DIY - Self Watering Container

[skinwins]

maybe, who knows, i have hundreds of different plants growing 20 different ways lol.

Skinwins,
what do you plan on growing in your new system?
Keep us updated.

FYI
Not sure if you are going to have access to electricity or not.
I have a battery operated pump for running a bubbler. You can get them at basspro or cabelas. Takes D batteries.
I use it to keep my fishing bait alive.
The pump would be great for guerilla growing.

 

[phreedom_man]

This was a test run using potatoes.
I'm ready for spring now.

 

[KindredSpirit]

Sweet effin designs dudes! Very excited seeing all of this... making me look ahead to next summer... hmmmmm...... :smokebuds:

For the aerator idea, I came across these and they seem to be pretty cheap. Not sure how durable they are, but they seem to be designed for the job.

http://www.siliconsolar.com/solar-oxygenator-p-16155.html

---------- Post added 11-07-2011 at 12:46 AM ----------

And those taters look primo, phree! What variety are they?

---------- Post added 11-07-2011 at 12:47 AM ----------

On second thought, might be kinda tough to disguise the solar panel in a guerilla grow....

 

[Moe]

What do you use to "wick" up the moisture? Do you use any of that black anti weed fabrick on the bottom to stop your roots from going into th resivoir?

 

[phreedom_man]

Moe, Actually, the media wicks up the moisture. I did place some old socks in the bottom to keep the media from going through the holes, and entering the 8 gallon resevior.

 

[Egzoset]

Salutations,

There are small towns where it's not always possible to find just the right material so i recycled the tissue used in Jiffy pucks, to keep my water tanks clean - so i thought...

In my opinion such tissue would work fine if i didn't buy square containers of which the walls become rounded because of weight, causing bits of soil to drop directly to the bottom...


(Click here to zoom in!)

Anyway, in my case the water is sucked through tiny openings under the feet so it doesn't take much to get those clogged (hence the need for some compatible form of screening):

Maybe that's not exactly a "DIY" thing but i did have to be creative somewhat:

Otherwise there wouldn't be a well ventilated layer between the soil layer and the water tank to make my plant's roots happy:


(DCN Plastic, 8" model 3508)

I still sort of wonder why the manufacturer didn't think of a front hole themselves... Go figure!

 

[Zygote]

Working on some Self Watering Containers
I still need to cut the side Strawberry holes and paint them.

My self-watering containers made from a 50-gallon drum. Hold 18 gallons (2.4cu.ft.) of soil. And 18 gallons of water in the bottom. With the 10 strawberry holes in the sides of the container has 4.26 sq.ft of growing area {21 auto plants}


My self-watering containers made from a 30-gallon drum. Hold 10 gallons (1.35 cu.ft.) of soil. And 8 gallons of water in the bottom. With the 8 strawberry holes in the sides the container has 2.88 sq.ft of growing area {15 auto plants}

 

[cres]

Are you going to bury them half way in the ground? wont that water get to hot with your ambient temps? if its 105f with sun all day I could see the water in there going over 120F...???

 

[Zygote]

Are you going to bury them half way in the ground? wont that water get to hot with your ambient temps? if its 105f with sun all day I could see the water in there going over 120F...???

I will not be burying them in the ground.
Yes the containers well get hot, but no hotter than a normal container in the sun.

I will point out that. These containers have strawberry holes around the sides. With plants in them and these plants will shade the container from the sun. And will help hide the containers from site.

I know you use swamp buckets, these containers are about the same as a swamp bucket but better. IMO

1. You don’t need a swamp.
2. You do not have to worry about the swamp flooding.

 

[cres]

But you live in a hot inferno of hell.

I sure hope they work you got a lot of time in them... Did you have to pay for the barrels?