Self Watering PVC Pipe Planter

*editing

Hello fellow makers,

In this Instructable I would like to show you how I created a self watering herb planter from some 3D printed parts and a piece of PVC piping.

The place I buy aluminium profiles from locally always ships them in these awesome blue PVC pipes, now that I have quite a few of the pipes I needed some way to reuse them.

As I'm running out of planting space in my backyard I decided to try using the PVC pipes for some vertical gardening.

Join me on my first attempt...

To replicate this Instructable you will need the following:

• 50mm PVC Piping (length of your choice)

This could also work well with larger diameter pipes if you modify the 3D printed parts.

I used a 400mm piece.

• Access to a 3D printer

You will also need around 50 meters of filament

• a Heat gun
• Two ~50mm long screws

• a Hacksaw

• Some all purpose adhesive

• An old soda bottle

• Good quality potting soil

• Herbs of your choice

Either established seedlings or seeds will work.

All the parts were designed using Fusion 360 and are made to fit 50mm PVC pipes using a soda bottle for watering.

I have found that there are some soda bottles that use a different thread but I modelled it according to the most commonly used.

Overall the design is working very well, I just want to try a few different spout hole combinations to get the water flow correct as it is too quick in coarse potting soil.

My print settings are:

Material: Sunlu PETG

Layer height: 0.32mm with .8mm nozzle

Speed: 45mm/s

Temperature: 260/85

Cooling: 50% with Fan Fang

Now that we have finished heat shaping the PVC pipe we can assemble the 3D printed parts.

I started with the thread, take some all purpose adhesive and smear a bead around the inside of the printed thread, then push it over the pipe until it is flush with the top.

Then smear a bead of glue around the bottom of the pipe and push it into the bottom plate.

Now you can just screw on the spout to make sure it fits.

Easy as that!

Now we can get to the fun part...

We will need fill the pipe with potting soil starting from lowest opening upwards.

You will need a potting soil that has a high coco peat content and is quite fine.

One of the best soils I found was the seedling starter/germination mixes they are also sometimes sold for hanging plants. This is a very fine soil with good water retention that's perfect for wicking the water.

Compact the soil slightly as you fill then make a hole in the "pots" and plant your favorite herbs.

For the watering I used 500ml soda bottles and they work well for me but you could up the size of the bottle to 1.5l without any modifications to the printed parts to increase the time between refills.

I had a beautiful old reclaimed door that I wanted to hang the planters on.

To attach it to the wood I started by screwing in one on the screws about halfway, then placed the planter into the bracket and slipped the front bracket over the pipe.

Screw in the second screw and tighten both.

Now all that's left is to fill up your soda bottle with clean water, screw on the spout and then screw the spout onto the planter.

The first time your planter will use up the water quickly until all the soil is moist, so you will need to refill it again after a few hours.

I hope you guys find this Instructable useful and if you have any questions please feel free to leave me a message or comment bellow.

Please share your own creations with us by clicking the "I Made It" button below.

Happy making!

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