Hydroponic Garden With Small Footprint

A hydroponic garden with small a footprint wich make use of the so called “Nutrient Film Technique”. My thought is to bring a garden or vegetable garden to a balcony, your desk or to make more use of a small garden.

See wikipedia or other sites for information on hydroponics. They can explain it much better than I can. In short, water with nutrients is circulated. The roots of the plants hang in the water. The plant is in a net pot with a substrate. This substrate is not a planting soil but, coconut fibers or hydro grains. Hydroponic can be defined as growing plants in water containing nutrients.

The operation of water transport:

A tube with an outer diameter of 8mm is pulled through the base. And then through each subsequent plant pot opening. The hole in the plant pot for the tube is slightly smaller than the outside diameter tube. To prevent leakage. The water is pumped upwards through this pipe.

With the last plant pot, the opening is covered with a cap. Under the cap is the end of the tube. Here the water flows down outside of the tube again. First it runs into the reservoir of the top plant pot. When this reservoir is full, the plant pot overflows to the next plant pot. See the picture with the cross section of the setup or the 3D PDF. This will give a better view of the water channel flow.

After the last plant pot (bottom), the water flows into the foot. There's a cavity in there and two openings for tubes. One tube, the water supply tube runs through the base and plant pots all the way up. Second tube is for the drainage of the water back to the main reservoir.

Supplies:

• 3D printer or a friend with a 3D printer;
• 1x 3D printed foot/base;
• 1x 3D printed cap;
• several as many as you want 3D printed plant pots;
• option 3D printed net pots for the plant pots;
• glue, which is best for your type of 3D printer filament;
• water hose/tube* with a outer diameter 8mm;
• small submersible waterpump*, with a tube connection of approximately 6mm;
• net pots*, can be 3D printed or purchased. Plant pot hole diameter is 50mm;
• main reservoir, can be anything as long as it stores water;
• air pump* with a airstone*;
• 2 screw for the base/foot;
• optional, a time switcher* for the water and air pump;

Tools:

• knife*;
• needle-nosed plier*;

(*the inserted links are meant as examples of the parts and devices you could use)

3D stl files, remarks:

The plant pot is designed so that it can be printed without support material. I used 5 layers for the surface and set the fill minimal.The same goes for cap.

The base foot needs minimal support material on the outside. The cavity in foot does not need support by design.

For the net pot i used 3 layers and maximal fill. They need support structures.

3D file formats: STL

Minimal machine space:

• plant pot : +/-L80xW70xH90mm;
• base/foot : +/-D100xH70mm;
• net pot : +/-D60xH40mm.

I have a small 3D printer so i couldn't print it bigger :(

Thread a needle, in a way of speaking. But here the thread is the tube and the 3D printed parts are the eye of the needle.

But first: cut off a piece or in half at the end of the tube. Over a length of +/-80mm. This makes putting the first section of the tube through the holes easier. And it is easier to pull the whole tube through the holes with the pliers.The holes in the 3D printer parts are slightly smaller than the outside diameter of the tube. As a result, the tube clamps the holes and the water cannot drain away.

Pull the tube through as far as necessary. Length depends on the number of plant pots**. It is about 90mm per plant pot. Plus the part of the tube end that has been cut.

(**pay attention to the performance of your water pump. Whether it can pump your desired height, max. water column)

Pull the tube through the pant pots one by one. But don't forget to install the drain pipe first into the foot!

If you want to glue the plant pots together on to the base, now is the best time for it.

Then cut off the protruding part of the tube. And pull the tube back slightly at the foot. So that the end of the tube is slightly deeper. And place then the cap at the top.

A kitchen test & demonstration of the water flow :)

In a normal application, the water containing nutrients comes from the same reservoir.

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