My stock tank arrived!

[CathyA]

I ordered a long, shallow food-grade poly stock tank to elevate on straw bales in the back yard and grow greens/scallions/spinach in. I have a large garden about 100' from the house, but I like the idea of having some things closer to the house, and higher off the ground! I hope it works out. I hate the idea of drilling a bunch of holes in the bottom for drainage, but I don't think there's any other way of assuring good drainage. Any ideas? I had thought of only drilling one hole on the end, and then making sure the stock tank was lifted a little on one side.........but that's probably not a great idea.

Here's a pic of the stock tank. I was going to go with zinc-plated metal, but it sounded safer to go with this food grade poly.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f129/Catherine50/Behlen70gallonstocktank_zpsf9c90796.jpg

[Gardenarian]

Cool! On Instructables (http://www.instructables.com/) there are several instructions for making your own Earthbox - which makes it self-watering as well as providing drainage. You would still need at least one hole for drainage though.

[rodeosweetheart]

That is so neat, Cathy.
I might try this, too.
You could trail cucumbers down the sides.

[gadder]

I had thought of only drilling one hole on the end, and then making sure the stock tank was lifted a little on one side.........but that's probably not a great idea

Depends how sturdy the box is. I am growing salad mixes in window boxes on my balcony. The boxes are slightly elevated on one end so the drainage holes can be only at the lower end (this way the drips can all be caught - do not want to water my downstairs neighbour too!) Of course, there will be more water at one end.

[CathyA]

I'll probably go ahead and drill holes in the bottom. You're right about one end being wetter if its tilted a bit. And it will probably be kinda heavy when it's filled with soil and plants and rain.......so lifting it on one end might be difficult, and might put stress on the stocktank.
I grow herbs in some large plant pots, but I just had to spend some money.......so I decided on this stocktank. haha I hope the weeds don't find it. (haha...that's a joke, 'cause weeds is what I grow best!)
What I'm really looking forward to is having it up on bales of straw so I don't have to lean over to weed. My brains tend to squirt out my ears when I lean over any more.

[ToomuchStuff]

Don't you put a layer of gravel in the bottom and put either pots, or two liter bottle bases, with the soil in them and then straw?

[CathyA]

No, I don't want any gravel in them. Do you mean use buckets or pots to take up space, before the soil?
This is pretty shallow (1'), so I'm just going to use all soil.

[ToomuchStuff]

Not buckets or pots, but the watering pan that typically goes under the pots (really shallow as well). Or as some of the older people around here did, cut the bottom's off of two litter soda bottles (whatever size you need).

[CathyA]

No offense TMS.............but I don't know what you are talking about. I'm sorry!

[ToomuchStuff]

Placing shallow pans inside this, so this stock tank, becomes the drip tray.

[The Storyteller]

Nice. Where did you get it and how much did cost?

That would be a perfect grow bed for my aquaponic system.

[CathyA]

Hi Storyteller,

Actually, while I was looking for a food-grade shallow stocktank, it seemed to lead me to alot of turtle forums and hydroponic forums.
I got mine at Amazon for about $143.00 (shipping included). At that time, it was selling for $148.00 plus tax, but they offered a 10% coupon. I checked out other sites (like the Local Tractor Supply) store and it was going to be something like $220 to special order it. A place called Blain's Farm and Fleet have it in their store for $69, but the shipping was going to be about $83.00 If you could find something around where you live, it would be cheaper. This model is 70 gallon and the brand is "Behlen Country".
The Amazon route seemed reasonable, since there are no Behlen outlets around here.
Good luck!

[The Storyteller]

Thanks. I found a 10x2 foot poly feed trough at a local Atwoods that would probably work better for me at $129, but your tank did give me a great starting point. So, thanks! :)

[CathyA]

You're welcome Storyteller. I'm glad you found something! Let me know how your project goes.