My $10 Inexpensive DIY Fodder Tower with Dollar Tree Dish Bins

Thanks for the review and comments. The best thing about the fodder tower is that is actually works.

Thanks for the review and comments. Going vertical with the fodder flood and drain type tower system saves space, and labor, because you only have to dump water in the top bin. I literally spend less than 5 minutes per day and have about 8 bins of fodder growing in various stages. I figured that tower was good use of scrap lumber I had behind the garage and the $10 spent on new plastic bins paid for itself in feed costs in almost no time.

Thank you for the review and comment. I hope you give growing fodder a try. This is one of the few projects I have done that is cheap to build, easy to grow, and almost instant payback on my time and money.

I use between 1/2 and 3/4 bin of water to the fodder tower when I water it twice a day. I have not experimented with different volumes of water, but that is a very interesting question. My goal is to keep the fodder grains moist for good grass growth, but not wet enough to promote mold growth. I don't know how much difference the amount of water would play in the flood and drain system, because I suspect the seeds will absorb what water they need and let the rest pass through. If I had a controlled environment, I would like to see how much difference water and temp affect fodder growth.

Yes, I have been considering growing barley fodder under a wooden feeding frame with hardware cloth on top. That would give the barley a number of days to grow up and through the wire mesh.

I don't have a sunroom, so I am growing fodder in our spare bathroom this winter. It's the only greens my girls are eating this time of year, and they seem to appreciate it. Glad to hear you are going to give it a try.

Thanks for taking time to rate this article.

It's very doable. I spend less than 5 minutes per day on this project and the result is I have a nice batch of fresh green barley grass every day for my girls during these winter months.

Thank you for the review and adding a link to my thread about my efforts to hide my growing fodder in the second bathroom from Dear Wife. And yes, one advantage of the flood and fill tower system is that you only need one bin of water to water all bins in the system.

I am currently growing barley in the house, in a bathtub, and letting the water immediately drain out. With no collection bin of standing water, there is very little smell at all, so far. I may update this article after my indoor growing experiment. Thanks for the review.

Thanks for the review. I hope it works out for you. It does not cost much to make a tower out of scrap wood, takes very little effort to grow fodder, and the chickens have fresh greens to enjoy along with their commercial feed.

I think the pictures help explain how easy it is to make and that you don't need to invest much money. I made this tower out of scrap wood. It might not look very pretty, but it works great. Thanks for the review.

Thanks for checking out this article.

Thanks for taking the time to rate my article. Hope it encourages others to try growing fodder if they have the interest.

it's just something extra I do for the girls. We don't have fresh green grass in Minnesota during the long winter months.

I considered lots of tower options before I just used old scrap lumber sitting behind the garage. What the fodder tower lacks in aesthetics, it makes up for in functionality.

Yes, my main goal was to concept proof a system that I could use to grow barley fodder in the winter and give my girls some fresh greens. Good to hear you found this article of benefit.

Thank you for the review. Hope it encourages others to try something like it.

Thank you for the review. Seeds don't need expensive racks or containers. I bought the Dollar Tree dish bins because they are all the same size and nest in to each other. Also, I use these same Dollar Tree dish bins as removable nest boxes in the coop.