Hydroponic Strawberries Sweeten Up Winter Dolldrums

Add some fruit to your indoor bounty with this hydroponic strawberry farm. [Dino] whipped this up as his 45th hack a week episode (getting pretty close to his year-long goal). He used parts you probably already have sitting around the house somewhere. But even if you bought everything and used it once you still wouldn’t be out much.

A plastic storage container serves as the base. [Dino] also grabbed four identical plastic containers (large yogurt containers would work here) to host the plants. He cut off the bottom half and inserted some netting to keep the plant from falling through. After tracing the size of the container on the enclosure’s lid he cut out holes which will host each plant. This provides a way to dangle the roots into the nutrient solution which is kept oxygen rich with an aquarium pump and two air stones. It certainly deserves a place next to that salad farm you threw together. Don’t miss [Dino’s] build video after the break.

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Grow Your Own Fresh Salad Year Round With This Cheap Hydroponic Setup

With fall approaching you might think about moving your gardening inside. [Jared] used cheap and readily available materials to make these salad-green trays.  When used with his grow lights and tent (which he built during a different project) he was able go from seed to salad-bowl in just four weeks.

A pair of plastic storage bins act as the base, keeping the water right where it should be. Some holes cut into a piece of solid foam insulation holds a set of plastic pots in place, allowing the water to leech into the Rockwool that holds each plant in lieu of soil. To aerate the water [Jared] grabbed a cheap aquarium pump, splitting the output into several different branches. Each has its own check valve to ensure that a pump failure doesn’t let the water find its way out of the plastic tube. A set of bubble stones breaks up the output, helping to mix it with the water.

This isn’t quite as easy to pull off if you don’t already have a grow light. But you can always make it worth the investment if you decide to start next summer’s garden from seed. Or perhaps you can try to make your own using a varation of this shop lighting hack.

[Thanks Jayson]

Repeat Timer Hacked For 35 Minute Hydroponic Cycles

[GrowColt] shows you how to modify a lamp timer for use with hydroponics. You can pick up this type of mechanical timer at most local big box stores for around $5. The timer plugs into an outlet, and the device you want to operate plugs into it. [GrowColt’s] end goal is to make the timer repeat every 35 minutes, routing power to the connected device for about 50 seconds each cycle. It will operate the pumps and misters in his hydroponic garden to keep the plants hydrated and keep the nutrients flowing.

We’ve embedded his detailed process after the break. It’s not all that difficult, requiring a few common hand tools, some glue, and rubber washer. There’s a gear box inside which controls the timer. Reorganizing that gearing makes it repeat more frequently.

Not into hydroponics, but looking for watering help with your greenhouse? Check out this system which monitors water sensors and dispenses H2O accordingly.

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