Latest Experiment

[txice]

The wife and I have seen many many variations of the "tube nft" type systems and decided to give our own a go. I didn't do any detailed catalog of the build itself, but attached is an overall shot of the finished product.

Pretty basic setup really. Tubes are raised at one end of course to allow the water to flow back to the reservoir. nutrient solution is (currently) fed through drip lines hanging over each net pot. I like the setup and layout of these systems and I like that the reservoir is easily accessible without needing to disturb the plants to do nutrient changes and/or testing.

The plants in the system so far are doing very well. In the long run I'm still somewhat concerned about root management in a system like this. I went with 6" sewer drain pipe rather than 4" pvc which I more commonly see thinking I'd have a little more room to play with. But even with the 6" pipe I can see root management possibly becoming an issue as the plants in the system mature.

[HydroACR]

nice setup, is the drip system and lights on a timer? after a while I can see all of the roots meshing together...

what are you growing?

[GpsFrontier]

I like it.

I went with 6" sewer drain pipe rather than 4" pvc which I more commonly see thinking I'd have a little more room to play with.

I'm wondering where you found the 6 inch sewer pipe and end caps? How much they cost, and if they come in other sizes. Maybe even as large as 2 feet wide for large vertical aeroponic systems. I have found the 6 inch P.V.C. tubing at a local pluming supply store for $1.78 a foot (that's just fine), although the end caps were $12 (not fine). Also does it glue together with P.V.C. glue or something different?

I have a design for building growing containers like the 2 litter bottles out of the 4 inch tubing and end caps. The 4 inch tubing is the same exact with as the 2 litter bottles, but would rather go with a 6 or 8 inch wide container for extra root space.

[txice]

Originally Posted by HydroACR

nice setup, is the drip system and lights on a timer? after a while I can see all of the roots meshing together...

what are you growing?

Yes they are on a timer. Lights are on a 16/8 cycle and the pump is currently running for 15 minutes once an hour.

In the system right now we've started some brocoli, iceberg lettuce, black seeded simpson lettuce from seeds in rockwool cubes that are now stuck into the pots with hydroton. We also have a few strawberry sprouts. The wife picked them up from Walmart of all places. There were several sickly looking sprouts stuffed in a plastic bag filled with dirt. Took them out and cleaned them off and put them in net pots. Not sure how they'll turn out, but since they've been in the system they do at least look better than they did when they came out of the bag...heh.

Originally Posted by GpsFrontier

I like it.
I'm wondering where you found the 6 inch sewer pipe and end caps? How much they cost, and if they come in other sizes. Maybe even as large as 2 feet wide for large vertical aeroponic systems. I have found the 6 inch P.V.C. tubing at a local pluming supply store for $1.78 a foot (that's just fine), although the end caps were $12 (not fine). Also does it glue together with P.V.C. glue or something different?

Got the pipe from a local hardware store called McCoys. I couldn't find anything bigger than the fairly standard 4" PVC at the big chain stores like Lowes or Home Depot here. If I'm remembering correctly the pipe itself was around $30 for a 10ft. piece give or take a dollar or two. The end caps were rather high. They were somewhere between $10-20 each. And yes, it glues together with PVC glue just fine. The pipe itself is actually just 6" PVC Type SDR sewer line. The pipes are made to fit into each other so one end has about a 6 inch section on it where the pipe flares out big enough for the end of another pipe to slip into it.

[GpsFrontier]

I couldn't find anything bigger than the fairly standard 4" PVC at the big chain stores like Lowes or Home Depot here. If I'm remembering correctly the pipe itself was around $30 for a 10ft. piece give or take a dollar or two.

Darn, that's even more expensive than what I found. 10 feet of the 6 inch P.V.C. tubing would be about $18, and the end caps are just about the same as what you found. For me the price of the end caps are the deal breaker. If I could only find end caps that will work and not break the bank.

The pipes are made to fit into each other so one end has about a 6 inch section on it where the pipe flares out big enough for the end of another pipe to slip into it.

Ya, the 4 inch tubing does the same thing, but it is easy to cut off the flared end to fit the end cap.

6 inch tubing
tubing $18
end caps $12x2= $24
Total= $42

4 inch tubing
tubing $8
end caps $2x2= $4
Total= $12

That's just too much of a difference in price for only 2 extra inches in diameter for me. The peas in the system that is using the 4 inch tubing have not had any root maintenance problems as of yet. Although the temperatures have been on the cold side until lately. Now that the root system and the plants themselves are starting to warm up they are starting to grow much better. I did expect a solid tube of roots before they are done, but I made a mistake in design when building. I knew the roots would completely fill the tube but I glued both ends of the tube with P.V.C. glue. I wont be able to get them off to clean out the roots after the plants are done. I should have glued one end with silicone instead. That way I would be able to get it off so I would be able to slide the roots out. Now I will need to cut one end off to do that, and get another end cap to seal it again.

[txice]

Quick update on this system. Plants are growing well. We've already fully harvested an entire salad bowl worth of lettuce from just one of the black seeded simpsons. The iceberg is getting really big as well....but it's not "balling up" like I thought it was supposed to. /shrug....maybe it's just not ready for that yet.

The little brocoli is getting quite big as well. Funny story with these guys actually. I was checking the nutrients one day and I happen to notice something hanging from the net pot the solution filters back through. Look a little closer....and long story short, it was roots from one of the brocoli plants. They had grown down the main tube, through the drain tubes, into the media filled net pot and were hanging about 4 inches out the bottom of the net pot inside the reservior.