All the gardeners out there who have heard about the Dutch Bucket Hydroponic system but unsure about how it works and what can be grown in it this article will give you a brief overview of the system and the best plants that can be grown in it.
In the recent years Dutch Bucket has become a popular method among planters; they use the hydroponics system to grow big plants. The entire system is designed to ensure its affordability and versatility. The added feature of the technology is easy to connect one bucket with the other while the buckets can be reusable for other plantations.
The entire system can be used for a wide range of different growing mediums. You can use the lids with net pots of 4 inches or fill the whole with hydroton clay pebbles.
Why Use Dutch Bucket System?
As mentioned in the introduction Dutch Bucket System offers quite a few advantages for the gardeners. It now being used extensively in cities and high-rise buildings cultivate big plants. Some of the benefits provided by the system are:
- Saves Water: The system saves 85% more water than open-field agriculture because water recirculation is at the core of the process.
- Cost-Effective: One set up of the bucket allows you to continue using the system for the next 8 to 10 years.
- Individual set-up: Each bucket is used for a different plant. Hence it is easier to control any diseased plant without it affecting the entire soli and planting system.
- Scalable: You can start with 25 to 50 buckets and keep adding more as you wish within a few days, months or year.
- Variation: A single system allows you to grow a wide variety of plants and rotate them seasonally.
How Does Dutch Gardening System Work?
In Dutch Bucket System the buckets are placed in a row, and each bucket individual plants or seeds are sowed. Being a flexible system allows you to use as many buckets you want and expand the number of containers you wish. Generally, the buckets used are square ones, also known as bato buckets. The containers used can be the regular ones between 3 and 5 gallons.
These buckets are then connected to a water line that runs from the reservoir along with the buckets in a straight row. There is a drip system attached to the water line that waters each plant. As per your preference, the water can flow continuously or if you want constant drip then tip it with drip emitters.
Water poured into the plants is the nutrient solution as the bottom of the bucket collects the water that drains from the buckets. The drain is connected to the reservoir from where the water is recycled back to the plants. Also, since the containers do not get filled with water, the roots are exposed to air to grow better.
Plants You Can Grow
With Dutch gardening system, you can grow tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, potatoes, eggplants, peppers, squash, to name a few.
This is an efficient plant growing system that offers high yielding capacity, which is also easy to manage.
