Having read this, I was wondering whether one couldn’t build a compact WF-AWTS using a (large) bottle.

I think it’ll be quite easy to do one in my farm setup, but may be more difficult in the normal configuration.

I was thinking of a bottle with the bottom cut off, turned around, with some lid that lets air through, wrapped in insulating material, preferably placed the shade.

After the bottle is placed upside down, a coarse sponge filter is not too tightly showed into the bottom end,  and it is placed so that the end of the sponge (hanging out) is in contact with the reservoir (or a part that is regularly flushed).

Worms, substrate and starter food are added. The coarse filter will ensure the worm farm doesn’t get too wet, and it’ll let the worm tea produced pass through little by little, eliminating odour.

Thoughts ?

Edit – here it is in all its GIMPish glory:

From bottom to top we have:

Wick, sponge, worms in soil, kitchen scraps – and the bottle, obviously.

It worked… but my plants(2 strawberry and a chili plant) didn’t survive my vacation.

So, if I hadto start the plants over, why notthe farm, too?

This new design is based on the same airlift as I know it works well. The bottles and mounting of them has been completely redesigned, though. I’m still using 1.5L soda bottles, but I cut them in two about midway down, wrap tape around the threaded end and a half-inch width along the cut to mask it for spraypainting.
As I don’t feel that 3 layers of white blocks enough light, I’m using gray primer first, then white paint on top of it.
To mark where to cut the bottles I made a simple rig of a couple of dowels mounted on a workbench with a whiteboard marker fastened to them with a rubber band. It works… sort of… (Not very accurate) For the next set of bottles I’ll have to find a tube that the bottles will fit snugly into, and use that as a template.

For suspension I’m using three lengths of thin chain and ’S’ hooks. On the edge of the bottles I’ve used a set of eyelet pliers to make holes and crimp into place eyelets for the hooks to hook onto.

In the neck of the bottles I’ve placed an ice-cream cup that I have perforated. Then it’s just a question of filling up with clay pellets and adding a plant. (for Norwegians; I’m using Henning Olsen Sjoko Kirsj, as sold in quad-packs. The ‘diet’ ice sold in the same sizes can also be used, but tastes awful in my opinion… )
The way the cups have been prepared is that I’ve cut off the rim, then holed the bottom with a small philips-head screwdriver that I heated with a ‘jet lighter’. You want the holes at least 2.5mm(0.1″) or more and probably  bit jagged around the edges or the surface tension in the water will keep it from draining through until a significant amount has gathered.

On the bottom bottle I’ve used a modified drinking cap from a water bottle(Imsdal if anyone in  Norway wonders)  where I removed the sliding plastic piece and ‘cored’ it with the biggest drill-bit I had(10mm). Then I glued in a piece of tubing using hot-glue.

Pros of this design:
It’s flexible as the bottles can be unhooked and moved up and down the chains.
This means I can have any number up to 5 on a single column, or dedicate one column to sprouts, and have a separate tank and nutrients more suited for young plants, and just move plants around as they mature.

Cons:
I may need to add tubes to more than just the bottom bottles, depending on the distance between the bottles and type of plant in them.

To do:
A better and more permanent fastening at the top. A single hook works… somewhat, but a hook for each chain will avoid the top bottle being disformed by the chains. Also, adding a second column.
This I plan to do by fastening a board at the top and screwing in hooks. 3 for the first chain, and 2 for the next, so that they form a somewhat elongated 5(as on a dice) so that the two columns share one chain.
A possibility is also to mount 6 hooks in a triangular pattern, with one in each corner, and one in the middle of each side, and hang 3 columns from those 6 chains. (all columns will be sharing two chains with the other columns) Then the airlift tubes can be ‘hidden’ in the middle of the design, too. A quad column with 8 chains is a possibility, but at least one column will get significantly less light than the others.

Also, while I have pictures, I find no way to post them here.

I’ve been working on an automated gardening system, an ebb & flow hydroponics system. It also uses a few sensors and the Make Controller to supplement the natural light. You can check out it’s live page here. http://entropealab.mine.nu:8080 I’ve also been logging pictures every 10 minutes for the past few weeks. You can check the time-lapse out here. http://entropealab.mine.nu:8080/closeup and http://entropealab.mine.nu:8080/wide … they load pretty slow.

I’m giving a talk on window gardening on May Day and will definitely be mentioning you guys. I’m also going to try to build one of your systems very soon.

Keep up the great work!

- Chris

I decided this time around to build an aquaponic window farm. I wanted to put my reservoir to good use, and also had an extra fish tank around. I decided to use the Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) river system (FYI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutrient_film_technique) to accomplish this. This system has so many advantages! One pump (blue hose) pumps water up from the koi tank and into the river system. The water flows south to north, then back down the black hose. It is actually really simple, all the plants love it, and it keeps the koi aquarium perfectly clean!!!

I also water all of my seedlings (seeds of change seeds mentioned in post: http://our.windowfarms.org/2010/04/07/seed-companies-that-deliver-seedlings/comment-page-1/#comment-4428 ) with the aquarium water, as this water has the perfect blend of all organic nutrients (fish waste, and yes I feed my koi organic fish food). With this system there is no need for any other costly nutrients.  My seedlings love this water, and I have noticed healthier plants and earlier germination.

I had started out with:

2 yellow pear cherry tomatoes
2 zucchini
1 sage

When I had started these seedlings, only 5 plants made it into this system. The others that were germinated at the same planing were planted in soil outdoors. All plants grown in this system are X5 larger then soiled plants. At the moment my tomatoes have reached the ceiling and are baring many lil yellow pear cherry tomatoes!

Yet, the zucchinis got too large and were successfully transplanted into soil. The two tomatoes and sage are still in NFT river. The pics are a few weeks old, but for more up-to-date images check out the album on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=195490&id=534128768&l=5dbbeba8c7

How about this:
Use regular clay pots for the plants, tie moss/succulents/whateveryoulike to their outside, and do the rest by the book.
The moisture seeping through will feed the ”living pots”, any excess would simply drop below.
Should look nice.

Trygve Henriksen

I’m not certain that the clay will let much nutrients seep through.
(But feel free to try. Would probably look nice if it did work.)

samenrahmen

No worries there – just look at the calcification on older pots.

Trygve Henriksen

Can’t say that I have that many clay pots… A couple of glazed ones(and we know that nothing seeps through on those),

but mostly it’s plastic ’self-watering’ pots… (Only way that I can keep plants alive, it seems… )

samenrahmen

If you hung the pots up in net bags, you’d get free trellisses – the handles.

Hardware Junkie

You should be able to drill through clay pots of your careful enough. Quick google search is giving how to results.

One small hole should be enough to allow nutrients through, and the plants could sit in the clay pot with hydroton

samenrahmen

Or one could use felt around them, with a thick piece hanging down and acting as a wick to guide the water down to the next pot.

Which would eliminate the need for any tubing which might get clogged, and at the same time ensure the moisture supply.

Here’s something made of felt:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/karenmackay/sets/72157622612880600/

I have a very nice window farm.  I built it with two holes on either side of the bottle to allow 2 plants to grow out each side.  This has been working very well and my plants are taking over my window, yay! As I was trimming some dead leaves I started wondering, why have holes at all?  Why not just get rid of the top of the bottle all together?  The wire support with alligator clips keeps each bottle in perfect place so there is no need for structural support, right?  The bottom of one bottle to the growing area inside the next a short tube makes sure the drip gets into the right spot and doesn’t splash.   So why not give the plants much more room and get rid of the top of the bottle all together.  Has anyone done this?  I think I will try and will give you all some updates with what happens…..Here are some pictures of my farm cause I like to show it off and a link to my youtube video…..Thanks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf2jW05TEwU

If the video doesn’t show up (the preview certainly isn’t showing it), then you can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4xkUsAlM_0

I recently built my own little system after stumbling upon your website. I found the instructions fairly easy. Sourcing the materials was easy as well.

I went a bit crazy and decided to do some peppers and tomatoes. Pollinating the tomatoes has been a little bit of an issue, but it’s coming along.

The rate of growth is amazing really.

I haven’t used any netted pots. I just use 3 liter soda bottles that I cut and filled with Hydroton medium. I’m using Pure Blend Pro Grow for nutes. I used a bread container to act as my reservoir. I read a bit before I put this all together and figured a container that was ‘deep’ would help the airlift situation. Worked flawlessly the first time.

My tomatoes are flowering as well as my pepper plants. I’ve got some nice yellow and white flowers.

Here are a few pics.

Sorry about the picture quality. I am pleased with it. It’s a bit of an ugly setup, but for a first attempt (all put together in less than an hour) it’s not so bad. I can definitely make cosmetic changes and what not, but this is fine for now. I had to actually trim back the herbs in the lower container as they got a bit out of hand.

I’m very happy that I stumbled upon your site. I walked into my local Home Depot looking for netted pots and couldn’t find them, so I had to ask an employee. He asked me what it was for, and I whipped out the little print out of the 3 plant airlift system. We must have talked about it for a good 20 mins and he was very interested in doing it himself.

So…thanks!

All in all I think it cost me around $60 or so. The most expensive items are/were the Hydroton (got a big bag), the nutrients and the air pump.

Sorry that it isn’t directly on here, if I could, I would.