Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Aeroponics

Aeroponics - Hydroponics

Aeroponics is a specific style in which the nutrients/water is applied to your garden. There is not one cut and dry way to grow your hydroponic garden. You have many different options for growing your indoor garden. One of these options is Aeroponics.

Aeroponics is essentially where the roots will typically be suspended, and you have a device that spritzes the roots with a fine liquid solution that consists of a pH balanced water, nutrient combination. A benefit of Aeroponics that typically goes unspoken is that it is one of the few that allows the roots to grow openly and freely into the air. This is a natural purifier for plants, as they no longer have as much susceptibility to disease when grown in this fashion. You can also introduce CO2 to the roots of the plants to assist in photosynthesis. You can do this over top of the plants in many other forms of Hydroponics, however, this is one of the few that you can add CO2 to the roots, and not just the top of the plant.

Aeroponics also limits disease to occur since the plants should be far enough apart that their roots never touch. Also, the pH balanced water/nutrient combination is not touching several plants prior to going back to the reservoir. This makes a world of difference with disease.

Aeroponics advantages are as follows:

  • The plants grown typically grow faster. This is because more O2, and CO2 to the roots assist in the plants growing faster. Also, the nutrients are easier for the plants to absorb.
  •  You use less nutrients and water in an Aeroponics setup, since you are misting the plants, and not diluting them in the solution. 
  • Not very much space is needed, if the Aeroponics setup is completed correctly. 
  • Great learning experience. This method has a lot of things that help you learn more about Hydroponics in general. 
  • This is semi-mobile. Depending on how it is built, it could be very mobile, if you move you growing space around. (Maybe your wife likes to change the look of you basement a lot.) 
Aeroponics Disadvantages are as follows: 
  • Dependency on all of the parts working 100% of the time. If anything fails such as a pump, sprinkler, timer, or gets clogged, your plants will suffer, and fast. 
  • Regular cleaning and sanitation is required. You have a dark, moist, air prevalent environment, what do you think will happen? Bacterial growth! You must also note, that you have to make sure that your sprinklers are going to need regular cleaning so they do not build up with mineral deposits, and stop  working properly. 
  • High introductory cost. You can cut down on costs by building it completely yourself, but it still costs a nice chunk of change to get started. This can lead to another downfall, time consumption if you build it yourself.  



No comments:

Post a Comment