AEROPONICS SFCC hydriponic clases Caribbean University

Aeroponic description class

1. AEROPONICS
A technique for growing plants without soil or
being submerged in water.

2. CONTENTS
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

3. Aero-what?
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.

4. NASA Inflatable
Aeroponics system
First ever available aeroponic
apparatus – The Genesis
Machine

5. How is Aeroponics different
from Hydroponics?
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.

6. How Aeroponics Works
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.
Did you know this
aeroponic apparatus
was powered by only
tap water and a
microchip?

7. Advantages and
Disadvantages of Aeroponics
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.
♥

8. Advantages Disadvantages
Use of technology speeds up
works and can solve labour
shortage problems
Even though technology has
replaced most of the work,
workers are still needed to
produce, prepare and
package the crops.
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)
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.
♥

9. 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.
♥

10. Environment Impact
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.

11. Challenges faced in
Aeroponics
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.
♥

12. Aeroponics in space
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.

13. Aeroponics on Earth
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.

14. Summary
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.

15. Annotated BIBLOGRAPHY
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, aero-
hydroponics, 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.