A Personal Urban Food Production System - The Laptop of Fresh Food

Systems like the Valcent VertiCrop are the servers and mainframes of urban food production. Just as in the digital world, we also need distributed food production power brought to the people on a personal level.

Sub-irrigated (sub-aerated) planters (SIPs) like this one are the PCs and laptops of personal urban food production. You might also think of them as the iPods and iPhones of food.

There is no need to plug them into tillable earth. They are portable. All that is needed is a small space with sufficient sunlight, be it on a rooftop, balcony, driveway, paved patio or even a fire escape. They will produce more food per square foot than in-ground gardening while conserving water and valuable time. This is safe food production with no exposure to contaminated city soil.

Just as with early personal computers, you can build your own. This one is very easy to make, no power tools required. The only out-of-pocket cost was $9 for the box, purchased at local retail (a dollar store).

What we really need, however, is mass production and distribution. SIPs need to be affordable and readily available in local stores supported by visual merchandising. Obviously this would be easy to accomplish. This is very simple technology. All it will take is education and entrepreneurship in the private sector.

Personal SIPs like these would go a long way in helping us eliminate food deserts and help in the fight against obesity. Do yourself and all others a favor by trying these and then spreading the word. Just one SIP and you will be hooked!



Recycled plastics (food containers, nursery flats) create the soil platform, soil wicks and water reservoir. Five milk containers are used here (about 2 1/2 gallon reservoir capacity). Cut large slots on the bottom side of the containers  to allow water entry and poke holes in the top side for aeration and drainage of any excess water. An overflow drain hole (top center) prevents over watering. Recycled water bottles create a fill tube.

Update: This overflow drain hole will work, but not very well because the soil will prevent the free flow of water. It will clog the hole. The way to do it is to connect the reservoir (in this case one of the plastic milk bottles) to the drainhole with a piece of 1/2" to 3/4" plastic tubing. This way, the water will always have a clear path to the outside of the planter. You can see that's  what we did here with this sub-irrigated window box.

The reservoir inside this window box is made from inverted nursery flats. The overflow drain hole tubes on each end of the window box connect into the nursery flats on each end. Had I done this with the planter below, the tubing would penetrate the milk bottle at the top. Do this and it will prevent soil from clogging the overflow drain hole. No connection is needed between the five bottles. The large slots cut in the bottom of the bottles (not shown) allow water to flow freely between them.

Container mix (NO top soil) packed down between the recycled plastics creates the soil wicking system. The water from the reservoirs will rise by capillary action creating a uniform distribution of water throughout the SIP. Simply pour water down the fill tube until you see some water exit the overflow drain hole (top center).

The tote box lid with the center cut out makes a retainer for a sheet plastic mulch cover (not shown). Recycle the soil mix bag, black side up. This prevents weed growth and water evaporation.

Comments

[Charlie Whitehead]

Time Magazine says Valcent's Vertical Farming Technology one of the Top 50 Best Innovations of 2009: http://bit.ly/5zDIqh

"I can't think of any technology that addresses more urgent issues than Valcent's vertical farming system", says Robert F Kennedy Jr http://bit.ly/cPb00g

[Lori Kelsey]

My tote garden has done wonderfully. I never had much luck with certain veggies- but have gotten broccoli, califlower, turnips, strawberries, carrots and peas. These totes were made with recycled totes I got at garage sales and plastic milk and water jugs at the bottom. I don't have a lid on them as they are in a greenhouse, but when summer comes, I will be converting them to summer crops with plastic covers. Only problem I had was space, as the plants grew to be bigger than I expected!

[lina40]

OMG - I am super psyched -- I plan to make this today! here is a youtube version that seems to be very similar also
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3INoLKg555w&feature=related

its amazing what can be done with a "Can-Do" attitude, regardless of resources.

GreenLina

[Global Buckets]

Dear Greenscaper,

We love this simplified version.

May we "borrow" part of this post to put on our "New Design" section of our blog GlobalBuckets.org? We will of course give you full credit and a link.

Thank You,

Max Buster
www.GlobalBuckets.org

[Greenscaper]

Hi Max,

You have my permission to use photos and information from this blog with attribution as you described.

I really applaud the work that you and your brother are doing and hope that you continue in some way. You are both providing a significant social service.

You can help all of us involved in the cause of modern methods of personal food production by using this method and helping to product test it.

I know from growing these coffee trees that it works. The trees are very healthy and growing rapidly.

http://www.insideurbangreen.org/2010/02/indoor-coffee-tree-plantation-in-a-sip-.html

I do not, however, have a product test garden at this time to test any quantity of larger SIPs like this. My lab is indoors and made up mostly of soda bottle SIPs.

The only question about the “simple SIP” is the durability of the milk containers and the inverted nursery trays. How will they stand up through a growing season?

It would be of obvious benefit to recycle these plastics because of their widespread availability. Who knows how many of them are going into landfills.

Incidentally, I have great memories of Colorado from my IBM days when we opened a magnetic tape manufacturing facility in Boulder. I spent a lot of time living in the Harvest House. There were many rides up into your beautiful Rocky Mountains.

Let me know if I can be of any help.

Take care,
Bob Hyland

[Natalie DeNormandie]

Hi Bob,
I am a landscape architect designing a SIP out of recycled 55 gallon drums to hold vines for a recycling facility in Boston. I was hoping to get your critique of whether you think my modified design will work. I'd like to send you a sketch with notes - do you have time to look it over and comment?

If so, please email me and leave me your contact information (email is fine) so I can send a JPEG or PDF.

Thanks so much - Love your site, such exciting work!
Natalie DeNormandie
www.segodesign.com

[Priscila]

hello, Bob!

i've been following your blog and have tried some soda bottle SIPs at home! (a small apartment in São Paulo, Brazil)

i started with some cherry tomato seeds, and they've grown a lot, much more than i expected in such a short time! i planted 10 seeds in half a 500mL bottle... that was too small!!

now, i think i must plant them somewhere else, cause i've got roots getting all out of the planter... is it possible? can i end up killing them, for cutting part of the roots?

thanks in advance! : )

[Jeremy]

Hi there,

May I know what would be a good percentage of the total volume that the reservoir should take up? Also what should the suggested minimum depth of potting mix be?

Thanks

[Fancyhutchandb]

Hello,

Can you please describe the large slots cut into the bottom of the containers? Also, are the drain holes just below the level of the top of the containers? And is it necessary to fill the drain holes with tubes?

Thanks so very much. I am obsessed with SIP's and can't stop thinking about this!!

[Paula]

I'm so excited about this! I now have two SIP bins in my pool area with some tomato plants, peppers and squash and they look okay to great. (It's only been a week.) But here's my problem. With the torrential rain storms I've had over the past week (SW FL) I've not had to add any water, but yesterday I noticed a bad smell coming from the empty-water-bottle fill tubes (rotting greenery/compost type of smell.) Is this okay or should I try and flush the reservoir somehow? In everything I've been reading (I'm also obsessed, lol) I've not heard mention of this happening. Hopefully I didn't do something totally wrong.
Thanks!

[Robert]

I would like to plant seeds in an 18 gallon tote SIP. Will capillary action be enough to get moisture to the seeds that are half an inch to an inch from the surface? Thanks for your response.

[neil]

can someone advise me on how ofter i should be filling the SIP reservoir? i ask because my planters are on the roof and that makes it harder to check and add water.

any advice would be great. the approx. volume of my reservoir is 5 gallons.

thx neil