Prototype Success

Despite the indignant heat in the northeast this summer, and my sub-optimal location of my farm in a non-air-conditioned sun porch, the simple prototype I initially made has been relatively successful over the past few weeks. It is a simple (and fairly messily tied) single-column tower. I used the extra twine to fashion rope and attempted a few different tying styles to decide how I wanted the final model to be fashioned (me and everyone I asked decided on simple rope, with twine anchors). It is four bottles tall, and initially had a one-gallon reservoir. I had used a left over tropicana orange juice gallon jug for mixing nutrient solution in, and figured I could just poke a whole in the cap, hang it upside down over the top (empty) bottle, and let it drip. It took some finagling, but I ended up drilling a fairly large whole, plugging it with a small cork, threading a string through the cork, then covering the whole thing with wax to prevent leakage. It worked. For a while, until I had to refill the jug. Unfortunately, the cork fell apart due to too much water saturation. Luckily, it was a cool night when that happened so I wasn't worried about the plants drying out. And by the time I got up the next morning, my parents had been inspired to find a new reservoir to keep the plants nourished. We ended up with a cork in the top bottle, with a hole drilled through it, and a string through that. And that is where these pictures are from:

The three plants I have are basil, tomato, and pepper, respectively. The pepper is a little stunted because it was actually saved after we accidentally weeded it from our garden. The other two are relatively in great condition, no signs of nutrient deficiency. I have been using Foxfarm nutrient schedule, primarily the Grow Big Hydroponic and the Big Bloom. I also have some Cal-Mag Plus on hand in case of any magnesium or calcium deficiencies. My biggest issues at the moment are: too little sun, and too much sun. Too little in the sense that where this module hangs, it is inset from the south side window by 2 or so feet. I intentionally used an existing planter hook instead of putting it right in the window whilst I established the plants in the hydroponics. This has caused the plants to stretch out, reaching for the light. I also quickly realized that in the summer heat, if the dark bottles are directly hit by the sun, they heat up and quickly dry out the medium and cause nutrient build-up (this is what I meant by too much sun). In the winter, I am actually hoping that some of the heat build-up will help keep the plants at a more suitable growing temperature while near windows. I have resulted to hand watering when I put the plants in direct light, in order to keep them moist. All in all it has gone very well, and remained very simple throughout this first attempt. I have since transferred these plants to the newer design I have created based on an idea my friend had. I have added three net-pots with lettuce, though the heat is oppressive and I had a few mishaps while transplanting them. So far they have stayed alive, I am hoping they establish themselves quickly. I have also been putting together more tutorial sheets that explain how I assemble things. I will be posting pictures of the new farm soon, but for now you can see this one at least!

And for a taste of things to come: