#CityGrownUrbanFarming #2 Creating a future through blood, sweat and tears

Hey guys, glad to see you here at our second #CityGrownUrbanFarming post; stick around as we continue to delve into and explore the world of vertical farming. Now, in my previous post we’ve talked about what ignited the idea and fueled us to pursue this field or profession, if you will, to address the few issues that we’re facing now and in the near future.

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The fabrication

Let's get started, this is where all the fun begins. It took us a couple of weeks of planning and coordinating our schedules before proceeding as well as gathering the required materials and tools, courtesy of @cklai. I apologise for not snapping hundreds of photos wherever we went and everything we got but I reckon these would do.

The things that we got were generally easy to source, all it takes is a little driving and a workhorse to load them; we had to get everything done on the tailgate.

We were too preoccupied with the tasks at hand, a little time traveling right there. Before and after sorting out all the measurements.

With all the wooden frame work sorted out, we moved on to work on what we call “grow pipes”; what we did was get a few PVC pipes and made incisions according to the calculations. Keeping in mind that we will be utilising an unused wall at my balcony, it wasn’t feasible to have four columns of slots hence, two columns was ideal; to maximise the exposure-time of the crops to sunlight.

Here you can see me pressing down and moulding the slots to fit the net pots while @cklai is keeping the grow pipe steady.

Time for the pros to take over and stretch out my legs a bit, squatting isn’t really my thing.

Back in action.

@cklai test-fitting the net pots in the slots.

A comparison between before and after moulding.

All the sweat and tedious work pays off after seeing them side by side. Looks from-the-factory, wouldn’t you agree?

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The assembly

We could now finally test-fit and assemble the system with everything ready and in place. It wasn’t easy as it’s the first time for all of us, everyone has their firsts, right?

Getting everything within arm’s reach.

Final measurement and a little alteration.

Assembly underway.

Erecting the system frame and rigidity check.

So, after the system frame checks out to be within tolerance and parametres, we installed the drain-pipe at the bottom, aligned the grow pipes and fastened them. The purpose of the drain-pipe is to make sure that water doesn’t build up in the grow pipes, circulation as well as making maintenance easier.

After installing the pipes, we run the watering hose attached with sprinklers into each grow pipe.

After two days of labour-intensive sawing and drilling, we were happy with the our Mark I system. This is where all the tests and experiments will be carried out, different methods of germination, logging down the duration from germination to sprouting and so on.

Still, we couldn’t call it a day before testing out our pump to ensure the water pressure and flow are as planned, so we filled up the container and hit the switch.

Works like a charm!

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It's a wrap!

So there you have it guys! This wraps up our #CityGrownUrbanFarming fabrication and assembly instalment. It may seem easy and smooth sailing from the photos, it definitely pushed our critical thinking and patience to the limits from all the endless trial and errors; I'm happy and proud of us that we made it through regardless. Next up, we’ll get into the successes and fails of our germinations in my coming update, thanks for stopping by. Also, don't forget to hit that follow and upvote button to stay updated with the progress of #CityGrownUrbanFarming!

Oh by the way, as an added bonus for following #CityGrownUrbanFarming, I'll be doing a "How To Hydroponics 101" in the next instalment. So stay tuned!

Cheers