An engineering student developed this version of the window farm using 2 L soda bottles, for our model greenhouse in Boulder, Colorado.

I wanted to make it both attractive and functional, so I – along with help  - spray painted the bottles.

For more info on the how-to mechanics of the system, you can message me or post a comment here…The basics are: 2L soda bottles, coconut husk pots to filter dirt, a resovoir at the bottom and water pump (350 gal/min, height of about 4.5′)

We currently have mostly basil growing in this colorful array now.

back home for a couple of days and here’s what it looks like:

Hi All,

After much research, advice from you, shopping, scrounging, pondering, trial, and error, I have a nice completed window farm!

The total set up

My happy tomato plant

Hey fellow window farmers! I switched out my old gallon green tea jug with this…a football fish tank I’ve had since I was a little kid. There’s a built in filter system too, so hopefully that will help reduce the algae build up. Let me know what you all think!

i wanted to remove plastic from the equation so this is built entirely from fda approved materials.

i used food grade silicone tubing in black to reduce algae, food grade silicone sealant to connect tubing to bottom pots, terracotta pots that i sealed with beeswax, gaskets made from cork coasters, net pots made from foodgrade silicone muffin pans, a 5gal antique stoneware butter churn for a reservoir, stainless steel rod as a support for the tubing in the reservoir. i got seeds from organicseedpeople and started them in plugs around 2 weeks ago. they been under cree daylight leds from homedepot. i transplanted them to the wf 2 days ago and they seem to love it! no wilting or shock, in fact just the opposite.

in this window are 2 columns with 5 pots each. i have 4 windows of this size all facing east and, as you can see, a lovely view of a brick wall so next up will be filling all my windows with plants; not only will it be more productive but it’ll improve the view too.

cherry tomatos, basil, catnip, cree led supplemental light

basil, parsley, catnip, pepper

parsley

cherry tomatoes, basil

arugula

Hi I made a video to update on my plants and my nutrients.

As you can see the strawberry plants have really taken off.  I planted two cuttings from a friend’s garden.  She told me these variety usually produce strawberries all summer, which should be ideal for indoor growing conditions.

The spinach is looking good.  I estimate I can harvest some in just a few more weeks.

I feel like the tomato plant had a rough start growing out of the paper towel I germinated the seeds in, however, it seems to be growing now.

The plants that didn’t survive died, I believe, because I moved my WF to two expo’s and damaged the roots.  I’ll replant them soon(ish).

More in a few weeks!

Thanks for watching

~Azi

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:

Hi all,

I’m building my windowfarms based on version 3.

I have some problem with the airlift. Air don’t go in my pipe and , of course,  water neither. It’s like blocked by the air inside the pipe.

I read some message in the forum. If I well understand for solve my problem I need a bottleneck more longer ?(The size of my pipe is 4/6mm and 2mm for the needle.)

I tried to change the speed of air but I just have more or less bubbles outside of the tube.

Thanks in advance for your answers and sorry for my bad english

Dear Windowfarmers,

I’ve been away for a couple of days and the windowfarm held perfectly, altough i was grossly amazed at the amount of different types of disgusting stuff going on in some of the plants!! (-:

Algea, chalk (and other stuff that was dissolved in the water and then the water evaporates), random gunk, but what most bothers me is the stuff in the picture. I’m afraid it’s a parasite or insect eggs or something. Any advice is appreciated: What is that stuff? Is it bad? How do i get rid of it? General advice on keeping a windowfarm, the plants and the pellets clean and healty?

(I rinsed the plants thorroughly under streaming water, that helped a bit i think, but if these are eggs, i think i want a better approach to get rid of them all!)

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