by Ryan
Pumpless Column
6:52 pm in Completed Window Farms, energy consumption, posts with pitcures!, Uncategorized by Ryan
Hi all,
I just completed my first window farm and wanted to share my experience. Just as I decided to get one of these together, I had an assignment to create a video about the environmental subject of my choice, and this seemed to fit perfectly. Here’s what I came up with: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fif-hNj47M. I used several images from this site, so if I used one of yours and you want it removed, then please let me know.
I was particularly impressed with Dave’s Manhattan Window Farm design (http://our.windowfarms.org/2011/01/07/my-manhattan-windowfarm/), and used it as a starting point. In the interest of simplicity and energy conservation I decided not to use lights or a pump, at least to start. I don’t live anywhere near a hydroponics supply store, and was unable to find nutrient solution, net cups, clay pellets, or rock wool. Instead I used Vigoro all purpose soluble plant food diluted for indoor plants, cheap plastic plant containers that I already had and a mixture of vermiculite and pebbles. I figured that the vermiculite would retain moisture better between manual waterings anyway. I wanted as large a space for roots as possible, so I used 2L soda bottles, which I regularly use. I could only find 2″ split ring hangers but they turned out to be just large enough to hold the neck of the bottles and keep them close (but not too close) to the shower curtain rod.
I bought some romaine, arugula, and red leaf lettuce from Lowe’s so I could include actual plants in the video, and for the instant gratification, but in the future I will be using seed, of which I have plenty, to start one with herbs and another one or two with things like beans and peppers. I waited too long for the first watering and I lost a few leaves because of that and damage sustained during transfer, but otherwise they’re looking good ten days in. Since, I have been watering with 2-4 cups of solution every 2-3 days. The red leaf is growing really well, while the romaine seems to be struggling a bit. The arugula is a little bigger, but has not changed much, although they have all grown.
Here are some pictures:
Day One:
Day Ten:
I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this project.
04.21.2011 Edit to add:
I lost one (the smallest) of three of the romaine plants to what looks like root rot but the others seem to be doing well-
and unfortunately the arugula looks like it’s going to seed already
Looks Excellent. Thanks for sharing…
thanks, i’m very excited to have started my own window farm
Thank you, Ryan, that looks about what I was looking for, as I also want to start without a pump. Can you share what your ‘harvest’ has been, Ryan? For instance: are you getting enough for a salad a week from the 5 bottles? I am going to be writing about my experiences once I get around to building one and it would be helpful to get some idea of harvest capability from others just getting going on the windowfarm. Thank you again,
Yes I’ve been meaning to post an update but am just now getting to it. Unfortunately everything died within a few weeks of my last update. I’m fairly certain that I was over-watering, and soon after I lost my first romaine plant I cut back to no more than once per week, but apparently not soon enough. Some of the plants didn’t look like the first dead romaine plant but still had roots, although they looked matted, brown, and lifeless. In the second week of May I removed the cups and added more pebbles to the mixture, and then planted pepper seedlings in two, basil seedlings in one, and a remaining red leaf lettuce in the other. I also mixed fresh solution with a bit more plant food powder. The pepper plants seem to be doing well but the red leaf died after about two weeks (it was a bit unhealthy when I transferred it, and although its health improved at first, it died shortly thereafter). The basil died over this past weekend (I was away, they looked ok when I left but are shriveled and mostly brown now-I haven’t checked the roots yet but I think they were over crowded since there were five plants in the one container).
So to answer your question I haven’t really had a harvest yet, aside from a few leaves here and there. Once I am able to work out these problems (suggestions welcome), I imagine that the one unit of all lettuce would produce about a salad per week (I am using four containers for growing and one for a reservoir).
I hope this is helpful.
At the moment I’m not using a pump either, but I do have a bottle with one of those sports drink caps (thin Powerade bottle) at the top to act as a buffer. I’ve poked some holes in the bottom, turned it upside down and tried to adjust it to get a small drip.
The reason I did this is to even out the amount of water the plants get. I just keep topping up the buffer bottle, and it seems to be working alright. Since it only contains 50 cl you can’t exactly leave it for an entire weekend, but for me this is just a temporary solution until we move in to our new place.