From 2013hs.igem.org
Hydroponics
When a little kid explains how to grow plants, he usually includes soil in his list of materials. But thanks to hydroponics, this is no longer necessary.
Hydroponics is a system to grow terrestrial plants with their roots inside a mineral nutrient solution in an inert medium, such as gravel, mineral wood, or perlite, instead of soil.
There are many advantages to using hydroponics as opposed to growing plants in soil:
Water either stays in the system, or is reused
Easier to control nutrient levels, especially for aeroponics, and continuous flow hydroponics
Controlled, closed system --> no pollution; no pesticides required
healthy environment to grow --> steady growth of plants, good yield, healthy plant products for consumption
Pests and diseases are easier to get rid of than in soil because of the container's mobility (no need for pesticides)
Types of Hydroponics:
Solution Culture: uses a solution to supply nutrients to plants.
Static: The plant root sits in a jar containing the nutrient-rich solution
algae may form if the water is not covered properly -> must use an opaque cover
Continuous Flow: the solution containing the nutrients flows through a circuit
large storage tank that is separate from the plants
easy to maintain the temperature and nutrient concentration
Aeroponics: roots are sprayed with the nutrient solution
suspended in the air
plants live longer because they get more CO2 and O2 in the air
saves water and nutrients, lowering costs
Medium Culture: Roots are placed in a solid medium, and it is named depending on the specific type of medium used. Examples include sand or gravel culture.
sub-irrigation
top irrigation
Reservoirs can be built with plastic, glass, metal, wood, concrete
Disadvantages:
easy to be over watered (less of a problem for aeroponics, big problem for static system)
Hard to keep different types of plants together ( each requires different pH and nutrient levels); need different containment systems
Requires a lot of machinery to make sure the system is working in perfect order --> very expensive!!!!!. If not:
If something goes wrong in the system, all the plants die very quickly
Without soil, it is easy for the pH and nutrient levels to get messed up
With our bacteria the need for these machines will be eliminated our bacteria will be able to tell us the conditions of the nutrient water and indicate it, allowing us to respond to the condition.