Hello, I’ve attempted my first window farm this week as a prototype for class. It’s been a bit difficult to find proper supplies in Hong Kong due to language barriers. Challenges and questions I’ve come across while exercising my poor engineering skills. I will be using black socks to cover the bottom of the bottles.

1. My seedlings have already been attacked twice with aphids and fungus gnats in it’s growing plugs. I had to start a fresh batch. If the seedlings are already so sensitive to the  moisture and humidity, how soon will my window farm be attacked by these pest? Anyone have experience with handling this in a humid country?

2. My tubing is too stiff to direct it away from the seedling. I’ve seen some systems using a toothpick or wooden chopstick, but my result was a moldy chopstick. I ended up using a fishing wire just to hold it down and a tape to keep the tube in place. I obviously need to find a better alternative. 

3. Reservoir problem. Due to the limited space in HK, I don’t have the luxury to have a big bottle for reservoir so I attempted to use a ketchup bottle on the bottom. I found the tip was a good way to plug the tubing in (I still need to reinforce it with plumbers tape, but haven’t found it yet).

4. Cutting through plastic was the biggest challenge.  I am not a very handy person, but I attempted to use the drill to make some holes on the bottom of the bottles but the bottom is thicker than the rest of the bottle, so I am not able to cut through it. In the end, I made a big circle but the bottles don’t fit perfectly. Any suggestions? I thought about using sticks to reinforce it.

5.I wanted to try out using water beads instead of clay pellets. Anyone have any success in it?

I have one of the manufactured systems (I was a Kickstarter supporter) and have to say it’s incredibly awesome!! My older water bottle one made it’s way quickly to the recycling bin!!

My issue is that the output of water at the top of the airlift spews droplets all over my window. It makes one heck of a mess. I ended up taking a pill bottle, cut off the bottom half, then drilled a hole in the lid just large enough for the airlift tube, and this has helped stem much of the mess.

The issue is that when the bubble of water gets to the top/end of the tube it is actually a bubble and it *pops*, making a little mess of droplets (2-3 of them) spray out. I don’t see another way around this from what I’ve done, but it’s apparent you have to let the bubble burst, and containing it inside a larger sealed vessel as I’ve made is the way to go.

What have you done to help this issue?

I am doing a couple of vertical pallet planters and changed the airlift to suit the planters. In this case, the next planter will have 2 wooden legs in plastic buckets. The water will drip down the legs and back into the buckets. I usually use the t joint method outside the bucket but I also appreciate that not everyone has room for a u tube that is one ft lower than your T joint. I tried a few different methods and this one works.
This way uses all the depth of the bucket and you might get a little bubbling when it restarts for a few seconds but usually not. Note that once again, I got a few days where the tubes acted funny before they behaved themselves. Pretty sure it is whatever sheen or grease is on new tubes. I think all new tubes need to just sit low with nutrient running through them for about a day before you put them up in position. There is almost zero drainback in new tubes and that is what is causing the problem. Newbies are going to be very confused by this.
My pallet planter project is at instructables A very interesting aspect of this (for me) is that the air pump is 120 ft away from the planter. (It still works and pumps the air through 1/4 inch tubing all the way to the greenhouse). Brian

Hi everybody,

I’ve just about finished construction on a 2-column windowfarm, and I am just waiting for my seedlings to get big enough to put them in.  I’ll post some pictures when it’s up and running.  Anyway, I have some comments and reflections on the “official” instructions and parts list.

So, I followed the instructions pretty closely except for on two points: first, my windowfarm is suspended from a free-standing frame on casters (which doesn’t really affect anything), and I used a t-joint for the airlift system.  The t-joint (a.k.a. t-valve) design is really simple and easy to install and use, whereas I found the method(s) outlined in the instructions to be really complicated and, frankly, intimidating.  The fact that the size of the check valve included with the air pump determines some of the other parts is pretty inconvenient.  Anyway, I hope the instructions are changed soon to include this more user-friendly design.

Speaking of the t-joint design, there are some issues that I ran into with parts.  Mainly, I bought a t-joint off the Petco shelf with all three openings the same small diameter.  It’s made for three of the standard 1/4″ OD tubes that come with the air pump.  The problem is that this makes a bottleneck for the flow of water.  At least I think it’s a problem.  Brian White say’s that the airlift tube should have an ID of 1/4″ for optimal performance, and he seems to have done his research.  I ran the 1/4″ OD aquarium tubing from the reservoir bottle to the t-joint, and from the t-joint up to the bottom of the 3/8” OD 1/4” ID rigid tubing from the parts list (McMaster.com #9245K17).  It works, but maybe it would be better if I had bought a wider t-joint and used wider tubing.

Speaking of things that could work better, there’s the Petco pump (#9902).  It’s not adjustable, as far as I can tell.  I guess I can add a little adjustable valve in the airline, but if I throttle it that way I’ll be wasting energy.  I think an adjustable pump should be recommended.

Then there’s the tubing.   Two kinds of tubing on the parts list reference McMaster part numbers, but the 3/8” ID flexible vinyl tubing for some reason does not.  Now, McMaster has a ridiculously extensive selection of tubing, so we should be able to find one that works.  I used #5103K36 (Chemical-resistant Clear Tygon Tubing, 3/8″ Id, 1/2″ Od, 1/16″ Wall Thk).  It was okay for joining the two long pieces of rigid tubing, but it was not flexible enough for the top, to curve down into the top bottle.  Technically speaking, the “bend radius” is too big.  Maybe #5231K185 (Clear PVC Tubing Chemical, 3/8″ ID, 1/2″ OD, 1/16″ Wall Thickness) would be better.

Chains.  I think the ball/bead chain is a good way to go, and McMaster was a convenient way to order it.  Weirdly, though, the part number on the parts list (#3606T16) turns out to be stainless steel chain, whereas in the instructions photos it looks like they’re using plastic.  It’s not important, but what’s up with that?  I also ordered the specified couplings (#3606T41).  They are listed in the McMaster catalog as being the same size as the chain, but for some reason the chain does not fit through the center hole.  I had to widen the hole.  I’m not sure what to suggest here.

I think that’s everything.  I don’t mean to complain; I think the design is great and I really appreciate having access to it, but I want to help make it better and easier for windowfarmers who come after me.  I hope this post is the right way to give this feedback.  Sorry it’s so long and boring!

Sincerely,

Bill

I have finally completed my windowfarm, and transferred my baby plants! So far it was neat watching the plants grow from seeds. I hope they bear fruit. I have 2 spinach plants, 2 different tomatoe plants, 3brocolli plants, and 3 mint plants, and 1 lettuce plant! I used the air T-lift system to get the water pumped to the top.

I have now built and planted tomatoes in my windowfarm with a 200 l reservoir. I hope this will be able to keep the plants happy for long warm periods unattended.

My farm consists of 8 hanging pots that are supplied with water from a t-joint airlift and three large boxes that get water through some pieces of yarn. The reservoir can hold more than 200 l of water and I have added some liquid nutrient in the water.

I am growing tomatoes in the hanging pots and in the boxes I have an ash, rosemary, maple, rowan and white clover.

So far, the plants seem to be fine. Some of the leaves on the tomato plants have some white patches. I might need to adjust the amount of nutrients in the water, but that is just a guess.

Update, March 3rd: Added some pictures and descriptions.

When I got this floor standing flower pot reservoir, I started off with a needle airlift. The needle turned out to be really unreliable and the result was also noisier than a T-airlift. Fortunately I found a “tap” that can be attached to any reservoir with a non-curved surface. It’s a tap made by AutoPot. I just drilled a hole in the side of the reservoir and attached the tap to the side of it. Careful when drilling. You’ll need a special tool or a huge drill bit to make a hole this big (25mm). The tap can take a 16mm hose if you stretch the hose a little, so I needed an adapter to 6mm. Fortunately, a local chili equipment store had an adapter for 16mm to 6mm hose with an additional filter in it.

My initial column had just a tiny reservoir. It was way too small and a bit ugly as well. Another setback was that I originally used aluminum pipes in the plumbing, and found out that aluminum (not healthy) might end up in the plants. Thanks for pointing that out, readers. What I’ve learned from this is that if you’re planning to make your own window farm and don’t want to use recycled bottles, prepare to spend the price of a factory made windowfarm. Of course, you might end up with something better that way

Here’s the final part list for those who aren’t familiar with my previous posts.

Part list

(total cost ~100 euros)

• 4 Plastic orchid pots. These are made of Polypropylene, which is (afaik) safe to use with food. The pots also have an inward dent in the bottom, so they will never drain completely. I don’t know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. Be careful when drilling plastic. I managed to break one pot by using too much pressure. (2 euros/pot at Bauhaus)
• 1 Large floor flower pot. This is the same brand as the orchid pots so the color matches perfectly. The water volume is 10 liters, and the reservoir is in the bottom of this outer pot. (25 e at Bauhaus)
• 1 Inner pot. The inner pot is 22 cm tall, so below it lies my actual reservoir. (15e at Bauhaus)
• 1 meters of plastic pipe for the dripping, 8 mm diameter.
• Two meters of aluminum strip. Mine is about 12mm wide and 2mm thick. I wouldn’t go any thinner than 2mm, since the rigidity of the column would likely suffer. (4 euros/meter at Bauhaus)
• M3 Nuts, washers and screws (or bolts) for attaching the pots to the aluminum strip. (Less than 1e total)
• Sera Air 275R Plus air pump with adjustable air flow and two outlets. Came with two non-return valves. (28 euros at a local aquarium store)
• 6mm “colorless” hose for the air. (2 euros / meter at a local aquarium store)
• 6mm black hose for the water. Colorless hose gathers algae. (2 euros / meter at a local chili store)
• A Y-joint for the 6mm hose. Came with the pump.
• A check valve. Came with the pump.
• A tap from AutoPot.
• A 6mm adapter for the tap

Plants

So far I’ve planted some cherry tomato, 2 kinds of chilies, coriander, parsley, basil and strawberry. The tomato is growing like crazy. Tomato was germinated three weeks ago and the plants are already 15cm tall. Then I threw in another basil plant I got from a grocery store.

Nutrients & pH

I was recommended nutrients called Flora Mato and Flora Micro by GHE. I don’t know much about nutrients, so I just got both and I’m adding both every time I add water. I’m aiming at an EC number of 1.60mS/cm.

The tap water around here is pretty alkaline with a pH of around 8. I got some pH down powder and a pH tester. Before I add water I first add nutrients and then make sure the pH gets down to about 6. Only after that I pour it in the reservoir.

Photos

What’s the cheapest air pump and where can you buy it? Because I don’t really plan on spending $800 on a huge air pump…

Alice

A little while ago I answered a post on what to do with unused ports.  http://our.windowfarms.org/2012/01/14/can-i-use-a-petco-4-output-pump-for-a-2-column-farm/  I answered with what I did, but that got me thinking as to what should I do.  Now, I would say that the correct answer is that you should cover the ports.  Take a look at my video here.  http://youtu.be/6KvfJyWso8E

So what does this cost me?  Let’s say the pump runs at 1 watt.  This is 0.001 kilowatts.   The pump runs a total of 2 hours a day for me.  That’s 0.002 kilowatt-hours and I pay $0.10 a kilowatt-hr.  That is only $0.0002 per day or $0.073 per year.  That is insignificant!  I probably have wasted more power in writing this email than what it costs to run my windowfarm for the year.

So if you are very environmetally conscientious and I think most of us here are, I would say don’t worry about putting an air pump on your WF.  Look else where in your life to save energy.  The biggest energy consumers in my house in order are heating, hot water, clothes dryer, refrigerators, stove, computers.  These are the places to make a big difference.

Buy the way, the power monitor in the video is a Watts Up Pro and I got from Fry Electronics for $120.00.

Updated 1/23/2012

After doing the first video I decided to open it up and see how the pump works.  http://youtu.be/4JqaQV48KFk

d.3 stands for D’Artagnon’s third system . . . in case people went looking for an “official” set of d.3 plans on the site.

Anyhoo . . .

Looking through the site and through the plans I felt I wanted another option for my containers other than plastic and another growth medium other than those provided. So, taking the basic theory I struck out with my shoelaces untied and the wind in my face.

First the bottles; I used 12 oz soda bottles for a mini herb garden. I found a cool method of slicing the bottoms of the bottles off that was clean and painless. I will post the extended directions in another post. So, bottoms off, edges smoothed then I added my medium.

boylan's birch beer. YUM!

Rockwool doesn’t breakdown and they are a onetime use product. Once the roots have taken over, then what? Where does that go? The pebbles and expanded clay can be reused often, but that seems a lot of maintenance and they come with plastic baskets. A while ago I saw a news segment about a man who went in to the doctor because he thought he might have lung cancer and through some tests found he had inhaled a pea, which started to sprout in his lung.

Creepy, but it gave me a great idea; luffah as a growth medium.

luffah: growth medium and lung analogue.

The early version of my system proved that the luffah stayed moist and allowed oxygen to flow through the root system. Best of all, it breaks down slowly. Not too fast so it supports the root system but it can be thrown into my compost and returned in an earth friendly way. Also, luffah easier to manage if soaked briefly in water.

let's cut this down to size.

perform surgery . . .

roll it up. no too tight.

slide luffah in.

see? perfect.

The reservoir bottle is a salvaged wine bottle sealed with aquarium grade silicon in the neck. I inserted the pump needle directly into the silicon air tube and that tube sits next to a purge valve for easy drainage. I found a simpler check valve at PetSmart and inserted it further down the line for easier access.

black purge tube with valve and clear silicon air tube with check valve.

there's the needle.

here she is.

The bottles are strung together using a bracelet knot. Well, really it’s a bunch of square knots tied over the bottles. Tension keeps things stable.

In the earlier version of the system having the airlift tube on the outside proved messy, so I had the tube running up inside the bottles. After having to do some maintenance and fret over root invasion I returned it to the outside. The white tube is 1/4 inch  (outside dimension) pex tube and the smaller is a 1/4 inch (outside dimension) ac tube.

here is the spout.

A side note on the airlift system: If the water level is too low in your reservoir then the air won’t lift enough water. I kept the level about 1.5 inches from the top edge and I chose a long bottle for this specific purpose. Right now it’s a single column system so I only need a single pump.

Next is to transplant my sprouts and actually get food for the system. That’s going to be an exciting learning curve. Eventually I want to see if I can get a piece of bamboo for my airlift tube and be free from the plastic. Here’s hoping.

Let me know what you think and feel free to ask questions. Happy tinkering!

d’