Hydroponics - at Home and for Beginners

I am pushing this project early. I want to clear out my unpublished projects so this is now public. Hopefully it will force me to finish sometime soon (all I need to do now is buy plants)

If you've heard of this word, it may have been on the news due to some illegal drug growing operation in someone's garage. That, or you saw the word on the packaging on some very good looking and expensive lettuce. If not - kudos to you :D

Basic Intro:
What is hydroponics?
Basically, growing plants without the use of a traditional dirt medium and using a nutrient rich water solution. Those mediums range from fiberglass to sand and from fired clay balls to nothing at all. Several branches of hyrdoponics include aeroponics (using air as the grow medium), aquaponics etc.

How do I get started?
Well, you can buy a kit - but its going to cost you... a lot. Or, you can improvise and create your own kit to suite your needs. My local hydroponic supplier's cheapest multiplant kit is $185, does 8 plants but is not very versatile and is very compact. It uses the ebb and flow method. They also offer a single pot (bucket) bubbler system for $50. We are going to combine these two systems into a more versatile and much cheaper system.

What are my options
There are many different methods. NFT (nutrient film technique - stream a thin layer of nutrient solution over the roots) is common among professional kits - a long with ebb and flow (temporary flood your root system and allow to drain). The most interesting method involves suspending your plants in mid-air and spraying the root system very frequently (aka aeroponics). Drip systems are also common and has its own advantages. There are MANY methods - all of which do not use dirt ;)

What method is used here?
By far the simplest and cheapest is a bubbler system. That is, keep your pots filled with your choice of medium just barely above your nutrient solution level -- then keep the solution well aerated. The popping of the air bubbles will keep your medium moist. Remember that more simple and more cheap does not mean less effective ;)

What Medium is used here?
I have used several different mediums in the past. Chopped rockwool, rockwool cubes/blocks/slabs, fired clay and a combination of rockwool and fired clay. This system will work best with chopped rockwool (cubed) or fired clay (extra attention is needed if starting from seed with this medium).

Cost?
I'm in college - so cost is very important to me. This can be a very cheap project if you collect parts slowly. And luckily, the parts list is not long and they're not rare. I believe I have spent a total of $30 for new materials - however I did buy a few items in bulk and I splurged a little :P

Lastly
WHY HYDROPONICS?
Hydroponically grown foods not only taste better and are more nutritional, you can change the properties of your food, monitor what goes into your food and pollutes less. You can also grow more in less space. This is especially great for those of us that do not have a backyard to grow in. With the right plant selection, you can also keep pests away. I plan on planting a citronella plant - not only do I like the smell of citronella plants, but their oils keep away mosquitoes and other pests.

This design is in no way novel... but, it is easy to do - especially for someone just starting or someone with little money.

Excited? I am. Lets go!

Step 1: BOM - Bill of Materials

Okay, I admit the last line of the intro was corny... I like corny though (especially on hot dogs).

Parts and supplies

1.Opaque container that can hold water with lid (I am using an old 18 gallon storage bin)
2. Mesh Pots (how many depends on what you're growing and the size of your container - I am using 6 5.25" pots) ($9.90 for 6 heavy duty)
3. Rockwool Growcube (chopped rockwool) (5.95 for three gallons)
4. Growing Solution (I have used Dyna-Grow brand 7-9-5 with excellent results) ($12.95)
5. Aquarium air Pump (nothing special) (already have/not using)
6. Air Stone(s) and air hose ($3)
7. See the start growing step for additional instruction

Recommended but optional
1. Syringe - for making more precise measurements of growing solution ($2.60 for 60mL)

Construction Tools
1. Razor Knife
2. Pencil
3. A compass would be nice

Comments

[surosoh suhaimi]

the articles teach me a lot , thank U , I know better about hydroponics after read the articles

[alexiraul]

it is nice

[AnthonyBrown]

Growing hydroponics at home is really interesting. Hollywood stars have become serious hydroponics growers. Comedian/activist/actor Joe Rogan growing big hydroponics garden. Joe said he is in love with this plants - http://www.rosebudmag.com/hydroponic-tips-ideas/joe-rogan-plants-growers-hydroponics

[Da Person who plays paintball.]

For the sterilization, you could also just build a basic water distiller (unless you are in a rush) and use that.

[macnomad84]

is "electrons per second" a unit of power, not energy?

[kovakyl]

I made one of these in my window vertically useing plastic bottles. Turned out pretty good and was around 100 bucks all in all
You can check it out at youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AVQPIls-PI

[cowsclimbtrees]

I was wondering if you could use lava rock as the medium. Do you think it would throw off the ph balance due to the high mineral content?

[akinich]

hey nice ible
abt the nutrient mix
i live i india and there is no nutrient mix available
so i thought i could mix coconut water http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_water
sea water http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seawater
regular water and maybe a little glucose????
check out the contents of the respective waters in wiki
thanks in advance!!!
Akinich

[ilovetea]

You have the section on starting from seed but I just had a question. After germination, I would put it into the rockwool and just manually water it so it doesnt get dry?

[sonyagilman]

hi friend you have shown a best example of hydroponics,the plants seems good
friend I have a nice idea i know the store in that store you can get a better seeds in a very cheap price they also tell you about effective production,the store name is coasthydroponics and you can also visit online coasthydroponics.com

[xlioilx]

I personally would not add bleach. If you want chlorine in your water the tap water would be more then enough. I strongly suggest not to use tap or chlorine and if you use the tap let it sit out for a few days. The reason why is chlorine will make your roots grow slowly or kill them and the more root the faster the plant growth. I doubt that sterilization with bleach would do much for long periods of time anyways.

[scottinnh]

I second this. If you want to sanitize the container, use Idophor or Star-San. I have both of these in my house because I use them for cleaning out my homebrew and keg system.

Iodophor will stain plastic and leave a faint iodine odor (not very strong) if you dilute it as directed. Star-San is a nice foaming cleaner AND sanitizer (but it will not do both at the same time.. ie, don't think you sanitized anything if your star san solution is full of organic floaties.. dump, rinse and re-apply to sanitize).

Star-san is nice because it's a mild acid, and becomes inert when dried (but if any were left, it would just break down some of the plant food into simpler organic compounds. Star-san -will- begin to etch and pit metals after 15 minutes, so don't soak stuff in it for any longer. SS is actually not that strong when dillute, and I've used it plenty without wearing gloves, but you need to take some care.

[shortw]

You are right, some plastics are known to absorb chemicals and will release it slowly.
If you have chlorine in the tap water you simple can drop your air stone in it and aerated it for 24 hrs, this will get rid of the chlorine. Some tab water contains chloromine and there is no way to get rid of it, since it is a combination of chlorine and ammonia.
Bleach residue could kill your roots and you end up with a smelly mess. Why sterilize and then you pump air into your solution which contain a lot of airborne bacteria anyway.
Remember, 1 drop of bleach in a quart of water will kill any bacteria you may have on your counter top.
So, I would not use bleach at all for this purpose.
I would get a test kit to check your tab water if you use tab water. If your tab water tests for ammonia and chlorine, you have chloromine in it.

[scottinnh]

For folks who do not want to keep a syringe around the house, you can get a 60ml "pipette" (or a smaller one and just repeat the measurements).

A pipette basically is a glass or plastic straw. If you've ever "carried" soda in a straw by covering the straw top after dipping it in beverage, then you know how to use a pipette.

[TVarmy]

How long can a hydroponics system wait between waterings? IE, say I changed the water, went on vacation for a week, and came back. Would the water be too low?

[streetpunk99]

this might sound stupid but can you use a type of fishtank gravel? i dont have any hydroponic shops near me and only have things avaliable from places like walmart and homedepot. Any ideas if the smaller gravel wont work?

[shortw]

In aquaponics we use quartz-gravel, which would be like uncolored fish gravel.
Aquaponics is basically the same, but live fish are used to make the plant food.

[streetpunk99]

I have glass marble size beads i guess they'd be for a fishtank as decoration, clear and look to be about the same size as the fired clay you can buy, these should be ok right?

[shortw]

You are thinking about the hydroton and they range from 1/4 inchto 1/2 inch. Remember, the roots need to stay in the dark. Glass marbles would be fine if they are not translucent.
The reason we try to use quartz, because is tends to be the most neutral media. Other media may affect your ph, but if you use glass marbles that is a neutral media also. Plastic would be ok as media, but for larger plants it may not be heavy enough to hold the plant in place.

[streetpunk99]

thanks, i might look around to see if i can find something more suited for the project, like i said before though i only have regular stores around me no specialty stores. there are a few hobby shops around im wondering if i can find something in there closer to what i need.

[shortw]

I meant to tell you that once my tank is cycled, that I will be using river gravel from Lowes hardware for my growing bed.
Walmart and /or Homedepot should have the gravel and it would be cheaper.

Here this is what I thought getting after my tank is cycled, but I need to check the ph for that gravel first. http://www.lowes.com/pd_92130-66882-92130_4294857240_4294937087_?productId=3047340&Ns=p_product_quantity_sold|0&pl=1&currentURL=%2Fpl_Bagged%2BRock_4294857240_4294937087_%3FNs%3Dp_product_quantity_sold|0

[shortw]

You may look and find some river gravel at construction sites or a garden center and you could check it yourself if it would change the ph.
*Get your water and let it sit for 24 hrs and aerate it. Some new/fresh water from the tap or from the well will show a higher ph until it will air or gas out. *
After 24hrs check your ph. Wash some of your gravel in regular water and let the gravel dry.
*Check your ph
* Now put a handfull in your aired out water,( that you let set and aerated for 24hr earlier )
* Let the the water with gravel sit for 24hrs-48hrs.
* check the ph again.
If the ph does not change or only change a little bit, you should be ok.
But if it changes a lot then I would not use it.

Here is a website for aquaponic, my username is Johann.
http://aquaponicscommunity.com/forum

This should give you a lot of useful information.
I know it is not hydroponics, but they are somewhat related.
Aquaponic, is using fish instead a liquid fertilizer, but the rest is pretty much the same.

[streetpunk99]

thanks lots of good information, this is my first attempt at something like this so its all a little alien to me.

[shortw]

Your welcome, I noticed the link for lowes.com does not work directly, but you can copy the link and past it in your browser and just hit enter. Sorry for that. This will get you to the pea-gravel I thought I will use. I went to lowes hardware and in realty the gravel looks a lot lighter in color then the picture and looks like quartz.
You may want to search the internet for a hydroponic forum, this would give you a better answer to you questions.
Good information leads to a very good start. So I would advise you to join a hydroponic forum if you thinking about doing hydroponic, this way you could ask questions there and you would get better answers. Good luck, if you got any more questions please let me know and I see what I can do to answer it. Let me know how it works out.

[rasputinsauntie]

Any thoughts on making your own solution? I currently live in China (in a soil-deprived apartment), and I think it will be tough to find solution. But, I have seen some mysterious chemistry shops....if nothing else, it would be an interesting language learning opportunity...

[shortw]

You may want to check into 'aquaponics' where you keep live fish in a fishtank and there poop and fishtank water is used as plant food. You will find info here at Instructables.

[bountycrops]

Your hydroponics setup looks really good. I agree that using chlorine bleach can help prevent the spread of any intruder in the garden. I personally use it in my garden. Although you really need to be careful because using it inappropriately can also cause deficiency on the plants. It's a good thing that you mentioned about allowing to air dry completely to get rid of the chlorine. Great article!

[HoboWhisperer]

I've heard that most insects do not like Diatomaceous Earth (DE). It is basically inert, Silicon Dioxide. From what I gather, it does not chemically kill them. For an insect, being exposed to DE is like being coated in razorblades - it works its way into their chitin and delivers death by a thousand paper-cuts. As far as its effects on humans - it is in Bisquick (it has no effect on our physiology). Anyhow, I wonder if this might be an effect pest control?

[downgrade]

carnivorous plants aren't as easy (as they need pampering sometimes) but work a bit more actively so that's where I lean on pest control...

[bwpatton1]

It is true Diatomaceous Earth is a pretty much natural pest (get rid of er) they say you can even feed a small dosage to your pets and it kills the pests that live in them.

[donbroro]

Diatomaceous Earth only tends to rid of soft bodied pests, like slugs. They crawl over it and it cuts them up initiating their death. I would never give this to a pet to rid them of worms or any other pest they may have. If it cuts up soft bodied insects it could cause damage to your pet too. If you care about your pet, seek out a Vet!

[gjones]

DE does not harm pets. I have been using it for 9 months in their food...I have friends that have used it for years.
I use 1 tablespoon per 10 pounds of feed for my horses, dogs and cats. I live in a heavy tick and flea area of the country and so far this year the only critters I've found on my animals are in the process of dying...much better in my book than a monthly topical super icky chemical application.
I've read 1 teaspoon added per gallon of water helps as well...thinking about starting that too and hopefully we will be totally critter free :)

[jlanaux]

 Hi, I also have a question...I live in Columbus, GA and we are limited here. I have a fishtank pump, would that work? Would I be able to find the other materials at my local Lowes or Home Depot?

Thanks.

[downgrade]

air pumps for hydroponic systems are usually exactly the same as those for fish tanks. Like dubbed was saying, a fish tank for a planter isn't the best of ideas but could work, but the pump is good to go.

[thedubbedmime]

in short yes... but... a fish tank is great for hydroponic plants and if you have a fish tank bubbler it is great for  aerating the water. but make sure to cover the glass. plant root hate light and it will harm them. also make sure it's not too deep. if your tank is too deep you'll just waste a lot of the nutrient solution.  

[scottinnh]

If the tank is too deep, a nice trick would be to deposit a few (completely filled with water, sealed) soda bottles at the bottom.

It's the same displacement trick some people use to waste less water if their old toilet tank is the 5 gallon/20L type.

[samsamleelee]

By watering do you mean with nutrient solution or just water? And do we still have to soak it in the pot of nutrient solution while germinating?

[downgrade]

Seeds generally just need the water to crack open, so you can pretty much just water them, but adding nutrient doesn't hurt (actually should speed up growth once it sprouts). If you are really budgeted water works fine, although you don't need to water much, just need to keep the area moist (unless it's a plant that really loves it's water, but I am talking in generalities here). And if I understand your second question correctly, no you don't NEED to soak it in the pot, heck it might even be smart not to at times, but also it's convenient to keep it there so that is up to you. Most people will germinate their seeds outside their system, and then introduce it into the system once they've started to develop. At that point you want to watch them either way as their roots are growing and may not have found the water/nutrients yet, so have a spray bottle mixed up just in case some plants are having a harder time. But again, no need to go overboard, plants have been doing this growing thing for a bit longer than we have.

[Pentacle]

Wow. Your sink looks likes my sink. Blue sponge, George Foreman grill sponge, sink stopper and all. LOL.

[unlvdating]

 

I really appreciate your efforts to write articles that are informative in nature and undertake different issues and happenings in our society. These posts keep me updated with these matters that make me aware on the current situations in our society. Thanks for your dedication on providing relevant articles. I acknowledgment your great work!

 

Gi Grow

[SerenityGene]

Rockwool is NOT fiberglass.

[trebuchet03]

Semantics....

Rockwool is a vitrified substance.... Processing for making rockwool (rotary drum, compressed air jet, etc.) is also used in making many fiberglass varieties.

Throw some glass insulation (from the hardware store) and some rockwool under a microscope and the difference will be clear - there isn't any (except maybe color - which comes from the binding agents used) :p We tend to source rockwool raw materials from waste whereas fiberglass materials we try to recycle from old glass or, as in the case for more structural glasses, we use more virgin materials (silica sand, limestone, soda ash and alumina, feldspar , magnesite, and a few other ingdients I can't recall at the moment).


You should really read more Shakespeare ;)

[SerenityGene]

Put Glass and Plexiglass under and the difference will be clear - there isn't any... Try using standard housing insulation in a hydroponic setup sometime. There is a reason why No hydroponics site sells it as a grow medium.

[trebuchet03]

That's right! The difference is in the binder (which is why I mentioned color). The binding agents used in home insulation aren't appropriate for growing plants - and because they're baked in, you can't really remove it :)

[HydroGrower92]

True.. But alot of people refer to it as fiberglass because of it's structure and texture. But you are right.. It is not fiberglass, it is a result of heated and spun rock.. much like cotton candy, for those who don't know what rockwool is and doesnt know the process of making

[KrackNaka]

Hey very nice set up you have here. I just have a few questions, living in San Jose, California I can't seem to find a shop that actually sells the mesh/ or netted pots, rockwool, or clay pebbles and same with the nutrients. Is it just Hydro stores that sell these. The other question is have you experimented with other nutrients?

[trebuchet03]

A big box hardware store might sell most of that - mesh pots might be for aqua plants...

But, San Jose seems to have a few options for hydroponics specific supplies
http://www.google.com/search?q=san+jose+hydroponics&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

yields
http://www.precisionhydroponics.com/
which is on 132 Kennedy Ave

Give 'em a call, see what they've got :)

As far as other nutrients... not particularly, no.. The stuff I use has worked flawlessly, for me, so I've stuck with it :D

[kknudson93]

I am getting an air stone. What size would you recomend. There is also a choice in air bar. Suggestions?

[Dzakovich000]

What do you do to prevent algae and fungus mites?

[nuke3ae]

I have that same drill from harbor freight. Payed 25 for it, 2 years old and runs just like when i bought it.

[albylovesscience]

i am also a lover of the fine canadian meats the godly bacon is like drugs you cant get enough

[chanson87]

What do you do with your water when you need to change it? Do you change all the water, or just replenish the nutrients?

[ki10]

Change the whole solution. It's too well-mixed to get just the toxins out without some kind of filter.

[eddierath]

how far into the solution should the medium be? completely submerged?

[skuitarman]

has any on ever tried this with perlite and/or vermiculite

[tombuss2000]

I think it would work just fine but the particle size ends up falling through the mesh basket holes.

[peacefulweirdo101]

um im makeing a hydroponic for my acedemic sucess class and i cant seem to find an airstone and rockwool. I checked home depot, but they didnt have it. i live in montebello, los angeles. Where do u think i can find it? Oh, and does Miracle Quick Start count as a growing solution. Pleeese help

[awang8]

Rockwool, I'm not sure, but you can get airstones from pet shops (just make sure they sell gold fish).

[corprwhs]

I don't know about rockwool, but air stones are available anywhere where aquarium supplies are sold. They are used to aerate water, and thus allow fish to breathe.

[flio191]

online, check on ebay for really cheap bags of hydroton and stuff. in chicago we have a hydroponics/home distillery supply store (go figure) to get all my stuff. perhaps there might be a specialty store near you? just do some internet research.

[browncar]

where in chicago is it? I live there. Would appreciate the info.

[Toulouse]

I have been considering doing hydroponics for some habanero peppers i have starting. Great instructable! The only reason I really want to do hydroponics is the possibility of increasing the potency of the pepper. Would this happen? I know those illegal 'herbs' that are growing hydroponically are stronger than those grown traditionally. Thanks

[kwynns]

what should the water level be compared to where the roots are?

[DELTAWOLF05]

So wait if the water touchs the roots constantly won't they rot? and would gravel work instead of rockwool?

[sectus1]

there water plant pots.

[lrearick1452]

Peppermint Tea, Insecticidal soap, tobacco tea, and others all work in my outdoor garden. The difference here is that anything you add to your plants will end up in your nutrient solution until the day you change it out. That being said, be very careful to check pH levels after using ANY pest control solution. As for the insecticidal soap, I don't think I'd use that in any hydro/aero unit for fear of soap bubbles in the system.

[aaronjehall]

Aside from oversudzing, I see little difference between soap bubbles and air bubbles. And wouldn't soap be good as a water wetter and initial root cleaner? I use a few tbsp of antibacterial dish soap 2-3x a year on my tomatoes, peppers and peppermint. I also use tobacco tea. Keeps the bugs off the plants and outta the soil.

[lrearick1452]

Soap bubbles are definitely not wanted in a hydro system. Mosttly because it blocks oxgen penetration of the water because of the filming action of the soap itself. Remember, both the roots and the leaves need oxygen uptake for the plant to be healthy.

[PetahOsiris]

This seems like a great basic setup, love the level of detail and background info in your instructable, top quality stuff. I was wondering though if the fortnightly water changes could be avoided or at least postponed by adding a water pump, perhaps a couple of feet of clear tubing and a UVC Sterilisation lamp as well as an automated system for adding new nutrients (Dispenser on timer) ? Anyone have any thoughts...please do share

[FaqMan]

Great job. This ible would save alot of money for me thanks for the well made description.

[the pro]

will miricle grow work as a nutirent solution?

[flio191]

Depends on what type: and most of the time it's better to go with a nutrient solution, because these nutrient solutions actually consider that there is no soil to acquire nutrients besides the basic stuff: nitrogen, carbon, phosphorous, sulfur, and variants of those...

[the pro]

Also will a black light work for a light system

[tibby_]

where exactly could i get a medium besides on the internet. would a place like lowe's or home depot have it??

[xlioilx]

you can use jiffy cubes at home depot, manards, lowes or walmart they are also the cheapest alternative and work real good.

[pigpen]

Jiffy cubes in a bubbler system like this would be a mess in my opinion, but you can get bags of perlite (white light-weight pellets) at the big box stores (in season) or just use stones/rocks whatever. Make sure you rinse the heck out of any medium (except maybe jiffy cubes - sludge) to get all the dust and crap out of them so it doesn't contaminate your reservoir.

[Mr. Medang Scheizer]

You are absolutely correct. I built a system similar to this. The growth rate is astonishing, but you'd better use something like leca stone or hydroton rocks.

[stephenjoens1]

SO what does the air stones bubbles make it so the water splashes the rockwool, or how do the plants get the water?

[Keith-Kid]

OK I'm confused... Are they supposed to NOT get sunlight?

[TheDeadMethod]

The outside (plants) need sunlight to grow, but if sunlight reaches the water inside, algae and other contaminants will grow, which gets messy and disgusting fast.

[Keith-Kid]

Ah, thank you, even though I had asked this over a year ago, and had figured it out by now, that still helps!

[FreshPineSent]

Sunlight is ideal, but if your doing hydroponics, chances are you are indoors.

[crafty_crayons]

dam it thats nice

[LuAnna]

I have used the following two solutions on my garden plants: 1) peppermint tea (cooled) sprayed onto plants using a squirt bottle. 2) a very dilute solution of dish soap and water (about 1 tsp per gallon of water), also sprayed onto plants. I have heard criticisms about the dish soap method- that it may damage some plants, but I have not had this experience myself.

[Dfole]

Hey what kind of nutrient would be best for a miracle fruit plant, do you know? What you got goin on here is sweet but i want it to have all the right stuff so i need the right nutrition...

[josheeg]

If a wick method was added during the day or light time plants could take in co2 and the bubbler would not bother the co2 and it could be a precaution if you lost a little watter and your bubbles were not popping high enough. it would seem to me evaporation would make this project need to be checked daily.

[thefreshlettuce]

I've heard that a "tea" made from a tobacco plant, then sprayed on your other plants, will prevent pests, but I've never tried it. Hope this helps!

[pigpen]

Xliolix is exactly right about all this, if I am really concerned about the sterility of my gear I put enough hydrogen peroxide (regular from the first aid kit style) to cover the airstone and then do basically the same thing you recommend. Let is blow around the container fully set up and then wipe it down with a clean rag.

[pigpen]

I thought I should clarify - hydrogen peroxide is not bad for roots like chlorine, but also will kill bacteria.

[jessica3073]

The directions were great. Except, now that I got my air pump going and everything else, there is a smell coming from it. It smells like garbage. Also, when the bubbles come up to the surface there's a bunch of bubbles left at the surface...it looks like a bubble bath. The first time this happen with the smell I just got another air stone. So, now I have two in the container. I emptied the old water and solution, cleaned the container and add more water with fertilizer. This worked great, but then two weeks later it was time for me to put fresh water again and now it's doing the same thing with the garbage smell.

[pigpen]

Also make sure that you aren't growing algae in your tub. Depending on the color/material of your tub you will get some amount of light into the water. You can always wrap the tub in reflective tape (good to reuse lost light) or just spray paint it on the outside. Clear air tube will also shine some light in, but as long as you are not losing giant lights and change your water periodically it shouldn't be a big problem, Hydrogen Peroxide can be your friend -- it actually will support root growth while killing bacteria. Maybe your water source isn't the greatest. It is recommended to use distilled/RO and I have had some success with rain water, just have to be careful of how it is collected that you don't get even more junk in it.

[angrydroid]

try using 3% hydrogen peroxide added to your water... this will kill off bacteria and also helps increase oxygen uptake in the plant. only a few drops per gallon are necessary. also the fact that you use the term 'fertilizer' worries me... you're not using fish emulsion by chance are you? that would explain the smell. you need to go find a supplier of quality hydroponic nutrients... NOT the stuff you find at most stores' plant & garden section, you need to find a specialty shop.

[Dzakovich000]

3% really doesn't help too much. 3% Actually has harmful substances added in to reduce the rate of diffusion. This can harm and kill your plants. Your best bet is 35%, but that isn't something to be found at every corner store. Personally, I use Reverse Osmosis to filter my water, but I am looking for more efficient ways since those filters are super expensive. I'm going to see if I can distill my own water using my hot water heater and seeing if I can tap into that.

[jongscx]

Sounds to me like something (probably bacterial) is fermenting. That would explain both the garbage smell and the surface froth... When you emptied the water, did you disinfect it with the clorox sol? or is that what you meant when you cleaned the container? IF so, did you put all the equipment there, aka bubblers and tubing too... Otherwise, my only other guess is that its coming from the plants themselves. (the natural bacteria that grow on the roots)

[Dragontrap]

Where did you find those 'mesh' pots?

[pigpen]

They are available from any hydro-retailer, many are online and will ship to you.

[VicinSea]

What is the easiest way to cut the Styrene lids? I have a carpet knife but it feels pretty dangerous--is the an easier way to cut this stiff plastic?? Also, why does the box need to be so deep? I am using an "under the bed" style of box about 6 inches deep. Should I expect trouble?

[pigpen]

Yo, hole saws work really well for making nice circular cuts in ANYTHING. Trouble is finding the sizing to match up with net cups as different brands actually have a different "lip" on them. Thus, a 2" hole saw might work for a 2" net cup and it might not depending on the mfgr. Helps to be able to measure for yourself. There are also "adjustable" hole saws that use a toothed blade that has an adjustable circumference from the drill bit part. They don't usually work the greatest, but it will be accurate.

[startfresh]

Thankyou very much for this instructable! I gotta try this!

[leapetra]

You could find a container that already has a value attached. I suggest looking in a restaurant supply store. That way you know the container is rated for food use.

[technick29]

Interesting idea. This reminded me of a recent episode of the Colbert Report when he had a guest that wanted to make vertical columns to grow plants in. I believe it incorporated hydroponics, as he mentioned all you would have to do is pump water to the top and let it flow through the plants, and there was no need for soil! Sorry, I felt like sharing what went through my head. Very thorough Instructable. It sure has inspired me to try hydroponics! (5/5 stars, my friend, cheers).

[fuzvulf]

Nice instructable. Some people seem to not be able to be helpful without being hurtful. Looks like you have a nice setup there. I like the idea of the aquaponics. That is sort of what you have with the Beta fish and the plants in the jars.

By the way, The folks that grow the "HERBS" of the illegal sort can be a great source of information. There is a store in my area that caters to them and they are very helpful. I have been looking into hydroponics to get me through the winter months to cut food costs. My experiment this last year didn't do so well but part of that was due to lighting and part due to not wearing my glasses when mixing my solution. Poor little plants got about 10 times more concentrated solution than they were supposed to. They did surprisingly well considering. I'll give it another try this winter. I have an acre and a half so warm weather veggies are no problem.

As for lighting. Check out LED grow lights. They are like 30 times more efficient than regular lights, produce less heat and last like 100,000+ hours. You also only use RED and BLUE. Most Grow lights produce a lot of wavelengths that the plants really don't use. Regular plant lights also have a green component to make your plants "look" healthy even though they absolutely don't need green light. Plants grown under LED red and blue grow lights will have a darker color than plants grown under regular light because the plant doesn't need to produce the pigment to reflect the parts of the spectrum it doesn't need.

You can use the used LED stop light elements for the red. There are several sources out there that you can find on Google with a little patience.

The blue you have to order, or I suppose if you had way more time than most you could order one of the stop lights, find a supplier for the blue LEDs and replace the red ones. I have seen either an instructable or a hardware hack for an LED back light for a projection TV. One guy on there found a supplier that sold a thousand LEDs for I think it was like 60$. That would make a cool instructable, but because of my disability I can't do that much soldering.

Fuzzy

Here are a couple of the references

http://www.growwithleds.com/
**(note-beware of popups on the following site, I don't know what they were but my browser blocked 3.)
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/light_farming_010926.html
http://pda.physorg.com/lofi-news-plants-food-space_79617990.html

[thenear1send]

Quoting:

"By the way, The folks that grow the "HERBS" of the illegal sort can be a great source of information. There is a store in my area that caters to them and they are very helpful"

I totally agree, ive learned so much about growing plants, really, the majority of what i know, from the illegal "herb" growers. Even if one doesn't agree with their ways, they have perfected plant growing and made it an art form. =)

well not really, but they sure do know their stuff!

[commonsense]

AMEN FUZZY to the LED. Found them on ebay. I was sceptical at 1st, but when i got it and plugged in my plants began perk up! I found LED pannels on EBAY a 1 foot square pannel w/225 LEDs for just under $40 shipping included or get 4 (900LEDS)pannels for around $125. The 225 led pannel uses only 14 watts as apposed to the sodium(400watts)and halide that also burn your plants. Pannels are sold in Blue LEDS Red LEDS and mixed blue and red. They(i still don't know who "they" are?) say blue light for growth and red for flowering/budding. I purchased the one w/both colors. For those who are less energenic towards the D I Y they also sell hydro sytems as cheap as $40 and up! Some ppl swear the sodium much better for heat,what do u need all that heat for if growing indoors,unless u live in an igloo.Just do the math LED lights at 14 watts per pannel and last up 10 - 11 years, sodium or halide use 400 watts(lucky if you couple year life from them) = 28.5 LED pannels - your 1000 to 2000watt heater and replacement of the lamps that burn out! At The most you'd probably need 4 - 6 pannels for decent crop. In the long run much cheaper and better for MY plants! HAPPY GROWING!

[cdagger]

re: Red And Blue lights I have been working for a major hydroponics and indoor growing retailer/wholesaler for some time now and we have considered stocking LED lamps. The problem is intensity. LED lighting lacks the power required to grow and harvest strong crops, unless you literally cover the ceiling of your grow enclosure with them. Given that they were around 150-200 $US per strip last time I checked, and you would need upwards of ten strips per square metre, the cost effectiveness is not very good. Also, they run at very low temperatures. Not so bad for growing in hot climate areas, but for anyone else, you need to add a 1000-2000W heater just to achieve good growing temperatures, completely nullifying the point of purchasing more 'economical' lamps. Also, the lamps need to be very close to the plants to achieve maximum growth intensity per square cm of leaf (to achieve maximum growth speed). Since indoors we want to achieve maximal growth per dollar we spend on power, they arent the best by a long shot. The reason is that the further the lamp is from the plants, the more it spreads out. The closer it is to the plants, the less area you will cover. Therefore, more lights are required. HID lighting (High pressure Sodium or Metal Halide) is still the industry standard and best option available for indoor growing. Cant wait till they really coax some lumens out of the led lamps though! Hope this helps.

[fuzvulf]

hereOne thing that can be done with LED grow lights is that every surface can be covered with reflective material. This way the light that is normally wasted gets reflected back to the plants. You can't do this with other light sources because of heat concerns and you can pick up a decent grow spot on Ebay right now for around 40$ American including shipping. If a group got together to buy in bulk and designed a simple circuit board that included everything needed then you could recycle old fluorescent bulbs into LED grow lights. Considering the savings in electricity not only in light production but also in not having to cool the grow room down this is rapidly bringing LED grow lights to the fore front. Also they don't have to be replaced nearly as often.

What I want to see is a solar cell that allows the red and blue spectrum light to pass through it but converts everything else into electricity which could then be used to power red and blue LED's from a battery bank to simulate full growing season length days in the short dayed winter months.
"Gentlemen thaw your chickens"
Lots of times the reason that industry doesn't switch to a wonderful new concept is that its brain is already bulging from what it had to learn to use the previous often much crappier predecessor, and it's wallets are not bulging because its predecessor costs so much to use.

To give an example... I recently received a request to dig through my storage facility to find any old 486 motherboards because one of our nation's better known clothing manufacturers facilities was flooded out and switching over to modern motherboards would involve re-writing decade old control software to route commands through USB ports and an adapter would have to be made to link up to the existing hardware.
Major industry is not always a good indicator of what is smartest or best. Notice that Ford's advertisement now states that it is as good as Toyota. Once an industry gets started it rarely stays at the fore front of tech. Even the research based tech companies are guilty of this. When Intel was still selling the 386 it already had a working pentium but it did not skip the selling process of the 486 in the interest of the consumer. It tries to get all of the money out of each investment that it can, then it drags its feet for a while, then it has meetings to see why profits are going down, then it tries pay cuts and lay-offs, then, maybe it might jump on the new tech wagon and upgrade.

In fact the brightest and most efficient light is sulfur microwave lighting. It is so bright that it can be piped with PVC tubing almost as if it were fiber optic cable. Industry as far as I know isn't using that either to grown anything. A reference to that can be checked out here.

But as that article says, LED's just last longer.

[jeff-o]

It's true that sulfur lamps are among the brightest lamps you can get. Unfortunately, commercial units start at about 1.4kW with an output of over 130,000 lumens, which is far more light than you would ever need for a home hydroponics grow op! They produce a ton of heat, another undesirable trait. They also last 1/5 as long as an LED.

[macrumpton]

I was thinking of making some growlights for my Aerogarden using Red and Blue LED Xmas light strings. Ebay has 100 bulb strings for $10 incl shipping.

[technodude92]

actually, if i rember last Christmas correctly the lights came bunched with red/green on one side and red/yellow on the other. Four strings of lights that are still bunched would give you the full spectrum and with an improvised reflector, you could bounce the light from the other side of the bundle towards the herbs.

[Big Bwana]

About the lighting, I see there is people saying get it here or there or look at police auctions, consider this most street lighting is H.P.S. in the 39 to 1000 watt areas, and yes while most of it is 347 Volt, 480 Volt and some times 600 Volt, most ballasts are multi tap 120, 208, 240,347,480 Volt .. Now in almost every city there is a store which sells surplus stuff for the city or surplus electronics gear and they can be bought for $35 (( 400 W HPS in Alberta )) and if your lucky enough to see some city crew changing street lights stop and talk to them, I was given a box full of ballasts they where just going to toss, Yes a five gallon plastic bucket is ideal for packing them in, they are heavy... And sure a few ignitors or ballasts might not work it\s not economical for a city to pay a crew to trouble shot them, fix them and wonder how long they will last, it's remove and replace and trash them ...... (( some times offering them cold bervereges helps too )) And on the HPS if your going to use it, try and go with one for growing plants like Philips SON-ARGO 430 Watt, it will work in a 400 W HPS ballast only it has more blue content so you don't need as much natural or MH lighting .... And if you buy them from a Philips distributor not a hydro store, sorry hydro stores assume your growing a cash crop and you have cash to burn (( Yes Home Depot will Special order them, just talk to the rep they are usually there early in the mornings but a sales associate can tall you when they are should show up )) they are only a few bucks more then a standard HPS ..... And not to favor Philps. Sylvania, GE, Eye, and others make HID grow lights, I've only ever used Philips and they work great, and I'm sure you can get them at stores other then home depot ... And be careful with used / new ballasts they can output a very high voltage when the ignitor kicks in. upwards of 5000 volts, and 10,000 Volts if you have a hot restrike ignitor (( rare but I have seen then show up from time to time ))

[KrackNaka]

thank you so much hahns lighting is actually a great place with well educated personnel. So I have all the supplies and I'm cutting the lid to fit the pots and it cracks and is now worthless. . . haha is there a better technique for fitting them then doing the slits and bending?

[jpitha]

Just a quick Note (Nice Instructible BTW): Don't worry about "damaging" the root system when you're transplanting from the soil to the nutrient solution. It's actually better to tear and cut (a little bit!) the roots when you re-pot the plants. It stimulates them and promotes stronger growth. I've known people who attack the roots with scissors when they're re-potting, but I tend to just rake them with a butter knife.

[Niem]

im in the 8th grade and i cant get all these items

[christophor]

When I was a kid, back in the 1980's. I did a hydroponics demonstration. I used Liquid Miracle Grow diluted in water, a little fountain pump and a bunch or 2 liter soda bottles. You might try that. Its not as fancy as all this, but it worked fine. I grew watermelons inside different containers so, they'd be square or cylindrical. Good luck.

[cobbeaver]

the reason why you can't buy the chemicals is because (especialy with the fertilizer) people expect you 2 make bombs out of them OR they think you'll grow the "HERBS" that were mentioned earlier. So, just ask your parents to get the stuff for you

[Krystoll Meth]

Honestly, the best way about it is to either ask a parent/older sibling to get the stuff for you & find some way to come up with the cash for it or to get yourself a gift card for amazon or something like that and buy the items through there.

[lemonshark10]

what can't you get?

[Krystoll Meth]

This is a nice setup from what I see and I'm currently in the process of using this as a guideline for my own setup. However, I do want to note a few things.

- Rockwool (at least in most of NJ) is pretty much unheard of at nurseries, Lowes & Home Depot. Anyone out there looking for it, best off going to Grodan or looking on Amazon for it (as I did, and you can find the nutrients, pots, etc.).

- As far as having grow cubes, from several days & many hours of researching all of this, I've found out that in order to avoid buying cubes & grow cubes, you can simply create a hole in the regular cubes with a pen, icepick, etc. & place the seed in there.

- Most rockwool instructional information says to soak it in pH 5.0-5.5 water for 8 hours at least (I may be slightly off on the pH level).

- I found it may be easier to get a cheap grow light & a lamp or even a caged lizard light fixture and place a powerful grow light in it instead of the fluorescent ones or multiple lights. Of course, they also have several low wattage, or "green" lights if you want those as well. I've read info from people using them with the same results as a $250+ light fixture (looks like a light for a pool table).

- A simple helpful thing if you need to move it anywhere, a few pieces of scrapwood & some cheap caster wheels on the bottom & your setup is mobile.

- There is a near infinite combination of things for you to customize setups on most hydroponic supplier sites. I even found a "stealth PC hydroponic mod" setup. Looked pretty neat if nothing else.

- Rockwool disposal is like anti-freeze disposal. Doesn't happen & the stuff lasts forever. However, it is extremely recyclable.

- Another mod I'm going to use is a spigot connected to a filter/hose when changing the water as instructed. This will reduce the irritation of trying to dump this stuff into whatever you would need to dump it into for disposal, or with a second, long enough hose, you could leave the container in one place & run the hose to wherever you need it. Basically a drainage setup.

I'm going to document little modifications I make & hopefully come up with my first "instructable" for home hydroponic modifications, and maybe give more info to different nutrients as I go.

All in all, thanks for this because for some reason it got me to stop being lazy and actually do something productive. Thanks!

[00Ruth7]

Or you can add a wick to your netted/meshed pots. For example a strand from the mop or a felt. One end reaching into the nutrient solution and the other end reaching into the rockwool.

See this link for visual information:
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f95/blogagog/hydro1.jpg
http://ottawaorganizers.com/ottawa/hydro2.jpg

I

[tibby_]

how high should the water level be. should it just touch the bottom of the plants or should they be submerged ??

[00Ruth7]

The water level should be high enough so that a small amount of liquid touches the netted/meshed pots. So that the rockwool is in contact with the liquid and is moist. The rockwool must receive water, or your plant will likely die, even if some roots are in the nutrient solution.

[Geordiepom]

Most police authorities periodically sell off seized and recovered property. This can be a cheap source of hydro' gear and you get the chance to use it for good instead of evil. Watch out for auction and tender sales.

[Digital_Anarchy]

illegal does not necessarily mean evil, but use of language aside, thats quite a good idea. does anyone know if police authorities in the UK sell on seized items.

[djsc]

uk police sell on siezed stock at bumblebeeauctions.co.uk The stuff is pretty boring though usually, gilette razorblades and stuff like that, and I have never seen hydro kits on there!

[technodude92]

the second image in the intro has a typo. Italian not italion

[Keith-Kid]

If you grow lettuce like this, not only does it taste better, it has better quality. Around here its pretty easy to sell lettuce grown like this. Good instructable

[clicclic]

Worm's Way is a massive catalog hydroponic dealer that sells all this stuff. Check out their site here:

Wormsway.com

They have an awesome catalog so definitely apply for that. And no I don't work there...

[CrazyCory564]

Anyone know a good power air pump (how many gallons, liters, or ml per minute or hour) would be for the 18 gallon bucket? I can't figure out what to use.

[Ducky_2010]

Something I've always been interested in is setting up an aquarium attached to a hydroponics system. The plants help clean the water (there would still be a filter) and the fish feed the plants. Do you think this could be modified with another open bucket attached to do that? Any comments?

[sires6]

Aquaculture is difficult, mostly because the plants and the animals thrive at slightly different pH need. Plant need more acidic than fish almost 1 entire pH level in difference for most food plants.

[WilderLust]

funny you mention this! i did a lot of experimentation with that and designed and built a filtration system to keep my Discus fish and plants healthy with very little water change. test thorough half a decade proved my filter effective and it increases the oxygenation tremendously as well. the water is great for plants because of its nutrition. if you know anything about Discus, you know they are the most beautiful and difficult freshwater fish to keep. they are very prone to death caused by slightest impurity in water which is why i chose them to test the system. i did this before this site was around and have taken everything down when i moved but i still could build my filter... it is easily made out of PVC. i may have to overcome my laziness and do an instructable for my filter some day! WL

[trebuchet03]

Possibly... and I'm hesitant on saying that. It's called aquaponics - combining aquaculture with hydroponics and the idea is older than both aqua and hydro ponics.

First, I've never set one up myself. So I can't speak from expirience. However, I have done a bit of reading because I too think it's an awesome idea. Here's some rather critical points on top of the normal aqua and hydro ponic requirements

1. Temperature control so that you don't kill your fish when the water returns
2. Organic - just about ever traditional fish medicine is off the table etc.
3. Cost - hell, just setting up a fish tank from scratch is expensive enough :P
4. Tolerances - lower them. Most hydroponics systems need a pretty clean environment. Now, we need all sorts of bacteria to eat up fish waste and feed our plants

Another thing to keep in mind. You can't use small tanks. I'm not saying you need a million gallon tank. But you need a large water mass to help stabilize temp, pH, water level etc. Just like a regular aquarium. Search online and most places tell beginner never to start with less than 20 gallons.

Lastly, I don't know how well it would work with this type of system. I don't know for sure, but something tells me that there needs to be "dry" periods to allow helpful bacteria to get to work. In this system, it's always wet - but bubbling. You're best bet is to get researching - read as much as you can or even find a local operation ;)

[Ducky_2010]

My idea was to set up a 20-30 gal sterilite next to the one used for the hydroponics system, connected with two tubes of safe plastic and aquarium silicone. The hydroponics half would be like this one here, and the aquarium half would be open topped and, well, and aquarium. This would make a total water volume of 40-60 gal, depending on the containers used. More than enough for stability. Mesh on the fish side would keep them contained, with a pump in one tube for circulation. Goldfish would be fine in coldwater, and create lots of waste/nutrients. I'm not sure if you could use guppies or something, how would land plants do with warmer water?? The bacteria used to clean up after the fish shouldn't be a big deal, since I have a planted aquarium now doing great. There would be algea in all likelyhood, the fish would bring it in. I'm thinking a few snails should do the trick. Your right about the chemicals though. You can't add the plant chemicals because it will hurt the fish. You can't add most fish chemicals cause it will hurt the plants. Perhaps a quarantine would be in order for the fish before hooking them up to the system? I still think this would be a cool idea. If I make one, in all likelyhood this summer, then I will make an instructable! It'd be my first one. Now what should I grow...

[trebuchet03]

If you're going to do goldfish..... Why not try doing this on as cheap a budget as possible :) I mean, I think you could probably do the additional stuff for less than $30 minus the pump. I'd think even a very low gpm turtle pump would work - I mean, how much circulation between tanks does one need? I don't know :P In any case, I'd watch garage sales and thrift stores for a pump :) Snails usually come free with aquarium plants :P So you can probably go to your LFS and ask to grab some out of a tank... You don't need many because they a prolific :P As for food - I've read that some fish do well with cornmeal. I don't know how that applies to goldfish or if it was a special cornmeal mix :P As for warm water.... In my traditional gardening, I'd fill 5 gallon buckets the day before and let them get nice and toasty in the sun before watering. Why shock your plants with cold water? Unless you're growing cold climate plants ;) It sounds like you've done a little homework - but keep researching before you start investing ;) Finding small scale examples to learn from is your best bet - that's how I got into hydroponics. DO post what you find (perhaps getting a post going in the forum) - or even start an instructable :)

[bqbowden]

There is a very informative article on setting up an aquaponic demonstrator system using plastic barrels. I want to build a smaller system to play with before going up to a larger system. The link is http://www.fastonline.org/content/view/15/29/ - this system is designed to be set up in third world countries. If I am able to get my system up and running I will post my project here.

[Punkguyta]

Would this work for growing "special" plants?

[angrydroid]

certainly would!

[Punkguyta]

Hell, sign me up!

[diydude]

Has anyone ever tried growing a giant pumpkin using hydroponics? Imagine a prize winning pumpkin over 1000 lbs.....

[hamrad]

Great timing. I found this article via Make Magazine blog while I was searching for info on hydroponics. I went to our local hdyrophonic store and he suggested I start with a system that put the pots on a tray where the solution is sprayed over the plants and the plants are not in the solution. Of course the system he suggested was about $150 total for everything. Your setup looks very much like it except it looks like you have your pots in the solution. The local store had a similar system to yours for about $70. But again he said it was not for the begining as it was not very forgiving if you make a mistake with the solution. I am interested what problems you run into. Great blog, hamrad

[trebuchet03]

The sprayer system is essentially the same as what I've made here -- except this way doesn't require a water pump (typically much more expensive compared to an aquarium pump) and a timer :p

My pots are not submerged in my solution. There's only a few inches of solution at the bottom of the container. The bubbles from the air stone/aquarium pump pop when they reach the surface and send a tiny amount of liquid further up into the root system. A sprayer will do the same thing -- except it will flood the root system for a short time rather than keep a moisture balance.

As long as you lower the water level as your plant's root system grows, you'll be fine. That's likely the reason they said it wasn't for beginners. If you keep your plants submerged too much -- they will be oxygen deprived and your roots will die :/

---

My only problem thus far was forgetting to refill the tank and then going out of town for a month...

[hamrad]

Wow, that was a fast response and very informative. I am totally new to this so bear with me. I understand now how the system works which is different than the one he was saying stay clear of which completely submerges the roots. You mentioned that you were in Florida but did not have enough light to grow tomatoes outside. I wanted to grow cherry tomatoes outside and I live in the Tampa Bay area. Will this be a problem? Thanks for your time, hamrad

[trebuchet03]

My problem with light is that I live in an apartment... and my balcony doesn't get enough direct sunlight during the day to grow tomatoes. Tampa should be fine as long as the location has enough direct sunlight (at least 8 or so hours is best -- more is better). But right now, it's the end of tomato season for Florida. The commercial tomato season for Florida is mid October to mid June. It's going to get too hot to grow reliably.

[hamrad]

OK, I don't have a problem with light then. You are totally correct about the growing season for tomatoes but I wanted to get started and learning how this work before the next tomato season. What would you recommend for getting starting now and learning the system? Thanks for your time, hamrad

[trebuchet03]

Hrmm... I'm looking at my season chart stuff and cherry tomatoes are still on there. You might actually be fine -- but you'll probably want to keep your container out of direct sunlight to keep the fluids from getting too hot during the day.

If they're getting too much sun, you could put up a little shade for them....

---

If you want, contact member "Tool Using Animal" -- he's the instructables plant expert :p And he lives at about the same latitude as you (in Florida) ;) He'll surely know what will give you a good odds for success ;)

[hamrad]

Thanks for the lead. How would I get hold of him? hamrad

[gedion_ki]

Hey, I live in the Tampa area also. I haven't tried hydro yet, but I have about 20 grape and cherry tomato plants giving me plenty of tomatoes every day. I would suggest that if your going from seed then seed them indoors as I believe its too hot out now for good germination, but after they get a couple inches tall you should be able to move them outside gradually. Its a bit harsh outside on new plants right now so break them in slowly. I think the only other thing that is in season right now it Okra which loves heat. Oh other things that are looking happy outside right now in my yard are aline strawberry, oregano, rosemary and nasturtium. Not to worry though Sept-Oct starts up a new growing season for all sorts of things.

[hamrad]

Great info. I just got back from the Clearwater Home Depot and they want $4.99 for a single 4" cherry tomato plant. Ouch! How long does it take to get say a 4" plant from seed? Thanks for your time,

[gedion_ki]

Let's see for 4" it will probably take 4 weeks depending on how you start them. I use the Jiffy peat pots and the little trays one of those runs about 3$, grab seed and water and sit it near a window! Tomatoes also grow pretty well indoors if they can get some sunlight.

[hamrad]

Thanks for the info. Setup 6 plants today. hamrad

[trebuchet03]

Send him a private message ;)

http://www.instructables.com/member/Tool+Using+Animal

[Suppafly]

You don't really need to make those tabs since you pots have a lip, just cut the hole big enough to hold the pot (the diameter under the lip), but smaller than the lip (the first circle you traced), the pots will drop all the way down level with the lid.

[trebuchet03]

I had tried that -- and it was fine without any weight. But when I added plants, medium and fluids... The weight deformed the lid too much and the pots would easily fall in. Perhaps if the lip was even bigger..... Cutting tabs doesn't look at pretty -- but I'm a function over form kinda guy :p

[uberbud]

Hi, first of all thank you for a informative instructions But , I have a question concerning if there is a need for 2 air stones , if the container is at least twice as long as what you used. Or would one pump suvice. Thanks

[uberbud]

I have the same question ,is there a certain depth the container has to be.

[trebuchet03]

Depends on how much grunt your pump has ;) I have used two stones on my pump without a problem - mostly due to the shallow water (deeper water requires a stronger pump to overcome water pressure).

[sock2828]

A quick question. can i use a shallower container to hold the nutrient solution? that way drainage and filling would be faster and less wastefull

[musicisthekey]

Like glaucoma medical uses?!?! adn I thought that hydroponics was marijuana.

[trebuchet03]

and I thought that hydroponics was marijuana.

Nope - that's just a stereotype due to the media :P Herb usage has a very strong base in culture - but that's not necessarily your culture but it is something to be respected. Different herbs for different cultures and the legality of the many many different types of herbs depends on where you live ;)

Just FYI (but I'm sure you know this already), glaucoma is not a medical treatment - it's a rather nasty (as in pretty bad) ocular disease ;)

[nightninja87]

this is great cause i grow herbs for medical purposes and this will help me keep them growing in winter here where it gets sometimes to -25

[Scozza]

I have a simple setup that works really well. I just redirected the pump from my outdoor fish pond (about 1.2 m by 1m) into some simple black poly pipe that drip feeds an old ceramic sink filled with perlite. The sink plugs have a PVC pipe fitted to them to allow for control of the water level. It works really well, the fish are happy, the plants grow like crazy and I dont ever worry about rain etc. All up probably cost me about 10 bucks and a couple of hours of scrounging up materials. Cheers, Scozza.

[ShawnG]

you said you live in s/c Florida.... i'm in orlando.... where is a good place to buy the mesh buckets and hydro nutri. ? ive looked for some places and nothing...

[Suntal]

Hi Shawn, In Orlando, I've noticed a new little Hydroponics store (stand alone bldg, not in a strip mall or shopping center) on Hwy 436, about a block up (West) from Hwy 17-92 on the left (like if you were heading toward Altamonte Mall from 17-92). Pretty near the Army/Navy Store. It's easy to miss in the daytime, but at nite it's easier to spot from the road because of the lights on inside, plus some cool neon in the window as well. (Maybe you've discovered it by now.) Good Luck! Let us know how your project works out. Suntal

[trebuchet03]

Sorry for the late reply....

http://www.sunshinehydro.com/

They have lots of freebie magazines and resources if you're looking for inspiration. They also don't try to sell you anything which is nice :) It's a big green building - so you can't miss it :)

[Cigar Jack]

Thanks for the the detailed instructable. I live in a cooler climate so decided to start one indoors. I cracked the lid to my Sterilite container so I used a piece of 2 inch styrofoam. Also I'm using 3 inch mesh pots instead of the larger ones and growing a total of 12 pots worth of stuff. I've got a 2 ft long florescent blub above it. Currently I'm sprouting seedlings but once I've got stuff planed I'll post some pictures. My total setup since I had no parts cost me about $130. I'll probably make an outside one for the summer to grow some tomatoes and sugar peas.

[zachninme]

I was thinking of setting a system up, however I wanted to grow inside. I'm up in New England, so it will snow soon (Not soon soon, but it would be silly to do outside for 2 months). Can I just put it somewhere where there is light, we have a big sunroom, or will I need to buy a lighting system?

[akanigel]

This guy is mostly talking out of his arse. Hydroponics requires exact amount of salts (nutrient) and P.H. No you don't need to make a fresh nutrient solution every time but how do you know what the micro nutrient composition is after a few weeks? You don't is the answer, although in my experience it makes no difference. (PH is very important)Plus there is no evidence that the plants contain any better nutrient composition in fact the most recent research (last six months) proves that micro nutrients are missing according to British government scientists. As for light, once your daylight regime starts to get to twelve hours dark twelve hours light, the annuals which is what he is growing , go to seed. So if you are going to put your plants in a conservatory and its getting late in the year then supplementary light will be required to stop this and to continue their growth. The lights you require would be ordinary household fluorescents. These are excellent for rooting cuttings and are used for vegetative growth too as they do not give off much heat which is a major distress factor for cuttings. Flouresents must be as close to the plants as possible so close they are almost touching. I'm assuming you are talking about a few plants not a whole conservatory, in which case you would need HID lights as they give off much more light and are much more expensive to run and buy than flouresents. However if you use these lights, I find that they cause my eyes to hurt for some reason and so do not spend much time exposed to them as you may be doing damage to them, but I have no scientific data to back this up. Flouresents give off light in the 350 nano meter band which is what you require for vegatative growth. However if you want plants to flower you will require a light source in the 750 nano meter light band. Talk to your retailer he will know all the technical data you will want to know.

[starphire]

Um, 350 nanometers is in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum, a wavelength which brings mutations and damage to living cells but no photosynthesis, and which is fortunately found only at low levels on Earth due to the ozone shield. It is however useful for exciting phosphors in the fluorescent or HID (they work on the same principle, one is just more intense than the other), which can emit light in wavelengths in useful visible parts of the spectrum where plants and people can use them. HID is also more efficient than fluorescent in terms of lumens per watt, so are less expensive to run, and come in sizes small enough to be comparable in power consumption to a couple of 40W fluorescent tubes. Photosynthesis requires both red and blue light at all times for any kind of growth to occur, but fluorescents are weak in the red unless you buy more expensive bulbs for plants, and just weak in general compared to HID even if you buy even more expensive high output fluorescents.

[trebuchet03]

The reason for changing the solution as frequently as I do is because most of us do not have the testing facilities to see what's in our water (other than pH, hardness etc.). Although - I'm wondering why in your first sentence you said it "requires an exact amount of salts" and then shortly after you say "it makes no difference?" Again, most of us don't have the equipment to do such testing - larger scales operations do.

Yes, one of my plants has gone to seed -- it has been budding for about three to four weeks now. I've been clipping the buds as they come up. In past experiments, I've been able to keep annuals going year round by doing this without stunting growth or causing any adverse effects...

Keep in mind, I never said that this was more nutritional than if you were to grow in regular dirt and use conventional supplements. I do believe it is, but there's too many factors that determine the final outcome. Other than the cost, I like to buy organic produce - and with the amount of crops that are simply burned due to cross contamination - the cost is only going up. And I will say that a product that does not use industrial pesticides etc. is more nutritional/healthy than one that doesn't :P Do post up the research papers you've come across... even though it contradicts much of what I'm finding - I'm still interested.

Papers I've come across:
Canadian Journal of Botany; Jun2006, Vol. 84 Issue 6, p1009-1012, 4p, 2c -- "High-quality and homogeneous Arabidopsis thaliana plants from a simple and inexpensive method of hydroponic cultivation."

Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science; Nov2005, Vol. 130 Issue 6, p918-927, 10p -- "Acclimation of Plant Populations to Shade: Photosynthesis, Respiration, and Carbon Use Efficiency."

There was another interesting paper that used rare earth magnets to accumulate iron in the root system of wheat. I can't seem to find the article again (its somewhere in EBSCO) but it was another interesting read.

Journal of Plant Nutrition; May2006, Vol. 29 Issue 5, p809-825, 17p -- "Effect of Nitrogen and Potassium Stress and Cultivar Differences on Potassium Ions and Nitrate Uptake in Sugarcane."

This one is a little older.. but they used a nutrient solution with Cadmium micro nutrients to get it into the food:
British Journal of Nutrition. 89(4):499-508, April 2003 -- Cadmium absorption and retention by rats fed durum wheat

I do like to keep up on this stuff... I don't have to pay for access to these journals - so I use that resource all the time :P
---
As for why your eyes hurt... there's a lot of research in fluorescent light and eyestrain. F-lights operate a 2X the frequency of your mains power. So for those of us running 60Hz mains, your fluorescent lights are flickering at 120Hz (and for those on 50Hz -- you're pulsing away at 100Hz). This happens because the ballast "sees" 0V twice per cycle. In any case, some research has found that these frequencies can cause eyestrain even though they are too fast for cognitive recognition. Then of course, the bulbs are in the sub 400nm range - so you get all those lovely UV effects.

I know there's some sort of tinting film you can get to reduce the effects -- don't know the side effects on plant growth but it has been successful in office buildings ;)

[akanigel]

Ask yourself this question, "Why was hydroponics invented?" Answer, because in industrial scale growing, under glass, (greenhouses) they have thousands to hundreds of thousands of plants to "water" and to employ the labour to go and service each plant is not an economic method of growing. If one is a hobbyist grower and you only grow a few meters / yards of plants then you can't do better than soil. Plants have been growing in soil for millions of years and man in his arrogance thinks he can come up with new technology and beat nature. History has continually proven him to be wrong. The reason why hydroponics is being pushed so heavily is so the suppliers of hydroponics equipment can push their equipment to ill educated and poorly informed individuals who are hypnotised by the talk and think they are on the Rubicon of a new concept. Wrong, you are being lad astray by commercial interests, for their own gain. The reason why his plants are going to seed is because he has the light regime wrong or it is not intense enough! probably the latter, It has nothing to do with nutrition or anything else. As for my eyes hurting and the guys answer about the flourescents is crap, it is not the flourescents which cause them to hurt but rather, fuller spectrum HID @ 750 nano meter lamps (red spectrum). He admits to being a student / novice, it is the blind leading the blind. I do however commend the chap for his reference to scientific papers. However the cognoscenti will be able to see so many flaws in his posts that they will agree that although he is well intentioned his basic premiss is flawed. I'm now retired after growing all my life, so no longer keep up to date with the latest scientific papers. He is growing in 'rock wool" the green stuff, this is a mineral, which when being used gives off very fine fibres that can damage lungs. If you do use this, always wear a mask, and in a domestic situation will over time deposit almost invisible fibres into your living environment. Do you really want your loved ones breathing in fibres which over twenty years time will cause serious lung desiese? But why use such hazardous materials? The better medium, and cheeper are clay pebbles. Which are reusable. Get independent advice from someone who does not have a commercial interest in emptying your pockets of your hard earned cash. Or get a degree in horticulture. As he rightly says here is very limited forum for such in depth scientific discussion. Why do I use the term salts? because that is what they are also referred to, I.E, salts meter instrument for monitoring the strength of the collective nutritional salts suspended in the carrier(water). Answer to the question is hydroponics organic? not usually. Someone has made a post "can you transplant plants from soil to hydro and visa versa." It is possible but why bother? it only takes, on average, ten days for a cutting to make roots. why go to all that trouble when one can produce many more plants much more efficiently by another method?

[trebuchet03]

hehe.. I missed this comment :P I admit to being a student.... I attend a university :P I never once said novice :P I've been doing some form of small scale hydroponics myself for 12 years... Starting off with painters trays and and dollar store buckets and fired clay gravel :P I'm confident I've moved passed the novice stage, but I admit that there's never a time that one can't learn more.

I did work a little bit with the gentleman that started a program for kids called Earth Rangers... Through which a larger "commercialized" setup (using verti-grow) was installed at a high school - complete with it's own greenhouse. I don't know what became of it, but they (high school students) sold their crops to a organic food market.

---

Thanks for reminding me about the rockwool! I instructed to soak, but I forgot to say why :P And if you want to explain why my explanation for the lighting bothers you ... please explain with evidence other than call it crap ;) As the saying goes... In god we trust, everyone else bring sources.

---

As for emptying pockets.... I spent roughly $30 to set this up and it could have been less :P The idea is that anyone can do this themselves... without a large investment, without super special expensive equipment, without a degree and have great success for many many years :)

[starphire]

As part of my grad school thesis in plant growth physiology, I grew identical cuttings side by side in hydroponic medium (rockwool or sand) and in soil. Guess which cuttings grew faster and lusher, ended up far more productive (about 2x), healthy (as measured by sophisticated plant stress monitoring lab equipment), and required less maintenance? The hydroponically grown ones. It's funny that you'd say it's an obvious advantage for commercial agriculture but wouldn't provide any of the same advantages to the hobbyist. Sure, it takes more equipment and there are no doubt retailers who see an opportunity to make money off noobs, but that doesn't mean it can't give better results-the opposite is true. New concept? I have a book that was printed 60 years ago which covers all of the techniques and knowledge of nutrients still used today, a DIY manual for people who wished to give it a try when there was no commercially available hydroponic equipment. Plants can be stressed into going to seed early in various ways, including poor nutrition and low light intensity, but low light also means spindly plants with sparse foliage, and from the pictures there doesn't seem to be any problem with light intensity. Regarding the lights, both fluorescents and HID lights DO flicker at twice the line frequency, metal halide lights (which were developed for indoor stadiums to most closely mimic daylight color rendering for TV cameras) emit pretty much the same wavelengths as daylight fluorescents but closer to the sun's (harsh to the eyes) intensity; sodium HID lights, however, do emit more yellow and red. However, 750 nm is in the infrared region, and human eyes can barely even perceive it. You admitted you have no scientific basis to understand why HID lights strain your eyes more, your incorrect references to 350 and 750 nm wavelengths show you are no expert on photobiology, yet you easily discount his theory as though you know the answer - what's up with that? You make a good point about the danger of breathing rockwool fibers, though they are no worse than the fiberglass (and rockwool) insulation already in most people's homes, so we'd all better stay out of the attic too.

[lala412]

http://www.switched.com/2008/01/02/compact-fluorescent-bulbs-causing-migraine-headaches/

Flourescent lights have always given me migraines. I try to avoid them. Didn't know there was a problem with the CFLs, too - now I know why I've had such a problem with migraines in the last few weeks since I've been at my parents' house (they only use CFLs) despite my topamax. I am now going to seek out LED lights!

Love this instructable! Found it while searching for info on hydroponics for a friend who is trying to figure out indoor gardening options. Now I just might have to do this, also. Mint, rosemary, tarragon... I miss my tarragon. I had a pond when I lived in Florida, and a lot of the concepts seem to translate, so I think I will do okay. :-) Thanks for posting it!

[brokenagn]

is this really all bullshit, or is he just missing pertinent information? What do you so that you know all this? I hate wasting time and $ and I love fresh herbs and spices...

[trebuchet03]

There's no way I can put EVERYTHING here... there's just a lot of information out there - different techniques and many different opinions on the best methods (especially depending on region). To get the most from your dollar - do as much research before you start. This instructable is more to show you that it can be done. And, it can be done cost effectively. I did my best to shoot out a little bit about a lot of related topics -- just to give you a starting point. If you have any questions - post them up. I, or someone else, can get your the information you need or at least point you towards a resource to find what you need ;) As a mini update -- everything has been going smoothly thus far. I used up all of my cilantro for a salsa and my basil plants are big, bushy and growing faster than I can consume (I've got quite a bit drying out in my closet :P).

[carlcromer]

So if I were going jalapeno peppers I could get away with using flouresents? I too am strapped for cash and would like to grow peppers in my basement.

[trebuchet03]

If you've got a lot of light (especially south facing) - you'll probably be okay. I live in south/central Florida - so I always have decently strong light (I'm not so sure about up north). Also keep in mind that certain plants require more intense lighting. --- As for nutrients, if you change your water every 2 weeks or so, you shouldn't need to add more nutrients. In larger systems where the solution is continuously filtered and changed very infrequently (if at all) - you'd add more nutrients as your plants consume them.

[foamyguy]

Does anyone use a setup like this outside? If so do you have some sort of cheap device to keep rain from getting on it when it comes down?

[graphak]

i came across a device, which is very cheap and designed for this very purpose.... I saw it on www.unbrellas.com :P

[trebuchet03]

I intend on using this outside. This system should be just fine... If rainwater is a big problem - you can use a plastic bag to cover the tops of the pots - just cut a slit to allow the plant to get through - that is the general idea behind rockwool slabs ;) It will not prevent every drop of rainwater, but it will get most of it ;)

[pslotter]

This is a good Instructable for basic Hydro. I used this exact method for growing herbs on my back deck. I used a transparent container and had some algae problem until I bagged it in black plastic. I used a bat guano tea using an old coffee maker and had excellent growth, keeping the nitrogen high gave me a lot of greens from my arugula and cilantro and keep the seeding slow

[trebuchet03]

More pictures added of system in action!

Water level gauge, air pump box, drain/fill valve to come soon ;)

---

I chose things that I love cooking with... I was very tempted to get tomatoes and cukes... but I resisted :D

[zachninme]

What are wrong with those?

[trebuchet03]

I don't get enough direct sunlight every day to grow tomatoes and cucumbers - there's nothing wrong with them, I'm just not equipped to grow them ;)

[zachninme]

I don't think I would grow my food in something from the dump... Oh wait that is just the light... When you add more nutrients, do you have to change out the water, or just add more?

[Uberg33k]

Are the hydroponic nutrients all organic? Might someone point me to a such a product? I grow hot peppers and can actually taste the difference when using chemical fertilizers and organic ones. I'd imagine the effect is the same or exasserbated when growing hydroponically. Also, any suggestions on where to get these lights mentioned in the article?

[Mz3FRS]

T-5 Ballasts are common in home improvement stores (HD, Lowes), but you'd probably have to go to a specialty store/internet for the correct spectrum bulb. Keep an eye on the local dumpster as well; I had a T-5 setup for growing aquatic plants that was salvaged from some damaged 'EXIT' signs at my college.

[Saga]

General Hydroponics sells three different solutions; Grow, Micro, and Bloom. Mix them in the ratios below for amazing results. Don't buy the "Grow" bottle...it's redundant if using Micro. This is called The Lucas Formula: G-M-B (Grow-Micro-Bloom) 0-5-10 - For Vegetative cycle (18 hours light, 6 hours dark) 0-8-16 - For Flowering cycle (12 hours light, 12 hours dark) The numbers above indicate the number of milliliters (ml) of Flora Grow, Micro or Bloom formulas that I use in one gallon (US Liquid) of nutrients. You will notice I dont use any of the Flora “Grow” formula, do not need to, the Flora "Micro" provides plenty of Nitrogen.

[Saga]

A couple more tips: Plants grow best with an ambient temp. of around 70 degrees F. If you are growing is a cool location such as a basement or garage and don't want to tax your electrical bill with space heaters you can augment the heat by placing aquarium heaters into your resevoir to maintain temps. between 60-70F. Of course this works best in a bubbler bucket type of setup where the roots are constantly immersed in the nutrient solution. They are called "bubbler" setups because of the use of aquarium air pumps with bubble stones placed at the bottom of the bucket. During the vegetative state plants seem to like a mildly acidic solution. Around 6.5. During Bloom bump it up to around 7.

[trebuchet03]

very good suggestions :D

[austin]

this reminds me of something i saw about planting plants in decomposing hay bails, I cant remeber if it was here on instuctables or not.

[spinach_dip]

picture one looks like cilantro, not parsley. Although i guess it could be some funky variety

[trebuchet03]

http://www.hydroponics.co.nz/images/large/EDENVALE-italian-parsley2.jpg is the original - names italian parsley which does look very similar to cilantro. One is a commongarnish, the other is common in salsa :P Although it could have been mislabeled :P Good eye though :P

[spinach_dip]

Coriandrum sativum (cilantro) vs Petroselinum crispum (I think Italian Parsley) I would love to just be able to just pick some fresh Cilantro whenever I needed a bit. They sell it around here with the roots cut off and I find I can hold it for three days, but only if I put it in a bowl and cover it with water and place in the fridge as soon as I get home. potted starter plants have all promptly died. I have no idea what's wrong.

[meddler]

I have wanted to grow plants hydroponicly for a while, but the cost was always way out of my budget. Finally, something i can afford, thanks for posting trebuchet....

[trebuchet03]

Hydroponic catalogues can be quite downers for those of us with little cash :D

[Tool Using Animal]

Really nice Trebuchet, once the weather cools down i'll be setting up my float system, I'll post that when i do, it's a totally passive system, idiot proof, perfect for me.

[trebuchet03]

Oh how I wish I could do a float system... Do post it up when you can -- I always wanted to grow lots of lettuce and greens in a float system... I just don't have the space to do everything :D

[Robotrix]

Fantastic instructable. Can you mention a little bit about what sort of lights would be good for indoor growing? Can you transplant plants that you've started in a hydroponic set-up back into dirt?

[trebuchet03]

added step 11 on lighting ;)

[trebuchet03]

Thanks :D I'll add a step later about lights ;) I also plan on giving a basic introduction on how to tailer foods to suite how they will be prepared (such as adjusting pH for tomatoes making them good for either sauces or salads). You absolutely can transplant into dirt. However, for the first two weeks or so you need to be very religious about waterings. Hydroponically grown plants have a smaller root system because they do not have to seek and search for nutrients (more energy is put into the plant and fruit rather than the root system). However, if the plants are still somewhat young, you shouldn't have much of a problem.

[Tetranitrate]

Really great instructable. Im definately going to set up one of these as soon as I get the chance. Im going to be doing it indoors, starting from the seed. Do you have any other advice on starting from the seed, like how would I germinate the seeds, etc.

[trebuchet03]

You're going to want rockwool starter cubes. They are about 1"x1"x1.5?" Just soak them in your nutrient solution and then pop in a seed. If you're not doing too many, keep them on a shallow dish/plate/cookie sheet and then cover it with something clear to make a mini green house. Just keep a puddle of nutrient solution/water at the bottom of your dish and only open when you need to. Make sure to use new seeds -- they do go "bad" which really just lowers the chance they will germinate. Germinating a warm space will also help a great deal. Depending on what you're growing - once you get your first true leaf OR when you start seeing roots pop out the bottom of the cube, then its time to transplant. And with these seed cubes, that is a very easy thing to do :D Just either bury them in your medium or transplant into a larger grow cube (some have holes to accept the seed cube). --- Germination is really easy... but here is something that will help. You do have a higher chance of getting mold growth when covered. Mold and moist rockwool is a really ideal for growth. To help avoid this, I wash my hands/arms and wear un-powdered latex gloves. You can't completely get rid of mold spores in your home air - but you can help reduce how many fall off your hands/arms while working ;) --- Finally (I know my stuff is really long), if you can find a hydroponics supplier in your area - talk with the people there and ask them if they have any free magazines/catalogues. I got started years ago - I sent out a blanket letter to about 75 suppliers and farms... and got about 50 catalogues/magazines/responses back. There's a ton of little tricks and hints out there :D