Homemade selfwatering containers.

[rnewste]

Bobbie,

Neither Lowes nor Home Depot carry the 5 inch Net Pot (Plant Basket).

At your supermarket Deli (if they sell hot soup) you can simply get one of these containers which is about 4 " tall, drill a bunch of holes in it to let the water flow in, and use zip ties to attach it to the aeration bench. You can also cut down a Quart container from the Deli Counter to do the same.



Messier, but I do understand that you are in a rural area.

Raybo

[BSue54]

Originally Posted by rnewste

Bobbie,

Neither Lowes nor Home Depot carry the 5 inch Net Pot (Plant Basket).

At your supermarket Deli (if they sell hot soup) you can simply get one of these containers which is about 4 " tall, drill a bunch of holes in it to let the water flow in, and use zip ties to attach it to the aeration bench. You can also cut down a Quart container from the Deli Counter to do the same.



Messier, but I do understand that you are in a rural area.

Raybo

Thanx - I have a couple of those, and also 1 qt yougurt containers to cut down... I'll likely try a little of all, including the stocking filled with medium extending up above the table. Heck, I'll even let you know how each works LOL

[Stepheninky]

Originally Posted by BSue54

I know, Ray - I know.... but there are two points he keeps raising. He already has the perf pipe... and there aren't any hydroponic stores in Cut-N-Shoot.... population 1158... I'm sure we could find something in Houston but.... they didn't have it at Lowe's and that's as adventurous as he was willing to be.

I know there is bound to be someplace around here that sells them but I be jiggered if I can figure out where.

I answered the other thread on the sock type wicking but wanted to say that one replacement for the net pot that can be found at lowe's and home depot are found in the same area as the drain pipes he is using they are used as ends to those pipes and come in various sizes 3" and up. They look like a super heavy duty net pot. The cost starts at about 5-6 bux but least its another option for people.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_21590-676-75...%2B%26page%3D8

[rnewste]

Stephen,

Please do not use these. The openings are far too large, and the potting mix will flow out of those.

I still think spending all of a "Buck - twenty-five" is the ONLY way to go, if you have a Hydroponics Shop within range.

Raybo

[BSue54]

Originally Posted by rnewste

Stephen,

Please do not use these. The openings are far too large, and the potting mix will flow out of those.

I still think spending all of a "Buck - twenty-five" is the ONLY way to go, if you have a Hydroponics Shop within range.

Raybo

I saw those when I was at Home Depot, returning the 'wrong' fertilizer my DH picked up for me. I thought... too heavy, and too expensive. I am cheap so came home and drilled holes in 5 yougurt containers that happened to measure 4 1/2" x 5"...haven't gotten the holes cut in the water tables yet - had to find the right drill to fit the hole saw arbor... then cook dinner.

Any idea about how many holes should be in the improvised wicking basket? I used the 3/16" drill bit and used the "random, about 1" apart" theme from the water table. I suppose that if the planting medium on the first I assemble takes forever to get wet, I can always drill more holes

[rnewste]

Bobbie,

I would drill about 25 - 30 holes into the cup.

Also, If the yogurt containers appear too flimsy, you can double-stack two of them together for the wicking basket. Then do the hole drilling so the holes line up.

Raybo

[dice]

Where I have a hole with a piece of perforated pipe under it
but no net pot for it, I just stuff the landscape fabric down the
hole and pack it with the same container mix used for the whole
container. It makes the landscape fabric kind of bunched and
wrinkled around the hole, but so what. It works, the container
mix on top packs it all down flat around the lip of the hole, etc.

On most I use the net pots (I was ordering some kelp meal from
an online hydroponic store anyway, so I added a half-dozen net
pots to spread the shipping over more stuff), but on the ones
where I just have a piece of perforated pipe under the hole for
the wick, the "landscape fabric wicking chamber" does work fine.

[Phil]

First post and short time lurker. Really keen to get some tomatoes growing here in Adelaide, Australia. Have been doing a bit of research (i.e. spending lots of time on the internet) on garden bed designs and different watering systems. So I started to build some testers before I build 6 3000mm x 1000mm x 600mm growbeds.

In the attached picture you can see a wicked (as in wick) garden pot, i.e. self watering pots. The idea came from here. I bought 2 x 200 litre barrels and got them cut in half by my next door neighbour. The bottom half is filled with either sand or gravel with perforated tubing coiled in it (the tubing comes up to the surface). This acts as a reservoir for the water. Weed sheets are then placed on top of the sand or gravel and then it is filled up with soil. Water can only be soaked up 30 centimetres, which is sufficient room for the roots of 99% of vegetables. Watering only needs to take place about once a week. If a plant is a thirsty bugger, then it just uses up the water faster. If a plant only needs conservative amounts of water, it only soaks up enough that it needs - it doesn't get soaked in water. If it rains or I fill the tubing with too much water the excess runs off via the white pipe on the side.

The PVC pipe that you see is a worm tower. The bottom of the pipe has been drilled with holes so that worms can go in an out. I fill the tower up with dog poo (not when they are wormed though), newspaper, decaying leaves, food scraps (no potatoes or citrus) and a bit of hay. I bought some worm eggs and put them in the tower along with some spent grain that had been composting for a month or so. From what I understand, the worms that you see in the garden are solitary worms that like to burrow deeper in the ground. For the worm tower you really need proper composting worms, which are red and smaller. The idea with the worm tower is that the worms compost the materials I put in there and spread their worm castings and aerate the soil via the holes at the bottom of the PVC pipe.

So they are basically a self watering self fertilizing vegetable pot. I would have made much larger beds (3m x 1m) but I am renting at the moment and don't want to put too much time and effort into a place that I isn't mine (and is going to get ripped down in a few years any way). The only downside that I have found is that if you plant seeds you need to water them via hand. The top soil is usually dry, which is great because weeds won't grow, but it makes it hard to germinate seeds proper. Some seedling trays and a little green house solves that problem (well, until the wind comes and knocks it over *shakes fist*).

Next project - Aquaponics

Cheers
Phil

[Delerium]

Here is how i built mine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tHhvIYbkEk

[dotsonw]

This is a great instructional that I am very satisfied with and I have made 5-6 of these, so far I am using 3 of them and made others for friends and family.