Vertical Hydroponic Gardens

by Bambi Perez
(Knobel, AR.)

I have a couple small greenhouses in which I grow my bedding plants. I would like to grow vertical produce for my family all year. I have very little space. Do you know how to set up a vertical hydroponic garden that I could grow lettuces, spinach, herbs and such in? Thank you for your help, Bambi

Answer:

Growing a hydroponic garden vertically may pose an extra challenge (obviously), but can be done a few different ways. If you are creative, hands on, and like to problem solve, then your system will only be limited to your ingenuity (and possibly your patience). Any homemade hydroponic system is a work in progress, where you begin with a basic idea and will usually have to make adjustments and/or changes along the way.

The most important thing to keep in mind are the requirements of your plants...as long as these needs are met, your system design will work fine. The system needs to provide:

1.water for the roots
2.oxygen for the roots
3.nutrients (in the water)
4.physical support for the plants

All hydroponic systems have a nutrient reservoir, where all of the water (and nutrients) for the system are kept. In different ways, nutrients are moved to the plants' roots, and then allowed to drain back to the nutrient reservoir. A vertical hydroponic system will be no different. In the system pictured above, a low pressure pump constantly fills the PVC pipe at the top of the garden with nutrient solution.

A hose at the other end of the pipe, placed high, maintains the standing water level in the tube while allowing the overflow to drain down into the next PVC tube (and so on). An air pump and air stone in the nutrient reservoir keep the nutrient solution oxygenated, providing enough oxygen to the plant roots. The system design is similar to my most successful homemade hydroponic system, only adapted to grow in a vertical fashion.

I can forsee a couple of problems with this setup. First, you would have to keep the pipes level because of the standing water in the pipes. Second, 4 inch PVC pipes with standing water in them can weigh quite a lot.

Another option would be to use 4 inch rockwool cubes with a drip system, perhaps in PVC rain gutters for drainage. A drip system would require a water pump that operates with higher pressure, which may increase the chance of leaking. Also, drip systems are notorious for clogging (although using an in-line filter will reduce the problem). Finally, any system where you have to replace the grow medium each crop, like rockwool, will be more expensive to operate. The extra expense may not be worth it, especially if you are just growing lettuce.

My final suggestion is what I would probably do myself...consider an aeroponic system. While the one on the following aeroponic system page is made horizontal, it would only take a little modification to make it into a vertical system. With no standing water, the pipes in the system will be much lighter. Also, you won't have to buy new grow medium with each new crop.

The only drawback is that the above system is based on a high pressure water pump. If you want some ideas about building a low pressure aeroponics system, check out this post I wrote to another visitor. In the last two paragraphs I go over some ideas for a new system design. Just keep in mind...no matter how you design your system, you will still need to maintain your nutrient reservoir properly and provide proper lighting/temperature control. Good luck, and happy growing!