Bucket prep has begun finally...
I am signing on to this thread because it's something that I have been thinking about for a while as well.
There are a few things that I can add to the discussion that might be helpful to others thinking about 5-gallon self-wicking buckets/pots.
First of all, Harbor Freight has free 5-gallon (food-safe) bucket sales every few months. For none-members, you can get a free bucket for a purchase of around $29.00. For Inside Track Club (ITC) members, HF will give you a free bucket with ANY purchase. I happen to be an ITC member, so when they have the 5-gallon bucket sale weekends, I will go in every day and make a small purchase of things I have on my restocking list.
Regular price of a HF 5-gallon bucket is $4.98. This weekend, everyone can buy up to 5 items in store for less than $10.00 each and get a 30% off discount with their coupon. That would bring the price per bucket down to $3.50. Not a bad price if you don't have other options.
Personally, I just wait for the free bucket weekend sales. I have about 15 of those "free" HF buckets from the last 2 years. Which is why I am interested in this thread...
Another thing I would like to mention is your fill tube...
Certainly, a 1/2 inch PVC pipe will work to fill the bucket with water. That's what I did with my first sub-irrigated planter. But I soon discovered that I needed a funnel to refill my planter with my garden hose because the garden hose end would not fit into the 1/2-inch PVC pipe.
That was a big deal for me because my sub-irrigated planter holds about 15 gallons of water. In short time, I replaced the 1/2-inch pipe with something like a 1-1/2-inch pipe, big enough to put my garden hose down into the pipe and let it refill on it's own.
Probably not a big deal for only one or two 5-gallon wicking buckets, but if you end up with lots of buckets somewhere in the future, refilling them with a small 1/2-inch pipe might take a lot of time. I recommend going bigger on the fill tube so you can use a garden hose for faster refills.
Also, I figured out how to make a very nice, low cost water level indicator to monitor my water level using swimming noodles.
I bought a swimming noodle from the Dollar Tree and cut strips the full length of my fill pipe. Then I put the strip into the pipe. When full, my swimming noodle indicator floats and rises about 3 inches over the top of the fill pipe. When the indicator drops down close to the top of the fill pipe, I refill my planter's reservoir.
Having the swimming noodle water level indicator takes the guess work out when a planter needs to be refilled. As we all know, some plants - like tomatoes - are heavy drinkers whereas other plants do not need near as much water. If you have all kinds of different plants growing in different 5-gallon buckets, you will have some that need water and others that don't. I can easily see which planters need watering.
That swimming pool indicator cost me only pennies, does not need batteries or other power, and just works. I just look out my deck window and can see the status of my water reservoir in my planters.
Finally, a word about the lids. If your bucket does not come with a lid, you have to pay extra for them at our big box stores. Usually $2-$3 per lid.
That is a good time to use a broken bucket lid that you saved for some project. Use it for this self-wicking bucket. It does not have to be perfect, and a few cracks won't matter.
I would love to hear alternatives to using a bucket lid for the bottom of the self-wicking planter setup because I think that is one area where a person could cut costs using something less expensive. Just a thought.
Anyways, now that I am signed up to this thread, I am looking forward to your updates and thoughts on what worked for you in your experiment.
