Homemade Hydroponics Builder Guide

Welcome to our Homemade Hydroponics Builder Guide! We have assembled a series of articles here to help you Plan, Design, and Build your own custom hydroponic system.

 

When we started building our first Homemade Hydroponics systems there were no ‘real‘ step-by-step guides like this on the web to help us out.  Sure there are some great YouTube and other informative content out there, but they were either not professional or informative enough for us to really build exactly what we wanted without doing a ton of extra research and viewing a ton of other youtube videos and websites. 

 

Our whole website was created around the idea that you probably landed here with the intention of planning, buying, or building your own Hydroponic system to grow your own produce. 

 

Use the quick start menu below to find a homemade hydroponics system to build or peruse through the summary map of our website below.  

QUICK START

Start Building Your System Right Now!

Just cant wait to get started building your Homemade Hydroponics system? No worries. We have put together this list of our most popular system build for your review. Each is labeled with the overall cost, time, and difficulty level comparison for a quick decision.

Kratky Method

$ - 15 Minute Project
Build This Kratky Method System
Easy

Dutch Buckets

$$$$ - 4 Hour Project
Build This Dutch Bucket System
Difficult

Aeroponics

$$$ - 4 hour project
Build This Aeroponics System
Difficult

Deep Water
Culture

$$ - 2 hour Project
Build This DWC System
Easy

Fogponics

$$$$ - 3 Hour Project
Build This Fogponics System
Difficult

Vertical
Hydroponics

$$$$$ - 16 Hour Project
Build This Vertical System
Advanced

HOMEMADE HYDROPONICS BUILDER SITE MAP

This section summarizes the overall website down to our finest key points. Follow the main navigation bar above from left to right for a full education or browse below.

1. Make a Plan

Any good design/build process starts with a good PLAN.

Learn a little about the history of hydroponics, hydroponics basics, and the different methods and types of hydroponic systems and methods for growing plants without soil before you build your Homemade Hydroponics system.

Homemade Hydroponic systems sometimes fail user expectations due to the lack of basic knowledge. Learning a little now will help you tenfold along the way to building a hydroponic system that fits your space, needs, and will (trust me on this) far exceed your expectations.

2. Pick a Design

Select a design to BUY or BUILD

Should you Buy pre-packed hydroponic packages or get some pieces and parts and tinker with them? Not very handy and want to start ASAP? Maybe you should Buy an existing system.

If you are handy or have a complicated, vertical, or limited Hydroponic garden location or space you probably should build your own system. From our experience, you will be buying accessories no matter what system you Buy or Build since most available systems for purchase don’t come with Lights, growing medium, or nutrients.  

Either way you will need to select a DESIGN

The following is a selection of some of the most popular designs on the web that you can build right now.

3. Buy a System

Read product reviews to help you select a system and components to BUY

Here is our ever-expanding list of reviews of a few select designs for each of the different design types available. A good rule of “green” thumb is to grow larger or vining crops in larger systems that have larger nutrient water capacity. The larger the crop the larger the Bucket, tray, reservoir, and lights should be. Fruiting plants like tomatoes and cucumbers require “a lot” of water when they fruit so they will require the largest systems.

Remember, most available systems for purchase don’t come with Lights, growing medium, or nutrients.  There is a good reason, cost, shipping cost, personal preference, Crop selection.

  • LED lights – Expensive, albeit necessary addition to your system.
  • Medium – There are many different types of medium for seeding and growing. Medium selection will depend on your education or preference for earth-friendly, reusable, or geographical availability of materials. maintenance and management of each medium pH is a factor as well.
  • Nutrients – Nutrients also come in many different varieties. This selection will depend on what you are growing. 

Or you can buy all the materials you need for your own custom BUILD

You will want to go to the BUILD section first to find the exact system you want to build. Each system build will have its own material list, instructions, and videos.

After you Build or Buy your system, get the rest of your system Accessories.

4. Build a System

BUILD your own Hydroponics system

We are always expanding our current list of instructions to build homemade hydroponics systems. Check out some of these available builds. Don’t be intimidated! Each hydroponic build here is really just a different approach to providing plants with nutrient water.

 

Homemade Hydroponics Build Tips

  • Remember, the bigger the crop -the bigger the system.
  • Herbs do well in smaller systems like Kratky, Wick and Deep Water Culture
  • Deep Water Culture systems can grow a larger variety of plants and are great for apartments, condos, and small houses. They are also great for college students or anyone who wants a hydroponic system but travels alot.  The totes container can double as an extra container, just pack it full with all the hydroponic parts and some clothes
  • Dutch Buckets are great for vining plants. Their portability allows for easy change-outs, expansion, and management.
  • Nutrient Film Technique is the commercial growers go to, and has been for many years due to its ease of set up, use, and maintenance. if you are growing Lettuce and leafy greens this may be a great fit for you.
  • Look at vertical systems if you don’t have a lot of floor space.

 

5. Grow Plants Without Soil!

Set up your system, and grow without soil!

Read these articles to learn how to set up your new homemade hydroponics system and additional required components. You will also learn how to select the correct lighting, nutrient, medium, pH, and EC levels for your plants based on the vegetables or plants you are growing. Finally, you can troubleshoot the loose ends and get your system running perfectly.

Troubleshooting

Yes, you will eventually run into problems with your new homemade hydroponics system, and yes you will figure them out, so just be patient and read a few of these articles so you know what to do when it happens, because it will! You may even want to bookmark some of these pages. 

System Reviews
Component Reviews
Outside the Box
CLICK HERE
HYDROPONIC SYSTEM REVIEWS BY METHOD

ENGAGE & EXPERIENCE

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