Wicking beds.. How to make IBC self watering garden beds.. ..
How to make an IBC wicking bed.. An easy & water efficient gardening system for veggies & herbs.. Will be making up a few more of these for our front yard so…
26 Responses to Wicking beds.. How to make IBC self watering garden beds.. ..
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Shall go check out your duckponics set up.. Can’t fit one in here but love the idea..
Have a great one Gordon..
Rob Bob
August 11, 2013 at 3:54 pm
Hi Gordon.. Love the idea of using AP water in wicking beds & want to try something like that myself.. I plan on trying some Earthan beds in the future but want probably not until I get the time & help to re dig the gardens so I can retrofit them.. There is a clip on the Earthan beds here
youtube.com/watch?v=lkSMkTpdt7U
& Paul also has some info on his website earthangroupDOT COM DOT AU.. Just search for “Earthan-beds-how-they-go-together”
TBC
Rob Bob
August 11, 2013 at 4:06 pm
I plan on using chop 2 the water doesn’t sit in the bottom of the bed but flows through and out the other end obviously it would be beneficial to have the AG pipe to weave around a bit. I’m currently doing an experiment with duckqauponics and all is looking good, but in a couple of months will be doing more with Aquaponics, a little stalled at the moment while I develop an off grid power supply
Gordon Pilcher
August 11, 2013 at 4:38 pm
Hi I had the thought of doing this as I’d tried with old fridges, but then thought why not combine the Aquaponics principal with wicking so what I’m imagining is water being pumped in to the bed at just below top of the through the gravel and having it flow then allowing the water to through bed in sleeved AG pipe to the should no dirt get into my water and back to my sump
Gordon Pilcher
August 11, 2013 at 4:46 pm
Not good Claudia.. They use them a fair bit in food & drink manufacture s it might pay to call some businesses direct if there are any close by.. Hope you get to score some cheaply..
Rob Bob
August 11, 2013 at 5:05 pm
Sound great Charles… Does he deliver to Ipswich 😉 ?
Have fun playing with them..
Rob Bob
August 11, 2013 at 5:44 pm
I wish IBC were more available where I live, they want $150+ usd for them. :/
Claudia Octavia
August 11, 2013 at 5:47 pm
Hi rodidy bob lol i just found some ibc’s here for $60 each i have told the guy what i need them for and he said that one held molasis and the other liquid fertiliesrer
if i have spelt any thing wrong sorry 🙂
CHARLES ADAMS
August 11, 2013 at 6:44 pm
No problem..
I think they make great planters… I plan to put 7 or more across our front fence to boost our food production..
Have fun building them & planting them out Tawana..
Rob..
Rob Bob
August 11, 2013 at 6:52 pm
i live in the US and love your videos, thanks. i recieved my first IBC container couple of weeks ago and i think i will try your method. thanks for the videos.
Tawana Birchfield
August 11, 2013 at 7:31 pm
nice cheers for the reply really appreciate it, have been planning to make a aquaponic garden for a while now, and i think the IBC way would be the easiest and cheapest to start with, and its amazingly functional, thanks alot!
antinsanwo
August 11, 2013 at 8:02 pm
They are made of HDPE2 & are said to not release BPA from what I have read on the issue… I like to go one step further & give them a coat of paint to help protect against UV rays..
Hope that helps..
Rob Bob
August 11, 2013 at 8:29 pm
are those plastic barrel things BPA free?
antinsanwo
August 11, 2013 at 8:40 pm
The original wicking beds designed/made by Colin Austin included worms & feeding stations as part of them. There is a link in the description to his site with further info there. I did have feeding stations in mine as well but found the worms were more interested in eating the mushroom compost added when making the beds & later the sugarcane trash/horse manure mulch I have started to add to the top.. I know others that have added the feeding pipes & they work great.
Hope that helps some.
Cheers.
Rob Bob
August 11, 2013 at 9:10 pm
Hey Rob, I LOVE the videos bro. In a large enough wicking bed, do you think it could be benifitial to add earthworms and food plant matter scraps on top of the mulch layer? My theory is that they will continue to increase soil fertility as time goes on, like a time release capsul of nutrients in the bed… Your thoughts?
two16rcp
August 11, 2013 at 9:28 pm
Shall PM you the details Charles 🙂
Rob Bob
August 11, 2013 at 10:03 pm
mate have you contact info for the supplier of the IBC’s you buy 🙂 thanks
CHARLES ADAMS
August 11, 2013 at 10:52 pm
I like to water them in for the first week or so, 2 weeks if sown from seed then let the beds take over John..
Glad you like the clips 🙂
Have a good one John….
Rob Bob
August 11, 2013 at 11:50 pm
Does the moisture in the bed wick up to the level of seedling roots or do you have to supplement with surface watering for a period of time?
Thanks for your excellent videos Rob.
John Wheat
August 12, 2013 at 12:21 am
Not a recovering engineer but my farther is one so some of it probably rubbed off 😉
The paint was to tie it in with the aquaponic beds but it also helps stop algae growth around the reservoir area in the base as there is always some moisture down there.. Hope that helps & have a great one Allen…
Rob Bob
August 12, 2013 at 12:41 am
Glad you liked the clip & watching the beds get built.. I find it a lot of fun to build them… Have to make a few more for my parents soon…
Have a good one…
Rob
Rob Bob
August 12, 2013 at 1:00 am
Boy I thought very easy and thought it was store bought mechanism.And Rob it was really nice seeing you do all this work even though I totally underestimated the human effort in cutting/painting, etc.. Thanks for widening my narrow viewpoint.The best thing i liked is the finished product -very creative,neatly packed and delight to watch.
Murali N
August 12, 2013 at 1:36 am
Tanks for the tip.. Shall try it out next time 🙂
Have a great one…
Rob Bob
August 12, 2013 at 1:39 am
Just a quick tip when silliconing piping, I use simple trick – after putting the silicone, I screw things together, BUT NOT THE WHOLE WAY, leave some quarter to half turn. Wait for silicone to harden, and only then try to put the final pressure, and tighten the thread as much as you can. That will compress the silicone, and it won’t even leak under pressure
michbushi
August 12, 2013 at 2:34 am
Very easy to maintain as well..
Have great one 🙂
Rob Bob
August 12, 2013 at 3:17 am
Has anyone else used socked drainage pipe in wicking beds, and done away with the gravel/sand layer completely? I have been trialing it, and fill my beds with soil the whole way down. I am trying to simplify and improve the wicking bed design for urban areas. To stop the soil going sour and to maintain fertility I pour bokashi liquid down the inlet before the first fill with water. The bokashi microbes seem to replace the methane producing ones, and stop the waterlogged soil from becoming sour. I have been building them from sleepers but am about to build four beds from two IBSs, and wondered if anyone has tried just using socked pipe and soil? It certainly cuts out a few steps. I’ll also just holesaw one drain in each one and connect them in series with unslotted Agi-pipe, so there will be only one fill point.
Brett Pritchard
October 6, 2013 at 11:11 pm