How to Make A Simple, Economical DIY Home Aeroponic System:
We're all about equipping our customers with helpful information related to any aspect of growing. Sure, we're in the business of making a kick-butt nutrient additive, but our mission as a company is to simplify growing for growers. Matt Denten is a hydroponics grower that'd we like to salute for his efforts in sharing valuable and clearly informative/instructional information that benefits growers everywhere. In the true spirit of "paying it forward," Matt regularly provides great DIY/"How to" videos online. We recently came across some wonderfully helpful stuff he posted on Youtube concerning how to build your own aeroponic system. If you are a small or modest grower who's just setting up shop and living in an apartment or anywhere where space is limited, this info will be of immediate help to you. You can check out Matt's video at:
Be sure to give it a viewing in order to soak in the full value of what he is demonstrating, but in the meantime, here's a rundown of highlights and the methodology to use regarding his suggested setup: Regarding a basic list of supplies to get started, pretty much a run to your local Home Depot or hardware store will cover all of your needs, and chances are you may have some of this stuff around the house or in your tool closet to begin with. Depending on how many plants you are accommodating, chose a large sized, lidded Rubbermaid "storage totes". Matt demonstrates his construction using the 35 gallon size. This tub has a large enough area of the lid to handle 6 different planting positions using 3" net pots which will be positioned into the lid easily, once you cut the circular holes for them. A short length of PVC piping (1/2") that is just long enough to span the centered length of the storage tote is also needed to create the water conduit and support for the 5 micro aeroponics sprayers that Matt demonstrates installing. Matt does a good job of talking about each of the various parts along the way, so we won't still his thunder here, but suffice it to say, that you will need a good drill and some various choices of drill bits including the special circle cutting bit in order to do a nice clean job following his example.
A few comments on some of the real advantages of the technique he is demonstrating:Matt's modular approach is very smart in that sets up a system that is easily disassembled for cleaning or moving about. His decision to not cement in the central t-joiner to the two pvc pipe segments, is a great one that allows his system to be adjusted; rotating the pipes is useful in doing any fine tuning adjustment to the micro sprayer angles once you have the plants in place and the water flowing. This just helps you make sure you are getting the best spray spread for your plants roots.
Matt's suggestion on using the hair dryer to soften up the side holes in the tub for ultimately laying in your pvc pipe is a really smart one, and it provides a wonderful and simple method for getting a good tight seal around those junctures.
We also wanted to address a question or two that some of the viewer's of the video had raised concerning the pump usage. The electric water pump demonstrated here is a 250 gallon/hour pump. Matt doesn't really go into a lot of detail regarding the management of the pump itself, but for those of you who wanted some more detail on that, just be aware that the pump doesn't have to be left on constantly keeping a spray going, in fact, just follow simple aeroponics guidelines for scheduling your spray cycles. As far as managing the pump itself in relation to water supply for the sprayers, this could be done manually by turning the pump on and off, or on a more sophisticated level, by just setting up an electric timer to the pump to regulate the spray times.
We can't say enough good things about this guys gift of simply explaining and demonstrating things on a level that can be easily followed by even a rank novice. Be sure to check out his work online as well as his informative blog postings where he goes into even more details on specific questions and topics. He's also very responsive on any additional questions you might have regarding stuff that he may not have been super detailed on in his original postings. There's always room for a good dialogue when it comes to growers, folks! Thanks again to Matt Denten! We're sending him a special Humboldts Secret Golden Tree shout out salute!