I am looking into making some self watering planters, and I am considering 4 gallon square buckets, I want to use Square buckets just to make it easier to space them in the grow tent and to get more in the grow tent. But the 5g Buckets are like 6 bucks more each.
I guess, what I need to know is a 4 gallon pot big enough for a decent grow? I am still on the fence on how I feel about the self watering pots I got. They dont really hold enough water for my tastes, I would much prefer at least 3 gallons of water in the tank. I am also considering just using the huge square totes i have and turning them into a self watering potter, but I would likely only be able to fit 2 MAYBE 3 in my 4x4 tent, but, those are like 20+ gallons so maybe i could fit multiple plants in each one?
Only 4? I have 6 of my 4.8g self watering planters in the tent right now but im not sure how well I like the premade ones I bought, they SEEM to be working ok, but they are a bitch to fill (and they hold less than a gallon of water) unless you pour through the soil and then you got the risk of over filling and water running out lol.
its a 6ft 6in tall X 4ft X 4ft tent. I like them other than the SMALL water volume, if they held 3 or 4 gallons of water, I would be thrilled with them. But 2 liters and the critical red hourglass will drink it all up in a day lol.
My home build Proof of Concept is made with 2 round 5g buckets, but its harder to get as many round buckets in as you can square. The tank on the one I made however will hold a little bit over 3g of water in the tank.
My goal once I get the Square Buckets would be to have about a 3.5g tank and 4g of soil. My goal is to make something that I only have to water once a week or less often lol
I am considering working up a model off a 20g to 30g 2 tote tubs, just for a Much larger water and soil volume, and I figure I can fit 2 or 3 of those in the tent, and like 2 or 3 plants in each of them.
I saw them, only thing Im leary about with those is the amount of water in them, the SIP bucket I build will hold 3 gallons of water and 5 gallons of dirt. With those, you lose some dirt volume and i doubt you get more than a gallon in the base. I want as much water possible in the base so that my lazy ass doesnt have to refil them every other day lol.
Also I know NOTHING about that site they are on, and it seems kinda sketch considering those are the only product they have up.
@blowdout2269@Ace71975
I used this product previously and I came to the conclusion that DIY is better & way cheaper.
Easiest thing for 5 gal bucket SIP is this, take one 5 gal buck and drill a bunch of holes in it. Fill this bucket with 2" of woodchips/mulch and the rest with soil + perlite. Then place that bucket inside a new 5 gal bucket with only 1 hole on the side about 3" from the bottom, it’s the overflow hole.
Or what I do now… single 5 gal bucket, drilled holes in bottom, fill 1/3rd with woodchip/mulch, the rest soil. Water from top. Woodchips acts like a sponge and retains water like a sip… = happy plants. Only has 1 hole in the side of bucket about 3" up.
Well, I did a VERSION of that, but I got a LOT fancier lol. I build one as proof of concept, it has the holes in the bottom, but it also has a Pipe for filling and a pipe with a float in it to tell me the water level, along with cotton wicks through a bunch of the holes.
