Growing Costco Strawberries in a 3D printed hydroponics tower

[@DrSoapp]

I just go to my local strawberry farms and pay them for the runners. Those bagged strawberries sit on the shelf for far too long before you put them in the system. Did you add any nutrients? What was the E.C? Did you use tap water or RO? How did you adjust your PH, With acid? Did you have any problems with light leak? Algae growth? Fungus gnats? I am very experienced at hydroponics, however these are the type of questions that beginners need to ask before taking the time to assemble these systems. Having a fancy hydroponic tower is nice, but if you don't know some simple water chemistry you're just wasting your time.

[@ArcVerdi]

All things that newcomers should learn about. I’ll go over these subject over time. Light leak isn’t an issue for me here, no algae growth of any kind or gnats although I am keeping a keen eye on these.

[@am_stephanos]

PLA can degrade in water and become brittle not to mention UV and warping depending on where you live. Use a PVC pipe as the main body, print a guide to drill angled holes and print the pods to place in it. Hydroponics while it does have high yield due to growing vertically, it does require you to buy liquid nutrients and requires much more attention than normal soil gardening. Do your research before you go ahead and waste a ton of filament printing a hydroponics system.

[@ArcVerdi]

So aggressive! Maybe you should relax a little? The degradation is very low and after 5 years, they are still going. PVC…. Maybe do some research on that a little my friend. So much misinformation floating around these days. -40C to +40C and PLA holds up EXCEPTIONALLY. Certainly not good enough for load bearing but that’s not what’s being done here.

[@am_stephanos]

If that sounded aggressive to you sorry for that. Not all PLA is made equal, i've had some PLA prints that survive 6 years, some disintegrate after 16 months, only thing I have that is still going is the gardening tags in nylon I printed from my Tevo almost 8 years ago. I've been using PVC pipes for sprinklers and irrigation perfectly fine for a decade I know they can hold up. When I warn people to do their own research, I think that is considered pretty general advice getting into anything, there's no reason to take that offensively. You mention it's been going for 5 years, I see you printed this with a Bambu P1P and that printer has only been on the market for a year unless you have another system running that you can show. I already did try building hydroponics tower before, costed about $70 for 3x1m hydroponics towers with a 6" PVC pipe and using a heat gun to deform and create the holes. I decided to switch back to soil gardening, but if you do find hydroponics as a enjoyable hobby I do wish you bountiful harvests and a happy endeavor.

[@ArcVerdi]

@@am_stephanos No problem, I enjoy a genuine discussion. No I've had 3D printers for a long time, the P1P is only a year old but its my favourite by far. I think 3D printing for food, has a LONG way to go to actually become functional and "completely" safe (if anything ever is). I only like to remind people that over the last 100 years, there has always been something..... something to be concerned about. The likely hood is 3D printing is that problem for this generation (along with lack of water and all the other issues facing the world). I also LOVE soil gardening, I have a tiny garden where I live so no longer have the space I once did. Always open to a genuine discussion so feel free to chime in later down the line.

[@neonblowfish]

You shouldn't apologize to overly sensitive people, they need to get over themselves.

[@luciusd7964]

I printed some PLA plant pots and it warped only after couple months. As OP wrote PLA is really bad choice to do this. As a side comment to @ArcVerdi - if you accuse somebody of aggressive tone, you really might not want to do the same in your comment mate ;) Interesting video nonetheless:)

[@BigSpud]

I remain infinitely jealous of your 3D printing toys. The final components look so good!

[@ArcVerdi]

Yeah it’s pretty decent tbh.

[@jishani1]

There's no shortage of people with a 3d printer willing to sell you whatever you want, or offering print on demand services.

[@BigSpud]

@@jishani1 oh sure, I would just love to tinker myself! But that's a rabbit hole I don't have time for right now.

[@josephcatano4705]

What are your thoughts on making the tower without the internal tubing guides and use a pvc pipe with misting nozzles. I have printed this tower myself with indoor grow light arms and my main complaint was any shuffling of tower components would require a full disassembly due to the tubing being routed through each piece. With the misting setup, you could twist and pull without having to fuss about a tube or a top piece. so if you wanted to add fresh plants to the bottom and keep a rotation going you always have fully grown stuff at the top or vice versa. Yes you could pull the inserts that the plants sit in, but at the expense of possibly damaging roots.

[@ArcVerdi]

I think that’s a great idea. The internal pvc could just slit together to expand/reduce the size. I agree, the current design is far from perfect and I’m going to start designing a new one but I like the sound of your idea!

[@TheJAIRCRUZ]

Did you print the grow light arms yourself ? Or how did you make it

[@josephcatano4705]

@@TheJAIRCRUZ Yes, it was on thingiverse Modular Hydroponics Tower w/ Grow Lights

[@veryrudeguy]

I'm wondering how much filament this uses.. A lot is very vague.. Could just weigh some parts to have some rough cost estimation

[@ArcVerdi]

I'm working on a new video about the subject where I go through the entire process including costs breakdowns, time etc.

[@eliasclawson1993]

Any updates? I'm just about finished printing a hydroponic tower and I'm going to go get some strawberry root stock today. How are your plants doing 4 months later?

[@ArcVerdi]

They’re doing very well, lots of fruit. You won’t be disappointed.

[@coachnick1826]

do you have the link for the bolts you used and the ring i cants find it on printables

[@js5072]

Is there a way to do this to link multiple towers together without buying a ton of water pumps?

[@ArcVerdi]

Yeah you could get a much larger pump and run the buckets in parallel. Reducing the pump output to match the requirement.

[@zundappwatercooler]

Nice cant wait for youre update video i just made the same only a few sections higher, i have a question though what time interval do you run youre pump?

[@ArcVerdi]

I run the strawberry tower pump for 3 minutes every 2 hours. They are doing well too which is nice.

[@RimlaAri]

Whats with the microplastics?. Does it leach into the vegetable?

[@ArcVerdi]

No one knows at this stage, we’ll find out in the future.

[@stevetollaksen]

It’s great to be informed. What specific problem do microplastics cause? What are the acute symptoms or what are the negative effects

[@jamess1787]

Subbed.

[@ArcVerdi]

Thanks 🙏

[@GenevaFly]

Hi man :D Can you post a link for base I cant find it enywhere :(

[@ArcVerdi]

Yeah I didn’t realise that NOBODY made the base. I had to design it myself. I’ll upload it to either our website or a 3D printing site and will post a link 👍

[@GenevaFly]

@@ArcVerdi Tnx man 😁 Attach link to my comment pls so I can see it 😁

[@ArcVerdi]

www.printables.com/model/866700-hydroponics-tower-5-gallon-bucket-adapter here it is 👍

[@GenevaFly]

@@ArcVerdi TNX A LOT 😁 Maybe you can add screws 2 to that link 😁

[@ArcVerdi]

Yeah no worries, I’ll add them later today 👍

[@jamess1787]

I love th bucket, what brings you here? Spouse? Work?

[@ArcVerdi]

I have too many of these buckets in the garage! Work brings us here and I’ve never felt happier than being here in AB 🇨🇦

[@TheJAIRCRUZ]

@@ArcVerdihow much was the cost to build this project excluding the 3D printer ?????

[@ArcVerdi]

$25 CAD, the print costs are super low and the pump doesn’t have to be expensive, $10 on Amazon.

[@thebigdoss3410]

Have you done any sealing to your tower?

[@ArcVerdi]

The first me I had to sea the top holes as the water kept coming out them. The second tower (coming in next weeks video) has a different top without the holes and is much cleaner. That’s all though.

[@thebigdoss3410]

@@ArcVerdi According to what I understood, the filament should be food approved, and even if it is, you should add a sealing layer inside... This is from what I understand...

[@ArcVerdi]

@@thebigdoss3410 food safe, ideally yes but again this information has been twisted and turned around online like you wouldn't believe. The food safe argument is more related to direct food contact such as cookie cutters, chopping boards etc. The roots of plants (which is what is in contact here) is of no concern as the roots of plants touch much worse things in soil. You can though, use UV resin on the inside should you wish.

[@starfishprime2864]

Any tips for noise reduction?

[@ArcVerdi]

You can always use aquarium filter foam placed at some points to quieten the flow of water.

[@DrSoapp]

Try a smaller water pump

[@schwarzarbyter]

the whole world is trying to get microplastic out of their food, but 3d printer bros are adding plastic to their food on purpose

[@ArcVerdi]

Corn plastic is a non-petroleum material made by converting corn into a resin called polylactic acid (PLA). Mostly made from corn because it's the most affordable and available, however it can be also made from sugarcane, tapioca root, cassava and sugar beet. Welcome to the world of science!

[@lewngshelewng5420]

I was thinking the same thing. How would the long term of the plastic hold up and would the plants be tainted by the plastic. Plastic poison is a thing they need to do research on this and if there is I haven't read it.

[@ArcVerdi]

I think over time, the printed materials will change and adjust to more environmentally friendly options. I am in the process of doing a long video about the subject which is quite interesting.

[@hodgeac]

The thing to do is to print this in PET, which is the same stuff they make milk jugs out of (in the US at least). It's UV stable, so the grow lights won't cause it to degrade and it doesn't leach anything into liquid. It's inherently food safe. And one of the few plastics that actually recycles.