by Jessica
Just starting out…..and already overwhelmed…
2:01 pm in Getting Started by Jessica
So I’ve been wanting to start a window farm for weeks now after having stumbled upon this site and have just finished collecting all the supplies I need. What was most discouraging though, was on my final two stops to a local nursery and hydroponic store, the salesmen there made it clear to me that my little “window farm” project was doomed to fail claiming the vegetables I had (Lettuce, Cherry Tomatoes, and Green Beans) could never grow in a window or with simple grow lights because it wasn’t enough lighting. Even the guy at the hydroponic store said that some of his regulars tried window farming and none of them had ever been successful.
I really hope that they’re just ignorant and it’s not as complicating as they make it seem, because I was really looking forward to growing vegetables in my dorm while being away at college.
They spoke too technical and over my head and made it seem like growing vegetables hydroponically was rocket science. Regardless, I will continue to attempt my window farm and keep my fingers crossed.
But any encouragement would be fantitaliastic! : D
Did they say that after you had to describe them where your windows were facing ‘n stuff ?
Lettuce is really easy to grow, beans shouldn’t be too hard, either.
Which direction are your windows facing
?
When I went into my hydroponics store the first thing the guy asked me was whether or not my “” tomatoes “” were really “” tomatoes “”….. and I had to explain that I was not trying to grow weed…
First off, try something easy to not kill. I found lettuce really resilient as long as you make sure they get enough water. The bonus is you can get really small varieties as well.
Cherry tomatoes will require you to pollinate them. I don’t know if you wanna try these first. I killed my first seedling batch and had to execute my second. Make sure you get dwarf plants. I cannot recommend that enough because they grow BIG otherwise.
Beans like to climb. That’s not a bad thing, but you might want to have them near the bottom of the farm.
I found that there are different people in the hydroponic business. Some are willing to help any way you can but a lot of them have been in the business for years. They sell growing systems and their products.
If your building a system from scratch and recycled materials, your likely not to spend a lot of money in their store.
If you want to check out my blog http://www.addictiveprojects.com, and go back to March 2010 to see where I started. I have plenty of pictures for you to look at. Mine was a modified version of WindowFarm version 1.0.
Keep in mind that the project is supposed to be fun, don’t let people discourage you.
Oh wow! Yes I am currently trying for the second time, growing my lettuce seedlings and two bean plants (which I will now put on the bottom ^__^ thanks!) They’re doing extremely well and get bigger and bigger everyday just with the light through the window. I think it will work out nicely in the end. I will definitly have to check out your blog and I appreciate the encouragement! Thank you so much! : )
Those people at the hydro store are full of it. Sorry for saying that, but plants can be grown in much worse conditions than this and still do well. This has a window with possibly some natural light, some auxiliary lighting from CFL’s, large enough pots for roots, nutrients and water.
The hydro guys know that this is doable as plenty of their “other” customers grow in light proof cabinets under CFL’s only and are able to make it work just fine. As Hardware junkie pointed out, they are just trying to sway you to buying one of their products.
Besides, if it fails, it just means that you get a chance to learn something about the particular plant and setup you have and make adjustments. Farmer’s do this all the time on a much larger scale.