EASY TO BUILD GROWERS April, 2008 Food prices getting you down? They sure are getting me down. I am going to grow as much of my food as I can. Because I live in a retirement community with all kinds of association rules made by people who only come stay here several months each year, I will have to use containers to grow in. So, here is the grower design I have come up with to get the job done' I hope you find the following information useful. Drop me a line and let me know how it goes. chuck |
APRIL 2, 2008 First project test units have been built and are very easy to construct. The unit is built around a 10 gallon tote box. The theory of operation is simple. A liner is is installed inside the box. The purpose of the liner is to support potting mix several inches above the bottom of the tote box. The liner is made from a cloth like material called landscape cloth. It is used to cover the ground to prevent plant growth while allowing water to pass through. The liner is made by draping the landscape cloth inside the tote box so that it will hold the potting mix several inches above the bottom of the tote box. It is then filled with the potting mix. The tote box is filled with water until the water starts flowing out of the overflow hole in the side of the tote box. The overflow hole is cut into the tote box several inches higher than the bottom level of the liner. This causes the liner to be submerged into the water several inches on the bottom. This moisture seeps up toward the surface to supply the plant with water. A complete step by step construction guide with pictures will be added here soon along with the results of the plant growth in the three test units I constructed on April 1st. (no joke). The plants in the test units are one tomato and two hot pepper plants, one plant per box. Larger units can be built, but I want to see just how well the units work first. A 10 gallon tote box costs around $4 dollars. It is about 18 inches long, 12 inches wide and 12 inches deep. It will hold about 2/3 of a cubic foot of potting mix. More later, chuck |
04/03/08 The plants are looking good today. I checked the water level and found that it was time to add some. Each grow box needed about about a quart of water to bring the level up to the overflow level. I have not installed a plastic cover over the top surface of the grow boxes yet. After a week or so, I will to compare the rate of water usage with and withot the plastic mulch covers in place. I made up a plant food mix that I will be using for this test series. I am using a product made by a company named " SOUTHERN AGRICULTURE AND INSECTICIDE . www.southernag.com. Product #64777 They make a special hydroponic product used by commercial growers. It comes in 25 pound bags and the cost is around $25 dollars. The reason I use this product is because it is so cheap and works very well. Four teaspoons makes 5 gallons. However, a couple more ingredients need to be added to make the mix complete. You will need to buy some epsom salts at the drugstore. You need to add 1 teaspoon to the 5 gallon mix. The 3rd and last ingredient is GREENHOUSE GRADE CALCIUM NITRATE. You can buy this from Southern Ag. if you want, but they only sell it in 50 pound bags which makes shipping a bit expensive even though the cost is low. You only need two teaspoons for each 5 gallons of water. Try to find this in smaller bags if you cah. Try local green house suppliers. As you can see, you can make 1000's of gallons of plant food from each 25 pound package. It might be that we can set something set up where smaller quantities can be made by people going in on the large bags of the So. Ag special hydro 5-11-25 and the calcium nitrate. Epsom salts are available everywhere and cost is very low. I just use a small plastic spoon and add one level ts of the 5-11-25 to a half filled 1 gal jug of warm water. Then I shake it up good with the cap on. Next, I estimate a 1/4 ts of the epsom salts and repeat the shaking. Lastly, I estimate 1/2 ts of the calcium nitrate and desolve it in a small cup of warm water and then add it to the gallon jug shaking it all up again. I finish up by adding enough water to completly fill up the gallon jug and finsh up with a final shake up. The IMPORTANT thing to keep in mind is that you must add the epsom salt to the mix before you add the calcium nitrate. If you add the calcium nitrate before you add the epsom salt, Southern Agriculture says that a chemical reaction will occure that will cause the calcium to be locked up somehow and not available for the plants to use. It is beyond my chemical understanding. There are many other plant feeding options of course. Well, that's it for today. chuck |
April 5, 2008 OK, Finally got some pictures of the construction.. |
Completed grower with a small tomato plant |
The center of the lid is cut out |
Ten gallon tote box |
This tote box was purchased at Wal-Mart for $4.00. |
This is the landscape fabric that I found at TARGET. You can find it under various names at many garden sections. The package show above has a strip 36" X 50 foot. It takes a 3 foot X three foot piece for each grower when using the 10 gallon size tote box. |
These are the sheet metal screws that I used in the project to attach the fabric around the top of the tote box. I only used them because they were left over from another project. The screws could be anywhere from 3/8 inch long to 3/4 inches long. It really doesn't matter as long as they have a sharp point. Dont get the ones with the drill tips. They are too expensive, and the plastic tubs are really soft material. |
Start on one side with three screws to hold the fabric. Leave about 1 inch overlap. |
To measure the right amount of fabric to form the inner liner, I use one finger to poke the material down in the center of the box to the bottom forming a v shape. Next, I attach the second side. When the potting mix is finally added, the bottom of the liner will flatten out and it should be about 3 inches from the bottom when filled. The fabric on the ends is folded over itself and screwed to the box to complete the liner attachment. Extra screws are added around the edges to make the liner firmly attached all the way around. The excess material will be trimmed away next. |
Next, the lid is attached |
cut a piece of 1/2 or 3/4 inch plastic water pipe about 16 inches long. Make one end with an angled cut, anout 45 degrees will do fine. This will be the filling pipe where you add the water. The angled end goes down into the tub through a cut in the liner. |
Making a small cut in the liner for the fill tube. |
Make a couple holes with a pointed tool. Use a nail or screw in a screww and remove it to make the holes. They should be atleast half way up or higher in the corner that the fill tube will be.placed. The holes are for a wire to be fed through to help hold the fill pipe in place. I used pitchure frame hanging wire, it is something I keep in my tool box when needed. You could use whatever you can find that does the job. |
I used the same wire to secure the top of the fill tube in place |
Here is how I made the overflow hole in my boxes. To determine the right place to make the hole, place your hands into the growbox and simulate how the liner will be when filled with the potting mix, As I said earlier, it should be about 3 inches above the bottom when it is held flat. The overflow hole should be cut about 3 inches higher than the lowest part of the liner. The idea is that when the potting mix is in place, and the water is added through the fill pipe, the bottom 3 inches of the liner will be under water. Just try ti make sure that the hole is several inches higher than the bottom of the liner when it is filled. |
Here is the completed grower box. I used a screw to hold the wire that went through the box to hold the lower part of the fill tube that extends all the way to the bottom of the growbox. |
This is my 4th growbox. I will be putting a cayenne pepper in it when the seedling is large enough. I hope that the pictures will help you decide if this is a proiject you care to try. Let me know how it goes, chuck email chuck at n6xf@yahoo.com |
Original test unit construction details |
May 1, 2008 Hi, welcome. This project is an effort to devise an easy to build grower that is cheap to make. It does bear some resemblence to a commercially available product. I do not claim that this is a superior design, but it is certinly less expensive to make and the design is now public domain. Build as many as you care to. The following pages were started in April, 2008 and the design has evolved. I have posted this design to several widely read forums with differing results. Some good, and some very negitive. I have withdrawn some postings to get away from those who were very uncomfortable with the thought that their cherished brand was somehow being attacked. IF YOU CAN NOT AFFORD TO SPEND ABOUT 30 MINUTES TO BUILD A GROWER AND WOULD RATHER SPEND $100 DOLLARS TO END UP WITH A UNIT, THIS IS NOT WHERE YOU WANT TO BE. On the other hand, if you need a dozen or more growers to get production up to a meaningful amount to really make a difference in having enough to eat, this grower is a good place to start. I hope that you will take time to go to all the pages before you decide this is not going to work for you. The reason is, the design has gone through several different phases of development. The final phase is very simple. One item of note is that the liner is made from landscape fabric. Landscape fabric comes in many forms and levels of quality. Some are actual fabric, some are perforated plastic. I have used both. When using the 18 mil plastic, I double it up. Some are sold as 10 year grade, others are sold as 20 year grade. I plan to replace the liner each year. It only takes a few minutes to do, so I get the cheaper stuff. I hope that you will email me with your questions and results. If you can, make some up for some poor older folks and give them to them. If you know a family with hungery children, make them a couple and give it to them with a good healthy plant growing. Maybe they will want to make more of their own. Give someone a fish and they will eat it. Give them a fishing pole, and they will always eat. Well, maybe. Good growing, chuck |
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