Filling containers with wood chips

[Marck]

This sounds like an experiment that begins with a pre-determined result.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Yeah so I am fired up about overplanting since ukraine and russia are destroying the grain crops market and a loaf of bread will be $10 usd soon. I will be using vermiculite into which I will add this and that, and then tossing it all into 7 gallon grow bags. Even the vermiculite compresses and settles by the end of season.

 

[Meadowlark]

Yeah so I am fired up about overplanting since ukraine and russia are destroying the grain crops market and a loaf of bread will be $10 usd soon. I will be using vermiculite into which I will add this and that, and then tossing it all into 7 gallon grow bags. Even the vermiculite compresses and settles by the end of season.

I have always had a large garden(my parents had large gardens and their patents lived off the land) and have forever experimented with ways to make it more productive (even though we can't possibly eat everything we grow).

Sometimes I get positive results sometimes not, but I ALWAYS learn from them. Soon I'll be reporting on my alfalfa experiment which I no longer consider an experiment (over 200% improvement in soil N2).

As I'm not as young as I used to be, the prospect of having to give up gardening is one I have always feared. Containers and possibly raised beds have significant interest to me.

Hugelkultur in containers has a lot of good things going for it. If it works, i.e. even produces half of what I could get from an equivalent plant in the ground, it could open up an incredible dimension to me. I could garden as long as I had some even limited mobility and in significantly reduced space (currently ranching 200 acres).

The prospect of having to give up gardening some day is one I have always feared. This experiment will be most interesting to me, notwithstanding the negative predictions. The current crazy state of the World should certainly motivate everyone to learn all they can about growing your own food in whatever space you have and in whatever your physical condition.

 

[lifegardener]

I've tried Hugelkultur, but in larger raised beds (4' x 4' x 24"), and it works beautifully. With that said, have not
tried this in smaller containers. Would be interested to know how well this works.

 

[Meadowlark]

I've tried Hugelkultur, but in larger raised beds (4' x 4' x 24"), and it works beautifully. With that said, have not
tried this in smaller containers. Would be interested to know how well this works.

Stay tuned. Thanks.

 

[headfullofbees]

I take you have a lot of wood chips available, so that's how you'd save money?

Perhaps a better idea would be to buy the soil/compost & to burn the wood using the ash for fertiliser saving money that way?

There is everything you need for your garden in woodash & urine.

 

[Snatch]

I have several raised beds and this year I am also going to plant in 10 gal. and bigger containers and want to know if I can bottom fill with wood chips to save on so much soil and if so about how much. Thanks DeanDepends on what your planting, but generally yes you can. Wood chips, compostable materials, paper, cardboard. As long as you leave enough room for around six inches of compost on top you should be fine.

 

[harrylee]

I have a bunch of downed branches over the winter and have a few raised beds to fill. I am going to put some of these branches in the bottom. The beds are about 20" high.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Personally I would burn them. I would quench before the coals were all gone and toss them into a 5 gallon bucket (s) of fish fertilizer. Later, when I remember to check, maybe next week, I would put that out.

 

[Meadowlark]

I have completed an experiment evaluating the feasibility of adding wood to the bottom of containers.

My conclusion: Positively it works!!!

See the thread on HK in containers for reference.

"Across 38 different vegetables planted in HK containers and duplicated in ground planting, across spring /summer/fall/early winter 2022, a total of 3077 ounces of produce (87,231 grams) was harvested from the HK containers and 1990 ounces (56415 grams) harvested from identical in ground planted veggies. There were no, zero, nada veggies that failed to meet the targeted goal of equal to or greater production ratio of .5.

The production ratio across the entire experiment was 1.6."