cat litter earthbox

Here is our small container system made from a cat litter container.  It holds approximately 2 gallons of soil.

The first step is to drill the hole for the fill tube.  For this, we used a 1 1/4" hole saw on a standard electric drill.

The next step is to drill the aeration holes in the top of the cat litter container.  This will eventually become what we are calling the aeration plate.  We used a 5/32" drill bit to drill all the holes in this container.

Next, I used a utility knife to cut the hole for the wicking cup.  I cut the hole by hand because it’s smaller than all of our other systems.  I would trim a little at a time until I got it the size I wanted it.  You want to make sure that your wicking cup fits fairly snugly into its hole.  If you have any big gaps, soil will fall down into your water reservoir.

After I had all the holes drilled and cut, I cut the top of the container off.  The top is now the aeration plate.  The aeration plate allows the plant roots to get air, which they need to flourish.

The next step is to trim off all the little plastic nerdles that are stuck in the drill holes of the aeration plate.  We added this step because we were concerned that the aeration holes might become clogged easily if we left the little plastic bits attached.  I just used a utility knife.

The next step is to put the aeration plate into the container.  For this container, it is a very snug fit.  Turn the lid upside down and push it all the way into the bottom of the container.  You may have one or two small areas where it sort of bows out a little.  I drew a red line to show you where I made a little cut with a pair of scissors.  This alleviated the bowing, and allowed the aeration plate to lie flat against the inside of the container.  You want it to be very snug or soil will fall down into the water reservoir. 

Once you get the aeration plate where you want it, drill holes through the side of the container and aeration plate.  Drill two holes fairly close to each other, on each side of the container.  Put a zip tie through each set of holes and tighten it.  You can then clip off the extra piece of zip tie.  It just gives it a cleaner look. This will just hold the aeration plate in place and prevent it from shifting which will add more stability and keep the water reservoir clear of dirt. 

After you attach the aeration plate, you will need to drop down ½ - 1 inch and drill a drain hole in each side of the container.  Having the drain holes just below the bottom of the aeration plate prevents the plant from ever becoming over watered.

The next step is to insert the fill tube.  We used 1 inch PVC pipe cut into a 12 inch length for this container system.  At the bottom of the fill tube, we cut a wedge cut that allows the water to flow much easier from the fill tube into the reservoir.  When you cut a fill tube, just make sure that it sticks about two inches or so above the top of your container.  When I put the fill tube in, I made sure to push it all the way through the hole until it touched the bottom of the container.

Once the fill tube is in place, drill a hole through the container (near the top) on each side of the fill tube and secure the fill tube with a zip tie.  This step just helps to hold everything in place and add a little more stability.

The last step is making the wicking cup.  We used the plastic 18 ounce solo cups.   In our other systems, the wicking cup does not need trimming.  In this mini system, however, you have to trim it or else it sticks up way to far into where the soil will be.  Once you get the wicking cup trimmed to the height you want it, just make a vertical slit down the sides of the cup.  We made 3 slits in all of our wicking cups and spaced them evenly around the cup.  When you have the wicking cup finished, just put it down into its hole and push until it touches the bottom of the container.  The wicking cup has to sit down in the water reservoir in order to function properly.

The construction of this system is now finished and ready to be planted.  If you click on the planting link, you’ll see the steps we take to plant these systems.  The pictures and descriptions are done in one of our 10 gallon totes, but the methods are exactly the same no matter what system you are planting.

We have cucumber seedlings planted in these.  In less than a week, our seedlings have doubled in size.