Hola, les dejo un par de links en donde pueden encontrar todo lo que necesitan  para comenzar con su huerto vertical, desde semillas hasta medidores de ph. La ventaja de ambos sitios es que hacen entregas a domicilio a cualquier lugar de la República Mexicana., cuentan además con una gran variedad de semillas, y para los principiantes como yo, hay también algunas guías on-line para comenzar con éxito.

http://www.cosechandonatural.com.mx

http://www.hydroenv.com.mx

So, anyway I have been making pallet gardens and I airlift the water up to them and around and cycle it back to a reservoir just like in windowfarms. But it is a pallet so the water has to be spread across the pallet. I made a “flip flop” to do this and it fills up from the airlift pipe and then dunks the water out along the length of the pallet. Maybe that could be adjusted to work with just one airlift tube supplying 2 or 3 or 6 windowfarm columns? and video is at Flip Flop Video

The first harvest from my windowfarm

Should have pruned the Basil sooner, but learning a lot from this first experience.

Home made Pesto

It’s been almost a year since I lasted posted on here. Now I’m back with a little video update below. I bought a new air pump because my last one back siphoned due to the fact I didn’t have it elevated higher than my reservoir…oops! The new one has four air outlets, so I’m thinking of setting up a horizontal system on the other side of my window sill.

I’m open to any advice or comments! Here’s the video update link…

http://j-memory.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/mov015.mov

I friend of mine on facebook came across this video on how to assemble a vertical garden with bottles. The guy had an interesting idea with freezing the bottles with water, that way you could use a hole saw much easier.

This is a  step by step process of how I built my window farm. It has only been running for a few days so I am not certain that all of the kinks have been cleared from the system but so far it seems to hold up. I took inspiration largely from Rama’s build http://our.windowfarms.org/2010/04/26/our-hydroponic-window-farm-experience/#comment-4112#comment-4112

I had to make some specific adjustments due to my specific needs and also I am based in Australia so some of the materials mentioned in the different instructions are not available here or are a bit different. I have currently started off with a 2 column set up however I believe my set up can easily be increased to any size. I fact once I test this one out for about a Month or so I will likely add a few more columns.

Materials

• 6mm (internal size) Vinyl tubing enough to go from the lowest point to the higest point of your set up with a bit to play with and multiplied by the number of columns you want to make, in my case 2
• 4mm internal 6mm external size (has to fit snuggly inside the above vinyl tubing. Air tubing I got around 5m and still have some left over for future use.
• Fairly thin chain around 6m (needs to be built so that you can undo and reassemble the links)
• 27L container in my case a white plastic rubbish bin
• Infinity AP-750 Air pump this has 2 speeds and 2 outlets. I think the one recommended by the site would be better but wasn’t able to find at the time, but have since found it so will use that next time.
• HPM  D817 7 Day timer for setting the on off times of the pump
• Transparent plastic bottles in my case 10, with this build i suspect any container of that approximate size would work.
• masking tape
• white spray paint any colour would do I assume.
• Clay pellets
• Net cups to match the size of the bottles
• Flairform Green Dream 1 Hydroponic mixture from local hydroponics store

Other materials

Glue Gun, Drill with 6mm and one larger drill bit to match the size of your chain, and sharp hobby knife kits or similar sharp tools.

Steps

Step 1. Take 1.5 L bottles of water in this case they are some random bottles I found in a discount store that cost me $1 each. drill 6mm holes in the bottom of the bottle and in the lid. Drill holes the appropriate size for the cain at the base about 2cm from the bottom of the bottle and again near the cap approximately 2.5cm from the ledge of the cap. Don’t drill holes near the cap for the bottom bottle of each column.

Step 2.Cut opening on both sides of the bottle both starting approximately 2 cm from the centre line of the bottle leaving 2 uncut parts approximately 4-5 cm thick on both sides.

Step 4. Cover bottom half the bottle in masking tape and paint the top half with spray paint, give it 2 coats.

Step 5. Once the bottles are dry string the chain through the holes of the top bottle and hanging from a pole while each of the other string through the bottom of the previous bottle into the base of the next bottle as show in the pictures.

Step 6. pass the vinyl tubing along the chain and tie it onto it using cable ties or thin wire.

Step 7. Follow Rama’s suggestion. Which is poke a ball pump tip into the vinyl tubing about 3-5 cm from the end and thread the thinner airline tubing into it up to the point where the ball pump tip is. Also attach about 3-5cm of airline tubing to the back of the ball pump tip. I had some problem with air bubbling out of the ball pump tip but i found if i had the back of the tip facing down in the water as show in Rama’s diagram it stopped bubbling.

Step 8. At the top of the set up thread some airline tubing into the Vinyl tubing and poke it into the top of first bottle all the way down to approximately where the mesh pot will sit.

Step 9. Unscrew the bottle caps which have a 6mm hole in the top of them cut pieces of airline tubing to run from the cap of the previous bottle to the mesh cup in the next bottle. Thread about 1/2cm of the airline tubing into the cap and use the glue gun to stick it in place (don’t cover the hole). The glue gun doesn’t hold it in place perfectly but so far I have not had much problem with them popping out or leaking. The last tube should be long enough to go back into the bottom container.

Step 10. Put the plants in the pots without any soil and hold them in with the clay pellets. Then put them in the bottles

Final Step. Hook everything up to the air pump plug the air pump into the timer which I set for 2 hours on 2 hours off during day light ours and off during the night. Fill the tank with water and add nutrients check the PH which according to the company making the fertiliser should be around 5-6.5.

Questions and issues.

Here are a few issues and questions I have.

How much on/off time should I have? I have set it to 2 hours on 2 hours off during day light hours but I have no idea if this is too much too little etc.

I have a strange gurgling sound in one of my columns and have no idea where it is coming from I can hear it somewhere near the top of the set up but have no idea what is causing it not sure if anyone has an answer for this. Kinda annoying too.

• Just answered my own question on that one. I found a small piece of dirt lodged in the entry point of one of my tubes. I.e. on the inside of one of the bottle caps.

How often will the nutrients have to be added and will the water have to be changed in my current position changing the water will be a major hassle.

Anyway hope this is useful to someone and hope to get some feedback on some of the issues I’m having or on how I could improve this set up.

Cheers.

Hi!  I want to set up a window farm to grow some herbs, mainly. Well, at least for right now. To get my feet wet.

I live in Japan, in a building made completely of concrete, built  most likely in 1950′s or 60′s. There is no central air just a small, expensive, electric air-con/heater installed over the balcony window. Right now, it’s winter in Japan. So, needless to say, I am typing while hiding under the cheapest source of heat, a heated table. (I know, I am leaving a carbon footprint but I can’t function with cold digits or nose) Anyway, I am wondering if I can still attempt a window farm system if the average temperature in my apartment during winter is about 1C (or 35F) the lowest being -4 C (28F)(usually) and in summer it can reach about 35C (95F). I have no way to regulate the temperature in the air-con room, efficiently or cost effectively.

I have more questions about how to find appropriate plant nutrients but I am also certain I can continue to peruse this site to find that information.

Any advice sent my way would be appreciated!

Thanks!

I planted several different type of plants in my window farm and all are doing well except the tomato plants.

The leafs start just fine but with the passing of time their tips begin to turn a shade of black and eventually dry.

I’ve  tried to maintain the ph in the 5,5-6,5 range.

I’m using the FloraMicro+FloraMato of GHE combination for my nutrients.

The plants are watered every hour for 15mins.

The window farm is in a south facing window which during the day can receive quite a lot of sun (I live in Portugal).

Can someone please tell me what could be the problem? Do you require anymore information about my setup?

Here are some pictures:

The Flemish Windowfarm Project.

Hi Everyone, maybe it is best that i introduce myself before commencing with the project and my R&DIY.

I am a guy that is self-educated, i have no college degrees, but i now a lot about everything but not everything. Everyone in my family, including my father were engineers but my father died years ago and i don’t have contact with other members of the family. Everything i know about gardening i learned from both my grandfathers and the rest i learned through surfing the net and reading. I am not perfect, far from to be exact, but i am a team player. I am 36 years old an disabled so i have lots of time on my hands for researching and building my projects myself. In Aqua or Hydroponics my interests lie in different fields such as Windowfarming, Backyard Hydroponics using IBC containers and indoor growing.

I am allso an electronics guy so when my project’s hardware is running flawless i tend to automate it all through my favourite microprocessor, the arduino. Off course i have a network of people that are interested in the same things. I live in the Flemish part of Belgium so most of my growing outdoors stops in wintertime. Windowfarming is one of the projects i hope to build for indoor use.

A couple of months ago i started with the windowfarming project. I first researched and developed it all on paper. Since a month i am building from scratch with recycled materials, needless to say is i want my project to be as “green” as possible.

My setup is now two columns of four bottles with an old drink cooler as reservoir. I have a loop going in the container, water is drawn through a needle for inflating footballs. The only problem is when the airpump shuts off, air blows through the needle, but i’m tinkering with it as we speak…

I’m cleaning an old trashcan in wich i’m going to drill a hole in the bottom and then add air throug a T-joint in the tube, maybe the water pressure at the bottom of the container will simplify things and resolve the problem with the inflation needle wich i will not have to use in this configuration.

This adaption works like a charm. It has been working for the whole day now. Tomorrow i will hook up another two rows of four bottles…

I’m allso warming the water with an aquarium heater, i have a circulation pump to keep the nutrient solution mixed really well and an aeration pump for adding oxygen in the water. I allso plan to release co2 in the water.

Lets cut to the chase we waste 2 gallons of water everytime we flush worse yet when the water is not being used it sits idle doing nothing. i am working on a design to use this water in hydroponics heres a picture.