Quote:
Originally Posted by Harlequin
How is that system for left to right strength on the joins at the bottom of each pot? From the photo it looks like there is a lot of weight and a pretty big lever all on that central pipe. When those tomatoes get big and say fall to one side in a strong wind will the pipe be able to handle the force?
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In the earlier photos I showed how I reinforced the bottoms of the growing containers. I didn't show how I connected the connectors to them (I forgot to take pictures), although I did explain that I used a polyurethane two part epoxy glue to glue the connectors to the plastic containers. The attached picture is of the one I use most for things like this, but for this particular purpose I made sure it was specified that it bonds with plastic. I made about two layers of this glue to make the connection strong.
I cant say that the growing containers are perfect but I am sure that they will survive. I know that in the pictures they look like they are falling over, this is because there was no way of making sure they would be level in the completed system before I connected them. The holes unfortunately were slightly off center from the connectors, so when I tightened them down the glue was set and couldn't be redone.
As the plant grows there will be added weight, but I will be supporting the plants weight with a trellis that is not shown in these pictures because it is not built yet. It will be made from P.V.C. tubing that forms a box around the system that all the growing vines will be tied to, supporting the plant. I know from experience that a tomato plants will grow as high as it can climb. In Calif I had plants growing on a similar system that I am going to build for this one that was 8 ft tall (made from wood). Tomato plants will grow 3 ft taller than what is supporting it before starting to bend over and falling down. They were just about as tall as the garage roof, and I have no doubt they would have been higher if I built the trellis taller. In general they will grow about 3 feet taller than the trellis that supports it. My biggest concern is they may not have enough root space for the plants. If not next time I will use 5 gallon buckets and a
drip system for the added root space.
I didn't glue the growing containers to the base system so I can always reuse the base and make new growing containers to connect to it in the future if need be. I have plans for a similar growing container but didn't think it would be large enough for these roots.
My plants are spaced 3 feet apart, the P.V.C. trellis will be about a ten foot square box around them, eight feet high. I will need 17 pices of 10 foot 1/2in tubing two ten packs each of "T's" and elbow connectors. This will run about $30. I wont glue them, so I can take it apart and use it for other things in the future. I will run string or whatever between all these P.V.C. tubes for to support the plants. In short, the weight of the tomatoes and vegetation will be supported by the trellis and not the system.