Growing Vegetables Vertically with ZipGrow Towers

Zip Grow Towers

I started with Zipgrow Towers almost a full year (2014) after my aquaponics experiment failed.  I liked the appeal of vertical farming in urban/suburban areas and thought Zipgrow towers was a versatile and easy approach that looks scalable.

The concept behind Zipgrow Towers is fairly simple. 

1. Sandwich plant seedlings (grown from seeds or bought at the store) between a water absorbent cloth and a fibrous media. 
2. Slide the entire assembly into the Zipgrow Tower.
3. Use a pump (from a water fountain or sump pump) and simple drip irrigation plumbing (used in lawn care) to send nutrient rich water to the top of the tower.
4. Drip the water down into the tower.
5. Collect the water from the tower into the sump.

REALLY SIMPLE AND FAST. I did not have to fiddle with a bell siphon and the amount of hardware needed was severely reduced. Woohoo!

The following pictures are my interpretation of using a ZipGrow tower. Better representations of how it should be displayed can be found on the manufacturer's website brightagrotech.com. Most of their displays have gutters and the towers hanging which look much more refined than my first setup (pictured below).

My Infrastructure Expenses:

Per Zipgrow Tower $65

Water pump $45 (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Beckett-400-GPH-Submersible-Pond-Pump-FR400HD/202563430) I will explain sizing a pump a little later.

Hose (re-used from aquaponics normal price $10)

Hose plug $free (piece of cut wood)

Irrigation plumbing $10 (drip lines, etc.)

20 gallon container (re-used normal price $12)

scrap wood

spare fence stake

Plant Production Expenses:

Plant Nutrients from local hydroponic store $20

Plant Seedlings

2014 Spring and Summer: I started with cantalope and cucumbers. The plants started growing almost the next week. It appeared that they did not experience any root shock from being transplanted into the towers. 

Overall, the cantalopes grew but never produced flowers or fruit. Eventually, the cantalope developed downy mildew which was probably because I was adding too much water or that their roots were not made for a tower system. 

The cucumbers were my best producers as soon as I determined the correct ratio of the nutrient mix to water and the frequency of dosing. Initially, I was not adding enough and the cuke flowers would fall off without creating vegetables. After I started adding nutrients every few days instead of once a week, my family and I started enjoying fresh cucumbers with our salads.  (Please be advised, I did not describe the garden pests - burrowing grubs or the Mexican beetles that I dealt with).

Using this growing method, I was extremely pleased with the results.

I also tried variations of growing plants in Zipgrow towers that year. For instance, I tried directly planting seeds in the towers.  Essentially, I sandwiched lettuce seeds between a paper towel and the absorbent cloth (see pic).  

A few of the lettuce seeds grew, but I only had one plant really become leafy and mature (not shown). I would say very limited success and not worth trying again. I had better growth by planting seeds in peet pods or seeding trays and then transplanting them into the towers.

In the fall and winter 2014, I tried growing brusselsprouts, but could not properly protect them from the cold. The water froze and the plants were scrapped. 

I determined that I needed a greenhouse to better protect from insects and weather. This was my goal for 2015 to be described in a later post.