Growers are the most inventive customers we have. Half the things we now sell as standing builds in bay 5 were invented by a farmer who bought a cheap tote and improvised. Here are eleven reuses that actually work, with the fittings each one needs.
1 · Gravity-fed drip irrigation head
A tote on a four-foot stand gives you roughly 1.7 psi at the outlet — enough for low-pressure drip tape over a short run. Fit an S60x6 to garden hose adapter, an in-line filter and a pressure-compensating header. The cheapest irrigation head you will ever build, and it works without power.
2 · Livestock waterer with a float valve
Plumb a float-valve trough off the outlet and the tote becomes a two-week water buffer for a small herd. Use a food-grade bottle — animals drink this. Add a drain for winter and an insulation jacket north of Lansing.
3 · Rainwater collection off a barn roof
One inch of rain on a 1,000 square foot roof yields about 600 gallons. Two linked 275s capture most of a decent storm. Screen the inlet, fit a first-flush diverter and plumb the overflow away from your foundation. Full build guide in our rainwater article.
4 · Sprayer nurse tank
Washed technical grade with a 2 inch camlock and a transfer pump. Keep it dedicated to one product class and label it permanently — the cost of cross-contaminating a herbicide tank with anything else is measured in acres.
5 · Maple sap transport
Food grade, on a sled or trailer frame, with a 6 inch screened port. February is our busiest month almost entirely because of this single use case.
6 · Compost tea brewer
A cut-top tote with an aquarium-style aeration manifold on the floor and a bottom drain. Food grade, because you are putting the output on food crops.
7 · Raised planter bed
Cut to half height, drilled for drainage, cage left on as structure. Waist height, so no kneeling. Schools and community gardens buy these by the dozen.
8 · Aquaponics cut-and-invert
The classic build: the lower third becomes a fish tank, the upper two thirds inverts to become the grow bed, the cage is reassembled to carry both. Needs bulkheads, a standpipe and a bell siphon — all of which we fit.
9 · Firewood and produce crates
Cage only, bottle scrapped. Stackable three high, strappable, fork-liftable, and the cheapest crate in the county. Our most popular cage-only product.
10 · Grain and feed storage
A sealed food-grade tote with a 9 inch port is a rodent-proof feed bin for roughly 1,800 lb of dry feed. Keep it out of sunlight and keep the gasket good.
11 · Washdown and produce rinse station
Gravity-fed tap, basin and greywater outlet on a cut tote. Built for farm stands, packing sheds and job sites with no plumbing.
Three rules for all eleven
- Food grade for anything living things consume. Livestock water counts. People routinely under-specify this and it is the one place we push back.
- Level, firm ground. A full tote is over 2,400 lb on a small footprint. Not on soft soil, not on a wooden deck.
- Drain before the freeze. Ice expands about 9% and the cage will not save the bottle. Two-thirds full is the safe winter line.
Most of these are available as finished builds — see upcycled goods — or we will supply the tote and the fittings and let you build it yourself, which many growers prefer.