gardening with buckets : Buckets ???

Buckets you say , what king of buckets is a

question i had to ponder earlier this season.

Going of what i can find on youtube and

then cross referencing other sources then fact

checking here is what i have found.

Type 1 plastic - PETE - Polyethylene terephthalate - Not recommended by any source i can find
for long term use. PETE is said to leak chemicals over time.

Type 2 plastic - HDPE- High-density Polyethylene - This is the choice of most gardeners.
Most of your 3 and 5 gal. paint buckets will be made of this plastic. Be sure to check due
to LDPE also being used.

Type 3 plastic - PVC - Polyvinyl Chloride - Pvc is the best plastic for home hydroponic systems that is easy to come by. It is used in most modern home drinking water plumbing.

Type 4 plastic - LDPE - Low-density Polyethylene - NO !!

Type 5 plastic - Polypropylene - In my opinion the best plastic hands down. You can find it
cheap and in many shapes and sizes. i have a few i picked up at the dollar store.

Type 6 plastic - Polystyrene - This plastic has its uses in gardening , but be mindful. I only used it is short time spans , in temperature controlled areas , with little access to UV light.
This plastic is not recommended for any long periods ,and frowned apon in many gardening groups.

Type 7 plastics - Type 7 is a sort of " all the rest that we don't normally recycle ". These are the can't , cost to much , or not enough at a time to , recycle group. Plastics like Acrylic and Teflon .

Type 9 plastic - ABS - NO !! , ABS is only used for return lines and waste waters. do not use in any part of your garden.

My First 5 gal. Sips

this was my first try at a simple one bucket

design. It worked okay
I took a paper plate holder, and
cut out the center to fit a
3 inch netcup / netpot
( Bucket HDPE / Holder PP )