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?

Starting from Scratch-ish

A few days ago I started building my first window farm.  Bottle plant holders are the only recycled part of this system – everything else I was able to gather from a local commercial center.

I generally followed the instructions to create a Version 2.0 Windowfarm.  It is a fairly simple process that filled me with new ideas for my next column.

Below is the windowfarm after the first afternoon.

Bottle tower and Reservoir-base

Airlift Issues

I ran into a problem with the airlift, which I understand is common so I’m posting my solution. The airpump was blowing bubbles back into the reservoir.  I had seen different recommendations on the airlift (t-joint, needle, each with variations) so I tested different models with no success, proving the airlift design wasn’t to blame.  Additionally, I found that I got the best results using the t-joint setup.

I began thinking of other potential causes… I had bought the recommended Petco air pump but without the adjustable dial, so maybe I was feeding too much air pressure into the system… I tested different air pressures by squeezing the hose and running the pump, all eventually bubbled back into the reservoir.

Solution

I was able to resolve the issue by attaching 1-way valves to both the air and water lines feeding into the airlift.  The non-adjustable pump works fine.

Additionally, the t-valve is positioned ~1.5 feet below the bottom of the reservoir to create pressure and feed water down the tubing.  Below is a picture of the exchange.

Water & Air exchange at the t-valve

It works quite well now.  After the initial gush of water, it pumps out ~2ml every 2-3 seconds, which seems enough by sight.

A Work in Progress

Finding solutions and innovations while building my window farm was one of the most rewarding and exciting parts of this project – always spurring on new ideas for my next column.

Currently, I am using the petco pump w/o knob to feed 4 planters.  I would suggest changing the recommendation for the pump type to be less specific..

I created a tube-in-cap drain for each planter by drilling a hole in the center of each cap using scissors.  Wrap the end of a 2-3 inch section of tubing in plumbers tape and twist it snug into the cap hole (the cap drains best when the tubing is nearly flush with the inside of the cap).  I then secured the outside cap/tube joint with duck tape and screwed it onto the bottom of the planter.

Cap-tube drain

I created a simple silencer by connecting a section of 1/4″ ID tubing to the end of the feed tube.

 Simple Silencer

Below are pictures of my first column now.

 Crash course column

After I completed the column, I grabbed some small plants I found at the park and unrooted a small vine that has been growing as a potted plant through fall and winter in the same window as the windowfarm now sits.  I know the vine grows in the micro-local limate of the windowsill already and anything in the dog park has to be pretty hardy.  I’m treating this column as a crash course of windowfarming to learn the basics and work out the kinks before I move on to something more serious.

Note on Syphons

I did not cut a hole in the bottom of my reservoir, instead opting to maintain the bottle structure and use a syphon to feed the water to the air-water exchange and up to the plants.  As I am sure ya’ll have experienced how unwieldy the tubing can be, which creates complications for maintaining water suction necessary for a syphon.  To solve this, I used a small binder clip and two screws to create an anchor for the tubing.  First I clipped the clip on to the end of the tubing going into the reservoir, then I placed a screw into each wire “butterfly wing” of the clip, and dropped them into the water.

Below is a picture of my raised anchor in the reservoir.

Syphon Anchor

Thanks for checking out my grow-op.

Please feel free to comment, I welcome your feedback, questions, and support.

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?

Few ! It seems it took me as much time to post this one as to build the real thing. But here it is.  I wanted to make a plastic-free windowfarm that would be appealing to the eye and would blend nicely with our Victorian house, from the inside as well as from the outside. (In French, I like to call it “potager vertical” – vertical vegetable garden).

I wanted a sustainable system, sturdy, easy to handle and that I could easily push away from the window, just like shutters.  At first, I envisioned to pump up the water with an airlift system and maybe l’ll come back to the idea, after all. But having free access to those slow drip tubes made me dream of an electric-free system as well. And how about autonomy : a system that would run by itself or with very few maintenance for up to five or six days ?

Finally, I wanted to nourish my plants with the manure from my earthworm composter.

In the beginnings of my experimentation, my slow-drip system  allowed me 3 to 4 days of autonomy, providing that I readjusted the dripping flow once or twice a day. But then, I discovered that  my plants didn’t need as much water (I have rock wool in my pots as well as clay pellets). So, I’m slowing the flow and closing it off completely during the night. That way, I expect to make my upper reservoirs last for more than seven days before having to refill them (with fresh water and nutrients – the old water will be fed to my ornemental plants, which are planted in soil).

No splashing problems so far : My pots are only 5” to 6” apart, one under the other. Each drop don’t gather enough speed to explode into many droplets and splash everywhere. Also, to direct each drop towards the middle of the pot right under it, I took a Hydroton pellet of just the right size and blocked up the draining hole of the pots with it, making sure that it would protrude outside of (under) the pot. The droplets then gather at the lower part of the clay pellet and are therefore nicely centered before making their dive into the next level of the installation. Eventually, I suspect I will have to introduce a mesh between the clay pellet and the pot’s hole (a short shoe lace should do the thing) to prevent the plants’ foliage from diverting the flow of water outside the pots. We’ll see…

When you click on photos, you have further explanations. After the photos, you’ll find a list of materials and a few more explanations.

The tools I used : hammer, screwdriver, long-nose plier, nail.

Thanks for your suggestions and comments, everybody. I hastily made my reservoirs darker, but will have to address the issue more thoroughly in a near future. I used thick cardboard to make a niche for my upper reservoir and poster cardboard to cap the bottom one. Look at the photos.  Wouldn’t it be wise to cover the tubing as well, inside a sleeve of black fabric, for instance ?

I’m still looking into a sustainable pumpless system. I figure that I can live with the chore of climbing up once every three days to refill my upper reservoir. But I’d like to refine the design. And I thought about capillarity, this capacity of a spongy material to sip water up to a higher level. Still juggling with the idea. I have the habit to leave my plants at school with a very simple but very effective capillarity system to water them during Christmas vacations. By the way, I enrolled my younger daughter in this thinking process.

Meanwhile, I continued my experiments with the slow drip, utilizing the 600mL container, since I like the idea of suspending it directly above the plants. I doubled a simple string of unknown (synthetic) material, made a knot to tie its two ends together and squeezed the fold up into the silicone tubing. To my surprise, this slowed the flow  very significantly. (In my first attempt, using the enteral tubing with the slow drip system built in, the bottle was empty after 3 hours.) This last system lasted 84 hours (3 days and a half) during which it needed no intervention from my part.

But I think I might have been too successful in slowing the whole thing. I’m afraid the plants wouldn’t receive enough water.  So, I thought of coupling two 600mL bottles side by side, and join the two strings together to double the volume of water, which I’ll try out no later than tonight.

Which brings me to my question : does any of you out there can tell me approximately how much water you need to put through your system over a period of 24 hours to sustain your plants’ needs ? What would be your estimate ? And did I understand correctly when I read that people put their air pump on a timer to make it work only 15 minutes at a time ?

Last thing : Somebody gave me 2 swivel curtain rods, a few years ago, which I kept intending to use them for another project. I stumbled on them by chance while looking for something else. And I think they are just perfect for what I have in mind. I want to be able to get the whole window farm to get out of the way when I want to access my window. These rods move just like window shutters and their tubing is square, so we think that they would be strong enough to sustain the weight. I’m posting a photo and will certainly try them. Only need to figure out a way to stabilize the different columns of bottles at the bottom, possibly by tying them to a wooden rod suspended underneath the last row of bottles.