I just finished the first of four new systems. This one is a
drip system with 4 Broccoli plants. I got everything I needed from Lowe's hardware and Walmart, except the
pump (I already had) and the
growing medium.
5 gallon buckets $2.34 ea x4 $10
through holes (bulkhead fittings) $1.97 x4 $8
spray paint, 2 black and 2 white $.99 ea $4
1/2in vinyl tuning $9
one size larger than the 1/2in vinyl tuning, 2ft $2
storage container for reservoir from Walmart $3.50
furnace heater filter, to keep the growing medium from going down the through holes and clogging $2
Total $38.50
I will be changing the rings of clear tubing to black tubing shortly. I just used the clear for now because I will be building 3 more hydroponic systems and was not sure if I had enough black tubing for the others, so that is just temporary. It took a little thinking and adjusting to get them all to drain back to the reservoir properly but I finally figured it out. Two problems with that were the angle of the tubing needed to be a genital sloop back to the reservoir. The other was by just placing the ends of the tubing into the
nutrient solution some how caused air pockets in the lines, that caused it to stop flowing. I used some tubing connectors I had leftover to connect the ends to P.V.C. tubing then down into the top of the reservoir.
I will be growing a total of 7 plants in 4 different systems:
Broccoli
Tomatoes
Butter lettuce
Spinach
Peas
Snow peas
Green beans