hey everybody welcome to my channel
today I'm going to show you how to make
a small hydroponic system to grow
tomatoes for fun this method works great
for herbs and I've done it before in my
channel so you'll link you guys so you
can check it out it's a great way
because it's fast it's easy and it's
very cheap so I'll list all the items
you will need and then we'll go through
the process and I'll show you my lazy
way of starting tomato seeds so the
first items you will need are going to
be water bottles and we're gonna do two
today
one in a larger reservoir and one in a
small one and the reason for the small
one is because I want to put it under my
arrow garden and this size here fit
perfectly
you're gonna need net cup this is one
and a half inch and you also need rock
wool cubes that would fit into that one
1/2 inch as well you're gonna need
scissors and then for drilling a hole in
this container here you're going to heat
need a hole saw and then also a drill
for this net cup here you're going to
use this hoe drill here and it is 51
millimeter so that's that's the one
that's gonna draw a perfect hole for
this
these are black plastic because I'm
gonna use that to cover this to prevent
light from getting through so I'll show
you that in a bit okay we're gonna start
with this mini hydroponic system here
and what you're gonna need is this water
bottle and anything that has an
hourglass shape here is gonna be perfect
for this method so what we're gonna do
first is uncap it and then we're going
to cut this here
okay that is a bottle there and what
we're gonna do here is place a net cup
in there and that house that's how it's
gonna work and then if you have a koozie
or something like that then you see
there that works perfectly to prevent
algae from getting through I got this on
my vacation and I've been using this for
a while and it works great okay so
that's how you create your small unit
and next what we're gonna do is go with
the bigger one and this is a large
gatorade bottle and this is a 64 fluid
ounce all right there
and what you need to do is remove the
cap and then take this ring out I did
that in advance to make it easy now
you're gonna use a drill to drill a hole
here here's our drill and then what
we're gonna do is place it on top like
so and once it attaches itself you want
to go reverse because reverse it will
give it a nicer cut and then it's easier
to work with as well so turn that to
reverse okay
make sure you go slow because the the
bottle can crack so it's it's just best
to just go a little a little at a time
until you get the hole nice and cut okay
and then just clean up around there now
your net cup will fit right there just
like so and that is how we make a unit
out of this larger bottle okay so what
we're gonna do next here is we're going
to mix our nutrients before we go grab
our seedlings and I just use a gallon so
I'm gonna go get some water out of my
faucet nothing special just straight out
of your faucet and what I like to do is
keep things very simple so what we're
gonna use is the dyna-gro series here
and this one has a buffer in it so my
water here is
seven-point-eight with the ph right out
right out of the tap and if I add five
milliliter this which is one teaspoon
it'll bring down the pH to around six
and that is perfect I usually keep them
around five point nine to six so let's
go ahead and add real quick you want to
shake this up really nicely okay here is
our nutrients and I'm going to add one
of this which is five milliliter one
teaspoon and then you're gonna have to
shake this up nicely okay that's it that
is that is our mix there five five
milliliter one gallon water nothing else
so next we're going to go outside and
grab our seedlings and then we'll come
back and and put this put them in our
system alright guys here are the
seedlings that I was talking about and
the lazy way that I did it is I just
threw a bunch of seeds into my raised
bed as you can see here and look at all
these little seedlings that are ready to
be taken out and grown so today we're
going to dig a few of these up and then
we're going to put that into a
hydroponic system so I'm gonna show you
how I do this okay just use any tool you
have and then we're going to dig up a
few and I want these from this side here
because I know those are the seeds that
I want so because I have so many I'm
just gonna dig up a bunch of them and
just grab a few
and just losing the soil and then pull
it up
see these are our seedlings here and we
need to clean this up so we'll use a
water here okay so there we have it and
now what we need to do is put them in a
bowl and then we need to rinse
everything off just in case there's any
bugs and stuff that are in there just do
it gently so that you don't damage the
roots or anything like that okay we have
what we need it so let's go inside and
plant these all right let's go ahead and
prepare the seedlings so that we can
place that into our systems and we have
to that small one in the large one and
if you notice I have cover the larger
one with just plastic and I just
basically put a bunch of tape to make
sure that the plastic is all wrapped
around and then I put a little blue tape
in the middle because I want it to label
it so there it is so now what we're
going to do is take our rock wall and
here's our seedlings and we're going to
slice the rock wall down the middle
like that and then we'll go and take one
of our seedlings here it is and then
we're gonna place it here you want you
want the root part at the bottom and
then just the top exposed like so and
now what we need is to put that into our
net Cup so as you can see I cut the
holes out of these net cups so these can
go in easily so we're gonna feed this
through
and you can gently guide the roots to
like that
okay and we are done with the first one
so it's gonna go in here so what we need
to do is we need to fill up the water or
the nutrients to the bottom of that net
cup there
okay so that's that's about touch the
net cup and if it doesn't that's fine
because the roots are hanging inside the
nutrients and then we'll place that into
here and then we're done with that one
for this we'll have to do it slightly
different so if you have a net cup that
has all of these plastic thing at the
bottom just cut a few of those out so
that the roots can get through easier
let me see that okay so what we'll need
to do is we'll place our net cup on top
and then we'll need to pour the
nutrients in until it reaches the bottom
of this net cup because we can't see it
so let me pour that in here take our
cube and slice it down the middle and
then take a nice seedling that looked
the best place it there okay and then
put that into our unit okay we're done
so the next thing we're gonna do is put
this under our light so let me show you
where it goes
okay here's my AeroGarden unit and half
of the side here is not being used so
I'm gonna put it right there
along with my pepper plant this is my
garage f3
Michelle op some fruits right here look
at this crazy huh okay so it's gonna sit
right there and once they and once it
grown once that makes some progress now
update you guys and then for this little
one we're gonna put it right over here
that's my other AeroGarden unit and I
have one already in there so there it is
so we will be back soon once there's
progress on this and I will update you
alright guys it has been two weeks and
the plant is not doing good it this
one's growing a little bit but um as far
as speed I was expected to grow a lot
faster but um it's it still don't okay
still making progress so this is after
two weeks there is a lot of growth since
we placed it here but it's just not as
fast as I I was expecting so I see the
root system there okay so we'll move on
to the other one so we put it back
alright here is the other one and this
one is actually doing the best because
it's been in the unit longer so it got
adjusted quicker so it's growing much
faster than the other two plants as you
can see if you go back to early in the
video this guy was really tiny so it's
probably four times as large as when I
showed it the first time and let's take
a look at this one this one's doing
quite well so there it is after two
weeks a lot of growth so let's take a
look at the roots
we'll have to remove it out of here I
had to refill this once Wow look at that
lots of roots there so I refill the
water once and exercise after two weeks
so we will be back soon
and I will give you guys another update
it's gonna start growing faster now
because roots have developed alright
guys welcome back this has been four
weeks now and the plant is doing amazing
look at this it's grown quite a bit from
the last update that I share you guys
look at this it is kind of like going
towards that direction because that's
where the lights are most available so
as you can see there is a lot of growth
and let me show you the root system look
at that look how long that is man all
the way down there so it sprouted roots
all the way into the reservoir there and
let me see there's a water level there
and it has not gone down too much so I
think it's about right here so it's not
even half yet and I have not changed the
water or anything it's been this way
since we place the plant in there and
it's doing very well so maybe it's even
starting to flower look at this there's
some flowers right there look at that um
yeah there is some flowers so maybe if I
leave it for a few more weeks it may
start to fruit but I might have to do
that in a different video because this
one may have been too long already so if
you guys want to see future videos with
these flowering and fruiting let me know
and I will make sure to do a follow-up
but yeah there is do a lot of water left
so that should be enough for it to
sustain itself and to it start to fruit
so let me show you the other ones in the
in the smaller containers alright here
it is look at this one here
it is grown pretty tall and
reason for this is because this arrow
garden here it has the odor CFL bulb and
it's not strong enough and so what it
does for the plant is that it caused the
plant to grow and extend more than it
should which is not good you want the
plant to you know you know to be short
and stocky and sort of like the the the
stem should be really thick so it can
support itself but yeah that that's what
happened when lights are lacking but as
you notice there's some purple here and
that is because I bought a new light
bulb for the system there is an adapter
for the older aragorn unit and what that
does is it would allow you to attach it
to this unit and use regular light bulb
so here it is right here that's what it
looks like
so this bowl I bought this on eBay for
like a few bucks and it just attaches
into the original spot where the the
AeroGarden light is so it looks like
this so this is the AeroGarden light
bulb CFL and you see it has this unique
adapt
I mean connector and basically what this
does is it replaces that and then you
can attach a new bulb into this so I
bought that bulb there which is a LED it
it's very nice and compact and I think
it's pretty powerful because that light
seems to be doing much better than the
regular CFL so here it is the other
smaller unit that I used the water
bottle system here and look at that
there is some some flowers see that
there's some flowers so let me show you
closer okay here it is
and as you can see there are some
flowers right over there so I have grown
this plant in this small tiny setup for
four weeks and it's already starting to
flowers so I'm gonna allow it to fruit
and see
I can get out of this this is very
unique and I've done this system many
times so I have refilled the water
probably three times and basically it's
pretty simple you just allow the water
to drain all the way down to here and
then you can just fill it up all the way
to slightly below the net cup the net
cup don't don't let it touch you could
if you want to because there are still
air gap above the the net cup for the
plans to breathe but when you refill
that that should be like like so and you
just pour water on top and allow it to
drain down to here and if you see any
type of residue down here or some algae
y'all all you have to do is just lift
this up here and then take it outside
and then clean it up see it's very very
simple clean it up and then put it back
and then refill with nutrients and if
you want to put this into a larger
system the same thing it's very simple
just pull this out and then you know
place that into the largest system and
you're good to go
so that's that that's the reason why I
love this simple unit it's fun to do it
doesn't take a lot of space and it
actually allows you to learn a little
bit about cracky method in your house
which doesn't cause a lot of money to to
start so I highly recommend you guys try
this method out it as I mentioned it's a
good learning method and you can do a
lot with just this little system so I've
grown peppers herbs I mean you can do
herbs easily on here from start to
finish and you get you know a bunch of
herbs to use I've done lettuce now I've
done peppers and now it's tomato so
there these guys is starting to flowers
now so I'm gonna let this continue to
grow into it fruit but the video has
been too long already as I mentioned so
I'm gonna stop it here if you want to
see any more updates on this just let me
know and I will record some future
videos for this
alright guys thus that is all for this
thank you so much for watching please
like comment and subscribe