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Broke my Earthbox

Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2024 4:33 pm
by maxjohnson
I guess it would my fault, I left them outside during the winter, and the collected water naturally turn to ice. The thing is I've been using them since 2018 and this is the first time it happened. Maybe the fact they held up in the past gave me a false sense of security to not lay them on the side over winter. I had more containers from the past, but I gave them away thinking I was moving, so these teracotta colored ones are only a year old. There were four, and fortunately only one broke.
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Re: Broke my Earthbox

Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2024 5:25 pm
by pepperhead212
Sorry to hear about that, but glad only one broke on you! I always empty the water out of my EBs, and other SIPs, then cover them with tarps, and I have only had 2 homemade ones start cracking really bad, after about 8 years, but that's a different type of plastic. One I threw away, the other I might have to, but I'll see. The strange thing is that it is the upper, exposed plastic that was cracking, not the insides. The EBs and most of the other homemade ones have had no problems, while one brand has some small cracks on the upper edges, but nothing else, KOW.

Re: Broke my Earthbox

Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2024 5:48 pm
by AKgardener
Ditto I have 2 of those sitting outside in the snow.. looks like it still
Can be salvageable if that were me I would found a way to glue it already haha.. just so I didn’t have to buy a new one

Re: Broke my Earthbox

Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2024 7:36 pm
by Cole_Robbie
If you roughed up the plastic surface so the glue would hold and used fiberglass mesh like drywall tape, a good adhesive like jb weld should do the trick.

Re: Broke my Earthbox

Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2024 12:51 am
by peebee
Do you think the plastic is thinner than the ones you had in the past? Like everything else that has gone downhill these past few years. Just a guess. I thought EBs were built to last many many years. Mine have, but of course I don't live in a zone that has snow ever.
An older man once gave me his old EBs, they were older than my first one so maybe they're 40 years old?
They are different in a lot of ways. There was only a small round hole where the drainage slot is now, and instead of that one-piece aeration screen there's these slots you have to put in place to create a space between the soil and bottom water. The body is very thick plastic, it feels almost triple in thickness to me.
Because the design has vastly improved, I prefer the ones made later. However I can't say if the durability has declined since my last purchase was about 10 years ago.

Re: Broke my Earthbox

Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2024 9:12 am
by GoDawgs
I'd put gorilla tape on both sides then spray the area with Flex Seal. Better yet, try the Flex Seal tape on both sides.