Science fiction movies often depict the future of gardening. Whether on land or on a spacecraft, the hydroponic garden is full of leafy vegetables and brightly colored fruits. There is no soil, only clear water, implying the future-people have created a utopia of plant species that are not bound by the earth's roots.

If you give up polycarbonate tubes, neon lights and gardening robots, this star food production method is not fictional. In his entry for the 2020 Hackaday Awards, [AVR] shared how he used parts purchased from a nearby home furnishing store to create a bed for 16 plants. It may lack the visual effects of the Hollywood version, but it will grow soilless crops under the budget of hackers.

The starting point for this construction is a solid wooden base. The above PVC pipes and fences are very light, but the water inside will become heavier. If you grow large plants, they will become very heavy. Speaking of water, this subcategory of hydroponics is the nutrient membrane technology, or NFT, which uses a shallow stream of water filled with all the nutrients needed for plant growth. The square fence post provides a flat top for the installation of net cups for plant growth, and a flat bottom where water flows continuously. Pots and pumps keep the plants fresh and feeding until they are ready to be harvested.

I began to wonder why the SF program seems to have a serious shortage of strawberries, but no one seems to turn to hydroponic gardening to solve this problem. Maybe one of the unfinished Firefly episodes made Kylie try to fill her room with a tube filled with strawberry plants?

I can only hear the argument with Mal..."If you want to be a soil farmer, I can send you to a certain planet, and you will hear about making boats work instead of playing with plants... ...."

She can hire terrible space monkeys as a gardener.

The size of the pipe conveying the nutrient solution is too large. What you need is a trickle, not a gushing out.

Yes, but the roots of some varieties can quickly block small pipes. Adjustable depth sockets are ideal, not small pipes.

They are, but based on experience, it is easier to use the same diameter everywhere and fine-tune the flow rate through the valve.

I like this idea, but all PVC. Non-food grade PVC (as opposed to uPVC) may also contain BPA or other toxin additives. It seems that all this is PVC, cheap but healthy?

Wow, Debbie Downer (Debbie Downer) is so good :) However, this is a very effective point of view! I believe that toxic purple glue will not help.

If planting weeds, it’s not a big deal, but it looks like the vegetables are growing, so safety should be considered. The reality is cruel, but we are a group of geeks, so the solution should be possible.

This is a good point, but I don’t think you need to worry about using PVC in this role, unless you deliberately purchase a really toxic PVC mixture...it is likely to immerse one or two poisons The water is absorbed by plants-but it is no different from the poison that farmers deliberately spray, the poison that seeps into the soil from the garbage dump, or the mineral water that we all breathe. We have been exposed to a lot of annoying things, because as long as you don't let yourself fall into very annoying things quickly, it is difficult to notice such changes.

I want to know how long it takes even the most toxic PVC to leave "no" annoying things in it under these conditions... I think it might be very fast, if you often change the water to "clean" The" water, the speed will be faster. Or if the plant will absorb a lot of it.

If you grow weed legally, the requirement is 10 times more stringent than any food grade or FDA approved method. Many people use cannabis for cooking, but inhaling any type of chemical is more dangerous, especially if it is consumed by burning, then 100% cannabis cannot be used. Obviously you don't smoke or take medicine. This is a cool concept, but in the end it is. They use safe pvc materials to sell this device on eBay for about $200, about ten years. Why waste time building it and materials. Some people have too much time on their hands.

All of these are very good points, and even Wal-Mart sells such (horizontal or vertical) kits.

Now please enter your basement or crawl space or practical area. See the purple primer for your drinking pipes and drinking water pvc pipe codes

It’s the same if you ever used a hose to water your garden

PVC used for waste water pipes, but copper or PEX is supplied here. Is there any place where ordinary PVC is used for water supply pipes?

Yes-the sprinklers used for lawn and garden irrigation are all PVC with normal glue or purple glue. In California, they still sell hot pvc glue and purple primer. I just bought some new sprinkler lines last week.

I remember Thailand: You will get beautiful sky blue PVC pipes, from 1/inch or less to 20 cm or more. The same materials are used for water supply and wastewater pipelines. Although I don’t know, how many people drink tap water anyway. But hard PVC is quite safe and stable.

The big difference between my water supply pipeline and the hydroponic system is that the hydroponic system is basically closed. The water and the toxins in it will not be washed away. They have two final destination factories, or they just keep on looping.

The water in the water supply pipe only flows from the well to the glass through the pipe. This is a smaller and shorter duration. Just understand why long-lived fish like tuna contains more mercury than short-lived fish like tilapia.

Hydroponic systems usually have one or two filters

PVC does not contain BPA, and hard PVC does not contain softeners that can ooze out. PVC pipes may be used for domestic water supply, so they should be food safe. To prevent glue residue, I will flush the system before the first use.

I read his BOM and some logs to identify the pipeline he is using. The exact version he purchased from Lowe's appears to have been superseded, but is described as "Schedule 40" and "NSF". Same as purple primer and cement. Some studies have shown that, at least in the United States, all such materials must be suitable for drinking water, and Lowes only has one material from Oatley. This is also true in the UK, because any household PVC pipe must be suitable for drinking water. This seems to have started more than 20 years ago, and it must be because plumbers used cheaper methods instead of reading instructions! If the manufacturer uses only one type of PVC to make pipes and fittings, it may also be to save costs.

So my understanding is that the PVS pipeline is not a problem. Whether the fence post is like this is another matter. I have not been able to find anything definite. Are there regulations regarding the penetration of plastics used in outdoor structures into the soil?

He also stated that this started as a test bed for the low-cost HydroPWNics project, but eventually became an independent project.

I have done quite a lot of fish and vegetable symbiosis in the past. What I am most worried about is the use of lead as a stabilizer in PVC pipes. At least in the United States, this type of PVC is usually only made of DWV (drainage, waste, ventilation) pipes, rather than the hard white material in large local boxes. The problem is that really large DWV pipes are very attractive for use in vertical systems, and this is where you are having trouble. A more acidic nutrient solution can leach lead from these pipes.

From the picture above, I don’t worry about the pipes themselves, but the "PVC fence posts" used for NFT "beds"... they are not intended to be used to transport drinking water, let alone "guarantee food safety." However, to the manufacturer. A quick call/email should be able to solve this problem easily.

In fact, I used to build, sell, and populate a small plant ecosystem to start a business. There are many challenges. I go to GREAT LENGTHS to use all food grade materials. The problem is cost. Many people do not want to pay $600 for parts, labor, fillers, seeds, etc. Although this saves them money, it is healthier and tastes better.

However, the results are amazing. I put it on a wheel with a compost tube in the middle that allows worms to enter. This is a special filler that is very suitable for worm bedding and can feed more than 50 species in a space of less than 3 feet x 3 feet. The mycelium of the plant. It is far from the ground, so you never have to bend down to work, the water flowing from the bottom will be recycled back into the object. It is wind resistant. You can use it indoors or outdoors. The longer it is used, the better the soil. I also considered micronutrients and trace minerals. The whole thing is on wheels, which makes it easy to roll even in wet conditions. It mimics the natural groundwater level and allows the roots to reach a place with good drainage. I thought of everything literally and integrated it into an independent garden on wheels. It couldn't be easier. If you just grow leafy greens, you can really get endless salads from them. The best part is almost no weeding.

But good luck to the salesperson, because it is 100% food grade material, comes with a 1-year warranty, and the cost includes delivery and setup, etc., etc. They just don’t count the health benefits and the garbage in the grocery store, which contains pesticides and may contain drugs from "organic fertilizers". These drugs are actually made from human excrement and have not undergone any decomposition of these chemicals. deal with. (Watching gardeners buy the garbage with the "organic" label from the hypermarket all day long, but this is really just the garbage they take out from the sewage treatment plant)

There are so many challenges, because people just don’t realize how many aspects of real healthy food are. And I will never use pvc that is not suitable for fresh water, it will quickly decompose in the sun. HDPE may be the most stable we can use without too many problems, and considering that most people will be exposed to HDPE anyway, when your plants are exposed to a small amount of HDPE, it should not have any harmful effects.

The disadvantage of hydroponics is that they require too much investment, and you are actually trying to take over and complete the tasks that mycelium and healthy microbiota would do automatically. I understand the fascination with them, and I still think it's fun to try a few different types here and there. They are very interesting for indoor plants, such as a single plant vase for some spices or anything else. But when you want to feed yourself and don't want to put a lot of work into it, you need the entire ecosystem, not just the flora that pour water and some industrial nutrients on it. If you plan to do this, you might as well use the spare bathtub first, or use the swimming pool. I like to spend more time harvesting instead of fiddling with nutrition and so on. But it is much easier to start by building a composter, then throwing food waste in with some yard clippings/leaves/some kind of carbon, and then use it as your soil. At least not human feces.

It looks like Schedule 40 PVC, it is not made with BPA and is usually used for drinking water applications.

By using holes at the very end/bottom of the row, save all the PVC and seal on the return/low side, and place another section of square pipe below the lowest side with a hole at the bottom, above the water tank. We use a funnel or something to pour water into the small hole in the tank cover. Also remove the air pump, the falling liquid will inflate just fine. You can even go back here to slot the top of the trap square tube to fit the square tube into the slot and help hold the row in place. Fix each row of zippers in place.

I may insist on using pipes or other closed nutrient solutions. Nutrient solutions like to grow algae, so you *really* want to keep the light away from the nutrients. The growth of algae will have some bad effects on your system: 1) it will eat the nutrients you pay and want to enter your plants 2) it will affect your pH 3) get enough nutrients, you just It will start to clog. PVC blocks enough light and it is difficult for algae to grow. But I still spray the pipe black.

Use notched square channels to keep things closed. I only care about the rubber seal required in the OP design, but see that the "sliding joint" also allows adjustment of the liquid level. I don't know how much is needed after the experiment. Just thinking that a larger spillway into the larger catchment area below would simplify things.

I though what you mean is that there is an open gutter as a spillway. My misunderstanding, sorry!

Do not worry. Two months ago, I just started to build a small 9-cup freestanding hydroponic garden, and I have been eating lettuce and French radishes. I have read many articles on this subject, but not all of them, and have heard how important it is to keep the sun away from liquids to keep algae growing. I painted the lid and exterior of my 4-gallon standalone unit. It is an indoor unit.

I will try to use the rain gutter sink for this larger version to handle all the rows and the return run I described. I have an old pallet to hold things, so it serves as a base with some cement blocks.

According to international piping codes, PVC can be used in drinking water supply pipelines.

You may be referring to the "national" plumbing code. I don’t know if it exists internationally. Even in the European Union, it is not an EU-wide plumbing regulation, but many national regulations.

I think the https://www.reddit.com/r/hydro/ sub-forum has a lot of information. I even see that the complete toolkit is ready.

Many, many months ago, I saw a project released almost identical to this one, I enthusiastically went to Lowe's (they used "fence posts" here, but Home Depot did not), and a weed planting (sorry, "Hydroponics") stores and reserves all the components needed to build it. They still take up too much space in my garage, and I lost the plan to set it up a long time ago. Now I am inspired to start again and really make it work, especially when I don’t want to go to the grocery store often. Thanks!

After the release, I found my old notes about the project in 2009. It is based on AeroFlo from General Hydroponics.

Very interesting! thank you for your sharing.

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