pajaritomt - I buckled and bought PVC for use in my 5 gallon buckets. Right on the PVC it said "Drinking Water", so I am being optimistic and hoping that they no longer put toxins in the PVC. The PVC manufacturer has a website: http://www.charlottepipe.com . It appears to be produced in Florida. I will be checking their website to learn more about the safety of their PVC products.
I've lost my container garden! Need ideas
I will be interested in what you learn. I suspect if they are labeled "Drinking Water" that they are okay.
Here is a photo of the self-watering container my dh and I made. Very, very simple and CHEAP!!! (That's my favorite part!) :-)
I'll fill it with a potting mix recipe from Al (tapala): http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=1608726 I got the ingredients locally and it was quite cheap vs. potting mixes I've been buying. This mix should work very well with the self-watering container I built. We shall see ...
I did use PVC for the pipe sticking up in the planter for filling with water. I will be making up a couple of the self-watering containers and adding in some of my veggie plants tomorrow. Looks like it is going to work rather nicely. Fingers crossed!!!
I'm attempting something completely new here:
1) Making up my own container soil mix
2) Making and using self-watering containers for the first time
3) Growing veggies for the first time. And growing flowers in self-watering containers, too! I hope this works! Would sure be a blessing here in the heat of the Florida sun in the summertime! :-)
This is going to be an interesting experiment! I've still got a few other things up my sleeve with this project as well! LOL!
This message was edited Dec 30, 2009 11:43 PM
Hi All,
I went to Charlotte Pipe and asked the following question:
I am a missionary to Haiti. I am doing three seminars here in the States on small plot and bucket gardens. Part of the design of my buckets and grow boxes uses PVC pipe. I am studying the so called, "Scientific Data," put out by some of the Groups that Claim to Speak for Our interests, and cannot get a strait answer on the facts.
How Safe is PVC when I use it?
I read where some municipalities have baned it's use. The military is looking at alternative sources for pipe.
My Grow Buckets and Boxes use the PVC in a manner EXPOSED TO THE SUNLITE as a watering tube and support for the plants. I would be more than willing to send you a photo attachment if that is necessary.
The easy thing would be to use some other material such as bamboo or another plastic material. The reason why I don't is because when I do the seminar in Haiti, I won't have the luxury of using another material. PVC is the material that is readily available. Another reason I am writing you this query is, to find out the answer from a manufacturer that stands to lose by the adverse publicity floating around out there.
Thanks for your time.
I will post their answer when I receive it. I want to try to clear up the question in my own mind before I give it to others in my seminars.
Good Gardening in the South, I will begin very soon.
Paul.
This is from their website:
"Freedom from Toxicity, Odors, Tastes
ABS and PVC pipe and fittings systems are non-toxic, odorless, and tasteless. The National Sanitation Foundation lists PVC for use with drinking water."
Pretty vague, if you ask me ...
So let's see what the National Sanitation Foundation says:
10.What is NSF/ANSI Standard 61?
NSF/ANSI Standard 61 Drinking Water System Components-Health Effects is a consensus standard promulgated by NSF International. This standard enables in-depth assessment of a variety of drinking water system products and materials for health effects. This standard is used to evaluate a product for health effect concerns only. NSF/ANSI Standard 61 is narrow in its scope when compared to NSF/ANSI Standard 14 in respect to quality and performance. NSF conducts its own testing, review, and facility inspections when certifying products like PE and PEX. NSF/ANSI Standard 14 addresses health and performance, NSF/ANSI Standard 61 only addresses health effect concerns.
Well, let us hope that PVC is safe because almost all plumbing done in the US these days uses it. My house is 20 years old and is loaded with PVC pipe, some of which is in the concrete foundation of the house!
Let's hope that PVC doesn't turn out to be as dangerous as the old lead pipes turned out to be.
I love your self-watering container, becky, but what is the little cup in the bottom for? Does it stay in when you fill it up with dirt?
pajaritomt - My home, too, is loaded with underground PVC pipes for our well water. We don't have city water. No copper that I am aware of. :-(
Yes, the cup is used for the wicking of water to the top container to keep the soil hydrated. I made numerous slits in the cup vertically to allow water to wick into the soil that will be pushed down into the cup with all the other container soil added on top of it. :-)
I am probably going to use Dynamite Flower and Vegetable slow release fertilizer pellets added into my homemade potting mix. Not totally organic, but at this point ... it's more about seeing if my self-watering containers will actually work and if so ... how good will they grow veggies (and also flowers). For now, I am just going to try the 5 gallon buckets. I think the bottom water container will only hold about a gallon of water. And the top container will only hold about 4 gallons of potting mix. I consider that an average sized container. So we'll see. The potting mix doesn't seem to be too expensive to make. (Far cheaper than the commercial mixes.) And the pots are free. The only other cost is the PVC 1" diameter pipe, which is also very cheap. I think I paid less than $2 for 10 ft. of PVC. 16 oz. cups were less than $1.50. So the container actually is costing me about $3.50 to make using the free buckets. I am also thinking of using half of a heavy duty plastic trash bag barrier over the top of the pot and just cutting an X where I want to plant my baby plants started from seeds. I will probably use large rubber bands to secure the bag since the bucket has a top lip or use the O-ring that comes in the lid of the tops that come with these buckets. (Not sure yet.) But covering the top of the soil would keep excess rain out as well as bugs.
I am still not sure how to apply the fertilizer. Whether I should mix it in with the potting mix or make an indention in the top of the soil and just fill in with fertilizer. The latter is how the earth box works. So not sure yet what to do as far as applying the fertilizer to the soil to feed the plant.
I am re-thinking adding the slow-release fertilizer to the potting mix. I think I am just going to use dry veggie fertilizer in a ring near the outer edge of the container on top of the potting mix and cover the pot with the heavy duty trash bag so that there is no air gap between the potting soil and the trash bag. I'm just not sure how much fertilizer to use. I think the water helps the fertilizer wick down from the top of the potting soil down to the roots. If too much fertilizer is around the roots, it would probably burn them, so perhaps that is why the fertilizer is NOT added into the potting soil. My pots are white, so I don't have to worry about the sun frying them. And this is the cooler months in Florida. This is all experimental this year to see what works. I do know that the earthbox set-up adds dolomite into the top 4" of soil and then the fertilizer just sits on the top of the soil. So if it works for the earthboxes, then surely that is the way I should probably go! Or at least that's my theory for now ...
Hey Steve, good to hear from you. Unfortunately I live in a community with 98% condos and apartment buildings. The other 2% is office buildings and retail. And the city of Glendale (a little community in the heart of the city surrounded by Denver) does a great job with the landscaping. I'll have to take photos in the spring. The place is so small that they can afford to do spectacular landscaping. And the community I live in is also beautifully landscaped. So I'm stuck here with just a few ideas in mind about how to garden in a more limited way. I'll figure something out.
By the way, for all of you worried about whether PVC can contaminate your plants, don't worry. It's safe and won't contaminate anything. The lead pipes are why they used PVC. As a realtor I have to know these things.
Good luck Becky.
Judith
OK Rev I have one more idea. I had a Landscape program for my computer that took almost as much time as my garden. I used it for planning and plant ID. I gave it up to have more time on DG. It was fun, creative, realistic, 3-D, showed shadows, had about every type of plant in its library. Seriously it was fun!
That does sound like fun!
So, Sof, what program is that? You may have mentioned it in the past but I have forgotten. I might want it, too. My garden design isn't very creative.
The one I had is now way out dated. But the new ones like this are super. http://www.gardencomposer.com/ Mine is called Landscape designer by Better homes and gardens. And then I bought a professional program I cannot remember they are on my crashed laptop.
Thanks. I will look into that. It might help me get through winter which is not my best season.
Revclaus,
I know Glendale a bit. My grandmother lived in South Denver and later I had friends who lived there. They lived near Mexico street which I think is very near Glendale. That is a nice part of Denver -- in my opinion.
Yes, that's pretty close to where I live. There are many more houses there than in Glendale. It's a nice part of town.