Make Hydroponics With Mcdonalds Cups
April 2nd, 2008
Who’s got the herb
Hydroponics, besides being a popular 311 song is also an ideal method for growing plants indoors using minerals and nutrient rich solutions instead of soil. The use of hydroponics by the Babylonians actually dates as far back as the 12th century. The hydroponics system were going to create today will actually put all those plastic, paper, and styrofoam cups you you pick up on your midnight munchie runs to good use.
Why You Should Do This
Over 1 million styrofoam cups are used per day in the US alone, that almost as bad all those tires stock piled at your local junkyard. These cups can take up to 50 years to decompose, and worst of all as they decompose they release toxic methane gas termed biogas into the air that has 21 times the global warming potential as carbon dioxide.
Gather the following items
- A container like the black one pictured above
- Stryfoam cups (15-20 would be ideal)
- A sheet of stryofoam
- A pocket knife to cut the holes out with
- Water
- Jiffy peat pellets, you can find these at a hardware store
- Miracle grow, again at a hardware store
- Seeds, what kind you use is up to you…
How to build this
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Create a template to cut your holes out with. Place your template over your Stryofoam sheet and cut out our your holes.
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Tear holes in the bottom corner of each cup.
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Drop your peat pellets into each cup.
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Mix the miracle grow as stated on the directions
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Alright now pour the miracle grow into your container. Next place your Stryofoam sheet on top of the solution (it will kind of float). Next place yours cups with the peat pellets in each hole.
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Alright wait an hour for the peat pellets to swell then sprinkle your seeds in each cup.
Final Thoughts
Going green should be fun. How you plan to use your hydroponic system is up to you. Personally I plan on putting some praying mantis in mine just because I think they are sweet. Send me your photo’s of your setup, I’d love to see them and will post them on my site. This article helped me put together this piece, and I would suggest it as an additional source of information on hydroponics.
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11 Responses to “Make Hydroponics With Mcdonalds Cups”
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April 25th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
I love this idea! If you find an old air pump for an aquarium and an air stone it works even better. (Roots like air too.) What did you plant in the picture? It almost looks like dandelions at the bottom.
I used a few old 2-liter bottles to make a bubbler system and have some herbs growing in them now.
I just can’t break my addiction to soda - do you have any suggestions about contstructive uses for the bottles? I can only put so many to use as hydroponic bubblers…
April 26th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Good question I actually read an interesting how on how to turn your old bottles into a 6.1 surround sound system here:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/11/empty-wine-jugs-make-a-fine-6-1-surround-system-who-knew/
I also use my bottles as storages containers for shampoo, and liquid soap. This way you can you save cash by buying in bulk, and feel good about putting your old bottles to good use.
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:46 pm
I actually found a really good thing to do with empty 2-liters, and it’s even hydroponics related! If you clean them out and carefully peel the labels off, then cut the bottom off as low as you can, you can make a pretty nice humidity tent for your seedlings.
How I clean them is I fill them up with hot tap water, put the cap on, and then shake them around to make sure all the syrup is dissolved pretty well. Then, after they’ve heated up the glue on the label, I grab the top edge all the way around with my fingernails and pull it down like a sock. With the glue warmed it peels off pretty clean. (Not perfect, but close enough.)
With the bottoms chopped off they stand up nicely on their own, admit light, and can be moved around however you like.
June 12th, 2008 at 1:35 am
Hydroponics is great in areas where there are water restrictions, as less water is lost to evaporation.We can do the process in McDonald cups also very interesting to do this.
June 12th, 2008 at 2:30 am
This blog is really nice. I used a plastic bottle for make a bubbler system and have some herbal plants are growing in them now. But it was not growing as a soil plants why?
June 12th, 2008 at 5:37 am
You can use chopped rockwool, rockwool slabs, blocks or cubes, fired clay or a mixture of fired clay and rockwool as a growing medium. Cubed chopped rockwool or fired clay are recommended but you can use any of these and expect good results.
June 12th, 2008 at 7:03 am
General hydroponics is a hobby many people are picking up today. Hydroponics is simpler than what most people think, and is proven to have several advantages over regular soil gardening.
June 13th, 2008 at 3:49 am
Very great and lovely idea. So many people have interest on the hydroponic garden but some persons are failed in this gardening why because lack of knowledge about the how to maintain this gardening.
June 16th, 2008 at 5:42 am
Hydroponic gardening is also beneficial to the environment. For example hydroponic gardening uses considerably less water than soil gardening because of the constant reuse of the nutrient solutions.