Indoor Vertical Farm

Our project introduces an innovative table-top vertical farm, providing you with the opportunity to cultivate your own fresh produce right on your kitchen counter. This compact farming system is designed to optimize growth for a diverse range of small vegetables, herbs, and crops, making it ideal for both personal consumption and as a seedling starter. By harnessing advanced hydroponic technology, our farm minimizes resource consumption while maximizing crop yield, surpassing traditional outdoor cultivation methods. Its sleek rectangular design ensures effortless construction, enabling year-round indoor cultivation, even in limited spaces. Moreover, our farm effectively safeguards against mold, fungus, and insect infestations, ensuring a healthy and thriving harvest. Our primary objective is to make this farm accessible, user-friendly, and convenient for everyone, empowering individuals to mitigate the environmental impact of industrial farming and retain control over the quality of their food.

• 10 in x 20 in plastic trays (2)
• coconut peat or potting soil
• 12 in x 9 in x 1/8 acrylic or plastic sheet (2)
• 21 in x 12 in x 1/4 in hardboard or recycled wood sheet (2)
• Wood sticks (4-5)
• Thin wood block
• seeds of choice
• Purple LED strips (minimum 4 ft. long)
• 6-cell seedling trays
• nutrient solution
• silicon glue
• Water

Monitoring system:

• Soil ph tester and fertility
• Ruler
• plastic cover (8.5 ft surface area)
• Calcium carbonate (powder)

Gather all the necessary supplies, which is the large plastic tray, (smaller) 6-cell paper/plastic trays, soil, plastic and wood sheets, seeds of choice, purple LED lights, glue, and nutrient solution (if the soil doesn't already have fertilizers). When considering what to grow, seeds should only grow up to a max of 9 inches (ex: spinach) and the farm can nurture a max of 72 seeds. Salad greens, herbs, and small vegetables (ex: broccoli and radish) are the best options, as they grow quickly and do not take too much space. Any silicon glue like silicon caulk works, but if you want the quickest set, use a glue gun. Materials listed under the monitoring system are optional that are used to calculate the growth of plants and to adjust growing conditions to optimize growth.

Begin by grabbing one of the wooden sheets and wood sticks. Glue one stick along the center on the flat side of the wood board. Cut the wooden sticks into 2~ inch pieces. Glue these pieces at the edge of each corner. You can use a triangle or flat side of a ruler to ensure the wood pieces are lined up along the edge (first picture as reference). Elevating the base ensures it will not trap moisture and develop mold.

Now you can glue plastic sheets along the shorter sides of the base. Glue along where the base and plastic wall make contact. Then glue the wooden pieces to the plastic where it makes contact. Repeat on the other side. Add the wooden block to one side. This will lean the tray slightly and ensure proper drainage of water (second picture).

Last thing to do is to place the last wood board along the top and glue where it makes contact with the plastic wall. You can add wooden pieces (like with the base) along the corners of the inner wall to ensure the roof stays in place. After you are finished, the frame should look like the third photo.

Now we need to install the LED's. begin by laying the frame on it's side. Glue the battery box of the LED strip on top of the roof near an edge. Tape or glue the LED strip near the edge of one side. Then turn the strip and secure the strip along the center. Turn the strip again and secure the strip along the other side. When you are finished, it should look like the first and second picture. However, if you use a strip shorter/longer than 6 feet (as the one suggested in the supplies list) , it may have to be applied differently to fit along the roof.

Place the smaller 6-cell trays in the larger plastic tray. 12 of the smaller trays is the maximum amount of trays that can fit in the larger plastic tray. Fill each cell about half-way with dry soil. Place 1-2 seeds per cell. Fill in more soil till each cell is almost full. Place the entire tray in the frame. When finished, the final product should look like the pictures.

• The farm should be placed in an area with good air circulation (to prevent mold/fungus) and lighting for the best results, like by a kitchen window or below a fan.
• After the first watering, the plants should only require about a cup of water once every 3 days (tap water is fine). dump out any excess water after draining. If you are using coconut peat as soil, then you'll have to dilute one squirt of the nutrient solution in ~1 cup of water. If there is leftover nutrient water, do not reuse or dump the excess in the sink as it can harm natural ecosystems wherever the sewer water is dumped. Instead, throw out the excess nutrient water in a garden or front yard.
• If you see one or more plants infected with mold or fungus, clear out and clean that plant(s) cell and examine neighboring plants for infection. place the farm in a well-ventilated area until the soil is dry or no more signs of infection appear. Also consider using less water as the trap moisture can contribute to the growth of mold/fungus.
• If an insect infestation is a problem, consider using a plastic cover with tiny holes to keep insects out.
• Depending on which species you are growing or if you are growing a variety of them at the same time, the plants should receive at least 4-6 hours of sunlight daily. If the plants do not receive enough sunlight, you can turn on the LED lights, day or night, to make up for the light the plants did not receive.
• Once the plants are done growing, up root the plants when harvesting to ensure they do not regrow in the soil.

Use the soil pH tester to ensure the soil's pH stays at 7. Using tap water or excessive nutrient solution for the plants can lower the pH of the soil. If this is the case, then you can use the calcium carbonate powder and mix a little into the water solution to neutralize the water's pH and increase the pH of the soil.

Ruler is used to keep track of the plant(s) growth over time. In our case, we noticed our plants in the farm (red and yellow lines) grew significantly faster than the plants we placed outside (blue line).

The plastic cover can also be used to maintain the temperature and humidity inside the farm.