This is a very interesting article, with lots of good information.

There is a large list of plants that can be grown hydroponically, and outlines the environmental benefits of hydroponics. Keep in mind, this is from a website that also has an online store, there is a little bit of advertising. Otherwise I found this to be a good read.

I hope this is useful!

http://www.growhubhydroponics.com/pdf/Hydroponic_Produce.pdf

I think this is my favourite part:

“With hydroponic technology and a controlled environment, you have the ability to grow premium quality produce using minimal space, water and fertilizer. Amazingly, with artificial light, 6 square feet of space has been proven to nutritionally feed a family of 4 year-round!”

The moment I started really hating on those water pumps.

In the windowfarms community, no design is final. Rather, we are constantly evolving the designs to better performance standards. They evolve because WE LOVE FAILURE.

You can think you have a brilliant design but, like the Titanic, most designs are subject to failure at some point and it’s only when you see how your design performs throughout several seasons and under unfavorable conditions that you learn its true merits and shortcomings. We are fascinated with merits and shortcomings. Distinguishing between them is the core of what we do.

In our community, value comes- not from having the idea that works- but from BEING A GOOD TESTER.

@ajinil is one of my favorite pioneering testers, who is trying growing strawberries year-round in a snow-laden environment with no supplemental lighting by simply supplying flowering nutrients. So far, he has kept the plants flowering for 9 months!

Innovation can be painful. Death brings moments of revelation for windowfarmers doing R&D-I-Y. Ok. So I was only fake crying in the image above, but I was super bummed about losing my okra plants. After letting off a little steam, we were really able to take inventory of issues from this die-off. Ultimately, this was the last version 1 system we built after determining that nutrients just plain like to clog both water pumps and drip emitters as particulate matter builds up over time and clogs pathways. Failure also motivates progress. This is when the airlift technique started to seem a lot more attractive and worth pursuing. Ian, Ania, and I got to work on tweeking the airlift to work for windowfarms just a few days after this came down.

The MOST interesting moments are the ones right before your plants die (=FAIL= YAY!). What was that edge condition you managed to rock for a while? What can we learn from it?

Dry roots the result of clogged reservoir drippers in a V1 system

A mature plant’s root conditions are the best way to assess the workability of your windowfarm design.

I have a dissection table set up next to my windowfarms and as soon as I kill a plant (and trust me, I kill a LOT of plants with all of the frankenstein systems we have in the core team’s shop, where we test out the community’s ideas), I take it out, look at the root situation in the net cup and see what killed it. Were the roots massive and healthy right before they died? Did they dry out? Did I have spider mites? Are there any signs of rot? Were the factors that killed it particular to this plant or to the system? Would other people have this problem as well?

So maybe you want your windowfarm to thrive– totally valid. That’s why we give you two columns in the kits. One you can have be a control column, where you give your plants ideal conditions and allow them to thrive. Consider dedicating your other column to research. Take on an experimental conditions, fail, and report back!

-Britta

I have been working with the air lift system version in a workshop for the community at a local library here in Denver as a collaboration between Denver Public Library, Denver Urban Gardens and Artstreet. Byers Branch Library  provided the funding for 11 people to build and bring home a windowfarm.(Amazing!)

We made a few alterations to the original design & so far it’s working just fine. Instead of using an air pump and the air needles (I tried this way too but had a hard time getting enough power to get the water to the top) we used submersible pumps. The challenge here was having to get a powerful enough pump to raise the water 3-5’ that isn’t too powerful. We used the Active Aqua 160 gallons/hour. This pumps far more water than you need so in order to slow the flow down a bit we clamped the hose (not too much to make the motor mad).

Another small adaptation we made was recycling old 2-4″ bedding pots instead of the official hydroponic net pots. We used hole punchers and utility knives to make the holes.

The people who attended the workshop were thrilled about this design and vision & the whole workshop was a blast. We built community while building window farms.

Artstreet makes a window farm for their classroom with students' help.

Getting ready to cut

This mother and daughter team build together using a potpourri of recycled jugs

All Done!

Thank you for all your great research, ideas and collaborative spirit!