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This is the Ebb &Flood bench I build
in Fall of 2000. I wanted something that
I could bottom water my
 plants. I also wanted to see if it would
be worth doing this to all of my benches.
My existing bench was a 2x4 frame covered
with oak slats from shipping palettes. You
could use 1/2" plywood on top of a 2x4
or 2x4 wood frame. All of the items were
at my local lumberyard. As you can see by
the picture on the right. I built a box frame
over my bench from 1x4 and 2x4, you can see
one of the 2x4s exposed in the picture. Then
I used a very thick plastic liner, that is
normally used for a shower liner to cover
the bench top and box frame.
Next came the plumbing I need a way to fill
the table with water that has fertilizer
and other additives like a stemic.When I
built the greenhouse I buried 4 55 gallon
drums under the floor, (see water) 3 that are plumbed together and 1 that
is separate. The separate one is what I use
for this application. I plumbed 3/4"
PVC and went from a pump in the 55 gallon
drum in the floor, to the bottom of the table.
I used a PVC shower drain as a fill. The
fill line has a valve in it, that can be
closed to stop the water from going back
into the 55 gallon drum once the pump is
turned off. I'm thinking of replacing this
with a stop valve, which stops water from
flowing the wrong way.
 On the other end of the table is the drain.
I used a standard kitchen drain, shown at
the right. This has a stopper built into
the basket to stop
 the water from draining. After the plants
are bottom watered I take the stopper out
and replace it with a hair & lint strainer
for a shower, shown at the left. This traps
most of the leafs and large particles of
peat or soil. I also have a filter to capture
most of the small particles, up to 5 microns.
The filter is below and can also be
 purchased at your local lumberyard. I found
all my my stuff at Home Depot. From there
the water is drained back into the 55 gallon
drum for use again later. |