Kitchen Garden Forum

Ok - I know it should be rootrainers, but to me they are root trainers. Question, how best to fill them with compost? I think they are one of the best gardening inventions ever and not just for peas, beans, etc. But filling them up with compost does take a long time.

Use a half tray, fill it in the compost bag, invert it on top of the assembled rootrainer module and move it around a bit to distribute the compost, remove and do same with hands before tamping the loose stuff down into each module.
Repeat until full.

Best to do this in a potting tray thingy, to catch the overspill which can be added by hand to fill any gaps on the edges.

Colin, I have used root trainers (note the spelling, I agree with you!) ever since they appeared on the market and now use them almost exclusively for anything not sown direct into the ground.

My way of filling them: I put all eight empty "books" into their frame, stand the frame in a large solid tray (which is eventually used to water them from below), throw the potting compost into the cells, making particularly sure that the ones at the edges get a fill (anything dropping over the side is, of course, caught in the tray and re-used), then lift and drop the frame from about 4 - 6 inches' height to get the compost to settle and then fill them to the top, as required. Works every time.

My tall root trainers are first used for sweet peas, followed by broad beans, followed by runner or French beans, the shorter ones for all brassicas, beetroot, flowers etc. By the way, even when the "book hinges" break, which they do after a few years, the "books" still stay perfectly firm in their frame.

....and when you decide too many are broken you can buy just the books.

http://www.haxnicks.co.uk/garden/rootra ... ent-parts/

....a wonderful invention!

I'm with Monika. That is exactly how I do ours. I am going to buy some short root trainers for my flowers etc., this weekend.

I have just invested rather a large sum of money for a project growing Oak Trees in Root Trainers. Root Trainers seem to be be quite easy to use. We have filled them very similarly to how Monika describes. I find that to make a small profile of wood and screw a handle on it just to tamp them down very handy but to tamp lightly and not to compress as air porosity is needed for the subject you are growing. At present we are filling to three quarters full and popping the Acorn in and then topping them up then using the tamp to lightly firm everything up.
The Acorns are pre-germinated to reduce the failure rate. They will be transferred to nursery rows and it will be about four years before they will get their final planting out.
You notice that 'we' creeps in as I am now only supervising the operation.
JB.

Johnboy wrote:I have just invested rather a large sum of money for a project growing Oak Trees in Root Trainers.

Out of interest, can you tell us the timescales involved in raising Oak trees?

Hi Colin,
The Oak Trees that we are producing are due to be planted into their permanent positions no later than their 5th season.
JB.

I decided I needed to replace some of my rootrainer cells for the new season so I went to the browser favourite I had saved quite some time ago. Found I was redirected from the original company (Ronaash) to Haxnicks. Searched all over the site I could only find complete kits with frames, cells and covers. I emailed them to ask why they were no longer selling spares and got this response :
Thank you for your email. I'm afraid we don’t sell components of our products, we only supply them in single units.
from somebody at a company called Smart Solar.
While I was waiting for a response I remembered this thread and used the link I posted above, which still went to Haxnicks (it looks like I already knew about the change but had forgotten!) but to a page of component parts. I used it to create a basket with 4 frames worth of inserts but then found pp was going to be £6.50.
So I replied to the email, asked what was going on, pointed out the page I had found and got a new response:
Haxnicks Ltd ceased trading last year. Smart Solar Ltd bought the distribution rights of the Haxnicks products so as to be able to continue to offer their products to the public.
The website is currently under construction and so we cannot accept any orders at the moment. Our development team are currently working on building a new one.
So I don't know what would have happened if I had carried on with the basket I had created.
I use Google for "rootrainer books" and found gardenselect were selling them cheaper and with lower pp so I got some ordered just in case they are going to disappear. Don't know if Haxnicks bought Ronaash or if it was a distribution deal but can't find a trace of Ronaash anywhere.

Isn't it sad that any successful company is bought up and sold on and on and on .... and, no doubt, the final purchaser is not the least interested in the product, just the quickest way to make money. Well, that 's how it goes nowadays.

Luckily, I still have about twenty root trainers of different depths which will, hopefully, see my time out (and be passed to my heirs, as well!), so I am not too bothered about new 'books' at the moment, but I will bear gardenselect in mind. Thanks for the tip, Geoff.

Half the order arrived today with balance to follow "when I get my order come in at the end of next week". So we'll see if there is a supply issue.

I don't know about filling root trainers with compost, but I use empty loo rolls for germinating sweet peas, parsnips and climbing beans and I find that my wide necked jam funnel is ideal for filling them with compost without spills. Given a thorough sterilising afterwards it's none the worse for wear for its intended purpose!

Hi Geoff,
Looks as though I was lucky with the Root Trainers I bought that were advertised in The Grower Magazine a couple of years ago from a propagation unit that was closing down. I bought them at a fraction of the cost and some were used but the majority were brand new.
The Acorns for my Oaks are sown in them and then transferred directly to the nursery row when approx 9" tall with a good root on them. I actually bought 12000 and these are now sown for the year planting out this coming autumn.
JB.

Gosh Johnboy, retired or not, you are still growing on a pretty large scale !! I bet your days are still as busy as ever!

Hi Primrose,
I only work with my grandson on weekends when he is home from Uni. He is at Harper Adams at present but when qualified will go on to Bangor School of Forestry. The forestry enterprise is his baby now not mine.
I plant the Acorns and the rest is down to him! Not a bad deal from where I stand.
Buy the way my root trainers cost me just under 12p each including all the kit and kaboodle including delivery. I bought them for cash sadly the day before the Receiver turned up at the vendors nursery. Such a shame because there were some really well produced plants on that nursery.
A lad with a young family and I felt so sorry for him because he had worked his heart out.
JB.