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Building wooden beds for indoors, Advice needed!!!

LizardMan

Member
So as the title states I can build custom size wooden beds for indoors for alot cheaper then fabric pots. My question is ill be using cedar for the wood and rollers underneath to easily move the beds around and help keep them off the floor...

Ill be building them roughly 4 ft by 2ft long and 18 inchs deep.... My thoughts are should i line the inside with poly or even just the bottom like 2 inches lined with poly as a protective barrier to not leak water... Also i don't think there's a problem but any issue using cedar for a container? If so should i put cheap land scape fabric between soil and wood?

Any advice or ideas would be much appreciated.
 

exploziv

pure dynamite
Administrator
Veteran
Landscape fabric leaks, thick poly if you don't want them leaking. And then you probably don't need to use cedar. Can be any wood.
What you need to learn is to not ovewater. A big bed will take a lot of water and keep it in it wkthout looking wet at the surface. Without a way to judge how much to water it's hard to not overwater.
 

LizardMan

Member
If i put poly or pond liner in the box i know it will stop the moisture, but then it wouldn't be able to breath right?

I was thinking the walls of the box being cedar would breath ( like the fabric pot to an extent) but also not rot quick due to cedars property's...

Ill be building 3-4 in the near future was just curious as to how i should go about it...
 

Creeperpark

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
my opinion

my opinion

Using 8 gallons, or (30.2) liters of water every 2 days for 6 plants is a lot of water. Twenty three gallons, or (87) liters a week is what it will take in flowering. If you water proof the containers you will have poor drainage, and with that amount of water you can run into problems. Its important to allow about 10% dis-charge when feeding soil-less mixes to keep it from getting toxic. I used the lift method to tell when to water fast growing plants, all the pot sizes little and big. The humidity can play tricks on you, and using the lift method can help a lot.

The use of raised beds outdoors are made for (drain to waste) into the ground. Heavy soils can benefit from the drain to waste, and that's why they are used. If I have an indoor mix that is lighter than clay, I really need to use containers for the best yield.

The very most important aspect of indoor growing is water management and if you have drainage problems you can get bugs, mold, or sick plants. When you talk about saving money, just use 5 to 7 gallon plastic pots they're free. I've used them for decades!
 

exploziv

pure dynamite
Administrator
Veteran
If you use organic nutes and you water just enaugh soil and plants will be fine. For salt based nutes.. dunno, maybe with careful dosage it could be done even without runoff.
 

St. Phatty

Active member
I would put in drain pans - maybe even an extra drain pan under the official drain pan.

Do you own the property ? If you're renting I would go super careful.

Once I had water dripping, from condensation on the window blinds, result in a knock on the door from the landlord. While there was a bedroom full of plants.
 
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