The hydroponic cultivation systems with Dutch Buckets , have been used for many years for the production of vegetables both in large commercial greenhouses and for domestic use.
A hydroponic system with Dutch vases lends itself particularly well to customizations and can be adapted to any type of environment.
Plants grown with this system grow with roots in a substrate consisting mainly of expanded clay or perlite or a mixture of the two.
The Dutch pot is a plastic pot, available in volumes of 10 or 12 liters, with a particular shape that allows it to be positioned along a 50mm PVC drain pipe which collects the drainage of the solution and conveys it to the collection tank of the solution.
A pump will push the nutrient solution from the tank or reservoir, this will be distributed through a drop system directly into the respective vessels, bringing water and nourishment to the roots of the plants. The excess solution will be drained along the drain hose back to the main tank.

Hydroponic Dutch bucket systems (Bato bucket systems) are perhaps the simplest hydroponic (and sometimes aquaponic, although aquaponics is more difficult) system to build, and a favorite of growers the world over.

A variation of media bed techniques, Dutch buckets break the media bed system down into smaller components (the buckets). This approach offers several benefits.

Each bucket can be set up separately, allowing growers to space out larger crops (like tomatoes or eggplants) without wasting media.

Separate buckets can be useful in pest management as well since an infected bucket can be removed from the system without having to sacrifice an entire bed.

Dutch buckets for nutrient hogs and large crops

For indoor farmers, a hydroponic Dutch bucket system gives growers a way to grow large “nutrient-hog” crops separately. Fruiting crops and large-statured crops tend to use more (and a different ratio of) nutrients than greens. This means that when both greens and fruiting crops are run on the same system, either the EC is too high for the greens, or too low for the fruiting crops. As you can imagine, this hurts production levels.

Tomatoes have traditionally been the most popular crop for Dutch buckets, and in fact, most commercial hydroponic tomatoes are produced this way. Dutch buckets allow tomato farmers to grow large vining varieties and train them up from the bucket. This can be a fairly efficient use of space since the tomatoes are using a large portion of the lower growing space.

Variations on design

The design of Dutch buckets systems is very simple, with multiple variations on irrigation and equipment. A reservoir pump runs specially formulated nutrient solution through a straight line over the buckets. Drippers control the flow to each bucket, and solution runs through the media and then drains out of the bucket. Each part of the system has variations to suit grower needs.

Variations include:

The number of buckets: The tutorial below shows the design for an 8-bucket system. To build larger one-line system, growers may use a larger reservoir and pump, longer irrigation and drain lines, and simply set up the system the same way as the system below. For growers who wish to build a larger multiple-line system, we recommend going through the Dutch buckets course first to familiarize yourself with the technique.

Media type: Though the most popular Dutch bucket media is vermiculite, other media like hydroton or crushed granite may be used. Choose a media that will work for you. (Learn about the different types of media here.)

Minor components: Many components of the system—like tubing, drippers, fittings, and clamps—can be sourced from a home & garden supply store. The components that growers will probably have to order online or from a specialty store are the main reservoir, the buckets themselves, and the pump.

Growers should choose a number of buckets, media type, and know where to get components before they start building. The last (and most important) decision to make is the drainage setup. 

There are two ways to run your drainage: flow-to-waste and recirculating.

Flow-to-waste irrigation

Flow-to-waste drains solution out of the system and away—forever. This option is more wasteful, but much simpler in terms of nutrient balancing.

What is nutrient balancing? Well, depending on the crop and its age, plants will take up unique ratios of nutrients. Younger plants of one crop might take up more nitrogen than older plants. Plants that are growing fruit might take up more phosphorus, etc.

Even though fertilizers are formulated to fit the crop, there are still minute differences in the ratio of nutrient to nutrient in the fertilizer and the ratio of nutrient to nutrient that the plants use. This means that over time, a solution can become unbalanced; one nutrient may accumulate while others are used up. This can lead to deficiencies and (less often) toxicities.

This makes flow-to-waste the simplest drainage technique.

Recirculating irrigation

The more conservative drainage option is to run your Dutch buckets on a recirculating system. In a recirculating system, the buckets are irrigated and drain into a return line, a PVC line at a tilt that brings water back to the reservoir for reuse. (This is the type of system in the video below.)

Growers using recirculating systems can avoid nutrient imbalance by replacing the water every few weeks (this saves water and nutrients, and cast-off water can be used for other garden beds) or by balancing nutrients individually.

Balancing water nutrients individually involves getting a periodic water analysis to determine the levels of each element in the water.

Once low nutrients are identified, growers can adjust nutrients individually. This entails using a multiple part solution (some growers have solutions with as many as 11 parts) and can get quite complicated. We don’t recommend doing this without taking a course on nutrients!

Dillon Harris of the Furrs Community in Pontotoc County adjusts the 30-foot tomato vines in the 12,000-square-foot greenhouse at St Bethany Fresh on Aug. 2, 2012. (Photo by MSU Ag Communications/Linda Breazeale)