ALL ABOUT VERTICAL FARMING…
ABOUT VERTICAL FARMING
Vertical Farming is the practice of growing crops in vertically stacked layers.
It often incorporates controlled-environment agriculture, which aims to optimize plant growth, and soilless farming techniques such as hydroponics, aquaponics, and aeroponics.
The main advantage of utilizing vertical farming technologies is the increased crop yield that comes with a smaller unit area of land requirement.
The increased ability to cultivate a larger variety of crops at once because crops do not share the same plots of land while growing is another sought-after advantage.
Additionally, crops are resistant to weather disruptions because of their placement indoors, meaning fewer crops are lost to extreme or unexpected weather occurrences.
Because of its limited land usage, vertical farming is less disruptive to the native plants and animals, leading to further conservation of the local Flora and Fauna.
LIGHTS IN VERTICAL FARMING: LED LIGHTS
Purple color boosts the plant’s growth, increasing it where it’s needed. It provides the plant with a mixture of blue and red lights while avoiding excessive lighting for the rest of the plant.
Plants ‘see’ a lot wider spectra of colors than humans do. They use wavelengths from the hyperspectral range, including ultraviolet and infrared spectrum, in addition to the ones seen by people.
Studies show that the most important colors for plant development are blue and red. You can find blue at the beginning of the visible spectra at wavelengths from 450 to 495 nm (nanometers).
Red is at the very end of the same spectra, between 620 and 750 nm. these regions of the spectra are called photosynthetically active radiation (par). By taking one blue and one red LED, their colors combine and emit purple light.
Current applications of vertical farming coupled with other state-of-the-art technologies, such as specialized led lights, have resulted in over 10 times the crop yield than would receive through traditional farming methods.
Purple light LEDs are produced straightforwardly. Blue monochromatic led chips radiate light onto red phosphor, which combined produce a purple light.
Those are high-powered LEDs used for brighter light output. An alternative is to use only blue and red bulbs, one next to another, on a led strip. These would be low-powered LEDs, mostly used as indicators or in smaller farming facilities.
BEST LIGHT SPECTRUM FOR PLANTS GROWTH
Both blue and red colors are vital for photosynthesis. Chlorophyll, light-absorbing bodies in green parts of the plant, suck up these colors and deflect green wavelengths. We discern green color because it bounces off of a surface and returns to our eyes. Blue color has a shorter wavelength than red.
It also has a higher frequency which means it also carries more energy. It’s important in the process of photosynthesis, but most of all, it is needed for growth regulation. Green plant organs, like stems and leaves, grow thicker, shorter, and greener when exposed to more blue light.
These traits are desirable when it comes to the production of houseplants, especially ornamental pot plants. On the other hand, the red color has a longer wavelength, a lower frequency, and carries less energy than blue.
This energy allows the plant to grow flowers and strengthen the stems responsible for fruit-carrying. It also increases the effectiveness of photosynthesis, which allows better sunlight-to-energy conversion in chlorophyll.
In contrast to the blue color, red bolsters the organ growth, which makes leaves thinner and larger, which increases the plant in length. By combining red and blue into purple color, plants get all the necessary light they need for healthy growth.
It’s important to differentiate between purple LEDs and ultraviolet lamps. First off, purple and ultraviolet are not the same color. LED lights generally use very little electricity.
They are extremely efficient for their cost and require minimal space, which makes them perfect for vertical farming. LEDs are well known for not producing too much heat.
Purple, or blue-red ones, are no exception. In general, light sources that don’t produce infrared radiated (IR) light don’t heat their surroundings by much. For example, incandescent bulbs use 83% of the power to produce IR light, making them hot on the touch.
MH & HPS GROW LIGHTS
Even in the growing era of LED grow light technology, many hydroponic growers prefer the gas-charged high-pressure sodium (HPS) or metal halide (MH) grow light systems, especially for larger commercial applications.
The intensity, broad-spectrum, and light consistencies make HPS or MH lighting suitable throughout the entire plant cycle. This means that the same grow light system can be used from the cloning or seedling stage through the plant’s maturity and harvest.
The main difference between these two types of grow lights is the spectrum they produce. MH grow lights produce a blue spectrum, perfect for vegetative growth, whereas HPS grow lights emit a red spectrum, ideal for flowering or blooming.
The differences in the spectrum are due to the type of gas in each tube. Growers should have both types of hid lights to grow a healthy plant. MH and HPS grow lights will require a ballast for operation.
Without a ballast, the HID grow lights will have an unregulated current, leading to them burning out almost immediately.
The ballast keeps the current at a safe level, ensuring a long healthy life of up to 10,000 hours of your MG or HPS grow lights.
Double-ended (DE) grow lights are powered by wires on either end of the bulb, resulting in more intense light.
Single-ended (SE) grow lights are screwed into one end like a typical light bulb. Generally, the commercial grower will find the de grow light provides more flexibility and a brighter, more efficient light.
HPS, MH and other gas-charged grow light systems require the use of a grow light reflector.
Light is emitted 360 degrees from an HID grow light tube and the light from the top of the tube will illuminate the ceiling of the grow room, which is a waste.
Reflectors for HPS or MH grow lights redirect this wasted light back down onto the plant, increasing efficiency.
TECHNIQUES OF VERTICAL FARMING: HYDROPONICS
Hydroponics refers to the technique of growing plants without soil. In hydroponic systems, the roots of plants are submerged in liquid solutions containing macronutrients, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, potassium, calcium, and magnesium, as well as trace elements, including iron, chlorine, manganese, boron, zinc, copper, and molybdenum.
Additionally, inert (chemically inactive) mediums such as gravel, sand, and sawdust are used as soil substitutes to provide support for the roots.
Advantages of hydroponics:
Maximizes space
Conserves water
Facilitates a micro-climate
Produces higher yields
Produces higher quality food
TECHNIQUES OF VERTICAL FARMING: AQUAPONICS
Aquaponics takes hydroponics one step further by integrating the
Production of terrestrial plants with the production of aquatic
Organisms in a closed-loop system that mimics nature itself.
Nutrient-rich wastewater from the fish tanks is filtered by a solid removal unit and then led to a bio-filter, where toxic ammonia is converted to nutritious nitrate. While absorbing nutrients, the plants then purify the wastewater, which is recycled back to the fish tanks.
The plants consume carbon dioxide produced by the fish, and water in the fish tanks obtains heat and helps the greenhouse maintain the temperature at night to save energy.
Many definitions of aquaponics recognize the ‘ponics’ part of this word for hydroponics which is growing plants in water with a soil-less media. Hydroponics is its own growing method with pros and cons.
Aquaponics represents the relationship between water, aquatic life, bacteria, nutrient dynamics, and plants that grow together in waterways all over the world. Taking cues from nature, aquaponics harnesses the power of bio-integrating these individual components: exchanging the waste by-product from the fish as food for the bacteria, to be converted into a perfect fertilizer for the plants, to return the water in a clean and safe form to the fish.
TECHNIQUES OF VERTICAL FARMING: AEROPONICS
Both hydroponics and aquaponics have clear benefits over soil-based gardening: lessened, adverse environmental impacts, reduced consumption of resources, faster plant growth, and higher yields.
Many believe that aquaponics is a better option than hydroponics when choosing a soilless growing system. Aquaponics use 1/6th of the water to grow eight times more food per acre compared to traditional agriculture. All-natural fertilizer source from fish waste. No reliance on mined and manufactured fertilizers. Efficient, sustainable, and highly productive.
According to NASA, plants grow up to 3x faster in aeroponic growing systems compared to in soil. Plus, yields are more consistent, and, with grow lights, year-round growing is possible. Aeroponics has a higher yield than aquaponics. ... The advantage of aquaponics is raising fish and growing crops at the same time.
The advantage of this system we are getting plants easily get nutrition from the fish waste as well as plant control and reduced the ammonia load for the fish tank. Although hydroponics is the clear winner in terms of reusing water, aeroponics consumes less.
Depending on your garden's size, you might be able to use up to 25% less water with aeroponics than with hydroponics. You'll also require fewer nutrients since it is gently misted rather than washed over the roots.
