I ordered a window farm on march 20th, and figured it would take no more than a month to arrive.  I have not received any word on shipment from Windowfarms and have tried to contact them numerous times.  It doesnt seem like they are an actual company and I feel like I’ve been taken for a ride.  I am $224 down and 0 windowfarms have arrived.  I could have built 10 window farms in this time.  Has anyone heard from them on when the “Spring 2012″ shipment will go out?

This is pretty shady.

I have my students butting together the single pole units.  When we review the construction steps, particularly 7 & 8, we are having trouble understanding how to connect the air pump tubing and the tubing with the air needles.  Could anyone post an up close picture to help us out?  Thanks

moving lettuce in a windowfarm in Vienna – a fast-motion-video 6h30m in 53 seconds:

http://donauinsel.tk/index.php/my-own-windowfarm/zeitraffer_1-Mai-2012

I have just started noticing that my peas and cucumber plants have leaves that are beginning to brown around the edges.  They are growing quite well, especially the peas, but even some of the older leaves are starting to curl and die.  Does anyone know how I can stop this? The lettuce, arugula, and kale all appear to be doing okay.

ok, i start this to demostrate to my PhD that he stink, i have forbiden eat vegetables who has iron, letuches spinacs etc, and i love this food, my problem is longe desease, and i acumulate so much iron in blod, well is not longe problem, is a liver problem, i do not have so much oxigen in blod so liver think that i need more iron to translate the oxigen, but much iron in blod is no good for oxigen, so i need increase oxigen levels in blod i need more oxigen in home, and eat salads with iron, i live in the most poluted city with low oxigen levels, and i need demostrate that, in the recently past i have into apartment two tomatoes plants and my oxigen go up from terrific 82% to 90% well normal is 95%, with 94% we have problems. so this week i start to build windows farm in every window of my condo. now i have 89%oxigen in blood without oxigen tank. so lets try and start.

hi again,

I bought some net pots online (when they arrived they were far too small but still) i gave them a look over and i don’t understand why windowfarms use net pots. Surely a normal plastic plant pot works just as well, if not better as it funnels all of the water downwards rather than outwards. net pot are for when you are running water sideways through the pots rather than from above. anyone want to share any thoughts on that?

also i wanted to ask about the size of these things. the largest pot that i can fit in a water bottle is about the same size that i use to start plants off before i repot them into a larger plant pot to help them grow and bloom. surely by having such a small pot restricts the growth of the plant and you don’t get as good results. has anyone seen a vertical windowfarm  that uses larger bottles like a stack of 5Ltr bottles? do you think that could work? i’m only going off what Britta Riley was talking about on her TED talk that growing your own food being one of the best things we can do for our environment. why not try and grow as much as we can, space permitting, rather than having such a small system that can grow, at best, a few tomatoes and a weekly salad.

i’m only in the 1st stages of this but i think if we start thinking on a larger scale we may be able to get to the ‘vertical farms’ envisioned by Dickson Despommier ( look him up, amazing. he’s done a talk on TED and written a few books).

it’s not very often i get to quote Biodome but we need to “think globally and act locally”

thanks for listening

Kris

hi everyone,

i’m 3/4 of the way through making a free standing hydroponic window farm and i’m wondering about what to grow. it’s a 3 tier system and i’m earmarked basil for at least one of the pots but as i grow tomatoes in soil i now how tall they grow. i’d love to grow toms hydroponically but with this system i just can’t see it being feasible. (being used to the internet and how forums work i’d like to point out before it’s pointed out to me that i’m aware a tomato is a fruit and not a vegetable) i’ve ordered some seeds for micro-tomato plants ( http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vegetable-Tomato-Micro-Tom-12-Seeds-/230671074635?pt=UK_HomeGarden_Garden_PlantsSeedsBulbs_JN&hash=item35b511454b#ht_993wt_907 ) , can anyone recommend something to grow in the top tier? i like growing chillies but i don’t like eating them so something else please.

also, can anybody advise me on roots? the pots for growing fruit and veg hydroponically seems to be really small. does it give the root enough space to take hold and keep the plant upright?

many thanks

Kris

not attached the airpump yet

i am ready to out my window farm together but do not understand how to install the air pump. the directions do not make sense to me. any help with clarification would be appreciated.

Thanks to so many of you for your comments, suggestions, and help.  Question below!!!

Here where I live it is not easy for me to purchase small 1/4″ T’s.  There were a few 1/4″ parts in with one of my pumps whih I purchased at Walmart, but I need more now, as I have accumulated the bottles necesary to try an experiment with the ebb & flow method.  [[[[[[[ Question - Where do some of you go online for supplies?  Hopefully not too expensive, but good quality.  Any suggestions would be apprciated. ]]]]]]]

More explanation below the picture.

This is my windowfarm, moved to it’s new location in the west south west window.  I can make drawings in my paint program, but the photo will have to wait till my son can do it for me.

The fish tank is 14 gallons now but it is not as deep as the 8 gallon one and air bubbles were sometimes going the wrong way.  I got a 3″ pvc pipe whih was left over from the house construction, sealed the bottom, cut it to length, and attached it to the aquarium.  There is a siphon tube to fill it from the aquarium.  It stays at the same level, but it reaches deeper to the floor.  he T valve is under the water so that it is always primed and the water supply line reaches deeper.   I have not seen any air bubbles going the wrong way now.

I added 2 100 watt lights to extend the daytime hours and the plants seem to like more light.  They are not as light yellow as they were.  My purchased tiny tomato loves this setup and is growing very fast.  The one surviving strawberry plant is doing well also.  It seems to try harder to reach toward the light.  My basil plants are growing wonderfully and the curly prasley is ok.  When I moved to the larger bottles the parsley was changed to a larger net pot so I trimmed it back about 1/2 of the plant.  It was very tasty.  A few of the basil leaves were tasty also.

In this window I wanted to get a metal chain like some windowfarmers use and I was thinking of how to hook the bottles up when I realized I could crochet a chain stitch with my strong and durable nylon cord.  The individual bottles can be tied to the chord and if necessary individual ones can be removed and put back after repair.  Hope you enjoy seeing my setup.  I enjoyed making it in paint.   Happy windowfarming  Sylvia

Hello window farmers!.

We are actively seeking someone who can lead a comprehensive half day window farming workshop as part of a International urban agriculture summit taking place mid August in Toronto.

www.urbanagsummit.org

please get in touch at kim.fox@ryerson.ca