So I'm working on this vertical garden project- and my real options for the tubing is either PVC pipe or vinyl fence posts.
What I would like to find are some plastic tubes, 6-10" ID, and preferably food grade.
Where can I find something like that? When I search plastic tubes on line, I mostly find PVC or clear plastic tubes. Seems like someone out there should need a plastic extrusion pipe that they use....
flexible tubing or rigid?
Rigid.
Sonotube with some sort of layer on the inside?
In reply to RossD:
Edit- I looked it up- unless they can take repeated and constant watering, that won't last very well.
On a different note- I may have found a decent solution- http://annarbor.craigslist.org/for/5943642636.html
Can stack that two high and make it work. The 40 gal ones, I mean- tall and "narrow".
PVC by default is food grade since it is used sometimes as water supply. Lots of food service utensils are PVC. But PVC in large diameters is bloody expensive. Like $300 a stick expensive. I found a foreclosed supplier auction once and bought two sticks of 12" for $22 each, but yeah, open up the big wallet for 10" and up PVC.
ABS is not food grade, but often a wee bit cheaper than PVC or c-PVC
10' sticks of 6" PVC are about $58 (special order) at HD or Lowes.
PVC may be the best solution, as it does not appear that there are many other uses for larger sized tubes other than plumbing....
Certainly won't have a strength problem with it... LOL.
Truth. I bought mine to make subwoofer enclosures. Schedule 40 12" PVC has nearly 1/4" walls, and I epoxied in 1-1/2" of MDF (two layers of 3/4" epoxied together) for the end baffles.
So far, two 10"s and 1800w RMS have been rock solid. (except the one driver ejecting the cone right out of the coil. That's what I get for giving 1800w to a sub designed for 450w.)
In reply to curtis73:
Where did you order that?
link
usplastics.com
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/default.aspx?catid=681&parentcatid=-1
Thought about stainless steel? Try a scrapper. Sometimes a factory tears out some process piping and lets it go as scrap.
curtis73 wrote: PVC by default is food grade since it is used sometimes as water supply.
As someone who works for a PVC manufacturer, I can tell you that is not true. PVC pipe for water lines that you find in the store? Yes. All PVC? No.
OHSCrifle wrote: Thought about stainless steel? Try a scrapper. Sometimes a factory tears out some process piping and lets it go as scrap.
I've thought about that- but between the weight and the alloy- I'm not sure if it's the best to grow stuff in.
One thing I did find- there's a guy selling huge amounts of PVC irrigation pipe- but 3 states away... bummer.
So my best option in terms of cost and space is the 6" PVC tube. The best of the best for cost is the tall and thin 40 gal barrels that I can stack.
It's interesting to see the companies that sell a similar product- one company has 1 ft sections that stack together, but it's not the irrigation style I want to copy. Another looks to also be a drip system, but instead of making injection molded parts, they clearly are using vinyl fencing parts (which is a good idea that others use). A third has this super expensive system that they clearly fabricate when you order it- but it's really close to what I'm trying to do. And a last uses a version of food grade drums- and of all- he's the most active with constant feedback to his customers.
The lack of regular info kind of implies that this isn't the best way to grow stuff- not that it doesn't work remarkably well, but that it may not be robust. It's still quite appealing to try, at least. The fact that my back yard is filled with invasive roots that prevent me from normal gardening makes me really think. (and on that side note- my system last year IS hydroponics, I didn't realize that until this off season....)
Anyway, other ideas are very welcome!
jamscal wrote: link usplastics.com http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/default.aspx?catid=681&parentcatid=-1
Was just ready to post US Plastics when ya beat me to it.
Excellent materials source for projects, automotive or otherwise. Browse the catalog, you'll find stuff to incite the next project.
What's the advantage over a typical shelf?
In reply to RossD:
I want to orient it vertically. Another option is a wall of holes- but a pipe is already a closed container vs. a flat surface.
I meant more like, what are the disadvantages of something like this:
that a tube overcomes?
Because I know when I first saw vertical tubes with holes and plants growing out, I was enthusiastic about it. But in reality, I don't think it does anyone any good, other than look good in a Pinterest post. I may very well be missing something however, so I will withhold complete judgement for a good argument for a tube over tried and true. Now if you had the tubes already and no shelves, that's when you make it a tube nursery.
If you're worried about floor space, just get a smaller shelf. You will be having diminishing returns with the larger the tube gets with regards to how much plant you get out and how much dirt you put in.
In reply to RossD:
I don't see those shelves going 100% to being done. Those are being grown to plant someplace else.
I have seen shelf based hydroponic (all different kinds of versions) systems. The whole point is to get away from soil based systems. Which is a side effect that I have soil that is infested by invasive roots.....
The bigger tubes allow more holes to put the little pods.
Then the choice of aeroponics vs hydro or aqua- ponics- needed energy. I don't have a shortage of water here- just that I would like to be able to put one in my back yard and not have an extension cord to run it- so a small solar panel and a small battery. The high pressure aero only runs 15 min per day, and that's it. Most others run 12-24 hours. It's pretty slick.
A smaller scale of this is what I'm doing http://artgardengrowingsystems.com/
You'll need to log in to post.
