Whizbang Bucket Irrigation For Gardeners 

Some viewers are confused by this video. Let me clarify... Whizbang bucket irrigation is a simple, hassle-free, low-tech approach to spot-irrigating (or fertigating) individual plantings. It is a tool for deep-watering with a slow, steady trickle of water. Although I illustrate this tool by watering a row of strawberries, I do not typically water rows of strawberries this way. I typically use this tool for occasional watering (in especially dry times) of "hill plantings" of crops like squashes and cucumbers. I have also used it for deep-watering of fruit bushes and small trees. This idea is absolutely NOT being presented here as the solution to watering your whole garden. I have experimented in past years with drip-tape irrigation. It was a real bother to deal with. What I finally realized is that, in trying to keep my whole garden watered, I was doing something that didn't need to be done. The roots of young plants will strike deep for water and find sufficient water- if they are not continually watered from above. And if the plants are not spaced too close together, those deep roots will be able to supply the plant with all the moisture it needs.My "Planet Whizbang Idea Book For Gardeners" has an excerpt from an old farm almanac (from the 1800s) that explains this. The old timers knew. They didn't have the time or infrastructure to always be watering their gardens. But in a real dry spell, they would get out the buckets. Since making this video, I have pursued Minibed Gardening, which is an idea for growing a serious home garden without any artificial watering. After one year of experimentation, the idea worked beautifully. You can check it out here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-F5ovc8XwGTI.html. For more information about the bucket irrigation kits I sell, click on this link: www.bucketirrigation.com

that's an awesome idea for when it doesn't rain. 2 years ago we had no rain and they rationalized the water. i had to get as much water as i could to keep my garden alive. which i did, but this year it rained everyday and i had to bring them to my balcony. loved and subbed.

Great idea. I had the same idea for squeezing the tubing to make the restriction. Glad to see it in service

I love those homemade pins!!! I made large “staples” out of coat hangers (just a u-bend). But those little circular pull taps are great!

I made something like this for a small plastic covered greenhouse. I had 3 pails on top of each other with water flow going to each bucket. pieces used were from the hardware store for irrigation and alittle improvised thinking. The buckets were elevated I had a micro irrigation setup to each plant, i had drip valves for control, the two bottom buckets were designated to the plants, each bucket watered so many plants.the top bucket was the filler upper bucket. this could be moved around when emptied. I would fill the buckets up in the evening on workdays and in the mornings I would open the control valves x 2 and away I went to work. worked like a charm. most of the hardware I already had so I just needed some imagination to put it together.

I have found that a gentle soaking that doesn't cover the leaves with water and doesn't water areas that I don't want voluntary weeds, etc, is what plants love and thrive. You have given me loads of great ideas. Love the little home made pins. Good job!

Elizabeth L. Johnson said, I do use all the black colored irrigation stuff, but when there's a plugged up hole or spot, I simply cannot get it cleaned out. At least with your clear plastic tubing everything is visible, easy to clean, etc (and probably wouldn't ever have to!) I don't store my tubing, it is so lengthy. With your method it is easy to handle, easy to store, so you don't ever have to repurchase and reassemble as a result of exposure to all year weather, as in my case of irrigation materials. Great idea!

I like your gentle voice and the video is great. I use a similar bucket system but have an old cut off hose quick released onto the bucket (I use a baby sock with an elastic as filter on the inside of the bucket... filters are expensive). I then attach end emitters to the hose around the plants and water in a circle (better pressure) on a raised bed. I blow out the system every week by reversing the quick release on the hose with the garden hose. Every bed has a bucket with a top zapped to it (I don't like to drown the bees etc.). I collect the system in the winter and put it out when I plant out marshalling the plants by the emitters. My water is collected from two 2500 gal. tanks. That does me the whole year.

Some people are stupit, this is a good system. I had no problems with my setup & I recommend it to my friends.

Your videos are great, you clearly show what you are doing and don't over explain ... thank you .. . We have subscribed!

Thanks a lot for sharing a valuable information .

Carrying 5 gallon buckets of water through the garden. You guys really know how to have a good time!!!

great idea i love it and thank you to share us your video

I've been doing the same general thing for several years. But I use 1/16th id tubing that I weight on one end. I just toss the weighted end of the tube in the bucket and start a siphon. That's all. You are right about the watering schedule, Once every 5 days is plenty.

Great system, I live in Australia and we are in a bad drought at the moment this will be enough to keep select things watered and keep within water restrictions.

Love the idea and was ready to purchase several kits, however I need to drip irrigate several plants at a time! But I love the video!

Thanks for the information

Thanku. God bless you

fabulous project!

This is an amazing idea :)

Hello I like the ideal of this .This gives a deep watering and is better than just tipping a bucket of water to a plant as when this is done most of the water runs past all around the plant, where as your way just drips water to the spot and soaks the soil right though. Very good

Great work!

THIS WORKS GREAT ON USED KITTY LITTER BUCKETS(!) I bought two and love 'em. Using water from my rain barrels. Thanks brah.

You can also put more spigots in one bucket to speed up warering

I love your homemade pin! I'll try your method, as I have sandy soils also

Very nice 👍 good idea

Great idea Herrick and simple as well. It reminds me of the ones from ECHO from a number of years back. The ones that Chapin Living Waters used ECHO sold, but appears no longer. Perhaps your concept could be used for them?

okey.... Amazing! 👍👌

Thank you!

You can do the same thing with just a bucket. put a tiny hole in the side, bottom of the bucket and place near the plant. easy peasy. I do this for trees that are all by themselves. I use an old bucket with a crack in it. lol

Thanks for sharing.

or you could put a drip tape along the entire row and then go sit on the porch ...nice and tidy garden ....ill give you that

Needs to istallation small drip irrigation project in the high school.

I’m working on a hanging version of this where at the bottom I collect the water and re use it

what a beautiful weed free garden ... what is the name of that back fabric.. great natural waterers

Holy F! This will take forever! Here I am complaining it takes 45 min each morning to water all my plants and garden but here you are spending all damn day lol! Sure its water efficient but some of us still work bro!

why do you plant a runner plant? i love your system and plan on buying a kit for my lil community plot (perhaps for my sisters plot as well).

What if you put a inch and a half long half inch PVC in the ground and put the hose on it that way whenever the the inch and a half PVC fills up with the drops of water. Dripping slower and that he will stay moisture for a long. Of time

Great idea but now how to use this technique to irrigate several separate plants?

Good god what a tdoy garden

Have you ever tried using a red plastic mulch sheet for your strawberries buddy? you will get a better crop from a red mulch plastic cover. I don't know why but ask James Wong who I took the tip from.

Genius!!!

I mean, maybe you could do something like that Cajun gardener does with pvc piping that he fills with water that goes right to the soil. I guess you could put some kind of valve in them at the bottom to control flow if you wanted to.... This would just be TOO slow....

Nice

why the cut tires??? just put a small hole in the plastic and plant through the plastic. Wont dry out as fast if you use a small hole. You are also wasting space. Run your pvc pipe with small holes in it (or drip tape or old garden hose with the end clamped and holes in it) under the plastic (connected to the bucket) and plant through small holes in the plastic. This will save water and space and not dry out as fast. Leaves also will stay dry and healthier.

Clever idea, I like it. However there is one mystery to this video I can't figure out. Why is it that in the opening of this video you have a blue pen in your shirt pocket but at the first break where you show the contents of the kit you magically have 2? It's kept me up for the last two nights, please explain it to me so I can get some rest. Thank you.

Where can I buy just the hardware brass fittings? I know those were purchased somewhere. A link would be appreciated! Thanks! Also, could you explain the hardware for the drip hose wing nut adjusters? Thanks!

I like your tire sidewalls how did you make them or were did you get them from. Thanks

cool tire scraps, whered you find those?

Washington State University trialed garden plastic mulches. They found red plastic is the most effective color for tomatoes.

thanks for the information, but I have one question. can this system be used for irrigation of spinach plantations, which have a tight spacing? thanks.

I like the simplicity of your wingnut and bolt adjustable dripper. How did you determine a bucket? :) I think Strawberry plant roots go down about 3 feet. So if the soil was bone dry, a 5 gallon bucket (0.66 cubic feet) would add 22% water volume over a 3 cubic feet area. Since yours don't look like they're wilting and the wilting point for sand is about 6%, or 12% for silt loam by water volume, you're at least 28% water volume which is near field capacity for loam, and pretty much ideal...

I have my qty 4 4'x6' beds set up with 3/8" soaker hoses. There are rain spouts coming off our roof beside the beds. If I set up rain barrels with 4-way manifolds to fill 5 gal buckets you used in your system, could I modify the fittings slightly to run them into the soaker hoses in each bed? I know it would have to be quite high off the beds.

Interesting indeed - but what about the tires leaching junk into the soil? Does that concern you? I am going to give some thought as to what I could use in place of those. Thanks very much, really enjoy your creativity.

How could you use a regular garden hose instead of the small tubing?

I like this but there HAS to be a faster way to water more plants at a time. Is there a way to hang buckets or do something like that?

How do you fill the bucket with hose dragged around or you carry down the line? I am jealous looking at your garden Lol

Hello Herrick I have another question. Your strawberry plants being deep watered are under raised beds. How or what is the black you used and how do you raise it up like that I see orange trees here in Spain the same I would like to do the same but yours look nice and smooth domed How did you do it. Thanks Vic

What is th3 ordering part number for the bucket fitting that connects line to bucket?

Could you tell me the actual name of that white covering fabric? thanks!

I did something similar. 5 gal of water gone in 2 hours. So I built a hugelgarden....

could you poke pinholes into the hose and tighten down the trickling valve to make the water come out over the whole length of the hose so you could irrigate multiple plants with one hose? Maybe use a longer hose. As long as the bucket is sufficiently high up to provide water pressure, it should come out of the pinholes evenly. To water deeply, you could just refill the bucket instead of changing it's location

can you run multiple lines on one bucket 🪣?

Hello. Did you try with Jadam EM in the bucket , with some rock dust ... o a Bio ferment with manure broun sugar yeast and rock dust .... ? 👍🤠🌱🌞

Good video. Cured passenger tires contain carcinogens.

How long will that plastic hose last in the sun and heat in your experience?

OK for a couple plants but seems labor intensive if you have many plants to water.

Can I use this for a few flower plant at the same time?

Anything I can use in place of tired sidewalls? I don't have access to lots of used tires nor the ability to cut them. Thanks.

Are you able to turn the water off also is there a way to attach a battery operated timer so the water turn on on its own

With the bucket irrigation. Can I buy attachments anywhere that allow me to splice the hose to run to multiple tom plants? I have my plants in buckets and want to do D.I. I have 9 tom plants. Would love to set up one for my peppers also

If i have 50 plants do i have to put 50 buckets?

Wery good

Do you have a way to connect the hose to a t-tape drip tape so I may irrigate an entire row instead of a single plant? Thank you

I hang my bucket from a tree branch next to the garden (which is only 12' X 12') I had to paint the bucket because the wife didn't like an orange Home Depot bucket hanging in the tree. 🤣

Hi there just wondering if the wingnut is able to completely shut off the water or not?

Put that table on wheels

Subbed.

watering one plant at a time seems tedious and slow.

What area of the country are you in? It looks like desert....

How many would you need to do an entire garden?

Can't afford $16.50 for the kit. Sticker shock prevented me from even looking at the shipping costs. May have to manually water due to the costs of semi-automatic watering.

you must have a lot of time on your hand why not just install a regular drip system ?

Why not natural mulch rather than plastic, which prevents rain water from percolating into the ground and alters the microbial system in the ground. Natural mulch will add to the soil and prevent the weeds.

I order it and try , I want to know that how I can prolong the host?

thats quite of hassle dont you think?

I admire your ingenuity, and I like how well made your devices are. But that seems like an awful lot at work just water strawberries! You mean to tell me that you move those buckets and that table up and down that row? All due respect but that's crazy! Now if you had big fat wheels on the table so you can easily roll your buckets up and down that would make a little bit more sense. I would Bury a 2 inch PVC pipe with holes cut in a matching where the strawberry plants were, put an elbow on one end and a cap on the other end. Stick a hose in the elbow, and you get fantastic watering because, as you know, the pipe is in the ground and osmosis will pull the water through the system.

works fine until the algae builds up in it. A 5gal bucket will drain in about 2 hours....

What about HEAT!! 4 or 5 hours in the sun and youd be watering with hot water.

Why not add another line to each bucket and do four plants every two buckets, quicker, you would have to work into the night going at the pace you were going at.. it's only really the first watering that needs to be a real watering. I'd say half a bucket every day would be ample. You would end up over watering and stunting the plants broth that way and be inviting bugs in if like a swamp in there.. I'd perminant!y have one bucket to every two plants and then fill the buckets via a main water line unless nature fills them up. I'd add some nutrients periodically also.. not kicking the system. It's quite good but just wants a larger reservoir or something ... You want to eliminate the time spent watering not make it a routine choir.

Quand vous publiez en France, ayez la politesse, soit de parler francais ou de soutitrer Merci d'avance

Bro there's no way you can make money selling these by showing them EXACTLY what they can go out and buy cheaper themselves.

It's not a good idea ! It's a time consuming method ! I can use a garden hose to water those plants 50 time faster than those buckets. Save time and energy to go getting those buckets filled up ! Save tons of money on buying those material ! And more !

O

This is stupid. I use a pvc pipe with small holes along the length of my strawberry row and connect the pvc pipe to a bucket and water all my plants with one bucket. Put water into the bucket and it waters all my plants. The small holes allow a slow watering. Can do several rows with one bucket.

One bucket for each plant? You are very rich person Better coca cola bottles that is for the poor people

That is ridiculous. Who has time to water like that.

You're not showing hose connecting to bucket. You're not showing how 1 hose does whole row. It only shows drip coming out end of ONE hose. Not a good video. Please explain it better.