Should I turn this into two gigantic pots?

[starling1]

I was given this tank recently. It's really sturdy plastic and is uv stabilised, height is 1.9 metres, haven't measured the diameter yet but it's pretty wide. I don't know how many litres it is as it isn't marked. I think it might have been used for pool water in its former life. It's been high pressure cleaned and has been empty for several years.

http://postimg.cc/gallery/2dbps1jz8/b4a34472/


It's not really big enough to warrant being plumbed in as a water reservoir, I'd burn through the contents pretty quickly, so I'm thinking of turning it in to two gigantic pots. It has inlets on both the top and bottom which would be good for allowing excess water to pour out. I'd like to grow two seedless a2 lychees in each as these are my most highly valued trees. I don't even bother trying to grow lychees in the ground at my place, I don't have the soil for that.

Should I do this?

[bangkok]

Yes do it!

Here every house has a tank like that connected to the toilets. They are buried in the backyard.

You can grow some trailing plants around the edge in it so you won't see the plastic anymore after some weeks.

[gnappi]

What's the diameter? I'm assuming you want to put it at least partially in the ground? At nearly 2 meters it's pretty tall.

If I had it, I'd make it a rain barrel, it sounds like a simple mod for it.

You must go through a LOT of water, It looks to be an ideal drip irrigation reservoir too. Pump up from a well, and let her rip, er, um... drip!

[bangkok]

Or fill it with fish and use the water for the plants. Tilapia's can live in it if you cut the top off.

[Cookie Monster]

Can you turn it into a makeshift septic tank? Save some dough on the utility bills?




(Just kidding :-).

[BMc]

I'd put a flux capacitor in it, go back to 1957 and give Tony Abbott's mum the pill.
Or cut the bottoms out of them and make a couple of mean raised beds for the lychees. You could probably get 3-4 out of it, rather than just 2.

[starling1]

I'd put a flux capacitor in it, go back to 1957 and give Tony Abbott's mum the pill.
Or cut the bottoms out of them and make a couple of mean raised beds for the lychees. You could probably get 3-4 out of it, rather than just 2.

I don't think we'd need to go that far. I could just send it on a truck to lnp and they'd go back and unmake him party leader if impressions are anything to go by.

How much height do you reckon I'd need per raised bed? 40 cm or so?

Should hear from correy about that avocado today at some point too btw.

[Doglips]

I'd use them for water, but whatever make you happy.  Like a good ladder.
What are your soil conditions that is bad for Lychee?

[BMc]

I'd put a flux capacitor in it, go back to 1957 and give Tony Abbott's mum the pill.
Or cut the bottoms out of them and make a couple of mean raised beds for the lychees. You could probably get 3-4 out of it, rather than just 2.

I don't think we'd need to go that far. I could just send it on a truck to lnp and they'd go back and unmake him party leader if impressions are anything to go by.

How much height do you reckon I'd need per raised bed? 40 cm or so?

Should hear from correy about that avocado today at some point too btw.

If you made 4 you'd get about 45cm which should be a good amount. I have my best performing figs in raised beds around that size. It just depends where you are looking at placing them as well, as on a slope they will need to be buried and you'll need a higher planter. I sometimes pile up cheap aged chippies mulch around mine to keep the sides a bit cooler.

[KarenRei]

One of my banana trees is in something like that but half as tall.  It works well, although be cautious, if you put something with aggressive roots in it they could probably break through.

[LEOOEL]

I would go for it. Seedless lychee sounds great.

Also, don't know if this will help but, I normally don't care about what type of soil I have, with regards to the soil the fruit tree normally needs. What has worked for me so far is, that if my soil is not adequate, I will then dig a humongous hole by using 2 pick tools, and then I fill the hole with soil that is more adequate to the liking of the fruit tree to be planted. By using this method, I haven't had a problem so far. I don't know what type of soil you have, but perhaps with some planning, and by using this method, and with some good old common sense, the seedless lychee could be planted. But, if you're not 100% sure that it'll work, don't do it; good luck.

[starling1]

I would go for it. Seedless lychee sounds great.

Also, don't know if this will help but, I normally don't care about what type of soil I have, with regards to the soil the fruit tree normally needs. What has worked for me so far is, that if my soil is not adequate, I will then dig a humongous hole by using 2 pick tools, and then I fill the hole with soil that is more adequate to the liking of the fruit tree to be planted. By using this method, I haven't had a problem so far. I don't know what type of soil you have, but perhaps with some planning, and by using this method, and with some good old common sense, the seedless lychee could be planted. But, if you're not 100% sure that it'll work, don't do it; good luck.

I'm actually really glad to hear somebody say that. This idea that if you're on crap soil like me then you're doomed is ridiculous. If you have the will you can subvert it with pure brawn but digging massive holes and backfilling with premium soil. I have six different varieties of bananas, rollinias, soursop, papaya, finger limes and countless other things thriving in horrible clay using this method.

'But clay acts like a pot in the ground' !is the typical squeal.

No it doesn't. The reality just isn't like that. The amount of rain you need to fill a hole of even half  a cubic meter to saturation point when you consider runoff is phenomenal. I recently received 17 inches and it still didn't happen. This also doesn't take into account that clay becomes more porous and absorptive  over time when microbes are introduced to it and it is exposed to water continuously.In a little over a year, the walls of the hole  absorb water rather than direct it back into the hole and the extent to which this happens increases with time.

I dig a big ass hole then chip away the surrounding upper foot of clay in a circumference. Then I fill this  area with pure compost and mulch deeply. It works every time, with the exception seeming to be in my experience things like green and Mamey sapote and lychees. I don't know why this is true for the latter  but this is an experience shared by many fellow Aussies.

I have just finished digging 3 10-14 foot long trenches. They are 1 1/2 metres deep. I'm currently in the process of filling them with bark, leaves, river sand,  biochar, horse manure and potting mix. I also buried some hardwood logs in the bottoms which is about the only permaculture technique I'll ever use as I think it's mostly hokum. I'm building good soil, but it  will take time.

[Viking Guy]

Down in our coastal area, when it was developed, about 18"-24" of topsoil was brought in on top of mostly sand.  I can dig down an see the under-ocean of "beach."  For the most part, the soil is rich, but the plants and trees compete desperately for it.  My bananas, for example, will send runner roots more than 30' away.  I will find them in our flower beds across the yard.  I used to live in the red clay dirt further north, and it was much more labor intensive amending the soil conditions.  I admire your efforts, as a trench that deep was no lazy man's task.  You'll be greatly rewarded for it I think.  Proof that we do this for the love of the trees, because I think often how easy it'd be to just order exotic fruits online, lol.

Back on topic, I would use those tanks for an aquatic environment--and am, with something similar.  Throw in some aquatic plants mixed with hardy live bearer fish suck as Mollies or prolific guppies, and watch he magic.  You'll need a good brand heater (like eheim) for this, but no need for filtration.

Benefits?  Natural remedy to mosquitoes on your property.  All mosquitoes will gravitate to it to lay their eggs and the fish will eat them, their eggs and larvae.  Eventually, mosquitoes within a few blocks of you will be gone as they fail to repopulate.

Then, the container fills up with naturally accumulated rainwater and other elements.  The natural ecology of the water is perfect for use in watering your tropicals that are sensitive to burning from chemicals or other side effects from tap or other sources.  Ad someone else mentioned, you can also build an overflow to capture and remove excess to be used in drip irrigation or other methods.

But most of all, you can grow some rare tropical water plants and own a large number of fish that you can cull and feed to your home aquarium predator fishes, as well as filtering out some water and media to shower some plants in rich liquids.  You might suck out a few fish in this process-'but makes for good fertilizer IMO 

[starling1]

Down in our coastal area, when it was developed, about 18"-24" of topsoil was brought in on top of mostly sand.  I can dig down an see the under-ocean of "beach."  For the most part, the soil is rich, but the plants and trees compete desperately for it.  My bananas, for example, will send runner roots more than 30' away.  I will find them in our flower beds across the yard.  I used to live in the red clay dirt further north, and it was much more labor intensive amending the soil conditions.  I admire your efforts, as a trench that deep was no lazy man's task.  You'll be greatly rewarded for it I think.  Proof that we do this for the love of the trees, because I think often how easy it'd be to just order exotic fruits online, lol.

Back on topic, I would use those tanks for an aquatic environment--and am, with something similar.  Throw in some aquatic plants mixed with hardy live bearer fish suck as Mollies or prolific guppies, and watch he magic.  You'll need a good brand heater (like eheim) for this, but no need for filtration.

Benefits?  Natural remedy to mosquitoes on your property.  All mosquitoes will gravitate to it to lay their eggs and the fish will eat them, their eggs and larvae.  Eventually, mosquitoes within a few blocks of you will be gone as they fail to repopulate.

Then, the container fills up with naturally accumulated rainwater and other elements.  The natural ecology of the water is perfect for use in watering your tropicals that are sensitive to burning from chemicals or other side effects from tap or other sources.  Ad someone else mentioned, you can also build an overflow to capture and remove excess to be used in drip irrigation or other methods.

But most of all, you can grow some rare tropical water plants and own a large number of fish that you can cull and feed to your home aquarium predator fishes, as well as filtering out some water and media to shower some plants in rich liquids.  You might suck out a few fish in this process-'but makes for good fertilizer IMO 

I have a pretty good pond already and a dam which is stocked with redclaw crayfish, but yes--- I was considering using it in an aquaponics type deal. My main issue with it is that I'm an old fisho from way back and don't eat freshwater fish ( apart from crays). I won't even eat barramundi which is a very prized table fish here in Aus because I can detect that slight little hint of muddyness. Mike t will probably come on and tell me Im on drugs for saying that, haha ( Mike, I'm sorry mate... But I will never, ever, under any circumstances eat  tilapia. If marooned  and starving to death on an island I would preference a chunk of my own leg Meat before tilapia).

Re the trenches: I'll tell you what man, I'm not champing at the bit to dig another one. I'll post some pics tomorrow and you'll see why. I've dug them down a slope having stolen the idea from the way the Chinese build rice paddy pools down hills. Th idea is to trap water and it does seem to work so far.

[bangkok]

I didn't know you had clay but that's good soil!

If you can get it then fill the trenches up with scrap from the fishmarket. Heads, tails and fins/guts everything you can get.

Also if you fear the trenches will be filled with water then you plant some big drinkers next to the lychee and when the lychee is tall you cull the other one. But lychee's like water, here on the farm they grow on mounds between ditches.

I would buy a lot of worms and throw them in the trenches, fill it with compost/fish/prawnheads/leaves/clippings/sand and let it sit for a while. Throw some EM over it and nature will make it perfect soil.

Here salmonheads are expensive but i guess not where you live.