Indoor growing: how to build a do-it-yourself hydroponic system with recycled materials

Hydroponics, indoor gardening, and DIY hydroponic systems - here's how to build one that's ideal for hydroponics

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Hydroponics e aeroponics they are two techniques with distant origins (dating back to ancient Greece) and are used to create indoor cultivation or, in any case, to grow plants without soil.





Today, both theaeroponics that l 'hydroponic they have evolved to the point that they are used in industrial-type productions. The success and the ease with which it is grow indoors paved the way forhydroponics do it yourself to all enthusiasts, who nowadays cultivate quietly at home, in the garden and even on roofs of disused factories.

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Hydroponics: between technique, art and do-it-yourself

In ancient times hydroponics was just an art that consisted of knowing how to grow plants by growing them in water with skill. Subsequently the hydroponic crops were rediscovered in the 30s of the last century and have been improved in many respects (aeroponics is their natural evolution) to the point of becoming real techniques to obtain efficient and ecologically sustainable results. In fact we hear more and more often about urban gardens and vertical gardens. The green walls that cover palaces and buildings are all built with hydroponics systems.

Indoor growing: how to build a do-it-yourself hydroponic system with recycled materials

But anyone can try their hand at the practice and derive ample satisfaction growing their own vegetables at home such as lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries and many others.

In addition, to beautify your apartments, you can plant many species of plants in hydroponics or aeroponics.

Hydroponics with recycled materials

Hydroponic systems, aeroponics, indoor gardening ... those who are not accustomed to these techniques should not be frightened. For growing indoors, a little effort and dexterity is enough.

First of all, to grow with the hydroponic technique you need a hydroponic system.


On the market there are many types of hydroponic systems and the easier ones can be build with your own hands, recycling materials already present in the house.


To build a very simple and easy to assemble hydroponic system, you need to find the following materials:

2 Plastic buckets (5/10 liters of water the first and 4/9 liters the second)

  • Substrate for hydroponics (coconut, expanded clay or perlite)
  • Immersion pump
  • Tube oxygenator for the pump
  • Two (minimum) glasses in resistant plastic (alternatively the classic plastic glasses)
  • Hoses for watering
  • Timer for automatic watering (if applicable)

Construction of the hydroponic system

Indoor growing: how to build a do-it-yourself hydroponic system with recycled materials

The only one of the hydroponics tools that should theoretically be purchased is the submersible pump, but if you have small water pumps they are fine: they must develop a power of 4 / 30 W otherwise the jet and flow would be too abundant.

All other tools are easily recyclable.

The two buckets indicated can be the large plastic paint buckets (properly cleaned!) Or metal buckets. What's important is that one of the two buckets is larger, so as to contain the other and that both are not transparent so as not to let the light pass inside the vase (if in doubt, paint them with dark paint).

Practice gods holes on the smallest bucket, with a drill.

Fill the smaller bucket withexpanded clay. In nature there are many of them on many different types of soil and it is made up of those typical porous earth-colored pebbles, very light, reminiscent of pumice stone.


Fill the largest bucket until you reach at least a 4 liters of water. Then insert the immersion pump in the water, after inserting the oxygenation tube in the space provided. Attention, if you use any pump do not immerse it in water unless you are sure not to damage it. In any case, take the watering hoses and connect them to the pump.


Take the perforated bucket with the expanded clay e create a space for the plastic shot glasses. Before inserting the shot glasses into the clay, drill several holes for the future roots of the cultivated plant to pass through. Attention! The clay will also be prepared in the glasses, until the roots of the plant are long enough to be able to remove them at a later time. Take the prepared bucket with the previously drilled glasses and clay and insert it into the larger one, until the second bucket fits into the first. During the interlocking of the pots, the watering pipes must come out and connect them to the highest bucket, right above the glasses.

To ensure that the tubes are supported on the vase at a height of 5/10 cm from the glasses, that's enough secure them with a simple wire on one side of the pot, using it as a support. Watering hoses have a relatively low price but any hose can be used as an alternative. Keep in mind, however, that the tube must be the exact size of the pump hole.

Eventually, connect the pump to a timer and then to an electrical outlet to obtain an automated system. This is the simplest hydroponic system obtainable in "do it yourself" mode. However, there are more complicated and different types.

Indoor growing: how to build a do-it-yourself hydroponic system with recycled materials

Hydroponic systems: starting with the simplest

We recommend a simple system to get started, and then move on to a hydroponic system of the NFT type (also known as a "tower"). For tools that just can't be built by hand, growers and hydroponics enthusiasts usually turn to grow shops with specialized assistance in the sector.

There are many hydroponic systems, but the principle is the same: a continuous cycle system, composed of pots that take the aqueous solution from a tank, water the plants and let the solution fall back through the substrates up to starting bucket. A micro system in fact!

The sizes of the vases and the materials may vary according to your needs. The important thing is that the vases are gradually smaller and smaller to let the water fall on the underlying vase and that they are dark so as not to let the light penetrate.

A final foresight. Only one hydroponic system has been built here. The technique for making plants germinate and, essentially, give birth and support them on the expanded clay represents the first step of hydroponics and is called: germination. Before starting a hydroponic cultivation, we recommend reading a complete and specialized guide on indoor cultivation.

In all cases a good one hydroponic system it forms the basis for effective and flourishing cultivation.

Read also:

- Hydroponics: how to grow indoors without land

- Urban gardens: in Brooklyn the green roof with the largest hydroponic greenhouse in the world

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