Food Container Reservoir for Bucket Planters

Drop this food container reservoir into the bottom of a utility bucket and you'll have an instant sub-irrigated planter. Or, use it inside any watertight container to grow any plant of your choosing be it edible or decorative. 

It looks a bit grungy in the photo because it was buried inside a milk crate planter last summer. The soil wick in the center is a deli container, which just happens to fit under the cover. It has holes poked all around the bottom edge to allow water to rise by capillary action. The fill tube is made from flexible plastic tubing. It holds about one gallon of water. If you're using this outdoors remember to make an overflow drainage hole in the bucket or other watertight planter. 

Originally, the container was the packaging for cookies from Costco. Unfortunately, the brand was discontinued. Fortunately, I ate many of those cookies and have many of these containers.

If these food containers were more widely available, it would be my recommended reservoir method for home made sub-irrigation planters of many types. Tell us if you know of a food product that comes in this type of container by posting a comment. 

Comments

[littlefish]

trader joes animal cookies!

so there's no fabric wick in this system, just holes in the deli container soil wick for the water to flow thru, correct?

so the key in this system is to make sure to not to fill the reservoir up to the top so that there's oxygen down there as well, yes?

this is simply elegant, thanks

[Diane]

I like this idea using plastic egg cartons.

http://growindie.com/2009/03/07/diy-mini-greenhouse/

[lt]

Could you suggest places where I can find cheap affordable plastic tubing? Thus far, I have only found PVC tubes and reinforced garden hoses. The former is poisonous and the latter expensive. Please help!

[Greenscaper]

I've had an idea to make a fill tube out of plastic water bottles. Trim off the top and bottom leaving the straight sides. Cut from top to bottom. You can than overlap the plastic into a smaller diameter. Put a small piece of tape (packaging or duct) to hold it from springing back. I just did it with a one liter bottle and made a tube section about 5" long. Three of these bottle sections sleeved together into a longer tube would make a fill tube for a bucket planter. I believe the soil will hold the tube together once it's buried. This is FREE. All it takes is some box cutter and scissor work.

I'll make one and post photos. It's on the list. Stay tuned.

[Greenscaper]

Hey Diane, good idea. You eat the eggs and I'll continue eating the barbecue chicken from Costco and then using the containers to make sub-irrigated seed propagators.
http://www.insideurbangreen.org/2009/03/my-entry-1.html

[Greenscaper]

Yo littlefish, I've made many sub-irrigated houseplant planters from Trade Joe clear plastic cookie containers. Yes, you need to poke holes around the outer bottom edge of the deli container so that the water can rise by capillary action. You can fill the reservoir to the top with no problem. Air will move into the space when the water is consumed. It's an "ebb and flow" system.

[Diane]

Hey Bob, next time you're in Costco check out the cool containers that house Gala organic apples. The apples are sandwiched in plastic with bubbles around the apples. I'm using these for seed starting by punching holes in the bottom of the bubbles and putting the entire unit in a tray with an aqua mat.

I'm having a blast building the systems and shopping for interesting vessels. Bed Bath and Beyond has some neat buckets for only $1.99

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=118759

I plan on drilling holes in them and hanging them along the deck railing, filled with daisies.

Thanks again for all the great info and ideas on your site!