Aeroponics – Vertical Farming

Moving out the realm of fiction and into the everyday life of many individuals, indoor farming is really vibrating in the agricultural industry. The commercial leader in indoor – fully controlled vertical farming is aerofarms yielding greater productivity using 95% less water and zero pesticides. It is a type of hydroponics system that NASA uses in the space station to produce plants. Aeroponic systems are particularly well adapted to utilize vertical and tower methods for holding the plants.

Aeroponics has spiked its popularity at many apartments owing to its effectiveness and facility to farm edible crops and ornamental plants in small, contained spaces. No pesticides are used in the Aeroponics system making the process eco friendly. The roots of the plants are suspended in midair in aeroponic systems, with no soil or water surrounding them.

The advantage of using aeroponic systems is that they use very little or no growth media. This is a pretty fun containment system where the roots are protected from exposure to light.  Roots are suspended in an area where they are misted by a nutrient solution. The roots will be hanging in the mid air such that they get maximum oxygen. The hanging roots will be sprayed with the nutrients at regular intervals using pressure controlled pumps. The high aeration volume increases the plant growth rate. This growth system generally uses very little water than other types of hydroponic systems. The harvesting is very easy for both aerial and root parts.

The regular watering cycles keep the roots moist and from drying out, as well as provide the nutrients that plants need to grow. Proper maintenance of temperature, humidity and water pH in the room provides disease free plants at higher yields and enriched productivity.

Herbs, vegetables and flowers can be grown continuously in the aeroponics system with more yields and less maintenance.

Variants

High Pressure Aeroponics (HPA) and Low Pressure Aeroponics (LPA) are the two forms of cultivation in practice. HPA uses no pesticides,  60% less fertilizer, 98% less water than other forms of terrace cultivation. HPA system operates above 80 PSI ideally at 100 PSI. High pressure atomizes nutrient water through small orifices that creates water droplets of diameter 50 microns or less. Pre-Pressurize Accumulator Tank, High-Pressure water pump, Pressure switch, Electrical-Solenoid connected to adjustable relay timer, Mister nozzles are the basic components of the HPA system.

LPA system uses a standard magdrive pump coupled to PVC tubing and the miniature sprinkler heads. Micro sprinklers and High flow water pumps are the  basic components of the LPA system.

Benefits 

• 2% water usage than conventional methods
• 1/3 amount of nutrients is sufficient
• More plants can be cultivated in a closer spacing
• No need of soil
• Increased yield and longer tenure

Build your own aeroponics system

Prepare the base pipes

Prepare the base piping using 50 mm PVC – T-Fittings with 35 cm apart

Grow trees are made with 45° wye tee fittings

A 45° wye tee fitting

Distributed arrangement of wye tee fittings

Net pots placed in the wye tee fittings

Plantlets are placed in the pot for growing

Aeroponic growing systems provide clean, efficient, and rapid food production. Crops can be planted and harvested in the system year round without interruption, and without contamination from soil, pesticides, and residue. Since the growing environment is clean and sterile, it greatly reduces the chances of spreading plant disease and infection commonly found in soil and other growing media. – NASA