How to 3D print a hydroponic tower garden

“One mission in my life is to become as self-reliant and independent as I can.” I talked recently about a countertop garden that gives us fresh produce, as well as some other ways to cultivate food indoors. Growing indoors is underused. Of course, growing outdoors is ideal for most vegetables and it’s cost-effective but you can grow produce with very little expense and even less time involved,” writes Morgan Rogue at Outdoor Hub.

Morgan has always dreamed of having a tower. She was shocked by the price when she looked at different options for purchasing a Tower Garden. They offered $50-60 monthly payments, but it was for 12-24 month. They were adding up $700-1000.

“We recently acquired a 3D printer and my husband said, Why don’t we print one? We started by downloading and printing a 3D model. You can find 3D models that have been created by others in many places. The creators may have chosen to sell or give them away for free, depending on the type of project. 

The next step was to purchase food-grade filament. It’s important to purchase food-grade filament as you’ll be growing food in this tower so you don’t want it to. Here’s what we didn’t 3D print: The tubing for the water, The pump, A 5-gallon bucket & lid, A few screws to screw the tower to the 5-gallon bucket, Grow lights and Seed starting pods. The baskets for the plants were 3D printed, as well as the tubing that holds the water. 

The printed parts cost $173. Outdoor Hub offers the full article.