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How the UrBin Grower™ works?
Why the UrBin Grower™?
The UrBin Grower is a compact self-watering organic growing system perfect for the urban family. It can be used anywhere, anytime – a patio, balcony, fire escape, backyard, greenhouse, or even inside during the cold months. Its innovative design allows for portability, yet also encourages a bountiful harvest. By utilizing the Square Foot Gardening Method, the UrBin Grower allows you to grow endless vegetables in a manageable container.
The UrBin Grower's unique sub-irrigation watering design waters plants the way nature intended - from the bottom up. Watering into the UrBin Grower’s visible reservoir allows you to monitor the water much more effectively than in other self-watering containers, in which you must water through a tube into a hidden reservoir. The soil system wicks moisture up to the roots, drawing nutrients with it. The soil system also air prunes plants to keep the root growth constant and prevent root circling. With the constant exposure to oxygen you no longer need to worry about over-watering either. The fresh air prunes the tip of the roots which causes them to branch off, creating an even healthier root system.
The UrBin Grower is uniquely designed to use capillary action to draw water up through soil and to take the guesswork out of watering. Plants take the water they need out of the visible reservoir. This way, you can see exactly how much or how little water your particular crops desire. This is a healthy, sustainable way to water your plants. As the water is drawn upwards through the soil into the root systems, it delivers essential nutrients to your plants rather than those nutrients being washed away when you water from above.
In traditional plastic plant pots, roots grow until they hit the inner edge, and then the roots start circling around the pot. Roots that are circling around a pot are more susceptible to the negative effects of excess heat, drought and disease. To encourage strong, healthy roots the UrBin Grower utilizes air pruning, a physical technique that keeps root growth from extending beyond its nutrient-rich growing media, or circling around its container. This is achieved by exposing the root tips to relatively dry air and stopping their growth. The layer of air between the water in the reservoir and the soil separator, air prunes the plant roots. This stimulates further growth of secondary roots that branch out within the growing medium. More roots means more water and nutrient uptake.
Simply place your UrBin Grower container on the watering tray and then place the soil separator in the container. The soil separator ensures that your soil is not saturated and you will never experience root rot. In two corners of your container, the soil will dip down into the water reservoir and wick moisture up to your root systems. Add your preferred soil mix and plant according to seed packet directions.
Both plants and animals, including humans, benefit from a regular supply of trace minerals, which are best transferred to the human body through vegetables grown in soil rich in trace minerals.
Today nearly all commercial agriculture land is depleted of trace minerals, due in part to the exclusive use of chemical fertilizers and ground water pollution.
By mixing the ground coir with trace minerals into the soil mix for your UrBin Grower and growing your own food, you ensure that those essential nutrients are added back into your diet.
(Order from "UrBin Grower with Soil Amendments and Wire Rack Ad-Ons")
Soil Amendments Add-On
Most garden soil and potting mixes are not perfect. If your soil has too much clay in it, is too sandy, too stony or too acidic, don't despair. These soil amendments promote plant and soil health, beneficial bacteria, and microbial activity, and will improve your soil.
The add-on soil amendments for the UrBin Grower include pumice, chunks of coconut husk (coir), ground coir mixed with trace minerals, and coir mulch.
• Pumice is a lightweight volcanic rock that is chemically inert and has a high silica content. Pumice provides excellent soil aeration and larger pieces are provided for this purpose in addition to the finely ground particles in the coir mix. Full of microscopic holes, each piece of pumice can hold and release water and nutrients to growing plants over time. Pumice is so durable that you’ll never need to replace it in your potting mix.
• The chunks of coir provide aeration, excellent wicking and moisture absorption qualities, while the coir mulch prevents weeds and retains moisture on the surface of the soil.
• Coir provided in the UrBin Grower has been combined with glacial rock dust, olivine and finely ground pumice. They provide your plants (and you) a broad range of trace minerals, including 14 of the body’s essential and minor (trace) minerals needed for optimum physical and mental health—boron, calcium, cobalt, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, nickel, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, silicon, sodium, and zinc.
Simply mix the soil amendments with some good quality garden soil and organic compost, and you have a sustainable soil system that will last for up to 5 years. The UrBin Grower’s soil amendments help you to eat healthier year round.
Why are Trace Minerals Important?
Soil Amendments Add-On
UrBin Grower Basics