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#1
10-17-2009, 02:45 AM
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Second system
This is the second of the four new systems that I have planed. I built this one for tomatoes. I thought that the bottle design that I had for my peppers would do nicely except that the bottles would be too small for the root system for large tomato plants. So I made some larger (4 liter) containers. I hope these will be large enough, but will see.
I had to modify the containers because I didn't think that the plastic they were made of would support the plants weight at the bottoms. I cut some plastic disks from an storage tote that I already had and glued it to the bottoms of the new bottles using Liquid Nails. It took much longer than I anticipated to harden (I probably used the wrong kind). I then cut a hole in the center and inserted top and bottom P.V.C. connectors in the hole and tightened them down. make note of the bottom piece of the connector that threads into the top piece. In the picture you see threads to thread into another piece but should simply slip onto the P.V.C. tubing (I took the wrong picture). Then glued the connectors in place with polyurethane glue that is designed to bond with plastic to make it strong and waterproof. I just made the base of the system using P.V.C., cutting it to the size I wanted dry fitting it all together and marking the connections with a marker. Then just gluing it all together with P.V.C. primer and glue, making sure to line up the marks so it would be straight. I didn't glue the containers to the P.V.C. tubing because I wanted to be able to disconnect them from the bottom part of the system for cleaning, trimming roots back or if any other problems would arise. To keep the growing medium inside the containers and not going down the P.V.C., tubing I found an $2 heater filter (pictured) that I just cut the screening out of and lined the bottom of the containers with. Placed a few cleaned and sterilized rocks in top of it to keep it in place. Then just filled with growing medium and plants. Oh also the nutrient reservoir I found at Walmart for $3.50, it is a simple 18 gallon storage container. I painted it black to block light to keep algae growth down and white to reflect light and Keep nutrient temp down, I also painted the containers the same way. I will be warping the P.V.C. with pipe insulation so that will light proof that part also as well as keep it from getting to hot or cold. The return line back to the reservoir is not glued because I want to be able to adjust the water level by changing the height of the tube. It is also important to remember to drill a small hole in the top of the return tube to prevent air bubbles from letting it function properly. The plants are spaces 3 feet apart because tomato plants can get quite large. Parts list: containers (I found at the dollar store) $2.09 x4 $8.18 P.V.C. tubing $1.57 x2 $3.14 ten pack of P.V.C. "T" connectors $3 ten pack of P.V.C. "elbow" connectors $3 Liquid nails $1.74 polyurethane glue $4 P.V.C. primer and glue $5 storage container for reservoir $3.50 paint, 2 black and 2 white $. 99 x4 $4 Total about $36 I already had the connector to connect the PVC to the vinyl tubing but that is only about $.50, I also already had the pump but would be about $30. 
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#2
10-19-2009, 01:58 AM
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How is that system for left to right strength on the joins at the bottom of each pot? From the photo it looks like there is a lot of weight and a pretty big lever all on that central pipe. When those tomatoes get big and say fall to one side in a strong wind will the pipe be able to handle the force?
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#3
10-19-2009, 03:30 AM
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Quote:
I cant say that the growing containers are perfect but I am sure that they will survive. I know that in the pictures they look like they are falling over, this is because there was no way of making sure they would be level in the completed system before I connected them. The holes unfortunately were slightly off center from the connectors, so when I tightened them down the glue was set and couldn't be redone. As the plant grows there will be added weight, but I will be supporting the plants weight with a trellis that is not shown in these pictures because it is not built yet. It will be made from P.V.C. tubing that forms a box around the system that all the growing vines will be tied to, supporting the plant. I know from experience that a tomato plants will grow as high as it can climb. In Calif I had plants growing on a similar system that I am going to build for this one that was 8 ft tall (made from wood). Tomato plants will grow 3 ft taller than what is supporting it before starting to bend over and falling down. They were just about as tall as the garage roof, and I have no doubt they would have been higher if I built the trellis taller. In general they will grow about 3 feet taller than the trellis that supports it. My biggest concern is they may not have enough root space for the plants. If not next time I will use 5 gallon buckets and a drip system for the added root space. I didn't glue the growing containers to the base system so I can always reuse the base and make new growing containers to connect to it in the future if need be. I have plans for a similar growing container but didn't think it would be large enough for these roots. My plants are spaced 3 feet apart, the P.V.C. trellis will be about a ten foot square box around them, eight feet high. I will need 17 pices of 10 foot 1/2in tubing two ten packs each of "T's" and elbow connectors. This will run about $30. I wont glue them, so I can take it apart and use it for other things in the future. I will run string or whatever between all these P.V.C. tubes for to support the plants. In short, the weight of the tomatoes and vegetation will be supported by the trellis and not the system.
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#5
10-20-2009, 01:39 AM
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#6
11-03-2009, 03:09 AM
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Well I have made some changes to this tomato plant system. While I was at the hardware store I was talking to someone there that informed me that even though the polyurethane/epoxy glue was superposed to bond to plastic, the type of plastic I was using probably will not bond well. Apparently the Tupperware plastic containers have a stain resister in it that resists stains and makes it hard for the glue to bond well. I decided it would be wise to rebuild the containers now while the plants are small rather than doing it when they were too big to do much about it.
I decided to go with 2 gallon paint buckets, they are twice the size in volume as what I had before. Because these buckets would be too big to be supported completely by the P.V.C tubing I placed bricks underneath them. The bricks support the weight of the buckets and keep them from toppling. The P.V.C. tubing is suspended in the air because it is connected to the buckets. I am glad to have the extra root space because that was/is my biggest concern. The old containers were just over 4 litters (about 1 gallon) the new buckets are 2 gallons. Because the buckets are made of a thicker plastic than the Tupperware containers there was no need to reinforce the bottoms. I did make some spacers so the connectors will have a solid connection. I used 100% silicone to seal it all up with. I cut the tops off the P.V.C. connector that are inside the buckets (see pictures). This way when the water drains back, it drains as much out of the buckets as it can. I don't think that I mentioned that when I first posted this thread. I got the buckets for $2.34 each, and about $6 for the 100% silicone. I made the spacers from spare plastic that was lying around. Then painted the buckets black to light proof them, then white again. So it cost me about $20 redo all 4. I would of liked to have started with these buckets in the first place because they were larger, but I didn't want them to wobble and break the tubing. I don't know why I hadn't thought of using the bricks to support there weight before, but live and learn I guess. Also, I finally got around to building the trellis that will support the tomatoes and vines. It's not completely finished but I think it gives you an idea what I have in mind. I need 3 more 10 foot pices of tubing. I will cut one in half then connect the haves to the other two to make 2, 15 foot pices. Then conect them kitty corner to sturdy up the whole thing. The structure is 9ft square and 8ft tall, this is slightly smaller than I originally planed but think it will do nicely. You can see the green stretch tape strung across the tubing. This will be strung all around the structure to tie the vines and tomatoes to as well as provide additional support to the whole structure.
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