Yep. I made one first as a prototype, and got her approval. then made the others. I'm really looking forward to not having to deal with tomato cages!
Yep. I made one first as a prototype, and got her approval. then made the others. I'm really looking forward to not having to deal with tomato cages!
Give a man fire, and he'll be warm for a day!
Light a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life!
Cat's are food... not friends!
If you're going to fight, then fight like you're the third monkey on the ramp into Noah's arc... and brother, it's starting to rain.
Those are pretty sweet brother. I'm gonna haftA try it out next season
OK, I think I get the idea of needing potting soil for a wicking system from bottom to top.
A slightly more labor intensive setup, I'm guessing, that would allow use of regular soils, would be watering from the top down, using the lower bucket as a catch basin for excess water and could use the overflow holes to drain the basin and recycle the water, to be watered top down.
You'd still need that ring of fertilizer at the top, I suppose. The black plastic film thing, my Gramps taught me about for his garden... saved his knees many an hour of pulling weeds.
He clevered it, though... Side slit 45 gallon trashbags with holes punched in them, weighted down with 2x4, from planting to harvest. Take it up at the end of the season, use the previous years composted remains to put overtop during the winter, both to recharge the soil and reduce wind-erosive loss, rototill it under in the spring, and start over.
No wonder I recollect them carrots soooo good. "Boy, crop, fish, or hunt, nothing like food you have seen to yourself from start to finish."
A slightly nostalgic Kesephist
I made cedar boxes out of 2x2 for the corners and 6" fence boards. We just set the boxes over the buckets. Only got boxes made for 1/2 of my global buckets this year though. Busy at work. I did try something to improve wicking... I cut cotton towels into strips, and made sure they touched e bottom of the lower basin, then as I filled with soil, I snaked the strip up thru the soil. It seems to have worked better than the ones that didn't have the actual fabric wick.
Common sense is so rare these days, it should be re-classified as a super power.
I'm going to try a variation this year, with some of mine, based on someone elses garden post from a while back. I made a 48X42" box that I will line with plastic, and then fill with single level buckets with holes drilled around the outside near the bottom. My thought is that with the bottom 1/3 of the pail in the water it should wick up nicely... hopefully!
Give a man fire, and he'll be warm for a day!
Light a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life!
Cat's are food... not friends!
If you're going to fight, then fight like you're the third monkey on the ramp into Noah's arc... and brother, it's starting to rain.
Sniper, maybe I am misreading this, if so disregard... If you are talking about setting the pail directly in the bag o' water, you really run the danger of root rot. The soil won't have enough time to dry out and will remain soggy. And could actually leach out nutrients.
You are reading it right, and that is what I am proposing. but it is not without some logic... Every year when I clean out my existing buckets, I have a solid rootball that has grown right through the bottom of the top bucket (via drainholes and through the solo cup that are completely in the bottom pail of water.
I'm thinking that they are treating the water pails like an aquaponics system. or, I could be talking out of my ass.
I am going to try it this year with nine pails of peas, and worst case scenario, I lose my first crop of peas from them. then I can build a stand, add a solo cup and go back to the tried and true, but in a box instead of buckets.
Additionally, I am going to make three troughs, each to hold 3 buckets. Given the feedback, I'll set two troughs up with solocup wicks and 1 flat down on bottom. I'll have 9 other traditional buckets set up, so if I lose 3 plants... meh!
Keep the comments coming... I'd rather hear some issues now and plan for them than hear ''I was worried about that''... after catastrophic failure and my family starves to death.
Give a man fire, and he'll be warm for a day!
Light a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life!
Cat's are food... not friends!
If you're going to fight, then fight like you're the third monkey on the ramp into Noah's arc... and brother, it's starting to rain.
From what I have found recently searching Aquaponics sites. It looks like the roots systems form huge masses and are submerged either constantly, or are set up on an Ebb n Flow system. I'm not sure how having the roots in dirt and soaked constantly would effect things.
If submerged / used in a hydroponic set up it wouldn't be such a problem, providing you keep the nutrients available. It's a constant damp soil that would be the problem. The pore space in the soil gets water logged and effectively suffocates the plants, not allowing them to take up much needed micro (and macro) nutrients. It's why heavy clay soils are typically not suitable for growing. You might want to try using perlite or LECA balls as a growing medium. Hell on this type of set up with water right bags you could even put some tilapia in there with aeration and go full aquaponic. Fish waste provides nutrients, and you can eat them at end of season lol
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