[kevin24018]

Originally Posted by Alberta_grower

Remember, for lettuce, they only use 1-2 gal of nutrients over their lifespan, per plant. Instead of buckets, look for under bed storage totes. They can be found at Wal-mart, Lowes, Home Depot. If you're using 8" spacing, 4" of water depth will give you just over a gallon per plant. If the tote is transparent or allows light to penetrate, you can paint the outside of the totes with plastic safe paints to block the light. Black first, and then white to reduce heating by the sun. Or you can make some covers out of white/black poly as an alternative. I've used poly with good luck, and no algae. Pails are more suited to larger plants like tomatoes and peppers.

Not sure how many plants you're planning on growing. A decent tote will produce 15 or so heads of lettuce. A large kiddie pool is a cheap alternative if you want to grow a lot of lettuce. Then there is just building custom waist high setups out of wood, lined with plastic. Easy to drain, and work with the plants.

I'm going to have to see what space I can use in the basement, but I'd like to grow as many as I can, whatever might not last or get used I can give to co-workers.