Believe it or not, many of the farms I’ve built in the city have been on walls, both interior and exterior. Vertical farming, a great way to take advantage of what would otherwise be idle, vacant space in a residential setting.
This post explains different vertical growing practices and how you can execute it in your condo or apartment on your own. Today I am only going over the factors of vertical farming, but if you wish to read a product review, please check out my older post here.
Vertical wall farms, product review page 
A living room Japanese twist vertical farm
Assess your space
As you read this, you might already have a particular wall in mind for an indoor farm. Ask yourself the following when determining the best candidate for wall farming.
- Does the wall get natural light? While it may be exposed to sunlight, it might not be enough to grow crops. How much is enough? Ideally, you want the morning sun and at least five hours of direct sunlight to grow food. More sun means more options for what you can grow. However, if you’re really adamant on a certain wall, you can augment inadequate sun with the amount of artificial light.
- Will my wall farm get water drainage? Spillage is important to consider when deciding your vertical farm location. Think about what is on the floor or ground, and how will you deal with water run-off and dirt. You can, for example, put down protective mats to catch any waste water or soil.
- How will a wall farm look in my home? In the case of an indoor farm, it will be a long-term fixture in your living space, so it’s important to make aesthetic considerations. Finishing your urban farm will cost more money, so it is important to take this factor into account.
If you are using artificial light on a timer, make sure this doesn’t get to obstruct traffic in your home, or created an undesired glare when you are watching TV. If possible, find a wall farm design that harmonizes with the overall design concept of your space.
🪟 Should I grow on a window instead? If you don’t have a good wall option, windows are a viable alternative, as you can install different types of farms on them. Newer condos have lots of glass, which is ideal for growing food. The caveat is that windows can also block different light wavelengths, reducing the amount of actual light that your plants will get. Read my complete guide on windowsill farming here.
🌞 Common locations for vertical farms
📏 How much space do I need for a wall farm?
You don’t need a lot of space to grow vertically. In fact, you can get your grow area to as little as 6 inches off the wall. If you add a water reservoir, this might get farther out, as there are a lot of narrow containers that hold water.
In terms of height, most farms don’t go higher than 6 feet from the ground. Having a step stool beside your vertical farm can allow you to go a little higher. For your width, again this is up to you. Most products come in standard sizing, but measure your wall and see what fits to it.
Which growing medium should I use?
There are two options you can select: water and soil. It would behoove you to understand the differences before you start planning your vertical farm, as both mediums have their distinct benefits and drawbacks.
🪴 Soil
- Soil is heavy, and it needs to be properly secured. When you go vertical, all the dirt will be a lot of weight and if someone leans on your wall farm or grabs it when harvesting, you have to make sure the structure will be able to support this.
- It is dirty. Yes, dirt can get dirty! Seems obvious, but it’s good practice to keep this in mind when planning where to set up your vertical farm. Make sure the wall and the floor around the wall farm are easy to clean or well-protected. It is better to incorporate preventative measures.
- Soil is a more forgiving medium than water. You are allowed more variance on how you treat your plants in soil.
⚠️ Considerations with soil
- Water retention. Your wall farm won’t have a reservoir, so be sure to think about water retention in your plant. You can add perlite to your soil mix to help it retain moisture.
- Nutrients. I’m a compost tea type of fella, so brewing my mixture in the water and adding it to the soil is a common practice for me. It is a natural way to get nutrients to your plants. There are also time release products you can get to add to your soil mix. Again, with low soil space, it’s important to add nutrients often.
💧 Water, or hydroponics
- Hydroponics requires more time and expertise, so it’s definitely not for novices. If you don’t have the time to thoroughly understand the science of growing with water, I would advise against this option.
- If set up properly, hydroponics can be an easier system to monitor, but if things go awry with its pH or if the system runs low on water, your plants are affected.
- The system will make noise as it has water pumps and aerators. This factor must be considered when you are picking a place for your vertical farm. You can invest in more expensive equipment that can lower noise levels.
- All your plants get the same level of nutrients, so you only need to top up the reservoir to ensure all the plants will be fed.
- Make sure your system is robust and well-built because once your plants start to grow, and water is pumping through your system, it will be a lot of weight. You don’t want to come home to a large puddle of water on your floor.
Does my desired wall get enough light?
As aforementioned — and I can’t emphasize this enough — your crops must receive at least five hours of direct sunlight for a fruitful harvest. Take seasonal changes into account too. In Canada, we don’t get as much sunlight in the winter as we do in the summer, so I would advise getting grow lights for colder months. There are, however, certain plants that thrive in low light, so it is important to consider these special cases when growing food.
If you opt for grow lights to supplement the sunlight, keep in mind that they will change your environment. Grow lights will also be on a timer, so the sound might be disruptive. If you are installing your vertical farm in the living room, for instance, the grow lights come will change how everything looks. One solution is putting a diffuser over the light to make it softer, as I’ve done for a client’s living room farm using shōji.
In terms of lighting options, I recommend either get T5 or LED grow lights. It is important to remember that light works in a logarithmic scale, meaning when the light is twice as far away, it is ten times less effective. In other words, keeping your lights as close to your plants as possible will facilitate their growth greatly. Having them too close, on the other hand, you can burn your plants, so be sure to find that a happy intermediate.
🪞 Mylar and light reflection
Mylar, a polyester film made from PET, is a useful material that reflects 99% of light back into the room, which is great on the walls behind your vertical farm. Since the light will be reflected back to your plants, they will receive a better dispersed and more consistent light thanks to the shiny plastic. I also like that you can easily clean mylar and that it protects your wall from any dirt and damage.
If mylar is not for you, another option is painting your wall with a high-gloss kitchen and bath paint. This will reflect about 90% of the light back and also provides mildew and moisture protection for your indoor walls.
Types of vertical wall farms
If you’re looking for inspiration for your wall farm, search no further. Click on the image if you want to view the product on its retailer’s site.
Scales to any size 
Easy to hang 
Winter storage 
Multilayers 
Wall Planters 
Felt pockets 
OpCom 
Click & Grow
Let’s build your wall farm!
Now that you understand the big picture, let’s break down how you can go about building your own wall farm. At this stage, you should have assessed the best place for your vertical farm and seen different types of wall farms, so you should know what exactly you want to build.
🥬 What can I grow on my wall farm?
This is a common question, but the main crops people grow are leafy greens, due to their fast turnaround times for harvest. However, most crops can be grown vertically as long as you tailor your system’s design to that plant. Make sure you know the size of the finished crop; how heavy it will be when fully grown; how much light is required; and the types of nutrients are needed to grow.
💰 Is a wall farm cost-effective?
I’ll be candid: right now, it can be expensive to grow your crops vertically. There are many large companies that are also struggling to make the numbers work in their mass vertical farm operations. Growing food does have upfront costs, but after that, it is something that will keep on yielding results.
What is great about growing at home are the priceless benefits that come with growing your own food, such as fresh vegetables and the satisfaction of eating something you cultivated from seed to harvest.
🆚 Living walls versus vertical farm
The concepts between the two systems are relatively the same, but there are some differences to consider. In most cases, living walls are easier to execute than vertical farms, for which food production needs more light, needs more care on nutrient levels, and are higher maintenance.
Living walls do have their challenges, but are normally not as labour-intensive once they are set up. They can be sustained with one or two powerful lights from the ceiling because many of the plants used in living wall don’t require full sun like edible plants.
🛒 Living wall companies
No need to reinvent the wheel: there are many companies around the world that offer easy wall farming options, with their own product lines that you can purchase. These can be converted into edible plants if you make sure the lighting is correct.
Updated July 28, 2021. Originally published May 22, 2019.
