our.windowfarms.org

Big changes this week in Brooklyn and the windowfarm is beginning to feel like a stable viable thing in my home. Plants have grown a couple inches, timer, pump and valves working steady.

Recently I added liquid organic fish fertilizer (Neptune’s Harvest 2-4-1) – about 1 Tbs diluted in 1 gallon water added to resevoir that already had a gallon or two in it. There’s definitely a bit of a smell. I think I’ll probably drain the resevoir and try a different fertilizer at some point for a comparison. I really need the windowfarm to be as smell-free as possible as the guestroom of our apt will soon be occupied and so I need to tone down the workshop/mad scientist aspects of the project.

After reading Britta’s post about lights yesterday I suspect that my baby mint and thyme plants are looking leggy so I’ve added linear flourescent shop lights balanced vertically in the corners of the windowframe. I put these on the same 14 hour on timer that I’m using with my seed germination light. Since I’m not trying to induce flowering (I’m growing leafy kitchen herbs.) does anyone know if I should be using a dawn to dusk light cycle instead with the lights?

Hopefully by next week plants will be big enough to show up in a photo. I swear they are there.

So, here’s the thing about collective R&D. It isn’t pretty. Just like science, a lot of times, things don’t work out right at first and sometimes they never do. But you learn a lot as you try to fix them. We are all working through this together and these things will be awesome and foolproof one day, but you are an early adopter. You have my promise that these #%#$%@ things can work, have worked, do work. We just need to find the problem with yours. Deep breath.

It is so much easier to SEE what should be adjusted. If after following these instructions you are still having problems, PLEASE CREATE A NEW POST AND UPLOAD PICTURES OF THE PARTS YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT, TAG IT AIRLIFT TROUBLESHOOTING, & THEN JUST LINK TO YOUR POST in the comments below.

1) Please make sure you have the latest version of the how-to for the airlift system. Updates (like software updates) have been made to the instructions. The updates were made to correct issues that we found people were running into. The file should be called “3plantairliftHOWTO_3_4_10.pdf”.

2) Pump- Get the PETCO Air Pump 2-Way For 13-106 gallon Aquariums Model 9903 http://www.petco.com/product/109838/PETCO-Air-Pump.aspx

3) Tubing-
Get it at Canal Rubber.
x1 3/8″ OUTSIDE DIAMETER 1/4″ Inside Diameter Reinforced Kuritec Tubing at 4′6″ long
X2 1/4″ O.D. 1/8″ I.D. Vinyl tubing at 2′6″ long
x1 3/8″ O.D. 1/4″ ID Vinyl tubing at 6′ long

4) One-way air valves-You need these. Trust me. If you get the Petco pump, these come with it for free! Otherwise, you need to go to an aquarium store and tell them you want one way check valves for an air pump. They will cost about $3 each. You need to insert these in the line between the pump and your windowfarm. Be sure they are facing the right way (blow thru them to test) and turn on the pump with your valves inserted before you insert the tubing in water. Otherwise, your air tubes might fill with water and your system will not pump as high.

5) Bottom reservoir- You want your airlift tube submerged under the tallest possible column of water. That’s just how to physics work. So, if you use the 1 Gallon Poland Springs bottle, fill it up as high as possible. If you use something else, make sure you have picked a container that is going to create a tall column. By the same token, if your tube is curling so that it is effectively not submerged under a tall column, zip tie it to something rigid to straighten it out and create the max submersion height.

6) Angled bottom to tube- Cut your water intake tube (the Reinforced 3/8″ OUTSIDE DIAMETER 1/4″ Inside Diameter) at an angle at the bottom so that it does not just suck on the bottom of your reservoir.

7) More teflon plumber’s tape at the joints- you may have a leak somewhere.

Bad air valve? We have had a quality control issue with the air valves on occasion. Take the out. Blow through them. Is one harder to blow through than the other? If so, replace or try cleaning/soaking in alcohol.

9) Smoother interior walls for your tube and rigidity- If you’ve tried all of these things and they don’t work, go to canal plastics and get some rigid acrylic tube with a 1/4″ inside diameter and 3/8″ outside diameter. Go to canal rubber and get some vinyl tubing with a 3/8″ inside diameter (for a curved u back into the column at the top). Replace the reinforced tubing with this more rigid and smoother walled tube. It is what we are using for the next generation windowfarms . . . coming soon in kits.

I’ve taken the plunge, set up a timer, got the water flowing, and have planted out my tiny tiny seedlings. Sorry plants are such babies that they’re barely visible in this photo but it’s mostly spearmint and thyme. As other things germinate I’ll plant out different herbs, hope to have oregano, spicy globe basil, marjoram, dill, and nasturtiums.  The first generation of plants have been in the windowfarm for a couple days now and they seem to be happy.

Had some minor issues when I started the system pumping on a regular basis where one column was dripping beautifully and the other dripped in fits and starts. Turned out the top reservoir was not level. Now I have about three gallons of water in the system, timer set to run the pump for three minutes every two hours, and water flow seems constant.

Next big step is adding nutrients to the water in the system. I’m worried about the smell of the organic fertilizer I’ve used in my regular garden in the past. I’ve spilled so much water on the floor during setup that I’m worried the room will soon reek of fish fertilizer. But I’m going to start with a small amount and hope that the smell won’t be too strong.

Once things are growing well I’m hoping to upgrade the system to using an electronic float switch and relay to power the pump when the bottom reservoir reaches a certain level. I’m really eager to get an Arduino attached to my system in hopes of learning to monitor environmental data. I want to use the windowfarm as a testbed for a data gathering and  control system that I can eventually use with my rooftop chile garden for remote monitoring and hopefully remote control of watering and fertilization.

I’ve got my windowfarm working manually, i.e. the main delay at this point is lack of a timer, so I’m close. Since I originally posted I’ve made a few changes. I cut the resevoir tubes down to 48″ to reduce weight, and have suspended them from separate pairs of hooks screwed into the drywall ceiling. Two columns of four bottles each are suspended with alligator clips and 1/8″ dowels from the baling wire supporting the bottom resevoir. This setup makes it possible to remove the resevoirs separately and seems to be working pretty well. Pump is inside the bottom resevoir and once realized which was the input and which the output is worked pretty well. In initial test I had 5′ of head and that was a bit too much but lowering the top resevoir by six inches made a difference and now pumping works well.

Biggest issue I had was how to attach the drip line. Inserting the adjustable valve directly into the top resevoir seemed like it would leak so I put a 1/4″ transfer barb into the resevoir and put a blob of silicone sealant around it. Then a few inches of 1/4″ tube to the adjustable valve, then another piece of 1/4″ tube down to the top of the first bottle. Seems to work great without leaks.

My seedling are a couple inches high and I can’t wait to transplant them. Need to get a great timer and wondering if arduino is too much for a non-programmer to try. But I really want maximum flexibility with the timer.

Questions:

Is anyone using organic fertilizer in their windowfarm? What kind? How big should seedlings be before “planting them out” in the windowfarm?

First day of construction.

I was in the windowfarm-pioneer class last Spring but am only now beginning construction on my first farm. My original goal was to build something kid-proof and avoid using PVC plastics, but I’ve decided to start simpler and work up to those features in future projects. So I’m doing my current project in a spare bedroom in my apt that has a southwest-facing window and more importantly is not frequented often by my three kids.

I got a 10′ piece of 4″ PVC at Loew’s, but I think it’s the 1/4″ kind so I was a bit concerned that it would hold less water than the 1/8″ tube recommended in the docs. So I decided to just cut the tube in half and use 60″ reservoirs. I’ll have to do some experiments to see if it’s too heavy this way. I’m thinking of using a metal shelving unit to support the bottom reservoir, especially during this initial setup period.

I got a Maxi-Jet MJ1000 pump at the Queens hydroponic store. The pumps there seem pretty expensive and this one has barely enough head for my window so I’m going to try to keep the tube between top and bottom reservoirs as straight as possible.

I’m going to try doing a dozen plants in this window, all culinary herbs like thyme, mint, parsley, basil, etc. I’d like to use only organic fertilizer if possible. I’ll post again once I’m further along with construction.

My husband and I are excited to start our window farm! We’re starting small with the central pane of our three-pane bedroom window. We have to keep it all pretty high up since we have a toddler, so we can’t have anything at a height that he can reach and destroy.

One thing we’ve already noticed is that while we are going to be doing a “C” style window farm, our window sill is just not wide enough underneath to hook the bottom reservoir, and our air conditioner is also in the way. So we’re going to set the bottom reservoir on top of the sill. This will take away a little bit of window space, but it’s a tall window so we think we’ll still be OK.

Today we made our initial foray to Lowe’s to see what supplies we could get there and how much they would all cost, as well as get an idea of what kinds of things we want to grow. In February our son is going to stay with his grandparents in Miami for a week so that’s when we’ll do our shopping and start our garden!

I’m looking to grow herbs in a fairly small windowfarm using 2″ net cups. How much space do people recommend for the growth and for the roots? Also: will the herb stop growing when it meets the capacity of the cup, or I am going to run into problems?

I have been collecting Naked and Odwalla juice bottles forever, and would like to use them to build my windowfarm. I was wondering how much room the roots need in the bottle. (These juice bottls are slightly smaller than plastic water bottles in about all dimensions, and are rectangular. Pictures below!)

Also: is the idea of the farm to just drip the water through all the plants? I guess my question is: is it any more complicated than making sure enough water drips from the top to get to the bottom, or am I missing something? I’ve never really grown anything before, but I love building stuff and think this would be a good way to start. Do people recommend buying plants and transplanting them into the net cups, or starting with seeds? (Whichever one is more likely to work. ) Depending on how much time I have, I may design my own timer for the pump.

Another exciting development in international windowfarming,

Just want to let everyone know about this awesome windowfarm remote collaboration that will bring a custom-designed windowfarm made of Helsinki local materials and plants to the Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum in conjunction with the Pixelache Festival. The project will generate local “how-tos” as well that make it possible for Scandinavians to “grow [herbs, edible and medicinal plants] yourself, over the dark winter months.”

This is a wide collaboration involving contributions from Helsinki local artists, biologists, the botanical gardens, an electronic arts festival and industrial hydroponics facilities. The project is being supported by Kultur Kontakt Nord/Nordic Culture Point.

Here’s a description from Ulla of Capsula:

The ‘Herbologies/Foraging Networks’ programme of events, focused in Helsinki (Finland) and Kurzeme region of Latvia, explores the cultural traditions and knowledge of herbs, edible and medicinal plants, within the contemporary context of online networks, open information-sharing, biological and hydroponic technologies. The traditions of finding and knowing about wild food in the local Nordic environment are slipping away from the current generation. How can one attract their attention: With books, online maps, workshops, mobile-guided tours, open-source information or DNA code? Or learn how to grow them yourself, over the dark winter months? The Pixelache Festival events introduce the different meeting points between the three collaborating partners, include presentations by international artists and Finnish botanical experts; workshops sharing that knowledge with the public in Botanical Garden of Helsinki; a round-table discussion about foraging in the urban context; a manifestation of the ‘WindowFarms’ project by Britta Riley and Rebecca Bray(US) that will be built and exhibited in the Takaikkuna of Kiasma, the Museum of contemporary art of Helsinki.”

Andrew Paterson, directing the Helsinki work on the project, reports on current progress, “I have been incubating seeds in rockwool cubes for my home system, so has Mikko with many more as tests.. However, importantly, we got confirmation recently that the Botanical museum will incubate the seeds for the Kiasma installation & have a list of plants already from the different Herbologies workshop persons. On tuesday this week we meet the botanical museum director & gardener.”