If you enjoy gardening, but don’t like the hassle of tilling the soil and fighting weeds, let me show you how to build Leon’s Wicking Tubs (from “Gardening With Leon”). I’ve found a few shortcuts that you need to know.
Wicking Tubs are a growing trend right now, and Leon has some of the best ideas on YouTube. Great folks like Arms Family Homestead are using them too.
Check out how easy they are to put together.
I’m doing a LOT of wicking tubs in 2020.
I’m also doing a lot of Earth Boxes (the original wicking tub).
Take a look and see if it’s a style of gardening you’d want to try.
Thanks for watching!
alan
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49 Comments
Where can I buy the BM7? Bought my trees at Bob Wells. Having a hard time finding the BM7. Love your channel.
Would the bm7 work for earth box vegetables as well? I have a hand headed to nursery at Bullard now. What fertilizer would you add to the earth box vegetables? Would you add any to the Fruit tree lick tubs?
Last question, source for the 4” pipe?
Parallel
Leon hooked me on milk jugs and water bottles, I understand a fruit tree would be in the container much longer than veggies. ..
I love the tubs shown here in Leon's videos – but I can't find them anywhere. Do you know who sells them on-line?
I watched Leon's videos too. I dont understand one thing in your guide: You are not allowing the soil to touch the water from the sides. How can the soil wick up the water if it is not touching it?
Thanks
where can u get those buckets at? i cant find them anywhere
Love Gardening with Leon- family is in Texas– I have been telling them to use these
Can I use perforated pipe if I don’t have corrugated???
Epsom salts don't prevent BER
New subscriber! I'm going to either make these, or the galvanized ones another YouTuber posted. I love the self wicking concept, and your Blackberries went absolutely crazy!! I live in Colorado, so I know I have to be extremely careful of which variety blackberries to get that will thrive in this environment. My question is, will the plastic tubs leech toxic chemicals into the soil over time? According to the research I've done on the galvanized tubs, they can eventually leech trace amounts of zinc and cadmium into the soil, but its at such trace amounts that it isn't cause for concern.
Does that material allow water to come through to the soil.
Where can I purchase the buckets?
I’m missing something…how does it wick when you have landscape fabric separating the soil from the water?
what type of lime?
There’s a lot of controversy about using Epson salt in your garden. A lot of people say it makes blossom end rot worse. I haven’t ever tried it so I can’t testify about it myself.
Alan , what is your procedure for getting the tubs ready to plant vegetables in the 2nd year ?
Wish you would’ve said this is for fruit not vegetables in the beginning so I didn’t waste seven minutes of my time thank you
Where can you find those tubs?
You must be getting close to 60😂
My knees pop like your does every time I squat!
Brand new to gardening and built these containers. My question is after the dirt and fertilizer is in…I transplant some lettuce. How long do I water from the top until the wicking catches up to the new transplant?
Another question is sowing seeds directly into this pot. How long do I water from the top until the wicking takes over watering my direct sow seeds?
Any advice is appreciated. I am probably over-thinking, but stuck on these 2 questions.
Great Video, I have 3 questions, 1. What size hole do you drill for the drain hole? 2. What diameter fill tubes do you use, I have some ¾ pvc lying around, but what size is your filler….3. You mention putting 1 lb lime for fruit trees, what amendments do you use for blackberries and also veggies like peppers or tomatoes or beans? is it a different mix for every veggie if so do you have a guide?
Where did you get those colorful planters ? How many inches is the blue ? Thanks
Did you have a lot of success using the wicking tubs?. Do you have a review/update video??.
Ok, with these ribs how often do we need to water??
This landscape fabric method is a great simple way to do this without needing to cut a false bottom from another container. Thanks for sharing
How long you cut the tube in the bottom the long and short
WHERE do you get the tubs???
I've never heard of wicking tubs, do they prevent over watering? I'm learning here and have just subbed and clicked for notification. I too in Texas. Tfs!
Thank you for the video. I've seen several of these types and others before, and have made them in the past. Is there a major advantage to using the ground cover/liner over simply covering the corrugated pipe with vermiculite/moss and or sand – for wicking (besides the pipes getting soil in them)? I had made mine with the pipe covered by soil, but had the pipes' ends enclosed in fabric with an overflow tube tucked inside the pipe at ~ 3". Also, do you cover the pvc pipe fill tube top to keep bugs and whatnot out in between waterings? I kept getting spiders and bugs in mine… Thank you again for your efforts, these videos are very much appreciated.
What potting mix do you use and/or do you gave a diy mix?
I can’t find the video where you are addressing the mosquito problem but , I have followed your directions on making the tubs and will put a piece of the fabric that covers the pipe on the hybrid tubs over the 1/2” weep hole pipe that runs out the side of mine to prevent entrance. Will also just put a removable cap on the fill tube up top. Thought I would give you a suggestion ! Thanks for your videos !
I saw a video plant a tree in the ground make wicking in ground put rocks tubs and fertilizer
Just wondering how long you leave your fruit trees in those containers… great video
I just got my first 5 gallon wicking tub set up but I think I went too high with the drain hole. I've got mine at 5 inches to the drain hole and the water bottles inside have holes at 6 inches at the top of water bottles. Will I be ok? Or do I need to drop my drain hole??
Perhaps add crushed macadamia shell or an equivalent medium inside your drainage pipes. Drill more overflow holes facing into your drainage pipe and add a solar air pump to create an aerated resevoir. The crushed macadamia environment will then create beneficial bacterial populations that may strengthen the root base of wicked container plants. (Stressed roots often create hormonal imbalance that manifests in the leaf conditions by way of insects attracted to the hormonal imbalance)
When watering do use straight water
Or do use Hydroponic fertilizer mix in the water
(mind blown sound here) OK. I have been using the cloth grow-pots (they're fantastic) but they can dry out rapidly due to the air circulation around the bag. I was setting up a (plastic) 1/2 barrel for a gardenia and I was looking for more soil at the base. I had an empty grow bag that was sitting about and I thought; if I half-buried the bag into the barrel I would get that much more soil from the raised tier. The grow bag fit perfectly into the barrel with about 2" between the walls of bag/barrel. I drilled some holes around the base to allow for drainage with the expectation that the growbag would wick the deeper water back up to the higher root zone. It also acts as an indicator as to the dry-state of the barrel. I really like this arrangement and was looking to do it again but your video has sent me into hard-ponder mode. Thank you for the inspiration! 🙂
Two gallon drinking water bottle works better.
Love this video You did a great job explaining and demonstrating this concept.
What landscape fabric do you use
is there anywhere you can buy the tubs
Can you list what to look for when purchasing the ground cover material? I had bought some from Lowes, but it's not the same as what you are using. I'm not sure how long it will last or if it matters. I do have an endless supply of tubs, haha! We have cattle and have many tubs sitting around!
Well I thought that I would add my two cents that may save you more than two cents. The drain holes are about the size of a regular pencil not an elementary pencil size. Ok next I know where the top hole is for the bucket drainage for air space. Plus everyone knows that have done this method knows you have to water till your plants reach the moist soil that is wet. If not your plant will die unless you get lucky and get a few perfect rains. Now my two cents. If you listen to Leon he talked about to much water from heavy rains that will water log the roots and your plant will mot survive. Here is the solution if you can’t take them inside to avoid flooding of the container. First I put four or five pencil size holes an inch above the bottom of the bucket. On all these holes I place a square of electrical tape over them but make sure the bucket is dry. If you already have flooded buckets just drill these holes and empty the water logged soil. There will be plenty of moisture left. I went ahead and put a hole half way up as well to facilitate getting rid of the water logged bucket. Remember to put tape over the holes when your finished. But leave your original holes open. I see some people putting to pvc white pipes down them. Just make sure that you cut them at a 45 degree angle towards the bottom outside from around 2 up from the bottom. Them cover with ground cloth the black cheap stuff. Then wrap then around the cloth but leave hole with no tape on if. I also help the air space in the bottom soil with styrofoam peanuts to take up space. I turn the pvc pipe to the side away from the soil and there is usually a few peanuts in from where the soil can retard the inflow of water going to the bottles with holes. Just one more thing put the oven pipe opposite your bucket handle. The only real problem is plant diseases and plant bugs snd other pests. Stop this early and try to keep your cucumber, zucchini, and other vine plants leafs from getting wet except by rain. These buckets are great. I tried the tubs but Leon forgot to mention it to us a opaq one or clear one and that was just terrible. Plus if you live in Florida or a hot area like 80+ the hole day and then 90’s & 100’s you knee shade half the day. The opposite side of the house or shed or some kind of netting or old plywood but paint it to keep from warping. Good luck! Oh you don’t need to totally fill it when you start because your soil will float up and over the sides. Water the top and put in a little at a time.
Great video. Why/how does this work? Thanks for the tutorials. I want a blackberry hedge.
I couldn’t find the landscape material. So I used sand bags from true value. I used 2 sandbags in each tub.
Hope it works. Don’t know the lifespan of the bags but more sturdy than the cheap landscape material.
I ran across your channel researching Blackberries. I found Leon's wicking tubs a few years ago but what I do has been working great for 20+ yrs so I don't see a need to change. What I do is use 5gal buckets for tomatoes and peppers. I just drill a few1/4 in. drain holes about 1in from the bottom and fill with potting mix. Heck, some still have the original potting mix in them ofcoarse I do have to add some each year. My thought originally was to hold an inch of water in the bottom to wick when it gets dry and drain any water above that level. I do water with automatic watering system from the top giving them a quart of water every 12 hours. I also have a Satsuma tree in a 18 gal tud designed the same way and it's doing great too.
I'm no way bashing the wicking tubs but just throwing this out there for the folks that can't afford the expense of making a true wicking tub. A five gal bucket is only 3 or 4 dollars and works great for tomatoes and peppers. However I will be making wicking tubs when I put in my thornless berry patch next spring.
Can you use long coil of drain pipe instead of short pieces?
i have had issues with blossom end rot on my beefsteak tomatoes. The cherry tomatoes have no issues. I checked my ph and it was actually high (between 8.3 and 8.7 on all nine of them). I just put some cal/mag on it, added a ph reducer and sprayed them with the blossom rot spray. Any other suggestions? I keep hearing it eventually "corrects itself" but I don't understand how or why. I will admit that cattle tub growing produce a huge plant. This has been a ridiculously hot and dry summer and I do water regularly on top of keeping the tubs filled.