Starting your first hydroponic system may feel a bit overwhelming at first, but with the right guidance, it’s a rewarding and innovative way to grow fresh, healthy produce at home. Hydroponics, a farming technique for growing plants without soil, has gained popularity due to its efficient use of space, water, and nutrients. Whether you’re an urban gardener with limited outdoor space or a beginner excited to explore sustainable farming methods, hydroponics offers the flexibility to cultivate a wide range of crops year-round, without the need for soil—making it suitable for backyards, rooftops, or any space that wouldn’t typically support traditional farming.
If you’re interested in hydroponics but unsure where to begin, this blog will guide you through the key steps to get started. In this blog, you will read a step-by-step guide to building one simple hydroponic setup: the Garrafas PET system. Plus, we’ll show you how INCiTiS-FOOD is driving innovation by supporting hydroponic solutions in areas facing food insecurity and water scarcity, helping communities produce sustainable, nutritious food even in challenging conditions.
Why Choose Hydroponics?
Hydroponics allows you to cultivate plants in areas where traditional farming might not be feasible, such as in small urban spaces or regions with poor soil quality. Here are some of the benefits of hydroponic gardening:
- Space Efficiency: Hydroponic systems can be set up in small spaces, including balconies or rooftops.
- Water Conservation: These systems use water more efficiently than traditional soil-based methods, as excess water is often recirculated.
- Faster Growth: Plants grown hydroponically often grow faster because their nutrient uptake is more controlled.
- Reduced Pest Problems: Since the plants aren’t grown in soil, many soil-borne diseases and pests are eliminated.
What is a Simplified Hydroponic System?
A simplified hydroponic system uses basic materials and methods to grow plants without the complexity of advanced technologies. This system can be built with recycled plastic bottles, wood, or bamboo and is designed to be affordable and easy to manage, even for beginners. Let’s look at one of the simplest forms— the “Garrafas Soilless system” (Gianquinto et al., 2006), or “simplified plastic bottle system”.
Setting Up a Plastic Bottle Hydroponic System
Materials You’ll Need:
- Recycled plastic bottles (2-litre bottles are ideal)
- Wooden or bamboo frame
- Water tank (200 litres recommended)
- Drippers and hoses for irrigation
- A growing substrate (small stones, perlite, or vermiculite)
- Basic tools (nails, a hammer, PVC glue, etc.)
Step-by-Step Instructions:
Build the Frame: Start by constructing a wooden or bamboo frame to support your plastic bottles. The frame should have a slope of about 24-27%, ensuring the water flows naturally through the system from top to bottom. If you’re building the structure outdoors, ensure it gets at least 6 hours of sunlight daily for optimal plant growth.
Prepare the Bottles: Once the frame has been built, it is time to build the plastic system. Bottles have to be joined together, realising lines of 6-8 units. First, the plastic label is removed, as well as the plastic caps. Bottles are joined making 2.5 cm diameter holes with a heated iron rod in the base of the bottle. Then, two big holes (5-6 cm diameters) are made in the central body of the bottle: these are the holes where plants will be transplanted. Connect the bottles in a line and fix them onto the sloped frame using plastic ties or wires.
Set Up the Irrigation System: The nutrient solution is stored in a reservoir and delivered to the bottles via a hydraulic system. This allows the plants to absorb the necessary nutrients for growth. Any excess solution is collected from the last bottle and returned to a lower reservoir. The main feeding line, running along the axis of the greenhouse, should have a 2-3% slope to ensure proper flow of the nutrient solution.
Poles with a diameter of 12-13 cm can be used to support the plants. To prepare bamboo poles, sections must be removed, and holes drilled into the internodes to allow nutrient solution flow. The bamboo poles are then filled with growing substrate and placed within the frame that holds the plastic bottle lines
Add the Growing Substrate: The growing substrate in the plastic bottle system primarily supports plants and enables even nutrient solution flow, without providing nutrients itself. It should be inert and durable, with good water retention while draining easily. Suitable materials include small stones, sand, pumice, vermiculite, perlite, carbonised rice hulls, coconut fibre, or combinations of these. A good substrate is free of soluble nutrients, resists disease-causing organisms, doesn’t retain surface moisture, and is locally available, lightweight, and affordable.
Start Planting: You can now plant your seedlings into the bottles. Leafy greens like lettuce and spinach are perfect for beginners, as they thrive in hydroponic systems and don’t require much space. Over time, you can experiment with more complex plants like tomatoes or peppers.
Maintaining Your Hydroponic Garden
Once set up, hydroponic systems require regular maintenance to ensure your plants thrive. Here are a few key tips:
- Check Nutrient Levels: Make sure your plants are getting the right balance of nutrients by regularly replenishing the water solution in the tank.
- Monitor Water Flow: Ensure the drippers are working properly and that the water is flowing evenly through the system.
- Inspect Plants: Look for signs of nutrient deficiency or pests, though hydroponics tends to have fewer pest issues compared to soil cultivation.
Why This System Works
The plastic bottle hydroponic system is simple, sustainable, and cost-effective. It reduces the need for large-scale investment while utilising everyday materials like plastic bottles, which would otherwise be discarded. Additionally, the system’s water efficiency makes it ideal for regions with limited water supply, ensuring that you can grow healthy plants with minimal resources.
How INCiTiS-FOOD Supports Hydroponic Solutions
At INCiTiS-FOOD, we are dedicated to fostering innovation in sustainable food production. Hydroponics plays a key role in our efforts to support urban agriculture, particularly in populated areas and places with limited water access where traditional farming is impractical. Through our work in Africa, INCiTiS-FOOD promotes hydroponics as an effective solution to the challenges posed by food insecurity and climate change.
Our project focuses on empowering local communities by providing access to hydroponic systems and training. By facilitating the exchange of knowledge and best practices, INCiTiS-FOOD helps individuals and communities implement sustainable hydroponic solutions, making fresh food production possible even in the most challenging environments.
Follow our Newsroom because more blogs about the practical application of hydroponic systems are coming soon.
Special thanks to the experts and colleagues from the University of Bologna for their invaluable insights and contributions to this post especially for providing scientific reference with their document Guidelines for simplified hydroponics systems. Their guidance and shared experiences have greatly enriched the content.
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