DIY Outdoor Kratky Wicking Semi Hydroponic Low Maintenance Container Planter

Please excuse my first instructible if it's hard to follow and I absolutely don't know the name of half the tools I'm using, but I'm doing it! If you know anything about hydroponics, Kratky is for beginners and usually very simple. I love simple, and if you ask my husband he'll tell you the only thing I love more than simple, is making simple things complicated! <3 It's all love, but no matter what great thing I find I always want to adjust it to my needs, and honestly, sometimes just the look or style.

I've added the simple idea where this originally stemmed from.

The name says it all - or at least as much as possible. I want to be able to garden, indoor or outdoors and have a do it all system. Why shouldn't I? Well I can pay someone $100's to do it for me, or I can give it a shot to have exactly what I want!

Issues I have when gardening where I'm at:

1. Water costs for large system
2. Having to water all the time (lazy gardener here)
3. overwatering and killing the plant
4. No backyard
5. cost of dirt
6. looks of hydroponic systems (I hate the boring)
7. algae growing in water doing a kratky type system
8. if doing an outdoor system- it needs the ability to dump excess water from rain
9. possibly moving it indoors to overwinter the garden
10. keeping it outdoors- add cloches to extend season?
11. mobile garden - yes I want to be able to move it indoor and outdoors
12. look at adding air pump once indoors

Here's what you need to repeat this project!

1. Copper wire
2. Smallest size you can find, has to be real copper
3. this helps keep algae out of the water
4. provides needed metal to soil mix
5. Wire cutters
6. cut the wire long enough that it touches the bottom of the bucket to the soil mix
7. Drill
8. Circle Drill Bit
9. 1"
10. 1/4"
11. Large planter (exterior, NO drain holes)
12. plastic whiskey barrel from tractor supply
13. 25"
14. Smaller interior bucket (interior)
15. round summer beverage party tub from Michaels
16. 22" wide at bottom
17. Bed riser
18. Scissors
19. contractor trash bags
20. 42gal husky bags
21. Leca pebbles
22. Soilless Hydro Mix
23. Baby bottle nipple

Lets get drilling out of the way and items ready to go

1. Drill your drink bucket at the bottom with the .25" circular drill bit
2. Drill the bottom of the bed riser with the .25" circular drill bit
3. Drill the side of the whiskey barrel with the 1" circular drill bit
4. IMPORTANT: this is where your water will pour out if it rains- adjust as you see fit
5. I put mine about where the bed riser/bucket meet so soil remains moist

Clean out the inside of everything and remove any plastic

Go ahead and fit the baby bottle piece into the side of the whiskey barrel bucket - the idea is the water will exit if it rains, but the hole isn't big enough for bugs to make their way inside. However usually the exit is too small and doesn't work unless squeezed, so just cut a slightly bigger hole.

Once that's done we're looking at adding the 'filter' part of this kratky system which is the leca pebbles in the bed riser- but back up a bit because we'll come back.

Okay another thing we want to get ready - the bags! The reason for these is simple, it creates a seal between the inside bucket & external planter.

1. cut the contractor bag in half
2. use the bottom half to line the internal bucket
3. makes for easy cleanup/if you change your mind like me
4. use the top half of the contractor bag to cover the lip of the external planter
5. this is going to be flipped to the inside later
6. prevents dirt from getting into water
7. seals the internal bucket to external planter
8. heat gun to shrink?

Assembling the unit is easy from here!

1. Fill the bed riser with leca balls
2. this serves as a well draining medium so the plants don't have root rot
3. the height of the bed riser serves as the reservoir water level
4. Insert the smaller drink bucket into your big planter
5. make sure that the 'seal' is created by using the contractor bag around the whiskey barrel lip, and inserting it into the smaller bucket where the soilless mix will go
6. insert the copper wire 3/4 of the way into the leca filled bed riser
7. stab a hole in the bag from the dirt bucket bag
8. fill plant mix
9. I used my own mix of coco coir, sphagnum moss, and pearlite

Go ahead and move those puppies outdoors! You don't want it to get too heavy before you find it's 'permanent' spot, once the water is added those guys aren't meant to move.

Plant your seeds or transplants, make sure to water & fill up the bucket to the fill line, or plan on collecting a bit of rain first.

I added several to my concrete garden! It's late season but these will be fun for next year. It's not exactly hydroponic, but my understanding hydroponic is 'anything but dirt' so here we are.

I'm hoping to expand on this idea and make better versions of it in the near future.