by Magali
window farm after 6 months
1:48 pm in Uncategorized by Magali
Bonjour, hi,
I started 6 month ago (september 2012) a window farm. Me and my husband build 2 columns with 1.5L Nestle bottle. We also bought an special lamp in an hydroponic store, Sun Blaster 6400 K 3627 lumen. So far the set up seem perfect! We started with strawberry plant, because we read that strawberry were easy to start with. For the first month they seem to be ok, they even done few strawberry! But after they suddenly died! We tought that maybe they didn’t like to be transfer from soil to hydroponic, so we decided to start our next plant in grow cube. Its the hydroponic store that suggest that! So we started some lettuce and tomato in grow cube! Few days after we’ve put the seed in the grow cube, they started to grow! They were growing under a dome with a good lamp. When they started to be to big to fit underneath the dome we transferred them in the window farm. The lettuce seem to grow perfectly, yeah! We had only one tomato plant an it was growing like crazy! We were giving them Biothrive Grow 4-3-3, suggested by the hydroponic store. But suddenly the tomato plant started to change color and the leave look like they were missing water but it didn’t make sense! The tip of the leave became brown and yellow and dry! We were giving them food every week, 2 teaspoon per bottle and also changing the water. We have change the frenquency of the watering to try the find what would be the best. For the last month a notice that each time that water is running its smell really weird, like bad! I decided to clean and wash the all window farm (with hot water only!). So far it didn’t change much! So my tomato plant is almost dead! So we are still trying to understand what are we doing wrong?! We tought that; we are living in Edmonton, Alberta, winter here is dark and really cold! The window farm is just beside the front door were we go in and out. So could the cold air affected our window farm? Maybe the window as well is to cold for a window farm?! Should we move our window farm in another window? Right now the window farm is located south, wich I tought would be the best! We have another window located north, might be better because no cold air?! Anyway, we started new seed, again, tomato, pepper, and mini eggplant. They are growing in grow cube under the dome, but they are about to be ready to go in the window farm but I must say that I’m really afraid to loose them again! Maybe starting my window farm in fall wasn’t a good idea… PLEASE HELP!
Growing cubes are a good way to start seedlings for hydroponics. I’d recommend continuing to use that method.
Cleaning your windowfarm – I would disassemble the farm every 6 months or so and do a complete clean out if possible. You should be through one growing cycle by that time, so time to replace the plants. If you’d like to keep your older plants, you just have to be careful when moving them. Try to create a system where its modular enough for disassembly.
I’d also probably use some detergent, not just water. I picked up camping dish soap which worked ok. I’ve also used a 5% solution of Javex and water for disinfecting. But run the window farm for about an hour or two with just water to clean it all out.
For the smell – two things could be causing it: Your nutrients are organic based and they stink regardless. I have the same mixture and found this out after using it. It can also clog the farm, so keep an eye on it every few days.
You could also have a moisture or mildew problem. Something like mold could be developing. Another reason to clean the farm, also rinse your plant roots and growing cube with water for a bit.
Your plants will likely wilt out of the farm, keep them in a bucket with some water during the clean out.
There are a lot of reasons why your tomato plant could be showing the signs on the leaves.
- Too little water
- Too much water
- Some kind of desease
- Lack of a particular nutrient
Plants require more nutrients as they grow as well. You might need to up the water timing to provide nutrients more often.
I would also move the farm to the north window – there should be more sunlight. Cold is going to affect the plants. Maybe even circulate the air with a fan. I moved my plants away from the window a couple of inches during the winter months. Living in Canada its difficult to avoid though.
Its an endless project!
actually looks a lot like nutrient burn: https://www.google.nl/search?q=nutrient+burn&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:nl:official&client=firefox-a which would be to much nutrients.
but indeed, could be other things like incorrect ph or something
Bram – thanks forgot to mention that possibility as well.
Magali – you mentioned “We were giving them food every week, 2 teaspoon per bottle and also changing the water”. I am not sure if this means you are giving it directly to the plants or not. Or if you are adding it to the existing water supply.
Best idea is to swap it out completely, every time. Dump the old stuff into potted plants or outdoors (spread it around though), they should enjoy it as well.
It looks like nutrient burn to me as well. However, I lost a couple of plants to window cleaning solution (a homemade one that was just vinegar, lemon, and water). Have your plants been in contact with window cleaning chemicals?
The cold from the windows shouldn’t matter at all, I am in Calgary, Alberta and my plants are in the window next to my balcony door and don’t seem adverse to the cold.
Hopefully that helps!
Ok, first thank you everybody for your help!
So I desassemble the windowfarm were we tried to grow strawberries and tomato. Its was really dirty! I cleaned the window farm with hot water and a little bit of bleach. Oh and I found something perfect to clean the tubing, cleaning kit for hydration pack (camel pack), try that, it cant get better than this! So now its clean but we decided not to reuse it right away. Anyway we have enought stock to build another one brand new! So what we’ve learn and what we will stop doing; don’t ever take plant from soil to put in your windowfarm, risk: bugs and disease! Food plant: start with less than to much, and add more progressively! So now we have two new windowfarm, one that already as lettuce (that as survive!) and one basilic plant. I have started, other lettuce, mini eggplant and pepper. I have a good feeling that thing will get better and better, hopefully!
Thank again everybody! I’ll let you know how my windowfarm part 2 is going!
Cheers!
Magali