Science - All About Earthbox - EZ Gardening for all - VOA Special English 2014
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To see an image of the earthbox: http://earthbox.com/science-behind-the-earthbox Blake Whisenant and his family are farmers. They live in the American state of Florida. For nearly 100 years, Mr. Whisenant's family has grown fruits and vegetables, and sold them to businesses around the world. The warm weather in central Florida is good for growing crops, especially tomatoes. That is what he grows the most of on his eight hundred hectares of land. In 1992, Mister Whisenant had some bad luck. It began to rain. And...it rained. And it rained some more. Nearly 50 centimeters of rain destroyed the tomato crop that year. Blake Whisenant was not a happy farmer. "I just thought there's got to be a better way!" "And I told my wife, before I die I wanted to see if I could build me a box above the ground that I could grow tomatoes in." And...after years of work...he knew what to do. He found a company in Pennsylvania that agreed to make the box. It would be made of thick plastic, and would be about one meter long and half a meter deep. Inside the box would be a plastic tube to pour the water in, and a plastic screen with many holes in it. Something like peat moss, but not soil, would be placed in the box on top of the screen, which would hold it above the water in the bottom of the box. A thin plastic cover would fit over the top of the box to keep out rain and harmful insects. Blake called it...the EarthBox. Frank DiPaolo says normal dirt or soil will not work in this kind of container gardening. Instead, potting mix is used. This is mostly peat moss with a few things added to help air get to the roots of the plants. The box holds about 11 liters of water. There is a small hole in the side to drain out extra moisture and keep from drowning the plants. Since the potting mix soaks up the water, you have to pour more water down the tube every day or so. This kind of container gardening uses much less water than is needed when growing plants in the ground. And it is made so you can never give too much or too little water to the plants. The plants in the box also need two other things...a small amount of fertilizer and dolomite, a powder-like substance made from limestone. The fertilizer feeds the plants and helps them grow. The dolomite helps to reduce acid in the potting mix. Many farmers say dolomite is the secret to growing good tasting tomatoes. Dolomite is also a low-cost way to supply calcium to young tomato plants. This helps to protect the plants from a disease known as "blossom end rot." "That's where your tomato plant will start setting fruit ...and they look beautiful and you come back a couple of days later and they've grown to a pretty nice size...and the bottom of the tomato is all black. And they call that blossom end rot." Before the plants are put in the EarthBox, there is one more thing that must be done. A thin plastic cover is stretched over the top of the box. If storms should bring large amounts of rain, the cover protects the potting mix, fertilizer, and dolomite inside the box. This cover also keeps weeds and harmful insects out of the box. But there is one other reason that the container must be covered. It is important that the potting mix be kept warm, but not too hot. Frank DiPaolo says you should use either a white or a black cover. Frank DiPaolo says that, if you prepare the box correctly, nature will do the rest. So after preparing the box, how many tomato plants do you use? The answer is ...only two! And why is that? "The reason is that those plants are going to get so big that if you were to put three or four or six plants in, they are just going to be crowding each other out, and each plant is going to underperform." Growing crops in containers is good for the environment. In addition to using less water, little fertilizer is needed, and it all stays in the box. There is no way the chemicals can run off into nearby waterways. The same potting mix can be used for five or six years.
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