Here is the starter pack of nutrients I was reccomended by the hydroponic store. So far, I am rather happy with how this is going. As a control, my hydroponic cumcombers inside have done much better than my traditionally planted cucombers growing outside. This stuff definitely works! The same can be said for my tomatoes, and peppers. The only species that is doing significantly better in a garden is the swiss chard. Is anyone else growing swiss chard?

In addition to the nutrient pack, I needed to buy “pH up” and “pH down.” I have found that I use the pH up way more than the pH down. Over time, my nutrient solution seems to get more acidic. Rarely does it ever increase in pH.

pH adjuster and nutrient solution

Hello,

I created my window farm about a month and a half ago using this design www.windowfarms.dk 

It is a 3 column t-lift system with a large reservoir, and it works very well. I water 15 mins on and 15 mins off in the day and 3 times during the night…every 2 hours or so.

I planted tomatoes, lettuce, basil, peas, coriander. So far the basil, tomatoes and peas are doing best.

As far as nutrients go, I use Iguana Juice Grow (it’s organic) at 3ml per liter and General Hydroponics PH down so that I stay between 6 and 6.5.

I change the reservoir water once a week.

For ventilation, I keep the window open all day, and will probably use a fan when the weather cools down.

Here are some pics:

Hey Everyone,

I’m an international user in Maastricht, the Netherlands (originally from the US). My windowfarm is now up and running, with basil, chamomile, cilantro, and watercress. I combined the older, simpler instructions from this site with the new more extensive ones.

Tips that I’ve found, in case they’re not already mentioned elsewhere:

1) Make sure to elevate your air pump! Instead of putting it on the floor, put the air pump on a shelf or stack of books. Even if you use a one-way valve, the air pump should still be above the top of your water reservoir. Otherwise eventually the water will flow back up the tube, wetting and ruining the pump. This happened to me, and I had to buy a new pump. Likewise, like it says in the instructions, be sure to always make a loop in your tubes and cords, and never put the garden above a socket.

2) I was able to quiet my air pump by tieing it firmly to a cereal box filled with old clothes or some other sound/vibration absorbant material.

3) The simple older method for cutting holes in the bottom of bottles (exacto knife), to connect the bottles, was much easier than the new method, and I didn’t need a special rotary saw.

4) Instead of net cups, I used emptied individual pudding cups. It took some trial and error to find pudding cups that were the right size so that they didn’t get lost in the bottle, but still fit inside. The upside to that was getting to eat a lot of pudding.

5) If you’re growing plants from seed, using grow cubes, then you don’t need clay pellets specifically to fill your cups. You can just use reglar gravel or rocks you find outside.

6) My water reservoir is large and never completely full, because it has the hole in it to let the tubes come in and out. This would seem to affect the dilutions for the hydroponic nutrients, because the instructions are per liter, but my reservoir has an unspecified amount of water (~1.75 liters) in it at any one time. To fix this, I dilute my nutrients in a separate 1.5 liter bottle of water, allow the water level in the reservoir to get as low as possible, while still working, then refill it with the water from the 1.5 liter bottle. It’s still not exact, but it cuts down on the margin of error.

7) At the very top, the water was spurting and spraying everywhere as it came out of the tube. Instead of making a silencer with a medicine bottle (old instructions), I just used a 4-inch piece of masking tape to partially cover the tube. The tape should be parallel to the tube. Stick one end of the tape onto the front of the tube, about 1 inch. above the end where the water comes out. Then, just let the bottom end of the tape just lie loosely on top of the grow cube or plant. The water will come out of the tube, hit the tape, and then quietly drip off the tape onto the top plant.

I’m excited to try the T-valve assembly (elsewhere on this site) for my next project. I used the new instructions for one of the airlift mechanisms this time, and it has two disadvantages: 1) Since the airlift (needle and tube) is underwater, in the water reservoir, it’s hard to clean and difficult to diagnose the problem when it isn’t working, and 2) It’s somewhat unreliable, so it regularly stops working for various reasons and requires tinkering; and 3) It allegedly can’t lift the water very far compared to the T-valve method.

Good luck with your window farms! If there are any other users in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, or northwestern Germany (Aachen area), I’d appreciate it if you let me know by commenting here so we could get in touch.

For those in the Netherlands, there are many hydroponic grow shops here which were very helpful throughout the process even though I’m only growing herbal tea and vegetables. I’m using Floragrow hydroponic nutrients, which are avilable in Europe, with good results.

Jess

I got my baby plants Friday, opened the box up to let them breathe, then set up the Windowfarm Saturday night.  I know it hasn’t even been 24 hours but the plants are droopy and I’m afraid they won’t make it.  I just moved (to Philadelphia) and can’t find the pH test strips, but do have the nutrients and started with 10ml and a full pot of water.  The window faces south but since it’s the ground floor of a townhouse it doesn’t get a whole lot of light.  Any thoughts/advice?  Thanks!

After waiting several months to after completing my set up, it’s finally off the ground! It was, quite literally, piled in the corner for months while I worked up a way to hang it in my house.  The house is 120 years old and there was NO way to hang it, so I had to find the best way to hang this new contraption.  As you can see in the picture I have a free standing rack with my 2 x 3 planters.  I feel the free standing rig is the best for me simply because it allows me flexibility to relocate it in the future.

Below is a brief description of the components of the system and what I’ve found in setting things up:

Full shot of the WF on its rack

Airlift system:

•  ecoair2 air pump from a local hydroponics store (I couldn’t find a fishtank bubbler)
• ~10′ of clear 1/4″ (i.d) vinyl tube
• ~15′ of 1/8″ (i.d.) black air tube (more than I really needed but it came in handy for my planters)
• 3 plastic T valves
•  twist ties
• 1 medium sized rock (look at the pics, it keeps my air input below the water tank)
• 1 timer w/ settings for 30 mins at a time

I used scrap wood that I found in my basement to build a structure to hang and support the windowfarm as you can see in my pics.  The key here is that I can keep my water tank off the ground via the base, and  the simple hooks in the top.  Hopefully it will stand the tests of time.

Hello Everyone,

My name is Pieter and i’m an Architect living in Antwerp Belgium.

Last year i’ve build a 2 string 8 bottle windowfarm and have been experimenting with it since than.

the system works great so i started trying to grow some plants, i’ve tried with seedlings grown on cottenwool and with full grown soil plants, but all they did was die.. I used different types of nutrients, (not specific for hydroculture, so maybe thats the problem) the timer i use is set on a quarter per 1.5 hour.

After killing a lot of plants finaly ONE tomato plant didnt die, and grow quiet big.. but thats before the winter, now its dead as well..

now the wetter is getting better i want to make a fresh start and could use some help with my farm!

what are the tips on good nutrition, which plants go well with one and other, what frequency do i need to put the timer on, etc etc

can someone here help me with that?

thanks!

Here’s a pic of week 5. I use my phone’s camera so I couldn’t capture everything. I bought a new air pump with four outlets because I plan to build another grow container and put it on the other side of my windowsill. Making sure to have it elevated higher than the reservoir this time because my last pump had backlogged. I’d like to use all glass if I can…but most likely I’d have to get it cut the way I need it. Any suggestions? I’m thinking of a small glass fish tank for the reservoir. Adding another 15 watt solar panel to my Goal Zero Escape 150 will help with the addition to capture more battery power. Questions? Comments?

If you’d like to power your window farm via solar I suggest going with Goal Zero. Their kits are affordable and definitely work.

Hello, I recently started my windowfarm and have come to realize that the nutrient solution I am using is inadeccuate. I live in Paris and need some advice as to where I can buy a complete set of nutrients for my plants (I bought the current one at Truffaut and it is just an “engrais universelle”). Does anyone have any advice? I’m ok with buying online. I found this site (www.growshops.fr/hydroponie) but don’t know which nutrients to buy.

Bonjour, j’ai commencé une windowfarm mais la nouriture que je donne aux plantes n’est pas complet. J’ai acheté un engrais universelle à Truffaut, mais je ne sais pas où chercher la nourriture qu’on a besoin pour une windowfarm. Est-ce quelqu’un peut me donner des recommendations? Je peut acheter en ligne (j’ai trouvé ce site: www.growshops.fr/hydroponie mais je ne sais pas quelle produit acheter).

Thank you very much, merci beaucoup.

Hello all,

I started my windowfarm three weeks ago with four strawberry plants. I transplanted them (had to cut the roots) and for two weeks three of them grew very well (one flower even blossomed). By the third week, however, one of the plants became very week and the other two stopped growing (the third is just as stuck in its growth as when I planted it three weeks ago).

For the other pots I started seedlings. I transplanted a few to see how they would react and although they are alive (cherry tomatoes and zucchini) they have also stopped growing. The seedlings that I kept in soil continue growing.

The plants receive water every hour for 15 minutes. I change the water every week and add 6mL of nutrients (picture of components below) which is the suggested dosage (it says to double the dosage for plants that are need more). The plants don’t receive much sunshine (it’s almost always cloudy in Paris, but when they do it comes from the west for a couple of hours each day). Temperature is around 22 degrees C.

Do any of you have suggestions as to what may be going on and how I can revitalise the plants? Any suggestions about what plants would grow well?

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