The prettier(?) window farm – Construction complete
11:47 am in Getting Started, Materials and Resources, posts with pitcures!, Projects in Process by Mikko Mattila
I posted earlier (more on the construction here) about designing a prettier window farm. I’m building a clean and simple single column farm. The construction itself is pretty much complete, but the plants are still missing.
I made a nice discovery related to the bottom reservoir. In case you’re using a bottle and are having trouble getting the cap water tight, worry no more! March in to a pet store and get one of those drinking bottles meant for rodents. The one I got fit perfectly to the reservoir I’m using. And in case you’re having trouble getting the threads water tight, use teflon tape. Also known as the thread seal tape.
With this first column I made the mistake of cutting the aluminum stripts too short. They are long enough for four pots, but too short to be able to attach the reservoir to the strips. I don’t think I’m gonna have the energy to change the strips, so I’m just going to leave it like this for now. 
Here’s the whole thing.
And here’s a close-up of the reservoir.
I’m not sure what happened exactly, but the “pretty” somehow got lost during the process. 
I guess I got impatient and just wanted to see it work. Next step is to get the seedlings going in rock wool, and to plant them in the pots when the sun rises again in the spring.
Looks great! I like your rodent drinking bottle idea. It looks like you have tubing a little smaller than 1/4 inch for your “airlift tube” going up from the y joint. If it gives enough water that is fine but I am pretty sure that 1/4 inch or 3/16 inch internal diameter tubing is usually more efficient. I also think that (depending on your pump) you could get the y a bit nearer the floor and get more efficiency with your water pumping.
These are minor points.
If it works well enough, move on to the next stage, then no need to get lost in changes.
Well done!
Hi Brian, thanks for your comments!
The tubing is 4mm(inner)/6mm(outer), so the outer diameter is very close to 1/4″. With the lowest pump power setting I’m getting constant dripping from the drip pipes. It’s about 1-2dl of water per 5 minutes. Using a 15mins on / 45 minutes off cycle that’s probably enough. If not, I’ll just turn up the pump power so it’s not really an issue. You’re absolutely right about the Y being better off closer to floor. That’s something I need to fix before putting the plants in.
i like that, quite inspiring! as i have some aluminium stuff lying around i think ill follow your idea. how did you drill the pots? would you mind posting a picture of how the pots are attached to the cable? greetings martin
I think it looks great! We’re just starting–Santa brought all the stuff–and I’ll be thrilled if ours looks as nice as yours.
Do your clear water bottles go into the orchid pots, eliminating the need for duct tape?
I am also very interested in designing and building new models geared at the more aesthetically minded folk.
I think that some may not start windowfarming just because the idea of hanging recycled bottles in the window frame doesn’t seem classy.
Here’s a post of mine for a design that you might be interested in:
http://our.windowfarms.org/?p=16942
Martin: The pots are plastic so I just used a typical 3mm drill bit for the suspension holes. In fact there’s no cable at all, but a rigid aluminum strip instead. You’ll get the idea from this pic: http://our.windowfarms.org/files/2011/12/WP_000012.jpg
Tish:
No I don’t have water bottles at all. I will place the net cups directly in the pots. I drilled a 6mm hole in the bottom of each orchid pot, and used a 6mm aluminum pipe as a drip pipe. The hole is so tight that there’s no need for any adhesive or duct tape. The pipe stays there on it’s own. I added a tight gasket to the top end of each pipe to make sure they don’t fall off. A very small amount of water seems to drip down on the outside of the pipes, but that is not an issue. It all lands in the pot below just nicely.
Ken:
Thanks for the tip. Nice setup!