Vertical hydroponics AKA windowfarming

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Vertical hydroponics AKA windowfarming

jeebus bob: Nov 4, 2004; Festina lente

We recently constructed a windowfarm in our dining room, inspired by https://www.windowfarms.dk

Basics: It consists of four columns of three pots, with two columns in either window. The pots are suspended on metal wires and each contain a small amount of substrate with a number of seedlings inside, and this is surrounded by clay balls. The roots of the mature plants grow between the balls as though they were in soil, and the advantage is that the pots don�t retain huge amounts of water, which would weigh them down and tear down the window header.
Food: A mixture of water and nutrients is pumped from a bucket to a place between the two windows, from where it splits into two tubes that again split into two tubes, one for each column. The distance from the reservoir/pump is thus equal for all columns. Water drips from one pot to the next, while the four bottom pots have sealed bottoms, and tubes sticking through the seal to collect and return water to the bucket.
Over time, the water level in the bucket drops as the plants absorb and transpire it, so we add fresh water and nutrients to the bucket every few weeks (more often during warmer weather). The pump is on a timer so it runs for 30 minutes, then stops for 30, and so on. Ideally, it should be maintenance free (or, well, nearly so).
Cleaning is necessary, since algae will colonize any section of tube exposed to sunlight and feed off the nutrients in the water. It�s a pretty sweet deal for them. I flush them out by placing the mouth of the reservoir tube in water with citric acid or similar, and letting the system run for a while. The drainage tubes go into a separate bowl to collect the grossness. After about half an hour, a lot of the green stuff is out of the tubes, and residue can be �pinched� loose from the outside, and the flow of water will eventually remove it.

Technical details:
Windows face south.
Pump is a hand-me-down aquarium type deal. The sticker underneath claims that it puts out a maximum of 150mBar at 50 Hz. I have not tested this. It manages to pump water in gurgling bursts of drops 8 feet up to the top of the windows.
The tubes are PVC-free clear plastic with a diameter of 5mm (.2 inches)
We use liquid fertilizer designed for chili, though anything with �enough� Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium should work fine. Ask your local head shop for details.
Seeds are germinated in peat pellets, which are "planted" directly into the pots.

The plants:
Basil (Genovese, Thai, red)
Thyme
Oregano
Rosemary
Chili
Cilantro
Mint (pepper- and something called �Indian�, as in native American)
Sage
With place left over for chervil and whatever else sounds interesting (not :420:

, at least not until the kids move out)

Our setup looks schematically like this (let me know if photos would make it easier to understand/discuss)

Notice that the reservoir tube is much longer than it (theoretically) needs to be. From reading other people�s experiences, I believe it would be sufficient to have the tube running from the bottom of the bucket, over the rim, down to the floor and slightly up to meet the air tube in a T-joint.

Problems we've encountered (in no particular order)

Rapid buildup of algae in the tubes exposed to sunlight. I.e. both the ones at the top, between the final T-joint and the top pots, and the sections under the bottom pots, before they wrap under the windowsill (the middle vertical black lines in my drawing). Other people report having to clean these with citric acid at most once every two-three weeks, whereas we see green plaque forming within a few days of having cleaned everything.
The draining system is being� weird, in that it doesn�t seem to adhere to the principle of connected containers (or whatever it�s called, English is not my first language, and I�m a biologist, not a physicist/plumber). I�d expect any water in the bottom pots to drain immediately until it was on a level with the top of the bucket (which as you can see is where the tubes have their final rise). However, the pots in the left window frequently become half full with water, until they � for no apparent reason other than, I suppose, sheer pressure � drain with a prolonged gurgling into the bucket. By jiggling the draining tubes, I can make the water drain more completely in both windows, but it seems to rest at a level halfway between the sill and the bottom pots.
During the summer, the vertical section of tube after the pump would occasionally fill up with water backflowing from the horizontal sections once the power cut off every thirty minutes. This proved difficult and at times impossible for the pump to pump through, which meant the whole thing just stopped delivering water to the pots. This seemed to occur most often during the day. I simply pinched and disconnected the tube from the pump and then blew until my jowls ached and the accumulated water was gone, at which point the pump could power the system again.

While we were away on holiday, a friendly neighbour who had agreed to check in on the plants was unable to unclog the vertical supply tube and most of the plants died. We are in this for the long haul though, and already have lots of new seedlings almost ready to plant.

I am happy to share my experiences and acquired knowledge on this topic, though my main purpose in posting this thread is to get help with some annoying (presumably physics-related) issues and invite general discussion of vertical hydroponics.

# ? Aug 14, 2014 21:47

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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Vertical hydroponics AKA windowfarming