Inside Urban Green

Contoured Plant Based Plastic Bottles Coming From Pepsi. But What About SIPs?

The sub-irrigated planter (SIP) to the left was made from a 3-liter diet Pepsi bottle (see prior post also see how to make them). While it is good news about a new and greener Pepsi bottle, it looks like the days of straight-sided 2 and 3-liter soda bottles are numbered. That is not good news for making soda bottle SIPs.

Coke has already gone curvy. As you can see, a Spider plant is growing in a curvy SIP but it is more difficult to make and not nearly as flexible in design options. From the picture of the new contoured Pepsi bottle above it looks like the same thing will be true for Pepsi SIPs.

Contouring adds strength and perhaps some visual appeal but it is not so green. It may seem a utopian idea but there is real value in making soda bottles straight-sided. Are you thinking Don Quixote rides again? 

Recycling is good but upcycling or repurposing is even better. Soda bottle SIPs are an unintended secondary product of significant value to society.

Having grown plants in them for many years, I believe it could be justified to make them as a primary product. I’ve learned more about growing plants and plant science from soda bottle SIPs than any other information source.

Clear soda bottle SIPs should be helping to grow plants inside every school in the world. They would quickly demonstrate how easy it is to grow plants using sub-irrigation as compared to tricky-to-learn drench and drain watering in traditional pots with drain holes.

Clear SIPs teach recycling, water conservation, some basic plant science as well as an introduction to edible plant growing. What could be more important than learning some simple science along with self-sufficiency about feeding oneself? Learning how to use sub-irrigation on a personal level is a survival skill.

So, my message is to save all the straight sided soda bottles you can find and turn them into SIPs. What a great recycling project this would be for every school in America.

Know that growing edible plants with sub-irrigation is scalable from windowsills to backyards and school yards, to rooftops and balconies to commercial farms. It is not well known by the public that sub-irrigation is widely used in greenhouse growing around the world. It is even employed in field farming in some parts of the U.S.

Why then is it not taught in the public school system? Why are consumer horticulture institutions such as urban botanic gardens not teaching it? Many millions of children who are destined for lives of obesity or hunger deserve better.

via:crispgreen.com

Using plant-based, fully renewable resources, the company plans to manufacture a beverage container with a significantly reduced carbon footprint.

For years, scientists and inventors have offered up futuristic alternatives to the resource-intensive plastic packaging clogging up our landfills and recycling bins. And for just as many years, practical environmentalists have said that these designs are all well and good, but until the day they're used in mainstream commercial production, their impact will be minuscule.

It appears that day may not be as far away as we thought.

Root System Explodes in Just 3 Weeks

This Ficus benjamina (a bonsai in training) in a recycled soda bottle sub-irrigation planter (SIP) surprised even me with all my years of growing plants.

I'm in the process of reinstalling plants in the CuGreen lab to increase the plant care interval beyond weekly care. I need to do this pending upcoming knee surgeries and months of rehabilitation.

The tree was moved up from a 2-liter to a 3-liter soda bottle SIP on December 26, 2011. There were, of course, no visible roots after the replanting. When watering it this week, I was amazed to see the root system "explosion" in just 3 weeks. This is awesome!

As an aside, all school kids should be able to see the amazing “hidden world” of plant roots that I see every day because the SIPs have clear walls and the roots grow so well. 

The most important factor about what we see here is the vivid demonstration of how plants thrive in SIPs. Know that sub-irrigation is scalable from windowsill herb growing SIPs to 4' x 8' raised bed SIPs. SIP “plumbing” fits all sizes of watertight planters. The key element is the water and oxygen reservoir that is an inherent part of all SIPs regardless of size or shape.

The benefit to the plants is that they receive an online supply of water, oxygen and nutrients. All we need to do is add an adequate amount of light.

In addition, the systems are hygienic when growing edible plants. There is no exposure to often-contaminated city soil. Why risk the possibility of a serious health problem when such a productive way of growing plants is readily available. All it takes is a little bit of knowledge. The systems are so simple to make. 
 

CuGreen Plant Lab » Indoor Plant Season is Here Again

These are some of the plants growing in the CuGreen plant lab. All are either sub-irrigated or growing in expanded clay pebble hydroculture. There is no drainage. They are watered on a fixed schedule. All soil based plants are growing in the same artificial soil media. There is no need for "special soil" based on the species of plant. Any terrestrial plant (with roots), including cactus, can be grown and maintained using these methods.

I am writing a how-to guide for what you see here. It will be a free download. Stay tuned.

Recycling Plastic Bottles » A Roof or Growing Fresh Food?

via www.telegraph.co.uk

The Growing Gardens Project Community Garden was created by volunteers on a patch of disused land at Deen City Farm, Colliers Wood, and is well-known for its quirky features. It has a turf maze, an eco-building created out of more than 5000 plastic bottles (pictured), and organises regular workshops on horticultural subjects such as bee-keeping.

This is a creative way to recycle plastic bottles but there is an even better way to upcylce them. Learn how after the jump.

NYC » The Festival of Ideas for the New City: StreetFest 2011

If I had new knees, I would have walked this festival. It was good to see a mention of recycled plastic bottle sub-irrigated planters or SIPs (aka erroneously as "self-watering"). Evidently the Green Depot was demonstrating how to make them.

My question is why aren't both Brooklyn Botanic Garden and New York Botanical Garden demonstrating soda bottle SIP maKing every weekend of the year.

Soda bottle SIPs are one of the most effective ways to teach recycling, plant science and how to grow healthy plants while saving water. They belong in every classroom in America.

Take This Idea

Ideas included nontoxic routes to healthier homes, alternative ways to generate energy, and new ways to recycle.

The Green Depot featured an interesting concept for self-watering planters made by recycling plastic bottles.

via www.theepochtimes.com

NEW YORK—From Bowery to Forsyth, E. Houston to Spring, the Festival of Ideas for the New City StreetFest held on Saturday offered a myriad of progressive choices for improving New York City.

Recyled Aloe Drink Bottles Make Nice Looking Sub-irrigated Planters

These are recycled plastic aloe drink bottles made into sub-irrigated planters (SIPs). They have more decorative appeal than regular soda bottles.

You can see that these planters have long wicks (Pellon poly fabric or equivalent). I was not sure that the water would move by capillary action all the way up the wick into the reservoir.

As you can see in the photo to the left, it turned out to be no problem at all. See the water roots escaping out of the reservoir along the wick. Plant roots definitely know how to find water.

The reason for the long wick is the design pattern of the bottles. There is an obåvious space between the patterns to cut the bottle. Doing so creates a planter with a tall reservoir. The solution is to install two strips of poly fabric. The shorter one loops inside the reservoir. The longer one loops down to the bottom of the reservoir. Link them together like links in a chain.

Recycled bottle planters are a great way to teach children about how plants grow. I constantly learn something new by using them. I use spider plants (Chlorophytum) for experimenting because they are easy to propagate, easy to grow, relatively low light tolerant and are in scale for small planters.

It does not matter whether they are houseplants or edible plants. SIPs work beautifully for any terrestrial plant regardless of species.

A New Dimension of Urban Food Production with Recycled Materials

Find out what these Spider plants are growing in after the jump. Recycling goes beyond just soda bottle sub-irrigated planters (SIPs).

It's Your Secret

The secret follows...

Sub-irrigated Crassula Golem Bonsai

This is a Crassula Golem (Jade plant) bonsai growing in a recycled soda bottle sub-irrigated planter (SIP) inside an IKEA ceramic cachepot. There is no drain hole. You can grow any terrestrial plant from Peace Lilies to Cacti in SIPs. You do not need to grow plants in containers with drain holes.

The need for drain holes is an urban myth perpetuated by the USDA extension program, houseplant growers and houseplant book authors who do not know any better.

This plant was installed back in August '07. Even though it was happier in the dry Mediterranean climate of San Diego it has stayed in good health growing on an east facing windowsill here in Brooklyn since the fall of '07. I staged it here under a CFL desk lamp for the photo shoot but you could grow it under artificial light this way.

Little Mother Spider in a SIP

See the hydroponic "water roots"