I made a recipe the other week that called for fresh basil. While looking for it at the grocery store I noted that buying a potted basil plant was actually cheaper than buying a package of cut basil. Upon brining it home I thought that I should try and keep it alive with the hope of having basil for some time to come. Unfortunately, our house is positioned in such a way that the windows I tried to put the plant in werent getting a lot of light. So then I started thinking about buying a grow light. I ended up buying one and while researching how to use it I came across some articles about using them in conjunction with hydroponics. This led to a ThingvVerse model of a 3d printed hydroponic tower. Things kept going in that direction and before I knew it I had started printing the pieces I needed, bought the other parts I needed, and had the base model together…

The main component is the bit that has the green plant holders in it. This picture only shows one insert for plants but Im printing more with the hope of having a place for at least 20 plants. The water is pumped through the clear hose from the bucket into the top section which has a sort of shower head pattern in it which allows the water to spread out and drip down the pipe hopefully hitting the bottom of each green inserts. The green plant inserts will have some clay medium in it which the roots of the plant are planted in. I had some issues printing the green plant holders and after doing some more research it seems like they may not be needed at all. I ordered some net pots and Im hoping they just slide into the slot on their own.

The bucket itself has a pump in it which I’ve hooked up to a Raspberry Pi to trigger the pump on and off at a set duration (more on that later). Im still doing some research but the water needs to be amended with some nutrients so I still have to sort that all out.

So while spending time doing this I sort of forgot that I had to… you know…. actually plant seeds that will grow into pants – that can then be transplanted into the hydroponic system. To do that I bought some “plugs” called Rapid Rooters which have a small hole in them that the seeds can be put in. All you do is soak them in water and then put them in a tray with water in the bottom so that the plugs can stay moist…

So I put the tray in the basement with grow light. The light is set to run from 9am to 6pm every day. Much to my surprise, after just a day I was able to see some seeds (which apparently missed the holes) already starting to do something…

So I used a tweezers to put those seeds back in the holes. Im hoping that in a couple of days I’ll see some sprouting!