Cheap DIY fogger aeroponic system
15.9 years ago aeroponics, cheap, hydroponics, indoor growbox, indoor seed starting
In my post about basic the basics of hydroponics I mentioned the potential high cost of entry but with a little creativity this can be avoided. I went through this exercise and here is a pretty inexpensive way to try out hydroponics without having to spend hundreds on a prebuilt system. The solution I came up with cost me $1.00 to setup though I did have many of the items on hand, if I had to purchase everything cost would be in the $10-15 range.
Supplies
- Small shoebox sized plastic tub /w lid — (I purchased a clear generic one from Home Depot for $1.00)
- 2 inch hole saw and drill
- 6 — Empty Trix yogurt cups (can be any brand as long top is approx 2 in diameter)
- Duct tape (no one should be without this)
- Pond fogger – single disc (can be found on eBay for less than $10, I had one from humidifier)
- Perlite
- Water (tap water is fine, fancy bottles work as well)
Assembly
From looking at the supplies this might be able to guess the construction steps, but I will list them out anyway.
- Take lid and add drill six 2-inch holes using hole saw. If the tub is not made of rubbery material be sure to take your time to slowly create the holes to prevent cracking/shattering. You can also do this with a utility knife but for non-rubber lids I highly suggest against it if you like your fingers.
- Test fit your cups and ensure they fit snuggly, if they do not quite fit you can use some sandpaper to expand the holes slightly
- Remove cups and cut (utility knife) or burn (soldering iron) 1/4 in lines in a pattern similar to the
figure to the right to ensure extra support and prevent the medium (perlite) from falling through. WARNING: Burning plastic emits toxic fumes and should be done (if at all in a well ventilated area) Knifes are sharp and can cut fingers so if you not careful. I would recommend buying 2 inch hydroponic net pots which can be purchased for about $0.25 each online, which I would have done if I wasn’t so impatient. - Given that nutrients+water+light=algae, be sure that your box is as light tight as possible. If you container is not clear like mine you should be in good shape, otherwise cover your box with duct tape or spray paint the box using plastic adhering paint. I would recommend keeping a small vertical line exposed so you can get a quick look at water condition and level without having to disturbing the plants.
- Fill cups with perlite 4/5 full (some expansion may occur)
- Pour water into cups until reservoir is full
- Dump water out water
- Repeat steps 4-6 until water appears clear
- Cut small hole in the corner of the lid and feed power line to fogger through
- Put fogger in tub and fill with water until it is about 1/2 inch above fogger
- Replace lid and plug in fogger and enjoy the mysterious fog
What can I grow with this?
The short answer is anything. Self regulation wicking properties of perlite it should keep most plants happy for some time. The major limitation you may see is some types of plants will outgrow this setup and will require transplant outside in soil or in a larger hydroponic setup (coming soon). Though with careful selection of plants and frequent harvesting you can grow many plants to maturity in this small system. It did not occur to me until after I completed the project but the size and spacing is pretty close to that of an AeroGarden so plants like greens, herbs, strawberries, cherry tomatoes, peppers would do well in this system. For starting plants you can simply drop a few seeds, cover with some perlite and a clear plastic container (I used empty applesauce cups, but bottom of water bottles also would work well) You may also add seedlings by carefully placing in them in the damp perlite.
What about nutrients?
Keeping the project cheap I opted to use some balanced liquid plant fertilizer I use for my seedling/indoor plants. I mixed it at the recommendation it stated for indoor watering (2 pumps per gallon) I noticed it did not contain any Magnesium I also added a half a teaspoon of Epsom salt. After a couple weeks empty contents and replace with water let run for about an hour to allow sediments to clear up and then empty contents. This is good for your plants but also can help keep the disc on your fogger clean. Refill with water and nutrient mix and repeat. This will work for most plants in vegetative state of growth though if you want your plants to move to a flowering state (peppers, tomatoes, etc) I would recommend purchasing specific hydroponic solution for flowering plants.
For a very small investment you can have your own hydroponic system and experience the benefits of growing without soil.
Tags: cheap, garden seeds, herb garden, outdoor plants, pepper plants, strawberry plants, tomato plants, vegetables
$3 LED light bulbs coming soon…
Researchers at Cambridge University have come up with a method to significantly reduce the cost of creating LED light bulbs. LEDs use gallium nitride and requires being grown on sapphire wafers. The new technique allows growth on silicon wafer reducing the cost significantly from $28 to $3 per bulb. The big news for the bulbs is they use 12 times less energy that incandescent bulbs, last for 60 years, and they are far enough in their research that they could come to market in just a two years. Just imagine, in just a couple years you could be buying your last light bulb(s) of your life, unless you physically break them of course.
This this so exciting for indoor growing, my cheap LED grow box works great for the small space for seedlings. When I start thinking of expanding my growing area, the current LED prices make the start-up cost to illuminate a large space is considerable. Because of this I am forced to resort to CFLs as the more economical solution. With these innovations we could definately see indoor gardening much more accessible to a greater audience with this financial barrier lifted. via Gizmodo
Tags: cheap, garden seeds, growbox, led, vegetables
Gardening products I would buy if I wasn’t so cheap
15.9 years ago cheap, compost, germination, indoor seed starting, tomato
Today I got my Gardener’s Supply Companycatalog, this particular catalog is dedicated to items to assist you with your gardening habit. You should be able to guess from this site I do my best to resist buying anything for the garden I absolutely need, otherwise I make a cheaper alternative. Well the point of this post is to show what I would like to get if I wasn’t as disciplined.
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They sell these Accelerated Propagation System (APS) seed starting kits which have all the basics you expect from a seed starting kits you would find at your local garden store. They include 6 to 40 cells to plant seedlings and a clear plastic dome to help raise the humidity to provide extra moisture for the tender seedlings. The bonus in this setup is it also contains a reservoir which holds enough water to keep them moist for up to a week. With the help of an elevated platform and capillary matting provides just the right amount of water to your plants. At just $19.95 for the 40 and 24 cells sizes this is one purchase I am still considering, since I never have finished my automatic watering system on my computerized grow box and this makes much better use of space than my plastic tub, newspaper pots, and daily watering method I am doing now. |
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Eco-Friendly Cowpots basically planting pots made as a byproduct of processing cow poo. The poo is dried, composted and mixed with natural fibers creating a completely biodegradable pot which holds up well during growth and transplanting but biodegrades in the soil after several weeks. I watched an episode of Dirty Jobs which went through the whole process and it was very interesting and environmentally conscience but, unfortunately due to the price tag (about $1 a pot) these are a little over my budget since my newspaper pots are free. |
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Gardener’s Revolution Planter – You have probably seen something similar advertised between gardening shows on HGTV (Topsy Turvy) , I know my daughter has and has been talking about growing tomatoes upside down for some time now. She even on her own came up with a ingenious design to do this (not 5 gallon bucket) which I will write-up when we get around to that project. In case you were wondering the improvement this year (or compared to the TV advertisement) it is the addition of a 1 gallon water reservoir which slowly releases water to the plant as neededSelf watering must be a big seller this year since there are also many other variances of self watering pots in many shapes and sizes with designs similar to the original (to my knowledge) the EarthBox. |
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Now definitely in the gadget department the Push-Button Kitchen Scrap Composter can take your everyday kitchen scraps and turn them into compost in less than 11 days. The concept on this one is pretty simple:Food + Heat + Spinning = Compost
Of course it crossed my mind of creating something similar myself, but probably would end up burning down the house or if I was lucky just launch partially composted food across the living room at 50 miles per hour. Given the $299 price tag seems like I will be stuck to waiting 3-6 months for my compost to be created. Though it would be much more convenient than walking through the snow to add kitchen scraps to the compost. |
Tags: cheap, compost, garden seeds, growbox, led, outdoor plants, tomato plants, vegetables
Why should you have a grow box?
15.9 years ago indoor growbox, indoor seed starting, LEDs, seeds
Other than the “Do you really just grow ‘strawberries’ in your grow box?” question. The most common question I have gotten is why exactly do I have a grow box. Hopefully I will be able to answer this question below, as for the first question the answer is yes (without the fingerquotes)
Necessity: I am cheap and don’t want to buy all my plants from local nursery or garden center, but do not have a good location inside my house to grow seedlings with a normal table/shelf light setup. I definitely do not have the space to setup a greenhouse in the backyard. This unfortunately forces me to do my growing in my cold windowless garage. Using a grow box allows me to maintain a safe temperature for my plants no matter what the conditions are outside.
Control: I have nearly complete control of the conditions inside the grow box. I can provide my plants with the perfect temperature, humidity, lights (intensity and wavelength as well as day/night simulation) and even can simulate a slight breeze using a small fan if desired. This gives me many advantages which I would not have even if I could grow indoors. One example of this is growing peppers, which can be fairly difficult in our climate but with some modifications settings in the grow box can create the perfect conditions for it.
Saving Money: Given my options such as the $20 PC Grow Box and my $6 Christmas Light LED Grow Box the cost of entry is pretty low. You do have the expense of lighting the thing but given the 48 watts required for the PC Grow Box and 10 watts of the Christmas Light LED Grow Box even those maintenance costs are reasonable.
Portability: All three of my grow boxes (PC Grow Box, LED Grow Box, Computerized Grow Box) all have a single plug that goes into the outlet and can literally be picked up and moved to another location if needed (try doing that with your greenhouse)
Scalability: Need more space in your grow box? As little as $6 can get you a new one, or $10 worth of lumber can double the size of your existing one (assuming your old lighting can support the space) You are limited to what your creativity can imagine.
Fun: Call me crazy, but I like the idea of tricking my strawberries that it is a nice spring day and get them to start blooming and producing fruit. If all goes well I can move the plants outside during the real spring and get even more harvest while freeing up some space for more plants.
Tags: cheap, garden seeds, grow lights, growbox, led, outdoor plants, pepper plants, strawberry plants, vegetables
Cheap Vegetable Seeds
15.9 years ago cheap, coupon codes, free, seed saving, seeds
Looking at my web logs I have seen the query for “cheap vegetable seeds” a few times so figured would be good to help people find what they are looking for. Being The Cheap Vegetable Gardener, I can do better than “Cheap vegetable seeds” how about some “free vegetable seeds” as well.
Cheap Vegetable Seeds
- Buy online — You can find a much greater selection and some great prices compared to your local home and garden center. For example right now:
- One of my favorites is Burpee Seeds, they have been around since 1876 and definitely know their stuff. The actually have a seed sale going on now where you get $15 off on order of $75 (just use code AFFB4A35) expires on 1/15
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- The name is not too exciting but Generic Seeds
offers no thrills packaging with quality seeds and very reasonable prices and if you spend $20 or more shipping is on them.
- One of my favorites is Burpee Seeds, they have been around since 1876 and definitely know their stuff. The actually have a seed sale going on now where you get $15 off on order of $75 (just use code AFFB4A35) expires on 1/15
Free Vegetable Seeds (pretty much)
- Ask your neighbors — Notice your neighbor is a gardener, check if they want to go in on a seed order and share unless you really need 200 carrots this year.
- Harvest your own seeds — If your plants bolt to seed early this year, don’t pull them out let them create some seeds for next season. Notice your neighbor has some seeding plants, ask if you can get some (important part is to ask though)
- Get seeds from the grocery store — Before putting those vegetables in the compost bin, set the seeds aside to let them dry and you got some free seeds. Though a word of warning many vegetables are hybrids and may be infertile or not produce the same quality of product but hey its free.
- Check your spice rack — Many cases you can plant seeds from your spice rack. Some ideas, mustard seed, dill seed, coriander, poppy seed, celery seed. If your spice rack is lacking you can pay a few cents buy a teaspoon of organic spices in bulk, last time I bought dill seeds got about 100 seeds for $0.05.
- Seed swap web sites — Below I have listed a few links where you can share seeds with others. This is a great way to find some heirloom seeds you might not be able to find in stores/seed catalogs. In many cases people will offer seeds for free by just sending a SASE (Self Addressed Stamped Envelope) Just remember to pay it forward when you come into a plethora of seeds yourself.
Tags: cheap, compost, garden seeds, organic vegetables, outdoor plants, vegetables
Using WonderSoil for seed starting
16 years ago cucumbers, fertilizer, indoor seed starting, vermicomposting, wondersoil
I had great results using coconut coir last growing season it was great to work with, retained water great for young seedlings, and was economically priced. The only challenge was actually finding some to use this year. No luck in local stores, last year I only could find a single block in one hardware store. Online there are plenty of locations that sell them, but unless you have a need for a couple metric tons, the cost of shipping can be more than the the product itself.
Finally, I found a solution to my problem WonderSoil
- Shake, Water, and Plant — 1/2 inch mini wafers that can be added to any of your pots. In my case I underestimated the expansion of these little things and made a little mess and it overflowed on my table (apparently 3 was the magic number not 4)
- The Tube — There are larger wafers made specifically for 4 inch pots, in my case this would be newspaper pots
- Reground Wafers — This is basically a loose version available in 2 or 5 lb bags. This is a more economical option which I will plan on using when doing larger seed trays.
For Christmas I got indoor seed starting kit which came with pots/seeds/peat pellets. I decided this would be a great opportunity to do a little side by side comparison. From the start I was WonderSoil seemed like the obvious winner. After adding a little water, it fully expanded in just a few seconds and was fluffy and ready for me to drop a seed in, the peat was a swampy mess.
Peat pellets Left, WonderSoil Right
After a few minutes and fluffing with a fork the peat was ready to planting. I put cucumber seeds in both peat and WonderSoil pots and I will provide some updates on how things progress on my little experiment.
After the WonderSoil had some time to settle in my cheap LED grow box I did see some strange formations appear in the soil.
I little concerned I went back to their product and I believe this is their “water saving polymers” in action which I would assume is some sort of gel crystal which is supposed to save up to 50% water. They also boast about use of worm castings which I am definitely a fan of as well as addition of a balance of various micronutrients.
I will have to wait and see if the product produces as well as it claims, but I must say I am definitely impressed at this point and have high hopes for WonderSoil for this years seedlings.
UPDATES:
Christmas light LED grow box – Update #1 (WonderSoil)
Tags: cheap, compost, garden seeds, growbox, led, outdoor plants, vegetables, worms
