Hi,
I've been planting earthboxes for about 10yrs. In the last 3 or 4, I've had terrible results. Here's the best I can describe it:
Each year I plant 2-3 boxes of tomatoes, 1 misc. pepper, 1 cucumber. Mix used has mostly been Premier peat moss with added vermiculate and perlite per recc's. Sometimes Miracle Grow Organic potting mix used to top off boxes. 10-10-10 fert from garden centers and Espoma garden lime used.
All 5 boxes watered with AWS, which appears to be working properly.
2016 - moved to new house, garden location is in full sun all day. Good results with full size plants and high yield on all boxes. Mostly used wire cages.
2017 - switched to trellis' from cages due to high wind. Same mix. The result this year was VERY SHORT plants on all boxes. Indeterminate tomato which grew 10' tall stopped at only 3 or 4 and often bushed out. This happened on all plants, even the peppers. Pepper plants previously grew 6' high, but stopped at about 3' or even shorter. Cukes did not grow to full size either.
WIth everything growing short like this, it doesn't seem like some plant-specific disease. What could be going wrong here?
I have tried changing out the mix completely a couple times since 2017. I briefly used plastic bags as covers, which worked in the past. Last year was Earthbox covers and same result.
I can't say for sure, but when planted, the small plants seem very healthy and look great. It is after AWS attached when this happens. Could I have a water problem? I run a hose above ground from spigot to the garden before connecting AWS.
I'll look for pics and post if needed. Note that in my neighborhood there are a few people with earthboxes.
Help!
