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Vegetable Gardening

Repluging some drainage holes in stock tank gardens

8 years ago

Since most of my garden is a bust this year 'cause of all the rain (except for the veggies in raised stock tanks), I have lots of time to think about next year's garden. I'm using Behlen food-grade poly stock tanks. I'm using the ones that are only 1' deep.........but they actually hold about 18"+ of soil. I have mostly 6' long ones. Okay........I drilled 1" holes in the bottoms and covered the holes with hardware cloth (to prevent mice from getting in or losing soil). I'm discovering that too much water leaks out too quickly. Any good ideas on how to close up some of those holes? I don't want to use anything that could leach into the soil. This might sound silly.....but how about corks? And I might be able to even put them in the bottom from underneath so I wouldn't have to empty out the soil. I can't believe how much the soil reduced this year. It's almost not enough to support the veggies in it........but not much I can do about it now. Now I know to over-fill them with soil in the spring next year.

Okay......so any ideas about easily closing some of those drain holes?

Thanks!

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Comments (5)

digdirt2
8 years ago
Lowes or Home Depot or Ace hardware or any similar stores sell hole plugs in various sizes made from rubber, wood, steel, plastic, etc. Just do a search for 'hole plugs' on their website. Cork, if you can find them that large, would work but won't last as long in a wet moldy environment.

Dave
wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Yes, it has been wet in Indiana. If I had not heavily amended with the resultant raising of the soil beds, I would have had some frustration from the continued sogginess...not standing water as I consider drainage first plus distance from trees.

On my 4th planting of corn, about 2/3 of it is highly amended with sand and local peat moss. You can see to the stalk where it was amended and not amended. Even though it is all fertile ground, the not highly amended spot has corn that is shorter and yellowish. the highly amended corn is tall, vigorous, and dark green.
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Hey Mark..........I know this is an older post, but was wondering how your tank worked out? I'm using Behlen Country 70 gallon tanks for veggies. My only regret is that I drilled way too many holes in them. I've gone back and plugged some of the holes, but need to do more when the season is over. Your tank is deeper than mine are, so maybe yours doesn't drain so quickly. If it doesn't rain here, I need to water all the tanks (9 of them) every 2-3 days. I used all home-grown compost in all of them. They just dry out too fast. How is yours doing? I use 1/2" hardware cloth (wire) over my holes. Since my tanks aren't that tall, I put them on cement blocks, and on top of the blocks I laid 2 runs of 2x6' cedar.......so that a fair amount of the tank is supported.
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This is an interesting thread, especially since last spring I set up two big plastic containers used for salt lick and minerals for our cattle. We buy it in these giant black plastic containers and the cows lick it down to nothing PDQ. Now I have two huge containers for my eggplants and peppers in a hot protected place on our patio. The plants are bigger than they ever were in the garden and beginning to give me fruit. We live in a very moderate climate with lots of summer wind which is what gave me the idea to keep them more protected and warm. I will have to keep my eye on the stock tanks, too. I have raised beds in the garden but they aren't all that high and the bending gets to my back, too. Picking bush beans is a killer now. I could set a stock tank on top of the raised beds for some things. Wonder how that would be??? I don't want to give up gardening, especially veggie, but it is getting harder each year.
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catherinet
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks digdirt.......I didn't realize the plugs were so numerous in the various stores. I'll check them out. Looks like there are lots to choose from. Of course......you realize that as soon as I plug up some of the holes, there will be a drought, right? ;)
citytransplant(zone5)
8 years ago
Catherine, you can use anything around the house to stop most, if not all of the water leaking out. A flattened can, heavy plastic (such a little bit won't leach much), duct tape, a piece of wood. I have the opposite problem. Hubby didn't want to destroy the tank, so he made itty bitty holes and now my zucchini is turning black and moldy from too much water sitting at their roots. Who knew this would be the "Year of Water" ?
digdirt2
8 years ago
<Of course......you realize that as soon as I plug up some of the holes, there will be a drought, right? ;)>

Yep - It's Murphy's Law of Gardening. :-) Just like the years I make raised mounds for the plants in the garden because of the overly wet previous year we have a drought and the years I leave the beds flat and smooth it pours rain like gang busters.

Just don't wedge them in too tight and then, if needed, maybe you can pull a couple if needed.

Dave

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