regulate the amount of water as per the specifications in the book "Square Foot Gardening". My only question is, is there any reason why I should NOT plant the entire cup when moving from the greenhouse to the garden, instead of taking the plant out of the cup and planting it?

[OmManiPadmeOmelet]

My bad. ;-) The point got side-tracked.

Not that I can see... Styrofoam is inert. As far as I know, it's not going to be biodegrading and putting toxins into the soil. I could be wrong. ;-) You may want to google it.

My concern would be size. Are not the plants going to outgrow the cup? How is too small of a cup going to regulate water usage?

1 gallon plastic pots might work better maybe?

[J.C.]

The cups have the bottoms cut out of them when planted out in the garden so the roots grow down into the box and outgrowing the cup is no problem. You use 32 ounce cups and only put about 2 inches of potting soil in them to start the seeds in. This leaves enough "empty" cup to pour water into when out in the garden. The SFG book calls for watering the plants individually with "cups" of water, i.e. one cup a week for X, 1 cup a day for Y, and so on. Supposedly this regulates the water to preclude under watering or over watering, which I tend to do.

[Paulo da Costa]

It will definitely constrain the roots, and perhaps make them rot. If you put the water at the base of the plant so it goes into the soil, the roots will grow to be wherever they want to be to capture that water. That may be where they would have been in the cup (or beneath it), or not. Plants evolved to be smarter than you when it comes to where their roots should be, and the ones you want to grow have evolved to grow in soil, without cups.

[OmManiPadmeOmelet]

If you have a guide book with a tried and true method, what are you worried about???

Carry on, then post your results. I'm very curious about this. I did not garden hardly at all this year because I could not afford the water. :-(

Please share?

[J.C.]

Well, the guide book does not cover what I am wanting to do. The guide book says to hollow out a saucer type affair and put the plant in the middle. And that's okay I guess but being a lazy old man, I'm trying to figure out an easier way to do this while still maintaining a bit of the integrity of the SFG system.

Check this out.

[J.C.]

Could be any number of things. The "soil" is actually a mixture of 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 composted cow manure and 1/3 spanghum peat moss.

[OmManiPadmeOmelet]

Once I fix up my greenhouses this fall (it's been a wasted summer), that might be something to consider.

Personally, I have my heart set on hydroponics! IMHO the ultimate in lazy gardening once you have it set up.

And it also conserves water.

[OmManiPadmeOmelet]

More likely a soil fungus. Some pH regulation might be in order?

[The Ranger]

[snip]

I believe he did in the OP. Something about experiencing problems still...

Anyhow, there won't be any issues with using the Styrofoam cups or having them biodegrade. The "collar" will allow you to maximize the water while minimizing the effort (of control of weeds, rot, et al.). The stepped system is already in place so now you should be looking to figuring out why rot is taking place. A soil virus, maybe?

The Ranger

[The Ranger]

That seems awful high in acid... My best guess would be the manure; might not have composted enough. I burned up some pumpkin and zuke seedlings once by using steer manure that had lost that ripe smell but wasn't ready for prime time.

1/3 vermiculite also seems just a might excessive. Do you need that much drainage?

The Ranger

[J.C.]

I tried this for awhile

[J.C.]

Supposedly it is for absorbing and holding moisture. The bottom of the boxes are covered with that dark shading type material.

[me]

I want to grow JUST enough food for one person