HydroHex

Miles Systems LLC  /  74th Mile

A garden on a
whisky barrel.

Five levels of plants share the water in one barrel. Before we build it, help us spot what might be hard to reach, clean, or use.

Take the garden tour Explore the water system Designs $200 · Complete system $1,200

23 plant cups · 53-gallon barrel · About 5′ 3″ tall before the light

The five-level HydroHex tower with staggered planting cups, yellow honeycomb shelves and green sprayer rings above a wooden barrel.
THE 74TH MILEDesign rendering · illustrative plants

Garden tour

Take a closer look.

A close-up of the angled plant cups and the rails around them.
Plant cups and surrounding rails · design detail

01 / 03

Could you lift out a full-grown plant?

Each plant sits in a cup you can lift out. A small plant clears the rings in our model. With a bigger plant, leaves catch a ring or a neighbor in 18 of the 23 spots.

Picture pulling out a big basil plant. What looks like it would get in your way?

Leave a note about the cups

Interactive water lessons

From barrel to sprayer.

One pump lifts water out of the barrel. At the top, valves divide it among the plant cups, bee shelves, and sprayers. Look inside each part and try the controls yourself.

Cutaway of the pump with its drive and three diaphragm chambers visible.

Lesson 1 · The pump

What moves the water?

Turn the shaft by hand. Watch a chamber draw in water, then push it past a one-way valve. Close the test outlet to see why the motor stops.

Look inside the pump
Cutaway of a tower valve, with the soft seal above the blue water passage.

Lesson 2 · The pressure system

Where does the water go?

Open the return to the barrel, then try the three ceiling sprayers. See what happens when one tip clogs and when you close the valve they share.

Trace the pressure system
Three-dimensional cutaway of the green HydroHex cyclone cartridge with its blue curved water passage and soft face seal.

Lesson 3 · The sprayers

What turns water into a swirl?

Look inside the removable cyclone cartridge. Follow its sideways inlet, compare the two outlet sizes, and twist out the tip for cleaning.

Explore the sprayer

A HydroHex of your own

Choose your HydroHex.

Complete barrel system

$1,200

The complete HydroHex system, including the tower, barrel and pump. Contact Richard for availability, lead time and delivery.

Ask about a build

Grow light not included. Tax and delivery are additional.

Self-print design package

$200

Get the HydroHex designs and print the parts yourself. You supply the printer, filament, hardware, barrel and pump.

Get the designs

Digital designs only. Email Richard for file details and access.

Questions? richard@miles.systems

The first build

What a drawing
can’t tell us.

We still need to print one level and run water through it. Three things to try first:

  • Pull a full-grown plant out with the rail in place.
  • Open a bee shelf and see whether the sprayers still mist and the joints stay dry.
  • Turn the pump off, watch where the water collects, then remove and clean a tip.
See the parts and cutaway

Design feedback

What would you change?

One thing you’d keep, move, or try is plenty. Your note goes privately to Miles Systems.