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| It's close to June in Norcal but still expect low 40s in some nights. Last year was bad for everyone. I planted out 15 plants and seem only 2 are surviving. I will probably have to pull the rest and try "round 2".
I was thinking about putting in this little heating element to keep the SWC warm on some nights. I think Raybo uses the traditional bulb heater in his SWC. I thought I would give this a try. http://www.marinedepot.com/heaters_hydor_mini-ap.html |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by dickiefickle 5B DousmanWi. (My Page) on Tue, May 24, 11 at 2:34
| Its close to June here too. Lows in the 40's isnt that severe ,it may slow them down but not kill them . What do they look like ? Are they in ground or pails ?? |
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- Posted by engineeredgarden 7 nw Alabama (My Page) on Tue, May 24, 11 at 12:15
| I feel it's a waste of time and money to add a heater to a swc, especially with nightly temperatures in that range. EG |
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| It's not so extreme. I heated two SWC's in Feb and March with aquarium heaters. I also used part of a water heater blanket to insulate them and set them on insulated board on moving dollies. They used less than $.15 of electricity a day to keep them at 70 degrees F. Good Luck, Rick |
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- Posted by johnny_tomato_seed (My Page) on Thu, May 26, 11 at 1:44
| Thanks Rick for the reinforcement. Woh, 70 degrees, nice. I'll be happy if they are 55 at night. I am going to have to do some testing first, see how fast they heat up the SWC, will they burned the bottom, etc.... Then I will put them on timers, if needed. I am definitely going to build some moving dollies to try to have maters all year round or at least earlier next year. dickiefickle/engineeredgarden: They look bad, skinny, yellowing. Last year I left them alone but they never recovered. I have some in SWC, some in ground, and some in big black containers. Big containers are doing ok, probably cuz of the amount of mix so they are more insulated. The 18 gallow SWC are bad and so are the in ground. |
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- Posted by engineeredgarden 7 nw Alabama (My Page) on Thu, May 26, 11 at 8:24
| Johnny - low temperatures do not cause the sickly characteristics that you've described. Some other factor is involved... EG |
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| Johnny, Put a thermometer in your SWC media. It may be warmer than you think-especially if they are in the sun. The damp media will retain heat for many hours. A decent submersible aquarium heater has an adjustable thermostat and does not need a timer. They cost a bit more than the one you reference. Forgot to mention I also warmed an SWC with a 20 watt seed germinating mat. I put that on a timer to make sure it did not overheat. Again, I used a an insulation board and water heater blanket to conserve heat. If you add heat to the SWC, make sure the water reservoir does not go dry. Rick |
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| I've found that SWC's don't work well when the weather is cool and the plant is small. I prefer to initially use the SWC as a traditional top watered container until the plant gets well established and the weather warms. When the plant gets sizable and/or starts needing water more than twice a week I water really well, add the fertilizer strip and install the mulch cover. I usually wait half a week or so then add water to the reservoir. I also use a potting mix similar to Raybo's for tomatoes: 3 parts potting mix (I like Dr. Earth), 2 parts aged pine bark, and 1 part pearlite. For peppers and eggplants I use 3:2:2.
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