drainage in 5 gal buckets

I'm going to be growing a few plants outside this year in 5 gallon buckets for the 1st time and was wondering how many holes you guys make in the bottom so they will drain properly. thanks

drill a bunch (12-24) in the bottom and in the sides twards the bottom.. put about 2''-3'' of stone in them a little sand and then your potting soil... Good luck

3 decent sized holes, about 3/4 of an inch in diameter should do it.

Put a peice of bark or some rocks covering the holes at the bottom to slow down drainage so it can seep out of the bottom rather then pour out the bottom
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have fun brotha

You might wanna start you plants in something smaller, then move them into the 5 gal as the growth merits it. Growing too small a plant in too big a planter will slow you down quite a bit.

Why would it slow you down?? Wouldn't transplanting slow you down more??


edit; one advantage of using smaller pots to begin with is its easier to gauge how much to water them, rather then flooding the 5 gallon bucket with the week old seedling thats gonna drowned.

i always start mine in little peat moss bio cups ( about the size of a shot glass) after they are about 3-4 inches tall i put them in their final home , which is the 5 gal bucket.. it will take about a week or so for the cups to degrade , letting the roots thru into the main soil ...... .. i start by digging holes in the ground so the 5 gal bucket fits in nicly .... put rocks in the bottem of the hole ,.. drill about 20 holes in teh bottem & lower sides , about as round as a pencil,.. then place the bucket in the hole ,, put rocks in bottem of bucket then fill with ur soil .... cut out chicken wire at about 1.5 - 2 feet tall & make sure u cut it long enough to go all the way around ur bucket,... feed the wire down between ur bucket & the ground ,, pack down tight with ur foot & post them up straight with 2 sticks .....o yeah i forgot ,, this is a very good idea , for those who ever had to do this before...... prior to planting ur bucket ,, u should always cut 2 holes about 3 inches from the top of the bucket .. these holes should be 1 inch high & about 4 inches long .. incase of emergency , like flooding , construction etc ,,, if u ever tried to pull a full bucket from the ground , its not fun , these holes will let u get a nice hold of the bucket & will make life alot easier,,,,,, good luck .. happy growing

I already started my plants in small pots and I'm going to transplant them into the 5 gal buckets in a couple weeks. I usually grow right in the ground but I wanted to try a few plants in buckets this year to see how I liked it.

one in the middle 3 around the sides 4 in all.

Thanks for the help everyone.....

missmandy your avatar is HOT!

bterz said:

Why would it slow you down?? Wouldn't transplanting slow you down more??

Click to expand...

IMO, too much root space results in the roots doing most of the growing, while the top waits for the root-ball to fill in. Pot plants like to be a bit crowded in the roots . . . not bound, but cozy . . . IMO.
Transplanting done right, into a reasonably sized planter, results in minimal slow down.

and it wont hurt to put into bigger pots it actually takes off faster.peace PH2