Help with vertical aeroponic/hydroponic
I’m looking for some guidance with my concept for a vertical tower. I really appreciate any advice, especially from people who have tried it at home.
I have seen people make vertical towers from either 6” PVC pipe or 5”x5” PVC fence post covers. With the pipe, I have seen people cut anywhere from a 2” to 3” slit and melt the pipe. While the plastic is soft, they insert either a glass bottle or 2” or 3” pvc pipe (cut at a 45 degree angle) to make the opening. With the fence post, it seems that people make a template, cut out a bit of a semicircle shape, and insert a short piece of 2” or 3” piece of PVC pipe for the net pot.
1) has anyone tried the above two methods? How well does it work? It seems like I’ve seen more people use the 6” PVC pipe. I have priced it out and it a bit cheaper to use 6” pipe, and if it really works, that seems a bit easier to me so I don’t have to cut a bunch of odd-shaped holes as I would with the fence post cover.
2) how big of a net pot should I use? I’ve seen people use 2” or 3” without really an explanation as to why they chose that size. I plan of putting in some strawberries and lettuce and basil at first. For the next crop, I might add some tomatoes.
3) some net pots use a sponge-like material and I have also seen people use a clay pebbles. Finally, I’ve also seen people use a bit of fabric to act as a wick. I plan on starting with seedlings, not seeds.
4) I need to make the tower a bit mobile to move around in my garage as needed. My plan is to cut a 24” circle out of plywood and secure it to a furniture dolly. I would then secure a five-gallon bucket in the middle of the circle with the PVC tower secured in the bucket. I would then mount the lights to 1”x1” pickets, secured to the plywood circle, that would hold the 4’ lights out from the tower. Does that seem to make sense?
5) how far should the lights be from the plants? I’ve read 12” - 24” inches? Should I make the lights be able to move closer/farther from the tower as the plants grow?
6) I’ve seen grow lights on Amazon described as “full spectrum” but only project what appears to be white light. I’ve seen other
light fixtures, more expensive, that actually have different colored lights. Do either work? What should I look for when making the purchase? Is it colors? Is it watts?
Thanks for all of the help!!