How to Convert a 55 Gallon Barrel into a Self-Watering Container or Sub-Irrigated Planter.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 มิ.ย. 2020
- Learn a great method for modifying a recycled 55 gallon barrel to more effectively water your container gardens. This method can be adapted to fit a variety of containers of all shapes and sizes.
Barrel Talk - 0:30
Materials and Tools Needed - 4:38
Measure and Cut the Barrel: 7:38
Installing Drain Pipe and Fill Tube - 10:08
Adding the Lava Rock: 15:16
Adding the Wicking Material and Potting Mix 18:30
Resources:
Kalil Bottling Co.: 931 S. Highland Avenue, 85719 (520) 624-1788
Self-Watering Containers and Sub-Irrigated Planters PowerPoint: www.southwestvictorygardens.c...
The Sonoran Desert Grower - SIP Tek Model 150: • The Sonoran Desert Gro...
5 Gallon Bucket Self-Watering Container: • How to make a self wat...
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good video . I think you need your drain hole 1 in below the inside level. You need a air gap.
Thanks for the feed back! Why do you need an air gap?
I am not for sure. To be honest with you I have never questioned it until you asked me but I have watch at least dozen or more different people's video and all reference it. "Gardening with Leon " has several good video. He uses the wicking buckets in all his commercial green houses. Also your videos on installing drip tape are excellent. I watched everyone of them.
Brought to you by the good guys at Kalil. Awesome.
Aww Brandon, thank you for the "shout out". I love you mijo!!!
Thanks for this video! I live in Tucson and didn't know about your resource for these barrels! Just called and we are going this afternoon. I'm going to use them for doing Kratky cucumber growing. Never tried it, but looking forward to giving that a try. I do it all the time for lettuce inside in amber-colored 1/2 gallon mason jars. Doing lots with water batteries throughout my yard!
Glad we could help, FYI the more barrels you by the cheaper they are. If you can buy and transport 25 the cost is only about $8, happy gardening!
Thank you very much, we’ll give it a try here in Oregon
Hope you enjoy!
Love this and I would plant some companion plants with the peppers. Onions, Carrots, Leeks, Basil, Garlic, Chards and many more to fill in the planter. Great video and idea. Look forward to watching your other videos.
Thanks for checking of the video jeffrey! it's been about a year and all of these containers are pretty full at the moment with lots of different plants, it's really great to see out the front window. That's one thing I really like about these big 55 gallon containers, you can grow a whole bunch of different things so it makes a nice healthy garden.
thank you so much
Thanks
I'm confused however why would you fill the reservoir with lava stone in displace all the water. Is that just to make a firm support for the potting soil? It seems you would get a much longer reservoir time with more water stored if we're only pure water. That means using something else as a platform to hold the soil in place around piece of azac or polyboard or something like that everything else is kind of okay but why do you even need a tube with a uni seal. If you have an azac floor as long as your hole is below that the water just pours out when it reaches that level. I'm not sure if there's an advantage of doing it your way but I'm all ears
Uniseal! I’ve been trying to figure out the name of that thing for like a month... I mean I guess not trying that hard haha but I’d been going with like grommet and eventually just went with two sealing rings on the side of a threaded tube. Going forward I at least know what I’m looking for. Thanks again haha
Instead of slotting the bottom of the fill pipe, another option is to just cut it at an angle, say 30º or so.
Yes definitely, I've also seen folks just drill a few holes, whatever works for you! Thanks for the tip :)
Very interesting videos, I intend to watch them all. Will there be more coming soon?
Love your style and presentation, greetings from Germany!!!
Hey Shane. I've been taking a break from making videos for a while but i plan on picking up again soon. Thanks for the kind words!
Dang, near me the best I could find is $15-20 per 55gal barrel. I'll keep looking though. Good tutorial, thanks for the vid!
Look for local bottling plants in your area, that's where I get mine from. Good luck!
Thanks for the build video. Seems like the uniseal and overflow pipe could be left out in favour of just an overflow hole. Less materials, less plastics. Am I missing something?
Nope you aren't missing anything, you could definitely do that and have less plastic for sure! The only "downside" is that you have the dirty water running down the side of the container which will cause staining but I honestly don't care about that. Most of the newer designs do not have the overflow pipe like in this video and instead have drainage holes drilled like you suggest. Good thinking Robert!
Chicago IL USA
Great instructions thanks
Thanks for watching!
Nice instructional video as I was considering doing this. I notice you're using it as a planter in your garden, how long have you used it in the garden and are they more durable than the plastic pots i an get at home depot and lowes?
The plastic from these barrels is UV resistant, i've used them outdoors for many years with no signs of deterioration. Plastic pots I've purchased at Costco become brittle and break after only one or two seasons, so these are much much better.
Last question, or more of a request... figuring out timing of plants in the seasons here would be helpful. For example. It’s hot as heck, and I’m just finishing up a bed build. It’s gonna get hotter for the next 2 months. Being new to gardening, I have this “can I even grow outdoors here?” Thing going. So, peppers apparently do well? Egyptian spinach(if I can find seeds). I’m trying to figure out what to start indoors for after the summer, what can survive the summer, what will be too shocked to start in the summer, all that. And is that even an issue with a well mulched wicking bed and 50% shade cloth? Haha it’s the whole “I don’t know what I don’t know” thing combined with not wanting to miss a whole season. Any tips or resources you could recommend would be awesome. If I missed a video of yours covering this, please let me know. It just seems like such a fundamental thing on every gardening channel for people who have those “seasons” things in zone 3 or 4 or whatever hard to find practical perspectives on 9b. Thanks again. I hope that all these comments help the TH-cam algorithm too.
I would recommend the planting guide found on our website www.southwestvictorygardens.com/documents to get you started, maybe I can do a video on this in the near future!
There is also the book Desert Gardening that was written by George Brookbanks who worked at the Univ of AZ co-operative extension. It is very localized to the Tucson and somewhat Phoenix area.
Basically there are 3 short growing seasons in the desert, and the summer is the "dead" season.
Hey Brandon, I'm helping on a project. They have two metal troughs, and I've encouraged them to make them SIPs. I am planning to do a few terracotta pots and the lava rock to make the reservoir and the wicking part. I notice on the Sonoran Desert Grower channel video he doesn't use a tube to water from the top with. Do you have an idea why this would be? I think I will indeed use on on ours. For the overflow, my idea is to use the drain hole it comes with, and attach a pipe that is raised up, so that the water level will be where we want that way. I hope that makes sense. I hope you see my message and give me any suggestions you might have for doing this large in a large (8 x 2 x 2) container.
I think you have the right ideas as far as adding a filling tube and trying to utilize the drain hole for the overflow. The only downside I would could see is that sediment will eventually settle towards the bottom and could clog any bends in the pipe, so be aware you might have to clean it out from time to time. I'm not sure why he didn't have a method for filling the reservoir, maybe he just forgot? I think for an 8' trough you might try increasing the number of wicking chambers to 4 to more even spread the water, and perhaps making the water reservoir a little shallower by using smaller terra cotta pots. Good Luck!
@@SouthwestVictoryGardens thanks for the quick reply! Yes, I was thinking 4 of the like 8 inch tall pots in that spread too. You think maybe go a size down of the pots and put bunch more? I definitely want a generous water supply amount. It's kind of hard to know the volume of water we get in the lava rock layer. Im ordering the stuff from Acme as they have the 1 inch lava rock in bulk. I hope the sediment in the hole won't be a big issue for them as I fear it'd be a pain to clear out. I wonder if there'd be way to have a tube on the inside as well coming out on that side.... As for the water I think I'll suggest putting a water pipe like you have in your video. I'm excited for this project and also a bit nervous since it's based on my recommendations :D another question for you, do you ever end up with mosquito issues?
I’m doing a 4x7 bed with a full layer of ads corrugated perforated drain piping (instead of lava rock). My thought was to use a mix of perlite vermiculite and coco coir or chunks (prococo stuff you recommended) to push down between the drain pipes (and landscape fabric) as the wicking materials... do you think the coco would be enough in itself or am I gaining anything by using the perlite and vermiculite.. asking because I am new to this and don’t have enough knowledge of the mediums I am discussing but came across various “recipes” for the wicking layer and would appreciate your thoughts from experience.
Coco, vermiculite, and perlite are all good for wicking materials, so it's really up to you and what you like and to some extent your budget. I like straight Coco cause it's cheaper by the cubic foot compared to either perlite or vermiculite.
I’d add some sand to your soil mix what do ya think? 🤔 fairly inexpensive . And would help maintain moisture in the soil maybe?
Good video but wouldn't the use of lava rocks defeat the purpose of having a self watering container in the first place? The rocks take up a large percentage of the reservoir that could be holding, well, water instead.
How long between irrigations in full summer? will it stay moist for a week or two? does it save water compared with drip irrigation? thanks!
you can use Self-Watering containers with drip irrigation and both will be more effective. I've used both for years and I would say that SWC in general perform better then drip, but you'll get the most benefit when you combine them. Hope that helps, good luck!
Have you put casters on any?
I have not but it might be possible because the plastic is really thick. Give it a shot!
How much can the water wick up to the top please
When the plants have established roots all of the water the plant needs can come from below by wicking, good luck!
How often do you need to fill/water these (let's say in 25-30°C temps)? Thanks.
Our summer temps are regularly over 30°C and these containers can go about 3-4 days without watering in full sun, once the plants have established a strong root system. You'll want to water from the top for the first 6 weeks or so to help get the plants going then you can back off and water from the reservoir only. Good luck!
Nice video. I make these also, only thing I do is 25 percent water and 75 soil. It works well, thanks from Greensboro NC
The rock makes it way to heavy.
We're working on a design that uses 1/3 of a barrel rather than half. Even without the self watering element, these barrels can get heavy just from moist soil alone. Another system uses a 4" perforated plastic pipe, that can cut the weight significantly. Combining the perforated pipe system and chopping the barrel down to 1/3 instead of half will still yield great results and be a lot lighter. Good luck!
in my place $11.82 for 200 liters
Substitute for lava rocks
you can use any pumice or gravel material as well. Currently i'm experimenting with perforated drainage tubing to help reduce the cost and weight of the system.
I suggest you focus your camera to what you are doing.
ya momma
my name is kyle and i DID NOT like that
all love my dude!