# Window Farms



## Nizza (Jul 27, 2012)

http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/assemble-your-own-windowfarm-edible-urban-garden-in-a-kit-video.html
I wanna make one out of 2 liter bottles... Anyone heard of these??  
I want to do a window farm for strawberry plants.... ill post up some pics of what i wanna do sometime soon


----------



## hotrodharley (Jul 27, 2012)

Nizza said:


> http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/assemble-your-own-windowfarm-edible-urban-garden-in-a-kit-video.html
> I wanna make one out of 2 liter bottles... Anyone heard of these??
> I want to do a window farm for strawberry plants.... ill post up some pics of what i wanna do sometime soon


Good luck keeping the hinges on your doors if you do that with pot. Herbs? Neat idea.


----------



## Nizza (Jul 27, 2012)

Im getting a program right now that will help me design it in 3d called solidworks... hopefully some stuff in a few days. Anyone here got cool ideas for one? I hear how they work is the different plant benefit each other if put in a certain order. Its also really cool because you just hang it in the window. I was thinking a trellis hung with 2 2 liters;1 with multiple slits for lil patches of strawberries, and then a second big open one for one big plant.... i dont know how to design this vertical system good and am planning to use recyclables and stuff


----------



## DAKUSHMAN 49 (Jul 27, 2012)

Nice idea now i can grow some plants in my front bay window....


----------



## cues (Jul 28, 2012)

Tried this. Use a proper drill bit fo the bottle connections. (think you neeed a 22mm flat wood-bit). Put 2 holes in each side and use a pair of nail scissors to finish the holes.


----------



## Nizza (Jul 28, 2012)

I made an airlift system today as a prototype, hopefully ill get something more solid together and get some pictures. I'm now looking into what i want to put in the planters. So many ideas are coming up I want as much input as possible. Thanks!


----------



## Biscotta (Sep 4, 2012)

Any luck? I'm interested in how it's working out for you


----------



## Saulleron (Sep 5, 2012)

Nizza said:


> http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/assemble-your-own-windowfarm-edible-urban-garden-in-a-kit-video.html
> I wanna make one out of 2 liter bottles... Anyone heard of these??
> I want to do a window farm for strawberry plants.... ill post up some pics of what i wanna do sometime soon


Hope you may get success, please do post the pics. I too planing for it but don't have exact idea about the soil for this plant..


----------



## Nizza (Sep 5, 2012)

people use hydroton. i forgot about my window farm as i am battling spider mites and cloning. i think u can use rapid rooters and just put them into the hydroton thats in the bottle. use an ebb+flow top fed airlift system u know what i mean?


----------



## Nizza (Oct 6, 2013)

here's the farm I made, all empty at the moment but the airlift works great!!!!
the top 3 are 1 L Poland springs and the 4th is a 1.5 Poland springs and the last is a 1 galllon water jug(the reservoir) with a screw on cap. I will be filling this with hydroton and lettuce and then build a semi-circle of this insulation material (which i used around each bottle) to help reflect light for the lettuce. 
the clear 1/4" tubing i used is sleeved with some big black lightproof tubing, and all bottles were spray painted rubberized black before being wrapped
this is how I figured out how to make the airlift http://s5.windowfarms.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2012/04/contest-with-u-April-7th.jpg

i silicone sealed the only fitting which could leak which is the 1/4" barb nipple coming out of the 1 gallon, but just in case i put a fail safe bucket (2 gallon) because that is more than the maximum water it can hold, and it will save my floor if anything happens

I even put a check valve on the air pump so that water can't siphon back to my pump and damage it  (even though it's higher than the reservoir)


----------



## Nizza (Oct 6, 2013)

thinking also about adding in a drip ring for each tier, and running a clean ph'd res, with added h202 http://www.quickgrow.com/gardening_articles/hydrogen_peroxide_horticulture.html , and doing foliar feedings.

any input?? I eventually will get into brewing, I plan on my compost pile being fully ready in a year and I will start a wormbin for vermicompost and also get a brewer and do some ewc's too.

as for now I have nutes I would love to use up so i figured lettuce is something I'd eat up and would love the cold window during the winter.

the biggest problem I think with the drip ring idea would be flow rate. the top tier would have to have say, 6 holes, then the next have 5, the next 4 , and the last have 3.
the reason being, i dont think that the flow rate of the air pump will fill the rings and actually drip out of all of them for each one. if each one has a slower flow rate than the one before it i think it might help distribute everything more evenly, I'd just have to add in a screen at the bottom so i could avoid clogging 
the beauty of an airlift though, is there is no clogging because the water never goes through any type of propeller.. I just am not sure if a single drip line will be enough to water these and think it might be better if i made something that would evenly disperse it.
any input on this?? I don't have a lot of exp. with hydroponics and would love any input on putting the 1x1 rockwools into the clay pebbles, and how i should Drip
remember though that each drip depends on the flow from the bottle above it :\


----------



## Derple (Oct 8, 2013)

I would need an army of them lol.


----------



## whocares100 (Oct 9, 2013)

Nizza, Why not use more than 1 drip ring? Use a double headed pump and put on more rings, either that or use gravity?


----------



## Nizza (Oct 9, 2013)

wow whocares, thats a great idea haha, ill add drip rings off of several tubes to a multi outlet air pump.... thanks so much!! that was a big thing i was having trouble thinking out


----------



## whocares100 (Oct 9, 2013)

Nizza said:


> wow whocares, thats a great idea haha, ill add drip rings off of several tubes to a multi outlet air pump.... thanks so much!! that was a big thing i was having trouble thinking out


Your welcome Nizza, told ya I'm a better reengineer...


----------



## whocares100 (Oct 9, 2013)

BTW I got a cheap hose set with connectors, black rubber I think 75 foot for like 13.00 on ebay.

Thatis what I would use, I would attach an outlet to each bottle..., whether u use it or not now...just plug the tubes u are not using...I like to make my stuff adaptable


----------



## IndicaDom (Oct 10, 2013)

Nizza said:


> Im getting a program right now that will help me design it in 3d called solidworks... hopefully some stuff in a few days. Anyone here got cool ideas for one? I hear how they work is the different plant benefit each other if put in a certain order. Its also really cool because you just hang it in the window. I was thinking a trellis hung with 2 2 liters;1 with multiple slits for lil patches of strawberries, and then a second big open one for one big plant.... i dont know how to design this vertical system good and am planning to use recyclables and stuff


I am guessing you've never grown strawberries because you will not be getting any sitting them in a window.


----------



## Nizza (Oct 10, 2013)

did you see the t5 fixture going vertically?? 

game plan changed to lettuce BTW


----------



## Nizza (Oct 13, 2013)

I transplanted the lettuce today.
I cut down the 1x1 rockwool cubes as much as i could, then filled the bottles with hydroton and put each patch as close as i could get them to the edge where the hole is (closest to the t5)
Instead of adding drip rings to avoid over saturating the rockwools, i pulled the bottles at an angle, so that each one drips into the next at the edge furthest from the rockwool. I had a little trouble with transplanting and may have overwatered. Im going to shut off the pump for about 3-4 days and see if they recover nice..
I'm hoping they are fine!!!!


i will eventually do the multi drip idea, but for now i only have clear tubing and am going to try and prevent the algae build up and keep this one simple.
maybe next week i'll do another one!


----------



## Nizza (Nov 6, 2013)

i think heres the best picture i got. closest to you is a 2x4 which frames in the windowfarm. on the side closer to the window i can remove the insulation to allow sunlight in (in the summer)
i have old plants from over the summer I left out all fall and were almost dead. I decided to take these hempy herbs (sweet mint, basil, and parsley) and put them in there. I also took a succulent i planted in a book but accidentally burned the shit out of in there. Its just a single little succulent and is kind of cute, but anyways, heres the system. 

I'm sort of upset because the lettuce hasn't seemed to have grown at all since i planted it. barely any survived and i think i gotta find a better way to transplant the lettuce into the hydroton medium, or try a different type of plant, but i'm determined clay pebbles should work with anything.

any input on this? i don't know if on/off times are the cause or maybe i just need to follow some rules when transplanting? thanks!


----------



## Nizza (Nov 6, 2013)

they are watered for 15 minutes (15 min interval timer) every 3 hours during the 18 hour day cycle, with no waterings at night. the last watering it recieves is 1 1/2 hours before lights out.


----------



## whocares100 (Nov 6, 2013)

So Nizza, what are u thinking for a design? 

I'm thinking about adding some things under my HPS, like exotic orchids or something, I have a lot of room and a lot of light


----------



## Nizza (Nov 6, 2013)

did you see the bottom of page 2? i will eventually rebuild but this system is going to be what i use . I will possibly put something hardier in there such as an aerocloned mint,basil, or parsley plant. Once i fill that one ill build another and make a common reservoir , and from there ill have the whole box filled up, and it should be summer! all's it is is a 2x4 framed box that sits in the window and is 4 feet high (length of window/windowfarm) it's insulated to keep heat in and ill eventually design it so i put the res next to the cold window and use a heater or something.


----------



## weelherewego (Nov 7, 2013)

Little different but a proven technology in hydro/aquaponic set ups. Some guys run slow speed motors to rotate the tube slowly so all sides get light. Local berry farm run about 60 of these. Top of pipe has a drip feed, bottom of the pipe is capped and has a nipple for nute drain into a reservoir. I know some commercial AQ guys run this but fill the tube with lava rock or gravel as media. Might be an interesting set up for SOG?

http://creativediyideas.blogspot.com/2013/07/how-to-make-vertical-strawberry-tube.html#.UnvGMhBbTJY


----------



## Green Troll (Nov 12, 2013)

haha that boot, awesome


----------

