Hello, I discovered this website through TED, where I watched a talk by Britta Riley about window farming. As soon as I heard that window farmers have been able to grow strawberries that fruited for 9 months under low-light conditions, I was hooked. I am eager to get started on creating my own window farm.

I looked at the instructions for window farms 3.0, here, briefly. My first questions regard the use of plastic water bottles.

I did a quick search on the internet and found that plastic water bottles are typically made of Polyethylene terephthalate, commonly referred to as PETE or PET. Then, remembering hearing that plastic water bottles should not be reused, I did another quick search on what compounds are released when water is stored in plastic bottles for “too long” and what accelerates the rate of release of such compounds. The main thing I found was that dioxins are released by plastic water bottles, and doixins have been found to cause breast cancer in women, but I’m sure dioxins do not just affect women. I did another quick search on plant up-take of dioxins, and found that there is substantial literature regarding this issue as a health concern for humans. Not knowing the chemical structure of dioxins or their properties, I do not know what kinds of chemicals can be used to either chemically alter the dioxins into a safe form or to “sop up” the dioxins so plant up-take is reduced or eliminated.

My questions, then, are:

Is it safe to have plants growing in PETE bottles, with water constantly running through the bottles, extracting dioxins?

Is there a safer plastic to use than PETE, or another composition overall, for example glass?

Please do not hesitate to answer any of these questions (especially the last one) with something technically challenging (for example, using glass bottles would be difficult because cutting the glass would present a challenge). I will consider technical limitations at a later time.

Thank you!

Hi everybody,

I am working on a beautiful WF for a while now. It works pritty well with nice and stabel growth. I planted strawberry and pepper (and some more…)

What I am surprised about is the fact, that both plants have plenty of blossoms, however, both have only one single fruit. The other blossoms wilt and after that nothing happens. If anything happens, there are very small fruits which hardly grow.

What happens here? What can I do for more harvest?

Regards
Georg

My window farm is doing so well!  The plants have taken over my window.  I did a rough count and had 40 tomatoes growing!  Check out my video below.

http://youtu.be/lvDIZaK9GmI

Post from my blog: http://thestillmind.wordpress.com

I am currently in the process of updating my indoor garden, and working on ways to increase yield, and the best solution that came to mind was to create a hydroponics system.

Hydroponics is a subset of hydroculture and is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or in an inert medium, such as perlite, gravel, mineral wood, or coconut husk.

Researchers discovered in the 18th century that plants absorb essential mineral nutrients as inorganic ions in water.In natural conditions, soil acts as a mineral nutrient reservoir but the soil itself is not essential to plant growth. When the mineral nutrients in the soil dissolve in water, plant roots are able to absorb them. When the required mineral nutrients are introduced into a plant’s water supply artificially, soil is no longer required for the plant to thrive. Almost any terrestrial plant will grow with hydroponics. Hydroponics is also a standard technique in biology research and teaching.

-Wikipedia

For this system, I used a water fountain that someone gave to me some years back. I’ve been looking to construct a hydroponic system for a while now, and since the fountain wasn’t getting much use as of late, I started to think of other uses for it. Empty milk cartons serve as the growing compartments, with holes cut out in key locations to allow for various matter to be passed through them (straws/hoses, water ect.). The growing medium is hydroton, which is expanded dry clay pebbles.

I originally had three levels, but since I am using the pump from the water fountain, the water pressure is not strong enough to pump up to the third level, so I was forced to reduce it to two levels, however the system is designed to have as many levels as I have cartons. The top carton still has all the holes needed to expand.

The nutrient rich water is picked up by the pump, lifted via tube to the top of the system, where it is deposited into the top compartment. There are holes in the bottom of the compartment (the caps of both cartons) so the water can drip down to the next level. When the water makes its way back down to the bottom of the system, in the tank, it is pumped back up again, and the cycle continues. It is pretty much a constant supply of water and nutrients, that cycles around.

tube leading from fountain pump attached via shaved wine cork, to straw turned hose, feeding up through to cartons, and terminating in the top compartment

 

The two plastic container tops are melted together to create one solid structure, but the milk carton is free floating to allow for manipulation of the system.

I only have two Bok Choy plants in the bottom at the moment because I’m still in the process of evaluating the system, and seeing if there are any issues that may need to be sorted out before I move straight into full out planting mode.

The rest of the garden is moving along quite nicely.

I moved the carrots into a larger vessel since they are starting to mature quickly, and the former styrofoam bowl wasn’t going to cut it anymore.

Carrot Sprouts

I also added another batch of Bok Choy, and will keep cycling planting for a continuous supply of greens.

I had my first harvest last night. Friends came over for homemade pizza which I topped with pesto I made from sweet basil and silver thyme–both of which I grew in my Window Farm. The other ingredients were mostly local. I made the dough, grew some of the tomatoes we used on my fire escape; the smoked mozzarella came from a great store in Little Italy (NYC) and the cured ham–which everyone ate but me since I’m a vegetarian–came from a Spanish shop around the corner. It was super, super yummy. Here’s a picture which isn’t the greatest but at least you can see the results.