Hydroponic Towers Made Easy

Hydroponic Towers Made Easy will chronicle my journey into the hydroponic gardening world. At first, I was intimidated by the mere thought of growing food in hydroponic towers. I thought, that’s WAY too much work and involves way too many aspects I know nothing about. Chemicals, pH balance, water pumps, special sprouting trays…

UGH. Just the thought of all those details gave me a headache. But then a friend convinced me to give it a try. She assured me that hydronic towers are easy, once you get the hang of it. Easy, I asked? Well, say no more and count me in! Besides, to be quite frank, if the elementary students in my county can grow vegetables in hydroponic towers, then I should be able to manage. Right?

But of course, darling! You can do anything you set your mind to do. And like everything else I’ve tried in the garden, I discovered lots of tips and tricks along the way. If you’re thinking about venturing into the hydroponic tower gardening world, stay tuned, I’m about to make your life super easy.

When choosing hydroponic towers, first and foremost is location. Where are you going to place them? As you can see, my towers are outside, as are the school garden towers. You can also place them on a patio, sidewalk, or inside your home. The choice is yours. The key is a level surface. Sunlight requirements are the same for your raised bed gardens. My towers receive approximately 5-6 hours of sunlight, 8:00am – 1:00pm or 2:00pm, depending on the tower. You will need an electrical outlet nearby for your water pumps (automatic timer included). These timers are set to “O” for outdoors and “I” for indoors. Easy, right?

Once you’ve selected a location, indoors or out, the ground must be level. The school uses a concrete base for their towers. In fact, I think those concrete bases are actually pre-fabbed concrete foundations for outdoor ac units. (You might want to check with a local dealer to see if they’ll sell you just the concrete base.) My husband opted for something less permanent, in case my enthusiasm for hydroponic gardening waned, there would be less to remove. “Oh, ye of little faith,” I replied. I’m going to love this new adventure! He nodded with a dubious glance, then proceeded to construct a frame, filling it with gravel. This would keep the area well-drained in the event of rain. The white PVC piping etc. was installed at the same time for an irrigation system to water my adjacent raised beds. We also had outlets installed on the wall.

To create a level surface, my son stepped in and tamped down the gravel. This is the process of “hammering” the gravel downward with a tamper (the tool he’s using) until it became tightly packed within the wood frame. This way the gravel doesn’t move. Once the tower is in place, placing a level over the top will determine whether it is indeed, level. I used an app on my phone for this process, but my husband opted for his actual level “tool.”

Once your towers are in place and level, you’re ready to start the seed sprouting process. When you buy these hydroponic towers, they come with all of the necessary supplies to begin, including seeds, seed sprouting trays and materials, liquid fertilizer and pH adjusting chemicals. Following the directions, you’ll place seeds in the rockwool, cover them with vermiculite and set them in a water-filled tray. Within approximately 2 weeks, you’ll have sprouts ready for transfer. You can also buy these pre-sprouted if you have a hydroponic garden center nearby.

I didn’t worry that there were several sprouts in one cube. I can always thin them out later. The key component to sprouting is root length. You’ll need roots long enough to catch the dripping water. This is how they receive their nutrients. Once ready, you’ll place individual rockwool cubes (filled with sprouts) into a nesting pot. You’ll then place this in the hydroponic tower. Careful, these hairlike roots are susceptible to breakage.

TRICK: I took sprouts already in progress for my raised beds and used them for the towers. These sprouts were about 1-2 inches in height, but more importantly, their roots were long enough. I gently pulled them from their soil environment, rinsed their roots, then placed them in a rockwool cube that I had sliced in half. In the bag is vermiculite. I covered the base of my sprout with vermiculite to maintain moisture.

Whichever method you use to grow your sprouts, wait until they’re ready for transfer before you fill your tower reservoirs with water. Your pump will be in place and ready for action and can be turned on just prior to placing your sprouts. When it comes to fertilizer, the instructions call for one full measuring cup (included with the supplies) of fertilizer A and B. A = nitrogen (2-0-0) and B = phosphorous and potassium (0-1-3). When your sprouts are very young, they can get by with half that amount. Once they’re more fully grown, they will require the full dosage. Also double-check and be sure the water is flowing into the receptacle before placing your sprout. If not, it means your water flow is blocked or your tower isn’t level.

TIP: When you transfer your sprouts to the hydroponic towers, please keep in mind the ultimate size of your plants. I got so carried away, I placed plants everywhere and anywhere. I mean, this was an adventure, right? Plant away to your heart’s content!

Not so much. See those pepper plants I placed at the top? They grew so well and so tall, that their big healthy stem broke at the base of the plant during a rainstorm. No good. I tried to salvage it with garden tape and twine, but it wasn’t a happy situation. This pepper plant should have been planted in the low to mid region where the hydroponic cage can help support it.

Lettuce, kale, bok choy, low height herbs (parsley, dill, etc.) and the like are the best choice for top of the tower. They fill out quickly and need little to no support. You can “add” support to your hydroponic towers outside of the cage by placing trellis structures nearby to handle the overflow. Cucumbers, squash and melon varieties will definitely need this extra support as they sprawl.

And watch for wildlife! I discovered that frogs REALLY like these hydroponic towers. I found this little guy in my bok choy. Every once in a while, he treats me to a hello “croak” as I pass by or add water to the towers.

Isn’t he adorable? And speaking of water, check your towers every day for the first week or so after installation. How often you’ll need to add water will depend on location and climate. Mine are outside in Florida, so I add water about twice a week. Basically, fill the reservoir high enough that your fingers can reach in and touch the surface. If you’re growing heavy “feeders” like squash, etc. you might need to add water a bit more often than if you’re only growing lettuce and herbs.

When you add water, this is the time to add nutrients. If my reservoir is half empty, I’ll add half cup each of A and B nutrient mixes. If it’s full growing season and my plants are in heavy production, I’ll add a full cup each of A and B nutrient mixes. Let your plants be your guide. If they look good, what you’re doing is working. If they start showing signs of nutrient deficiency, add full cups instead of half cups. Your towers will include a pH testing kit. By all means, test the water, but please don’t strive for perfection. Unless your pH level reading is on one extreme or the other, I wouldn’t go adding pH increase/decrease solution (included with your tower kit) as it will only serve to drive you nuts. Again, let your plants be your guide.

Speaking of letting your plants be your guide, when you walk out and see them drooping–act quickly. The reservoir pump stopped working/flowing and my plants were rapidly fading. I think it might have been due to roots getting in the way of the pump flow, but I’m not a hundred percent. I pulled it out, cleared it, made sure the dial was set to “full flow” and set it back under water. When I restarted the pump, everything worked fine. The plants did recover. (Whew!)

People often ask me how quickly my plants grow in hydroponic towers. I “guestimate” about twice as fast as in soil. But here’s a before and after. The above photo was taken on April 20, 2022. The photo below was taken a month later on May 25, 2022. Not bad for one month’s growth!

Next photo was taken on June 14, 2022. This is how two months of growth appear. (You’ll notice I added cages after the fact, once I discovered my need for them.)

Then again, the photo below was taken a week later in June. Take a look at the pepper plant in the middle–the one without peppers on it. It’s almost twice as big below as one week earlier! There are also more peppers on either side, and several have ripened.

Another thing to note is the algae around the receptacle openings. All of my towers have algae and while unsightly, it wipes clean without issue. The squirrels and their nuts are my biggest aesthetics killer! The little varmints sit on the base of my towers and chew their nuts–or whatever it is that they do with them–and it leaves light brown stains on my pristine white cover. Brats.

When I broke the plant away at the stem, I almost couldn’t get the root basket set in the receptacle! Maybe I’m just weak, but I had to use pliers to grab a hold of the stem and literally wrench it free. I broke one of the baskets as I pulled several out. No fun. The interior of the tower (shown below) doesn’t look much better, though once I disassemble the towers for cleaning (prior to my fall planting) it should be much easier to pick the roots apart and remove them.

TIP: Rather than using the black basket that comes with your sprouting kit to house your sprout-filled rockwool, try using one of the clips instead.

Tower Gardens suggests using the clips only for smaller plants and not tomatoes, etc. but we’ll see. You know I do like to experiment! (Clips are sold separately as accessories.)

Anyhoo, all in all, my towers have produced a bounty of fruits and vegetables. I love walking out and clipping fresh lettuce for a salad every day. It’s glorious! I must admit, the nutrient mix and water system in these hydroponic towers tends to be superior in performance to that of my traditional raised beds. I will keep the raised beds, because I like to grow onions, carrots, potatoes, radish, etc. that will not grow in the hydroponic tower system.

If you’d like to try your hand at tower gardening, please visit my Tower Garden Shop page. All proceeds from your purchase go to supporting school gardens via my nonprofit: The BloominThyme Collaborative.