Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 7.18
Electrical conduit with plastic pipe sleeve supports pots verti-
cally from an overhead wire. Various herbs growing in plant towers of 10 pots.
(Courtesy of CuisinArt Golf Resort & Spa, Anguilla.)
plate between the top of the tee extension and the first pot allows the entire
tower to be rotated every day to better distribute the light entering the
crop. The swivel plate is constructed from ½ inch thick plastic and has a
hole large enough to permit the conduit to go through it into the ¾-inch tee
below sitting in the drainage pot.
In your house you will probably only be able to stack eight pots high, as
space is required for the lights above. Slide all the pots onto the vertical pipe
support before filling them with the perlite or other substrate. Then, level
the support pipe in all directions before attaching the top of it to a support
wire strung across the room. Once the pots are supported on the central
pipe, fill each pot starting from the bottom one with perlite up to within 1½
inches of the rim. Allowing a bit of air space between each pot will help to
prevent roots growing from one pot down into the next through the perfo-
rated bottoms of the pots. The next step is to install a drip irrigation system.
Using a submersible pump in a nutrient reservoir, attach a PVC pipe ver-
tically to the upper height of the tower and then convert it to ½-inch black
