Simple DIY Hydroponics Net Pot/basket From Recycled Bottles

Quick, simple, easy and cost effective way to make your own net pot/basket for your hydroponics garden out of used/recycled plastic bottles and nylon mesh shower sponges. Unlike typical net pots/baskets, the opening is typically smaller, so the water evaporation is reduced. The design is also more flexible for different sized of holes to suspend these nylon net pots.

Step 1: Material and Tools

Materials and tools:

Materials:
1. A recycled plastic bottle, one with a plastic hoop around the neck like most soda bottles.
2. A nylon mesh. You can find it as packaging materials. Here I use a cheap nylon mesh showering sponge I got from Walgreens. 3 for $2.

Tools:
A scissor.

Step 2: Cut the Mesh

Cut the tie that holds the nylon shower sponge together, and you should get a long nylon mesh tube.

Step 3: Tie One End of the Nylon Mesh Tube

Cut out a section of the nylon mesh tube. Tie one end of the nylon mesh tube to close it. This will be the bottom of your basket.

Step 4: Take Off the Plastic Ring Around the Root of the Bottle Opening.

Take off the plastic ring around the base of the bottle opening. Be careful not to deform it because we'll put it back later.

Step 5: Cut Out Soda Bottle Top

Cut soda bottle top to obtain the threaded bottle opening.

Step 6: Insert Bottle Opening to the Nylon Mesh Tube

Insert bottle opening to the nylon mesh tube so that the open end of the nylon mesh tube wraps around the opening of the bottle opening. Point bottle opening into the inside of the mesh tube.

Carefully replace the bottle cap ring over the mesh. Be sure to not damage the mesh. The bottle cap ring should secure the mesh in place.

Step 7: Done!

And that's it! You are now ready to put in your seedlings, plants, growing medium. This setup can fit many different sized holes, as long as you keep enough bottle body to fit into the holes.

Comments

[ricsaidit]

To grow herbs for cooking , what growing medium works best?

[cfishy]

i used to grow a basil forest with these clay balls. worked great!

[mmabe]

Do you have a instruction on using a vase or other large container to also house a fish?

[cfishy]

No; I don't do aquaponics.

[ChristineB66]

I may have missed it in the previous posts, but what are the little balls

[RileyOutlaw]

how do i place the seeds in this net pot do i need a peat pellet to place the seed into?

[cfishy]

Yeah. or use a cutting. If you don't have them, you can always start the seeds in soil and wash them off to transplant to coarse medium when they have enough roots.

[wiley coyote]

Brilliant! I'm definitely going to use this idea somewhere. Who said this stuff needs to be expensive?

[cfishy]

Thanks! I wish there's a cheap way to do PH and EC metering... the meters are so expensive!

[wiley coyote]

There is.... don't. Spend no money on such things until you need them, I would say. From what I've read and experienced, it will be less trouble and cheaper to just change your nutrient solution often, which will be necessary after all the testing and tweaking anyway. Your plants, reservoir size and method will actually dictate this rate among other things. I'm trying to re-invent the wheel, however, so you may not want to listen to me.

[cfishy]

uh.. too late. I already spent a lot of money on a high end tester and now I can't afford the rest of the supplies... hence this instructable. I still don't have a good light source; my window gets about 5 hours of direct sunlight if lucky. I'm thinking maybe using aluminum foil to reflect sunlight back to my window but I'm afraid of uneven burn.

[EthanUlrich1992]

I fixed my lighting problem by piecing together a 2ft grow light setup. Costs $5 a year to run.

[wiley coyote]

I would take it back. I made the same mistake when I purchased my first aquarium, but found that the testing wasn't necessary IF I kept up on the water replacement/exchanges, but that's just me. There's a lot of good info out there for the DIYer, but you need look no further than this website to find what you need to do it for virtually NOTHING. Good luck. If you crinkle the foil, it will reduce the ability of the sheet to focus the light and therefore burn. I use aluminized mylar myself and get only morning sun and they........uhhh................don't die ............ uhhh ....... much.

[cfishy]

On that thought, I'm too lazy to change nutrients, so my objective for the growing chamber would be easy drainage. Do I need to change more often than every two weeks if i have a smaller nutrient reserve?

[wiley coyote]

Me to, which is why I'm reinventing the wheel. The nutrient reservoir MUST be easily accessible for drainage/fillage/anything else WITHOUT disturbing the plants. I've found the plants themselves to be the biggest pain once grown. Generally speaking, the smaller the reserve, the more often you'd have to top it up.

[vrkelley]

Wiley (or whoever wants to respond) I'm totally new to hydroponics and want to try lettuce/spinach. 1. How did you modify the pop bottle or Juice jug or whatever so that it's easy to drain the nutrient??? 2. Do you dump the nutrient on other plants or totally throw it away?

[fegundez1]

I have been having trouble with my hydro nutes because I needed a meter to find the E.C. Ahoy Ebay comes in I found a meter that does just what I want for under 20 bucks, of course you can spend as much as you want but I think the expensive ones are for commercial water systems and are sold to those of us who get suckered in by the high price means better BS. I have found though that using quality hydroponic nutrient and filtered water without chlorine etc added works well.

[nfarrow]

what is your growing medium?

[useful_things]

Hydroton

[gymnast]

Fired clay balls.