FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

For years I have grown my VFTs standing in a 10x20 regular ol' tray. The regular ones were very flimsy and I could not carry a full tray of plants without the sides breaking, caving, etc. I found 3x thickness trays. They were nice and then the local store started carrying 5x thickness trays. They are very sturdy and so far have lasted very well.

During the summer the water in the trays usually evaporate or get used up. It rains a lot here and so during the winter it is somewhat of a pain to empty the trays (I had about 24 10x20 trays full of pots/cups of VFTs).

Where I work I have access to all kinds of hardware (screws, bolts, nuts, washers, gromets, etc etc). After checking with managament and the items being "free issue" I plundered around trying to come up with an idea for a drain.

After getting creative - I found these parts and assembled the drain as shown. Using the step drill bit/unibit (whatever you would like to call it) I drilled the appropriate sized hole in the 10x20 tray. The drain does have a large rubber grommet that I place around the hole. You can either glue or silicone to make sure it doesn't leak. Some needed it, some I drilled the hole tight enough and shoved the drain in to be water tight. I am pleased with the drain. It didn't cost me anything but time (time to drill a hole). Just unscrew the stainless steel bolt and it drains. I have no idea what this hardware costs. I'm sure this probably isn't economical for most/all.
What do you think? Do you have a similar setup or a drain? What do you keep your CP's pots in?

that looks real nice/functional once we have more plants to deal with that is a nice idea there! our local shop here has the quad thickness trays I looked at those last time I stopped in there to look around they look real nice compared to those flimsy single trays

I just used a drill bit at a high water level when I used trays.

I like the ingenuity though!

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boarderlib wrote:I just used a drill bit at a high water level when I used trays.

I like the ingenuity though!

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I do the same as you but this a great idea (on a larger scale operation) for doing a complete drain to remove all the organic nutrients that build up in the water and eventually gets absorbed back into the pots. Also good for preventing mosquitoes who love to breed in stagnant water.

Big-Jack wrote:
I do the same as you but this a great idea (on a larger scale operation) for doing a complete drain to remove all the organic nutrients that build up in the water and eventually gets absorbed back into the pots. Also good for preventing mosquitoes who love to breed in stagnant water.

If you are using 1020 trays large scale, you seriously need to rethink your operation because they are time consuming. At that point I think you need to consider water tables and be done with the tray bs. This will not completely drain the tray so that point is moot.

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Hi
Good idea using items which were free . my device was not free
but drained all remaining water completely from my 12 ft x 4ft home made wooden tray this was due to the trap being at the base of the tray
and as you can see from the pictures i used pvc pipe to drain water to the outside of the greenhouse also
I could also remove all my plants from tray and use a hose pipe to completely clean my tray ( tap water is only used to clean any thing left in tray I only clean out once year)

What did you make your wooden tray with? Pond liner for waterproofing?

HI

I USE LDPE low density polypropylene pond liner


LDPE is a film that has higher tensile strength and higher impact and puncture resistance. It is very flexible and elongates if stressed.

My wooden tray was copied from a picture i found on the internet
i incorporated a bottom drainage device which i had shown earlier in this post to drain the water from tray

Good idea! Thanks for sharing. I'm using 10x20s with the same pots. I wanted white but they only came in double thickness so I just doubled them up.

boarderlib wrote: If you are using 1020 trays large scale, you seriously need to rethink your operation because they are time consuming. At that point I think you need to consider water tables and be done with the tray bs. This will not completely drain the tray so that point is moot.

True, but you'd have to have a lot of plants to make it worth it. Those flood tables are expensive! I wanted a 2x4' one so I could water everything at once, but I couldn't justify the expense. It would take a lot more water to fill it too.

Hi

Have you thought of using a roe dear carcase tray
39" x 2ft cost £20
4ft x 4ft cost £35
Tray is made of heavy duity plastic

xr280xr wrote: True, but you'd have to have a lot of plants to make it worth it. Those flood tables are expensive! I wanted a 2x4' one so I could water everything at once, but I couldn't justify the expense. It would take a lot more water to fill it too.

I actually just got two of them from a friend who was moving on the cheap cheap. Mine are 4'x7' totaling 14' long. I've been wanting one from him since I seen his first for sale ad. Like you I was having a real hard time justifying the price, that's why I didn't get one until recently. I don't look back now that I have them, except on watering days. 6 gallons yesterday and it put maybe an inch of water in the bottom of one. I'm not looking forward to when I have enough plants to set the second table up. I think I'll just call in a tanker truck once a week at that point. Lol

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boarderlib wrote: 6 gallons yesterday and it put maybe an inch of water in the bottom of one. I'm not looking forward to when I have enough plants to set the second table up. I think I'll just call in a tanker truck once a week at that point. Lol

Haha, yeah I figure I'd need a chained rain barrel system hooked up to a gutter to do anything that large.