Hydroponics Reader Brandon Koots is a 15-year-old student from Curacao who's been growing his own food for over 4 years. He runs a site where he talks about hydroponics and gardening, and he shared some great tips on starting a simple hydroponics system, called a "raft system." Build a simple raft system in just a few minutes Hydroponics is an easy way to grow your own food. A raft system is a hydroponics system where the plants grow in a medium and their roots hang in the water. In a hydroponic system you can plant more food than in the same area of soil. Materials: a knife or drilla plastic bin (size doesn’t matter)some plastic cupsa markera ruleran oxygen pump - choose one that comes with an airstone Here are the steps: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. You can also use your raft system as an aquaponic system The only extra supplies you'll need are fish and fish food. reduces work that has to be done in a gardenhelps you to save more waterrequires less space. Extra tips:
Aquaponics Aquaponics is a combination of aquaculture and hydroponics-- cultivating both plants and fish by taking advantage of their natural cycles. In aquaponics,fish produce waste and the fishy waste-water from the tank is pumped to the grow beds where plants are grown hydroponically (without soil). The plants absorb the nutrients they need from the fishy waste-water while their roots filter the water --stripping it from ammonia, nitrates, nitrites and phosphorus, which is deadly for the fish.Then, the clean water is pumped back into the fish tank, and the fish dirty it up again with their waste. This cycle continues indefinitely. Aquaponics is environmentally friendly. Creative Container Gardens: Free PDF To make all of these Instructables, download this collection of How To’s as an ebook. Download » Whether you feel constrained by space or are just looking for new ways to display your garden, "Creative Container Gardens" is for you! You'll find unique ways to display your plants using everything from bottles, to walls, to imaginatively re-purposed household objects. All projects come from Instructables.com, are written by our creative community, and contain pictures for each step so you can easily make these yourself. Instructables is the most popular project-sharing community on the Internet.
Hydroponic Drip Garden DIY Here are the items you will need:1 - 27 gallon heavy duty plastic storage box with recessed plastic lid10' of 1/2" PVC pipe5 - 90 deg PVC elbows3 - PVC T connectors1 - 3/4" to 1/2" PVC reducer1 - 3/4" PCV pipe to 3/4" Male Thread connector4 - 1/2" PVC J-Hook Hangers1 - Male Quick Disconnect to male 3/4" hose thread1 - Female Quick Disconnect to female 3/4" hose thread1 - 1/2" hose barb to female 3/4" hose thread 1 - rubber washer with filter screen3' of 1/2" flexible rubber hose1 - Active Aqua PU160 water pump12' 1/4' O.D. drip line hose12 - Drip stakes or drip nozzles with tie down stakes12 - Square Plastic pots sized to fit 3 across top of tote lid1 - 24 Hr timer with 15 minute on/off timing intervals The first 11 items on the list were all purchased from Home Depot and can be picked up at most hardware stores. The remaining item were purchased from a local hydroponics store in Billerica MA [www.greenlifegardensupply.com].
Building an Aquaponic System To build this system you will need to construct two grow beds, two fish-food growing tanks, a fish tank, as well as a stand to elevate the fish food tanks. To build the grow beds you will need: 5 8' 2x4s 1 4'x8' sheet of 1/2'' plywood 4 8' 4''x4'' posts 8 3/8'' carriage bolts with washers and nuts 555' sq. of pond liner 2'' deck screws small grade pea gravel 2' permeable bags (coconut fiber bags and vermiculite) To build the fish tank and fish-food tanks you will need: 2 55 gallon drums (plastic) 1 little giant 200gph submersible pump 2' sq. of metal mesh filter 8' of 3/4'' flex hose small grade pea gravel 1 1'' 8' PVC pipe 6 PVC fittings 2 90 deg. PVC fittings 1 'T' PVC fitting To build the stand you will need: Scrap steel (we used 3'' steel pipe) Welder Grinder Spray paint
Seed Saving Guide: The Seed Ambassadors Project Some wonderful person has compiled lots of seed saving resources into one place, including a slideshow version of our ‘zine: A Guide to Seed Saving, Seed Stewardship and Seed Sovereignty. Check them all out out at Here is the 4th edition of our Seed Ambassadors Project Seed Saving Guide. “A Guide to Seed Saving, Seed Stewardship & Seed Sovereignty” Seed Saving Zine 4 hand out (3.8 MB PDF) This hanout formated version is your best choice for printing and reading if you do not have one of those fancy zine staplers. Seed Saving Zine 4 duplex (3.5 MB PDF) This zine formated version is for printing in a duplex printer and folding into a Zine. If you would rather us send you a copy that we have printed, please send us $4 to cover printing costs and to help support the Seed Ambassadorts Project. Enjoy your seed saving adventures
Solar Powered Vertical Aquaponics System SOLAR POWERED VERTICAL AQUAPONICS SYSTEM: This is an original design I made to maximize the yield of a 12′x12′ foot space and use gravity to minimize the energy used for irrigation and nutrient delivery. The system is a vertical spiral aquaponics growing system powered by a single 250 watt solar panel and a small DC water pump/filter system. A single DC pump makes the whole thing work. The tower is 15′ tall at the top of the solar panel and approximately 13′ at the top spiral. The water from the tank is pumped up through a small PVC pipe to flow slowly down through the plant crops growing in the spiral growing tray. Upon harvest, water flow is increased, the harvest gate at the bottom end of the spiral is removed and the crops flow down the spiral making harvesting easy. The growing bed tray is approximately 360′ feet long by 3 feet wide, creating a grow area of approx. 1080 square feet. Cost to build this system is about $5k including tank, materials, pipe, pump, and solar power system.
Construct A Greenhouse. Science by Design Series., 2000-Mar This book is one of four books in the Science-by-Design Series created by TERC and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). This series presents directed instruction on how to successfully formulate and carry out product design. Students learn and apply concepts in science and technology to design and build a pair of insulated gloves, a model boat, a greenhouse, and a catapult. This book engages high school students in a problem-solving challenge to design and build a physical system that provides an optimal environment for plant growth.
Growing With Hydroponics & Aquaponics 33 Tips: Lawn To Permaculture Food Forest: Booklet Waking Times Does the idea of getting fresh, nutritious food right out in front of you kitchen door sound like a good idea in these turbulent times? A growing movement to reclaim, restore, and re-localize our relationship to food is happening all around us, and you can participate by re-thinking what you do with the under-utilized space outside of your home. The manicured, grassed, perennially green American lawn is a symbol of a passing era when people had little understanding of how the developing industrialized food system could do them harm by overuse of pesticides, anti-biotics and herbicides, by depletion the soil, and by genetic modification of food crops. Rather than acquiescing to the health tyranny of modern food production, today’s forward-thinking citizens and rebels are re-developing the model for the American lawn, and bringing forth a new kind of revolution… an edible one. This article is offered under Creative Commons license.
Understanding Hydroponics This instructable will explain household hydroponics, with the intention of growing edible flora. In layman's terms, hydroponics is the science of growing plants without soil-- although the plants may or may not be suspended in a solid medium such as gravel, or expanded clay balls. Soil retains minerals and nutrients, which "feed" flora, as we all know. Why eliminate the soil? Growing your own food can be a rewarding experience. That being said, there may be more efficient systems out there for the home grower. Gardening Downloads: TheLostSeed.com Sow When Chart A simple chart to be used as a guide as to which vegetables, herbs etc to plant throughout the year in your particular area. Please note that chart is to be used as a guide only & will vary depending on your local area. (.pdf file) Guide to Selecting TomatoesA simple chart to be used as a guide to selecting tomatoes, according to size, shape, colour, early varieties & unusual characteristics. (.pdf file) Order FormTo place an order you can do so either via our website, or if you prefer to fax or post your order to us, you can either print out your shopping cart, or use the Order Form below. (.pdf file) Wholesale Seed Packet Re-Order FormTo place a wholesale order (approved retail outlets only) you can do so either via our website by placing your order, then entering the coupon code 'WHOLESALE' to apply wholesale pricing, or if you prefer simply print out the form below (.pdf file) & fax to us 02 6493 0286
How to Build a Homemade Hydroponics System: 17 steps Different plants prefer different concentration of nutrients. Growing different plants with similar requirements will help ensure the best growth. The concentration of nutrients is measured as Conductivity Factor (CF). Beans - CF 18-25Beetroot - CF 18-22Broccoli - CF 18-24Brussels Sprouts - CF 18-24Cabbages - CF 18-24Capsicum - CF 20-27Carrots - CF 17-22Cauliflower - CF 18-24Celery - CF 18-24Cucumbers - CF 16-20Leeks - CF 16-20Lettuce - CF 8-12Marrows - CF 10-20Onions - CF 18-22Peas - CF 14-18Potatoes - CF 16-24Pumpkin - CF 18-24Radish - CF 16-22Spinach - CF 18-23Silverbeet - CF 18-24Sweetcorn - CF 16-22Tomatoes - CF 22-28