by Plateau Guy
Windowfarm… outdoor, on my balcony?
2:01 pm in Getting Started, Outside Farms, questions, Seeking Advice by Plateau Guy
I was wondering : will the Windowfarm system work if installed on my balcony ? For some reasons, I would like to install this farm outside. Takes less space during the summer.
My balcony is on the north side of the building, so there is no direct sunlight. But I guess I have to consider wind, evaporation and other factors…
Has anyone tested this system outdoors ?
Any ideas ? Am I crazy ?
Mmmh, I’ve seen only one outside system so far:
http://our.windowfarms.org/members/yukosato/
But I guess an EarthBox or an EarthTainer would be the better choice.
Cheers
Mine is portable, I used to bring it outside daily with only a pathetic little drip in the blaring summer sun and it worked fine. As far as wind and evaporation are concerned, just make sure you have a large enough reservoir, and these occurrences will promote better growth, because those are the natural factors that the plants use to breath. The only thing I was worried about was stuff getting into my reservoir/ tainting my nutrients somehow, but if you are using the V.3 model with a closed lower reservoir that won’t be a problem, mine was just wide open up top at the time.
Your biggest issue will be lack of direct sunlight, being on the north side of the building.
I had built a green house outside for doing Hydroponics but I didn’t have a lot of time to work with it because I had to move.
Wind is a very dangerous factor. And your farm could get trashed fairly quickly. You could alter the design to work outside, but you are going to have to think outside the box. Or there are other hydroponic solutions too.
I hadn’t thought of the wind in regards to the actual system, that is a good point. The farms as designed by the windowfarms team seem a little frail, not that I really know because I used very different methods with mine. But, since you aren’t in a window anyways, I was thinking that it would be easiest to try a DWC (deep water culture) system, all you need for that is something like a rubbermaid bin to hold nutrient solution in, and airstones. For a balcony without direct light, it wouldn’t really matter if it is vertical or not, plants grow better in DWC anyways. If you want more specific info on making one let me know.
I had done a hydroponics system that used soiless soil and a flood system. Large rubbermaid container for the nutrient solution and a bin above for all the plants. Used gravel at the bottom of the plant containers to weight them down.
I was told the flooding should only need to happen 2-3 times a day but I never had it running enough to see the results.
http://www.addictiveprojects.com/wp-content/gallery/may-5th-2010/picture-004.jpg
I think people call that an ebb and flow, “safer” than other ways, I think, because it is more similar to soil growing than other methods, especially with a smaller grain medium that retains a lot of moisture. I have never been tempted to build one, they just seem like more work than other methods to construct, and don’t save a great deal of space or energy, or give results that are particularly drastic in comparison to soil (again from what I’ve read), at which point I just choose to get my hands dirty.