Skip to main content

Three New Sub-i Tomato Planters: $0, 15 minutes

(in case you’re new here, sub-i = sub-irrigated = what’s usually known as self-watering, which is a misnomer I won’t get into because it’s too tedious to believe)

If you want to read more about sub-irrigation, what it’s good for, why I love it, and how I’ve made inexpensive sub-irrigated planters in the past, just click on the “Sub-I” label beneath this post or at left (or, okay, just click here).  If you live anywhere that watering is not always possible, sub-i planters let you keep on growing by wasting almost no water; it ALL goes to the roots, not in the air, on the leaves, or anywhere else.

So I had these two planters sitting around.  I forget where I got them – free or cheap or at the curb somewhere, no doubt.  There are no holes in the bottom of them, which suits this project just fine.  I also had two large pots sitting around (from a similarly unremembered source), with holes in the bottom, that fit inside pretty unobtrusively.  Okay, kind of funny-looking, but I guess that’s okay with me.

planters 001planters 005

Then, I also had a round planter, quite a bit smaller, but still spacious with no holes in the bottom.  To fit inside that, I found a round hanging planter with the hanger removed.  Nice and snug.

planters 003

Here’s how I turned these six basically FREE pots into three sub-irrigated planters, in about 15 minutes or less.

planters 007

Step 1:  Cut, then tear strips of a raggy old towel to make wicks.

planters 008

Step 2:  Feed the wicks through the holes in the inner pot bottoms, leaving a lot wadded up inside.  I used two wicks per pot.

planters 010planters 009

Step 3:  Place cheap dollar-store plant pots around the bottom of the outer planter.  These will be the support for the inner planter.  In the case of the round planter, I wasn’t sure I needed a support, but I used one anyway.

 planters 002    

Step 4:  Add a drain hole (or two) around or just below the level of the supports.  You don’t want to try it without a drain hole, even if you think you won’t overwater.  I made two in each of the square planters, and only one in the round.  You can drill the hole, but for me, the easiest way is with a hot knife from the stove, just burning a hole in the plastic from the inside.

planters 013planters 011planters 012      

Step 5:  Set the inner planters, with towel wicks, into the outer planters, resting on the supports.

planters 014     

Step 6:  Fill with soil, but remember to position your new sub-i planters in a sunny location BEFORE adding water – they get heavy when you do that!

Step 7:  Add plant.  But you knew that, right?

Purple plum tomatoes, hopefully happy in their new homes:

planters 020 

And then I planted the small one with a pickling cucumber and zucchini.  It’s a bit much for a smallish pot, but if they seem crowded later on, I’ll take one out. 

 planters 032

With this small one, there’s not really a good way to tell how much water is in the reservoir.  The advantage, however, is ZERO water loss to evaporation.  The square planters have a large exposed area of water (all 4 corners), meaning more evaporation and also a potential “standing water” invitation to mosquito larvae.  Hey, maybe I should buy a few goldfish to drop into my sub-i planter water for the season to eat the mosquito larvae!

Happy sub-irrigated growing!!!

Comments

  1. Thanks so much for leaving the link to this post as a comment over at MBT's. I was wondering how to make my own sub-i* containers, because I'm a cheap so-and-so. I probably have the right types of pots in my shed. Holla! (*I also hate the term self-watering. I mean, derp, you still have to water them!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks - and I look forward to enjoying your blog, too! Do read through all the sub-i posts if you get a chance, because these are NOT the most sophisticated sub-i planters you can make on the cheap.
    I much prefer the look and efficiency of the two "closed" models I made with inexpensive pink styrofoam last year.
    http://ronypony.blogspot.com/2009/05/wonderful-world-of-sub-irrigation.html
    These are more like the commercial model in every way, including the fill tube. They are more efficient because there is less evaporation with a "closed" model, and presumably less mosquito incubation, too.
    Though I am tempted to drop a cheap goldfish into each planter just to keep the mosquito larvae down! ;-)
    (knowing me, though, I'd let them run dry and the poor fishies would die)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I love your comments!

Popular posts from this blog

לימודי קודש/Limudei Kodesh Copywork & Activity Printables

Welcome to my Limudei Kodesh / Jewish Studies copywork and activity printables page.  As of June 2013, I am slowly but surely moving all my printables over to 4shared because Google Docs / Drive is just too flaky for me. What you’ll find here: Weekly Parsha Copywork More Parsha Activities More Chumash / Tanach Activities Yom Tov Copywork & Activities Tefillah Copywork Pirkei Avos / Pirkei Avot Jewish Preschool Resources Other printables! For General Studies printables and activities, including Hebrew-English science resources and more, click here . For Miscellaneous homeschool helps and printables, click here . If you use any of my worksheets, activities or printables, please leave a comment or email me at Jay3fer “at” gmail “dot” com, to link to your blog, to tell me what you’re doing with it, or just to say hi!  If you want to use them in a school, camp or co-op setting, please email me (remove the X’s) for rates. If you just want to say Thank You, here’s a

Hebrew/ עברית & English General Studies Printables

For Jewish Studies, including weekly parsha resources and copywork, click here . If you use any of my worksheets, activities or printables, please leave a comment or email me at Jay3fer “at” gmail “dot” com, to link to your blog, to tell me what you’re doing with it, or just to say hi!  If you want to use them in a school, camp or co-op setting, please email me (remove the X’s) for rates. If you enjoy these resources, please consider buying my weekly parsha book, The Family Torah :  the story of the Torah, written to be read aloud – or any of my other wonderful Jewish books for kids and families . English Worksheets & Printables: (For Hebrew, click here ) Science :  Plants, Animals, Human Body Math   Ambleside :  Composers, Artists History Geography Language & Literature     Science General Poems for Elemental Science .  Original Poems written by ME, because the ones that came with Elemental Science were so awful.  Three pages are included:  one page with two po

It's Heart Month: 3 days left to save lives!

Dear Friends & Family: Hi, everybody! Sorry I can’t stop by in person... you're a bit out of my area.  :-) We’re out walking up and down on our street on this beautiful afternoon to raise money for Heart & Stroke.  This cause is important to me (I won't say it's close to my heart , because that would be tacky!).  I hope you'll join me by donating online. Growing up, I watched as every single one of my grandparents' lives were shortened by heart disease and strokes, and my father had a defibrillator that saved his life on more than one occasion.  Heart disease and stroke kill 1 in 3 Canadians and are the #1 killer of women. Please click this link to be redirected to my main page at the Heart & Stroke website: http://tinyurl.com/AtlasHeart Thus ends my personal appeal.  Official information follows.  :-))) ----- Heart disease and stroke is the #1 killer of women - taking more women's lives than all forms of cancer combined. But no one is immune. Th