Here’s a little tip from my wicking bed experiments… drill your nutrient monitoring hole lower, where you want to maintain your level and fill until it starts to come out the monitoring hole. Your fingers will thank you. 😊

I appreciate that you’re not telling everyone you have to do this or that. That was one thing that peeved me with my online research, KZfaqrs were using “you have to…” as click bait and not dispensing proper advice or guidance. I view gardening like cooking or baking. Recipes give you the basics and you add the special things that make it your own. Following everything to a T is boring and uncreative. Thank you for your creativity on the garden.

I’m a school teacher at an urban school in a neighborhood that is riddled with poverty. I was looking for a solution to getting my students healthy food in a cheap way and help them learn sustainability. This is the perfect method. Living in Corpus Christi Texas allows us to grow for a long period of time. Thanks for creating this channel. I will use your videos as my teaching platform.

seems like you could put a small hole where you want the level to stay once the plants get big enough. That way you just fill until the water starts to come out the hole

You are so full of wisdom. I love how you put this video together with what you are narrating and the video content with the birds to indicate peaceful and relaxing. The mud shots and the back ache while hoeing cracked me up. Such a good job putting this video together. You are a fantastic teacher. Thanks for helping us get the courage to do this ourselves. I had no idea that you've been doing this so long. Before amazon and the internet! WOW!

Wow Mike. I’m a traditional grander just starting to look into hydroponics. Your part about “permission to…” was on point. I hate getting stuck in “research mode” and not “doing mode”. I think I’ll start with lettuces and other small leafy greens with this method. Thank you again! Now I’m off to binge watch all your other videos!

May I suggest placing copper in the buckets for algae control, copper is sold as a liquid fungicide, and 19th century sailing ships kept water and milk safe by tossing in copper or silver coins. Silver was used in 1oz coins for a 50gallon drum and since copper is cheaper than silver ... I would say put your 2 cents in each 5-gallon bucket ... just make sure your "cents" are pre-1964... Or ... just toss a slice of copper rod in each bucket. Thanks for the video, I will set about making a few towers by your very helpful instructions.

I like your approach: experiment and if it doesn‘t work, try it in a different way. Try and error. I do the same, and as you said: that‘s part of the fun. 😊 Painting white containers: i am too lazy for that, i just put a black garbage bag inside. Advantage: the white color keeps the container cooler and the black plastik blocks light from the nutrient solution. After the grow is finished use the bag for your garbage and take a new bag, this way you can skip cleaning. 😊

My clear and white containers developed algae. The ones that were other colors, especially darker colors, didn't. I did finally paint my white and clear containers. That stopped the algae issue. To me, the easiest thing is to just get colored containers to start with. Except black. Those, I found I had to paint at least the tops WHITE to prevent them from absorbing ridiculous amounts of heat. It's been an adventure to play with different containers, both indoors and outside, to see what works best for me in my setup.

Wow, this is brilliant! The method of growing plants without soil, using nutrient-rich water, is not only innovative but also incredibly efficient. Plus it conserves water and allows for year-round cultivation, and more? I'm sold! Thank you so much for this video!

Thank you! Great life lessons that you are teaching, not just garden information!

The most encouraging and inspirational youtuber I've ever seen. Thank you.

You have given me a reason to go back and do some more growing. Did some last year and had not started yet but it is time at 74 that I make a move and stay active. Thanks

I love your videos and your attitude. Keeping it simple and successful inspired me to try your method a year ago but it have learned since then and this method is truly more productive and efficient that growing in the ground which is what I'm doing now but I'm going back to this method and I'll experiment with you. Thank you for your very informative videos.

Wow - teach the world to feed itself - pure inspiration- wonderful, love it, let’s do it.

My 2LB order of Masterblend came in, a few days ago. No way that will last all summer. So, I ordered more bulk Masterblend. Before Shabbat, I ran out and picked up 2 Firehouse buckets from 2 restaurants, they had 1 bucket each. FOOD FOR THOUGHT: I invested in a few more spendy and very picked over nursery plants. NON GMO plants will offer many more seeds than purchasing seed packets, for continual grows. I went to the dollar store and picked up cheap pool noodles and containers because the sprouting trays I picked up 2 years ago, just didn't work for me. The delicate sprouts needed constant spritzing or they dried up. So, I'll be using your method. You even recommend omposting which could possibly, in a pinch, be somehow turned into fertilizers for our hydroponics. I said before I was ready but now I really am, to put the towers, grow containers, and sprouting "chambers" together after Sabbath. I VERY MUCH appreciate you and the work and love ❤️ you invested to save us ALL money, time, and as much effort as is possible to feed ourselves. Firemen get supported, and Firehouse Subs gets free advertisement until the plants cover the pots each year. It's a win, win. You have blessed many with a gift that keeps on giving. Many blessings to you and yours for years to come..... in Yahushas name.

This went from the best hydroponic vid ive found to a motivational speach. love it!

Bad timing for me, love the videos and the shared knowledge. Still facing frost threats and started seeds too early for the outdoor season. Frost killed a bunch and critters took some too. I have an indoor system that got overwhelmed fast. Harvesting lots and still moving plants outside this weekend. Learning so much from so many people. Thanks for all you post.

Mike, you are "down to earth with growing.....in water wisdom". As a new subscriber, that has done lots of Eastern Canadian traditional gardening, with a twist by adding in potted citrus to the fun..... Over winter, I have a grow tent, led lighting, propagations, etc..... and now plunging into hydroponics..... Your work, and teachings are wonderful- Thank you!

Brand new to this vertical growing. Just gathering information so I can build confidence to start to grow something. This concept makes sense to me. Thank you for your videos!

I thank you for all the hard work you put into you videos. It was such an honor to be able to watch them. Be safe have an awsome weekend.

Brilliant!! Thank you for supplying such helpful content. I grow all our houseplants in hydroponics with wonderful results, and I am looking to do the same with our outside vegetable garden. Your video is very helpful, and I will review some more of your videos as well.

This is an amazing video !! Well done !!

Hi Mike really enjoying your videos, growing my first little crop of dwarf tomatoes with great success thanks to your advice. Best wishes from North England Uk

Thank you for showing me again.❤

Mike, you're blessing to the world. Love your Kratky demos. I have two of your gutter systems. Will plant nutrient dense leafy greens this year.

This is brilliant! Thank you for sharing this. I've been using self watering containers for a few years. I can't wait to try this method as it will increase my growing space, and greatly decrease my need for soil!

I didn't realize he had come back to the Internet again. So thanks for this video.

Thanks for posting these how to videos. My wife and I built 6 Kratky buckets over the weekend. Our next project will be stacking the buckets and cutting holes in the side buckets.

Great video Mike…Thanks!! Been converting my dirt garden to hydroponics over the last couple of years and man what a difference!!

Thank for sharing. The best I've found, will definitely try.

I'm always busy at work but this can work for me..😊

I'm just starting. Thanks. This is super helpful. 😊

I’ve been watching your videos for years now and one thing I like that although your content may change the message has always remained the same! I always like watching to see just what Mike has come up with this time! Because sure as anything it’s going to be cheap and easy and it’s going to be a creative solution to an interesting problem. I absolutely love the way you teach the world to feed themselves and how you never fail to inspire me! I’ve tried to make use of my indoor vertical space and while I’ve had lots of success growing my own food this may be my greatest experiment to date! I have more then a dozen sweet pepper plants of varying varieties and they are growing in three buckets on top of one another and unlike an outdoor garden I could utilize the top and put holes in the top bucket. Which allowed for even more plants. You are right the most important part about cheap and easy is consistency, you must check your plants every single day and I happen to do it morning and night. You never know when all of a sudden one day your going to put our finger in to discover it’s not feeling any water at all. It may be like that consistently for three days and then on the fourth day it doesn’t need a top up it’s definitely not something that can be put on a spreadsheet or a calendar it’s just something that has to be done every day for the best results. I do have three bubblers one in each bucket because despite adding the additional nutrients every day I found the water would become stagnant and would have a smell inside which wasn’t pleasant so adding the air stones has resolved this issue for me. It’s a small thing and still something I consider cheap because they are supplied I already had on hand from previous experiments. I can’t believe I’ve got two banana peppers on already and lots of blossoms which I’m hand pollinating every morning and every night. I get a kick out of seeing the little burst of white pollen that seems to burst from some of the blossoms on the top of my finger and lll just continue to play the part of the bees. 😂🥰❤️🙏🏻🇨🇦

I love the logic of the holes in the side. Dealing with rainwater is always an issue in outdoor hydroponics. I grow basil with a net lid Kratky style and move it under an over hang when expecting rain, For herbs, I find a 5 gallon bucket works fine. However, my cucumbers are grown in a 40 gallon garbage can, for a few reasons. With that big a reservoir, daily monitoring is unnecessary, although most days I do. I can go away for a week and not worry it's going to run dry. Fruiting plants like vegetables can use up nutrients very quickly when they are mature and producing. This can lead to wild swings in nutrient levels and PH is a five gallon bucket holding at most 4 gallons. Your results speak for themselves, but keeping everything topped off in your systems seems like a major pain in the ass. A larger reservoir acts as a buffer to nutrient and PH swings . I also do a nutrient change and flush with tap water to prevent salt buildup at least once or twice over the growing season.

Paint your bucket-- that sounds like a Western Musical! ( I guess I am thinking of paint your wagon) Looks so great!

❤ Thank you I don't know much about gardening and would like to start soon... Have tight budget and this is gonna help a lot

Very helpful tips! Thank you very much!

Finally a system that will work for me..outdoors under protection in a rainforest

You are my favorite gardener ❤

❤ what a beautiful message ❤

I don't think I would be as successful as you with outdoor hydro without a heater for the reservoir(The nights get chilly), and some kind of air stone for the nutrient solution. Which makes it a more complicated setup and makes me inclined to gravitate towards a DWC with misting nozzles which I have had phenomenal success with but it requires more maintenance and cost for the pump and tubing. I always love watching your videos, your garden is amazing! I have learned many tips from you over the years, Thanks a bunch!

The therapy session i didn’t know i needed

Thank you for sharing your knowledge to do this cheaper and easier. I was afraid to try cause looking into it makes it look so complicated and expensive to get started. and i was feeling like it can't be that hard....you've encouraged me to try anyway and get started

Best source of 5 gallon food grade buckets - Walmart bakery sells them for $1 each. (Mentioned early in the video). I did like the side holes and stackable strategy. Great DIY garden!

Thank you for your page 🙏🏾❤

I've tended an outside garden for over 20 years and never liked not being able to grow anything in the winter time. I ran into vertical hydroponics. This looks interesting, but takes up a lot of space. With a vertical system, you could grow 20+ different plants in a small, 2' space. Your buckets pretty much simulate that and I might try that. Great content.

Wow .I m going to try thank you

I'm gonna have to try this.

this is a cool video, just need to figure out an automated way to water for us time starved people, currently i have drip irrigation on all my soil plants. I did it this year as I couldnt keep up with my at work, workload and come home after a 15 hour day and water for an hour. It was a game changer for me. I decided to try hydroponic this winter to see if I can at least keep some fresh vegetables this winter. Thank you

Hi Mike! Thank you for your fantastic videos on cheap and easy hydroponics. I liked it when you gave us permission to do it our own way. I needed to hear that somehow, because I've just started and wondering if I'm doing it right. You asked what we would like to see in part 3 of this series..... Perhaps some FAQ? Perhaps show us (again!) how you mix your masterblend? Maybe how to find the answer to a specific question in your FAQ section? I've seen plenty of your footage, I found the courage to start by you. Thank you and wishing you and your lady prosperity & (for your doggy as well) health. From Tilburg, the Netherlands.

Thanks so inspiring will do some experimenting

You really have grown a ton of vegetables in that set-up! I had a white square bucket that I put strawberry plants in and they did get root rot and algae indoors so eventually I lost them all. I ordered 20 ,ore plants and am spraying my bucket silver (not only to keep out light but to reflect the light back to the leaves. What you said about the tomatoes makes alot of sense. They can create alot of foliage fast and create enough shade. I think my mistake was that strawberries don't create that much foliage in one year from bare root starts, so there wasn't enough greenery to shade the bucket. I am hoping this year will be more successful with the silver reflective spray paint. I'm also going to divide up my plants and grow half of them in outdoor containers in soil, and half indoors in hydroponics and see which grows better. There seems to be different advantages to both ways.

YAYYYY. I'VE SUGGESTED THE MOSQUITO DUNKS!!! ❤❤❤❤

This is a best video. Thanks

Man I'm glad I watched this video. I hadn't checked my water levels in a while I just had to add 10 gallons worth of mix in 30 gallons of containers

You have a good voice for your discussions. You sound a bit like Kevin Costner. Thank you for the advice and the examples!

Thank you for sharing ❤

Loved this thank you

Truly inspiring. 👍✨🌱

Thank you, thank you , thank you , I was patiently waiting for some of the answers I didn’t have and you answered what I needed to know I loved this video .💖✝️💖✝️💖

Would make it a bit more complex, but you could add a hole in the bottoms of each of the buckets except the very bottom bucket and fill with water to allow a rise to the desired level before going into the pipe and entering into the next bucket, filling it up. This would allow you to be able to only fill up one bucket at the top and get all of them at once. Love how much progress you've made with these by the way. Great work!

You are an amazing person, god bless

One thing you could do to indicate the water level is to just drill a small hole just above where you want the water level to be, then there is no need to feel where the water level is because you just slowly add till water starts coming out of the hole.

Great Video... One Love..

Very nice Video 👍🏻

If you put a piece of copper or a copper penny in the bucket that should help with algae.

Thanks Mike.

Listening to you, I like you. I like your personality.

So awesome thank you from under the firmament bless you

Your channel is fantastic. I'm ripping my house apart looking for my drill and I can't WAIT to get into the planters! I've done Kratky on the lids in the past, but this looks a million times better, HATE those flooded air roots!!! BTW, the new haircut looks great, but you look tired! Or maybe I'm just projecting? LOL

Thanks for sharing. 🙏 😎🏖🏝

You are so awesome. Thank you. I’m scared but I will try.

You are some great to inspire!

Tomatoes are very beautiful.

Excellent.

I used to manage a great american cookies / Mrs field’s cookie store at the mall (cookie cakes) we had buckets for the icing. I still have one in my house for the dog food. I hated throwing them in the dumpster. If someone would have asked for buckets I would have been thrilled. I saw an ice cream shop advertising for free buckets. One thing i would recommend: use food grade plastic buckets.

Great ideas❤

Just ordered my nutrients, cant wait. I'm actually using a 3d printer to make my own netcups. Dirt cheap when you can print them to any size you desire and get up to 200- 300 netcups per filament roll

Mine filled with rain water. Every rain I went and dumped some so they wouldnt drown. Then I worried about the nutrients. So, today I went out and dumped all the water and refilled. I dont know what to do to keep it from happening. We used 27 gal totes. But, plants are growing and everything is thriving, so right now I am not worrying. I picked my first zucchini today. Cucumbers will be ready soon. Tomatoes and peppers are not far behind. And my watermelon and cantaloupe looks really health too. We also planted 2 okra plants, so we will see what will happen with that. Something attacked my tomatillos so we lost those, but I have some new starts for those that are almost ready. I live in GA where we have a hot long summer, so I think I will at least get some tomatillos even though it is a late start. I am so excited. Our in the ground gardens have never worked in the past because our soil isn't good and I am not great at keeping stuff watered. This is the year though. It's gonna be great!

Excellent

Great video, I think I'll try this method to save some valuable space. Just wondering how you drain your buckets to refill/clean them?

If you do not have much money you can use the simple method of a toilet bowl system. levels are maintained with a pump and float from a distribution water tank with premixed solution. its a simple setup for anyone. have not used a setup like your in many years. I engineered my very large setup fully automated. Harvesting daily only takes a few minutes if you setup a well maintained system. This video shows the basics of what anyone can do and always have food. I like these videos that show anyone can really eat for free everyday.

One of the problem I faced with Kratky approach to grow outdoor was that when it gets too hot outside making nutrient solution temperature more than 90F, tomatoes stop flowering. I opted for 25 gallon size buckets to mitigate this issue as larger volume of water doesn't get too hot that quickly, but still it didn't help. And this was happening in Bay Area temperate weather. How did you manage to solve this problem with your small 5 gallon bucket ?

Yes yes, I’m binging your videos 😅. Ps. Love the aprons in your store!

Get a 500ml Coke or some other long necked bottle that won’t collapse , fill with nutrients/water make a hole big enough so that you can put in the bottle deep enough so it sits at the level you want. Flip it in far enough so the top is just in the bucket water. As the water in the bucket gets lower than the mouth of bottle the water empties from the bottle. Not only does it keep the bucket water level up, but it’s also a visual reference to see if you need to top up .

I put a plug in my buckets so I could refill the bucket, open the plug and it would drain any excess down to my catch bucket and I would use that overfill for the next bucket.

I finally tried this today the pool noodles were not wide enough. I had to alter it by cutting chucks of noodle pieces and glueing them with e6000. Next time I will make the holes smaller I think with shrinkflation they are making them smaller. Once the glue dries I'll add masterblend and plants. 😊

love this,, can you explain where the water level should be? Does the water cover the roots?.. thank you

My Tiny Tim tomato plant is in a 5 gal bucket with a 6 inch grow basket. I hope they sold me the right seeds....it seems to be getting huge. Well...right now the side leaves don`t look "tiny" and it`s already over a foot tall. So who knows. Mine is under the corner edge of my camper roof for good morning and all day sun. I wrapped the bucket in a thin foam insulating material (free from packages) and then aluminum foil...even the black basket lid to reflect light. I have several Folgers Instant coffee containers growing basil. The 3 inch net cups fit those perfectly and I put expanded clay pebbles in them. They`re under the camper roof too but partial sun hits them which is the best way here in Louisiana. I have indoor electric gardens too for Winter and Southern veggies in my yard. I planted dry blackeyed peas from the store. CHEAP seeds! And they grow great in the heat.

Hi Mike I'm new to your channel and I find these simpler setups very inspiring because of the simpler requirements. For the water indicator, (if not already solved) I thought about using transparent tubings to make a U-tube (the physics textbook thingies) with two knees or bents, not sure what they are called. I have written an email to you titled "Water indicator suggestion for bucket setup" with the drawings and a quick prototype. Please have a look. Thank you!

I'm SO going to do this!!! AWESOME job.. only 1 thing I disagree with is the world is flat..😂

❤ thank you. Let's grow together. What is best lettuce to grow and what brand nutrients to use. Thank you brother

very cool.

Question so how does this work without soil. Is it the nutrients that being placed in the water. If you did this in the inside like a garage or in a room do you need lights as well . Thanks for the video and advice. I’m going to try this

Going out to check on the plants can alert you to non-water related emergencies like bugs or blight. This will be the first year trying tomato again. I did top bucket for two years and it was great except the flooding during rains. Plus I could only do one bucket per space and I have very little space in the full sun. I tried to balance other containers on the lip of the tomaot but a wind would blow it over if it weren't strongly clinging to the trellis. A funny thing I notice is my first bucket with beans. when I put them in, they kinda stick out at odd angles like your tomato, but once they righted themselves, they became tough and did not have any sappy leaves. They are reinforcing themselves so well, they don't even reach the nearby trellis, I have to coax the leaves over! It reminds me of the claims of the "upside down planters". My Poor germination Etsy seeds are finally showing a bit of life. I can't believe it took from March to June for tomato seeds to come out!!! Good thing we have a long growing season. Mike, do you save seeds?

You da man!!!

For my bucket level indicators, I get 1/2" rubber grommets, drill a hole in the side of the bucket at the bottom, just up from the bottom enough to allow for grommet diameter. Then I take a 1/2"pvc 90degree and two 1 1/4" pieces of pipe, one of which has a length of poly vinyl tubing on one side and one that pops into the grommet. Keep it pointing up and easily see water level. Want to drain the bucket, roll it sideways.

Thank you so much for this. Please how many tomato plant did you put in a bucket?

Hi , setting up the same system as you,re,s for peppers annd tomatoes .My question is ,can strawberries be grown as well this way ? Some are using the wick system .Trouble is they still use dirt suspended above an eavestrough of water . Thanks for the reply .