This was about a week after we set it up. We started the beans & cucumbers from seed in a little greenhouse on top of the fridge. The top two pots are cucumbers and the bottom has 4 green beans.

We hung the pots with some hemp we had in our craft surplus & made the trellis out of the hemp & bamboo stakes. I’ve even made a bow and arrow out of the bamboo!

This is how the middle & bottom pot get watered. There is a piece of bamboo shoved up there to keep the tubing straight.

Here’s the reservoir, made from a cereal tupperware we got at Target & some ducting tape to make it lightproof. We took the little hinged pour spout off of the lid and ran the watering and drainage tubing through the opening. You can also see the timer there, right now we run the water pump for 15 mins every 2 hours from 6am to 6pm. As the plants get bigger we might have to adjust the schedule, but for now it works out.

We use a water pump we had around the house and it works great until the water level in the res gets down to about 25%. It’s a good reminder that it’s time for a refill without having the pump run dry.

Our first sight of beans!

Beans, beans….

….and more BEANS!!

Okay, enough beans. Here’s our first cucumber flower!

We’re getting a lot of male flowers, just waiting for that female! Well, that’s what we have so far. If you have any specific questions on what we used or how we use it leave a comment or send a message & we’d love to share!

Happy Growing!

-The Sanders

 

Skylight Windowfarm

Just getting Started with my loft windowfarms.
The Jana water bottles seem to be perfect, it is a Croatian brand of spring water.

Suspended with a hook and shoestrings.
Airline tubing is 10cents a foot.
Tvalves are a few cents each.
the pump was pretty darn cheap, repurposed from fish tank.
3″ net pots were 50cents each
I had some paint, was cracky, gonna start doing acrylic painted/modgepodged bottles for fun flair.

Seeds I’ve Started:

Oregon Sugar Pod Peas – Pisum sativum
Green Onions

PEPPERS – Capsicum
Habanero – Capsicum chinense
Jalapeno – Capsicum annuum
Bhut Jolokia – interspecific hybrid (mostly C. chinense with some C. frutescens genes)

TOMATOES – Solanum lycopersicum
Roma
Brandywine
Yellow Pears

GREENS
Rouge d’Hiver Lettuce –
Arugula –
Dwarf Blue Curled Kale – Brassica oleracea

HERBS
Purple Basil – Ocimum basilicum
Cilantro – Coriandrum sativum
Sage – Salvia officinalis
Oregano – Origanum vulgare
Thyme – Thymus vulgaris
Chamomile -Matricaria recutita

More to come!

1) Seat your tube. The base of the water tube needs to be about 1/2″ above the floor of the reservoir. You do not want the base of the water tube to be completely touching the bottom of the reservoir… doing so would not allow water to enter the tube!

2) Keep the water high – Keep the water level in your bottom reservoir high. As the water level drops in the bottom bottles, the pressure on the water column reduces. This situation increases the likelihood of air bubbles escaping from the base of the water tube instead of traveling up inside of it!

3) Adjust your pump – A proper air flow rate is critical to provide enough force to carry water up the water tubes. If the air flow rate is too low, the air flow will not be strong enough to overcome the weight of the water in the tube. In this case, and no water will travel up the tube and instead the bubbles will escape from the bottom of the water tube. To adjust the output rate of the air bubbles, use the knob on top of your pump. NOTE: There are factors that influence the required power setting of the pump, including the length of the airline tube running between the pump and the bottom bottle. Shorter lines are more efficient and will generally require a lower power setting. Avoid having significantly different lengths of airline running to the same pump.

4) Straighten your water tube – Maintaining a straight, vertical, plumb water tube is critical to efficient water flow up the tube. Use tape and/or the plant tape strips to straighten the tube.

5) Add a Tail of tube – Cut a 3″ length from the airline tube running to the pump. Attach the 3″ piece to the ‘free’ end of the black plastic T-valve at the base of the water tube. This will reduce the diameter of the entrance to the air tube, discouraging air from escaping through the end and bubbling back into the water.

Has anyone else had issues similar to mine?

Thanks!

But I’m having trouble understanding the assembly instructions for plumbing, specifically at and after bottle cap assembly (methods A, B, and C).  At the end of the instructions for each method, it ends with putting the other end of the airline tube into the pump.

I must have missed something or am not understanding how this works, but if you have four or more columns, how do they share one pump? In the full assembly picture, it looks like each doesn’t plug into the pump but rather into something with a loop above it. I can’t seem to find mention of this in the instructions.

Can someone please enlighten me?

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

I built my window farm in march of 2010. since then, I’ve learned a lot, and I thought I would share my

experience with you guys.

First of all, mine is a 24 plant reservoir system. The air lift system had already been adopted as the superior system by the WF community when I began my WF, but I just wasn’t on board. I didn’t like the gurgling sound, the limited number of plants, the fact that it had to be turned on for so long. I’m not criticizing the air lift system, but it just wasn’t for me. The reservoir system, in my opinion, is beautiful, the number of plants it can support is seemingly endless, the water pump is completely silent, it only runs for two minutes every four hours, and the sound is like a soothing rain.  My system has been tweaked just a bit to fit my preferences, and I’ll describe the details of my system at the end of this post.

Getting Started

So, I started by garden from seed using peat pellets. I’m no gardener by any stretch of the imagination, I don’t know how to prune, harvest, or tinker with nutrients. So I just tried a little bit of everything- lettuce, cucumber, peppers, green beans, cherry tomatoes, okra, spinach, and a few herbs that I didn’t start from seed, but bought planted. I washed the dirt from the roots when the little guys were big enough to transplant into the WF, which seemed like it would be really traumatic, but none died, not one.

Everything was off to a good start, it was looking beautiful. Visions of serving coffee to curious neighbors who stopped by to ask about my awesome garden danced in my head. But the cold hard reality was a lease violation from my apartment complex. They didn’t like my “display” and insisted that I take it down immediately or be evicted. Not to be deterred, I simply lowered my blinds, and opened them facing upwards so they could get light, but people from the ground floor couldn’t see in. This worked fine, and provided trellis for the okra and cherry tomatoes. I moved to a different apartment four months later, one with south facing windows that didn’t mind if I had a WF.

The lighting system was always a concern for me. Something about repeating columns of dripping water and electricity just didn’t sit well with me. I wouldn’t leave the lights on when I wasn’t there, and eventually I just took them down. The garden didn’t seem to mind too much, some of the veggies got a little leggy, but overall, I think it was alright.

Results of the first Crop

Some veggies did better then others,  the cherry tomato plants got HUGE. Like, four feet tall.  If I had known more about gardening, I would have had a better yield. The lettuce did really well, not the spinach. I didn’t get very many veggies, a few cucumbers and okra, maybe one green bean and a couple cherry tomatoes.  I’ll do some more research before planting a bunch of veggies again.  The  Basil and sage, however, were wonderful! they stayed nice and bushy around their respective bottles, perfect.

Second Crop

It was fall and I didn’t have the gardening bug like I do in spring. I wanted something simple and pretty to look at through the winter. So I picked up some rockwool and a package of flower seeds. I think they were marigolds. Just a package that was at the grocery store. I dropped a couple seeds into the rockwool and put those into the WF. Not long after that, I had a wall of pretty flowers to look at during the dreary months of winter. Unfortunately, I didn’t even think to take a picture for you guys.  Sorry.

Third crop

Spring approaches again, and I want an herb garden. It’s been nearly a year, and I need to clean the WF before planting (can we call it planting?) the next crop. The modular nature of the system made it pretty easy. Fresh hydroton, I ran the net cups through the dishwasher, rinsed the bottles, and scrubbed out the reservoirs. The tubes were lined with algae, which I knew better than to buy clear tubing, but it hadn’t clogged the tubes or anything, so it wasn’t a big deal. Pipe cleaners woulda worked, I’m sure, but we used a metal coat hanger and put a bit of cotton on the tip, the tubes were like new.

I really liked the herbs from last spring, so I pick out a bunch of herbs that were already planted in the gardening section of any store at this time of year. Lets see- I got cilantro, dill, sage, thyme, tarragon, basil, mint, and a few peppers for the husband. Each plant was in a disposable pot, and actually had three plants in each pot. I know it seems traumatizing, but it worked for me: I take the plants out of the pot, and gently but firmly shake as much dirt off as possible. Then I ran it under water to get the rest of the dirt off and try to untangle the roots as best as I can. Some of the roots simply will not come untangled, and some roots do get broken. I tried to minimize this, but it’s unavoidable. The plants were just fine, though. Not one died, even though they were probably quite shocked.

And that’s my garden right now.

System

My system is a six column 24 plant system.  The window it’s in now is bigger than my last, so I may add another row on the bottom for a 30 plant system.  My top reservoir is a  four inch diameter, six foot long pvc pipe, with drippers I found from HomeDepot. I keep the top reservoir hidden behind a valence.   Here’s a picture of my drippers. They come with six on this head, but the drippers just pop right off.

At the end of each column, I have a tube which drains the water into a 1 inch pipe, which is angled so the water drains into the bottom reservoir. My bottom reservoir is a plastic box with lid that I picked up at walmart, but I spray painted it to prevent algae from growing in my reservoir. The bottom reservoir holds the water pump, which is for fountains pumping water 8 feet high, I found this pump for 40 bucks at home depot. Something like this: http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&productId=100083846&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&ci_sku=100083846&ci_src=14110944&cm_mmc=shopping-_-googlebase-_-D28X-_-100083846&locStoreNum=589

Beckett 3/64 HP Submersible Fountain Pump

Model # M400HD

Internet # 100083846

I tried finding the hydroponic materials locally, but most places just look at me funny if I ask for hydroponic supplies. Eventually I found hydroton, nutrients, rockwool, and net cups (for .25 each!) at a local head shop. Which is always kinda fun.

My WF did end up costing a lot more than an air lift system, my water pump alone cost $40. but I like it.

A few problems that I ran across: my system drips into a pipe that drains into the bottom reservoir, the tubes fell out a few times. Tape didn’t work, and I didn’t want to glue it in place, so I sewed it in place. I ran a needle and thread through the tube and around the drain pipe and tied it off. I can cut it off if I need to but it’s strong enough to keep it from falling off.  I haven’t had many leaks, I used gorilla glue around the drippers, so it expanded and stopped any potential leaks.

I originally drilled little holes in the caps and kept them on the bottles, but they clogged really easily. If a hydroton pebble fell out of the basket, if roots grew down into the cap, if dust or dirt accumulated in the cap. So I’ve thrown away all the caps and just leave the bottles open.

Finally

So, ultimately, I love my Window Farm. All of my friends and family think it’s cool, it’s like a conversation piece. Everyone is really interested and curious, plus the fresh herbs are so handy. While Everyone I know seems really intrigued, no one else has made one. Which kinda surprised me, I thought everyone I knew would want to have a window farm.  Maybe it’s because my husband and I are such avid DIYers?

2 outlet air flow regulator valve

This is a little aquarium valve and bottom pic shows the adjustment knobs

You can either use it to regulate air to 2 t joints or just leave one open to the windowfarm and have the other one just a bit open to let some of the air escape.

Below is a head for connecting a tube under the reservoir. You might need a bit of gauze or window bug screen in the bottom to stop crud getting into the tubes.

Head for watering plants. Snip off the top and use the "neck" to attach tube

And you also can use this thing for aquariums as a bottom reservoir.

Aquarium attachment for tubing

And finally I am going to show you a pic of the bubble in the tubing.

plug of water

If you reduce the airflow into the t-joint and into the tube, sometimes the water flow increases. This is because the type of flow changes from churn flow to plug flow.

Plug flow can be quite slow sometimes. As the plugs of water rise, it changes from many short ones to a few long ones.

Watch the video to get more information.

Thanks Brian

As far as the air lift system, I purchased a $6 air pump from Walmart. The  air line setup that we came up with does not need any special parts or fittings other than a “T” and a valve.

All of these items I had lying around and so far have only spent $6! I will update later on the progress and what else we used/added.

Our other co-workers have stopped by to look at our setup and have wondered what it is. We’ll keep them guessing.

Video of setup

pump

http://www.hydroponics.net/i/133875

1/2 inch ID tubing

http://www.hydroponics.net/i/241120