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?


--
J.C.

"J.C." wrote:

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?

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.

"Harry Chickpea" wrote in message
...
"J.C." wrote:

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?

Get a new wife?

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


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." wrote in message
. ..

"Harry Chickpea" wrote in message
...
"J.C." wrote:

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?

Get a new wife?

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


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.



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.

"Jimmy" wrote in message
. ..

"J.C." wrote in message
. ..

"Harry Chickpea" wrote in message
...
"J.C." wrote:

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?

Get a new wife?

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


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.



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?

Good point.

JC

In article ,
"Jimmy" wrote:

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.



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.

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.
--
Peace!
Om

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch"
-- Jack Nicholson

"OmManiPadmeOmelet" wrote in message
news

Use raised beds and the water is used more efficiently.


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?


--
J.C.

In article ,
"J.C." wrote:

"OmManiPadmeOmelet" wrote in message
news

Use raised beds and the water is used more efficiently.


Perhaps you missed my original post. I do use raised beds.

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

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?

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?
--
Peace!
Om

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch"
-- Jack Nicholson

"OmManiPadmeOmelet" wrote in message
news
In article ,
"J.C." wrote:

"OmManiPadmeOmelet" wrote in message
news

Use raised beds and the water is used more efficiently.


Perhaps you missed my original post. I do use raised beds.

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

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?

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?


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.


--
J.C.

J.C. wrote:

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?

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.

In article ,
"J.C." wrote:

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.


--
J.C.

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?
--
Peace!
Om

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch"
-- Jack Nicholson

"OmManiPadmeOmelet" wrote in message
news
In article ,
"J.C." wrote:

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.


--
J.C.

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

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.


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?
--
Peace!
Om

Check this out.

http://www.squarefootgardening.com/


"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch"
-- Jack Nicholson

"The Ranger" wrote in message
...
OmManiPadmeOmelet wrote in message
news [snip]
If you have a guide book with a tried and true method,
what are you worried about???
[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



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.


--
J.C.

In article ,
"J.C." wrote:

Check this out.

http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

Looks fascinating... :-)
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.
--
Peace!
Om

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch"
-- Jack Nicholson

In article ,
"The Ranger" wrote:

OmManiPadmeOmelet wrote in message
news [snip]
If you have a guide book with a tried and true method,
what are you worried about???
[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

More likely a soil fungus.
Some pH regulation might be in order?
--
Peace!
Om

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch"
-- Jack Nicholson