My hydroponic window farm has been humming along nicely, but I noticed the windows were starting to look a bit gross from all the water splashing from each bottle. It cleans off easily, but is not ideal.
I’ve seen other windowfarms which use a short piece of tubing to direct the water, but it seems like overkill to me. I added a cotton wick to each bottle cap, hoping the water would follow the wick down instead of free-falling and splashing.
Then I screwed the cap back onto the bottom of the bottle. I found that it works better if the hole is a little larger, so I snuck in with an xacto knife and cut a few small slits in the cap to make the hole wider.
Water now follows the cap string nicely. Hopefully this will save me from having to wash the windows daily.
Awesome, great to hear it works for you (had the same idea, but no chance to try it out yet…). I’ve got four holes in the bottom caps (about 2mm each), to create some redundancy – paranoid about being away from the windowfarm for a couple of days, and coming back to a drenched floor and dry windowfarm. Your cotton threads could also help guide the water when plants grow into its way (tending to lead the water out of the system by deflecting it from their leaves).
I know that fear well. I actually put down a layer of trash bags and then a layer of fabric (actually an old curtain) underneath my windowfarm to catch any leaks.
I found I needed a slightly larger drip hole because otherwise the capilary action of the water would hold it in the container for a surprisingly long time. I made about a 7mm “x” across the hole using an xacto knife.
Yeah, I doubted my assumptions about physics as well a bit there 😉 Four 2-3mm holes, and the water was barely dripping! The water tension flowing through one hole tends to block the other holes, I think. I’ve tried to “guide” it by putting in short pieces of tube in the holes, but it seems fairly unpredictable if the water chooses to go through… Good idea with the plastic+cloth floor safeguard!
Když věřÃte, že Bůh stvoÅ™il svÄ›t za týden, pak chápu, že to pro vás musà být důležité. Pro mne je to stejnÄ› důležité jako poÄet andÄ›lů na Å¡piÄce jehly.Když nevěřÃm v Boha, tak ani nevěřÃm na to, že by mohl cokoliv stvoÅ™it. To je triviálnà úsudek Pr.tostanteeCo se týká poÄtu andÄ›lů na Å¡piÄce jehly, napsal jsem o tom . Josef, jako thomista, by nám mohl vysvÄ›tlit, proÄ podle Tomáše se do jednoho mÃsta vejde pouze jedno nehmotné jsoucno.
yes, this works fine in a windowfarm in Vienna.
http://donauinsel.tk/index.php/my-own-windowfarm/P3168363_1