An aeroponic garden provides you with an innovative way to grow flowers and vegetables by employing an air mist environment without dirt. Aeroponic research led by NASA took off from the 1980s and has since demonstrated that aeroponic procedures work well with a huge array of plants. Lettuce and herbs are among the plants best suited to a house aeroponics system, which makes it feasible to grow plants inside year-round.
The Basics
In an aeroponics system, plant cuttings or seeds are suspended mid-air in a growing chamber, as a mist of nutrient-laden water is continuously sprayed on the roots of plants. Aeroponics systems are often used in a protected environment such as a greenhouse, in which environmental conditions like temperature and humidity can be controlled. Sunlight is the primary light source, with some supplemental lighting.
Benefits
An aeroponics system minimizes water usage by 98 percent, fertilizer by 60 percent and pesticides by 100 percent, according to NASA. The deficiency of dirt provides maximum root aeration and maintains roots dry, reducing the risk for diseases. Seedlings may be healthier because they don’t stretch or wilt while roots are forming. Harvesting can also be easier, particularly for root crops, and because plants grow faster, crops can be planted and harvested from the system throughout the entire year.
Vine Plants
Rumors normally must be commenced in pots and then descend to the ground after four weeks. With an aeroponics system, tomato crops can be started from the growing chamber and transplanted just 10 days later. Instead of a couple of tomato harvest cycles each year grown the traditional manner, aeroponic growing may yield up to six tomato crops annually. Based on “The Telegraph,” at the Greenwich Village restaurant Bell Book & Candle in New York City, chef John Mooney successfully grows tomatoes, tomatillos, eggplant, strawberries and watermelons in a rooftop aeroponics system. He adds that the only plants that he can not develop aeroponically are fruit trees and vegetables that grow underground, like potatoes, beets and carrots.
Leafy Greens
Research at the Cornell University Cooperative Extension has found that aeroponics is the most efficient way of growing leafy greens. Greens may get contaminated with dirt pathogens and bacteria such as e.coli, but aeroponics greatly reduces these risks. Chef John Mooney has had success with several varieties of lettuce with his rooftop aeroponics system and adds that while it requires a gallon of water to grow a head of lettuce over four weeks, a tower aeroponics garden uses 1/10 of the water since the excess is continually cycling back into the system to be reused.
Herbs
Aeroponics has been tested to develop cleaner, more constant herbs such as burdock at the University of Arizona’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Growing such herbs aeroponically is much less labor intensive than conventional procedures, and leads to a greater density per square foot of greenhouse space than traditional greenhouse growing. Mints, skullcap, stinging nettles, ginger and yerba mansa have also already been successfully tested in aeroponics systems, resulting in earlier increase, higher yields and multiple harvests.
