Hydroponic gardening is one of the most fascinating and rewarding hobbies that people can undertake. While sometimes associated only with growing illegal marijuana plants surreptitiously, homemade hydroponic gardens can be used to grow almost any plant in a limited space, including fruits, vegetables, flowers and other decorative plants.

People have been creating homemade hydroponic gardens for hundreds of years. With today’s lightweight plastic materials and easy-to-obtain oxygen pumps, homemade hydroponic gardens are easier than ever to make. The advantage to going homemade with your hydroponic garden is the fact that it will be much cheaper than pre-formed kits available in hobby and upscale garden stores.

The first step in creating your homemade hydroponics gardens is to get a good book on the subject. One book that can serve as your comprehensive guide is “Hydroponics for the Home Gardener: An Easy-To-Follow, Step-By-Step Guide For Growing Healthy Vegetables, Herbs and House Plants Without Soil” by Stewart Kenyon and Howard M. Resh. This and other books on the subject of homemade hydroponic gardens can be purchased from www.amazon.com and other retail websites.

Getting The Materials For Your Homemade Hydroponic Garden

The first part of creating a simple homemade hydroponic garden is figuring out what type of reservoir you want to use. One possibility is a standard fish tank, but you have to paint the sides of the tank black or cover the sides with black plastic, such as from a black plastic bag. The reason why the sides have to be black or opaque is because otherwise algae will grow in your tank, which will interrupt your plant growth. Another possibility for a reservoir is to use a rubber or plastic storage bin. Holes for the pots can be cut in the lid of the storage bin using a sharp box cutter or scalpel. Still other reservoirs are made from two-liter plastic bottles by cutting the bottoms out of them and then using them upside down.

Next, you need to figure out what kind of planters you want to use. Ideally, your pots are made from mesh or similar material, so your roots can hang down into the nutrient solution. How many pots you can fit in your reservoir depends on the surface size of your reservoir and the size of the pants. Most chap aquariums have limited surface space, so it would be appropriate to plant four small to mid-size plants in them. Large storage bins can hold larger plants, or a significant amount more of smaller plants.

Other materials you need to buy include an air pump. Homemade hydroponic gardens need to employ them in order to constantly aerate plant roots. Again, expensive air pumps can be purchased from specialty garden stores, but for your homemade hydroponic garden, a cheaper alternative would be an inexpensive aquarium pump you can buy at any pet supply store. Another mandatory supply for your homemade hydroponic garden is a nutrient mixture that is water-soluble, and which you can buy at garden supply and some department stores. These are not prohibitively expensive, but to save even more money, or if you just want more control on what you are feeding your plants, you can purchase a guide that will detail how to mix your own homemade hydroponic nutrients.

Finally, you need to find something that will serve as a medium to anchor your plants. In nature, this function would be done by the soil, but since homemade hydroponic gardens do not use soil, you need to use something to hold the roots of your plants. Mediums include everything from clay pellets to “rockwool cubes.” Once you have obtained these materials, you are well on your way to creating your own homemade hydroponic garden.