It’s been 3 weeks since my first post, so an update seemed appropriate. We changed the nutrients twice and left the pump on the same timer, 30 mins every two hours except at night time when we water 30 min every 4 hours.

I am happy to come home to this beauty and even tasted a few leaves. The basil is growing tall and a bit heavy. At times it will lean against my window, which is probably burning the leaves since the temperature of the glass can be very cold.

How do I know when it’s ready for harvest? Is there a way to regenerate the plant and keep growing basil and lettuce from existing leaves/roots?

Also, we were interested in growing mint and cilantro. I imagine we have to choose plants that like the same nutrients and same pH. Is there a reference sheet for this somewhere?

I wish there was more guidance at this stage.

Hi. I’m at week 7 of my kit and baby plants. I had to get a grow light b/c my window only gets light from like 8-2 in the winter months and it seemed they were growing slow. Also,  I realized today I had been over nutrient-ing them, and the pH kept being up around 7.5. Perhaps that’s why I am getting the fuzzy mold on the pellets. I just adjusted the nutrients to the proper amount today and started with a lower pH solution by adding some lemon. I think they are going to take off now (I hope).

Question: when does seedling/baby plant stage and and “vegetative” state begin, and when does the fruit or bloom stage begin if you don’t have fruiting plants? I was trying to determine how much nutrients to be giving them by following the amounts on the CNS17 bottle, but I’m not really sure when “vegetative” stage begins and when fruit or bloom stage is for these kinds of plants. It says to stop giving nutrients during bloom/fruit stage so I want to be sure to know when that happens…is it just (obviously) when you can harvest stuff, or is there more to it?

new grow light

watercress

chives

lettuce

Basil

 Greetings windowfarmers! I am completely new to the concept of growing and  followed the instructions on the kit and set up the windowfarm. This photo is taken on day 5. I have not hung it from the ceiling yet, perhaps we’ll need to do it once there is more weight from the growing plants. My window is south-facing so hopefully there will be enough light. So far the plants look healthy, the pH is between 6 and 7. The timer that came with my kit wasn’t working so I bought a new one that can only handle 30 min intervals. Any advice on using 30 min every two hours at this stage? We have been turning off the drip at night for fear of drowning the baby plants.

After receiving the DIY kit I started assembling my window farm only to discover that the air pump included did not work at all. No air was emitted from the pump when plugged in. It was extremely difficult to open up the casing as all the screws were in too tight. 3 out of 4 did unscrew eventually but the last one wouldn’t budge and eventually became stripped. Resigned to the fact I would have to buy a new pump, I was still curious to have a look inside and understand how it worked so I force popped open the casing. Not sure exactly what the magic recipe was but opening up the casing got the pump to work perfectly. My hypothesis is that there was not enough air flow inside because it was too tightly sealed.

Hello windowfarmers!

We have three 4-column windowfarms in a college dorm. The plants that came with the starter kit have been doing more or less ok (with some hick-ups), however, I have some issues and I was wondering if anyone had the same ones and what did you do.

1. Watercress is partially dry – is this just lack of water? Should I make the watering intervals more frequent? (Right now every 15 min)

2. There is some mold on chives…. How to deal with it?

3. What could be the white powder that I find on almost each pot? Is that related to water’s high pH (9) or is that just form the nutrients?

Sorry for silly questions! Thanks and looking forward  to hearing back!

Hi Windowfarmers!

I ordered one of the kickstarter Windowfarms and I’ve had it up now for about three weeks. I am brand new at growing herbs/veggies!  I got the baby plants with the package deal and Windowfarms sent me basil, chives, watercress and wildfire lettuce. The lettuce took the worst from the shipping. A bunch of the shoots died the first week, but it seems stronger now and I’ve got some decent sized leafs going now. The basil seems to be growing well (and I’ve tried to grow basil in this windowsill in a pot and it wasn’t doing nearly as good.) The chives looking okay  (I think!). The watercress is doing well too, and I’ve looked up what it should look like when I harvest it, but I’m not sure if you can harvest it a bit at a time or if it’s all at once?

Lettuce

Floppy chives

Basil

Watercress

When the plants arrived in the little foamy blocks, I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to put them in like that or try to pull them out, but I eventually found some info that said to put them in just like that. Are they supposed to dissolve away?

Twice I have rinsed mold off the pellets and plants and I feel like it’s going to keep coming back no matter what I do. I put in vinegar and baking soda as need to keep the pH good, but it’s been pretty steady between 6 and 8. It doesn’t seem to be affecting the growth but does it affect taste/eating it?? I also have cleaned up some of the dead shoots that are these pics so that has helped as well.

Mold on lettuce

I have my timer on 15 min/every hour and then I just recently gave it some time off at night, like three hours, just to see if drying it out a little every once in a while helps with the mold. I’ve looked for water timing on this site in other posts and haven’t found much info.

I have questions about what kind of weight these cups can support. I’ve seen people talk about growing tomatoes (and other heavier veggies), but it seems like they would be too heavy? Also, if anyone has any other advice for a total new grower, I would appreciate it! I am continually looking at this site to try to learn new stuff, but I wanted to dive right in and learn as I’m doing it.

Thanks for reading! So happy to be a part of this community!

I sprouted about a dozen plants in my two-column kit using grow plugs and placed them in the kit pots with the clay pellets.  Over the next month, all the seedlings have stopped growing and/or started to wilt and die.  At first I thought I was over-watering, so I changed the pump timer to reduce watering from 15 minutes per hour to 15 minutes every 2 hours.  That didn’t seem to help.  Otherwise, I followed Windowfarm instructions: placed seedlings in the system when they were about 2 inches high and added liquid plant food to the water in the reservoirs in the proportion in the food’s guidelines.  I planted tomatoes, zucchini, sweet peppers, parsley, and basil.  My window is a french door to my apartment balcony.  It faces S/SE and gets about 2-3 hours of direct sun per day.

Here are the possible problems–I’m hoping that between this list and my pictures, experienced windowfarmers can help me out:

-wrong crops: I chose crops that need more direct sun than they get through my window

-over/under watering: pump currently operating for 15 minutes every 2 hours.

-cold: I sometimes leave the door next to my growing window open to get frech air in my apartment, as it’s been a warm autumn so far.  I would estimate temperatures of no lower than 55 F

-mold: I observed mold growing on the surface of one of the grow plugs in the kit

Thanks for the help!  Photos of troubled zucchini, tomato, and basil seedlings (left to right) below:

The air pump only produces bubbles and does not lift water slugs to the top of the column. I’ve tried crimping the valve in the reservoir but it only works for a few minutes and then the water fails to climb to the top. What can I do to further close the valve or otherwise address the issue? Also, should I close the valve entirely with duct tape or something else? Thanks for your help!

I am trying to build a windowfarm system usingplastic  soda bottles, but I would like to know if there is a possibility of buying a kit . The kit I refer to is one that would have the pump,clay balls,etc..Please help.

Thanks…!

Hi everyone,

Indeed, I have now sold my v 3.o MAMA four column WF, and the 16 bottles, but if anyone is looking for a newer WF, please see the ad from gingerperth below.

Thanks!

James