Homemade Hydroponic System

A homemade hydroponic system basically makes hydroponics work, where plants are grown not in soil but in water enriched with nutrients for plant growth. In a hydroponic system, the nutrients are fed to the plants without the exposure to harmful toxins and other unwanted components present in the soil. It can easily be built right at home even for a beginner to gardening. A homemade hydroponic system will only need a small space at home. This is perfect for people living in the urban areas who would like to do gardening in limited areas and harvesting vegetables for their own consumption. You can also include automation with timers and remote monitoring equipment, so it will make a time-efficient gardening endeavor. By doing hydroponic gardening yourself right at the comforts of your own home, you get to save money while ensuring that you will have a steady supply of fresh and nutrient-rich vegetables.

You can practically grow almost every herbs, vegetables and salad green you can think of like: lettuce, cabbage, mustard greens, kale, basil, tomatoes, cucumber, eggplant and so on. To be able to build a hydroponic system, you need to take care of the following:

Lighting - If you plan to grow plants indoors and natural sunlight is not sufficient, you need to have an artificial light available.
Growing Medium - The most common medium that can be used are coconut fiber, perlite and rockwool, which can drain well while preserving enough moisture needed by the plants.
Reservoir - This could be a standard fish tank with black painted sides, which will inhibit the growth of algae in the tank.
Planters or Pots - The pots are ideally made from mesh or similar material which will let the roots hang down into the nutrient solution.
Planting Trays - These trays need to be stable enough to prevent the plants from falling over while allowing them to feed from the nutrient mixture.
Hydroponics Pump - This is needed so you can to pump the nutrient solution into the growing or planting trays.
Timer - You can automate the lighting system and the feeding system.