DIY - Self Watering Container

[mooons]

MAN I LOVE THIS THREAD THIS GREAT I CANNOT GET ENOUGH!!! I have all sorts of wheels turning in my head for next season.....

 

[noseryder]

Great Thread!! Heres another option

Self Watering Tote:
10gal Tote

Tools I used

Drilling a hole gives me a starting place for the jigsaw

Finished cutout

I do the same for the center hole

Then I like to check the fit, and trim if I feel it necessary

After drilling multiple holes in the starter pot, i seat it into the center hole
Then I cut supports to match the height

Top view, you can see the screws used to attach the supports

The (almost) finished product.

Next step is to drill an overflow/fill hole. I drill this with a 3/4" hole saw myself (drill slow with low pressure through the plastic tote material) and place the hole on the side of the tote, right below the height of the lid that now sits low in the inside..make sense..? I can attach a pic of needed.. I use four of these in a homemade tent, running a 400w MH/HPS setup. Four of these totes sitting 2x2 measures about 42"x25" Enjoy!!

 

[pher2]

^^^ i would caution against using wood blocks for your supports, especially with nails in them that will rust. It would be much better to use an inert material like Phreedom_Man used (glass baby food jars). I think that the wood would rot or could have dangerous chemicals in it that could leach into the reservoir. "My 2 cents"

Nice setup though


Has anyone been using these self watering containers for mj grows? i would love to hear/see some feedback. i have a few spots that i would like to try these this year. Almost time "pher Wiggle"

 

[mooons]

Wood doesnt contain chemicals unless its treated lumber, otherwise its simply kiln dried. I would be more concerned with the wood ph being given off.

 

[pher2]

Wood doesnt contain chemicals unless its treated lumber, otherwise its simply kiln dried. I would be more concerned with the wood ph being given off.

i didnt say ALL wood has chemicals but i sure wouldn't want any of our members using pressure treated lumber in a reservoir feeding their medicine...

or could have dangerous chemicals in it that could leach into the reservoir.

 

[mooons]

Good point, I have decent knowledge on that kind of stuff, so I wanted to mention that. A really cheap alternative would be pvc and cut it into 3" rings or your preferred size.

 

[pher2]

A really cheap alternative would be pvc and cut it into 3" rings or your preferred size.

that would work great :thumbs:

 

[samandnoah]

Found this thread, and confess to being confused on one key area of the designs described here (I Googled the design so I get the overall idea) -- where is the wick? In this last design, what is the wicking device/mechanism? I seem to keep missing that important element! Sorry for being a dufus.
Thx
Stimpy

 

[mooons]

The wick is essentially the grow media that hangs below the "false floor".

 

[Leakobrandon]

It’s so hot and dry now. We are watering all the container vegetables twice a day and barely keeping them alive.
So I did some research and decided to build a self-watering container.
It is basically a self-contained hydro wick system.
This is not my idea. You can find many instructions and videos on the Internet and on you tube on how to do this. Search – global buckets, earth box, earth tainer, self-watering containers, etc..



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I bought this storage tote at Lowe’s for $8.
[FONT=&quot]It is a 14gallon capacity tote. That is 12 inches wide X 19 inches long.

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Would love to give this a go thank you for the idea