I have a question, do any of you know where to get the net pots? I’ve tried the boeren bond, gamma, praxis and even the growsjop and a specialist in hydrophonics nearby (according to the hydrophonics specialist the net pots are outdated) so if any of you know a place to get net pots I’d be realy glad to hear!

Bram

(Ps, I know a place that sels them online but the shipping cost is like 20 euro’s)

im just getting started with my first window farm.  im living in spain at the moment and when i went to try and get a water pump online it would cost about 80 bucks to ship it out here.  i checked in at my local shops and i found a 100 liter pump or a 600 liter pump the later costing about 80 euro.

i didnt know if either of those would work so im wondering if anyone has any ideas on weather or not the 100l pump will work or if there are any alternatives, or maybe someone is here in spain and has a recomendation on where to get my hands on something like that!  thanks in advance.

Setting up the column(s).  I would prefer not to suspend it from the ceiling.  I think the metal columns look more structured, which is very appealing.  Also, there are a lot of opportunities to grow vining plants, and upon obsessing on how to manage creating this look, the following items have been picked out:

1. Welded Wire Fencing, that can be shaped in a wave pattern; meaning that it would curve to the south on one side and then curve to the north on the other side, making semi-circular curves in which to suspend the bottles on one or both sides.  The way the fencing is, it would be so easy to use plant tape to train or trail the plant, make a  modular system and it would keep the tubing very straight.
2. Acrylic Rods, 1/4 inch,  9″ wide to slide through the bottles and suspend them on the fencing.
3. 1/4 inch rubber gaskets, on the inner and outer side of the fencing to keep the rods from sliding around.

so i just started up my WF yesteday and have planted my first few seeds into them. When i first started looking into attaining the required materials i found it a little bit difficult.

alot of the forums are focused more on people starting up in the US.I went to all the local hardware and aquatic stores around me and most of the tubing was fairly unheard of and the pump is def not found in europe.

So i have compiled a list of areas people can get the things that they need from at a ishfair price. Unfortunately, the whole system cost me around £45 pounds and is waaaay of the $30 mark they have recommended.

i purchased a hailea pump with a double air valve – ( it says silent on the cover, but is noisy as hell) – cost 14.99

after going to numerous shops, i found the required 6mm ID tubing on ebay – i got 2 metres of reinforced tubing – 3.50

The only place i could find small amount of coco coir was ebay again ( 25 *24mm pellets, which is more than enough) – £3.99

3mm tubing, again was found on ebay ( you will atleast need 2 metres so you have ample space to place your pump) – 99p 500cm

clay pellets ( only found a 10 litre bag which was the smallest cheapest bag i could find) – £6

I bought the pump, pellets and the hydroponic nutrients from the same website (i dont know if i am allowed to display the website name)

The zip ties and the pump needles are pretty easy to find. Instead of poland water spring bottles, i used coke and sprite bottles. I needed to get a drill to be able to cut out the bottom, but im sure people will be fairly resourcefull cutting them up.I also made my own netted cups bu slashing strips from a 4inch cup

i have uploaded my widown farm- its not the prettiest, but im glad it works ( atleast for now)

if anyone needs a hand, please feel free to messge me ( but i am no way an expert).

Here are the earlier posts related to the same project: 1st , 2nd (the title said it was complete already, but it wasn’t pretty enough

Here are the first shots. I only have some tiny little shoots in there, but you’ll need to use your imagination on what it’ll look like in the spring. The rockwool needs to be cleaned up a bit and properly covered with pebbles.

Part list (total cost ~100 euros):

• 4 Plastic orchid pots. These are made of Polypropylene, which is (afaik) safe to use with food. The pots also have an inward dent in the bottom, so they will never drain completely. I don’t know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. Be careful when drilling plastic. I managed to break one pot by using too much pressure. (2 euros/pot at Bauhaus)
• 1 Large floor flower pot. This is the same brand as the orchid pots so the color matches perfectly. (25 e at Bauhaus)
• 1 Inner pot. The inner pot is 22 cm tall, so below it lies my actual reservoir. The volume is somewhere around 5-10 liters. (15e at Bauhaus)
• 2 meters of aluminum pipe, 6 mm diameter. One meter for drip pipes and another for the air lift. (3 euros/meter at Bauhaus)
• Two meters of aluminum strip. Mine is about 12mm wide and 2mm thick. I wouldn’t go any thinner than 2mm, since the rigidity of the column would likely suffer. (4 euros/meter at Bauhaus)
• 4 gaskets for sealing the drip pipes. The ones I got seem to do the job pretty well: 17mm outer diameter, 5mm inner diameter, 4mm thick. (around 2 euros for a 4-pack)
• M3 Nuts, washers and screws (or bolts) for attaching the pots to the aluminum strip. (Less than 1e total)
• Sera Air 275R Plus air pump with adjustable air flow and two outlets. Came with two non-return valves. (28 euros at a local aquarium store)
• 6mm “colorless” air hose. It’s possible to stretch this over the aluminum pipe using small pliers. (2 euros / meter at a local aquarium store)
• Needle for the airlift (3e at Bauhaus)

Update:

Here’s an additional picture to better explain how this reservoir works. A company called Elho makes these pots. The outer pot is perfect for the reservoir, and the inner pot is good for a bunch of plants.

It’s been a couple of weeks since I built my first double-column hanging windowfarm design, and so far it’s been very solid. Good water flow and stable system. My plants are doing great! (except for my strawberry plant. Any advice on that?)

I wanted to improve on my original design, as having things look good as well as function really well is important to me, so here’s my newer and improved design. (the one on the left is the new one, no holes cut in the buckets yet.)

The fifth blue bucket on the right side column is now the water reservoir, which I think looks better than a bottle at the bottom.

It looks very similar to my v.1 model, but the functions are quite different, although it still uses the basic airlift system. I ended up replacing the clear tubing with acrylic clear pipe, as it just looks much better and is easier to clean.

In the above picture of the old/new designs, you can see that there is a T at the top of the tube. This is because I reduced it down to one airlift which splits at the top.

Turns out that the distribution of left and right for the water coming up is directly proportionate to the amount of tubing there is left after the T, so cutting them to the same length gives an even flow between the two sides.

You can also see that there is much less tubing hanging below the water reservoir, which looks less cluttered.

Here are the improvements that v.2 has over v.1

• Looks better (IMHO)
• Reduced the piping/tubing needed by 50%.
• Still get the same amount of water flow to the plants.
• Cleaning the tubes just got twice as easy!

any advice?

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I already have a water pump that used to pumps water into a small water , something like this http://www.kineticfountains.com/fountainpro-pump-wt55lv.asp?idcategory=208

Can i use this pump or do i need to pump the water with air bubbles?

Anyhoo . . .

Looking through the site and through the plans I felt I wanted another option for my containers other than plastic and another growth medium other than those provided. So, taking the basic theory I struck out with my shoelaces untied and the wind in my face.

First the bottles; I used 12 oz soda bottles for a mini herb garden. I found a cool method of slicing the bottoms of the bottles off that was clean and painless. I will post the extended directions in another post. So, bottoms off, edges smoothed then I added my medium.

boylan's birch beer. YUM!

Rockwool doesn’t breakdown and they are a onetime use product. Once the roots have taken over, then what? Where does that go? The pebbles and expanded clay can be reused often, but that seems a lot of maintenance and they come with plastic baskets. A while ago I saw a news segment about a man who went in to the doctor because he thought he might have lung cancer and through some tests found he had inhaled a pea, which started to sprout in his lung.

Creepy, but it gave me a great idea; luffah as a growth medium.

luffah: growth medium and lung analogue.

The early version of my system proved that the luffah stayed moist and allowed oxygen to flow through the root system. Best of all, it breaks down slowly. Not too fast so it supports the root system but it can be thrown into my compost and returned in an earth friendly way. Also, luffah easier to manage if soaked briefly in water.

let's cut this down to size.

perform surgery . . .

roll it up. no too tight.

slide luffah in.

see? perfect.

The reservoir bottle is a salvaged wine bottle sealed with aquarium grade silicon in the neck. I inserted the pump needle directly into the silicon air tube and that tube sits next to a purge valve for easy drainage. I found a simpler check valve at PetSmart and inserted it further down the line for easier access.

black purge tube with valve and clear silicon air tube with check valve.

there's the needle.

here she is.

The bottles are strung together using a bracelet knot. Well, really it’s a bunch of square knots tied over the bottles. Tension keeps things stable.

In the earlier version of the system having the airlift tube on the outside proved messy, so I had the tube running up inside the bottles. After having to do some maintenance and fret over root invasion I returned it to the outside. The white tube is 1/4 inch  (outside dimension) pex tube and the smaller is a 1/4 inch (outside dimension) ac tube.

here is the spout.

A side note on the airlift system: If the water level is too low in your reservoir then the air won’t lift enough water. I kept the level about 1.5 inches from the top edge and I chose a long bottle for this specific purpose. Right now it’s a single column system so I only need a single pump.

Next is to transplant my sprouts and actually get food for the system. That’s going to be an exciting learning curve. Eventually I want to see if I can get a piece of bamboo for my airlift tube and be free from the plastic. Here’s hoping.

Let me know what you think and feel free to ask questions. Happy tinkering!

d’

Can anyone clarify this for me please?

Thanks, James