Linda, the plants were grown in McDonalds coffee cups like you see above and were tall enough to have the roots resting on top of the filled pots and planted straight up with the top of the plant sticking out the top of the box. Any leaves that would be below soil level were removed when they were planted. In other words the tomatoes were about 12 inches tall from the bottom of the roots to the top of the plant and about 9 inches of the plant was planted vertically in potting mix with about 3 inches sticking out above the soil. The thing I would be careful of would be planting too deep. The mix is saturated with water for about 2 inches above the water line and your plant will drown (root rot). When watering, I tried to let the reservoir get down to about 1 1/2 gallons and then refilled them. This way the saturated mix was always down in the pots with the roots able to breath above. After the plants finished last year, I took them out of the box. Or I should say I tried to take them out, the potting mix was completely filled with fine threadlike roots and no signs of root rot. Also the roots had filled the entire area available to them. If you look at the picture of the box above, I planted the tomatoes at the 11 o'clock and 5 o'clock positions to allow as much space between them for light and air circulation as well as root growth.
The boxes were filled to the top with mix, firmed down, and covered with red plastic when the tomatoes were planted.
p1mkw
The pots support the hardware cloth fine. It's hard to see in the photo, but the sides of the box taper a little so they can be stacked when empty. Also I cut the hardware cloth one inch oversize and bent a half inch down on the edges. This Stiffens the edges and makes it easy to pull out, but the little barbs dig into the plastic when you push down.
