homemade dirt plate: 4 plastic shot glasses with 2, 1/8th inch holes drilled in the bottom of each shot glass. Next, get a plastic plate and cut to size, slightly smaller than the circumference of the 5-gallon bucket. Next, cut holes in the plastic plate, slightly smaller than the circumference of the shot glasses' rim, add glue to the rim of the shot glasses, and press onto the corresponding holes in the lid, allow to dry. Done.
Hi, I like both designs. I would like to comment on the handling of DRY planting medium. Legionella pneumophila Bacteria can be inhaled with the dust from DRY soil; or planting media. At worst, it can cause a form of Pneumonia that has proved to be fatal for some. It is easy to avoid this risk by ensuring that the planting medium is damp... Simply spray the medium with some water and mix it in before filling your planters, etc. No dust, no risk... Thanks for your time, God bless.
Did not know that and I have sinus, breathing issues so wear a disposable (uncomfortable) mask outside if windy and always around dirt. Thank you so much.
Last year, I created my own bottom watering system, that I used in both buckets, and totes. My system not only grew fabulous plants, but it was ENTIRELY made from repurposed trash, and therefore, COST ME NOTHING!!! I guess I will need to figure out about making a little "how to" video, to share! EDIT- I now put a video on my channel, how I made my bottom watering system, FOR FREE!
Just a small modificatio, I use similar diy wicking planters. In the "holes" where dirt cups are, I put coffee filters im, so the dirt doesn't go into soil, which could possible block.draim holes. Whatever works!!🍃🍃👍
@@BlondeBomb79 I am presuming that your bucket and it's growing medium all need changing or cleaning once a year anyway. The coffee filters should be checked at that time also. A bit of research might shed some light on whether or not u could find better quality coffee filters, relatively cheap enough to last through a growing season.
Suggestions: # For better wicking, lightly press the lower half of the soil in the bucket to make it a little more dense. # The "dirt plate" can be made from the inner part of the bucket's lid, with a hole in the middle, to which you can attach the small pot that the plant came in as a support, (one big "leg" instead of four small ones). # Just like @Merry Davis suggested, insert a used coffee filter to prevent soil from clogging the water chamber. Add the used coffee grounds to the soil for extra nutrition, it also improves soil structure much in the same way Bio-Char does. # For a "mulch plate" you can use the potting soil bag: pull it over the top of the bucket, (after filling with soil, of course:), and use the outer rim of the bucket's lid to hold it in place. When you're ready to plant, just cut a little "X" in the bag with a knife, and insert the plant. This way, you're REUSING and RE-PURPOSING, (two of the 3 R's:), all the parts of your bucket, the potting soil bag, coffee filter and grounds, and the small nursery "disposable" pot, saving yourself some money, and reducing waste at the same time :) Good luck :)
I am 100% container gardening this year other than my squash and cucumber beds. I have nearly 40 buckets with peppers, tomatoes, etc. I created wicking buckets out of 5 gal buckets (Home Depot, Walmart, Lowe's, etc). Everything is successful so far this year and I'm having a LOT more yield with the wicking buckets in comparison to the plan 5 gal buckets I have with drainage at the bottom of the bucket. I used drainage tubing and landscape fabric to make my wicking bottoms. I love using buckets!
I like the dirt plate. Thx for reviewing. I'm going to go to the website. Really looking forward to your book. I have the land but not the time so really looking at the 5 gallon buckets as a way to streamline gardening for me. I've learned by trial and error that veggies need lots of water in containers and that's where I have failed in the past with my containers.
Good ideas. Needs some improvements. First, you planted those basil plants waaaay to close to each other. Second drill holes into the sides of the soil cups for more water wicking. Third pack the soil into the cups, greater density, more wicking. Fourth, install an irrigating tube for a true SIP.
If you want to level up. Start in spring with black buckets then when it gets hotter, put the black bucket in the white bucket. Doubles as extra water reserve if you set it right and reflects more light. I use to cook the shells in my fireplace but I found using less and not cooking them won't lime the soil as hard and the grit in the organic matter behaves like soil and slowly releases the right amount.
@@countryrose763 I think as long as you have the soil there it will always rebacterialize honestly. I have no knowledge of any sort haha but just using my noggin.. plus my assumption is you will have to water at some point, this just saves you a week or two at a time? I would be interested in knowing what type of savings in time it really creates. Honestly I enjoy watering because I get to look at my plants daily! Just me though
I have been doing this for many years and the second version is what I basically used I also used it for my window boxes that normally would need watering every day. What I never had was the mulch media you have. That is very interesting. No bugs can lay eggs etc. Thanks for doing this video. Thank you
I just put empty jugs with a few holes drilled in the top and a few holes about an inch up from the bottom of the jug and put them down in the bottom of the bucket. The idea comes from gardening with Leon channel.
This IS one of the best DIY of the recent times , U R a very good man , great ideas . wish every one in the world be like you Bro, be blessed . Cheerrrrrs mate .
It needs a watering tube from to top to the bottom. Otherwise, you have to water through the soil which means the nutrients are being washed down into the bottom.
My first thought is there is a possibility of what looked like just two small holes in the bottom to the wicking tubes being clogged by roots. Net pots have a lot more openings.
This sounds so simple, but I can't visualize it. Do you just have the nursery plastic pot resting on the microfiber mop inside the pot without drainage, then fill it with water? How do you know how high to fill the water?
@@haleymackenzie984 so you cut a string from the mop and put it through the holes of the greenhouse pot so it hangs out like little tails. Put the pot inside the the other and fill with enough water so that it doesn't touch the inside pot. Like a couple inches. The mop string is the wick.
i DID NOT know all 5 gallon buckets dont have a standard size. thank you for that sir :) well thanks for the whole video lol ijs you learn something knew everyday lol that literally made me go "huhhh" outloud when u said that lol
Thank you for introducing this system. I tried the rain gutter system this past season, Lord, did I breed a lot of mosquitoes!!! I covered it, still, i see them wiggling when i check the water. Yes, I put some mosquito repellent pods in the water, it was getting expensive so I transferred all my plants in direct soil halfway through the season where they grew abundantly. I’m sure the rain gutter system is great. I’m in Zone 7B, perhaps we just have lots if mosquitoes here. I love this bucket system , I ordered 5 today to try. Fred recommended covering the drain hole with a mesh or something to that effect re my mosquito problem. Thank you for featuring this and thanks for your informative, practical contents. God bless you & your work.🍁
I use 2 liter soda bottles in 3 gallon buckets (3 2 liters just fit). I drill the 2 liter caps and pull cotton clothesline thru to act as a wick. Use 1” PVC couplings to stand the bottles off the bottom of the bucket with an overflow hole in the bucket to keep the water below the level of the caps. I use coconut fiber matting for mulch. Rinse the matting in vinegar solution before use, as coconuts are rafted in salt water. Hanging the buckets defeats slugs and some other pests from reaching them and takes stooping out of working on them. 😊
Ah this is good!! I have a big planter so Im gonna poke holes in a yogurt container for the center wick/support with a plastic plate with holes laying on top and I’ll cut a big holes in the plate slightly smaller that the top of the yogurt container....(so instead of the 4 smaller chambers mine will have one larger chamber) brilliant. I was just looking on it I get a fill it because it’s gonna be so much soil if I fill the whole thing with just soil
Very Cool. I'm growing redwood trees in 5 gallon buckets & have been concerned I may be letting them get too dry betwix waterings. I'm going to try 2 of these. ThanX pal! !
You give some awesome tips and advice about gardening! It's really nice to see it first hand and then try to implement it in my garden. Thanks! By the way you look like your related to the Property Brother's on the Discovery Channel!!!!
That cut out you're going to put a peice of pipe in would be best used as a dipstick channel. Just rig up a cork and stick level indicator. P.s. Great design.
@@epicgardening sorry, yeah thats kinda what I meant. Just as an idea to use it for more than just a fill pipe. I could have explained that better. Keep up the good work.
I have made a ton of my own version of this. The one thing I would do different is use the lid. Just need a big hole in the middle. Dont need foam in my opinion. That bottom edition tho game changer!
1/2 inch aluminized styrofoam for homemade mulch plate. Cut two half circles with notches for plant stems. Aluminum (reflective) side up will add additional light from beneath.
I have turned my 5 gallon buckets into a beginners watering system. Let's say you have 6 buckets, 5 of which will have 2 holes in them. One on each side of the bucket, and 1 with only 1 hole. The bucket with 1 hole will be filled to the top with your water, and maybe e en plant food if you so desire. At the bottom side of the bucket you will have a small tube going from the water bucket into your plant buckets. The water bucket will have a valve that will open or close the flow of water to the other buckets. You will go from water bucket to plant bucket to plant bucket, all the way to the last bucket. The last bucket will have a 2 inch high overflow that will pour into another 5 gallon bucket without any holes. This wy you can reuse the water, and the runoff will pick up the vitamins and minerals and nutrients from one plant to the other creating a plant tea similar to a worm tea. This will save on water and renourish your soil.
An improvement would be to add a way to easily check your water reservoir level. Either having a "window" strip from the drainage hole to the bottom or having a specially designed stick to dip in down the refill hole with the fullness measure indicated on it (like checking oil on your car)
Thermal Imagers are getting cheaper, with that you can just point at the buckets and "see" the temp difference where the water is. I use it to check my bee hives from across the yard at night. If there's a hot spot.. there's an active colony. (Just one way to check, takes like 20 seconds to "see" 5-20 colonies)
@@HippocratesGarden Now that's a flaming good idea. I recently bought a laser thermometer (admittedly not a thermal imager) and need to go experiment right now.
Piece of cork or styrofoam on a skewer or inside several linked straws down the water pipe after you fill. Make sure the skewer/straws can freely float in the pipe and the end extends past the pipe opening the same measurement as the water reservoir depth. Mark the last 1/2 in. of the skewer red, and the rest of the visible skewer another color. When all you can see is the red mark, the reservoir is almost empty.
Use a small plant pot for the wicking chamber. Make your own base. You can use swampy ground for your reservoir, just cut a hole and put the wicking chamber straight into the bottom of the bucket.
I would probably add a hole on the side with a plug an inch or so above the plate to prevent myself from accidentally overwatering and allow myself to drain some water out if needed.
I think if it were mine, I'd feed a 1/2" clear tube through the side at the bottom of the pot, and run the tube on the outside up the side of the pot 4 inches. Maybe just glue or tape it to the side. Water-seal the through-fitting, and then you can see what the waterline is at a glance.
Got 7 gal food grade bucket, put in a drain hole in it. Add a 1 gallon jug with air and drain holes, put in a pvc pipe in the jug to fill with water. in goes my soil around the jug, and to the top. cost $2.5 for bucket. cost for top soil peat moss ect.
homemade dirt plate: 4 plastic shot glasses with 2, 1/8th inch holes drilled in the bottom of each shot glass. Next, get a plastic plate and cut to size, slightly smaller than the circumference of the 5-gallon bucket. Next, cut holes in the plastic plate, slightly smaller than the circumference of the shot glasses' rim, add glue to the rim of the shot glasses, and press onto the corresponding holes in the lid, allow to dry. Done.
Or drill holes into sour creme type container
I was developing a self watering system some 10 years ago...both systems shown are better than where I was going...good work guys.
Hi, I like both designs. I would like to comment on the handling of DRY planting medium. Legionella pneumophila Bacteria can be inhaled with the dust from DRY soil; or planting media. At worst, it can cause a form of Pneumonia that has proved to be fatal for some. It is easy to avoid this risk by ensuring that the planting medium is damp... Simply spray the medium with some water and mix it in before filling your planters, etc. No dust, no risk... Thanks for your time, God bless.
Appreciate this!
Thank you for the tip to avoid dust. I have asthma so I will be using this tip.
Important information!
Sharron Mainor popp
Did not know that and I have sinus, breathing issues so wear a disposable (uncomfortable) mask outside if windy and always around dirt. Thank you so much.
Last year, I created my own bottom watering system, that I used in both buckets, and totes. My system not only grew fabulous plants, but it was ENTIRELY made from repurposed trash, and therefore, COST ME NOTHING!!! I guess I will need to figure out about making a little "how to" video, to share! EDIT- I now put a video on my channel, how I made my bottom watering system, FOR FREE!
nice videos, checked them out and found them useful and inspirational
Just a small modificatio, I use similar diy wicking planters. In the "holes" where dirt cups are, I put coffee filters im, so the dirt doesn't go into soil, which could possible block.draim holes. Whatever works!!🍃🍃👍
BINGO
Great Tips!
Thank you
coffee filters would break down overtime, so would need replacing...correct?
@@BlondeBomb79 I am presuming that your bucket and it's growing medium all need changing or cleaning once a year anyway. The coffee filters should be checked at that time also. A bit of research might shed some light on whether or not u could find better quality coffee filters, relatively cheap enough to last through a growing season.
6
Suggestions:
# For better wicking, lightly press the lower half of the soil in the bucket to make it a little more dense.
# The "dirt plate" can be made from the inner part of the bucket's lid, with a hole in the middle, to which you can attach the small pot that the plant came in as a support, (one big "leg" instead of four small ones).
# Just like @Merry Davis suggested, insert a used coffee filter to prevent soil from clogging the water chamber. Add the used coffee grounds to the soil for extra nutrition, it also improves soil structure much in the same way Bio-Char does.
# For a "mulch plate" you can use the potting soil bag: pull it over the top of the bucket, (after filling with soil, of course:), and use the outer rim of the bucket's lid to hold it in place. When you're ready to plant, just cut a little "X" in the bag with a knife, and insert the plant.
This way, you're REUSING and RE-PURPOSING, (two of the 3 R's:), all the parts of your bucket, the potting soil bag, coffee filter and grounds, and the small nursery "disposable" pot, saving yourself some money, and reducing waste at the same time :)
Good luck :)
Nice job
Brilliant
Why not just use garden cloth and cover a couple of plastic bottles on the bottom and put your dirt on top.
I am 100% container gardening this year other than my squash and cucumber beds. I have nearly 40 buckets with peppers, tomatoes, etc. I created wicking buckets out of 5 gal buckets (Home Depot, Walmart, Lowe's, etc). Everything is successful so far this year and I'm having a LOT more yield with the wicking buckets in comparison to the plan 5 gal buckets I have with drainage at the bottom of the bucket. I used drainage tubing and landscape fabric to make my wicking bottoms. I love using buckets!
Do you find that 5 gallon buckets are of sufficient size for tomato plants?
I like the dirt plate. Thx for reviewing. I'm going to go to the website. Really looking forward to your book. I have the land but not the time so really looking at the 5 gallon buckets as a way to streamline gardening for me. I've learned by trial and error that veggies need lots of water in containers and that's where I have failed in the past with my containers.
Good ideas. Needs some improvements. First, you planted those basil plants waaaay to close to each other. Second drill holes into the sides of the soil cups for more water wicking. Third pack the soil into the cups, greater density, more wicking. Fourth, install an irrigating tube for a true SIP.
If you want to level up. Start in spring with black buckets then when it gets hotter, put the black bucket in the white bucket. Doubles as extra water reserve if you set it right and reflects more light. I use to cook the shells in my fireplace but I found using less and not cooking them won't lime the soil as hard and the grit in the organic matter behaves like soil and slowly releases the right amount.
This is really great. You're videos have helped me learn a lot, thanks!
A good design I think! That foam mulch plat will practically stop evaporation, it'll be ages before you have to water that basil plant!
That's the goal! Thanks for checking it out
EcoCentric Homestead Wouldnt the water go stagnant and moldy if it doent evaporate for a long time?
@@countryrose763 I think as long as you have the soil there it will always rebacterialize honestly. I have no knowledge of any sort haha but just using my noggin.. plus my assumption is you will have to water at some point, this just saves you a week or two at a time? I would be interested in knowing what type of savings in time it really creates. Honestly I enjoy watering because I get to look at my plants daily! Just me though
However for when you are on vacation this Is truly epic!
Fantastic mate, I am very happy to learn such a simple technique.
I would definitely use the tube for watering so you don’t have to remove the mulch plate.
I like using rocks in the bottom. Provides trace minerals and provides stability for the cages. Great vid. 👍
rocks take up space that the water reservoir usually needs. it still works but you just have less reservoir space.
Great idea. Thank you for this agreable presentation.
Suggested improvement: I like to use a fill tube, and a 1" pvc is ideal because you can peak in to see the water level. 😄
How?
Just use a wood dowel!
I have been doing this for many years and the second version is what I basically used I also used it for my window boxes that normally would need watering every day. What I never had was the mulch media you have. That is very interesting. No bugs can lay eggs etc. Thanks for doing this video. Thank you
Great video-- Thank you for sharing
Love this. Thanks for sharing this. Very generous of you!!
Excellent design
I like that dirt plate, very smart! Even the mulch plate, looks like it’d cut down on a lot of maintenance.
I'm going to see how long it'll last without watering!
Epic Gardening - follow up? What say you?
I just put empty jugs with a few holes drilled in the top and a few holes about an inch up from the bottom of the jug and put them down in the bottom of the bucket. The idea comes from gardening with Leon channel.
LEon is cool
I love Gardening with Leon. He is amazing.
Thanks for posting this. I have never seen his videos. Binge-watching now.
Yes I think it looks great .
I love how it says “In God We Trust” on it.
I learned a lot from your videos, thank you for sharing!
I learn from them a lot as well
I'm a new subscriber, thank you for sharing, I like to experiment with new things to try on gardening
Excellent design...I love it. !
This IS one of the best DIY of the recent times , U R a very good man , great ideas . wish every one in the world be like you Bro, be blessed . Cheerrrrrs mate .
Cheers!
Love this design
Thank you for sharing this video. It seems like a good idea to use dirt plate and mulch plate.
looks cool
Interesting. Cool idea. Thanks.
Instead of wood block you could use 3inch drain tubing as support and net cups dropped down in the plate.
AWESOME!!!
Love the second idea. It's great!!
That was perfect
great idea, I will make this too.
It needs a watering tube from to top to the bottom. Otherwise, you have to water through the soil which means the nutrients are being washed down into the bottom.
Bottom watering is better for the plants too. Less disease, especially for plants like basil and tomato plants when the leaves don't get wet.
love the idea. am going to make two for my sister in law that can never keep plants alive... thanks
I love it I think it’s awesome💕
Can't wait to give this a try! 👌
Awesome!
You look so cute and comforting. Idk why
Great idea! Thanks for sharing :)
So awesome thank you for sharing
Thank you very much dear dear friend
Thank you 🍀
Looks like a winner self watering bucket!
I agree!
i guess it is like your design. pretty neat to have a stand down there.
My first thought is there is a possibility of what looked like just two small holes in the bottom to the wicking tubes being clogged by roots. Net pots have a lot more openings.
That wouldn't happen with shallow rooted plants but with deep rooted plants, that is an obvious problem.
Free greenhouse pots, microfiber mop, and bottom pot without drainage holes. 6" pots work great for orchids and other small plants
This sounds so simple, but I can't visualize it. Do you just have the nursery plastic pot resting on the microfiber mop inside the pot without drainage, then fill it with water? How do you know how high to fill the water?
@@haleymackenzie984 so you cut a string from the mop and put it through the holes of the greenhouse pot so it hangs out like little tails. Put the pot inside the the other and fill with enough water so that it doesn't touch the inside pot. Like a couple inches. The mop string is the wick.
@@heatheredwards2982 This should be a video on your channel. Great idea!
Great idea and how do you check or know when to water?
Great system, went together quick. good job as usual! love your channel
Thank you!
Norma Lynn I agree!
i DID NOT know all 5 gallon buckets dont have a standard size. thank you for that sir :) well thanks for the whole video lol ijs you learn something knew everyday lol that literally made me go "huhhh" outloud when u said that lol
Very product. I think that would work wonders in my super hot summers 😊
Same!!! I bet Fred would hook you up.
Very cool! I would buy this!
I like it. Like your information videos.😊
Wow!
I use a layer of perlite before putting the soil In works great the roots like it
An inch of vermiculite works very well. It is great at wicking moisture.
Very cool dedign! Great ideas!
Thanks!
Thank you for introducing this system. I tried the rain gutter system this past season, Lord, did I breed a lot of mosquitoes!!! I covered it, still, i see them wiggling when i check the water. Yes, I put some mosquito repellent pods in the water, it was getting expensive so I transferred all my plants in direct soil halfway through the season where they grew abundantly. I’m sure the rain gutter system is great. I’m in Zone 7B, perhaps we just have lots if mosquitoes here.
I love this bucket system , I ordered 5 today to try. Fred recommended covering the drain hole with a mesh or something to that effect re my mosquito problem.
Thank you for featuring this and thanks for your informative, practical contents. God bless you & your work.🍁
Oh god, I feel your pain. I've suffered from mosquitos this year too. Glad to hear you've ordered some to test them out!
Fantastic tip there
Kratky would work well for this, yes
I tried the rain gutter system too, same issue, I even had a misquito net on the entire garden! I'm now kratky all the way, pumps too complicated
Go to your pet fish store and get a dozen or so feeder fish. Drop them in and the mosquito problem will vanish.
Yes very cool systems. Thanks.
I use 2 liter soda bottles in 3 gallon buckets (3 2 liters just fit). I drill the 2 liter caps and pull cotton clothesline thru to act as a wick. Use 1” PVC couplings to stand the bottles off the bottom of the bucket with an overflow hole in the bucket to keep the water below the level of the caps. I use coconut fiber matting for mulch. Rinse the matting in vinegar solution before use, as coconuts are rafted in salt water. Hanging the buckets defeats slugs and some other pests from reaching them and takes stooping out of working on them. 😊
Really inspiring and informative videos Man !! I have to utilize some of your tips on my UA-cam channel soon, Thank you !
you need some kind of see-through plastic strip in the bucket at the bottom, so you can see the water level underneath, like a window
Very Nice!!
Wonderful and easy.
Ah this is good!! I have a big planter so Im gonna poke holes in a yogurt container for the center wick/support with a plastic plate with holes laying on top and I’ll cut a big holes in the plate slightly smaller that the top of the yogurt container....(so instead of the 4 smaller chambers mine will have one larger chamber)
brilliant. I was just looking on it I get a fill it because it’s gonna be so much soil if I fill the whole thing with just soil
thats a lot of weight on one support. .I suggest using 3-4 pcs of 3 inch PVC with holes in the sides and a coffee filter in each
Thank you for this video is very useful
Cool design.
Very interesting idea
Thanks Kev. I like it. Still, I'd like to see the progression of how well the plant develops in this newish system. Follow up?
Very Cool. I'm growing redwood trees in 5 gallon buckets & have been concerned I may be letting them get too dry
betwix waterings. I'm going to try 2 of these. ThanX pal!
!
I'll try this
Looks good
I am a bit late to the video but I love the bucket design. I use a different (and inferior) design and will be switching over
You give some awesome tips and advice about gardening! It's really nice to see it first hand and then try to implement it in my garden. Thanks! By the way you look like your related to the Property Brother's on the Discovery Channel!!!!
Love the design . . no mossies breeding under that :) TY
Very informative...excellent money saving ideas
Good stuff
Cool design
Thanks for the information
That cut out you're going to put a peice of pipe in would be best used as a dipstick channel. Just rig up a cork and stick level indicator. P.s. Great design.
You can actually add the 3/4" PVC AND the dipstick, because the bottom of the pipe will be full of water anyways :)
@@epicgardening sorry, yeah thats kinda what I meant. Just as an idea to use it for more than just a fill pipe. I could have explained that better. Keep up the good work.
No worries! Understood and appreciate it my friend!
F*rking C*ntainers Is
Bamboo skewer stuck in a wine cork - analog depth gauge
Love the tutorials.
I have made a ton of my own version of this. The one thing I would do different is use the lid. Just need a big hole in the middle. Dont need foam in my opinion. That bottom edition tho game changer!
1/2 inch aluminized styrofoam for homemade mulch plate. Cut two half circles with notches for plant stems. Aluminum (reflective) side up will add additional light from beneath.
White is known to reflect light better than aluminum foil quite a bit more.
I love both! Would definitely buy if it was in black. UK urban farmer
I did buy your book. Just arrived today!
Great video man keep them coming!!!!!
Will do boss!
Stephen Hibbert o
I like it. I agree with though, black would be more suitable.
I have turned my 5 gallon buckets into a beginners watering system. Let's say you have 6 buckets, 5 of which will have 2 holes in them. One on each side of the bucket, and 1 with only 1 hole.
The bucket with 1 hole will be filled to the top with your water, and maybe e en plant food if you so desire. At the bottom side of the bucket you will have a small tube going from the water bucket into your plant buckets. The water bucket will have a valve that will open or close the flow of water to the other buckets.
You will go from water bucket to plant bucket to plant bucket, all the way to the last bucket. The last bucket will have a 2 inch high overflow that will pour into another 5 gallon bucket without any holes. This wy you can reuse the water, and the runoff will pick up the vitamins and minerals and nutrients from one plant to the other creating a plant tea similar to a worm tea. This will save on water and renourish your soil.
I just built 2 buckets for the wicking I used rockwool in the next cups it's working really great so far just a idea if someone wants to try
add a PVC pipe then make a hole for it so you can fill from the pipe and then this is a true SIP (sub-irrigated planter)
Ur one of my favorites
Very smart. Very modern. Thank you for sharing.
An improvement would be to add a way to easily check your water reservoir level. Either having a "window" strip from the drainage hole to the bottom or having a specially designed stick to dip in down the refill hole with the fullness measure indicated on it (like checking oil on your car)
Yeah, for sure. You could do a float tube too
Thermal Imagers are getting cheaper, with that you can just point at the buckets and "see" the temp difference where the water is. I use it to check my bee hives from across the yard at night. If there's a hot spot.. there's an active colony. (Just one way to check, takes like 20 seconds to "see" 5-20 colonies)
@@HippocratesGarden
Now that's a flaming good idea. I recently bought a laser thermometer (admittedly not a thermal imager) and need to go experiment right now.
Piece of cork or styrofoam on a skewer or inside several linked straws down the water pipe after you fill. Make sure the skewer/straws can freely float in the pipe and the end extends past the pipe opening the same measurement as the water reservoir depth. Mark the last 1/2 in. of the skewer red, and the rest of the visible skewer another color. When all you can see is the red mark, the reservoir is almost empty.
Use a small plant pot for the wicking chamber. Make your own base. You can use swampy ground for your reservoir, just cut a hole and put the wicking chamber straight into the bottom of the bucket.
I have filled the bottoms of my pots n planters with rocks for years..... wicking the water into the soil
I would probably add a hole on the side with a plug an inch or so above the plate to prevent myself from accidentally overwatering and allow myself to drain some water out if needed.
I think there are holes in it, shown at 1:50. :)
I think if it were mine, I'd feed a 1/2" clear tube through the side at the bottom of the pot, and run the tube on the outside up the side of the pot 4 inches. Maybe just glue or tape it to the side. Water-seal the through-fitting, and then you can see what the waterline is at a glance.
Wouldn't using clear tubing get you algae?
@@BrendanMcGinley
Yes. Using an opaque tube with a plunger float could work
Got 7 gal food grade bucket, put in a drain hole in it. Add a 1 gallon jug with air and drain holes, put in a pvc pipe in the jug to fill with water. in goes my soil around the jug, and to the top. cost $2.5 for bucket. cost for top soil peat moss ect.