Transcript Aeroponics - MRTYRRELL.COM

ANNAPHANTS
Anna Ling; Lucy Jun; Nicholas O; Kota Abe
A technique for growing plants without
soil or being submerged in water.

Aero-what?

How is Aeroponics different from Hydroponics?

How Aeroponics Works

Advantages and Disadvantages of Aeroponics

Environment Impact

Challenges faced in Aeroponics

Aeroponics in space

Aeroponics on Earth

Summary
 Did
you know the word aeroponic is Latin?
“Aero” means “air”, and “ponic” means
“culture”. So “aeroponic” means “air
culture”!
 Aeroponics
is the process of growing crops
suspended in the air or in a mist without
using soil. The roots of the crops are sprayed
with nutrients at regular intervals. It is a
type of high-technology farming.
NASA Inflatable
Aeroponics system
First ever available aeroponic
apparatus – The Genesis
Machine
 Although
the words may sound alike,
hydroponics is grown in water, and uses
water as a growing medium to convey
essential minerals to sustain plant growth.
 Aeroponics is conducted without a growing
medium.
 A medium is an agency by which something is
accomplished, conveyed, or transferred.
Did you know this
aeroponic apparatus
was powered by only
tap water and a
microchip?
Aeroponic grown crops are suspended while a
nutrient solution is delivered by sprayer nozzles,
thus surrounding the roots with a fine mist of
nutrients for the roots to absorb to grow.
Advantages
Disadvantages
Crops are grown close
together, so more crops can
be grown.
A lot of money is needed to
set-up an aeroponics farm.
Plants are not exposed to soil
disease or bacteria, so no
pesticide is needed, which
means healthier crops.
Many consumers believe that
aeroponically grown plants
are not as nutritious as other
grown plants.
The crops mature faster,
which means there will be
more harvests.
Maintenance of an aeroponics
farm is very expensive.
♥
Advantages
Use of technology speeds up
works and can solve labour
shortage problems
Aeroponics allows more
control of the crop roots
whereas other plant growth
systems do not, as the plant
roots are not constantly
surrounded or in by some
medium. (For example, in
hydroponics, the roots are
always in water)
Disadvantages
Even though technology has
replaced most of the work,
workers are still needed to
produce, prepare and
package the crops.
The machinery used to mass
produce the crops are very
elaborate. The machinery
also tends to malfunction.
Aeroponics requires precise
regulation and control of
water and nutrients, and if
the machinery has a slight
malfunction, the plants may
be very damaged in a short
time.
♥
Advantages
Disadvantages
If a plant is affected with
bacteria, removing it will not
affect nearby crops.
The aeroponic system is more
user-friendly as the plants are
all seperated, they are all
suspended in the air and the
roots of the plants are not in
anything like soil or water. Also,
the harvesting of crops is
simple.
♥
 Aeroponic
growing is safe and ecologically
friendly and also produces natural, organic
and healthy crops.
 Aeroponics is ecologically friendly because of
the conservation of water and energy.
 When compared to hydroponics, aeroponics
requires less water and uses less energy
inputs per sq meter of growing area.
 The
profit made by farms all depend on how
much crop is produced, so if a machinery
malfunctions, and a large crop is destroyed,
there is a chance the farm will face a loss.
 Machinery
must be carefully inspected
everyday to make sure the machinery works
properly.
♥
 In
1999,R. Stoner (developer of aeroponics),
funded by NASA, developed an inflatable
low-mass aeroponic system (AIS) for space
and earth for high performance food
production.
 The inflatable nature of the innovation
makes it lightweight, and can be deflated to
take up less space for easy transportation
and storage.
 There was also another aeroponic system for
use in space, but it was hard to transport and
store it, thus making it very problematic.
 Aeroponics
is mainly used in countries where
water and land are scarce. The countries are
also usually rich.
 Examples of such countries are Japan and
Singapore.
Aeroponic growing allows plants and crops to
grow without the use of pesticide and thus it will
be disease free. The crops will grow in a natural
healthy manner as the aeroponic system is very
similar to nature environmental conditions.
 As aeroponics is conducted in air combined with
micro-droplets of water, almost any plant can
grow to maturity in air with a plentiful supply of
carbon dioxide, water and nutrients.
 Furthermore, aeroponics helps conserve water,
land and nutrients, so the aeroponics system is
the way of the future, making cutivation of crops
easier.

Any questions?
1. How is Aeroponics different from Hydroponics?
2. What is one advantage of Aeroponics?
3. What is one disadvantage of Aeroponics?
4. What is a challenge faced in Aeroponics?
1. Aeroponics is conducted without a growing
Medium, while hydroponics is grown in water as
a growing medium.
2.
3.
4.
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♥
1. Aeroponics : Definition and Much More from Answers.com.
[http://www.answers.com/topic.aeroponics], Accessed on 17 October 2007.
Information found at the site was the definition of aeroponics, the animation of how
aeroponic works, how aeroponics is different from hydroponics, environment
impact, challenges faced in aeroponics, aeroponics in space and aeroponics in
earth.
2. What is Aeroponics? hydroponics, hydro, hydrogardening, aeroponics, aerohydroponics, grow ligh. [http://www.gthydro.com/whatisaeroponics.htm],
Accessed on 15 October 2007.
The site provided our presentation with the information on how aeroponic works.
3. Hydroponics :: View topic = Issue 5: Aeroponics.
[http://hydroponics.com.au/php/viewtopic.php?t=8], Accessed on 18 October 2007.
Information which was found at this site was majority of the advantages and
disadvantages of Aeroponics.
4. The Blue Marble 2
The book provided a few of the advantages and disadvantages of Aeroponics.