In recent years, the hydroponic system is getting increasing popularity worldwide. The reason for why it has become so popular is that the same makes the plant growth effortless. Following this system, people prevent the unwanted use of soil as the plants are grown in the container consisting of water, oxygen, and other nutrients. This further keeps their home free from dirt, filth, and hazardous germs.
In addition, the grower is now no more required to provide nutrient to the plants every after 2-3 hours as the plants get their essential nutrients from the liquid solution discharged in the hydroponic container.
According to the clinical reports, the growth of a plant in this system is observed to be 30%-55% faster than that in the plant grown in soil. Scientists say that the vast difference in the growth rate of plants is mainly because the plants get ample of oxygen in the hydroponic system that often aids plant to absorb the nutrients easily.
Besides that, the hydroponic system is termed as an environment-friendly procedure of plants grown as it uses comparatively less quantity of water than soil gardening. Although this system is effective enough to grow your herbs rapidly, the same is a bit expensive (it is costly and needs electricity to function) and complicated system.
But no need to worry now as this system can be designed at your home with the ordinary materials like water bottles. This not only cut down the expenditure of buying a large hydroponic tank but can also be maintained easily. Now the question is “how to build a hydroponic system out of plastic bottles?” so here I am presenting a guide following which you can prepare your home hydroponic system in an effective way.
Hydroponic System From Plastic Bottles
In order to construct a home-based hydroponic system from plastic bottles, you are required to assemble a few materials that are:
- Plastic water bottle
- Cutting equipment such as the razor, blade, knife, and scissors.
- A marker
- Awl or drill
- Perlite
- Water resistant tape (try to use duct tape if possible)
- Cotton yarn or other such wicking product
- Water, nutrient solution for herbs, and a liquid fertilizer
Once you have collected the above-mentioned materials, you are ready to build a hydroponic system. Follow the below-listed steps and get a perfect yet inexpensive system for the quick growth of your plants.
Step 1
Remove the top section of plastic bottle using a knife, razor, or a blade. Make sure to cut it off from the mark where the curve of the bottle connects to the straight edges of the same.
Step 2
In order to place the lid in the bottle, twist the upper section of the same and put it at the base. Now once the lid is settled in the bottle, use a marker to mark the point where the lid is inserted. This mark will aid you as a reference in positioning the nutrient solution.
Step 3
Drill a large hole in the lid of your bottle. While drilling, make sure to keep the hole sufficient for the undyed cotton yarn to pass through it.
Step 4
Once you have drilled a hole in the bottle, pass the cotton yarn through the same and thread it to the lid. This yarn should cover the entire bottle as it will work as a mediator of transmitting the nutrient solution to your hydroponic system.
Step 5
Now take out the top portion of the bottle placed on the bottom surface of the same and add the hydroponic nutrient solution in the underside section. While filling up the bottle with nutrients, it is recommended to consider the mark (made in step 2) as a reference to avoid overfilling of liquid solution.
Step 6
Reinsert the removed upper section of the bottle again at the bottom and fasten it using a water-resistant tape. This step will enable the cotton yard to descend into the water solution.
Step 7
Dampen the perlite utilizing the liquid solution and position the same into the top section of the bottle. Thread the cotton yard through this perlite to enable the nutrients to pass through the base of the bottle to the perlite-filled upper section.
Step 8
Position a small sapling in the perlite and make sure that its entire roots are concealed. This sapling will pull out the nutrients from the moistened perlite. Once these nutrients are absorbed by the sapling, the further nutrient will be drawn from the base of the bottle to the cotton yarn.
Step 9
In order to add more nutrients to the hydroponic system, remove the duct tape from the top and bottom section of your bottle. Do not forget to connect the pieces again after refilling the system.
Conclusion
With these steps, you can build your own hydroponic system from plastic water bottles without spending much. However, while preparing it through water bottles, take certain precautions to avoid the unnecessary cuts in your hands. This hydroponic bottle-based system can also be utilized for starting the seeds using the above-mentioned steps but you need to add water in place of nutrient solution unless the seed is grown.
