I’m an amateur Windowfarmer/Gardener and these are some rules I have come up with (please correct me if I’m wrong):

1) Don’t use tap water, if possible use purified water with a little bit of dissolved chlorine. (Often there are chlorinated compounds derivatives to replace chlorine- avoid these!)

2) Be conservative when you add a nutrient solution to your reservoir, ”less is more”! If you add too many nutrients, both the roots of your plant and the nutrients compete for water, this is due to greater osmotic pressure. If you use tap water and add nutrients, it’s even worse. If you add too much, your plant will get ”fertilizer burn.”

3) Use a TDS Meter (Total Dissolved Solids Meter) to measure your nutrient solution concentration. After doing some research, it appears that a measurement of 1000ppm or less is reccommended, anymore could fertilizer burn your plant! Each plant does better at different concentrations of nutrients. For Greek Basil, which I have been growing, they are very sensitive too high nutrient levels, right now I have my reservoir set at around 300ppm.

4) ”Pinching” is a method of branching out your plant and inducing leaf budding. If your plant is growing long stems and not very many leaves, then it isn’t getting enough sun/light. To pinch, take your fingernails and ”pinch/clip” the stem down nearest the closest ”branching point” (where there are other leaves branching out).

5) Apparently if your plant leaves turn yellow it means they are being over watered and if they turn brown, they are underwatered (Please note that fertilizer burn also can turn your leaves brown by dehydrating your plant.)

6) In general: when plant leaves are curling, you need to change something.

I have come to realize that Las Vegas water isn’t good for Windowfarms. I switched over to purified water and my plants have perked back up!