Yellow rectangular Tidy Cat litter buckets - tips on prep?

[applestar]

My neighbor just gave me a stack of yellow Tidy Cat litter buckets. Has anyone used them for container gardening?

Any tips on how to clean and prep for use? Do the labels come off?

I got one washed out and am using it for carrying all my do-dads for tying up tomatoes and building plant supports. It also holds my iPad nicely

[thanrose]

I've been using them for years. I did nothing to them other than rinse them out and let them air dry. I've used them for storage of all sorts of stuff, mostly yard or tool shed stuff, but a couple have crafting items in them.

There are plastic adhering paints you could use. I did that on one, but it's pretty battered now. I've never used anything to remove the label, but I've read that nail polish remover will work. That's acetone usually, and not something I'd use. A lot of other tricks I've used to remove labels and printing hasn't worked on this: Liberal application of Dawn liquid, dishwasher detergent, alcohol, or Vaseline, or other oils, etc.: Nothing happening. Maybe Goof-off would work. I have some, but it's late for me, and dark...

I pretty much gave up on disguising or removing the label. I still have some white and some royal blue kitty litter buckets that must be 15 years old or more that have plants in them. Edible and not. Those buckets had plastic label bands that I could slide off.

I drilled anywhere from six to ten holes in the raised areas on the bottom and occasionally a couple of holes on the side at the bottom. They will last outdoors with sun and weather exposure at least a couple of years. Bird seed buckets, food service buckets all have done okay for me. Any of the plastic buckets will get brittle over time, especially those with greater exposure. Not fun when you go to pick them up by the handle or the top rim and it snaps away.

[jeff84]

the regular kitty litter is just clay. I used to use it as a substrate in planted aquariums, so a quick rinse is all that's needed and is optional.


kitty litter can even be added to the potting mix, it is very heavy clay though

[thanrose]

Okay, tried Goof Off Extreme, which worked at removing the screened on tidy cat logo and associated lacquer, just down to the bright yellow plastic.

Tried an Ace hardware thick furniture stripper and it worked fabulously too. More of a mess than the goof off though.

Tried an acetone nail polish remover and it did nothing I could note.

My Tidy cat buckets are all at minimum five years old, and this one was outside in sun/shade, heat/cold and whatever else so the finish on the label may have deteriorated a bit, letting the remover work more easily. Or not. If that's the case, you might just have to sand lightly first.

I may actually clean the labels off some of them, but mostly I ignore them. One is even in the front yard, behind a palm tree, with amaryllis in it. I scribble on them with sharpies: "DANGER 10% Muriatic acid soln.!" "Paint brushes, rollers" "coquina rock." Sharpie comes off with alcohol, unless the plastic is old. Yes, I have given some to others over the years, but I wish I liked more white bucket brands instead. The rectangular shape of these allows for stacking maybe three on their sides atop one another for temporary storage, the red lids come off either by 3/4 or entirely. Pretty useful for a trash item.

[thanrose]

Jeff, you're making me laugh. Once last century I decided that with my multiple composting units, including one for chicken manure, one for dog dirt, as well as three other composters, I'd try composting the scoopable kitty litter in my sandy soil. I spread it thinly in a trench along the property line, covered it up, forgot about it. Until a friend helped me install some fence posts, and we both kept slipping in pale gray slime ribbons running through the sand. That was a few years after I put it there and it hadn't really melted into the sand as I'd imagined. But yeah, I've used the gravelly kind of litter before in both potted plants and under tires of cars stuck in mud or ice. Down here, I use throw rugs instead. It's more likely to be sand.

[ElizabethB]

Thank you all,



Your kitty litter buckets are like any other container. Drill holes in the bottom and, since it is a deep container, drill holes on the sides. Do you find the label offensive? Goof Off and paint stripper will take it off. My concern would be the chemicals being absorbed into the plastic.

I am a firm believer that paint covers many sins. Yes, you will have to re-paint periodically but so what? Paint is easy, I like the Rustolium (sp) Terra Cota primer. I have some large black tree containers that I painted. When the paint starts to wear off I just give it spritz or 2 to cover the spots.

Long ago - when I was young and dumb - I tried filling a depression in my yard with kitty litter. NOT! Nothing but a grey, slimy mess that got as hard as concrete during dry spells.

[applestar]

Wow thanks for all the info @thanrose and even experimenting on the label removal with the goofoff and furniture stripper as well as nail polish remover/acetone! I had no idea I would find a dedicated expert on these yellow kitty litter buckets here

I also noted the interesting wave-form bottom design and was wondering how to take advantage of it. Yay! ...And yes to both thanrose and ElizabethB, I also make holes up the sides of tall containers. I think that makes all the difference.

Painting or stripping the labels off chemically -- the fact of the matter is I am -keeling over and overcome by fumes- sensitive to volatile chemicals, so I really appreciate the experiments and suggestions, but haha I don't think I will. If they don't come off with oil/grease, alcohol, or soap, they are "dead to me" -- I just won't see them, so there. ha. So, I think I will develop familiarity-blindness like you, thanrose, and leave the labels as they are. I don't think I will mind.


I'm going to try making at least one set of stacked SIP with these. I've been wanting to, but had limited number of buckets until now and wasn't entirely sure I wanted to make holes in them.

The bright yellow color will be useful for making them easy to find, and I agree they would be fabulous for all kinds of storage containers. The rectangular shape creates all kinds of possibilities. I will have to think about how to allocate them.

[imafan26]

I used to get litter that way, but they stopped making the buckets and went to bags I guess because they were cheaper and cost less. I really miss them. I used them for storage, you can turn it on the side and fill them with 1/2 pvc or bamboo and make an artificial beehive with them. Cut on the diagonal, it could be made into a dust pan. Not as good as the square metal oil cans we used to be able to get, but it works. I use the buckets to hold tools, as a weed bucket, my friend uses it to collect dog poop, a stool to sit on or in my case to stand on to reach over the fence to unlock the gate, car wash bucket, planter, store ginger after harvest, to store dry goods like beans, noodles, and sugar. I use the food grade buckets with the rubber seal to store fertilizer and rice since the seal keeps the buckets air tight. The tidy cat buckets now are smaller than they used to be but are still useful.