Its basically a variation of version 2.0. Instead of using the needles, I used the T method for pumping water and I have a tube going to the reservoir instead of connecting directly . It seems to be working so far because the plants (sage and lettuce) have survived overnight.

There seems to be an issue uploading pictures. Ill try to upload some later.

Hi all,

I just completed my first window farm and wanted to share my experience.  Just as I decided to get one of these together, I had an assignment to create a video about the environmental subject of my choice, and this seemed to fit perfectly. Here’s what I came up with: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fif-hNj47M.  I used several images from this site, so if I used one of yours and you want it removed, then please let me know.

I was particularly impressed with Dave’s Manhattan Window Farm design (http://our.windowfarms.org/2011/01/07/my-manhattan-windowfarm/), and used it as a starting point.  In the interest of simplicity and energy conservation I decided not to use lights or a pump, at least to start.  I don’t live anywhere near a hydroponics supply store, and was unable to find nutrient solution, net cups, clay pellets, or rock wool.  Instead I used Vigoro all purpose soluble plant food diluted for indoor plants, cheap plastic plant containers that I already had and a mixture of vermiculite and pebbles.  I figured that the vermiculite would retain moisture better between manual waterings anyway.  I wanted as large a space for roots as possible, so I used 2L soda bottles, which I regularly use.  I could only find 2″ split ring hangers but they turned out to be just large enough to hold the neck of the bottles and keep them close (but not too close) to the shower curtain rod.

I bought some romaine, arugula, and red leaf lettuce from Lowe’s so I could include actual plants in the video, and for the instant gratification, but in the future I will be using seed, of which I have plenty, to start one with herbs and another one or two with things like beans and peppers.  I waited too long for the first watering and I lost a few leaves because of that and damage sustained during transfer, but otherwise they’re looking good ten days in.  Since, I have been watering with 2-4 cups of solution every 2-3 days.  The red leaf is growing really well, while the romaine seems to be struggling a bit.  The arugula is a little bigger, but has not changed much, although they have all grown.

Here are some pictures:

Day One:

Day Ten:

I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this project.

04.21.2011 Edit to add:

I lost one (the smallest) of three of the romaine plants to what looks like root rot but the others seem to be doing well-

and unfortunately the arugula looks like it’s going to seed already

Hi !

Eight weeks ago, I presented you what I now call my sailboat windowfarm. Seven weeks ago I was presenting you my clay pot windowfarm.

Then, I explained in detail my pH imbalance adventure, telling you that I lost several plants in the process. Now, I’d like to show you the survivors. Here they are. First photo : My sailboat windowfarm suffered a much smaller scale pH imbalance. Its growth was interrupted and one of the pole beans lost two leaves to it, that’s all. On the first storey : 2 pole beans, second storey : 2 nasturtiums, third storey : 2 cherry tomatoes.

Second photo : a close-up of the biggest leaves on the pole beans.

Third photo : my clay pot windowfarm is still half empty and the spinach and thyme will get out soon. The two center columns are connected to their own reservoir. They are designated home for all flowering plants and may receive a special blooming nutrients formula. The two outer columns are designated for leaf crops only.

Following photos : watercress started from cuttings, surviving lettuce, blooming peas and baby cucumber.

So, I’m starting a little early inside. I will be transplanting outside when the weather is right. From top to bottom I have tomatoes, peppers, and lettuce. I still don’t have a PH meter, but very soon will. I’m going to be changing the water out every week and a couple of days. I hope it’s cool that I add a few drops of miracle grow flower food every few days. That stuff really helped my outdoor plants last year. I also have a tobacco plant in a container. Does anyone know if you can harvest immature leaves and let them dry out? I mean, I can wait till they mature. But what’s the difference? Also, does anyone know tips about pinching lettuce? I think it’s Romaine that I have….

I though it was interesting how these two plants grew so differently.  Both are in the same pot, but one stayed nice and compact and the other one grew around the first and really stretched out.  Once it started to stretch it continued to stretch.  We have been picking leaves off of both for awhile now.  You can see from the small brown marks where we have taken leaves.  The one that stretched out has run into the ceiling on my bay window and actually is starting to flower now.  I’ll be cutting it down soon and I’ll leave the compact one going.  There are no signs of flower on this one yet.

2 Lettuces in one pot

Previously related posts if you would like to review the progress of the lettuce.

http://our.windowfarms.org/2011/02/13/lettuce-for-lunch-15-weeks/

http://our.windowfarms.org/2011/01/08/lettuce-peas-at-70days/

http://our.windowfarms.org/2010/12/04/strawberries-9-months-new-wf-first-snow-of-the-year/

Here are my two lettuce plants at 15 weeks.  I have been getting about one salad a week to eat.  In the bowl are about 10 good sized leaves that I just picked and chopped up and the plants don’t look like I touched them! 

Lettuce For Lunch

The peas on the other hand I am not so sure about.  They are producing a 2 to 3 pods a week which is good, but some leaves are pale and are dying off here and there.   There is new growth and it’s still flowering.  I’m not sure if it is the fungus gnats (which I still have) or maybe a nutrient problem.  Either way, the lettuce does not seem troubled at all.

Pea & Lettuce WF

Pea Harvest

The gnats seem to be under control but are not gone.  The sticky paper is doing a good job of catching the adult flys.  The guys at the hydroponic store talked me into trying some insecticidal soap to kill the larvea, but not sure how effective it has been.  The next time I am at the store, I’ll get the neem oil and give that a try.

Besides my fungus gnat problem (http://our.windowfarms.org/2011/01/04/borer-type-bugs-in-my-peas/),  my second WF is doing well.  We have been picking lettuce leaves off around the edges to eat.  The lettuce has two plants in it now.  At first I sprouted about 5 and have thinned it down to two.  I never like thinning plants out.  I know if this was in dirt outside I would have thinned to just the one.  I just wonder since there should be less competition for the nutrients, how many plants can you get away with in each net pot?

The first pea is almost ready to be picked and more are on the way.  The pea is on the bottom and has three plants in it.  I have added dowls through the bottles to form a trellis.  Since it was on the bottom, the root have traveled down into the resevoir and it has turned itself into a deep water culture.   Since I had an extra port on the air pump, I added an aeration stone into the resevoir to give it some more oxygen.

A good question here is which plants naturally have short roots and which prefer longer roots.  I wonder what would have happened if the lettuce and pea were reversed…

WF at 70days

Peas Flowering

Bibb Lettuce

Here are some more pictures of sprouting the seeds.  I sprouted them directly in the rockwool in a makeshift terrarium and then moved them into the WF when they were big enough.

Sprouting Peas in Rockwool

Sprouting Lettuce in a Terrarium

Lettuce first placed in WF

I have been browsing many a seed catalogue, and I am sure that I’m going to buy a bajillion different kinds of seeds. Just to grow one plant of each variety… so…

Let’s swap seeds!!!

Is anyone else interested?

This supposedly is a Miniature Yellow Bell pepper.

Photos show it to be a compact plant with short internodes and a lot of small, dark green leaves.

What a nice addition, and it probably won’t get too large in a WF anyway …

This plant is now 7,5 weeks old, and it’s a whopping 75cm high.

It has few leaves, but they really are huge (ramifications have begun to appear, too).

And it’s flowering.

Maybe it’ll grow as high as the bolting lettuce next to it: 100cm.

Nice.

Edit 2010-08-14:

The first two flowers have opened; currently standing at 87cm …

I started working on this one several months ago, before the airlift system edged in with it’s sleek design and lower price point, but ended up moving house in the meantime and having to scrap my original plans. Luckily I moved to a place with great windows, so here is my old skool WF.

It’s still in process, I haven’t been able to work out the timers because my pump (QuietOne 3000)  is *too* powerful: it drains the bottom reservoir in about twenty seconds, and the timer I have only works at one minute intervals, minimum. So basically I just turn the pump on for a few seconds three or four times a day, for now that’s fine but I’m in the market for some fat drain pipe, it seems the only way to hold enough water + nutrients so the pump can cycle through a full minute. Plus I want to house the pump inside the reservoir. But you can see the plantings are doing pretty well, I have enough greens for sandwiches and salads a few times each week. Everything was started from seed using Bio Rooters.

Basil seems to love this method, the thyme is growing slowly so I don’t know if that’s a keeper or not.  Spinach is a bit leggy, but butter lettuce, frisee and arugula are doing fantastically well. I’m hoping to figure out the lighting situation come autumn so I can have green stuff growing all year ’round.

I started with drippers that were billed as 0.5 gallons/hour but they clogged all the time so I switched to 1 gallon/hour and they work great, haven’t stopped up yet.

There were enough leftover parts to get a good start on an airlift system, so I’m going to try some sungold tomatoes and more basil, radicchio, fennel for its purtyness, some vining nasturtiums and maybe even strawberries, since I am very impressed by the intrepid berry growers here on the site. I’m working on an integrated tubing/support and if it works i’ll post the evidence.

I had problems with my account and could not figure out how post for several months, so all the step-by-step problem solving I had planned to post all along has been superseded by all y’all but thanks for everyone’s help. This has been an incredibly fun and rewarding obsession, and I’m getting to know the folks at the hardware store really well (yo, parkrose!).