The
Future of Growing? Hydroponics Evolved.
Hydroponics
have become synonymous with the idea of illegal growing. This however is
starting to change as the use of hydroponics to grow food at home, especially
indoors, is becoming ever popular. As home usage grows so does the outlook and
the possibilities of using hydroponics to grow food. Large “farms” are popping
up that are entirely indoor. These multi story farms are attempting to push the
boundaries of what we think possible, and in Japan they are making great
strides. In this nation, where space comes at a premium, a 25,000 square feet
building is now housing 18 cultivating racks with 17,500 LED lights to provide
sunlight. This vertical farm, not running at full stride, is producing 10,000
heads of Lettice a day. The LED’s they use are specially made to emit light wavelengths
that are perfect for plant growth
Some say that in essence,
the use of hydroponics is useless due to the need to use tons of water and
electricity to power air pumps needed to give the plants much needed oxygen.
Also because hydroponics are usually used indoors the creation of light is
needed, so more power is needed to run the lights. The squeeze is that why use hydroponics
if they are possibly as bad/wasteful as or even worse than traditional farming?
The team running the vertical farm in Japan has worked to make it better than
farming in the traditional sense. They control the light, so they are able to
tune day and night to perfect growing and breathing cycles. The lighting they
use are 40% more efficient than normal. By having perfect control over the
environment they are able to shrink water usage to 1% normally needed in a
traditional farm and have reduced wasted produce by 50%. With all this in mind
they are able to produce food 2 ½ times faster than normal leading some to
think that this type of farming could be used to help food shortages around the
world.
If you want more
information about how to grow your own hydroponic garden in your home or to
learn more about the vertical farm follow the links below.
Skyler Finney
Oasis Hydroponics Birmingham supplying hydroponic systems, grow lights, grow tents and other indoor gardening supplies. Secure UK based website. http://www.oasishydro.co.uk
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