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!

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!

Hey guys,

The windowfarm is coming along, but now I’m stuck on which fertilizer to choose, I found these two

for the blooming period:

http://www.dampkring.nl/18535/advanced-nutrients-ph-perfect-bloom.html

for the growing period:

http://www.dampkring.nl/18517/advanced-nutrients-ph-perfect-grow.html

It says in the description that they are general hydroponic fertilizers, sounded good to me but i just wanted to run it past you guys.

Do you think these are any good? and what about amounts? I’m building 4 columns of 4 plants.

Many thanks in advance!

Tom

    My windowfarm is a bright spot in my day, maybe not perfect, but wonderful.  It contains herbs which are useful to my health.  Because of knee surgery I temporarily took down my aquaponic setup.  I lowered the plants to make it easier, and now water them like ordinary window plants.  Sometimes I pick the larger leaves and munch on them - VERY HEALTHY !!  I also use them in cooking and drink recipes.

I want to share MY FAVORITE RECIPE with you.  @@@@@  In a blender I place one banana – a little water and blend.  Add some kale – parsley – cilantro – basil, or whatever I  feel like and blend well.  I then add fresh ground flax seeds OR ground walnuts.  Sometimes I put fresh or frozen berries in the drink.  Blend well and enjoy.

HOPE YOU LIKE THIS – Let me know if you use the drink idea – IT IS ONE HEALTHY DRINK !!!.  I love it. You can adapt it for your own likes.  Love to hear from you all.  Sylvia from Manchester Indiana USA.

Hi everybody.

I’m sure this has been discussed before, but for the life of me I can’t find the information I’m looking for.  So, I’m starting a two-column version 3.0 windowfarm with the t-joint style lift system, and I’m trying to figure out what kinds of plants to plant.  Ideally I’d like to have one column of fruiting plants, such as strawberries, tomatoes, bell peppers, and maybe peas or more strawberries.  In the other column I’d like to grow greens and herbs, probably mostly lettuce.

I’m worried about the fruiting column for a couple of reasons.  First, there’s the weight of those big plants and their fruit.  Will the bead chain hold?  Has anyone out there hung a few heavy plants like these using the #6 stainless steel bead chain recommended in the parts list?  Should I reinforce it, or what?  Mainly, though, I am worried about keeping all the plants in sync with each other.  The fruiting plants will be in the same column so that I can switch their nutrient solution to something for fruiting when they’re ready, but what if they aren’t ready at the same time?  What about lighting to simulate seasons?  Can I give all these plants the same amount of light  all the time?  And, do they have different life spans/cycles?  I’ve seen posts featuring some quite elderly strawberry plants, but can I expect my fruiting plants to keep producing for similar lengths of time?

If you have some experience or knowledge about these issues or other issues that I haven’t thought of yet, please let me know!

Thanks,

Bill

 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 transferred some strawberries form soil to my window farm and they started loosing their leaves and becoming brown.
This is my 2nd attempt and I don’t want them to die anymore.

Any help?

Too much water?
Not enough love? Nutrition? Light?

Hi guys. Has anyone tried DIY Eco-enzymes? The DIY method could be founded over YouTube. My question is that does it help to put enzymes into compost tea?

I have done lots of searching over Internet but the more I do the more confusion it gets. Please help me to answer the following questions. Your effort is appreciated.

1. What is the result of organic compost tea? (Microorganism, enzyme, ion formed nutrient…? Or bacteria?)

2. How long does it take to make a compost with brewing 24h a day?

3. Will the quality turned bad if brewing the compost tea for too long? Like few months?

4. What is the different between enzyme and compost tea? It seems that enzyme can be stored for ever.

5. How can I store compost tea for future uses(for a few months) if I no longer want to supply air to it.

6 is it ok to put more foods into compost tea when it’s consumed regularly? Anything need to be suspicious?

Best regards
A new windowfarms member

Hello fellow window farmers!!

I’ve just set up the window farm, and have started snap peas from seeds. (The kids and I have successfully grown snap peas for years in our outdoor garden, so I know they’re a winner!)

The seeds sprouted quite nicely, even just placing them directly among the clay balls. Now that they’ve sprouted, I’ve added liquid nutrients to the water, based on the recommended dosage. My question is – the dosages are based on *weekly* amounts, but the plants don’t consume anywhere near the 2L of water Ina a week. So, is the recommended approach to:
. Completely replace the full reservoir of water weekly, and replenish with a full dose of nutrients?
. Top off the water with (say) 20% of the nutrients weekly, with a full replacement every other week?
. Some other approach?
I’m new to this, so guidance is appreciated. Is bi-weekly reservoir cleaning and replenishment recommended?

Many thanks
mp

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.