You don’t need to worry about the dripping speed too much if you use some growing medium that some binds water (E.g. rock wool).

Thanks Shaun! I used the method found from here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFXngPx3w3M You can find lots of instructions where they use burning cotton string and cold water to crack the bottle, but I found it to be a. dangerous and b. very difficult to do indoors. The guy in the video (Dan Rojas) has a good point [...]

Thanks, I will post some pictures when and if things progress. I’m not that concerned about the energy usage. I did some calculations and found out that it would actually be cheaper to get a pump and run it 24/7 than to buy a pump and a timer. I’m more concerned about the pump itself, [...]

I have to say that I don’t see much point in filtering or boiling the water unless you live in the undeveloped part of the world – probably not there either. Most of tap water on the world is cleaner than bottled water. The whole point of chlorine in first place is to purify the [...]

James, I like what you have been doing and I’ve been following the progress of your system(s). I think your friends idea was great! I chose to go this way with my farm since it simply fit my flat better. I’m still struggling to decide whether or not to use a pump. Last year I [...]

Thanks Mel. I’ve now been watching it for a couple of days, and I’m still happy with it Now I’m just waiting for the seeds to germinate. I wasn’t careful and the first bunch died.

Just leave it on the table for a day before watering the plants, that should do the job.

The frame is made from 1.5x3cm birch lath, which seem to be sturdy enough to cope with the load from the wires without bending too much. The frame has screw feet to fit different window sizes (in case I want to move it to a different window).

I used 2mm steel wire rope, and cable clamps and screw hooks to tighten the wire. I originally planned using fishing line, but had some spare wire at hand, and since the bottles are quite heavy and the fishing line tends to stretch under load I thought the wire would do a better job. Now [...]

I just felt that there is misinformation that needed to be corrected. Air pumps, when used in Deep Water Culture, cause air bubbles to break the water surface on the reservoir, thus allowing the reservoir water to oxygenate. It’s remotely like whipping cream, where you force the air in to water with whisker – not [...]

I’d like add one aspect to the whole pump/pumpless conversation. Any type of pump has one important advantage over the reservoir type systems. You need less water in the system, so there is smaller potential for water damage. Only 10 liters (2,5 gallons) of water is enough to cause some serious damage if you are [...]

I’m sorry to say this, but I find suggestion of air pump oxygenating the water false. At least if you read about research on air pumps, oxygenation and fishtanks you find that the oxygenation effect is either really small or non-existent. The research further suggests that in the fishtanks the effect is caused by the [...]

Don’t know if you are aware of this, but this method for breaking the bottle works much better than the ones, I’ve seen you using. I just learned this, and it works perfectly. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFXngPx3w3M