Hello again!

I’m back to pick up where I left off in my last post “What about those who can’t afford to build a window farm?” I said I was going to try and think about cheaper and easier ways of building+ running a window farm, and here what  came up with so far. I found some structural and methodological adjustments to the building process, and some ideas (that I still need to look into) for the maintenance part. I wish I had a little more knowledgeable about hydroponics though, since I have ideas that I’m not too sure would work. I’ll post’em out here though and hopefully someone with more expertise in the field can let me know what they think.

All right, so some of the more expensive tools and parts can definitely be spared. First of all, you don’t actually need a drill to make holes in the bottom of all bottles. Some bottles, like Aquafina bottles or the Poland Spring suggested bottles are horrible to work with since they have such hard bottoms. Yet, other types of plastic bottles have bottoms that can easily be cut into so if one can find bottles of this nature, a drill isn’t needed. Nonetheless, something like an xActo knife will still be needed but these are considerably less expensive than a drill (I bought one for 4 dollars).
Secondly: chains, hooks, zip ties and these things aren’t really essential either. I found that the frame (off which the bottles hang) can be made by using thin flexible wiring and your average nails. From here I’ve come up with a downsized list of essentials one could use to make a cheaper WF. This is based on a two-column window farm, equipped with three plants per column.

The Cheaper Window Farm Necessities
-6 plastic water bottles with easy to cut bottoms! Free
-2 reservoir plastic water bottles with easy to cut bottoms!  Free
-xActo Knife   4$
-a couple of nails  2/3 $
-Spool of thin (but sturdy) and flexible wiring. Comes in colors too. 4 $
-Plants  (cost depends on which you want but I got mine for 10$ tot)
-Net cups (free at your friendly neighborhood nursery)
`    -Pebbles / clay pellets???
- Air Pump and tubing?????

As is noticeable, I’m still uncertain about necessity of the last few items. I know hydroponics is all about a continuous water system, but the cost & maintenance of the pump worries me. Is there any way one could pour water through the system once or twice a day and still achieve healthy plants?
Furthermore, is it crucial that the plants grow in clay pellets or can they survive in pebbles (like little rocks one can find in a park or something)?
I’m wondering about these since if they could be spared and substituted for, the WF would cost much less. If they can’t be though, maybe one could build a non-hydroponic WF with just some dirt & watering instead.
The ‘frame’ of a non-hydroponic WF would be fundamentally the same, but without the pump and hydroponic parts. The plants could be placed in dirt and watered daily instead. What do you guys think about this?
I’ve also been wondering about possible homemade nutrients solutions since those can be expensive too. I intend to do some research on that and see. But until then, do let me know if any of you have some ideas about this stuff!

As always, thank you! Ciao

Hey guys!

So I’m in research phase for building my WindowFarm after I saw Britta’s TED talk and I have to admit that I have a ridiculous amount of information swirling around in my head and it’s starting to overwhelm me. I’ve read dozens of articles on here and there are still a few things unclear to me.

Basically, I was hoping I could do a site visit to someone that has an established WF somewhere near my neighborhood (Clinton Hill, Brooklyn) so I can see it in action and get a good visual of all the working parts in person. Would anybody be willing to let me in to see theirs?

I’m thinking of doing a set up similar to Jenna Spevack’s (seen here: http://our.windowfarms.org/2010/05/05/plastic-free-window-farm/) though I may have to cut corners on the no plastic idea. I’m also trying to start off with three or four columns in my GINORMOUS 7.5′ x 8′ living room window. I know that’s pretty ambitious, since it’s my first aeroponic system, but I think the process is pretty straight forward, and I’d rather just get it all done, rather than build the first and then have to scale up later. My research seems to indicate that I should have two separate air lift pump systems so that I have enough lift. Is that correct?

Thanks in advance for all your help and I can’t wait to be eating my very own pak choy!

I have a couple of nice windows in my house that are about 10 feet tall and 4 feet wide. I think they’d support a lot of veggies and they face south, so they get a lot of sun the way my house is situated.

The windows are in the living room. I hesitate to mount the system using the wall for support. I’d like to use a ladder, but I’d have to purchase one. I have seen the PVC anchored in a bucket of concrete idea, but my wife vetoed it very quickly.

Any other ideas I should be looking at?

I followed the instructions for the v3  4 column window farm, and it instructed to line up the plant holes with the reservoir bottle hole.  I searched the site but could not a definite answer on this:  Right now, I have the plant hole facing away from the window.  I did a google image search and it seems like most people have their bottles with the plant hole facing out the window.  However if I do this, there is not a lot of space for plants to grow out without relocating the whole bead chain suspension farther out from the window.  Plants move toward sunlight, so with my setup, would the plants grow back inside the bottle rather than growing out of the plant hole? 

Thanks in advance to anyone willing/able to help me out.  I am new to the windowfarming community, and to farming of any kind in general.  I’ve had an interest in doing something like this for a while, but didn’t think it was likely to work given the apartment setup.  I’ll start out with the basics of the current situation and then list out some of my questions from there.

I am currently living in Phoenix, AZ in a 1 bedroom apartment.  The window that would be used for the setup (my only window actually) is north facing and only gets indirect sunlight.  General spacing isn’t an issue for me, and I would actually end up moving/setting things up to best accommodate the plants.  I know the lighting means limited plant options or the need for a grow light (willing to get one).  I would end up getting the single column classic Windowfarm from the new kickstarter program, and then add more from there once I am comfortable with my ability to grow plants successfully.

So my questions:

1)  What (if any) plants could I grow in the indirect sunlight situation?

2)  If I need a grow light, are there any limitations on which plants I can grow using one?

3)  I was wondering if there are any plants that could produce for me year-round without needing to replant, or if there is a specific need for new plants every 3-4 months.

I would appreciate any help/advice in helping me get started, I will be reading over the rest of the site to see what information I can find.  Thanks again

Hi, everyone.

I’m a newbie and right now am just going through the site to get ideas for my future window garden. I really like the idea of using a pole to mount the containers a la Dave’s Manhattan Windowfarm. I’m also interested in using non-plastic containers to hold the plants, and I’m wondering if anyone has considered using cylindrical glass funnels. I’d like to find something with a shorter stem, but you get the idea.

I thought I might be able to wrap the funnel in felt or other fabric before clamping to the pole in order to protect the roots from light as well as the glass from whatever type of clamp I use to attach to the pole. What do you all think?

So, as a rebel wannabe and annoying being that I am, I came up with a model for my future windowfarm.

The main objective of this model is to avoid the use a pump as I don’t want to use the money I’ll save from buying veggies to pay more in the electric bill

I got my inspiration from Lousie (http://our.windowfarms.org/2011/03/06/testing-a-waterclock-dripper-system-based-on-brians-plans/) a great idea to keep the tank pressure constant (hence the dropping frequency constant) is to use a float valve, but as I said, I don’t want to waste a cent, so I came up with a float valve of my own, using a bottlenose with a ping-pong ball inside, it should keep the water from falling into the secondary tank (this part may be tricky but I wont buy that float valve)

The other part of my idea is that I don’t like things hanging, it makes me feel everything is going to fall apart and I want my plant to be safe, so I decided to make shelves for the bottles, but they’re hard to make, so I thought that, If I cut off the bottom of the bottles and fold the plastic outwards, and then cut a piece of the folding so a twisted wire can go around the bottle, then the bottle itself will be its own shelf. And taking things further, If I make the same (maybe adding something instead of folding the plastic) with the net pots then I can take off every bottle with their plants without having to dismount everything YAY!! modularity FTW!!

But I’m not sure things will work out, I’m new with this, the last time I ever planted something was a carrot in primary school and I think it died, so I leave here some schematic I made with my crazy mspaint skills, so you can visualize things as I do and maybe give me some feedback on this.

PS: I don’t mind moving the water up when the tanks are empty, it’s nice to have some activity around the plants other than killing them

PS2: The whole idea is based on reducing costs, materials and work (I just can’t understand how the airlift thingy works)

PS3: I’m sorry if I’ve butchered English :O

PS4: THANK YOU!!

I’m new here, just registered after seeing the TED video on Youtube, and I’m very excited to build my own window-farm. Just a couple of questions and one note.

While I was looking at the How-To Instructions page I noticed that I can get easily all the materials, except for that pump and I was wondering does it have to be a special kind of pump that I have to buy from the site or else? OK just one question then.

The other thing is that in the instruction images I saw that nutrients and ph adjusting stuff are added in the reservoir bottles and if I have more columns like in the 3.0 version, it seems to me, maybe it’s just me but I will screw up the proportions, putting a little bit more in one reservoir and not so much in the other. So I was thinking wouldn’t it be better if the solution with nutrients is prepared separately in a bigger container where you can stir it so all the nutrients dissolve and you can adjust the ph. Just a though.

Again, I am new here if there was something I did wrong in my post, I beg pardon.

Happy window-farming!

Hi!

Saw the video on Ted Talks and just registered a few minutes ago. I’m looking forward to learning more about making my own wondowfarm

Are there any members from Mumbai – would be fun and efficient to try working together on this

sachin

Hmm,

I thought I posted this question last night but maybe it got deleted as spam. Anyway, I am wondering how far is ‘too far’ to suspend plants from a window.  I guess I’m curious if anyone knows if there is a significant drop-off in farm productivity at a certain distance from window (my guess is that the drop-off is minimal until the window frame starts blocking the sun and plants lose daylight). Any comments on this??

Thanks for any advice, I’m trying to balance planters, supplemental lighting, space for plants to not get singed, space for harvesting, etc etc.

Best,

Brady