First post! We (me, roommate, and boyfriend)  just started our “research and design phase” of this little project. Perhaps foolishly, we’re kind of running off track of the community. We want to use piping (PVC for lack of a better idea) to hold the water and plants. I see this isn’t a totally new idea to the community, BUT what we want to do is integrate wicks. We’re hoping that by using some standing water which the plants can use optionally, we can do away with a pump altogether and simply water it twice a day when we feed the dog and cat. If that worked it would be AWESOME to not use any energy at all (though this is MN, I suppose we’ll need lights in winter).

Here’s what we are thinking (eventually this would be 4 levels):

SO, here’s a few things we considered or haven’t decided yet:

1) Hopefully this will allow the plants to access the water settling in the area below the pot without growing crazy root systems. We can trim roots to avoid them growing into the water too much and blocking water. Haven’t decided if the bottom of the pots should be submerged at the highest water level.

2) We’re thinking that at each watering it will actually get watered twice. Once to flush the system and give em a good drink, and once to refill again (if needed) and leave enough standing water to get it through to next time.

3) We anticipate it will get a bit gunky on the corners. Since these are independent sections, that should make it easier to clean.

4) We have absolutely no idea how high we should leave the water. Suggestions?

5) For the wick, we’re thinking nylon rope.

6) PVC pipe seems to be the way to go, BUT I know there are some pretty substantial environmental concerns. Any other suggestions appreciated.

7) End caps. I understand the PVC caps of the size we need are expensive. Any other ideas to seal off the ends???

What exactly are we sacrificing by not having a semi-constant stream? Are we going to suffer for lack of aeration?

Any other questions/comments/suggestions would be welcome! We’re new at this and have no idea what in the world we’re doing!

I made a few of these a couple of years ago for solar cooker projects. (See picture at the bottom)   If you make one, just note that there are many different clocks on the market and some are stronger than others. Many are very weak so be careful when you do your “clock conversion”.

Also note that some sort of electronic device with a stepper motor could probably do the same thing better. (But I have not a clue about electronics so someone else must do that project). And the stepper thing could have linear motion. It does not need to be rotational. A stepper device could also have slower drip at night when the plants are sleeping.

Back to the clock!

Basically you just replace the hour hand of the clock with a little wheel. You wind string around the wheel and attach the string to a little tube. The tube provides the drip for your window farm. During the day as the wheel turns the tube lowers and water drips out.  At the end of the day, you loop the string round the wheel twice and refill your upper reservoir.   So for sure, you have a bit of work to do to adapt this for windowfarms but it would be fun and you could use a clock or maybe an electrical timer  to provide the rotation.  Useful especially for people who do not like the noise from pumps?

Anyways, I don’t think any solar cook ever used my clock based tracker, (Which is a huge shame) but the window farm people seem a lot more willing to experiment!

Get to it!!!

Clock based dripper

Thanks,  Brian.

The dripper tracker is a simple waterclock that I made to turn a solar cooker reflector.

It has 2 parts. A little float valve to control water height in a container and a pinhole or valve on a tube to control water speed out of the float container.

Basically if water height in the container is the same all day the drip maintains the same speed all day.  In my version I used a hydroponics emitter  on a float to block off the water flow.  Someone else might use something completely different to achieve the same effect.  My original top container was a 5 gallon paint bucket and the waterlevel valve was in a becel margerine container.

The drip valve was an air control valve for an aquarium air stone.

The range of speeds available is large.  I used to calculate speed by adjusting the drip valve and measuring the flow  into a cup.  You get it close to what you want. Then you raise or lower the drip valve  to “fine tune” the speed.

If people are interested, I can draw more complicated versions too.

(For instance, you could have a waterclock independent of your hydroponics and that way the drip will be more reliable.

Windowfarm dripper for constant drip speed

Here in Dakar, I’m working with the artist collective L’Espace Timtimol, planning for a hanging garden on the inside and outside of the front garden wall. Following the “Bad Fruits” project by artist Pascal Nampémanla, that approached in an artistic way the problematic of plastic bottle trash, we have decided to take things a step further, getting practical. We found the idea of Window Farms really great, especially since we have a huge pile of bottles already collected. One problem we have with the project though is that the plans that are provided on the site all still include alot of specific gardening and other new, store-bought materials. We think we can go even further towards sustainability by replacing many of the listed items with things we find or fabricate ourselves using bits of plastic bottles and other “waste”. We even want to research into how we can power our pumping system without direct electrical current. I’ll do my best to keep blogging during our production process. Today I just found an old washer fluid pump from a car and am looking for ways to power it with an alternator and a bicycle, or even maybe the swaying of the tree branches.