How to Create Your Own DIY Hydroponic Garden at Home

If you live in urban areas, it’s true that you don’t have enough space to grow crops. If yes! Hydroponic gardening is the perfect choice for you. Most individuals think that gardening must strictly involve soil. The truth is that several techniques eliminate the need for soil completely! And one such technique that is increasing in popularity is hydroponic gardening.

While this gardening technique sounds highly complex, Gardyn’s hydroponics planter system simplifies your crop-growing process. It makes hydroponics gardening easy; even a newbie will not have trouble avoiding soil to raise plants indoors. From beautiful flowers and herbs to veggies and fruits, hydroponics gardening ensures your home has fresh and plenty of food across the year.

If you’re planning to start hydroponics gardening, you have two options to pick from, which include the following:

Purchase a readymade hydroponics planter system
Create your own DIY hydroponics garden at home

Each of these options comes with unique benefits and drawbacks. But purchasing a readymade hydroponics planter system offers numerous benefits. From managing your smart garden anywhere, anytime to reducing plant issues such as root rot, pests, plant leaf problems and mould growth.

What is a Hydroponics Planter System?

Before you can create your own DIY hydroponics garden at home, you need to know what it’s and how it functions. A hydroponics planter system is a smart garden that uses nutrient-rich water to provide plants with all the essential components they need to grow faster and quickly.

As already mentioned, soil isn’t one of the requirements when it comes to hydroponic gardening. Also, this gardening method keeps maintenance at a minimum because weed and pest control are less of an issue compared to traditional soil-based gardens.

Depending on your unique needs and available space, you’ve got several hydroponic garden types to choose from, which include the following:

Deep water culture system
Nutrient film technique system
Drip hydroponics system
Vertical hydroponics system
EBB and flow hydroponics system
Wick hydroponic system
Kratky hydroponics system

A hydroponic planter system allows plants to access direct sunlight or grow lights, water, nutrients, and minerals from the solution available and carbon dioxide from the air. In hydroponics gardening, growers eliminate the need for soil by blending nutrient-rich powders or liquids with pure water to create a nutrient solution.

The support and structure usually offered by soil are substituted by a special piece of plastic known as a net cup. Other systems use soilless growing media, including the following:

Coco coir
Perlite
Rockwool
Hemp fibre
Lightweight expanded clay aggregate

A hydroponics planter features a reservoir that holds the nutrient solution. Roots can be submerged in the nutrient solution, while the leaves and stems are in the air.

In some types of hydroponics systems like vertical gardens, a pump and an air stone are used to supply mist/nutrient solution and oxygen to the roots, respectively. If natural light isn’t available, grow lights are used.

While the roots obtain vital nutrients from the nutrient solution or mist, the leaves take in light and carbon dioxide. That means plants get everything they need without soil. And that’s the magic behind hydroponic gardens.

Create Your Own DIY Hydroponic Garden at Home

Up to this point, you’ve got plenty of information to create your own DIY hydroponics garden at home. Also, that is a perfect way to utilize some available materials at home.

If you’re familiar with water pumps and tubing from aquariums and garden ponds, consider that an advantage since most hydroponic gardens depend on recycled water, meaning pumps and tubing are necessary. Let’s learn how to make the most popular DIY hydroponics gardens at home.

Kratky Hydroponics System

A Kratky hydroponics planter is the simplest and most cost-effectively planter you can create at home. It was named after the University of Hawaii’s professor, Dr. Bernard Kratky. A Kratky hydroponics garden doesn’t need any fancy equipment or moving parts. You only need the following:

A container
Growing media
Plants
A nutrient solution

The system doesn’t depend on pumps or any other mechanical systems to supply water and nutrients. Plants are supported by growing media like net caps, and their roots are suspended on top of nutrient-rich water.

The nutrient-rich water flows over the plant roots passively. This stress-free and low-maintenance gardening technique perfectly matches small-scale indoor farming. As a result, it’s popular among home gardeners. Follow these steps to create your Kratky hydroponic system:

Fill your tank/container with growing media
Adjust your water’s pH level to range anywhere between 6.5 and 7.0
Sow your seedlings or seeds in the growing media and then add the nutrient solution
Place your container where it’ll access direct sunlight and wait for plants to sprout – remember to add grow lights if growing indoors
Monitor your plants for any changes and ensure aeration is excellent – offer solutions to any problems your plants have

Deep Water Culture Hydroponics System

Another hydroponics planter system that’s inexpensive but a little more sophisticated is the deep water culture. A deep water culture hydroponics system functions almost the same as the Kratky planter. It doesn’t require fancy equipment and moving parts.

The major difference is that in a deep water culture system, plant roots are submerged in a nutrient and oxygen-rich solution. In order to set up your deep water culture hydroponics system, you need to have the following:

A tank or container that’s spacious enough to hold the nutrient solution and plants – it also serves as a reservoir for storing water and nutrients
Net pots
Grow media
Nutrients
An air pump
An air stone or a bubbler
Clones or seeds
A timer – which is optional

Once you have all these important materials, follow these steps to create your first deep-water culture hydroponics system.

Pick the right location
Set up your grow beds
Cut reasonable holes in your container for the air stone and plants – leave approximately one inch between them to allow for bubbling action
Prepare your nutrient tank
Fill your nutrient tank with water – ensure the PH is between 6.5 and 7.0
Add nutrients to the water to feed your plants
Add air to your deep water culture system using an air pump and air stone
Run the air stone tubes through the holes you made in your container
Add a water pump and filter to make sure the nutrient solution is always cleaned and returned to the reservoir without any issues
If you’re using a timer, install it next to where your crops will be – plug everything into it, including grow lights, air pump and bubbler
Add plants and seeds into your net pots/grow beds with your growing media of choice – place them on top of your system’s water pump
Attach the air tube from the pump to the air stone
Install your pump and give it some minutes to get started

These are the simplest and most cost-effective hydroponics planter systems you can create at home. If these procedures seem overwhelming, be sure to purchase a readymade Gardyn’s hydroponics planter system.

It’s designed to make raising food easier and healthier. With this system, you can grow up to 30 plants and control them anywhere, anytime, thanks to its AI-powered growth assistant Kelby technology. Your plants will grow healthier with minimal effort!