Plastic Totes as Containers

Has anybody else done this? i searched and came up with nothing. I like the 20 gal sterilte tubs; they make black ones around halloween, so i snagged a few. I drill 9 holes in the bottom, 1/16th of an inch in diameter, then layer 2-3 inches of expanded clay pellets, an inch of perlite, an inch or so of dead plant material then cover with my soil mix. seems to be workin awesome; the first one i tried, i didn't layer it like this one so it got all mucky & gross at the bottom so now I'm using all that air holding media at the bottom to eliminate that. anybody have any advice on this method? I'm sure somebody will tell me why this is a bad idea, so let's have it...

Is there 10 plants in the pot?

Looks like its working for you either way

Yeah, 10 in this one. I'm just thinking it's better to deal with a bed of soilmix as opposed to wasting the space between pots. the media's pretty deep so I'm not really feelin like it's gettin rootbound even with that many plants, but I'm gonna try like 6 or 8 next time. just to see... the tubs make LST a breeze too!

I went to my local closeout store (big lots) and copped 10 gallon containers from rubbermaid for 4 bucks, Im using them on my next grow (2 more weeks) as pots for each plant, im hoping it works as good as your set up.

Hudsonvalley82 said:

I went to my local closeout store (big lots) and copped 10 gallon containers from rubbermaid for 4 bucks, Im using them on my next grow (2 more weeks) as pots for each plant, im hoping it works as good as your set up.

Click to expand...

Word. I scored mine clearance style after halloween for the same price! just make sure you have good drainage; you could do it budget style with lava rocks at the bottom. I just had the groton laying around so i used that. use the lids as catch trays for your run off; you'll need to turkey baster drain em after a good drenching though. I used plastic bottle caps to keep the trays suspended, like little piers so it doesn't get anaerobic under the tubs. what kinda soil/soil-less mix you going with?

here's the whole deal, head on. Yeah, i know; i needed to water when i took this...

Only nine 1/16" holes? I'd say more like a few dozen 1/2" holes at least.

you know what? you're right; i actually used 1/4 holes. I was superbaked when i wrote that. half inch holes would let the clay pellets fall out though.