grow box construction - spec's and base info pls

[Stewart_Toowoomba]

Hi all

I've had a good troll through the forums and can't find any plans / advice on constructing you own grow boxes. Obviously the size and depth will depend on the plant your potting up, but I'm interested in any construction techniques, corner joins, screws vs. nails etc and especially the base format - slats with gaps - how wide apart and how you stop the medium leaching out the base when watering. I've seen in some pics across forum that many have the polystyrene fruit boxes and i have grown some ginko seedlings fine in these. I'd be intereseted in hearing how you construct your own gorw boxes and why.

If i've missed a thread somewhere - someone pls tell me where to go..

Stew

[Kyushu Danji]

I have just started collecting polystyrene boxes for larger plants I intend to train one day, but used to only use large old nursery pots before. I'll be interested to see what people on the forum prefer to use as well!

[Chris H]

Stewart
I honestly just grab whatever timber is easiest, fence pailings, some old decking or whatever, I tend to use screws as they hold better, but have gotten away with nails.
I never plan them out but tend to start with a base that is the right size made out of three or four palings screwed to two thicker pieces of timber as a framework and then just build a box open at top and bottom and then screw it to the base so that it is now a vessel perfect for a tree.

Plans and planning take all the fun out of it
Half the fun is seeing how long it lasts.
As for size of gaps between pailings etc, common sense will tell you when its too big. It depends on the mix you are going to use mainly.

[Mack_187]

G'day

I've made up afew out of old scaffold planks (because I had them) for the sides and used fence palings spaced apart half an inch for the floor. I used 4 inch nails to secure the sides and also used some mesh screen for the floor. Also make sure you have the box off the ground so the water can run out. I made little blocks for the legs. Theres more info and more pictures of some made on here. Have a search in the search box.

Hope it helps. Mack_187

[kcpoole]

the only one I have mad is from old Wodden pallets
2 boards high, and bout 4 wide on the bottom. Gap is about 5 mm or so, as my mix is Diatomite and the bottom layer is sifted 7 mm in size.

the corners have a block of the pallet spacer with the sides screwed to it and the bottom board screwd to the sides

No plans just what I had on hand

ken

[Greth]

Mine are industrial boxes, which already have wooden legs, solid wood. Gaps between slats are unintentional but useful anyway, too narrow to allow much mix out. And shallow, no more than 4-6 inches. Deep ones I use as decorative planters, or to grow tomatoes in the shadehouse!

[BGM1971]

Hi Stew
When I was first thinking of doing grow boxes, I just did a Google search. You'll get a few ideas and plans that way.
I decided to just asked my local fruit shop if I could have some of their polystyrene fruit boxes.
They seem to be working just fine. Most of them have good drainage holes already in them.
I also had some smaller plants I wanted to put in grow boxes, so I just put a dividing wall in the middle of one of the boxes,
which I made by cutting up a second polystyrene box, and put a plant in both sides.
I have also put some in some old large plastic pots I had lying around.
One thing that did peek my interest when looking on the net way a grow box someone had made with mess sides.
Has anyone tried this? If I remember rightly, he said it promoted stronger root growth.
Looked interesting!

Brad

[Greth]

This was the kind of thing I had, these were some deeper ones, now used for tomatoes or shade plants, the ones I am using for bonsai are much shallower and larger - one is about 5 feet long and is more like a small bed than a single planter. None for sale now, Im using the 10 I have! For the record, these were used to deliver large gearbox parts to DH's work, I sand them and treat them with linseed oil for a nicer look. There is usually a scuffle at work when a nice one comes in tho, DH gets priority as the head mechanic
viewtopic.php?f=102&t=3246#p34799

Polystyrene can be fine for growing, I don't use it much now because I have something that looks better.

[MattA]

I too have used fence palings to make up boxs & anything else I can find. Large nursery pots cut in half to reduce depth, old crates, pallets & wooden boxes, drawers. Bread crates are fantastic with a bit of shade cloth draped in them. I have free range chickens so the use of polystyrene boxs is out, they like to eat the foam

Old drawers are always fun to see how long the bottom will last before falling out, or the sides warp out & the whole box just collapses, no matter by then they usually have a nice mass of roots holding the soil together

Matt

PS if its a really big box remember to site it first before filling with dirt or tree, they get reall heavy real quick!

[Greth]

I usually do that Matt, but have a handy teenage son who can help out usually. The heaviest is currently a tomato home, at the end of the season will be emptied and moved out of the shadehouse to make room for winter/spring herbs, of which there will be many.
Will post a pic of the bonsai ones if everyone promises not to tell me I shouldn't put the trees too close together, I shouldn't have moss or groundcovers in there absorbing all those nutrients, some of them are still in stick phase (after all, that is why they are in growboxes) or why do I also keep using them for succulent cuttings? (only space I had at the time) Or I shouldn't keep them in part shade, trees need full sun to grow. Or why do I use potting mix when I should be using bonsai mix. (A:because I can afford it). Obviously I have thought of all these issues, and come up with a compromise which suits me, and seems to suit the trees as well, they have had a happy growing season!

[arabicabonsai]

***** there is another option*****

I was just about to build some grow boxes and then while i was at a cheap shop i found a few saucers for large pots. they are definately big enough, just sturdy enough and you get all different sizes. and they're around the $3 mark. much cheaper than timber and screws.

[Bretts]

You will find Vance's grow boxes with the mesh sides in this article by Jamie Ooops I mean Will
http://knowledgeofbonsai.org/pots-slabs ... ning-pots/

[Greth]

Okies, well i haven't seen any promises, but will post mine anyway. Any sniggering will be met with a witches curse lasting 30 years by 3...
You would be paranoid too if everyone kept picking on you.

growbox jan 11.jpg

growbox2 jan 11.jpg

You will note that the second one has a baby mullein in it, estimated final size 1m x 1m x at least 3 m tall. I havent quite decided what to do about that yet, ok? Mullein is a cantankerous plant, no matter how carefully I start seed I can't get germination. On the other hand, it will happily germinate in a compacted gravel driveway in the height of summer, or indeed in a bonsai growbox. With care I can lift them from their random seedsites and pot them up, so all is not lost.
The Pink rosemary tag at the back is courtesy of my 2 year old, who loves to relabel things.

[de_keizer]

im curently using an old concrete laundry sink as a grow box, fukn heavy though.

[Damian Bee]

I find that if I am going to go to the effort of making a box, then I make it to last 5+ years. Fence pailing is too thin and bound to give way after a couple of years of shifting and wobbling, as MattA said, see how longthe old draws long it lasts till the bottom falls out with
I try to use recycled material wherever possible and currently I am using old Concrete form work that is off-cut or used too many times. The form work is 25 x 150 treated pine fencing plinth. You can make the box to whatever dimension you like but I stick to something like 450 X 600 x 150mm deep to minimise cutting. I hold the planks together with 50mm Batten Screws and put 4 x 25mm holes in the base covered with mesh. Once it is screwed tight, I coat the inside with a non toxic waterproofer and let them sit for a few days before I fill them. If you are using treated pine you must use Galvanised screws, otherwise the treatment will destroy anything else. Usually I make a few at a time and it takes about 30 minutes for me to complete 1 box. You can use untreated pine but it will rot very quickly so you should at least oil it with Linseed oil, this is certainly the way to go if you are sensitive about treated pine.
I will post a pic later today of one of my boxes, and if you are good I will post a drawing and a list of some tools required as I will be doing one for a club newsletter next month.