we'll have to see how this goes. Inside the WW...

I'll update this to show progress, or failure.

I figured the test was over....Nope! Inside the WW...

Yes, that's snow and ice on the top. I poked my finger into it....And it's warm in there.

I'm loving this test.

digitS'

Bonnie

I used the WWs to start my sunflowers (from seed) last year, and the results?

Toni (in the pic) is 5'-4".

It looks like, if they're still ok, your cuke experiment is going to be a huge success, meteor! Think of us all when you're eating cukes long before the rest of us!

Skybird

I've seen a lot of pros/cons on using Wall-of-Waters (WOW) especially when it comes to early production of fruit. This prompted me to try a non-scientific experiment similar to what Meteor is doing.

On April 11, 2004 I planted an Early Girl tomato seedling into a raised bed using a WOW. Mid-April is roughly one month before average last frost date for my area. I pulled the bottom few leaves from the plant and planted it deeply so that only the top of the plant showed, placed the WOW around it and watered it in. I continued to water as needed.

In mid-May the tomato had grown to the point that the top growth was about 4" above the WOW. I had a couple of snows during that time and numerous frosts. The plant survived in the WOW with no damage at all.

On May 16th I planted another Early Girl tomato seedling about 2.5 feet away from the one in the WOW. It was planted the exact same way, pinching off the bottom leaves and planted deep. I removed the WOW from the original plant at this time.

By early July, both plants were roughly the same size. The one thing I noticed was that the plant that was not planted with the WOW showed water stress several days sooner than the plant that was in the WOW. This watering difference was obvious up to early/mid August.

The plant in the WOW produced a ripe tomato 4 days earlier than the plant not planted with the WOW.

I'm not sure that having a tomato 4 days earlier justifies the use of Wall of Waters, but the fact that the plant in the WOW needed to be watered less than the non-WOW plant indicated to me that planting earlier, using WOWs, allows more time to develop a stronger root system. The stronger root system seems to reduce the amount of water required during the hotter months.

Another plus to using the WOW is that I am able to get out in the garden and do some planting earlier than normal.

Regardless of my non-scientific results, getting out in the garden a month earlier than normal more than justifies the use of WOWs in my opinion! :)

-Doug
-Lyons, CO

Oh and Bonnie (and any other first time user of WWs. They are a pain in the keister to set up. First year I used them I was filling them 1 cell at a time, basically crossing over side to side until they were full.

Read about the 5 gallon bucket method here (dont know if they come with instructions, I found a big stack of them in my shed when we bought the house 3 years ago). Basically take a 5 gal bucket, turn upside down, arrange the WW around it, start filling the cells, when full pull out the bucket. I read on here that some had problems with the bucket handle swing down and hitting the plants. What I did was fill the cells about half way, pull the bucket and lift the WW, pull the WW so the cells are touching inside, set next to the plant, then lift it up and over the plant, reach inside down to the bottom and push it out until it's in a circle again.

Woo, long post!

I have set my tomatoes out in WOWs as early as April 1 and I've never lost a plant. That's about 6 weeks ahead of my usual planting date. Filling them is a pain, and getting them off is no picnic either. By the time I take them off, usually sometime in June, the tomatoes have grown well out of the top. I think leaving them on this long has big benefits for warm-weather loving plants. As we all know, the high plains/mountains have night-time temps that dip quite a bit, even in June. Tomatoes love the constant warmth in the WOWs. I think the earliest I've gotten tomatoes is mid-July, about 2 weeks early. It's worth the trouble for me.

And, if you have limited indoor planting space, and you start your own sets, you can ship the tomatoes out to the garden before they have a chance to get leggy.

This year I'm going to try an experiment - plant sets indoors to set out and plant seeds directly into the soil under my WOWs. If the direct sown tomatoes do well, I'll have 3 extra tomato plants to trade. :-)