My System
 

I built this outdoor aeroponic system using some ideas from a Youtube video. I'm using an 8ft 5X5 fencing post with 11 large 3 inch net pots. I'm growing 10 tomato plants along with 1 watermelon plant. Each plant is separated 8 1/2 inches. Inside I have a 1/2 inch PVC piping with360 degree micro sprayers. I have the sprayers set on a timer 15 on 15 off.

For the reservoir I'm using a cooler which holds 15 gallons of water and nutrients. The tomato plants are around 15 inches tall. I have to add around 1 - 2 gallons of water/nutrients per day depending on the heat. Soon I will have to buy a 150qt cooler when the tomato plants start to get bigger, live and learn right! So far the cooler has worked pretty well with keeping the water temps at a cool level. It has been in the mid 90's for the last 3 days so I add 4 bottles of frozen water around 10 AM and again around 8 PM and it keeps the water temps between 65 - 70 degrees. The plants are doing fine so far.

I will keep everyone up to date to see how this system works or fails.

I like the cooler and I was actually thinking of it how does it work? amazing it looks just like the one we were thinking off from menards.

Crad, I'll take some pics over the weekend of how I set up the cooler as a reservoir. It does keep the water cooler for a much longer period of time during those steaming hot days as long as you put in 4 frozen water bottles early and late in the day.

Did a reservoir change today and took some pictures.

In picture 1 I disconnect the water return(left) and the water pump(right) line from the top of the cooler. They remove very easily.


In picture 2 you are looking at the underside of the cooler top. The drain(left) and the water pump feed(right). I bought the grey connection from the electrical department at Lowes. They screw together making them a tight fit.


In picture 3 looking inside the reservoir you can see how the water pump connects to the lid of the cooler and the air line.


In picture 4 I carved out 2 sections so the water pump and air line fits flush and the lid closes snug.

When I buy a 150qt cooler I will set up everything the same.

I also hook up screens to the water pump lines along with the return lines. I clean them out when I do a reservoir change.

Will take more pictures as the tomato plants continue to grow.

The ice chest as a reservoir is a good idea, however unless you find some used ones at a garage sale or something, they aren't cheep. Especially the bigger they are. Because of the summer heat we have here, I came up with a design to build what I call a cooling box. Witch is really nothing more than a big custom made ice chest. My original concept was for it to house two 32 gallon trash cans as reservoirs (inside the cooling box). But the idea is easily customized to anything you want. You can use it with the water directly in it, with or without the bottom drain, and even make it any size you want. I even have plans to use the design as a large walk in refrigerator for harvested produce storage, and a small window AC unit for the cooling source. I also have plans to make some smaller ones for transporting produce to the farmers market. Cooling them either with dry ice, or a thermoelectric heat sinks, like they use in the coolers that plug into your cars cigarette lighter.

Anyhow I posted pictures of the cooling box I had in mind. The one in the drawings was designed to easily hold two 32 gallon trash cans, and cost of materials I estimated to be around $80. OSB board generally runs about $8 a sheet (4x8), and the 2 inch thick Styrofoam runs a little under $20 a sheet here (4x8). The side support 1x2's run about $0.94 for a 8 foot piece. You can even use 2x3's that run $1.84 here. I have the whole design and building instructions in a PDF file, but I cant post PDF's in this forum. My design also calls for using foamboard adhesive to glue the Styrofoam to the OSB, and water proofing the seams using foamboard adhesive and silicone. Water proofing the flat inside surface can be done using many different materials, but I like rolled vinyl sheeting the best so far (price wise) anyway.

GpsFrontier, that is just an amazing idea.:cool: I might have to check out the local Lowes and see if they have all the materials needed if I can't find a used cooler or 1 that someone has thrown out in the next week or 2. I now have to add between 2 -3 gallons of water to my reservoir per day as the plants are really starting to take off. At this rate I will have to refill the reservoir daily in another month so it's either build or find.

my are drinking 4 gals a day right now.

Your Lowe's should have everything, ours does. Well with exception of the rolled vinyl sheets. I can get that at ACE hardware, they sell it in 3 different thicknesses, cut to order (and sold by the yard). But again here many materials can be used, as long as it's water proof, flat, and can be glued to the Styrofoam. They also sell at Lowe's and Home Depot rolls of the 6ml thick plastic (both clear and black). It's similar to a plastic drop cloth but much thicker, and sold in larger rolls. I believe it will be in the home insulation department. I plan to use the 100 foot by 20 foot clear 6ml roll as a covering for a planed greenhouse. However I would use the black for inside a cooling box, it wont show stains and glue spots through it.

Another perfect material for this is called FST or FDS board (I think). It's what they use as shower walls (even commercial kitchen walls, inside walk in refrigerators etc.), and it's very durable and easy to clean. But it isn't cheep, runs about $30 to $35 for a 4x8 sheet. Another almost as durable but less expensive option is using a pond liner. It's a very thick black plastic sheet that's very durable, and comes in various sizes. It's usually found in the nursery department, and is the base for man made ponds and waterfalls in peoples backyards. They dig the hole, then spread and form the liner to the whole size.

The 2 inch Styrofoam sheets will be in the home insulation section at Lowe's, Home Depot etc.. Also I forgot I had the picture of the foamboard adhesive, that should be with all the other adhesives like liquid nails. But some of the solvents in those will dissolve Styrofoam, the foamboard adhesive is designed for gluing Styrofoam to wood frames, and other construction materials.

P.S.
Ya, it can be amazing how much water the plants drink, especially the bigger they get. We don't really get to see/measure that when growing in soil.

^^^Again thanks for all the suggestions and help.:cool:^^^
Now at least I have a few options. I will have to take a look at the local Lowes just to make sure I can get all the supplies if I'm unable to get a cheap 150qt cooler. My wife is going to kill me for taking up another hobby to go along with fishing and guitar playing.:D

added photos
 

Just an update my plants are growing incredibly fast and are looking healthy considering the extreme heat we had last week. I have lots of tomato's starting to form. I also have flowers on the lone watermelon plant. I started to tie up the tomato plants which are now 28 inches tall to a 1/4 inch line going from 1 end to the other. I'm still using the same cooler but again will have to go larger sooner or later. Here's some pictures.

Those tomato plants look real nice!!! Although they are very close together. Do you plan to prune them to just one or two mane stems?

Even though it looks like a bush all of the tomato's are being grown off the main stem. I pluck off the suckers every other day or when they pop up. The leaf branches are long and big. They are all about 8 1/2 inches apart from 1 another.

The tomato plants are now 35+ inches tall and the watermelon plant is just to long to measure. Lot's of tomato's on the plants and more flowers on top. I'm wondering if I'm going to have to take every other tomato plant out as the roots have gotten so big I can't even pull the pots out to check them. I can only hope they won't suffocate one another. I will build the same system with less tomato plants in each PVC fencing post. This 11 plant site will be used for strawberries next year. Here are the pictures.

It's OK if the root systems have grown large and together, that's normal. If I remember correctly your system is a flood and drain system. So unless the roots are growing into the feed or overflow lines, you shouldn't have any flooding/watering cycle issues. If they are, just clean them out. But if you try to pull some of the plants out of the tube now, you wont be able to without cutting the roots off. That will leave the plant's dead root mass in the tube. The dead and decaying root mass will feed pathogens and fungi that can cause root disease for the living plants.

GpsFrontier, again thanks for the help. I will leave the plants as they are. I'm using 360 degree sprayers to spray the roots. It's probably working more like a flood and drain now with the roots being so big and long. The water is draining perfectly just as it did when I started because of the type of drain I'm using. When I'm finished with this grow and am ready to take everything apart I will take more detailed pictures of everything I'm using.

Just an update on my plants. The tomato plants are 44+ inches tall and all look healthy. I have lots of big tomatoes on the lower end of the plants along with smaller ones starting to form higher up. The watermelons I had forming last week dried up and died but new ones have formed and are larger. Not sure why the others died. I now have to add 6 gallons of water per day. I'm keeping the water temps between 67 - 79 degrees by adding frozen bottles of ice into the reservoir on those hot days. Here are the pictures I took today.

Figured I would update you before we get slammed by Hurricane Irene today. Took these pictures yesterday during the calm before the storm. Not sure what will be left come Monday.

The tomato plants are now 5' 6" tall. The very large tomatoes on the bottom are just starting to ripen and change color. I had to tie them up as the stems were starting to split because of the weight. Still have lots more tomatoes growing mid plant and more ready to start on top. I now have 4 watermelons growing 2 are almost the size of footballs and 2 just larger than a baseball. The plant is stretching out all over the place. Still the plants are using approx 4 - 6 gallons per day depending on how hot it is.

The plants are looking great. I am guessing by your wording you are thinking they might not make it through the storm?

I hope the plants survive the storm and come out ok. I don't know if building a wind wall from some plywood would be feasible if you think it will be that damaging to the plants/system.

I was thinking about putting up plywood but then it might bring down my awning. Just going to have to ride it out and hope it won't damage the plants that much.

Good luck with the hurricane!!! Being I'm in AZ, I don't really keep up with what's happening on the east cost, but I have herd a few bits and pieces about it, and it sounds like it's going to be a big one.

I try not to pay attention what happens on the east coast and I live in FL :P I was lucky and didnt get any of the storm though.

I hope you fair well in the storm and don't have too much of it.

Good news, bad news, good news
 

The good news is the hurricane blew threw and ruffled up the plants pretty good but they all survived the blow. Some tomatoes fell off but still have plenty of them still on the plant.

The bad news the power also went out very early Sunday. When I came out later in the day I see all the plants are now bending over because they are starving for a drink. I rigged up my garden hose to the last highest plant (watermelon) and put on the hose at very low steady pressure. Every 4 hours I would pour in 3 gallons of the nutrient water from the reservoir and plug up the end and would let it sit in there for an hour, then unplug and drain, again put on the garden hose. The watermelon plant comes back to life and looks good but the tops of almost all of the tomato plants are dead. I will have to clip the tops off soon.

Good news the power came back on today. Dumped everything left in the reservoir filled it with water and nutrients and got it up and running again. Will wait till tomorrow to see how the plants react.

Lesson learned for next year I will have a gas generator to work the air/water pump and other appliances in and outside of the house if the electric ever goes out again.

Another option might be to set up a small solar cell with a battery and inverter. That will give you a little while on a small pump and air pump. You can also use it on a regular basis to save a few cents on your regular electricity bill, or just have the small solar set charge a few batteries for emergencies.

I think harbor freight has like 30 dollar 12V solar set every now and then. A couple of those should be able to run the airpump and water pump pretty much full time, so would be more than adiquate for emergencies with the system.

You can probably get that set up for less than the cost of a generator.

I am happy to hear that the plants faired well with little loss. With hope there is a sucker on the tomatoes you haven't plucked off yet :P That will buy you some more time.

Already have a solar charger for my trolling motor battery on my boat. I'm still leaning towards getting a power generator just so I can have other necessities in the house (refrig, hot water heater, AC, lights, washer, dryer, and maybe TV) working until the power comes back on.

Oh definitly if you are going to power more with it :P I was just thinking the hydroponics and ignored the existance of your house there lol..

I was considering making a windmill alternator to hook to my car (take the tire off and run it at low speed) I could probably make about 3-6kw without too much stress on the car and I get decent fuel efficiency. (250HP at ~24MPH@peak torque) It is a standard so I would have to hang out in the car to get it going, but it has cruise control so I would be able to walk away for a bit lol. Not a regular usage item, but it would definitly be a useful little tool to have for emergencies. and of course it could be adapted to fit what ever else I had I could make spin lol. A battery bay being another part of the system of course. It would be a great suppliment to a solar/wind system should you have low wind cloudy days.

Plucked off a dozen large tomatoes yesterday, cut up 2 of them to put on tacos. Going to make some chicken cutlets with homemade marinara sauce and a garden salad for tonight. All I can say is homegrown tomatoes taste great! Some had large cracks on top, not sure why that would happen so I just cut them out when I'm ready to use them.

The watermelons have slowed down a lot in growth not sure if this is normal. They aren't big enough to feed a family, they are basically large enough for 1 person to eat.

Here are some pictures I took before I plucked off the ripe tomatoes.

It's been a while since I posted last. I have trimmed all the plants down to where the last of the tomatoes are growing. I will break everything down by the end of this month and will take pictures of the inside workings.

I had plenty of fresh picked tomatoes last month, some were very big. Also had 3 watermelons that didn't grow any bigger than a basketball but were nice and sweet. Here are some pictures I took the last few days.