HOMEMADE HYDROPONIC SYSTEMS
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THE SKY'S THE LIMIT!

Homemade Hydroponic Systems

One of the best things about hydroponics is its versatility and adaptability. Your choices for this gardening method are wide open. You can grow some heirloom tomatoes in a 5 gallon "bucket bubbler", gourmet hydro herbs on a kitchen windowsill, or sugar baby melons in a large bedroom farm. You can create a garden from 2-liter soda bottles and hang it on your patio fence. Or you could spend thousands on a state-of-the art NFT or aeroponics system. What an interesting and fun hobby! We invite you to explore your options.

But if money is a problem (isn't it for most of us), the gardens we explain below are full-sized, and very productive, without spending an arm and a leg. And if you have a DIY (do it yourself) mindset, you'll have a blast building one of these babies. And with a little planning and judicious replanting, you will quickly recoup your startup costs with bountiful harvests of fresh, tasty produce for your kitchen (or medical herbs, if that is your bag).

In the "4 Simple Systems" section of our website, we taught you how to build some mini-farms so you could "test the hydro waters". But now it's time for you to build a full-sized garden, right?

We have repeatedly planted and thoroughly tested all the major hydro systems and chose 4 different gardens to present here. They were selected based on simple design, low cost, ease of operation, and fantastic results. They are our favorites, and we know that one or more of them will become yours, too.

Below we give you our picks for:

• A sturdy PVC stand
• The best lighting system
• Our 4 favorite Hydro gardens
• An incredible turbo-cooled grow box
• A simple but productive bubbler system
   

BASIC SYSTEM COMPONENTS

Homemade Hydroponic Systems

Before we introduce you to the actual gardens, we'll discuss the three main components of any full-sized hydroponic garden. Unless you restrict your gardening to 1 or 2 individual pots, like a couple of tomatoes or hot pepper bushes, you will need the following:

1. Stand- a sturdy frame to hold everything at a good working height
2. Lights- unless you are growing in a sunny patio or greenhouse
3. System- the actual hydroponics unit
   
    

A FIRM FOUNDATION

Homemade Hydroponic Systems

You can always set up your hydroponics unit easily and cheaply: a sheet of plywood sitting on concrete cinder blocks. BUT, you must use care working around this type of setup, not to bump it and knock it over... what a mess that would make! And you would have to drill some holes in the ceiling for some lamp hooks. With an improvised stand, you also won't have any means to tie up string so you can trellis your vining crops.

Do we have a solution to this problem? But of course! We have designed an awesome PVC stand that can be used for any of the major hydro systems listed below (as well as other advanced systems).

We named it the HydroPad®, and we are very proud of it's clever design. The HydroPad® is lightweight, sturdy, attractive, economical, and can be broken down quickly for storage or moving. It is easily adaptable for use with ebb and flow, top-drip pots, Autopots, or a big lettuce raft. You could also try split-plans: half pots and half lettuce raft. You can mount any type of light system onto this stand, even dual lamps.

So if you change your mind later and want to try a different hydro system or lights, our nifty HydroPad® will serve you well for any configuration of garden you can throw at it. And it will stay standing for many years to come.

We have put together all the components you need to build this versatile stand in our HydroPad® PVC Hydroponics Stand Kit . Or, you will find complete, detailed DIY instructions for building one on your own in our giant Hydroponic Systems E-book .
 

LET THERE BE LIGHTS

Homemade Hydroponic Systems

Unless you have a sunny patio you can use year-round, or a greenhouse in your back yard, you will have to provide "artificial sunlight", or supplemental lighting, for your new hydroponics garden.

What kind of lamps? Glad you asked that! It depends on what you want to grow.

LETTUCES & GREENS

If all you want to grow is lettuces and greens like spinach, then a high-output T5 fluorescent lamp will work just fine. You'll need one 4-bulb X 4-foot long lamp for each HALF of your 4'X4' system. In other words, each lamp will cover a 2'X4" section.... perfect for a 2X4 foot lettuce raft like we often use. If you want to go with a huge, 4X4 raft, you will need two T5 lamps.

Read more about high output T5 fluorescent lamps here . There is also a link to order one on that page if you would like.


FLOWERING & FRUITING PLANTS

Homemade Hydroponic Systems

Now then, if you want to grow any crops which flower or produce fruits, fluorescent lights just won't get it... they do not provide the spectrum of light needed to sustain this type of growth. For these crops, we recommend HID (high intensity discharge) lamps. You can quickly untangle the confusing information about  HID lighting here, then c'mon back...

Okay, so now you know that ideally, you should have a lamp that will use both MH bulbs (for the growing stage) and HPS bulbs (for the flowering stage). Well, we've got you covered here too! You will not find a better deal than this super Combo Lighting Kit .

THE HEART OF THE MATTER...              THE HYDRO SYSTEM

SIMON'S SIMPLE HYDROPONIC PLANS

Homemade Hydroponic Systems

Okay, time for the nitty gritty... which type of hydroponics system will you need for your garden?

As we told you above, we have carefully chosen 4 different hydro systems you might want to consider. And guess what? You don't have to decide right now. You only have to make one decision at this point.... do you want an open, full-sized 4X4 garden, or do you want to garden in an enclosed grow box?

If you want to build a great, prolific, full-sized hydroponics garden, which fits in the HydroPad® stand described above, then order Simon's Simple Hydroponic Plans EBook. This thing is great; it includes complete, concise, detailed plans for putting together all 4 of the best gardens out there: Ebb & Flow, Top-Drip Dutch Buckets, Deep Water Raft and the Autopots Farm. You don't need to decide right now which way to go! This book describes the systems, helps you decide which one and what size, and then tells you step-by-step how to build each one. It also includes complete plans for our unique HydroPad® PVC stand. Detailed parts lists and where to find those supplies is included. Read more about Simon's Simple Hydroponic Plans EBook here.

HYDROPONICS GROW BOX                  & BUBBLER SYSTEM

Homemade Hydroponic Systems

You might just be interested in making a grow box to house your hydroponics garden. Now why would you want to do that?

Maybe you live in a tiny apartment with no spare bedroom. And you want a hydroponic garden! The solution: a grow box or closet. You can either set one up in an existing closet, or buy a wardrobe (free-standing cabinet) and convert it. Our Grow Box E-Book tells you exactly how to do just that.

Believe it or not, a grow closet can actually provide a cooler garden than just open air under lights. Why? An enclosed box equipped with an exhaust fan and air intake vents creates an excellent air-cooled vortex chamber. A perfect environment in which your plants will thrive!

A grow box also helps to hide the bright light, sounds and earthy smells of your garden. Out of sight, out of mind. Hydroponic huts or "grow boxes" are rapidly becoming a very popular and trendy option for the space-limited gardener.

And... yep, you guessed it.... we've got the goods on this one, too! We did all the research and experimentation until we designed our own unique fantastic grow box, and the perfect hydro bubbler system to fit inside. It holds 6 full-grown plants, and you would not believe how fast they grow in this baby! Read more about our Super Turbo-Cooled Hydroponics Grow Box  with Bubbler System here . If you are only interested in a hydro bubbler system (no box or closet), check this page out: Deep Water Culture Bubbler System.
 

READY... SET... GROW!

Okay, there you are... all pumped up and ready to build your hydroponics garden setup. Where to start?

• Build a stand
• Order a light
• Get Your Plans  OR
• Create a grow box OR
• Make a bubbler system