Leon Sloan's Recycled Wicking Container

Oklahoma Gardening visits with Leon Sloan in Kingston, OK from last November, 2019 to find out how to create one of his famous wicking buckets from recycled materials to help reduce trash found in our oceans.
Airdate (05/16/20) #4646
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[@jeanmarieshermer4785]

We love your videos, we are trying this method. My husband built a greenhouse.

[@henrywilliams1965]

I used this method with 5 gallon buckets. Planted some bibb lettuce in them, absolutely phenomenal. Now I've planted bush cucumbers and cabbage. I'm going to try peppers and tomatoes. Thanks Leon for sharing this with us.

[@jeremy5246]

I did peppers in the wicking containers last year, and it worked amazingly

[@daviddeensutton3860]

Freaking awesome im gonna try this.GodBless

[@stephenpeppin5537]

Thank you!

[@mathusvaiaoga9787]

Seems like a great idea. Question? What about root rot. Since the soil is sitting in water won’t it rot out the roots?? Thanks in advance.

[@laree82]

The soil on top will have to dry out quite a bit before the water will wick upwards, because of gravity. The plants won't be sitting in standing water - that will be contained in the jugs.

[@wergardengals3242]

🤟🏼 great info

[@er70ca72]

Where can I get these buckets

[@TYProle]

Where do you get those minnow tubs?

[@puirYorick]

Just do a google image search for mineral tubs and pick out a brand that looks like what you'd like then search craigslist or kijiji or letgo or whatever sale site is popular in your region to see who has used ones for sale.
They're used for animal feed supplements that farmers buy. I assume you understood he was re-purposing his own empty ones.

[@TYProle]

puirYorick 👍🏼👏🏼okie all my life, but I guess I mistook the deep drawl, there.
Mea culpa.

[@seabrookthemagnificent9580]

"Oklahoma Gardening" should be more circumspect before lending their credibility to a TH-cam phenomenon.
I realize Mr. Leon is a nice man, but he lacks scientific basis for his conclusions.
Having made fifteen or sixteen of these "wicking" tubs from 5 gallon to 17.5 gallon sizes, repotted some when the plastic had deteriorated, into newer "wicking tubs, over the past three years I am convinced that Leon's belief outweighs reality. The soil in the old containers had the rancid smell of water steeped in fertilizer, and was not something to reuse.
All one needs to do is watch his video where he completely messes up the math on fertilizers to understand where I am coming from. And speaking of putting the fertilizer down the tube, rather than on the surface, is a bizarre, suggestion and again defies logic.
Please accept my apology if this is coming across as just negativity, but somebody needs to blow the whistle
on this well-meaning, but poorly informed idea.
If you consider the idea of wicking itself, one will need to take into account the surface tension of water, and its ability to climb. This will be contingent upon the porosity of the soil, and that tension's ability to defy gravity.
Yes, the plants will get to the water, but it is probably due more to the growth of the roots downward rather than any upward mobility of the water.
But, don't take my word for it, simply create your own wicking container, and also create a duplicate traditional container, with rocks in the bottom for root aeration. Then water each for the same period of time, leave them to sit for the same period of time, and compare the results.
Try to bring some seat-of-the-pants scientific method to the enterprise, and see if there is any benefit to this concept.
Best of luck to you. I will say, though, that there is a benefit to having a single drain spout, rather than holes in the bottom of the tub. It makes it easy to recapture the fertilizer and reuse.