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HECTAR Offers Free Design Plans For Open Source Hydroponics Unit
Felix Wieberneit from the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London imagined a way for U.K. citizens with a limited amount of indoor space to build their own vertical garden and is now making the design free for anyone to download
Among all of the new hobbies picked up during the COVID-19 lockdowns, gardening has to be one of the most popular. Felix Wieberneit from the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London imagined a way for U.K. citizens with a limited amount of indoor space to build their own vertical garden and is now making the design free for anyone to download.
Described as an open-source hydroponics unit, the HECTAR vertical farm is designed especially for interiors to help more people grow healthy food from home. Sponsored by multinational technology company Huawei, the unit is inspired by open-source electronic and 3D printing companies. Open-source describes a type of computer software that’’s released under a special license made to be accessible to the public. HECTAR has since been selected as one of 25 companies in the Imperial College Venture Catalyst Accelerator, a competition for local entrepreneurs.
It looks like a simple shelf, but the innovative hydroponics unit can grow a whopping 120 plants confined to a space the size of a cupboard. Even better, the design is fully modular and can be built using standard parts found in almost any hardware store. Wieberneit hopes the free plans will educate and empower regular people to grow their own food at home, without relying on pricey smart growing systems or seed subscription services. In theory, the unit can save users money in the long run as they cultivate their own edible plants like arugula, lettuce or herbs.
Plans include an instructional video, a bill of materials, and suggestions on where to find the parts. There is also a dedicated forum where users can ask questions if they get stuck or connect with others. The plans officially launched on March 16, and the company is still looking for U.K.-based beta testers to try the designs out for themselves. Those who are interested can download the plans from the HECTAR website, linked below.
10 Crops You Can Grow At Home: Hydroponic Growing
Hydroponic growing is a method of growing plants in nutrient enriched water – just water and nutrients. There’s no soil involved; instead, nutrition is added directly to the water, to make up for what the plants would normally receive from the soil
Growing your own fruit and vegetables at home may be something you’ve considered before, but if you’ve hesitated because of the space the plants will take up or the mess it will make in your home, the good news is that neither of these things needs to stop you. Whether you have no floor space to spare, can’t grow outdoors, or simply don’t consider yourself green-fingered, it’s never been easier to grow your own crops at home.
What is Hydroponic Growing?
Hydroponic growing is a method of growing plants in nutrient-enriched water – just water and nutrients. There’s no soil involved; instead, nutrition is added directly to the water, to make up for what the plants would normally receive from the soil. Many plants will root and grow in something as simple as a glass jar, but you can make your hydroponic system as big or as little as you want.
What can I grow?
You can grow a massive variety of vegetables hydroponically so it really depends on what your favorites are.
Here’s a list of ten common fruit and veggies to get you started:
Lettuce
Probably the most common vegetable to be hydroponically grown, it’s not unusual to find people placing the head of a used lettuce into a glass or jar filled with water and leaving it to regrow. It really is that simple! You can harvest the lettuce as it grows, meaning you can have crispy lettuce leaves to add to your salads or sandwiches without affecting later harvests.
Spinach
As with many leafy vegetables, spinach also grows well in hydroponic systems. It is a cool plant, meaning it does not require much light and likes cool to warm temperatures so storing it near a window is the best option to ensure your spinach flourishes. You can harvest spinach all at once, or tear off some leaves as and when you need it.
Tomatoes
Whether you think of the tomato as a fruit or a vegetable, you can definitely grow it without soil. Many types of tomatoes take well to hydroponic systems, including traditional and cherry tomatoes. Whichever variety you grow, tomatoes require a lot of light. The good news is that, as they are a vine and can be trained to grow upwards, they only require a small amount of ground space.
Cucumber
Given enough space and support, cucumbers will grow abundantly in a hydroponic system – which is no surprise given that it is a water-loving fruit. Cucumber vines grow vertically, so it’s important to ensure they have some sort of structure or support to hold them up.
Peppers
Similar to tomatoes, peppers require lots of light and warm conditions. There are a few varieties or pepper that take well to hydroponic growing, but some of the best are Jalapeno, Habanero, Nairobi, and Fellini.
Celery
Celery is a great way to snack healthy, as well as being a great addition to soups, stir-fries, and stews. The fastest way to grow celery at home is to use the base of the last bunch you had from the grocery store. Simply place the celery on a plate of room temperature water until you see new growth from the roots, and then you can transplant it into your hydro system – even if that just means placing it into a tall glass which can support the celery as it grows.
Radishes
Radishes are one of the easiest vegetables to grow, thriving in cool conditions, and not requiring much light. They are usually harvested within a month, meaning you can have multiple harvests in a year. That being said, if radishes are kept constantly and persistently soaked, rot can become an issue, so make sure it’s the roots that are kept in water, rather than the radish itself.
Spring Onions
When it comes to spring onions, you can use the ends of a shop-bought onion and place it in a glass to allow for regrowth, or you can start them from bulbs. The bulbs and roots will sit down in the water, whilst the leafy green stems will rise upward: this makes it possible to grow a lot in a small amount of space.
Kale
Kale is another leaf that is easy to grow in a hydroponic system; in fact, it has been farmed hydroponically for years. The crop grows relatively quickly, and will happily regrow if you only harvest a couple of leaves at a time.
Strawberries
As strawberries enjoy wet conditions, they actually thrive in a hydroponic system; they provide bigger fruits than when grown in soil and can provide harvest all year round. Using a hydroponic system also means that strawberry plant containers can be stacked vertically, saving you floor space.
Hydroponic growing is becoming more popular due to the fact that in can be done from anywhere and doesn’t need to take up a lot of space. It’s a great way to get the satisfaction of growing your own crops, without needing a large gardening space.
We at the Nick Greens Grow Team understand that not everyone has the space to grow their own crops, but the joy of hydroponics is the simplicity of the process. Want to learn more about growing plants in water systems? Stay up-to-date with our weekly blog articles, and subscribe to our YouTube channel to learn more.
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VIDEO: Vertical Farming: The Only Way Is Up
Just like we've grown accustomed to living in compartments stacked directly on top and beside each other so too are lettuce and herbs
by Jasmine Reimer
Trends - /March 2, 2020
Just like we've grown accustomed to living in compartments stacked directly on top and beside each other so too are lettuce and herbs.
Agriculture is going vertical. Why? Because it saves water, increases efficiency, and provides us with fresh, local produce.
Vertical farming is the practice of producing food on upright surfaces. Instead of farming in a field, vertical farming grows plants stacked in layers, in structures like shipping containers or warehouses.
If this seems like an insignificant shift, unlikely to produce much effect, consider this: by 2050 the world's population is expected to grow by another 2 billion people.
Feeding everyone will be challenging. Vertical farming could be a solution.
What is vertical farming?
Assembled layer by layer under candy-colored lights, vertical farming has become an increasingly popular way for food producers to reduce costs related to space and energy consumption while increasing growth rates and nutrient values.
Of the many companies that are testing out this innovative farming method, Urban Crops uses a conveyor-like system to hold baby plants under LED ultraviolet lights. Their system is automated and relies on technology to program lighting and growing conditions specific to each species. And because they don't heat up, the bulbs can be placed closer to the leaves to encourage optimal light absorption.
In addition to not having to maintain an entire plot of land, Urban Crops boasts that vertical farming yields more crops per square meter than traditional farming or greenhouses. It also grows plants faster and can be used year-round. In theory, vertical farming can be practiced anywhere, which means that water-restricted locations can still harvest produce. Vertical farming uses up to 95% less water than traditional methods.
As Urban Crops' Chief Executive Maartin Vandecruys points out:
“Basically… every day is a summer's day without a cloud in the sky."
CES 2020: LG are launching exciting new indoor gardening technology.
While vertical farming could be the future of large-scale agriculture, companies like Urban Crops are also hoping that non-farming folk like yourself will be interested in investing in DIY versions. Because, while it makes sense to grow salad greens and edible flowers, trying to grow other foods like wheat for bread isn't yet an option: “At 10 cents a kilowatt-hour, the amount of energy it would take to produce wheat would [translate to] something like $11 for a loaf of bread," states, Vandecruys. Nonetheless, vertical farming could mean big changes in the way you think about “local" produce.
Vertical farming helps reduce the amount of questions for the consumer including its provenance, growing conditions and harvest date.
Data is useless unless you put it to work
Around the world, data-driven technologies are being used to keep indoor farming afloat. Detailed, real-time data collected via artificial intelligence, location services and IoT technology is used to analyze and produce better feeding models and optimal configurations, i.e. the concentration and scheduling of light and ratio of nutrients. Most recent is IoT company n.thing's Planty Cube, launched at this year's CES 2020.
Leo Kim, n.thing's CEO, came up with the idea for Planty Cube after creating an IoT-enabled smart pot called “Planty Square."
Planty Cube is a smart hydroponic vertical farm that relies on data from farming logs, which are fed back into a database called the “Cube Cloud" and analyzed with AI to help farmers determine optimal growing conditions. As the user adds more Planty Cubes to the vertical farm, this real-time, cloud-based system makes it easier for the grower to manage the overall farm, even remotely.
But even prior to sowing seeds, technology can help vertical farmers and consumers alike.
Automation, tracking and AI technology also opens up the potential to locate farms in urban, industrial, and even domestic spaces that can produce crops all year round.
This has the possibility to truly change the way cities source food. Most urban supermarkets are supplied from distributors around the world. Local indoor farms could decrease reliance on imports and reduce carbon emissions from transportation.
In the future, I hope to see supermarkets filled with vertical farms of their own.
The ups and downs of growing up
The vertical farming industry is booming. However, there are realities to consider before growing on a professional scale:
What are you growing and for whom?
Before you invest, do some market research. Get a sense of who your customers will be and your price point. Basically, if you can't sell it, you shouldn't grow it.
What is your distribution plan?
How will you physically get your produce to your customers? Find out who your end customers are and keep your farm as close to them as possible. Being local is an integral component to your success but this may present further challenges such as high cost of land, poor soil quality, and resource restrictions.
Will your building meet your needs?
Remember, indoor farming requires substantial amounts of power: lighting, pumps, HVAC, automation equipment, fans, computers etc. Not all buildings are equipped with the type of electricity you require. And if you're serious about getting into the vertical farming industry, you need to plan for future expansions.
Fortunately, vertical farming is being supported by more than just salad-starved individuals like me; location services and tracking technology are helping farmers retain high yields and prepare for the future.