Earthtainer planting tub less expensive design

A while ago while searching for a planting container with built in plant support I came across the EarthTainer website. They give you very detailed instructions in video and pdf format and they are completely free. You will likely notice that the video instructions are different from the pdf, mainly because they use different tomato support systems. The one I used is the most widely available and worked well. What I did not like about their system was that it used 2 31 gal Rugged Tote containers. Which are a good container but the system requires that one of the 2 containers is sacrificed to build the aeration bench. Since the price at Lowes is about 16 dollars per container that seemed rather wasteful. However I found at Lowes a cheaper container which has a much sturdier lid. By cutting the lid and using it to create the aeration bench I was able to cut the price in half.  Still if you decide to build one or more of these follow the link on the EarthTainer PDF guide and order wire rope clips as they cost about 88 cents a piece at Lowes. But you can order 100 online which seems to work out to 22 cents per clip.

Here is the EarthTainer Illustration to give you an Idea of how the system works.

So I would encourage you to watch their  Introduction video and the video of how to attach cage system.  Then take a look at the pictures here and try and make my version of the EarthTainer using "Commander XXL" tub. Size wise it is 4 gallons less then the Rugged Tote so there is a little less area for soil because the Rugged Tote is about 3 inches higher but it should be enough room for your roots and since you add fertilizer to the water there is less need for extensive root structure.