Hydroponic System for Beginners, Save Lots of Money
This Video is from the Youtube channel: “Keep on Growin’ with Mike VanDuzee”.
I show you how to construct an easy hydroponic system so you can grow your own lettuce, herbs and other leafy greens. This can be done indoors or outdoors and is a carefree way of growing. Minimal effort to maintain and easy enough for just anybody to start.
Amazon Endcaps:
Make your own hydroponic downspout grower up to 10' long with these endcaps!!
0:00 Intro
1:23 Using Tupperware
2:30 Why I use 2” net cups
7:40 Can you use a 1’ hole?
10:15 How to drill in plastic without it cracking
16:35 Using pool noodles for gardening
24:35:Cut pool noodle collars without drill bit
26:15: How to prevent algae growth
28:57 Speed run assembly of hydroponic system
32: Final thoughts on hydroponic set up
I appreciate the repetition. Besides if you stopped making videos, so many future gardeners would miss out. I grow inside with LED lights on a baker’s rack. I don’t drive any more so Amazon is my friend. Ordered the whole setup for a bit more than $100. I’m a senior living on not quite 900 a month so I need this. A fun hobby that feeds me.
Awesome Vickey! I love hearing that. You take the initiative that a lot of people don’t. I am so glad it helps you.
@Leanne KenYoung Thank you. I use masterblend. I’m in Colorado. This is the easiest gardening I’ve ever done and just about the cheapest. 1 1/2 shelves keep me in fresh veg…nearly too much. I’m using 2 of Mike’s downspouts. I use a dwc setup for the next run and go back and forth. I didn’t think anything was complicated. Like anything else it required a commitment. Once I’d spent the money for the shelf (4 shelf 14×30) and 6 pack t5 barinna lights I was committed lol
@Leanne KenYoung what do you use for your nutrients, and where do you purchase it?👍🏻🇨🇦
Even easier tip for drilling plastic: don’t use a spade bit use a hole saw. spin the hole saw backwards so you’re friction cutting instead of using the teeth. You won’t get any tearing motion and the plastic won’t crack and you wont have to tape everything.
😃👍
He literally mentions that in the video… did you even watch it?
@PenguinSaver you good bro? This was a year ago. Chill.
Mike, amazing tutorial with lots of details and thoughtful ideas. Thanks to you I have also started to use pool noodle for my Hydroponic basil set up. You have always touched details and critical points which I appreciate a lot. Thank you again and again.
Thank you so much! I appreciate hearing that. Have an awesome day.
I am also one who loves your videos and the repetition! I’m 76 and watched your videos first about 2 years ago. Then I watched many other videos, or parts of, but I’ve done away with most of them and stay with yours. You are the most informative and easy to understand, besides being economical. I bought some stuff 18 mo. ago, but I’ve only begun setting up a few weeks ago due to many setbacks…a big birthday bash for my hubby’s 85th birthday last summer, then he got sick and passed last fall, then 2 huge trees fell on my house penetrating through the ceiling last winter, then last spring I woke up one day paralyzed from my waist down! Praise God’s and with His help I’ve overcome it all, except missing my husband, of course.
I don’t have the light setup yet, but I do have one sunny room.
I’ve started with lettuce and speckled peas and just got them in the nutrients yesterday and today. I have no family close by, but plan to share with all my church family, and perhaps encourage them to try this method. Thank you Mr. VanDuzee for sharing your knowledge and time with us! May it all return to you multiplied!!!
Thank you so much for sharing Donna, you are a very strong person. I am glad I could bring you a little happiness. Take it slow, experiment and have fun. Happy gardening my friend.
Awww, I am sending you big hugs. I am sorry about your hubby.
Immersed myself into hydroponics 44 days ago ( my bounty elite says so lol) and I’ve become fascinated with growing food indoors. I’ve been doing so much research and I’m surprised it took me this long to find you! Your videos are so awesome, thank you!
That is awesome! 👍👍
You are such a good teacher! Great “ how to” video for those of us that need it! 👍
I appreciate that! Thank you so much Cathy!
Thanks Mike! Appreciate all of the hard work you put in to help feed us foodies. I blame my mother for making me a gardener. She had us out in the dirt weeding and picking. With Hydro, I’m a no weeding farmer now!
Yep, weeding is one thing I do not miss, lol.
I discovered (in case you haven’t already noticed) that a pool noodle fits perfectly in the top of a mason jar. Simple hydroponics.
For an even cheaper way to wrap the bottoms of the containers you might try cutting sections from brown paper bags from the grocery store. You could use regular tape to hold the brown paper sections on if you don’t have spray glue and as a plus you could decorate the brown paper before or after cutting it to fit to your containers. You might even do the decorating with your kids. Of course it’s not waterproof but how often is it going to get wet growing this way and it’s fairly tough.
That is an excellent idea. I love it when people go the extra mile and think of improvements or alternatives!
There are no words for how much I love these videos. Thank YOU!
Thank you for doing this. You may be saving lives if things get as bad as the great depression. I am going to make these kits and give them as gifts to others so they can grow food and not to hungry.
You are an awesome human being!
What a fantastic idea Sue Lewis! Curious how your kits have been received? I’ve tried to get others to start as well but I can’t seem to motivate them to even try it. I’ve gone so far as to give them a romaine lettuce plant that I had started from seed that I had growing in a 4litre jug that I wrapped in tin foil to prevent algae growth, I gave them one of my desk clamp grow lights that I don’t use anymore. I mixed nutrients in water and gave them a jug of them so they could top up the water when it went down and even with all that I couldn’t convince them that it was much better healthier and wonderful to grow their own food indoors. They are used to regular house plants in soil and garden outdoors in soil. I thought I could show them how easy it was to grow their own year round indoors with very little effort. But they just couldn’t believe that lettuce could grow without soil. They were much happier to just receive the fruits o my efforts when I would share my lettuce etc with them. I had given them enormous bags of lettuce and they said they loved it and wanted to grow themselves. But they couldn’t either understand that they truly didn’t need soil or something. They even took a basil plant that I had given them when the lettuce failed to thrive thinking basil may be easier for them because I literally do nothing to my basil and it grows like crazy I don’t even use grow lights just in my sunny window. I can barely keep it cut back before it grows like crazy again. So I gave them a basil seedling and once it got growing really well and they saw the long roots they took it out of the water and planted it in potting soil and then eventually they got indoor little fruit flies and it was growing so slow in the potting soil that they eventually gave up. When I asked why they put it in potting soil they said they thought it should be the next step! Lmao! I said noooo it would have grown perfectly fine in water forever. Anyway I hope the people you try to help have better results because I tried my best to help and I think it takes a level of determination and commitment for others to learn how it’s done and unfortunately I wouldn’t want the time to learn to be when I’m lacking in food just to survive. God bless you for trying to help more people I hope it is very successful. 🥰🙏🏻🇨🇦❤️🙏🏻🇺🇦
Hello Mike, Im new at this but you make this look super exciting! Im slowly gathering all I need to get started. Do you have a video where you show how to prepare the nutrient mixed water that you place in the containers?
That’s awesome Louis! Here is the nutrient video: https://youtu.be/SaN6Dlf2hCg
Have fun, experiment and happy gardening!
Mike, your explanation and demo of what you do is a great instruction tutorial. I love your cost consciousness and showing us how and why you do what you do. It’s really helpful! Thanks so much for your videos and positive encouragement! 👍
Thank you! So glad you found it helpful.
Thanks Mike 😀! Hydroponics seemed daunting to me at first, requiring pumps, air filters and such. Seeing you grow bok choy (yummy!) in a container using some pool noodles definitely gave me the confidence to try it out. I’m planning to use styrofoam in place of the lid, as I might want to experiment with different separations for different plants (it might also allow the container to be reused). Have you tried green-stemmed bak choy? That’s the one I normally eat; I heard it tastes different.
No, I have not tried that, I may have to give it a shot.
My sister bought one of the grove towers and had great success however, very expensive. She wants to get some more crops growing and I shared your channel with her and she is excited and will try the pool noodle idea. Thanks for helping us all to be more self sufficient. That could mean life or death in some situations.
You have the option of cutting The pool noodle into a big spiral length of foam, Which can be wrapped around the stem the same as the big donut slice.
I’ve been experimenting a little bit with thinning some of the thicker foam, as well. So all that looks like, as once I’ve got either a slice doughnut or a long strip, making a slice in the thickness of the edge. It’s a little easier to wrap something smaller with the thinner little bit of the edge.
What a beautiful home you have created. I can see how it would be so hard to leave 💕
Pipe insulation from Home Depot or Lowe’s is an alternative to the pool noodle – still pretty cheap and can be found year round. Love the videos.
I just found your channel today and I’m hooked! Haven’t read all the comments here so somebody may have already mentioned this, but to cut the 1″ holes you might could use the foam kickboards. Our dollar tree has sold flat kickboards that are the same foam material as the noodles.
I just discovered your channel & Facebook group – thank you for such incredible dedication to helping others learn this process! I’m so excited to learn and absorb all your knowledge and apply it to my garden in the future!
Love from Canada!❤
Welcome Samantha! Good to have you here. Happy gardening.