How to Build a Self Watering Pot For $10 😱
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- čas přidán 5. 08. 2024
- Self watering planters, also known as sub-irrigated systems, make watering easy by using wicking action to water your soil from below. They keep soil evenly moist, especially when combined with some mulch on the soil surface and are perfect for finicky plants that love consistent watering.
This design is not only cheap, but it's easy to make in about 20 minutes. You can clone it and build an entire network of self watering pots. I included a few modifications that might help you manage your bucket better, too!
IN THIS VIDEO
→ 5 gallon bucket with lid
→ 1" PVC
→ Old t-shirt
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MUSIC / CREDITS
/ the-lime-vibe-chillhop...
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Love the video, it doesn’t take an hour to show the DIY, it’s simple, and doesn’t require unusual tools, skill, or lots of time or money.
I do have 3 suggestions:
1). For the 4” PVC spacer... cut a “V”-notch on one end. Place the end with the notch on the bottom of the bucket. Viola! No air pocket. Also no awkward drilling of holes on a curved surface.
2). To save on the cost of PVC pipe, when making lots of buckets, cut the length so that there is an inch or 2, above the top level. This will enable you to use a shorter-length “dip-stick”, when you check water levels.
3). I use a (garden-use only) automotive funnel to allow me to fill the bucket without having to precisely aim the water into a 1” target. This also allows the advantage of the “long” PVC pipe to prevent me from bending over too much when watering a large number of buckets.
Keep the videos coming.
Yeah great suggestions! I've made a few improvements on this design, in line with many of your suggestions as well :)
Excellent ideas for improvement..
Yep. On some other vids, there is more time describing what is going to be done, than actually makingthe item. Very nerdy approach. This guy gets on with the job
Good.morning.DrK..xoxo
Thank you so much for taking the time to generously share your very helpful suggestions! :-)
Tips
-4” PVC Supports: cut 5” wide “rings” of your 2L drink bottles. Cut 3-4 1/2” deep v-notches on both edges of each ring for water flow. Free!
-😮Cover the outside of your container to reduce soil heat. Hot roots die. Be creative.
-foam dip-sticks: look at cost of foam backer rolls in the tiling section of your local Hardware stores. Likely cheaper than craft stores and comes in a few diameters.
-pails: check with your local diy wine stores, I recently bought 80 food grade (#2 plastic) 5-gal with lids @$2 each.
-t-shirts rot in healthy soil: hoard those plastic mesh bags that various fresh-produce come in. Onions, avocados, citrus etc. Wash them 1st and Sun-dry.
-good luck everyone the Sun will be strong this year.
thanks for getting to the build instructions instantly without a lot of talk!
Same thing in the water in let pipe - wrap a stocking net to allow air but prevent mosquitoes from entering the bucket water reservoir...
Best video yet. To the point, explained concept, not 20 mins of none related talk. Good job
I'll be making a bunch of these this year! To "pretty" them up if in a truly urban area...you can wrap burlap around the side of the bucket easily for an "instant upgrade" and I will for sure be using color coded duct tape on the foam to see at a glance who needs water, quickly and easily! Love this!
Your plan is excellent. Years ago, I used this principle to build an in-the-ground flower pot. It was a flower bed approximately 6 feet long and 2 feet wide. I dug it out approximately 16 inches deep and placed 8-inch concrete blocks around the perimeter. I covered the bottom and the blocks with plastic film, draping the edges over the block, then placing 2 more rows of blocks on top of that. Nex I filled the bottom with road gravel up to the top of the first row of blocks and covered the gravel with landscape cloth. This allowed the water level to fill to the top of the first row of blocks, then leak out so as to avoid drowning the plants. Above the cloth, I filled in with good soil to the top of the third row of concrete block, giving a planting potential of 16-inches. Rainwater usually filled the bed but if there was no rain for a while I used the garden hose. It worked great.
This is the easiest-to-diy looking pot! Awesome! I am going to make a whole bunch of them AND I'm going to figure out how to fill the holes in the bottom of some pots so I can turn those into self-watering! Thank you for the tutorial. Love your channel.
I would also put 2 colored markers on the dip stick/flow line for an easy view of when to refill the water. 1st marker to show water level max. 2nd to show water level min.
Thanks for the coloured marker tip.
You could do so with length, too. As soon as it disappears, it needs more.
I like this method the best. It doesn't require 2 buckets to make like some other designs, which seemed to work also. I just have limited budget to work with.
Thanks for helping a lot of people to grow ! Happy planting and happy gardening ! I will try this stuff in my garden!
float line is a great idea. tip: warming plastic with a heat gun makes cutting much easier.
Great video - fantastic presentation- the explanation afterward was very helpful.
I love carving - I've dreamed of carving garden stakes and sculptures. In this case - double function as a stake and a watering mechanism. Would attach the pipe to the container wall for strength.
Maybe a carving around the top of the PVC and stain.
Warmest regards from NY
Jennie
So as I've said on other videos this summer is murder. Did a soil check and due to the excessive top watering, ( I told my husband to get deep irrigation but he always argues with me so we only have top irrigation😑), we have npk deficiencies. Thanks for this now that he realizes we need the deep water I have a saving method so we can stop wasting all the feeding we've been doing and washing out our raised beds. 👏👏👏♥️♥️♥️
Nice, man. I have a couple MUCH smaller pots on my windowsill. I will try to use these principals for my situation. You rock!
I really appreciate the recap at the end of your videos!
Cotton is a commonly recommended wicking material, but some warn that natural materials, like cotton, may rot or contract fungus easily. Wicking materials less likely to encounter this problem include nylon and acrylic.
I just read many posts about that. Most agree that cotton will rot pretty quickly. Apparently nylon rope or even microfiber strips (cut from cloth or strips from a microfiber mop head) works better.
I bet microfiber dish cloths would work well, then.
Cool idea. Made 8 of these using pieces of an all cotton old bedsheet and it doesn't seem to be wicking much. Water level hasn't gone down much over first week. Not sure if it's the potting mix or the sheet or if I'm expecting too much moisture near the top.
Note that Firehouse Subs sells food safe buckets (pickle buckets) with lids for $3. Lots cheaper than most places and the money goes to a good cause.
You really are an epic gardener....this is just brill
I can see why you put sage in it. Down here in S FLA we use these for Tomatoes/Peppers Using a 'Cage' too, & it's best to drill a bunch of small 1/8 In. holes so the roots can go down & drink. No need for an old shirt-keep it to make batches of Worm casting tea. Also, We use Corrigated Holy Drainage pipe, & you don't really have a Wicking mechanism other than just plain evaporation up, it seems.
I actually like your design best I’ve seen. We have gardened for many years with great success. I’m hoping this will help with my cucumbers as Texas heat and flooding the garden each year has really hurt. I might raise level just a bit due to heat. Not sure but thanks.
Enjoyed the video. One thing I might do differently is keep the lid support as one piece and drill several holes in it instead of cutting it into 2 pieces. But hey, I absolutely love the float "water level" idea.
I need you Kevin, to do something really wonderful. You need to hook up 20 such planters and all self-wicking, connected at the 2 inch level and draining at 5inches. then one pipe entering one pot will actually fill the whole line of pots and be a real class action watering system. instead of one by one you water at one point and the whole lot of pots gets watered. then set a timer after timing how long it takes. every week the timer goes on water goes out to everything and gets done. straight up! what do you think?
Great vid. Your explanation is to the point and informative. Thank you
Great video! :) One comment on the cotton t-shirt. If you use living soil, the micro organisms would eat the t-shirt making it disappear, which in turn would make the wicking effect malfunction. I don't know how long that would take though. Maybe it would last a season?
Fully invested now, made 10 of these for tomatoes, cruising my fingers this works in Florida summer
I've used a similar method that uses 2 buckets, didn't have lids available. This is essentially the same. Can't wait to try it more i have a supply of buckets with lids.
Love this idea, Kevin. Thank you! I don't have any way to cut down pvc and bought flexible coupling. Would this be safe to use as an alternative?
I didnt see you put the big pvc?
Bad ass great explanation
Second go around to see if the concept is for me
Stumbled on this video and it’s basic simple
Ty for not over complicating it
Thanks. This is a great video!!
do you have a video on how to store soil? (i assume that bin works great..) as i have a balcony garden.. :). (PS thanks for all the awesome videos)
Nice job! I just made one out of a small garbage pail, a tin pie plate, the hollow stake from an old solar path light and an old hand towel. Works like a charm!
nice idea to re-use those solar light stakes. after a while the light is out or the battery is no good and that is a great use for those hollow stakes!
Good idea for re-using those solar stakes when the light / battery invariably doesn't work anymore!
Way to re-use!
Garden MacGyver! 🌱😁🌱
💡Small cheap plastic funnel would make water filling easier down the pipe.
Where did you get the float from?
💡Mark indicator bands (maybe red, yellow, green🚦) on float giving rough guide to 💡consumption of water for those preservating water and 💡alert to top up.
Good call on the funnel! Foam was insulation sheath that I cut a strip from. Great call on the markings as well. I'm thinking I may do a balsa wood dowel with a foam bottom for buoyancy on the next one + your marking idea :)
I just wanted to let you know that I made a Facebook post Self Watering Pots Tutorial referencing your video. My Winter Sowers group asked me to provide a tutorial, but you were the one who taught me how to do the project, so I wanted them to know the source. I put your logo as the photo so they could find you on CZcams, as well as a link to this video. Thank you for helping me. I hope I'm not in trouble with you!
Link to your tutorial please!
Thanks for the tutorial. Do you need to put the rim of the lid back on the pot? What purpose does it serve?
Hope to try this next season.
1 minor improvement would be wrap a peice of tape or paint around the foam fill indicator so when the tape lines up with the top of the pvc it's time to fill
& Paint white or wrap in black and white to lower water temp
He's in Cali, you really think it's going to matter what color the foam is when the whole state is on fire?
I think they're refering to bucket colour.
Cut the foam at the level of the pvc with reservoir full. Then if it drops down, you know it needs water without it sticking out like that. :)
I really like the tee shirt approach.
Here's to the BOOK! 🍻 Good on ya!
:)
Love love.. thanks.. the marketed are way expensive
you are great at explaining things :)
Thanks!
Didn't think to use an old tshirt. Good idea.
Thank you so much for creating this video! We made this today to go inside our large ceramic pot. So much fun to do and incredibly easy. We didn't have a large pvc piece to act as a support underneath so used a smaller bucket to go inside and drilled lots of holes around it. Love the foam rod idea but ours is just sticking to the pvc pipe. So can't tell for sure what the water level is. Any other way to check the water?
Try a lightweight wooden dowel as a dipstick
Would love more info on how you did this. We JUST spent a ton on pots for our container garden (the gophers are insatiable) and I found out about SIPs right after potting all my plants 😣 would love a tutorial on how to make this concept work with ceramic pots since a garden full of buckets isn't very appealing
Super genious merciii💡💕💡🙏
Totally making sense and a lot easier compared to others video. Subscribed immediately👍, coz you talk my language 😅
Great design especially for a greenhouse or dry climate, I would definitely like to test it to see if it works on some of the very thisty and/or larger plant species
For a thirstier or larger plant, you could extend the PVC for additional trellis-like support as well as increase container size!
And in a really hot environment, use a white bucket. That black bucket in hot, full sun will bake.
Thank you...this is great. How far does the pipe go? Does it touch the bottom>? I would drill little holes on the end of the pipe past the false bottom. Is there any other material that can used for the falso bottom?
Sounds great my son runs a ice cream business so I have a lot of buckets.
Nice! Great for watering here in high and desperately dry New Mexico. Now I can purge my 8 gazillion t-shirts without guilt! I wonder if I can purge socks for the same purpose? Hmmmm.....
It's so simple! I love that the t-shirt.... becomes... your... wicking basket!! That's so awesome!! Personally, I will probably by a thick 6" PVC Joint and drill holes, but it doesn't really matter in the end. It seems like the black bucket will get hot in the sun??
Yeah, I'd use a white bucket, but the trade-off is you may get algae buildup with the introduced light
@@epicgardening what If you made some kinda light colored wrap that was opaque? Or is that getting too fancy?
@@chronicposer burlap works great and low coat
Nice, using it with permission
I have self-watering planters. Are there any special considerations for preparing it for spring planting. I let the plants stay in the planters over the winter (Zone 3a, 3b and 4a) and then pull them about a week before planting when I fertilize and turn over the soil. This has given me the best growing results consistently (exception being the damn tomatoes). However, I now added a self-watering planter last year and this is my first spring with it. Should I take it apart and clean out the reservoir or is simply emptying the water (it accumulated over the winter thaw) sufficient?
Loved this idea. Do you just water from the pipe or both the pipe and the soil? Thank you friend for the great information 😊
I water from the pipe so that I don't leach too much from the soil 😊
Nice! I like the tshirt idea. How does oxygen get to the roots though? Seems the only place it can enter is through the center hole and maybe around the edge of the resting plate but both are stuffed with water-logged cotton......
The lid I got is particularly flexible, and I didn't buy any support material. What's a good makeshift spacer for the bottom that won't buckle from the weight of all of the wet soil on top?
How would I do this with larger raised beds? Thank you.
You could also drill holes in the pvc ring also.
Nice, comprehensible video. Any thoughts on how to modify the self-watering pot for root balls of up to several gallons in volume, rather than just for seedlings?
A bigger bucket/container? You could probably do the same with a rubbermade tote.
could you have drilled a couple of holes in the cylinder instead? seems that would work about as well. thanks for sharing! gonna build a bunch...
Yeah lots of ways to approach that particular piece!
what do you mean on the 6 inch pvc?
I think drilling holes in the support ring will remedy the air bubble situation.
You mean drilling holes instead of cutting it in half?
@@dreamerxxxc
Yes
That PVC connector isn't air tight. Don't need to cut it or anything. There might be other reasons to cut it, but I can't think what for.
Could I use a sliced pool noodle for the reservoir?
Insert your float and cut it off level with the top of the tube b4 adding water. If you see it you'll know the plant needs water and how much weater it needs.
Thank you
can it be useful to add a porous stone attached to an air pump to oxygenate the water reserve?
Have you tried using Hydroponic solution instead of water?
Very nice, I got confused, didnt see how you put the bottom plastic piece 🙃
look at the video at the beginning. If you miss this part then you will not have the wicking motion. watch the video again.
Could you fill the inside of the shirt and have the wet wicking part covering all of the inside walls? Or is that less effective
You could!
Ahh. Brilliant. For me - I'm thinking about something more cosmetically appealing, for houseplants, but I can absolutely work with this. Not sure about the fabric wicking but I (now) understand the principal. I wonder if there is another thing (possibly in the form of semi rigid sticks) that I can poke through drilled holes in the sub irrigation surface to have a similar effect but fetch the water higher up into the root mass. Or is that a bad idea? (Root rot is a real problem for me.)
But, you know what - I can't knock your demonstration for it's simplicity.
You can cut a notch in the PVC pipe. V-notch or square notch, whichever you prefer. This will let water into the air space created by the pipe section without drilling so many holes.
Your wicking material can go up the container up to the top if you want it to. That way, it feeds water throughout most of the container rather than depending on soil to the do the rest.
bat in the attic *
would be a great help in the heat wave we are having at the moment.
Couldn't agree more
Bountiful Buckets by James Fry!!!!
I spray paint mine each year to match whatever flowers r avail in order to tie in color scheme By the end of the year it tends to peel off so I can put another color easily. I try and put trailing plants so it covers any of the ugliness that peeks from buckets. I do add multi tier approach with stands of plastic shelves or brick whatever u have on hand
I also want it to have a look I enjoy.
I’m considering:
Placing the bucket within a larger more attractive planter.
Or creating a skirt for the bucket that I could reuse, for example;
Select a round table cloth,
trace the bucket circumference and cut out a center hole.
duct tape it to the bucket,
drape the skirting over the duct tape
And Trim the bottom of the skirt as needed.
Or, find large cardboard boxes, cut them to size
Paint them, allow to dry and then paint with a clear sealer.
Or use peal and stick cupboard contact vinyl.
For me, part of the fun of gardening is the creative diy.
Have fun!
@@cipherklosenuf9242 You could just buy some yardage at a fabric store and wrap it around, too, rather than messing with a tablecloth.
Would this pot be good for growing Luffa in or bean/pea? Thank you! Love the videos :)
It could work, yes!
@@epicgardening thank you!
Good question!
Would this work for a potted fruit tree? Or would there be too much of a risk for root rot?
Hi, just wondering though, how will water escape from the planter? What is the plants drown from too much water? One my other my teachers said that this wouldn’t work, he said that the vegetable won’t be able to grow 😭
I lick Leon's self-wicking pots. I also like the Kratky hydroponic systems.
That's far better than what other people are licking these days.
@@Abdullah-london WOW!!!
@@armedpatriot76 the typo made it a very funny comment!
I’m learning about gardening and SIP containers at the same time so this may be an obvious question but some designs I see have fertilizer pits or strips and I don’t see that in yours. How do you feed your plants that have this type of watering?
Thank you! You’re videos make this seem so doable!
You can mix your own water soluble fertiliser and pour it in using a watering can without the water diffuser. Or you could mix it in bottles and just pour it in.
But for the once a week or so you are fertilizing you can just water the top that day.
chronicposer thank you!
Great explanation! The drainage holes may pose an mosquito breeding opportunity/threat 😅
If u r worried then hot glue a small piece of mesh or screen material. In my experience with these I haven’t had any prob with mosquitoes and I live in Deep South mosquito heaven
I grow my tomatoes in 5g buckets with tomatoes cages wired to the bucket. I put a colander in the bottom for the well and the PVC pipe at a slant so it's not in the way of the tomato cage. I think I can tinker with this and make it work as I like your whole wicking base better.
Awesome dude! Check out my new video for an updated design too
What size colander do you use?
About the PVC Pipe.. wouldn't you need to notch out a piece of the PVC end that is at the bottom of the bucket, so water can flow in to the reservoir chamber?... This is a very good sub irrigation/self-watering system. Highly recommend that you do use a float for the PVC fill pipe..especially during the warmer months.
Only if you shove it all the way down, I left about 1cm of space at the bottom to let water flow. Got a float in the pipe, too!
I love it but I would of wet everything before putting it together. It help it suck up water
You know you're about to learn something useful when the person in the video is using power tools barefoot 😅😅
I don't see a follow-up on the success of this system (or the similar one sent to you). How did it go?
Cool idea about using the colander. I've been thinking about what i can put on the bottom thats super cheap. Someone mentioned they would use a 6" pvc and drill holes. Great but that size pvc is super expensive lol suggestions from anyone would be great!
I'm going to try a 4 inch high cylinder piece
I didn't have PVC, so I nested 4 or 5 small yogurt containers inside of each other and then drilled a couple 1/4" holes in them. I did that 4 times, so I have four sets of them. They felt like sturdy enough "legs" to support the plastic disk and dirt above.
@@nrgltwrkr2225 you could also have glued the cups to the lid piece...and as long as you have your holes in the cups nothing is going anywhere!!!
where do you get the green piece that has the feet and wicking holes? Which web site?
Like Always my man, Thanks😊
Gonna try one in my "garden"
Appreciate you boss
where did you get dip stick for monitoring?
Thank you for this guide. May I ask (sorry if stupid) if the t-shirt will not mold after a while as it will be always wet?
Eventually it will break down yes
@@epicgardening it would be best if you mention that as cotton can rot pretty quickly and you'd save people alot of time having to re do it. I've read that nylon rope or microfiber strips work better than cotton and doesn't rot.
@@tlc6756 cotton would compost not rot...and microfiber towels you run into microplastics in your food...I'll stick with the t shirt
Great Video
Thank you William!
What kind of float are you using?THX
What keeps the cotton from rotting?
Great video! I just do wish I could see the placement of the halved pieces that are the support.
I couldn't figure that out either. There's videos by Gardening with Leon who does something similar and I think Gary Pilarchik, The Rusted Gardener also does it as well. Maybe those will help.
I don't think it matters.
so did you eat the pvc ring by mistake???? or what did you do with it!?
I ate it :P
@@epicgardening lol... yeah well regurgitate it and put it in its proper place for us to see
Hello thanks for this great video, as always 👍 I bought self warering pots but my plants get rotten. The base of the stem of my syngonium macrophilla roted in 2 weeks I don't understand why 🤔🤔 when you have a self watering pot, do you put water through the soil or only through the pipe ?
Maybe the pots did not have an air space between the water and the soil.
@@caroleanne8529 they had but I think they're not ok for every plant 😉
When do you put the reservoir spacer in? Before or after the t-shirt? Thinking after?
I put it in at the same time
It can go first, then the t-shirt, then the platform (the part of the lid that was cut out). The spacer helps support the platform, and the platform helps support the t-shirt, so that the t-shirt and subsequent soil are sitting on top of the platform and t-shirt, which was folded back onto itself as well as the hole made by the spacer.
The drain whole should have a fine mess pasted on it to prevent mosquitoes from laying their eggs...
Nice 👍
What's the size of the 6 inch pvc piece? How many inches long?
My system cost me NOTHING! I have a video on my channel, showing how I did it with storage totes, but I also did the exact same thing with cat litter buckets. It SHOULD work with most any kind of bucket, or tote, as long as you have 2 of the same thing. On my totes, I could have put a support under, and it probably would be a good idea for me to do in the future, but I didn't do that.