10 gallon Earth box
Materials used
10 Gal. plastic tote
1" (inside diameter) PVC tube:
(*) 1 @ 20 in.
(*) 6 @ 5 in.
"2 red Solo" party cups
24 small zip ties
1 med. zip tie
Approximately 1 cu. yard potting soil
1 trash bag
(*) Measurements may need to be adjusted based on container height
Tools List
Drill (electric or cordless)
5/32" drill bit
1/4" drill bit
1 3/8" hole saw
3 1/2" hole saw
Hacksaw
Utility (razor) knife
Permanent Marker
Measuring Tape
Diagonal side cutters (clippers for the zip ties)
Start by drilling the aeration holes in the lid using the 5/32 in drill.
Next drill the 2 3 ½” holes for the wicking cups.
If you are making multiple systems at once, you can stack the lids together and drill them all at once.
Next, cut the inside portion of the lid out of the outer ring, this will create the aeration plate.
If you cut away too much from the inside, you can make a patch from an old soda bottle. (We had to do this on our first one, and it worked just fine.)
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.
Now it’s time to make the legs, and fill tube. Start by cutting the PVC to size. You will need one piece 20” long for the fill tube, and 6 pieces 5” long for the legs.
Make a relief (wedge) cut on one end of the fill tube to allow water to flow out of the tube into the reservoir.
Using the ¼” drill, make 4 holes in one end of each leg, 90 degrees apart. These holes will be used to attach the legs to the aeration plate.
On the other end of each leg, make a V-cut. This will allow water to flow in and out of the legs, eliminating “dead space”, and increasing your reservoir size.
Next, mark where the legs will mount to the bottom of the aeration plate.
And drill 8 ¼” holes for the legs to attach.
Next, attach the legs using the small zip ties.
With the ¼” drill, make your drain holes 4” from the bottom of the tote. This will leave a 1” gap for the aeration of the roots. Make sure you have more than 1 drain hole, in case 1 gets plugged.
Drill a ¼” hole on either side of where the fill tube will sit, and attach the fill tube using the larger zip tie.
Now prepare the wicking cups. Using a utility knife, make 3 vertical slits evenly spaced around the cup from the bottom up, stopping about ½” from the top.
Place the wicking cups in the large holes of the aeration plate, and install the aeration plate in the container.
Now, you are ready to plant. We will have pictures of the planting process in a separate post, but here is a picture of one of our planted totes.
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