A “Mini-Bucket” Line System Suggested by a Reddit User

A while back, on the Hydroponics Reddit, the user GrnMtnTrees presented an idea that I thought had merit, and it demonstrates the principle that it doesn’t matter what you call a method, if it provides for all the plant needs. His idea was to begin with something that looks much like RDWC or NFT in a pipe. But instead of flowing nutrient through the pipe for the roots, he proposed dripping it into the top. This immediately brought to mind a Dutch bucket line, AKA Bato bucket.  

If you’re a visual sort of thinker, you can almost imagine a line of Dutch buckets morphing into a line of very small Dutch buckets and then the small buckets growing together. The result is a method in which the pipe becomes the body of many buckets and serves the function of the return manifold in the Dutch bucket line. A Conventional Dutch Bucket (Single Bucket Only Shown)

The Mini-Bucket Line

The theory of operation is very like Dutch bucket. At each plant position, the plant is supported in a net cup by a medium like LECA. Nutrient is provided by drip lines embedded, as usual, far enough to apply the nutrient to the crown of the root, so the LECA at the surface doesn’t stay wet and liable to grow algae. From there, it’s just Dutch bucket all the way. 

Nutrient drizzles down the root network in thin, randomly changing streams. The roots, as in Dutch bucket, take atmospheric air through those thin streams. Rather than the individual bucket drains of a Dutch bucket line, nutrient in this line collects in the pipe and is led back to the reservoir. Even the safety net of the Dutch bucket is provided. If the drain end of the pipe if through a riser of bulkhead connector mounted so as to keep a small depth of nutrient in the pipe at all times, the plants can survive a pump failure for a reasonable time. Small low, dams in the pipe could do the same thing. 

This “mini-bucket” line fills a niche in the Dutch bucket family. Dutch buckets are not particularly efficient ways to grow small plants, like herbs and greens. Too much bucket and not enough plant. But in the mini-bucket line, it’s as efficient as any channel system for small plants. And it has no really critical design or operating parameters. So long as the drip flow is not a solid gush of nutrient through which the roots could not get air easily, anything from a drip to a drizzle will work. 2” cups in 4” pipe should allow for a small plant’s roots to form a loose network and take nutrient from many tiny streams. 

It also is large enough pipe to not have roots immediately grow to clog it, although as with any channel system, you have to check periodically for that. At least it cannot grow roots into the small siphon in a Dutch bucket to clog the drain. If constructed of tiers of pipe arranged as a wall or slope, each pipe at a different height, it shares the usual consideration of achieving some reasonable balance of flows more or less equal at all tiers. This can be done using valves to gate back the higher tiers or by pumping to a manifold above the top tiers and feeding plant positions down from there. Best to test before loading with filled net cups, so you can see the flows. But some variations among flows at different levels should make little difference. 

With any sort of drizzle, roots will feed efficiently. Restraining the flow to allow roots to take air through it is more critical. As always, reservoir size is chosen according to how many plants it serves and how often you are willing to refresh the nutrient. As with all Dutch bucket lines, circulation runs continuously, and no air pumps is used. 

An alternative way to operate a conventional Dutch bucket is to fill the bucket with coarse medium, usually chunky Perlite. Roots grow within the Perlite, and nutrient drizzles down through it all. While in theory that could be done with the Mini-Bucket Line, changing plants would be tedious at best. The Mini-Bucket Line offers an alternative for those who want a channelized system, either arrayed vertically or horizontally. It can take its place alongside RDWC in pipe and NFT. It offers non-critical design, easy operation, and plant safety in the event of a pump failure. And there is essentially no size limit. Nutrient does not flow through many root masses, becoming progressively exhausted. So long as the proper drip flow can be had, all plant positions get fresh nutrient. And unlike RDWC, there is no need for mechanical aeration, making it a silent system.