Nate's Vertical, High-Density System

mikeym

TCLynx wrote:

I think the big difference in Nates towers is that they have a slit up most of the front side to make planting the seedlings into the tower easy because you stick the seedling in between the two halves of the filter media as you slide them into the tower, looks way cool. However, this would make it difficult to plant multiple sides.

Most other tower designs involve holes that you plant the seedlings into.

The holes might be fine with some designs when you plant the first batch of seedlings as you fill the tower with media, but the times I've tried something like that, it is always hard to re-plant.

hmm what if there were slits up all 4 sides and on the bottom was a latch or something similar which you would disconnect while inserting the media then reconnect after reinserting the media/seedlings so that the tower would remain structurally sound. The problem I could see happening with that process is how to insert seedlings on all 4 sides while standing it up so that you could do that. Perhaps you could just join 4 of Nate's towers. 1 for each side of the tower and then have a giant mega tower!
:twisted:

TCLynx

Or just hang the towers facing the sun with the plants in the side getting the sun and skip the whole motor for rotation.

Only real reason to have plants on all 4 sides would be if you are trying for looks.

Now I've thought about designer color towers so you could make a fence out of them and on the inside you have the plants. Just have to be quick about replacing the towers you take down for harvest/re-planting or you have gaps in the fence. Might just be easier to hang towers along an existing fence. :thumbleft:

DéjàVoodoo

TCLynx wrote:

Or just hang the towers facing the sun with the plants in the side getting the sun and skip the whole motor for rotation.

Only real reason to have plants on all 4 sides would be if you are trying for looks.

Now I've thought about designer color towers so you could make a fence out of them and on the inside you have the plants. Just have to be quick about replacing the towers you take down for harvest/re-planting or you have gaps in the fence. Might just be easier to hang towers along an existing fence. :thumbleft:

Forget the fence, think of the insulation value of doing that along your southwest facing walls!!! And it would be so pretty!

countryboy

TCLynx wrote:

Now I've thought about designer color towers so you could make a fence out of them and on the inside you have the plants. Just have to be quick about replacing the towers you take down for harvest/re-planting or you have gaps in the fence. Might just be easier to hang towers along an existing fence. :thumbleft:

There you go... always trying to figure how to keep prying eyes out... LOL!!

Actually, using it as fencing or decorations in a small system would be a great idea, but I would guess N8 already has that in his business plan.... I could mount them on the front of the four columns on my porch with a small FT in the flower bed out front... Geraniums or pansies... WOW!!!

As far as planting on both sides, I would think MAX you would only need two sides judging from his pics... but then, only one side will face the sun and get best light, so why reinvent the (new) wheel? I think the one groove would be plenty productive!

CB

countryboy

BTW, N8,

I sent an email, but have been having email troubles.. Might better connect via PM on this board...

CB

TCLynx

Well, if you are in one of those houses with no overhangs to speak of, definitely would be good to have those along the sun facing wall in summer. In winter, one might actually want the sun hitting the wall for some heat gain depending on where you live.

I think my overhangs are actually designed correctly so I might not have enough such hitting my south facing wall to really benefit from hanging towers along it. I'm still gonna hang some towers on the porch over my new fingerling tank.

And then my new sump tank is just crying for towers to hang over it :wave:

And then of course there is the re-build of my 300 gallon quarantine system that I think would really appreciate towers. I think 300 gallons worth of gravel beds and then enough towers to equal another 300 gallons worth of gravel.

n8

You guys are on to me.

It's fun to have people thinking about this and coming to the same conclusions I came to. Here are a couple more pictures from today. This is of the whole vertical system, or as much of it as I can get.

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This is my towers 3 days ago.

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This is my towers today.

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TCLynx

Thanks so much for that pic of the whole thing, it does help the perspective.

How the heck do you manage to get the towers up and down without scafolding over everything?
Images of falling from ladder into fish tank while holding full loaded tower :oops:

tamo42

I'm a little amazed you're able to get sun on all those towers in the back rows.

countryboy

n8,

Is that a UV light for algae control in the black pipe? Looks like an electric cord hanging out of the end...

Also, guessing the 2x6s are the 'catwalk' for reaching the top and handling the towers?

Duckweed tank on the left?

Also, where'd you get those big tubs?

Will be placing an order for some of the grow media in the next couple days.

CB

Delgrade

Looks a lot like a UV to me

interesting concept by the way

CHeers
pete

n8

Yeah, Aleece, it's a bit of a pain having the climb up there (althugh I usually only check on towers every other day or so. Harvest isn't bad with basil, as the towers stay pretty light, but they can get heavy with mustard. I definitely recommend a ground-level setup. Unfortunately due to space and equipment contraints- i'm stuck with this setup for now. I do have 2x4s across the top to make it easier on me.

Yeah, Countryboy, that's UV. I use it to make sure i don't have any plant pathogen spores swimming around. I really like it, although I know it's not most folks' cup of tea. I'm a paranoid control-freak, what can i say. :oops:

yeah, I have duckweed in my settlement tank as well as a small population of feral tilapia young. I've developed a lazy-man's cleaning method using it. Plus, it's good feed for when i'm out of town- doesn't spoil, and the fish love it.

Thanks Delgrade, I enjoy it. Tamo, yeah, there's no problems when the plants are young- it's primarily fast-growing crops like mustard greens and kale that give me pronounced shading effects. I'm doing a study pretty soon on this- hopefully will be able to shed some light on the issue.

daddykirbs

Any more progress on sharing this product (the media) with the AP world?

takuangy

Very interesting!

One concern, is the foam/fibber media reusable? if it needs to be dump away periodically is not much of a renewable way to grow food!

TCLynx

I believe it is re-usable and once it's beat up too much to be re-used anymore, I believe Nate said it was also re-cyclable too.

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