IBC totes for nurseries and greenhouses

How a nursery uses a tote

A nursery is a water business. Palms, ornamentals and tropical plants grown in pots dry out in a day in July, and a bench of two hundred pots takes a hundred gallons. Water comes from a canal, a well or the municipal system, and it is stored in tanks near the benches so that irrigation does not have to wait on the line. A tote is a portable tank that fits that pattern.

• Bench tank: a tote beside a block of benches, filled by hose or a pump.
• Mist-house supply: a tote feeding a mist line in a propagation house.
• Fertigation stock: a tote holding a concentrated fertilizer for an injector.
• Wash station: a tote for rinsing pots and trays.
• Emergency store: a tote full of water for a storm or an outage.

What to ask the seller

The question that matters is the last contents. Most fertilizers, food ingredients and cleaning products are harmless to plants once rinsed. Herbicides and some pesticides are not, and even a trace can scorch a tray of cuttings. Ask for the label or the SDS and read the hazards section for aquatic and plant toxicity.

Shade, algae and clogs

A translucent bottle in the sun grows algae, and algae clogs emitters and misters. Shade the tote with cloth or a roof, or paint the cage side facing the sun with reflective paint. Keep the cap closed and screened. Flush the valve each week.

Hurricane season

Take down shade cloth, strap tanks, empty and lay down those that cannot be anchored. A nursery near Homestead knows the drill. The tote has one advantage over a fixed tank: it can be moved before a storm.