Beige Bato growing bucket seen from three quarters, with its reinforced rim and slightly flared sides

Inside of the Bato bucket seen from above, with the flat base and the drain outlet

Bato bucket turned upside down, showing its underside and the side hole intended for the drain elbow

Diagram of the dimensions of the Bato bucket: 30 cm long, 25.2 cm wide and 23 cm high

Diagram of the Dutch bucket: dripper, grow medium, reservoir at the bottom, siphon elbow and 50 mm drain pipe

Dutch bucket for soilless growing

13,90 €

Quantity	Price	Price per unit	vs 1
1	13,90 €	13,90 €	—
4	49,90 €	12,48 €	−10 %
10	109,90 €	10,99 €	−21 %
20	199,90 €	10,00 €	−28 %

4,63 € × 3 with no fees Klarna.

This Bato bucket, 30 x 25.2 cm, is the container used in Dutch drip-fed cultivation: it holds one or two fruiting plants and connects at the base to a drain pipe shared by the whole row.

Ref. TA-DUTCH-1·Soilless growing pot

Quantity : 1

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The summary

What you receive: a Bato bucket in beige polypropylene measuring 30 x 25.2 x 23 cm, sold singly or in packs.
How it works: a dripper waters the grow medium, and the surplus drains out through the bottom into a shared pipe.
The crops: tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers or aubergines, at one or two plants per bucket.
Which pack to choose: 4 buckets for a trial on a balcony, 10 or 20 for a row in a greenhouse.

30 x 25 cm grow bucket for tomatoes and cucumbers with drip irrigation

The Dutch bucket is the container used in greenhouses for soilless tomato growing. This Bato model, made in the Netherlands from beige polypropylene, measures 30 x 25.2 cm and stands 23 cm tall, holding around 11 L of grow medium. You line the buckets up in rows above a drain pipe, each bucket receiving its own plants, drippers and share of nutrient solution, which allows you to grow large fruiting plants for a whole season without any soil at all.

💧 How drip irrigation works

A feed pipe runs above the row and carries one dripper per plant. With each watering, the solution passes through the grow medium from top to bottom, then the surplus leaves the bucket through an elbow fitted into the base, which draws from the lowest point and discharges the water into a 50 mm drain pipe shared by the whole row. This elbow acts as a siphon and permanently leaves a small reserve of solution at the bottom of the bucket, so the grow medium does not dry out between waterings. You then return the solution to your reservoir through the drain pipe, which allows you to circulate it in a closed loop.

The grow medium

Perlite and clay pebbles drain well above the reserve at the bottom, and coco fibre is best used mixed with perlite.

Watering

Each plant has its own dripper, fed by the same pipe that runs along the whole row of buckets.

Drainage

The buckets sit on a 50 mm diameter pipe, which collects the surplus from the whole row.

Training and tying in

A tomato or cucumber grown in a bucket develops upwards: stretch a string or push in a stake above each bucket.

A free-draining grow medium above the reservoir

The bottom of the bucket always holds a little solution, and a grow medium that is too fine or too compact draws it up by capillary action to the roots, which eventually run short of air. So choose an airy grow medium, rinse it before filling your buckets so that its fine particles do not block the elbow, and do not firm it down when planting.

🍅 Growing in buckets

The Dutch bucket is designed for long-season crops with heavy growth, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, aubergines or melons. Allow 1 to 2 plants per bucket, each with its own dripper. The 11 L of grow medium give the roots enough volume for a whole season, and the reserve at the bottom cushions the hot days when water consumption rises. You can grow on a balcony, in a greenhouse or under a polytunnel, since the bucket works equally well indoors and outdoors. Our guide to growing tomatoes in aquaponics details pruning and pollination.

Four buckets for one bag of clay pebbles

To fill your buckets, 50 L bags of clay pebbles are the easiest grow medium to manage: they drain quickly above the reservoir, do not compact and can be reused from one season to the next after rinsing. One bag fills four 11 L buckets, which is exactly the pack of 4, and a row of 20 buckets needs five.

🐟 In aquaponics

In aquaponics, Dutch buckets accommodate the fruiting plants that floating rafts handle poorly. Filtered pond water feeds the drippers, then the drain pipe carries it back to the pond or to a sump. Filled with clay pebbles, the buckets house some of the bacteria that convert fish waste into nitrates for your plants. Drippers have narrow orifices: careful mechanical filtration upstream keeps them from clogging, and regular checks of the water pH make sure the nutrients remain available to the plants.

Technical specifications

The bucket

Dimensions: 30 x 25.2 x 23 cmOverall length, width and height
Volume: Around 11 LVolume of grow medium in a bucket

The material

Material: Beige polypropyleneFor indoors and outdoors alike
Weight: 445 gPer bucket, empty

The installation

Drainage: 50 mm pipeShared by the whole row
Plants per bucket: 1 to 2One dripper per plant

To budget for separately

Elbows: 2 Hydrobac elbows per bucketThey form the siphon that keeps the reserve at the bottom
Grow medium: Clay pebbles or perliteFree-draining, so as not to drown the reservoir at the bottom

In the box

1 to 20 beige polypropylene Bato buckets, depending on the bundle chosen

Dimensions, material, colour, weight and origin taken from the manufacturer's datasheet on 05/10/2026. Volume, drain diameter, bottom reserve and number of plants per bucket: standard practice in Dutch bucket growing, cross-checked on 05/10/2026.

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delivery time

Buckets sent by tracked parcel from France. The exact costs and final delivery times are shown in your basket once you have entered your address. Outside the European Union, import duties and taxes remain payable by the recipient.

Frequently asked questions

6 questions

6 key questions

Which set of buckets should you choose?

How many plants per bucket?

How does the water drain from the bucket?

Which grow medium should go in the bucket?

You need a grow medium that drains well, since the bottom always retains a little solution.

Grow medium	Water retention	Point to watch
Clay pebbles	low	rinse before use
Perlite	low	light, mixes with coco fibre
Coco fibre	high	space out watering

Avoid garden soil and fine potting compost, which clog the elbow.

Does the bucket need covering?

Can you leave the buckets outside in winter?

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Dutch bucket for soilless growing

The summary