Today I suddenly had a few hours of spare time. So instead of doing something useful around the house I decided to build a wooden grow box for one of my maples to be repotted in next spring.

During the year I recuperated some planks and screws (yes I’m THAT cheap) while doing my day job. I’m a self-employed demolition guy. Those materials came in handy today.

So after I removed the remaining old screws and nails from the planks it’s time to cut them into the right length.

I decided to build a big, flat grow box so the maple I’m building it for will get a much better nebari in the next couple of years. The box will be 64 x 64 x 8cm (25 x 25 x 3.14″) which should be big enough to let the roots stretch out as much as possible to create a nice nebari.

After I screwed the frame together it’s time to put the bottom in.

When this is finished I cut some small planks to use as “feet” for the grow box so any excess water can flow away easy and air can get under the box.

And here they are attached to the grow box.

Time to flip the box over and look at the result so far. Looking quite good IMO.

Next I used a 22mm (approx. 1″) drill to make a bunch of holes in the box so water can get away and air can get in through the bottom.

And to finish things off I put some drainage mesh over the holes.

My maple looks tiny in it’s future home, let’s just hope he/she’ll like it there.