This blog contains information about Aeroponics in detail. In the start, it shine a light on the introduction of Aeroponic Technique. Then it discusses about Aeroponic Towers. In the end, it explains the Pros and Cons of Aeroponic System. This blog explains Aeroponic Towers and Pros and Cons of Aeroponics in detail.
What is Vertical Farming?
Vertical farming also called as 3D farming, is the latest approach in farming. It is the latest technique for farming in which farmers uses vertical and horizontal stakes for farming. This technique can be in the form of multi-story buildings or skyscrapers instead of huge horizontal farmlands.
This technique uses 98 percent less water and 99 percent less land for its execution. Vertical farming is very useful in the condition of Water scarcity, less land for faming and Food insecurity. As we know that, the world is facing extremely destructive Land-use change due to exponential increase in population.
Vertical farming is the best technology in order to grow a large amount of food crops in a small land area. This technique fights with shortage of food and with on time investment and maintenance, provide us a lot of food crops out of a small land area.
These can be used to grow crops and food in your home’s terraces, balconies and backyards to bring sustainability to you and your kids so Aeroponics is an amazing technique in the field of Vertical Farming that gives promising results by providing high quality food and crops for humans. This also helps us in avoidance of Intensive Farming. We will study Aeroponics, Aeroponic Towers and their Pros and Cons in detail in this blog.
What is Aeroponics?
A plant-cultivation technique in which the roots suspends in the air while nutrient solution is delivers to them in the form of fine mist. This technique does not require soil or an aggregate medium. In simple words it is the growth of plants by hanging roots and helped with spray of the nutrients.
Aeroponics require a nutrient dense mist to work. The nutrients that plants takes from the soil, are supplied in liquid form in this procedure so it is the effective technique for indoor farming.
As there is rise in population and also a threat of food security for the people, we do not have much land or the land for farming does not distributes in efficient way across the countries. In the current and future food insecurity, aeroponics are the best option.
It needs some capital cost and maintenance throughout the time, but it will provide best quality food without the usage of soil. Aeroponics is an efficient process and it should be applied by every country who are in need of food or not.
Aeroponics is expensive to install and cheaper to run. So one time investment can cause this system to run properly and it gives you amazing results.
Aeroponic Towers:
Aeroponic tower systems are usually vertical, with roots suspended in the air where they are bathed in the water and nutrients. These are the towers designed for performing aeroponics so these towers have holes in them for the plant growth. The roots of the plants are suspended in the air inside the tower.
We can supply water and nutrients with the help of aeroponic towers. They pipes connects to the bottom of the tower which contains nutrient solution or water so pipes work to sprinkle the water and nutrients onto the roots of the growing plant.
Aeroponic towers are easy to install and work automatically. You just have to provide nutrient rich liquid or water to the tower so it will work on the crops by providing supplied material to the roots of the plants to let them grow properly.
Tools required for Aeroponics:
Following are the tools required for setting up aeroponic system:
- A container or reservoir to store nutrient solution.
- Mist Nozzles to deliver nutrient mist to the plants or crops.
- Nutrient Pump, to deliver the solution upwards and to irrigate all the crops.
- Baskets for suspending plants into the air vertically.
- Tube system to distribute water from nutrient pump to the mister head.
- Enclosed growing chamber for the placement of the roots.
- Timer installed in the system to turn on and off the pump according to the need.
- Water tight containers to grow plant’s roots.
These are the basic tools of Aeroponics.
Aeroponics vs Hydroponics:
1.In aeroponics roots of plants suspends and we provide nutrient mist to it for growth.
In Hydroponics plants submerge in the water all the time or fed by intermittent flow of water.
2.In aeroponics, the nutrients are sprayed on the roots of the plants.
In hydroponics, flow of water distribute nutrients or plants grows in water containers.
3.Aeroponics is derives from two Greek words ‘aero‘ means “air” and ‘ponos‘ means “work”.
Hydroponics is derives from Greek words ‘hydro‘ means “water” and ‘ponos‘ means “work”.
4.In Aeroponics, plants are never placed in water.
Hydroponics are always placed in water.
5.In aeroponics, roots remain suspended in the air throughout the process.
In hydroponics, roots remain submerged in the water throughout the process.
6.The medium of growth is air in Aeroponics.
The medium of growth is water in Hydroponics.
Environmentally Friendly:
Aeroponics are the future of farming because synthetic fertilizers and chemicals are taking the natural fertility of the land with passing time. And in future these lands will not produce food if such practices continues for few more years. Aeroponics helps us to produce food without utilizing land as traditional way to grow food so it needs nutrients and water to grow. And the most important thing is that it is not polluting the environment in any way. As fertilizers and chemicals pollute groundwater causing water pollution and land pollution as well.
Traditional methods also contributes in air pollution by emitted toxic gases by transpiration of chemicals used on them to grow well. As compared to effects and cost of traditional farming, Aeroponics and Hydroponics are better alternatives in order to fight with food security and production of best quality food in environmentally friendly method. This blog contains Pros and Cons of Aeroponics and Aeroponic towers.
Pros of Aeroponics:
Following are the advantages of Aeroponics:
- The crops can grow throughout the year.
- It is technique of sustainable agriculture.
- There is no issue related to oxygen supply.
- It is fast process of growing and also produce healthier crops.
- The running cost is very low.
- Helps to avoid intensive farming on the limited available land.
- This technique helps in utilizing smaller areas for the growth of large number of food crops.
- It is one-time investment and so only need maintenance to let it work properly.
- We can customize the nutrient supply according to the need of the crop.
These are the advantages or pros of Aeroponics.
Cons of Aeroponics:
Following are the disadvantages of Aeroponics:
- The installation cost is high.
- High maintenance cost.
- Needs Experts to operate and monitor it.
- Continuous requirement of monitoring.
- This technique needs skilled professionals for maintaining its Quality Control.
- You need a huge investment to build the set-up for Aeroponics, so most of the people cannot afford it.
- A slight malfunction of the system may lead to damage of whole yield.
These are few cons or disadvantages of Aeroponics.
Conclusion:
Aeroponics is one of the latest techniques of vertical farming. It uses Aeroponic towers to grow crops in vertical direction. The delivery of nutrients is through the nutrient mist that can be customized according to the need of the crop or plant so this technique is Space Saving Technique and help us to fight with the condition of water crisis, food insecurity or less available land for cropping. Hydroponics is another technique that uses water as the soil for growing crops.
The technique of Aeroponics promises great results of crop in case of quality and quantity. But its maintenance cost is very high and need experts to operate and monitor the whole system properly. This technique can be very beneficial in the food insecurity in near future so we should adopt this technique for better results and advancement in farming practices. But a disadvantage of this system is that, everyone and every farmer cannot afford this system because it is very expensive. This blog contains information about Aeroponics, Aeroponic Towers and Pros and Cons of Aeroponics.
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