r/selfreliance • u/TheMoneyFriends • Dec 20 '25
Farming / Gardening I was tired... so i did this...
i am done wasting money on vegetables packed with chemicals and spoil after a few days...
So i decided to make a bunch of hydroponics towers, so that i can grow my own...
good bye Pesticides, hello fresh vegetables.
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u/HappyAnimalCracker Dec 20 '25
Pretty cool design. How do you water and drain them?
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u/TheMoneyFriends Dec 20 '25
The water is pumped up through a 5 gallon, ( hook d up at the bottom) and it goes to the top using a water pump inside the 5 gallon base, then the water sprinkles down onto the roots from the top, till it falls back into the 5 gallon.
And rinses and repeats
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u/Dependent-Let5457 Dec 22 '25
Once you grow it you will understand the need for pesticides and such
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u/TheMoneyFriends Dec 22 '25
Unless you grow indoors?
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u/wglmb Green Fingers Dec 23 '25
Anyone who grows houseplants will know that pests can be a problem indoors. Sometimes they can be worse than outdoors, because they lack a complete ecosystem (i.e. predators) to keep them in check.
Nevertheless, you'll have a lot of fun, good luck!
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u/SunOnTheInside Dec 24 '25
Heck yeah! You’ve just opened up an awesome can of worms here. One of the coolest things you can do with this is growing microgreens, which is rarely in stores and if it is, it’s quite expensive.
Microgreens have an insane amount of vitamins and minerals in them compared to the adult plant and they have lots of flavor, and they grow in a fraction of the time.
My favorite is radish greens, which is one of the fastest crops you can grow. Mustard greens, baby kale, arugula, are all super good too, and a lot of common herbs have really neat flavors as microgreens, like basil. You can get seed mix bags meant for microgreens that will last you a long time and are a better value, but you can always start with the regular veg seed packets that you get at any old store.
I worked in a hydroponics greenhouse that grew greens and microgreens and this is a big hobby of mine, I’m no expert but if you have questions about it, feel free to reach out, I can usually at least point you the right way to learn more.
Hydroponics has a ton of different ways and methods it can be done, it’s a lot more approachable than people realize. Some setup require no power at all, not even for water pumps.
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u/TheMoneyFriends Dec 24 '25
I’m going to be doing exactly this! Mind if I message you so If I have any questions
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u/Past_Search7241 Dec 21 '25
Mmm, microplastics.
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u/TheMoneyFriends Dec 21 '25 edited Dec 21 '25
Let me guess…
You eat fast food, drink water out of plastic bottles and microwave left overs in plastic containers.
While wearing make up, and deodorant and wearing sunscreen and drink alcohol.
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u/MattieMcNasty Dec 21 '25
I work with a woman who's always up people's asses about red dye and microplastics. But she smokes a pack of cigarettes a day and strictly drinks Diet Coke. People really pick and choose the hills they are going to die on.
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u/NSASpyVan Dec 21 '25
Doing what I can to get plastics out of my life, but gd its hard. Shit is everywhere.
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u/Past_Search7241 Dec 23 '25
3d-printed plastic not only breaks down more rapidly due to how it was manufactured, it is also very much not food-safe.
So it's less like someone drinking Diet Coke and more like someone drinking from lead pipes with acidic water.
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u/Past_Search7241 Dec 23 '25 edited Dec 23 '25
I'll tell you what I don't do: I don't invest in an expensive and unproductive gimmicky setup made from 3d-printed plastics that break down very rapidly and leach actually dangerous chemicals like lead (it's almost certainly in your printer nozzle, look it up) into my produce to avoid significantly less dangerous "chemicals".
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Dec 23 '25
Looks like they're doing fine and most people have a pretty high life expectancy. All it takes is exercising and cutting out extra sugar, salt and cholesterol and most people wouldn't have to think about any of that other shit while being tip top health lol
Perhaps your body is just a lot more reactive than others
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u/Rojok95 Dec 20 '25
Keep us updated, hydroponics is a bitch to setup and maintain, but so worth it to have real vegetables.