I thought I'd share this little gem that I made a few weeks ago. It's a aeroponic propagation unit with humidity dome. This thing is great!!! Total cost of this project was about $30.00. These units commercially can sell for up to $400.00... This is a must have for any avid gardener... My trial run was on some heirloom tomato cuttings. I took 5 cuttings from 1 of my brandywine tomato plants. All 5 cuttings rooted in 6 days, with some of them having roots about 3" long. Here are the pictures... Please feel free to chime in with questions or comments. 1. This is a pic of unit in operation with dome on. Photo link broken 2. Pic of unit with dome off. Cuttings are mexican sage, autumn sage, rosemary, tickseed, and butterfly bush. These cuttings are 4 days old Photo link broken 3. Pic of underside of top Photo link broken 4. Close up of mex sage roots, only 4 days in.. Photo link broken
Midnight your unit looks amazing and, once again, appears so simple to make. I've priced these units in the shops and have always shaken my head and passed them by as they were waaay out of my league. Could you tell us what exactly to buy to make one please?
This is a serious piece of useful kit MS. We'd love if you could provide us with any form of instructions whatsoever to make one (perhaps in a new topic so it's easy to reference). How did you get into aeroponics? I love to see homemade solutions like this, especially ones that work so well.
Okay here you go. All items can be bought at Wally world or a similar store. 1. (1)Double outlet air pump. Get one made for a 50gal tank or larger. Bigger is better here. 2. (2) long air stones (the same as used in my tea brewer)to fit your specific tub. *** I would get the ones that are approximately 12" long (or bigger if you want, just make sure they fit in your tub). As you can see from pic #3, I used (1) airstone and (2)flex bubble wands. Mistake, I will replace the bubble wands when the current cuttings are done. 3. (1) small fish tank heater for up to 10 gallons. Get the one where you can adjust the temp. 4. Minimum of 12'of 1/4" black airline tubing. I used left over tubing from outdoor drip system. 5. (1) plastic of metal T for tubing. I used plastic. OOps, you'll only need this if you get a sinle outlet pump. 6. (1) 24 hour timer. *** I have it set to stay on for 2 hours then off for a 1/2 hour. Stems are wet, then dry, then wet, then dry. Perfect conditions for rooting. 7. (2) tubs. The tub that holds the water needs to be light tight. This might be the harder of the 2 to find. For the dome, get a clear tub with a tough lid. For fitting pourposes, lay the large tub upside down as in my pics, set the water tub on the lid and then put the large clear (dome) on to see if it's a good fit. Better to do it at the store that to get home and find that it doesn't work. ***You'll want about 6-8" clearance under the dome. The size of the tubs all depends on the size of the cloner you want. Fit the tubs and airstones together. For the stem collars (the little black things that hold the cuttings) I used 1/2" long pcs of the airline tubing. I put electrical tape on half of these little collars so they don't fall thru the 1/4" holes I drilled in the top of my water tub. ******** You have to then slice the tubes in half longways with a razor knife so when the cuttings are rooted, you can remove them without disturbing the newly formed roots. I drilled some larger holes for certain cuttings. Many cuttings simply won't fit in the 1/4" collars. I will be ordering some neopreme collars to remedy this issue. As far as the assembly: 1. Use a non toxic glue for attaching the airstones on the bottom of the tub. Drill your holes for the airline tubing at the very top of the water tub. You'll have to cut a little notch at the top of the tub for the heater wire. Heater should come with suction cups, set it on the bottom. Fill with water, set timer and walk away. I like to mist cuttings 1-2 times daily. Also, mist the inside of the dome as well. Make sure you set it under flouresent lighting. Please let me know if you have any questions...
OOPS, I put the above post together rather quickly, so I may have left out a few details. I will add as i remember! 1. The temp on the heater should be set to 75degrees, which is optimal Gardenstew: Please feel free to relocate thread if needed. I have always been interested in hydroponics, just never had the time, money or space for it.LOL This unit works by constantly misting the cuttings with highly oxygenated water as in aeroponics. When cuttings are rooted, just carefully transplant into your preferred medium...
I believe your right Sorry guys and gals, I already had the water tub, timer and airpump which I didn't factor in. These #'s are guesses and may vary a little... Still money well spent. 1. Tubs $10-12. total for both 2. Heater $10. 3. Pump $10-15 4. (2) airstones $5. 5. Tubing $3. 6. Timer $10. 7. Tees 2 for a $1.00
Yep. It's for rooting cuttings... This system is foolproof. Propagation success rate is near 100%. Plus, many hard to root plants will succeed with this method. Not to mention it's much faster than traditional stem cutting propagation and easier to look after during the rooting process. There is virtually no wilting as well. I tried to take my design one step further by adding the dome. Most commercial units don't have domes. For those who want to know: The main reason for this build is for my blueberries. I'm a huge blueberry nut and one day I WILL HAVE a blueberry farm. This has been a dream of mine for a long time. Hoping to have about 5-10 acres of U-Pick-em, and many more for raising plants for sale. I'm trying to learn all the "do's and dont's" of blueberry propagation. Starting in about 2 weeks, it will be perfect time to start taking my softwood cuttings. I'm going to fill my cloner with cuttings and raise the plants to give as gifts to friends and family.
Hello MS, Thank you for your very good idea! Just want to ask you how high you fill the water in the tub.
