Aeroponics: Growing Plants in Air

Aeroponics is an advanced form of hydroponics that uses nutrient-rich mists instead of water. Unlike hydroponics and aquaponics, it uses no growing medium. Cultivators plant the seeds in pieces of foam stuffed into small pots. While the plant crown remains exposed to light, the roots get nourishment from the periodical spraying of nutrient-rich water or fine, high-pressure mist.

The inspiration for this method came from NASA trials on crop cultivation in space. Aeroponics also promotes faster plant growth than the above methods and is highly water-efficient

Traditional aeroponic farms use nozzles to fire the nutrient solution at the roots under high pressure, but this can be unreliable because of issues with clogging and breaking, according to India Langley of LettUs Grow.

We use ultrasonic technology – sounds above 20,000Hz – which shakes a very small layer of water and fertiliser to form a mist, she says. This travels to the plant root but allows them to have enough oxygen. All the water that is circulating is recaptured, and less water is used because the roots are not submerged.

LettUs Grow's technology is most commonly used to produce salads, herbs, and microgreens, to start off young trees, and to propagate crops such as coffee and bananas for research trials. The controlled climate allows plants to grow independently of day length and weather patterns.

Aeroponic technology has been around since the 1920s, and has been key to NASA's plans for space exploration. Its aim is to provide fresh food for astronauts on long-term missions, but it also hopes to benefit from the other life-giving attribute of plants: their ability to produce oxygen. Growing plants in space is an extreme version of coping with resource loss and shows what can be achieved without soil and with limited inputs. If plants can be grown successfully without soil or gravity, and with only small amounts of water, it gives hope that Earth-bound growers can rise to the challenge of land degradation and climate change.