Complete DIY hydroponic drip system guide
Hydroponic Drip System
The equipment used in this system is very similar to the materials described in the
DIY aeroponic system guide. The differences are rather than pvc pipe, you will use 1/4″ drip tubes and 1/4″ barbed Ts. The pump will only need to be about 100-150 GPH because in this setup, we will use a medium that can retain a lot of water, such as rockwool cubes.
This is one of the simpler hydroponic setups, it’s main advantage over plain deep water culture is that you can start smaller plants in them. With deep water culture, the roots much always be submerged in the water, but if you are growing from seed or small cuttings, the roots may not always reach. If you don’t plan on using putting plants with small root systems in this system, a drip setup won’t offer you any advantage of DWC.
First build a basic deep water culture setup, you can find instructions at the 5 gallon bucket deep water culture guide or you can build the setup from the Aeroponic Guide minus the aeroponic components.
Secondly you need to build the actual drip feed component. Drill a 1″ hole in the middle of the container lid, attach one end of drip tube to the pump and pull the tube through the hole. Give the tube enough length to reach through the lid when it is attached, plus a little slack. Then cut the tube and attach a barbed T to the top. Now attach 2 short lengths of drip tubing and attach a barbed T to the end of each. Attach a short length of drip tubing to each of the 4 ends and stick them in your net pots. Now add your hydroponic medium that will retain water to the 4 net pots, stick a tube in each, and turn it on. Congrats, you are now running a hydroponic drip setup.