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From: Windowfarms
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  • Tilapia! I live in Idaho and we are working on apt sized aquaponics systems, Led Prince on FB is developing solar powered grow lights. Vermiculture would also help with you nutrient needs by providing you with worm castings for compost tea, lose the bottled nutrients! Between the fish and the worms and some other cool little tricks you could 100% organic and independent... Thanks for sharing and working to be free!

  • yo quiero

    

  • Put a 20 gal fish tank with some gold fish and go aquaponics.

  • a very very good inspirational idea WOW keep it up.. good work

  • this is amazing.. truly inspirational

  • Is it possible to use window farming for chilli peppers? I have a few different "species" of chillies in different small pots and I was wondering if I can transfer them to a windowfarm since the weather is now officially too cold to keep having them in my balcony outside.

  • @t4paN Edit: not "Transfer" them as in take them out and transfer them, more like create new ones based on the same/similar seeds. They don't seem to require too much space anyway.

  • One problem about this being "Green" ....electricity

  • @deadlyyellowrose <.< solar panels would alleviate your purposed downfall

  • @deadlyyellowrose Depends on where the electricity comes from! I live in Sweden and have a contract with my electricity provider that makes sure the same amount I use is produced by wind and water as power sources. The development of alternative electricity resources is very active and worth investing in.

  • This is fantastic! Keep up this awesome work. I love collaborative problem solving. We can solve all of the problems in this world through the method your using! Great!

  • I'm starting my singe-column test build today. I have been interested in hydroponics intellectually for a while now, but wanted to find a small project to try it out with. Window Farms are perfect for this because they are cheap and easy to DIY.

    In case anyone was wondering, the most expensive things you will buy will be the pump (around $20) and the liquid fertilizer ($20-30 bucks for organic stuff). The growstones/clay balls are super cheap, as are the netpots the stones and plants sit in.

  • I am interested to start this. I was thinking along the same line with plastic bottles but, I am unsure about the amount of BPA that would be transmitted to the food. I live in Okinawa where black mold is very common problem. Is there some way to keep my apt from turning into a mold fest?

  • I had the 1000th like :)

    Awww yeah!

  • watch?v=F-os03iBnJI has a good example

  • YOU GO GIRL!

  • Do you have a downloadable archive for local storage? This is the type of enabling-technology that would be very helpful in many scenarios where people's supply of food-stuffs and communications would be cut off for longer periods of time.

    I think this information would come in very handy stored on a USB stick in a survival kit.

  • fantastic idea!

  • Great project!!! You totally inspired me, you have all my support with this wonderful idea. I want to know where can I learn how to make and install this sistem in my home, thank you very much!

  • totally inspired. love u brit.... now patch this in search---->  h0dnk7snhQ

    greengossipgrl@twitter

  • cute dress

  • 17 people did not like this? WHY?????

    

  • @meesterJos business man from monsanto, syngenta and bayer u_u

  • Awesome idea!!!! thanks 

  • at what cost? I doubt you're produce is cheaper than farms. The truth you would be better off working during all that time it takes you to set-up and maintain those plants, and then spending that money on produce from your local market.

    There's a reason why no one grows food in their windows. It's too expensive. A better use of resources would be to find ways to genetically modify crops further to produce more yield.

    Some people like to dance. For now window farming is an hobby.

  • @SaM52461 Thanks for missing the point completely.

  • @abbydarryl

    Thanks for missing my point completely. =)

  • @SaM52461 We all should be doing window farrming, to avoid eating genetically modified crops, which are sick.

  • @philonqi

    The crops which you would be planting are also "modified", just through thousands of years of evolution. Before you go pushing the GMO nonsense please think about what you are saying. I bet you also don't like Monsanto? Also keep in mind that it's genetically modified crops that allow all of us to eat. Millions would starve to death if we didn't have modified crops.

    If we all window farmed we wouldn't have time to work. Division of labor is important!

  • @SaM52461 Of course I am against Monsanto, and I think they should go to jail instead of selling food crops, because they put insect genes into soybean! And I guess you are a Monsatno payee:-XD

    What you are saying we'd die without modified crops is the most hillarious bull*it in the world - it's the opposite - we'll die because it! Natural, healthy food can feed the whole world without the problem.

    Inform yourself!

  • @philonqi

    Please think about what you're saying. If it wasn't for the advancements in agriculture and genetically altered crops that produce more per sq/ft the ENTIRE world would have to live with less food. The costs would be so high that the many Millions of people who are already starving to death now would just be dead.

    Genetically modified crops ARE natural. Instead of the plant making those changes over thousands/millions of years we make the change for it.

  • @philonqi

    also what do you mean when you say they put "insect genes" into soybean. What a claim, don't you think? And what does that even mean? The crop is now part insect? Why don't they just put lion genes into it, the lion, afterall, is king of the jungle and no one would mess with such a crop.

    It sound like you've watch too many videos online about Monsanto from people who...surprise surprise, know NOTHING about genetics. Why is it that the ppl who say this have never studied genetics

  • And after weeks and weeks of growing, maybe you have enough for a salad.

  • Great video. You are accomplishing great things!

  • I will do something like this!

  • FANTASTIC!

  • AWESOME!

  • How about using the water from a fishtank. The fish poo can be used as fertilizer. Since you don't use soil it can work. And you don't have to buy fertilizer. What I don't know is hom much fertilizer/poo the fish produce. And if the plants need some extra nutrients besides that. You could go even further and compost the plants when they are no longer productive. Et voila you've created compost out of nothing ^^ It could work in a space station.

  • @2Manolo3 Fish Stuff is what I use, Just add Blackstrap Molasses for your Extra Nuts if needed when fruit comes up

  • @2Manolo3 Isn't that what they call aqua ponics or something like that.

  • Wonderful project, keep up the good work!!

  • can you plant weed on that :P

  • I can imagine how it gets ugly and disturbing when its older and you loose interest. Disturbing your view outside and not producing to much food.

  • This looks fancy when it is new. But actually you get a few herbs with a lot of work. It is not enough food for more then a day and not everyone wants to spend so much time to achieve so little. Moreover, as somebody noted below it is not really much different from putting some pots into the window. You put some more pots with your technique, but that is not a big difference.

  • Hi, I just joined your forum. I will share some of my ideas. I 've been working with green energy for 3 yrs and now incorporating hydropnics. See you around.

    Eileen - virlusun

  • i just had the most incredible super crunchy geek-gasm. R&DIY?! incredible.

  • and how is this different from a putting some plants on your window ledge??

  • @xXxXElijahXxXx You really have to ask that? Let's see...the average ledge is about 4 feet wide, so that's about 7 plants? They grow thus will be sitting flush against the screen. Easily knocked off the ledge, and thus now dirt and stuff on the carpet. With this, it's in the air and you can put 28 is it? So it's obvious that more room means more product. Doesn't seem to abstract to me. It also explains that you don't need to transfer it to a bigger pot.

  • @emerson24 I guess what I mean, is that this system just seems to over complicate something that could be relatively simple. Don't get me wrong I'm all for environmentally friendly solutions.

    The main thing that bothers me about this creation is the fact that it requires an air pump; when watering could easily be done by hand, the pump will also require energy to power it.

    My idea would be to have a wooden rack with eight shelves, each shelve could hold 3 plants, that gives 24 in total. Simple

  • @xXxXElijahXxXx Right, but isn't the purpose of this so you don't have to transfer to another pot? I'm not a guru by any stretch in this field so I don't know. But I thought the way it was set up was that it enabled the plant to grow without having to be transfered. Most plants that I left in the original wound up dying. The pump though cost about 3 bucks for the entire year :) I believe that's what it said. And Given my situation and having two dogs, off the ground seems better :)

  • sorry but I wouldn't call herbs food

  • Neat idea, but it's just too bad they went the greed route. $150.00 and up - WAY up.

  • I've been looking all over for something like this

  • Wow, this is amazing! :-) What an idea!

  • GROOVY WAY TO BE SELF SUSTAINING IN THE SHORT TERM "IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY"

  • This is just awesome and a great way for people in large cities to have a good source of food at a low cost. Great job whomever thought of this.

  • Cool idea

  • oh how far we have fallen; i guess to be "clever" and inovative now-a-days you just need square glasses and a fish pump . this is totally inefficeint and costly(for nutrient solutions) . a large window planter can produce real crops (tomato peppers etc ) and convert your kitchen waste to compost . this idea is for people who want to "appear" clever but aren't . all show no go

  • מגניב אוכל אורגני איזה יופי בלי ריסוס בלי דשן כימי פחות רעלים במזון ו

    האוכל תמיד זמין וטרי

    אהבתי מאוד

    ג.עטרה מכל הלב

  • wow that is so cool, amazing idea, thanks 4 sharing!

  • Fantastic! It would be great if we could get schools organized to show kids and parents how to do this. Thanks for the inspiration!

  • youtube needs more vids like this...

    10 stars...

  • Awesome!

  • Ask some of the old Hydroponic Pot growers and bypass all your mistakes,,,,they know how to grow ...HA HA HA

  • This is just awesome. I love it so much and will build my own. G*d bless you.

    .

    Also, is the WindowFarms community aware of Chemtrails? If so, is there an effort to deal with the problem?

  • Fantastic!!!!!!!

  • SMOKE WEED URY DAY!!!!!!!!!!

  • This is beautiful....

  • This is terrific!! Simple is best. This beats Valcent Vertical Crops hands down!!

  • Kudos to you! just great

    I can't wait to start this project with my 2 five year olds but i am concerned about the plastic. I bet one of the collaborative geniuses will come up with something really cool. Now it has to get very house beautifully and you are off to the hottest product ever.

  • Personally I don't like hydroponics specifically because there is no soil. No soil is inferior. Compared to real compost in the soil the so called nutrients and fertilizers that science thinks are needed are inadequate, insufficient. The whole process is unnatural. Give us soil.

  • *EXCELLENT*....it looks like I have a new hobby! I can't wait to checkout your website : )

  • Bravo! My pleasure to pass this along to everyone I know. Congratulations on a fabulous idea. Keep them coming!

  • wonderful! ~ i have two concerns and wonder if they've been addressed:

    1) have you had the veggies tested for plastic byproduct residues such as BPA, PVC, etc.?

    2) moisture and windows, especially in cold environments, usually leads to black mold problems. How is this mitigated? ozonated water would do the trick, however the levels would have to be carefully modulated, and also most plastics degrade with ozone so they'd have to be upgraded....

    thanks for launching this cool project!

    kurt

  • @onepoint22

    Well, PET bottles and PolyEthylene/Polypropylene bottles are probably the 'safest'. PP and PE bottles don't use BPA or such plasticizers, since they extrude just fine when being molded.. PET bottles don't use BPA as plasticizer.

    PP Bottles will photodegrade though, producing plastic pieces, but these can't be absorbed by the plant. Also, the breakdown product itself is chemically similair to inert wax.

  • Awesome. How does this work for larger/heavier produce?

  • UR so cute!

  • we need 2 collaborate

  • Totally awesome!!

  • awesome britta. i live in manhattan. you rock.

  • This is awesome!!! I want to make my own!!

  • I'm humbled by how beautiful this is. Bless you every day of your life!!!!

  • who are the 14 idiots who didn't like this?....this is fantastic!

  • awesome... great video.

  • I'm really luv'n these kids.

    

  • OMG I found my summer project!

    I'm a total clutz when it comes to handy work but I'm determined to do it. I've enrolled my dad & if it works he'll put one in his house. Wish me luck!

  • So so cool! I can see so many applications for this--including me. While I live on an acre of land, it is in the desert...so traditional summertime crops struggle here...

  • PLEASE, I'm translating for subtitling this video can anyone help me with two words?

    03:16 - "So now we have a multidisciplinary team of ______, ______. teachers, gardeners all around the world collaborating on line". I will really appreciate the help guys. Thnx so much.

  • @GlobalRealNews

    I believe she says:  hackers, foodies, teachers.....

  • This is great! I live on a remote island off the Canadian Central coast. It's really hard to get good fresh veg here.

  • SO COOL SO AWESOME :) <3

  • love love love

  • This is awesome! I heard about it on NPR - I'm going to build one when I move! :D

  • This is so cool! When I lived in NYC I tried to do it on the fire escape, but the fire department made me take them down....

  • Where is the meat?

  • That's a very good idea really!!! Smart!

  • this is dumb, people have been doing this with weed for ages.

  • Ingeniously engineered solution

  • That's really cool

  • Fantastic idea!

  • This is reallly cool, but when I see the size of the plants and the small amount of space they take up, it makes me think I could eat my entire crop in a day or two. I've yet to see a window farm in a full-fledged state of growth where the plants have grown larger than the hydroponic setup itself. Can a small window farm produce enough food to feed a person daily, three times a day?

  • This looks kinda cool, but further inspection shows most plants are herbs (basil and parsley), some wimpy Swiss chard plants and a few spindly cherry tomato plants. A whole window-full wouldn't feed even one person more than one day. Well, the herbs would since you only use a few leaves, but windowsill pots do that too and don't reduce light coming in. I'd rather have a real garden share or even large pots on the balcony, with real dirt to get my fingers in and substantial plants to pick from!

  • I like how your acting like this was your idea, hydroponics have been around for like.......forever. just ask anyone who smokes weed.

  • im so gonna do something like this when i get my apartment. even though there is a market pretty close.

  • But did she have to promote Sarah Palin Wolf kill with that hat on her head???

    Like hydroponic farming seen some home with big ones using tilapia fish poo to feed veggies. Now near everyone can grow at home.

  • I cannot wait to do this when i get my apartment!!

  • wow what you are doing is so awesome !! i am so doing that !! you are a genius!

  • Does this work with tinted windows?

  • Check out a post on our site our[dot]windowfarms[dot]org called theory-of-the-environmental-he­alth-education-benefits-of-win­dowfarms. If you are into this stuff, feel free to contribute to evaluating enviro impact and work together to test and improve. Skeptics are welcome too.

  • Love this! I would like to do the same.

  • That is awesome! Thanks for sharing! Very cool. :)

  • awesome

  • Wow, looks like you grew enough to have yourself a salad. And you only had to dig through the trash for bottles, and spend a bunch of money on tubes, and pumps, and junk, oh, and all that electricity keeping that pump going.

  • PROPS!! This is genius!

  • Legit :) I love this kind of stuff... stumbled from WI

  • Stumbled!

    This is amazing and my idea of heaven! Thank you!!!

  • would this work for pot? cause i would go through the trouble for some pot... but not some fukin green onions... green onions dont get me high

  • @kalfen Since pot plants grow so tall - up to six feet - you could only have one or two per window, but yes, that's a good idea. :)

  • i stumbled upon this and this not only amazing but a helpful and great Solution to getting fresh food in citys and knowing were are food came from.

  • This is a great idea! Keep going!

    First video i actually cared enough to post on

  • Stumbled

  • Keep up the good work! Very inspiring.

  • Very nice project. But just one question. How much energy does the airpump use?

    MIchael

  • I effing LOVE this video, this concept, this effort! THANK YOU!!

  • Awesome!!!

  • what song was used in this video? It sounds extremely familiar..

  • Very cool

  • SO awesome!

  • I don't think they are saying that this will completely supply you with all your veggie needs. What I think they want to accomplish is a way for us to know where our food comes from and for it to supplement what we eat.

    It's not perfect of course. That's the point of this video. to get the project out there so other minds can improve on the idea.

    Not everyone in the city has a balcony or space for potted plants. I'd love to season my food with fresh oregano or thyme that I grew.

  • awesome!!

  • Way cool idea.

  • Wow this is awsome!!!!! I suppose someone could do the same thing with compost and by waterig it! What a great idea!!!!

  • nice idea, one day at a time, but I don't want to sign in to your group and inflate your figures when all I wanted was to have a quick look at the design.

  • some of the designs are in the video, press pause :D

  • thats great but beyond painting the bottles white and using air pressure to push the Seasol through., there still isn't anything here that will help with my addiction to fresh snow peas.

  • Clever system this can have a potensial for the next generation instead of showering its bobble instead?

  • But you can only grow herbs and small plants like that. I have a balcony and I am trying to grow some peppers, cucumbers, radishes, carrots and a raspberry plant.

  • That's pretty amazing, I'm sharing this with everyone I know. :)

  • Wow, this is amazing and cool. I hope your videos is viewed by the whole world. Great job!

  • *gasp* her herblore level is 99! 0_0

  • HAHAHA, really neat! But when the FBI sees that from street level, they are going to bust your door down and storm your apartment with flashbangs, smoke and assault rifles.

  • That's an amazing idea and project!! I will join it! Thanks for this video!

    Baby plants here I am!

  • This solution is nice for the smaller plants.

    But it seems more of a trend than an actual useful thing.

    For instance, it could be used to grow beans, tomatoes, strawberries and stuff like that, but how can a cabbage be grown? or maybe corn or pumpkins?

    There is one good advantage however, which is the better use of vertical space for growing small plants.

    But in the end, it's not small plants that feed a person, unless they're on a diet.

  • Can you grow chocolate candy and meat on your window? If not, I'm not interested, 'cause what I like to eat includes no fruit or vegetables at all.

  • If you don't eat fruits and veggies, we won't have to worry about your stupid comments, you won't be around for long.

  • @Herbmiami I'm 21 and over my liftetime average 10-20 times less fruits and vegetables than the average person. If you're deficient in vitamin B or C, you get deficiency decreases within a few months, unlike the rest. I never had symptoms for either of these, and scurvy (for vitamin c) is deadly, and obvious. I actually love fruit, but it causes extreme amount of stomach pain for just a few bites, always did. I could eat more vegetables, but my apetite is too small to forgo the calories of carbs

  • @mostliberal ... My point is, I'm a very skinny guy, and I can't afford to eat vegetables, and I would eat fruit if I could digest it, but I can't.

  • @mostliberal You may want to switch party lines. It seems liberals are always skinny and frail. Probably libertarian would be your best bet. It's really the only viable one anyhow. Once the constitution is completely eradicated, it won't matter what your desires are, unless it's to be a slave to the government.

  • although it wouldn't feed a lot of people, it would work great for many uses, such as herbs to add flavor to main food and to clean indoor air pollution and cool down the house

  • WOW very impressive

  • pretty cool, stay green....

  • What do you get out of that anyway? One meal? Not bad, now you just have to figure out the other 364 days. :(

  • @ChaosmanOne

    That's what I"m thinking. I'd love to hear a solution to this "I'm hungry faster than the plants can probably grow" problem D:

  • Go0d Job !!!!!

    don"r give UP !!

  • how does this compare to just using ordinary planter boxes or flower pots against a window? this looks very nice and cool but seems very inefficient to me

  • That's pretty cool. I would wonder though about the leaching of Pthalates from the plastic bottles into the plants. I try not to use plastic containers at all in my garden, but it's probably still a heck of a lot better for you than what's coming from the factory farms these days.

  • Those bottles she is using are made from PET which doesn't contain phthalates.

  • R&D I Y haha, that's awesome

  • wow impressive, i want a window farm!

  • I prefer nano vivariums

  • I like your flow system but not your potting. Plastic heats the roots too much

  • if your using hydroponics your roots are whatever temperature the water is.

  • that is true. But plastic heats way too fast in the sun and certain ones degrade. Changing the aggregate also helps get rid of some of the heating problem.

  • I will try it. I live in costa rica surrounded by nature, but growing your own food is amazing.

  • This is so awesome, i really want to try this in my apartment!

  • How do you ensure the nutrients are distributed evenly? Seems to me you'd either starve the bottom or oversaturate the top.

  • once the fertilizer gets diluted throughout the water medium via the water flow ( i personally dont like how the video just dumps it in without being mixed)  plants only take up what they can at that time, so its not like ALL the nutrients are getting soaked up because its flowing top down.

  • Nice idea for an herb garden. Which are terribly expensive anyway, but what about larger items? Potatoes, squashes, Apples etc...

  • Do cuttings from herbs. Will cost you just several cents.

  • I would eat everything in that entire window in one sitting.

  • Newb here. Is the point of the hydroponic system that the plant grows faster compared to a potted plant? If so how much?

  • you should collectively patent the idea. someone will steal the idea soon and sell it.

  • If you are afraid some corporation will patent the idea, fear not. No patent can stop people from building things on their own for their own non-commercial use. That's what this whole project is about. It's "open source". If some company wants to start selling those contraptions pre-built, I say go for it. I just might buy one to save me from the effort of building it (though building it myself would be fun).

  • you stole from the recyling place????!!!

  • Yes, but only to recycle it.

  • They are being reused anyway, the people who placed them there do not recieve anything (unless it's an individual bin); and in the long run, it's for the people anyway. why not use it for plants, instead of having to run a factory to melt that stuff back down, which probably causes pollution it's self.