CHEAP & EASY DIY Garden Tower Backyard Hydroponics!
This Video is from the Youtube channel: “Keep on Growin’ with Mike VanDuzee”.
This is attempt number one at building a vertical hydroponic grow tower for under $100. Besides the target price, I was also trying to make it easy to build with minimal tools and easily found items. The pool noodles really helped out with the cost and time. The pool noodles replaced net cups, rockwool, hydroton and plumbing fixtures to hold the cups.
0:00 Intro
1:35 Price breakdown of materials and supplies
2:45 Some changes that I made since completion
3:30 Step #1 Drill holes in lids
5:30 Step # 2 Drill hole in center for tubing
6:00 Step # 3Attach inner plumbing
8:15 Step #4 Cut hole in bottom of three buckets
9:00 Step #5 Attach lids to bucket bottoms
10:15 Step #6 Cut notch for power cord
11:00 Step # 7 Measure and mark holes for plants
13:20 Step #8 Drill holes for plants (important info)
13:50 Important step, do not skip!
14:15 Step #9 Assembly of vertical tower
18:00 Insert plants with pool noodles
19:40 Cut some pool noodles on an angle
20:00 Modifications that I made to my first system
21:00 Why I chose the design and materials
22:25 Outro
I am so excited to build this tower! Thank you so much for all your hard work to make this video. I’m up in Canada so I can slowly get mine built before the May 24 last frost date! 💖
Have fun! Happy gardening!!
Hi GreenEyedFlower I’m in Canada as well but I grow all my veggies indoors with grow lights. I absolutely love my little garden in our little apartment in the Center of the city. I didn’t know I could grow anything before I tried hydroponics because prior to that everything I tried to grow died but without the mess and the dirt hydroponic growing is the only way for me!! It’s been absolutely awesome. I just plucked my first three roma tomatoes and a handful of cherry tomatoes the other day and I’ve got my NfT system all washed up and slowly getting it set up again. It takes a lot to fill 52 holes for lettuce! But I grow as many different varieties and kinds that I can find and absolutely love it. I grow sweet peppers too and I’ve been sooo successful at growing them they don’t just last and produce for a couple of months out in the garden, no you can grow sweet bell peppers indoors in large tote containers and oh my word leave them until they are vine ripened and I just plan my next meal on what the garden has given me for the day! It’s so much fun and I can be as creative or as simple as I like. I recently discovered lemon basil and I’ve always wanted to grow a lemon tree and I’m going to find some dwarf varieties but until then this lemon basil is completely satisfying my citrus needs. The aroma when I start cutting off the leaves is unbelievable you would think I had just sliced a fresh lemon in my living room. And my hands smell like lemon for so long afterwards. I can wait to make some boiled down teas with it so I can make lemon basil iced tea I don’t know if it’s a thing or not but I can’t wait to try it!! Also I’ve found the more I cut it the More it grows and the exact same thing with regular basil. 🥰🇨🇦
How did this work last summer? I’m in Ontario and seriously considering this for this coming season
THANK YOU!!! As a person that is extremely “green”(aka new🤣) when it comes to hydroponics and kinda broke your videos have given me the knowledge, the tools, and the courage to actually start growing 💗
This comment made my weekend! Thank you Kaityn!
This is awesome! I looked at some that are super expensive and I couldn’t justify that expense! Thank you so much for your hard work but even more for your sharing of your engineering of these buckets!
I went to Whole Foods bakery department for buckets. They use from 1 to 3 buckets of icing very day or two. No charge but you have to clean the icing that’s left. I then used H2O2 solution (33%)to clean them. You got me started at this 2 years ago. I have built a 6 X 6 foot (36 square feet) ladder (102 plants) for my patio. My Patio is 8 X 17 feet. This Tower will be a great addition for my 35 Strawberry Plants. I can send pictures if you like. I am a 78 senior living in a continuing care retirement community (CCRC). When I started this I was 40 pounds heaver. Harvey
That is sooooo awesome Harvey! You are an inspiration! my email is keepongrowin1@gmail.com
@Keep on Growin’ with Mike VanDuzee
I will send you pictures of my patio gardenas soon as I get the bucket tower complete
@Harvey McAninch Man that is awesome, I would love to see pictures as well!
I love this comment! I want to see your pictures, too. That’s a good idea to do this with strawberries.
I’d love to see your pictures also. Good for you and congratulations on your 40 lb. weight loss : )
Thank you Mr. Van Duzee!! Looks like you have another incredible way for us to all grow our own food! I have to tell you I picked 5 cherry tomatoes vine ripened today and two over ripe sweet banana peppers(over ripe because they start off yellow so how do you know when they are ripe?! Lol! They are soooo sweet when orange like candy!) I wouldn’t have tried half the things that you have taught me and I’m eternally grateful! I have another tomato plant that is putting on Roma tomatoes right now and I just can’t believe it! We’ve been eating lettuce of all kinds by the bowl full and tatsoi is my go to 45 days veg that I can put on a menu plan and know in 45 days we will be have a lot of delicious stir fry tatsoi! It’s awesome. I wear my pink bee 🐝 the change T-shirt proudly! I absolutely love how you have taught someone that is disabled and can’t do much anything else but as long as someone can bring the 5gallon buckets over to my plants I can use my handheld pumps(actually used for gasoline) and easily pump water from my bucket into my growing buckets! Thank you so much! On a fixed income and with food prices soaring I have confidence in my ability to grow a ton of food in a small loft apartment high in the sky on the 34th & 35th floor! I tell everyone I know and they are blown away by my photos of fresh food. It’s all picture perfect because no pests or wind or anything to disturb it. Thank you thank you thank you!!🥰❤️🙏🏻🇨🇦🐝
I love this so much!! I am so happy and proud of you! You rock! Thank you for Bee ing the Change!
amazing to hear. thanks Mike for making all this possible for everybody.
@Leanne KenYoung: Your comment was so sweet and inspiring it made me cry! Congratulations on your thriving garden…so happy for you!
@Keep on Growing with Mike: Thank you for all the joy and great ideas you brought to us! We need this information now more than ever!
@Dianna Diress awe I’m happy that my words had that effect on you, I always write them and wonder if anyone will ever read them. Ironically today I pulled out two full trays of white stem pak Choi that I put into such a small amount of tiny little soil pods and I just pulled them apart and when they are very young before the roots get very large and entangled. So it was incredibly satisfying to fill these 3” wide cup trays with small holes in the bottom and I put a very solid tray underneath and that’s where I add the lightly added nutrient water and the tiny thin stems lay on the inside of the 3” cups and then once the roots get well established they stand up on their own and just thrive I have plastic covers over top of the entire tray to keep them moist and I have the light just above the trays in a month or less I’ll be able to take my first harvest for a stir fry. I love this stuff it’s so delicious and easy to grow.
So proud of you Leanne! I tried microgreens in soil this past winter. And did okay. Except for a knat infestation. So I will never have soil in my apartment again. I’m binge watching all of Bee The Change Videos as of yesterday. My hydroponics will have to be indoors April-November. I have a tiny balcony mostly shaded. I am also on a permanent disability. And boy do I need something to do. And grow. Besides I am a strict vegan. So growing my own food is so important. I would like to do bubblers and pumps on solar (for mostly indoor hydroponics). If you or anyone else has any ideas I’m open.
Very nice take on a tower! I love how budget-friendly you were able to make this!
I like your idea. I will try this for myself with a few changes. I would use pvc pipe glue to attach the lids to the bottoms of the buckets to hopefully give a water tight seal. The other change is to add a spigot valve on the lower side of the reservoir bucket to allow drainage for the winter months. I live where we get three or four months a year with threat of below freezing temps, so without a greenhouse or other temperature controlled space would have a risk of damage to everything.
please keep us updated on this. I am looking into building this system. looks great. Thank you!
I have been looking to complete an exact system such as yours. You have some great ideas here Mike, I will be starting to build my system tomorrow. I’ll let you know how I go…
This is so awesome Mike. I think this design is going to do very well. I always wanted a hydrophobic tower but they are so expensive to buy. Now you just designed the budget solution.
For those of you who don’t want to spend too much on buckets and lids, check out your local bakery! Some of the big box chains too. The frosting comes in large, 5 gallon food grade buckets, and some don’t mind handing them out. I used to all the time when I was working in the bakery of my local grocery store. To bad I didn’t know about this back then! Happy gardening 🙂
Thank you!
Suggestion- instead of metal bolts, use heavy duty, plastic zip ties and thread through two of your holes in the lids to make a tight loop. Those metal bolts are going to corrode quite quickly. zip ties that are made for outdoor/water usage will last a decade.
you can also get plastic nuts and bolts the type you can put on your car to keep license plate on with
You could also use the nuts for toilet seats. They’re mostly now plastic.
Stainless bolts would be fine
Your instructions are great. Thank you for making this video. I can’t wait to make this tower. Many of them, actually lol
Mike, we did away with the sprinkler heads due to clogging. We placed a funnel upside down and the water flows to the sides. Also, the pool noodles were leaking out nutrients. They would leak down onto the outside lid. We drilled tiny holes on the outside lids and it dripped back in the buckets. Very pleased.
Thanks for your expertise and is greatly appreciated!
Nice! The funnel is a great tip. I had to clean my nozzle out every few weeks. Thanks for the input!
How do mean upside down? How would it spread water?
@D rBI’d imagine like a hat. Water would come up through funnel hole and roll down the cone toward the outside of bucket. Knocks a few bucks off and maintenance. Sounds ideal.
Just came across this video and wanted to say thanks for making it! After years of struggling to grow anything in my backyard, I’ve been thinking about trying the hydroponic method. I’d prefer not to have to spend hundreds of dollars on a system when I’m just a beginner, so this is a great option.
Fun fact, the Home Depot buckets are made in my hometown. 🙂
Neuf 350Z: I think your idea of trying Hydroponics is a great one; If you’ve got some yard space, consider having a look around the neighbourhood to see what your neighbours are growing. It could be that you weren’t using a species of plant to grow, that does well in your area.
It may also be that there’s something small that would make a big difference to you. So perhaps talking to somebody in your family your circle of friends that garden successfully, and maybe having them come over and take a look at your land, to help you figure it out?
I have a sister who put a great deal of effort and money into a flower garden that failed year after year. It took one trip of a family member and one walk through the garden to find the problem.
Ever since that time, she has had a lush, productive, and even somewhat exotic garden.
My mom, who has always grown flowers, tried growing potatoes in a garden using black soil, as that’s a choice that always held lots of water for her flowers in the heat of summer. As a result, all her potatoes tasted like bog.
She was really discouraged and decided that she was not going to grow any more vegetables because she considered that one result to be a waste of resources and space, because the vegetables were essentially inedible.
I had a quick look, as my experience is with growing food, so it wasn’t so hard to spot the problem.
When she learned that she had done absolutely everything right, and actually produced a pretty nice yield, but just had used the wrong growth medium, she decided to give it another shot.
She’s learning as she goes, and she knows how to produce potatoes, lettuce, celery, strawberries, onions and leeks, Black currents, and a few nice carrots.
If the issue with your backyard is so easily solved, there’s no reason why you couldn’t enjoy both.❤️
Thank you for saving me a fortune. I live in the UK and was on the verge of ordering ONE tower system from Germany for 650 GBP. Lucky for me I thought I’ll have a quick internet search for an alternative before ordering. I came across your YouTube channel and your simple instructions for building one’s own “Bucket Tower”. This got me very excited to say the least.. Needless to say I’m now off to the hardware shop for the things I need. My goal is TEN towers so FORTY buckets. Thanks again.
The buckets stacked would also be a great way to filter water!
Suggestion. You spend a lot of time drilling holes and then cleaning up the results so the pump doesn’t clog up. Why don’t you melt the holes using a larger soldering iron or a bolt of the correct diameter heated with a propane torch? The holes are smoother and there is no cleanup.
Also, you don’t have to limit your tower to one mode. You could have a three bucket tower base for stability, then continue atop that with a pipe of 4″ diameter or 6″. I have a section of 6″ on hand, so I will use that.
I’m also planning a fence mounted hydroponic using plastic roll fencing attached to my board fence (could be a wall). I will staple plastic bottles to the plastic net so one bottle drains to the one below, with a gutter at the bottom to collect the solution to recirculation it. Lots of holes in the bottles, all melted in.
I enjoy your channel. Thank you.
I have done several outdoor aquaponic gardens, mostly flood and drain gravel beds… this would be a cool addition and the bottom bucket instead of a reservoir could be a collection point and then use a hose to direct the water to the fish pond. Ive grown tons of lettuce just using cheap goldfish from the pet store.
Not sure if it’s been mentioned anywhere but an easy upgrade to stability could be to completely cut the bottom off of one bucket or the reservoir buck and then two decently large cuts on the sides. Get a sterilite tote for a bigger wider reservoir base. Measure cut a hole in the totes lid for the bucket to slide into. This could make refilling it easier as well. Would add maybe $8-$12 to the project total. Thank you so much for sharing though! Ridiculously easy looking and a great basic structure, perfect diy