Hydroponic Bottle Garden

Hydroponic Hanging Garden. Great method for growing veggies and herbs in a confined space, easy to look after, create a mini green house environment in any window.

Supplies needed. !
in this case i used 8 oz -600ml water bottles (preferably all the same)

Roof & gutter Silicon,  6 small squares of sponge, 

Vermiculite plant growing mix, Blind cord /sash rope,
lighter and knife, tape measure,
2 1/8 (64mm) Drill bit hole cutter, 1" drill bit,

1.5mm small drill bit, small pliers, Philips screw driver,

small 1.5mm stainless stele nut and bolt,

battery or electric drill.

 

To make your Hanging Hydroponic Garden collect your plastic water bottles preferably all the same size. Depending on how big your window is will decide what number of bottles to use, you will need 1 at top and 1 ant bottom for watering and what ever you can fit in between. mine has 7, 5 growing compartments

First fill up water bottle with water! and stick it in the freezer. 

TIP: leave room for water to expand when frozen and turn label to face up this is where air bubble will settle and is not a drilling side?  WHY? because drilling the holes is a lot easy with a frozen bottle, try it unfrozen and see what happens!!

Drill a hole with a 2" 1/4 bit on the lower side, also drill a 1" whole on base ( check size of bottle neck you have it may be bigger or smaller)

slide a card sleeve around lower part of bottle with hole and spray top half with matte black paint. ( this helps the roots to grow in the dark)

Finished painted bottle ( I will repeat this 5 times for my specific project you may do more or less depending on window size )

Take one bottle to create top feeder, drill frozen bottle with 2 1/4" bit at the bottom of bottle, also drill 4 small holes in bottom side to tie rope threw, i used blind sash rope and a metal ring, cut 2 pieces of equal length rope feed threw tie add ring and tie to opposite side, cut excess string and seal with lighter to secure knot, add a square of sponge in neck of bottle

get 2 lids and join together with silicon

once 2 lids are dry drill 1 hole in center and 6 round edges then use a small stainless steel nut and bolt to add extra strength

get as many lids as you have growing bottles and drill 2 small holes in center of caps, I used about 1.5mm drill

This bottle is your water collection chamber drill a small hole near top, this will allow air to escape as water drips in bottle (TIP: mark hole with marker pen so when you re-pour you don't spill the water )

Using a clear silicon ( I used drain and gutter silicon) place a bead around neck of bottle and twist it into the bottom of another bottle place a square of sponge in neck of bottle and place on the lid with 2 small holes. ( the sponge will slow the transfer of water from one bottle to another and act as a filter)

Once they are connected fill  vermiculite or similar to top of black area using a scoop, ( my scoop is made from a plastic bottle) 

this is how it should look ( mini version) top hanging bottle followed by grow bottles and last bottle has the double joined cap and the collection bottle, which allows you to reuse the feed water.

Use a good hydroponic food mix with water, (TIP: run fresh water threw a couple of times before seeding to cleanse and wet the vermiculite)

pour liquid food into top bottle about 1/3 full, this will slowly drip feed all through the other plant areas to bottom collection

water fills the bottom collection bottle, i normally reuse this about 2 times before using fresh mix

This is my first 4 hanging gardens with 5 growing bottles in each, first one has just been seeded with strawberries, 2nd run is top 2 chives and bottom 3 coriander / Cilantro, 3rd one is spinach and last one organic  mixed lettuce

spinach about 3 weeks  and lettuce about 5 weeks

coriander / spinach / lettuce

I have enjoyed this method of indoor growing and you can use it any where even move it with the sun, it is a perfect micro green house and as you can see maximize space for growing a healthy dinner, I will carry on filling up my conservatory with them and latter will join a 1 time water feed to do all of them at same time watch out for this post.