Last Updated on September 8, 2024 by Sara Rose
Do you want to know how to make Zipgrow Towers DIY? The zipgrow design is a vertical hydroponics system that saves a lot of space.
This means you will be growing your plants up in towers. The convenient layout can be used in any small space indoors. Zipgrow towers have built-in grow lights that allow for plants to be grown without sun.
The actual brand-made ones are quite expensive. But, you can make them yourself at home using very cheap materials. We have made this article for you to follow to make Zipgrow Towers DIY.
DIY stands for Do-it-Yourself. Doing things yourself is a great way to save money and do things more sustainably. We highly recommend DIY projects for hydroponics and aquaponics.
Do not be intimidated by the work. Making zipgrow towers is not very difficult. Be patient and stay open-minded even when you fail.
Keep reading now to learn how to make Zipgrow towers DIY!
Table of Contents
How To Build Hydroponic Zip Tower
Before you get started building your zipgrow towers DIY, you have to assess how much space you have available. Also, consider the goals of your project and how much product you want to grow.
Once you have answered those questions, you can accurately decide how much material you need to buy. To make it easy and simple we are going to teach you how to make a small-scale hydroponic zip tower.
You can expand and develop the design as needed. But use this for your basic starting knowledge.
In a hydroponics zipgrow tower system, water is pumped from a container up to vertical gardens. To start, you will need to find your base container. For a small system, you can use an 18-gallon plastic tote.
If you do not want to purchase anything, try to upcycle old garbage or recycling bin. Upcycling is very good for our planet and does not create more waste.
Learn more about: Is Pvc Pipe Food Safe? All The Answers Here!
This bin functions as your sump tank. It is the thing that holds all the water for your system. You will put the nutrients directly into the sump tank to fertilize your plants.
Once you have identified your sump tank, you can move on to building the vertical towers. For the vertical towers, you can use different materials.
One option is using PVC pipes and another option is to use wood. In this article, we will overview how to use PVC pipes to make zipgrow towers DIY.
DIY Hydroponics Tower Continued
Your towers will rest in your sump tank. The sump tank will have a lid on top to keep mosquitos out and to secure the towers. Drill holes in the top of the sump tank lid to hold the towers.
In this case, the PVC pipe is the tower. The towers are where the plants will grow. So you need to use a diameter that allows for enough room for the root system to spread.
We recommend using at least 5-inch diameter pipes for this. Make sure the holes you drill match the diameter of your pipes.
For this system, using an 18-gallon tote, you can have 4 towers. This means you will be drilling 4 holes. As for the height of the pipes, it depends on how much space you have and how much you want to grow.
A good tower height for this system is 3 feet. Cut your PVC pipes accordingly.
In order to provide enough space for your plants to spread, the towers need to be spaced between 5-8 inches. If you are growing indoors, then you also need to leave additional room to install your lighting.
The next part to build is the frame. This aspect is very important because it is what supports the whole system and moves the water to your towers.
The whole frame can be made out of PVC pipes! Your towers will hang from the top of the frame.
For your frame, you can use 2-inch diameter PVC pipes. The frame dimensions are 56 inches high, 36 inches across, and 24 inches wide. It writes out at 56” x 36” x 24”.
So cut your PVC pipes according to those dimensions. Use the correct PVC elbow fittings to connect all your piping.
Finishing Your Homemade Zip Towers
By the end, you should have a vertical, rectangle, 3D standing frame built. The sump tank sits at the bottom of this rectangle.
You will need to install two additional cross pipes that span the width on the top of the frame. You need to connect an elbow piece off of that that goes into the towers.
This is where the water will pump up into. The water then uses gravity to flow through the towers and back into the sump tank to be re-used.
These zipgrow towers DIY are a completely closed-loop system! You can build in additional framing on the top of the frame to hang your T5 growing lights.
The final step is to set up your pump and tubing systems. For this, simply connect a pump to ½ inch black vinyl tubing that runs up from the sump into your water pipes. The recommended water pump for this system is 500 GPH (gallons per hour).
If you want, you can add a drip emitter onto each of those tubings. This will simply disperse the water into a drip and reduce the pressure going on your plants.
You will need to choose a growing medium that suits your plants. Fill the towers completely with your growing medium. Remember, according to the University of Nevada, Hydroponics means gardening without soil.
So be sure to not choose soil as your growing medium. As you can see, it is not very hard to make zipgrow towers DIY. There are a lot of options for how to build it exactly.
Feel free to experiment with different designs. But use the basic concept that we have explained here. Hopefully, you are ready to get started building your zipgrow towers DIY!
Share your experience here. As always, you can comment and ask questions below!
FAQs
How to build Hydroponic zip tower?
Before you get started building your zipgrow towers DIY, you have to assess how much space you have available. Also consider the goals of your project and how much produce you want to grow.
Once you have answered those questions, you can accurately decide how much material you need to buy. To make it easy and simple we are going to teach you how to make a small scale hydroponic zip tower.
In a hydroponics zipgrow tower system, water is pumped from a container up to vertical gardens.
