5 gallon canister converted into EarthTainer

[catalinsv]

Hi everyone,

Very interesting this forum and full of information and experiences from the people who post. I'm a newbie and I plan to start this year a greenhouse for vegetables and as I read around the forum I tried to start my own seedlings using EarthTainers after germination.
In the pictures attached are 3 EarthTainers built following Mr. Newstead instructions on his website. I use 5 gallon (20 litres) canisters.
Experienced users opinion is welcome, I repeat I'm newbie.
For one EarthTainer was used only one canister, the top was cut and displace as a mix holder inside.
If there are questions about construction I can detail the construction phases.
In the picture bellow there are three types of pepper in the EarthTainers.



Thanks.

[ContainerTed]

I would love to see some of the details of the construction phase. Looks good from the picture.

Ted

[geeboss]

Definitely like your SeedlingTainers I'll look into this for my next grow out of my perennial flowers next month. Now to find some 5 gal. water jugs that have flat sides.

George

[mdvpc]

Cat-welcome to the forum. Great idea and construction. Good idea to use the self-watering for 20 liter container. Interested to know what types of peppers you are growing. And even more interested if you have knowledge of Romanian heirloom tomatoes.

[amideutch]

Another welcome to Tomatoville. It's always nice to see new members from this side of the Atlantic. Great ingenuity on your 20 liter retro-Tainers. Taking notes Ray? Those kind of containers are pretty common in third world countries. Just thinking out loud. Cat if you could take pictures next time you build one that would be great. Any information on your locally grown tomatoes/vegetables would be greatly appreciated. Ami

[newatthiskat]

Your pepper plants look great! Teriffic idea on the use of the 5 gallon containers. hmmmm bet I could find some for fall planting time. Welcome to TV and good luck gardening!
Kat

[catalinsv]

Thanks for your welcome, you are a great community.

I’ll try to give some answers.

I’m very happy that you are interested about my project. In fact starting seedlings in EarthTainers is the first part, next one is to replant them in a greenhouse build by myself.
The area I live is not a good zone for tomato, peppers and eggplants, is best for potato, cabbage and cucumbers. That’s why I plan to grow vegetables in a greenhouse.
Also here we don’t have nursery for shopping the seedlings, the only suppliers are the supermarkets for a few kind of seeds and only flower seedlings.
So can’t tell you much about the tomato varieties in my area, just guess that people who grow, buy the seeds from the above mentioned source.

So, have a look at what I try to grow:

Peppers (already in EarthTainers and growing very well)
Aroma
Cosmin
Meteorit (tomato-pepper)

Tomato
Ace 55 VF (lost all seedlings, I have to replant again)
Cuor di bue
Cerise ciliegia

Eggplant
Early long purple (lost all seedlings, I have to replant again)
Black beauty

Cabbage
Amager dauer

Cauliflower
Igloo

Let’s talk about the EarthTainer for seedlings, SedlingTainer, Retro-Tainer or whatever you call it.
So far it works unexpectedly well for seedlings, I’ll post pictures from time to time to see the growth.
From the beginning I decided to built it as cheap as possible, so next is what I used to start:

1. 5 gallon canister 1pcs.
2. PVC pipe 110mm in diameter, about 7cm long
3. PVC pipe 40mm in diameter, about 20cm long
4. Old mosquito net (or something similar) about 50x50cm
5. Plastic stripe wire holder 1pcs.
6. Screws 4pcs.

And that’s all.

The best 5 gallon canisters are those used for cleaning agents in food industry, for example those used for KEG cleaning in breweries. The cleaning agent must clean completely the KEG in about 30sec. and then the KEG is rinsed for about 10sec. with hot water that removed it completely. What I’m trying to say is that a canister that hold that cleaning agent (based on phosphoric acid for example) can be easily washed with hot water and after that you can store drinking water in it without problem. The plastic quality is better than is on the canister you can buy. The food companies have to recycle those canisters and a way to recycle is to sell them for further reuse. I bought mine canister for 1$. You can do the same.
For the PVC pipes find some scraps from a plumbing job, or find a plumber and buy him some beers.
The rest is easy, and the complete materials I assume will cost you below 5$.
Next days I will built 6 more EarthTainers for seedlings and I will show up with some pictures.

Catalinsv

[Polar_Lace]

Originally Posted by catalinsv

For the PVC pipes find some scraps from a plumbing job, or find a plumber and buy him some beers.

Catalinsv

Hey, that's my Uncle Harry! Why didn't I think of that?

~* Robin

[catalinsv]

I'm back with construction details:

-Mark the canister using a marker in a way that the top will get two rounded sides on length
-Make the cut using a jigsaw

Image 1

-Prepare the 110 PVC pipe by cutting it at 7cm length, inserting the 4 screws at 1cm from the edge, and drilling a few 10mm holes to permit the water to reach the mix. The 4 screws will hold the cutted top.
-Prepare the cutted top to become mix holder. Mark on the center the 110mm hole for the PVC pipe, perform the cut and make also 10mm holes.

Image 2

-Fit together the mix holder and the 100mm PVC pipe and displace them inside the canister. If is needed modelate by cutting the shape of the mix holder to stay inside the canister untensioned.

Image 3
Image 4

-Displace the 40mm pipe in a corner, perform two holes needed for tighten it with the plastic tie stripe. On the submerged half make first a few holes necessary to get an air blanket above the water level, because there is no overflow hole to allow the air inside.

Image 5

-Cut a piece of an old useless mosquito net and displace it on the 110mm PVC pipe, than attach the mix holder
-Displace the mix holder and the pipe in the canister and tighten it with the plastic tie stripe. I also used as shown in the picture two polystyrene parallelepipeds about 6cm height as spacers for the mixholder, in that way will not allow it to bend inside due to the weight of the mix.

Image 6

-Displace on the mix holder the mosquito net with a 110mm hole cutted with a scissor.

Image 7

-Now you can put the mix inside.
-The last step is to observe the level of the mix holder and to mark the maximum level for the water at 1cm below the mix holder. In that way you will have an air blanket above the water that permit water circulation if is necessary.

Finally you will get HERE.

Notes:
-Because of the rounded shape, almost all cuts and drills will be performed on non flat surfaces. So, if you are not experienced with the jigsaw and the drill, ask someone more skilled to help you to avoid any injuries. Safety first!
-There is no overflow hole because I use the system indoor, in that way I avoid spilling water.
-The canister is white to see better the water level. If you can’t find white, choose any color that permit you to see easily the water level.
-Because of the white color I marked with a black marker the edges for better imaging in the pictures.
-The mosquito net is used to avoid falling the mix into water. Also it can be useful when is time to remove the seedlings from the EarthTainer by pulling it a little for easy access at the root.
-At the first fill I get inside about 4-5 liters of water, and after 24 hours the system already use 1,5-2 liters from it so I have to complete until the max sign.
-If you are uncomfortable to use the cutted top and the 110mm PVC pipe, you can use instead 3cm polystyrene to make a support shaped like the bottle separators in a wine case. With a lot of holes needed for water leveling and circulation.

Remarks:
-The dimensions I use can be modified as you need, I believe that the only requirement is the 25-30% water and 70-75% mix approximatively.
-Any other critics, suggestions and improvement ideas are welcome.
-For further questions just ask me.
-I will try to post later a few pictures to see how system works for seedlings.
-And not at last I have to mention again that I was inspired by Mr. Ray Newstead EarthTainer Project (please visit his website), so all the credits goes to him, the only thing I did is to use my skills and imagination to convert it for seedling growing. I use scrap materials left from other jobs in that way I did a sort of recycling and I encourage you to do the same when you are making DIY projects.


Best Regards to all Tomatovillians,

Catalinsv

[garnetmoth]

Very cute kid!

My dads neighbor visited their family in Lisa, Romania last year. She couldnt remember a lot about the tomatoes, but brought the seeds back from their standard family red beefsteak tomato- i grew 2 flats for her of those, and 1 flat of her friend Ariel's tomatoes.

Welcome and awesome engineering!

[Farmette]

Hi Catalinsv!
My grandfather was from a town near Arad called Glogovatz (now a different name). Do you know what variety of tomato would have been grown around there in the early 1900's or now?
Thanks.
Chris

[catalinsv]

Here in my country people are not interested about the variety of the tomato, only by size and shape. This is because the agriculture is underdeveloped.
It doesn't worth to work the land because you won't get a price when you want to sell the crop. In this way we can buy from supermarket imported tasteless tomato but very good looking and with almost perfect shape and good price (not cheap).
Instead cultivating or buying from local growers all big companies prefer to import the vegetables and fruits.
I attached a pdf file that describe best the tomato market from here.
I'm sure that we have a few good local tomato variety developed in time but very difficult to know the names and almost impossible to find seeds.
Thanks for the replies.

Best regards,
Catalin

[Farmette]

Catalinsv:
Thanks for the info and the link...I can see why you grow your own tomatoes.

[catalinsv]

A new improvement to my greenhouse: the shadowing net.

I used a old anti dust mesh from a construction company the ones that are delivered for free when you buy a lot of construction materials, with the name of the company printed big on it in commercial purposes.
It has two main functions:
1. shadow
2. protection against wind of the greenhouse cover.
(I have a lot of wind in my area, sometimes strong, that's why I have to reinforce the structure with a lot of wood.)

Also I posted a few pictures with the planted field near the greenhouse. Corn looks good.

These days I will finish my dripping irrigation system. You will get some pictures as soon as I'll finish the work.

Best regards,
Catalin.

[veggie babe]

Nice repurpose of the net, you must be very busy taking care of everything you have planted.

have a good harvest,

neva