The great 2024 wicking bucket/pot experiments

[gtaus]

Peppers and potted flowers hanging out in the greenhouse.

I noticed that you have a number of plant starts in those red solo cups sitting inside a dish pan. Do you punch a hole(s) in the solo cups and bottom water them? Have you ever tried the double solo cup method? Just wondering because your plants look so good to me.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I noticed that you have a number of plant starts in those red solo cups sitting inside a dish pan. Do you punch a hole(s) in the solo cups and bottom water them? Have you ever tried the double solo cup method? Just wondering because your plants look so good to me.

Thanks!
I think it's mostly peppers in them right now.
I start them in the tiny seed trays in seed starting mix by Jiffy. I up pot into the solo cups that I punched holes into the sides about 1/8" above the very bottom. I do bottom water them and let them dry out for a day or two between waterings so they send roots all the way down. I use miracle grow potting mix in the solo cups.

The dish pans are a handy way to transport back into the house early on when it's still to cold at night as well as to the garden beds later on. Those high sides help prevent tip overs when I move them.

I haven't tried the double cup method.

 

[gtaus]

I start them in the tiny seed trays in seed starting mix by Jiffy... I use miracle grow potting mix in the solo cups.

I bought some less expensive potting soil mix this year and regret it. It might be OK for established plants, but it was not a good choice for seed starting. Too many big chucks of woody stuff in the potting soil mix I bought.

I think last year I used Miracle-Gro potting mix and really liked it. Probably should have bought that again for this year.

Lesson learned: It's hard to learn from your lessons if you don't write down what you did! I should have documented what potting soil or seed starting mix I used last year and how well it worked. I did not. Now, I'm only guessing at what I used last year. Oh well, I can write down the potting soil I used this year and that I did not like it.

I haven't tried the double cup method.

Nor have I. I just have seen a number of YouTube videos on the subject and it looks like a good system.

I am very happy with my 3-inch net cups for seed starting and growing starts. Well, except for the lower quality potting mix I used this year. Still, I have a number of starts pushing up and through. So, I hope to have a good start on many plants this spring.

I am still at that stage of gardening where I attempt to start as many of my own plants as possible but am not ashamed to buy starter packs at the nursery for plants that I was unable to grow myself at home. A few years ago, it was all just store-bought starter packs. At least I take some pride in knowing that more than half of my plants this year will come from my seed starting efforts.

 

[Debbie292d]

I grew butternut squash on a cattle panel years ago. It did well. I did have to make support slings for them as they are heavy.

I love it! We need to try this!

By support slings, like I'm guessing onion sacks tied with ropes on each side, something like that would work?

We have several cattle panels all cut for tomato cages but I think I can get hubby to utilize a few I don't use anymore for this idea!! Otherwise, they are in a bad spot and suffer when we don't pull them back.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I bought some less expensive potting soil mix this year and regret it. It might be OK for established plants, but it was not a good choice for seed starting. Too many big chucks of woody stuff in the potting soil mix I bought.

I think last year I used Miracle-Gro potting mix and really liked it. Probably should have bought that again for this year.

Lesson learned: It's hard to learn from your lessons if you don't write down what you did! I should have documented what potting soil or seed starting mix I used last year and how well it worked. I did not. Now, I'm only guessing at what I used last year. Oh well, I can write down the potting soil I used this year and that I did not like it.



Nor have I. I just have seen a number of YouTube videos on the subject and it looks like a good system.

I am very happy with my 3-inch net cups for seed starting and growing starts. Well, except for the lower quality potting mix I used this year. Still, I have a number of starts pushing up and through. So, I hope to have a good start on many plants this spring.

I am still at that stage of gardening where I attempt to start as many of my own plants as possible but am not ashamed to buy starter packs at the nursery for plants that I was unable to grow myself at home. A few years ago, it was all just store-bought starter packs. At least I take some pride in knowing that more than half of my plants this year will come from my seed starting efforts.

I bought cheaper stuff last year too. It was a costly mistake. It didn't hold any water and my plants struggled.
Even the strongest starts failed once put into that crappy stuff.
I also didn't like the seed starting little compressed disk things. They didn't expand well at all giving just 1/2" to try to start seeds in. I topped those up with jiffy fluffy stuff but still found big voids when I potted the starts into bigger pots. It was disappointing.

I love it! We need to try this!

By support slings, like I'm guessing onion sacks tied with ropes on each side, something like that would work?

We have several cattle panels all cut for tomato cages but I think I can get hubby to utilize a few I don't use anymore for this idea!! Otherwise, they are in a bad spot and suffer when we don't pull them back.

I actually used ladies nylons lol. Pretty much anything that will support the weight and be flexible to allow expansion should work.
I am going to do it again with butternut squash.

 

[Debbie292d]

I bought cheaper stuff last year too. It was a costly mistake. It didn't hold any water and my plants struggled.
Even the strongest starts failed once put into that crappy stuff.
I also didn't like the seed starting little compressed disk things. They didn't expand well at all giving just 1/2" to try to start seeds in. I topped those up with jiffy fluffy stuff but still found big voids when I potted the starts into bigger pots. It was disappointing.



I actually used ladies nylons lol. Pretty much anything that will support the weight and be flexible to allow expansion should work.
I am going to do it again with butternut squash.

Thank you again! As soon as he gets home, I'm telling him your idea. He will love it as these vine plants (cucumbers, squash, pumpkins) have been such a headache to us and this gets rid of 1/3 of the problem!

 

[21hens-incharge]

Finally warm enough at night to move the peppers out of the greenhouse.

Yup there are plenty of weeds going strong.




Potatoes are up and flowers are starting to bloom.



Never grew nasturtium before but so far they are kinda cool.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I turned a stock tank into a self watering planter for strawberries. The pipe is 1" but 1.5 would have been better.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Well as gardening goes things are growing.... slowly.

The self watering buckets are doing well enough. New leaves on everything.
Interesting side note the Peppers in grow bags are putting on a few more leaves than the bucket ones.
Theory is that they were still in the house while night temps dropped into the low 40's so didn't get that stress.

The overflow holes we drilled with a 1/4" bit. Today I was adding water to the stock tank berries. I kept thinking it ought to be full by now. I was right. Somehow that hole got plugged up. It's now a 3/8" hole. No real harm done since I caught it right away.

Tip there is drill 2-3 overflow holes just in case and go bigger than 1/4".

 

[gtaus]

The overflow holes we drilled with a 1/4" bit. Today I was adding water to the stock tank berries. I kept thinking it ought to be full by now. I was right. Somehow that hole got plugged up. It's now a 3/8" hole. No real harm done since I caught it right away.

I think my overflow hole is either 1/2 or 3/4 inch. It just needs to be big enough to not get clogged. I agree that 1/4 inch is probably too small.

Tip there is drill 2-3 overflow holes just in case and go bigger than 1/4".

IMHO, one overflow hole is enough as long as it does not get clogged. FWIW, I have never had any of my drain holes clog up. But I am sure I used either a 1/2 or 3/4 inch overflow hole in my sub-irrigated planters.

Also, my planters' drain holes do not have direct contact with the potting soil. There is a barrier between the potting soil and the water reservoir, so that also greatly reduces the chances of any clogs from soil debris. It is really only water in the reservoir that would ever drain out.