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Mon, Feb 18, 13 at 1:01
| I am considering buying a Tower Garden (towergarden.com). I've heard great reports that you can grow lots of vegetables with little time and maintenance and of course very little space. Anyone tried one for awhile -like a year or more? - Are they really any less likely to have pest problems? - Are there any problems or difficulties with these, or are they really worth the $500. - Has anyone seen a similar product so I can test the concept out without having to spend $500 just to see if vertical growing in a liquid medium is terrific or not? Rick Merlander - Molokai, Hawaii |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Hydroponics, in general, has less pest problems than growing in soil. So that selling point really has nothing to do with the specific system. The reason being that since we've removed soil from the system, that eliminates most pest problems as they are predominantly soil borne problems. Hydroponics is not set it and forget it kind of thing. you will still have to tend to it as you would any garden. There are just more benefits to it(IMO) than traditional gardening. I'm not personally sold on vertical systems, but search this forum as it has been discussed many times. Also, search youtube for videos on the type system you're interested in. I am sure you can build an equivalent system for less money. |
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- Posted by Rick_Merlander 11 (My Page) on Mon, Feb 18, 13 at 11:56
| Thanks. I can see that soil borne problems would be reduced, but it seems like a great many of the garden problems are from insects like white flies as well as airborne diseases, and these at first glance seem just as likely to occur in an open air hydroponics system, but is there something about hydroponics in general that make these problems less liklely or easier to deal with? Rick Merlander - Molokai, Hawaii |
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| Problems like aphids mites and white flies can still be a problem just as with soil gardens. a lot of critters have a larval stage where they live in soil. Since the soil is not in close proximity to the plants, the threat is reduced, especially when it is in the larval stage when the insect feeds on plants. |
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- Posted by Rick_Merlander 11 (My Page) on Mon, Feb 18, 13 at 12:24
| Very helpful answer, thanks. So, I take from your comments that locating the tower off the ground is going to be helpful, like even a foot or two is likely to reduce the larval stage problems - correct? Rick merlander - Molokai, Hawaii |
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- Posted by Cole_Robbie none (My Page) on Mon, Feb 18, 13 at 14:45
| Very rarely do I see any product with the word "hydroponic" on it that I think is worth the price. It costs a fraction of the retail price to build your own system, but the catch is that buying an overpriced system is the best way to learn enough about one so that you can reverse engineer your own. Unless you're trying to make the most of indoor or greenhouse space, vertical growing is mostly a gimmick. It's much easier to cover a larger area when your plants are all on the same level. You can, however, take any hydro system and elevate it if you are growing a crop like strawberries or tomatoes, where the vines will hang down. The result is very similar to vertical growing. |
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| The nature of hydroponics generally keeps you from having any soil to plant contact so long as you don't let vines, leaves, and what not drag the ground. While some larval insects will travel great distances to get to food, in most cases, the parent bug instinctually lays its eggs near the food source so their "babies" don't have to go far to find it. So I suppose yes it will help but not as much as simply keeping the plants from touching the ground. And if you raise a vertical system 2 feet it make make getting to the upper tiers of the system difficult. |
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- Posted by Rick_Merlander 11 (My Page) on Mon, Feb 18, 13 at 18:17
| Robbie, Space is really not much of an issue. I'm told Hydroponics is much easier and much more productive than normal in ground gardening. And much more reliable. I want to test out the idea, but I don't want to spend $500 to test it if I can do so for less. Know of any low priced systems that might give similar results to a $500 Tower Garden? Thanks for considering. Rick Merlander - Molokai, Hawaii |
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- Posted by Rick_Merlander 11 (My Page) on Mon, Feb 18, 13 at 18:22
| grizzman 10, Thanks and I see your point, don't let any part of the plant contact the soil and become a bridge for soil insects. Good tip and relevant as I'll not want to start with viney type plants to avoid this problem. Thanks. |
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| Rick, if you really want to "get your feet wet" without spending bookoos, build a simple deep water culture system and see how you like it. a system like that can be built for probably $50 or so that will grow 6 to 10 plants depending on what they are. the air pump will be your most expensive investment at $20 or so. Of course those prices are mainland prices. I'm not sure how items on the island compare. |
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- Posted by Rick_Merlander 11 (My Page) on Tue, Feb 19, 13 at 10:32
| Sounds like a great idea to me. Ever seen any kits or simple plans for a system like this? Thanks for the suggestions. Rick Merlander - Molokai, Hawaii |
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- Posted by Cole_Robbie none (My Page) on Tue, Feb 19, 13 at 18:44
| The kits are so simple that often you can look at a picture and see how to make your own. You can blow air bubbles in water or move the water itself to aerate it. Either way can work. If you use a water pump, you just have to squirt the water back down into itself. You can also pump it upward into a gutter or pipe that it flows through; that idea works well for longer rows of plants. General Hydroponics makes an machine called the "aeroflow." If you can see one operating in person or on a youtube video, that is a very popular machine to copy. People call it "NFT," That's technically a misnomer, but it's so widely used that it might as well be correct. |
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- Posted by Rick_Merlander 11 (My Page) on Wed, Feb 20, 13 at 1:32
| I went to the General Hydroponics web site and looked at their products. Very helpful tip and they had a wide variety of systems and all sorts of parts and literature. It helped just to see the variety of options. Thanks. Rick Merlander - Molokai, Hawaii |
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- Posted by shannonhager45 none (My Page) on Wed, Feb 20, 13 at 11:27
| I am thinking of also purchasing one of these units, as honestly, unless you are looking at a used unit they are the cheaper end of the spectrum. I find myself thinking that the net pots in the tower garden are very small and that would limit the number of things I might want to grow in it. I want to put one in my bay window, but have to tell you that if I find I like the set up I plan to check out the way it is made and make more units to match it. I like the aeroponics unit that I currently use and have found that tomatoes and cucumbers and lettuce and strawberries grow incredibly well in the units, much better than in the soil. I experimented and started plants in both soil and a unit on the same day, the hydro plants are huge, and productive. I eventually pulled the soil plants, rinsed in cold water the roots and placed them inthe unit and they are trying really hard to catch up! I might reccomend going ahead and getting the unit so you can try growin in it and how you like it, if you love it, make more! The tower only houses 20 sites, which is not very many. I am hoping to grow lettuces and herbs in mine inthe kitchen. If I make more units I will make the sites larger,a nd possibly eventhe center tube larger, which may mean using a larger pump and more water hosing, but whatever works.Good luck. |
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- Posted by shannonhager45 none (My Page) on Wed, Feb 20, 13 at 11:27
| I am thinking of also purchasing one of these units, as honestly, unless you are looking at a used unit they are the cheaper end of the spectrum. I find myself thinking that the net pots in the tower garden are very small and that would limit the number of things I might want to grow in it. I want to put one in my bay window, but have to tell you that if I find I like the set up I plan to check out the way it is made and make more units to match it. I like the aeroponics unit that I currently use and have found that tomatoes and cucumbers and lettuce and strawberries grow incredibly well in the units, much better than in the soil. I experimented and started plants in both soil and a unit on the same day, the hydro plants are huge, and productive. I eventually pulled the soil plants, rinsed in cold water the roots and placed them inthe unit and they are trying really hard to catch up! I might reccomend going ahead and getting the unit so you can try growin in it and how you like it, if you love it, make more! The tower only houses 20 sites, which is not very many. I am hoping to grow lettuces and herbs in mine inthe kitchen. If I make more units I will make the sites larger,a nd possibly eventhe center tube larger, which may mean using a larger pump and more water hosing, but whatever works.Good luck. |
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| There's a set of pictures on what your looking for under Photobucket/ChristianWarlock. It's called a Waterfall Tower. You can make it yourself from PVC and plastic soda bottles.The whole thing of 22 slots, Sustainable and you can put it anywhere from window to lawn. May cost you $40.00. I dumpster jump so it only cost me $10 for the pump |
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| Shannon, a standard vertical grower isn't your best bet when growing in a window. the plant sites on the rear won't get enough sun. 2" net pots are all you need for anything you'd grow in that kind of system. Really for any vegetable you'd grow. for larger plants the system is the limitation, not the net pot. |
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- Posted by Rick_Merlander 11 (My Page) on Thu, Feb 21, 13 at 1:50
| Grizzman or anyone, Can you get good results growing vegetables with indoor Hydroponic systems assuming you can get them adequate sunlight through a window? If you can it seems like you could eliminate a lot of bug problems. Rick Merlander - Molokai, Hawaii |
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- Posted by Rick_Merlander 11 (My Page) on Thu, Feb 21, 13 at 1:57
| Shannon, Thanks for the comments! Sounds like you have already gotten some great results with your system, and it was very interesting to hear the results of your side by side testing of soil vs. Hydroponics. Rick Merlander - Molokai, Hawaii |
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Rick, if you can get enough light through the window, then yes it works great. Here is a pic of a tomato plant I grew in my office window a few years ago.  I've grown a couple of varieties in that window with no problems and good results. notice what it is growing out of. That'd be a DWC system. Regarding the soil vs hydro test. It is somewhat of a misnomer to compare the two. If you actually provide matching nutrient and moisture levels for the plant in soil as you do the one in hydro,. they will both grow at about the same rate. the hydro still does better because it's roots don't have to fight through soil, but there is not a dramatic difference. The difference is normally associated with the level of attention (or lack thereof) given to the soil grown plant. |
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- Posted by Rick_Merlander 11 (My Page) on Thu, Feb 21, 13 at 23:39
| Grizzman, Thanks a lot for the information and the picture. That's a pretty big plant for indoors! This is very interesting since growing indoors might work for what I want to do. Thanks. Rick Merlander - Molokai, Hawaii |
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| Yeah, the window is about four feet tall and it filled the entire space plus some. That is why I had to coil it at the bottom. I used the two shelves to hold it against the window. I also had a hook in the top of the window frame I could suspend the plant from when I was adjusting the height and pruning leaves. On the lower shelf, that white "stick" is a cheap electric toothbrush I use to pollinate the flowers. I normally got at or near 100% fruit set with the indoor setup. |
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- Posted by Rick_Merlander 11 (My Page) on Fri, Feb 22, 13 at 12:22
| Hadn't even thought about the pollination. Sounds like a really effective set up and it sure looks like it worked well.The picture is really helpful also. Rick Merlander - Molokai, Hawaii |
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- Posted by TheMasterGardener1 5B (My Page) on Fri, Mar 1, 13 at 14:08
| "I'm told Hydroponics is much easier and much more productive than normal in ground gardening. And much more reliable." It can depend. Hydroponic could be less work but more thinking. One person can grow thousands of plants in a hydroponic system easily with not much work. Its just the start up costs to get to that point. |
This post was edited by TheMasterGardener1 on Fri, Mar 1, 13 at 14:19
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- Posted by Rick_Merlander 11 (My Page) on Fri, Mar 1, 13 at 20:37
| Very interesting.Sounds like if I willl really set it up right it can work really well. Thanks, Rick Merlander - Molokai Hawaii |
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