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Hydrofarms

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Hydrofarms are becoming more and more common everyday, especially in areas that have limited access to soil, such as desert and mountain environments. Many islands have a lack of suitable soil for farming as well making them prime spots to set up hydroponic farms. One of the first successful hydrofarms was on Wake Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It was a refueling stop for Pan-American Airlines in the 1930’s but had no suitable soil for farming at all. It was also too remote to ship produce to, for feeding the plane’s passengers, so a hydroponic farm was set up and became very successful even though all the fresh water had to be imported. Hydroponic farms use much less water per plant than a traditional soil farm. PAA set up the first settlement on the island and it survived until the Japanese invaded in WWII because of their hydroponic farm.

Hydro farms have other unique advantages over traditional farms. Although they require a specialized set up and often pumps that have to be run off of electricity, once they are set up they produce much greater crop yields will less water, and the plants still have the same nutritional value, if not better than soil farmed plants. Of course the obvious advantage is that no soil is needed to sustain plant growth, which has allowed for plants to be grown in zero gravity.

Space exploration is one of the areas that are heavily studying hydroponically grown plants and zero-g hydrofarms. It is almost impossible for plants to be grown in soil in zero gravity, the soil just doesn’t stay where it is supposed to and can clog other vital instruments. Aeroponics is the preferred method in space, where the roots are misted with the nutrient solution as opposed to being immersed in fluid. A mist is much easier to control and apply in space since without gravity water just floats around as droplets or in larger blobs and is difficult to contain.

Hydrofarms can be set up almost anywhere, even areas with no sunlight, however a significant source of light is still necessary. Metal halide and high pressure sodium lights are the best at reproducing sunlight, metal halide emits more light in the blue spectrum which is great for plants, while high pressure sodium emits light in the red spectrum which is closer to natural sunlight. Each one requires a great deal of electricity which can be expensive so these are more often employed in winter, to aid the suns natural light, or when plants are grown completely indoors, which is common with plants that are illegal yet still highly sought after, such as marijuana.

Some of the largest hydrofarms specialize in the cultivation of marijuana because of the size of crop it can yield in a small space with no soil. Since no dirt is needed plants can easily and cleanly be brought indoors, and with the addition of lights these plants never see the sun, but are still fruitful and large. Growing marijuana outdoors poses a much greater risk than growing them indoors, and there is no need for pesticides, or worry about contaminated soil. No matter what is grown, hydroponics can increase the yield of the plant and are often easy to maintain.

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