Need to convert inches to gallons

[Pepperhead]

Ok, I did this a little while ago and had exact numbers I posted in another thread, but to rough it out, a five gallon HD bucket holds just under 1 cubic foot of soil. As that's how most bags of soil are measured, there's a good starting point.
Edit: 5 gallons equals .665 cubic ft. So "just under" may not have been as close as I remembered. But 2/3 is close enough to start with.

 

[geeme]

Be sure to check out the garden section of home depot - they may also have some of the inexpensive plastic pots available. If you don't see them out, ask about them, as they may have them in stock but just haven't put them out yet.

 

[armac]

nursery 5 gallon container holds a little over 4 gallon. a nursery gallon is less than a conventional gallon....about .8

 

[dragon49]

I am in business!

I bought a 5 gallon Bucket at Home Depot. They charge extra for the cover - I'll use this for the bottom saucer. With Tax, this cost me $4.66. I then paid the guy at my local hardware store $5.00 to drill 4 holes in the bottom. I bought a cubic foot of soil to fill it. Either tonight or tomorrow, I will transplant the Moruga Scorpion into the bucket.

Thanks 4 all the advice -THP rocks!

 

[armac]

he charged you 5 bucks to drill 4 holes?


wow

 

[TXCG]

I am in business!

I bought a 5 gallon Bucket at Home Depot. They charge extra for the cover - I'll use this for the bottom saucer. With Tax, this cost me $4.66. I then paid the guy at my local hardware store $5.00 to drill 4 holes in the bottom. I bought a cubic foot of soil to fill it. Either tonight or tomorrow, I will transplant the Moruga Scorpion into the bucket.

Thanks 4 all the advice -THP rocks!

If it's going to be sitting on something hard like concrete you either need to cut channels in that lip on the bottom or also drill holes on the side. I made some with just holes on the bottom & I noticed they weren't draining for crap since that lip was making such a good seal against the patio. Just my 2 c

 

[dragon49]

he charged you 5 bucks to drill 4 holes?


wow

NYC is expensive. He probably pays an absurdly high price to for the commercial rent.

[/size]

If it's going to be sitting on something hard like concrete you either need to cut channels in that lip on the bottom or also drill holes on the side. I made some with just holes on the bottom & I noticed they weren't draining for crap since that lip was making such a good seal against the patio. Just my 2 c

Thanks for the advice. The Bucket will be sitting on the exact wood floor that you see in my pic. I'm not sure if I understand all of your terminology. The bucket will not be leaning up against anything. Is the "lip" the visible ring on the bottom. Due to the nature of the construction, will water be trapped against it and not get to the bottom holes? Please describe what you mean by "channels."

 

[armac]

do you own a screwdriver?

heat it up, make your own holes.....improvise, the hobby should be cheap and fun.

 

[PepperWhisperer]

I guess everything really is cheaper in the country. Out here you can get s couple holes drilled for free.

If I understand what you are syaing you are going to use a bucket lid as the drip tray. The whole poit of the drip tray is to be able to tell when you have fully saturated the pot with water. Once you see some water filling the tray, you can stop pouring in more.

If the tray forms a seal with the bottom of the bucket, you will never see the water rising up, and you won't know when to stop watering. The water needs a way to escape from under the bucket to the little circle of space on the outer edge of the lid/tray that you can see so you know when to stop pouring in water.

 

[zantrax]

If you ever need a good conversion calculator windows calculator on win7 and win8 has a unit conversion option under the view drop down menu. Also for smart phones I use convertpad for my android, gives me every conversion I need. Plastic bucket + Nail + Hammer is a good idea, but tiring if your lazy like me, I use my good old dewalt cordless drill, like butter. I even used my drill on my dixie cups, because again, gardening is supposed to be relaxing, not tiring, plus any excuse to use power tools.

Also your local painters usually have a bunch of buckets they want to get rid of, just wash them thoroughly. Paying for buckets seems a bit ridiculous when you can recycle for free. Also local landscaping companies usually have a stockpile of planter pots they would be more than happy to give away.

 

[dragon49]

I guess everything really is cheaper in the country. Out here you can get s couple holes drilled for free.

If I understand what you are syaing you are going to use a bucket lid as the drip tray. The whole poit of the drip tray is to be able to tell when you have fully saturated the pot with water. Once you see some water filling the tray, you can stop pouring in more.

If the tray forms a seal with the bottom of the bucket, you will never see the water rising up, and you won't know when to stop watering. The water needs a way to escape from under the bucket to the little circle of space on the outer edge of the lid/tray that you can see so you know when to stop pouring in water.

I figured this out after looking at what I was going to use for the tray. As a solution, I'm going to place some paper towels on the floor under the bucket and pour the water. When I lift the bucket, If I see it dripping into the paper towels, I will know that It went through. After I collect the water and it stops, I can the put the lid underneath and use it as a tray.

 

[Greenarrow]

Where I worked I got green five gallon bucket free & because they were stack four high/48 to the pallet, they were much stronger than big box buckets.

 

[Black Compass]

Where I worked I got green five gallon bucket free & because they were stack four high/48 to the pallet, they were much stronger than big box buckets.

I think they figured it out in 10 years

Welcome to THP

 

[MarcV]

If your pot is square you don't need all of that Pi stuff and it's a piece of cake....

Length x Width x Depth = Cubic Inches
Cubic Inches x .004329 = Gallons
or
1 Gallon = 231 cubic inches

If it's 14x14x14....
14x14x14=2744 Cubic Inches
2744/231= 11.8 gallons

Am I glad we use metric here

 

[Greenarrow]

Pot Sizes (inches)	Pot Equivalent (U.S. Gallons)	Dry Soil Needed (Approx. cu.ft.)
4" pot	pint / 0.5 quart / .125 gallon	0.01 ft3
5-6" pot	quart / 0.25 gallon	0.03 ft3
7-8" pot	1 gallon	0.13 ft3
8.5" pot	2 gallon	0.26 ft3
10" pot	3 gallon	0.40 ft3
11" pot	4 gallon	0.53 ft3
12" pot	5 gallon	0.66 ft3
13" pot	6 gallon	0.80 ft3
14" pot	7 gallon	0.94 ft3
16" pot	10 gallon	1.33 ft3
18" pot	15 gallon	2.00 ft3
21" pot	20 gallon	2.67 ft3
24" pot	25 gallon	3.34 ft3
30" pot	30 gallon	4.01 ft3