I've been a hydroponic hobbyist for over 5 years now. I grow all my melon and tomato plants hydroponically. But for all my other vegetables I just use containers or raised beds. I was at a farmers market not to long ago and saw this lady selling the tower system. I thought it was a very nice commercially designed tower until I saw the price tag. I think you would be better off with the Earthtainer. 1. In terms of Pests the only real pest you avoid are soil born pest. Any pest that you would have in an outdoor garden such as aphids, spidermites, catepillars will still exist. 2. The difficulty will be controlling the nutrient solution. Depending on your water supply the PH level can/will change very rapidly. Once your PH levels are off your plants will suffer. If you stick to their 1tier system and not their extended tube system then the resevoir is large enough to provide a decent buffer from PH swings. But if you use their extended sytsem your PH levels will swing often and quickly. Every time your PH levels change you have to add PH down or PH up solution, mix the solution, test the solution. If you are still off you have to repeat. 3. If you are interesting in growing your own vegetables just to supplement what you currently buy, I would suggest an Earthtainer. Its a nice passive hydroponic system you can purchase or construct. If you interested in tinkering with hydroponics you can try a system called "DWC" which only requires a 20gallon rubbermaid tote with lid, an aquarium pump and air stone, your nutrients and testing supplies.

hmm makes sense Jim...I am sure that the dirt would fill in the void someday..but I am not so sure that a bean could crawl thru a 3/4" di. hole..lol..my bad. Sorry Purple you know about snoozing...But It sure is nice to know that I am not the only "city dwelling limited space guy" seeking vertical growing habits. So I built the tower yesterdy. its is about a 6" square. I am thinking that the wood will hold the moisture fairly well. Not as good as PVC pipe. But its what I had to work with. reflecting on the problems of inserting a plant. I cut 5/8" x 1/2" conduit, galvanized, into 4" pcs. Packed them half way, inserted a bean seed, and finished packing them. I will insert this into the holes upon first signs of growth. If I was to do it over. I would use 1-1/2 PVC cut into short pieces. Drill the hole on a angle so that the plant will grow out of it. My other thought was to cut up 16 ounce water bottles and force them into the hole. If there was two halfs they may be able to be made removable after the plants are well rooted. AS for growing pole beans in the tower. I have a 3 foot x 6ft high, u-shape metal trellis now. That packs 9 lineal feet into a 3 ft. sq. foot print and I can get to all sides of it. PB. I believe that the bush bean stems will bend over under their own weight and learn to adjust. ( hopes it not a big wind that adjusts them) lol I am thinking that this method would be great for Romaine lettuce. It could be placed out of the heat. Maybe it need's to be on wheels...lol..4 towers on a 2' x 4"..the " Tower Dolly" ???? only 39.95...plus S&H..easy assembly instructions included...and 2 free Ginseng Knifes CrAzY LaRrY

Obviously late to the party, but am really interested in indoor gardening, especially for people in apartments or other small spaces who don't have sufficient light (~99.9999% of almost any indoor location for veggies). I found this post b/c I was looking for tower garden reviews. I also found one called iGarden and Gardyn. One mentioned earlier, Green Diamond, looked like it was for a farm. I have two reasons for inquiring. One is my own, personal reason: I don't have tons of time, but would really, really, really love to have fresh veggies, including tomatoes - grown indoors. (I live in a condo with no balcony.) This other is because I have a small nonprofit [yes, 501(c)(3)], and one of its missions is to have sustainable buildings and environs - which also includes the ability for people to grow at least some of their own food in their apartments! With regard to the second reason, whatever solution must be energy efficient since one of our goals is to develop sustainable affordable housing - but, as executive director, I would like to also see some sort of program for very low income: many live in food deserts and most have a similar situation to me (apartment, no balcony). The system must be plug and play or close to it. I know a lot of people who work up to three (!) jobs, and still have trouble making ends meet. So many people may not have high income, but they are extremely busy. [Although it might be nice to develop a DYI system and methodology and point some of these people to that, b/c not everyone's working 18 hour days and, of course, some or retired or are otherwise not working FT.] Thanks so much in advance for your advice! I super appreciate it!

Thanks grizzman, I can see it possible with plastic buckets. Although I have never really thought about trying it. I have seen jewelry made many years ago. I mentioned before I took ceramics in high school, and during advanced ceramics class (I took 4 times) the teacher also taught a second class in the same room at the same time. A jewelry class where he spent most of his time. He would just give us an assignment at the beginning of the week, then we would just make what we wanted even if it wasn't the given assignment, as long as we were doing something he didn't care. I often saw what they were doing but don't remember much other than they would make a casting out of wax, then encase it in plaster or something. Then heat it to get the wax out of it, in order to pour the metal in the mold. But from the way you explained it it sounds like pluming. I have done that many times before, getting the solder in joint between two pieces of copper tubing. In fact I'm going to need to do that exact thing again shortly to change the two outside water faucets. Although I have never herd of a type of plastic solder. Is it easy to get, and what type of heat source is used? I to have used both male and female threaded PVC fittings to make a bulkhead fitting on the bottoms of 2 gallon paint buckets. But the only ones that I have seen (that fit together anyway), the male end is tapered. So the female end only goes on so far before it gets to tight to go any ferther. I have used spacers to remedy that problem though. In the picture it looks like a fairly good seal but doesn't it need help from something other than the O-ring to make it water tight because of the curve? Unless it's a real thick O-ring (rubber gasket etc.) there must be some gap right? sdgrower Thanks, I have lots of the threaded/barbed fittings although I have never tried to tap and thread it into the side of a bucket. I just use them to connect my vinyl tubing to PVC tubing. Depending on the situation that might be useful. Although instead of a plastic wing nut, I would probably use the threaded PVC connector on the inside to clamp it down tight (like a bulkhead fitting), I could always just cut off any part of it I don't need. What I have in mind for the main tower is a minimum of 8 inch PVC tube, but most likely 12 inch. The pluming supply houses in town carry all sizes and one sells it by the foot (the other sells 20 foot sections). Depending on the plants and basket sizes, I would want 2 or 3 inch PVC tubing for the side tubes. I have a lot of 3 inch baskets, but it depends on what plants I decide to grow in it (as well as the future plants). The elbows wont work for what I have in mind without modification. Basically I need a straight piece of tubing to start with, or the baskets wont be able to go past the elbow/bend. Therefore wouldn't be able to get misted on from the mister heads. My baskets have a small lip, so there wouldn't be any modifications or stoppers to keep the baskets in place. It would get quite expensive for 2 or 3 inch elbow fittings in comparison. I don't remember for sure but even 2 inch fittings are more than $1 each if I remember correctly. But a 10 foot piece of 2 inch PVC only costs about $4. That 10 foot piece of tubing will make 30 4 inch long pieces that I would use for the side tubes that hold the baskets. I still would need to make each of them the right shape, but that wont be hard to do. I just need to make a drum sander (wheel sander). Just using a piece of tubing the same size as the main tube (12 inch tube), attaching it to a lathe or drill to spin it. Then covering it with sand paper. All I would need to do is cut out some of the bulk of the side tubing (so there's less sanding to so), and grind it down. At that point I would have the perfect shape, and angle to glue to the main tube for a flush fit every time. Considering that each main tube depending on the size of the baskets I decide to go with, and height of the tower there would be quite of a lot of side tubes to do, so replicating it is an important factor to me. PVC glue is not expensive and is easy to use. But I would still want to make the connections stronger. I don't know what made me think of it, but I also thought about using a glue gun today. I used to have one but don't know where it is. Glue guns are less than $10 and the glue sticks are cheep as well. I just need to test it on PVC to see how well it bonds, but if it does work that's the cheapest option yet. Other inexpensive options I plan to test include things like different types of "liquid nails". Although most wont cure properly if the solvents cant evaporate. Non pours materials wont allow that evaporation. But it would still be expose to the air for evaporation because the seam would be glued together with PVC glue. Only the outer edge would be glued with the liquid nails (glue gun etc.), like caulking the edge of a counter top. So I'm guessing it would cure but just take longer. I would also use a sanding sponge (a sponge with sand glued to it) to clean the edges before using the glue gun or liquid nails etc. before gluing. That will clean the surface (of excess PVC glue etc.), also it would scuff up the surface and create a better bond.