Veggie Sacks provide Vegetables from your Deck, Patio, or Balcony

 The Veggie Sack is for the gardener who wants a container that will grow the best possible plant. It is a new and unique advancement in container technology that is better than any other method of container gardening.

• Better than Standard Black Plastic Containers
• Better that Clay Containers
• Better than Raised Beds
• Better than Decorative Ceramic Containers

The Veggie Sack© is a soft-sided, fabric container that has the rigidity to hold its shape and can even support large trees. In fact, the Veggie Sack© concept was originally developed for and has been used by commercial tree growers for over twenty years.

The Veggie Sack is an aerating container. It has a unique ability to use water wicking and air prune to enhance a plant’s root structure.

A highly branched, fibrous root structure is the key to growing a better plant – with more vegetables, flowers and fruits, and more resistance to insects and diseases.

Wicking

First, you have to understand what we call Wicking. Have you ever wondered how plants are able to feed themselves from the ground upward? It’s called “capillary action”.

If you want to experience and see it happen, place 3 cups next to each other. Fill the first and third cup with water, leaving the center cup empty.

Add several drops of yellow food coloring to the first cup and red food coloring to the third cup.

The Wicking Process

Twist a paper towel to form your “wick.” Place one end of the paper towel into the yellow water and the other empty cup. Do the same with the second other paper towel and the red water cup.

Results in 15 minutes

The paper towel from our yellow water is completely saturated and beginning to drip into the center cup.

Two hours later the middle cup will have the same amount of liquid as the other cups, all without us doing a thing.

Air Pruning

It is a technique designed to encourage the plant to grow a denser system of “root hairs.”

Roots, in normal plastic containers, grow to the outside edge of the pot and then circle around and again.

Plants absorb water and nutrients more easily from their “root hairs”. Plant with a lot of “root hairs” are far more productive.

Concerns

There is a concern about shopping bags that are produced from recycled plastic bottles with a logo printed on them, because lead has been detected in the water used with these types of bags.

https://www.consumerfreedom.com/downloads/ccf_bag_report.pdf

Our Veggie Sacks made with recycled plastic water bottle and natural fibers, such as jute, vegetable fibers or bamboo do not seem to have this same lead concern.

What to use?

Any fabric container that allows water, nutrients, and air to pass freely through the fabric, but restricts the passage of roots can be used, even the reusable Walmart bags.

Wicking\Air Pruning  

The growth from using these two techniques are something you would expect to see from an expensive hydroponic system … but without the expense or work. There is no way I’d ever go back to dirt-gardening.

The amount of water a fabric bag needs will require it to be watered twice a day. So it needs a reservoir.

When you place a fabric bags in a shallow pan of water, the “capillary action” happens. The bottom of the growing media becomes the “wick.”

Setting It up

The setup is accomplished by putting the bags in a tray. Find a tray holds about 2 inches of water, which will last a day or three.

To water the plants just put the   1” of water into the reservoir.  You can protect yourself by placing a hole about 1″ up, so the plant doesn’t drown.

Wicking Media

This Veggie Sack way of Patio growing varies significantly from traditional in-ground or in containers in several areas. Unlike conventional soil where worms and other insects provide “channels” for natural aeration, the growing media in for this new way requires a loose, porous mix to replicate the aeration process with the right nutrients.

Good Media Mix are Sunshine #4 Mix, or Premier Pro-Mix BX for optimum wicking and plant vigor. If economy is of prime importance, Miracle-Gro Potting Mix (WITHOUT Moisture Control) can be substituted. Never use “Potting Soil” as this will compress too much, negatively affecting root aeration.

• Sustainable Living Center
• 82 Siletz Highway
• Lincoln City, OR 97367
• 541-765-2109

*The tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers in the above pictures were grown in a 1 gal sack, 3/4 potting mix, ¼ worm castings, and just sitting a tray of water