Anyone looked into aeroponics?

[conwy]

Definition: A technique for growing plants without soil or hydroponic media. The plants are held above a system that constantly mists the roots with nutrient-laden water.

As crazy as it may sound, it looks to be indeed possible to grow vegetables/fruits with only mists of water.



Found a pair of videos on YouTube demonstrating a pretty low-cost setup of plants growing in PVC elbows sticking out of holes drilled in a plastic barrel, with water periodically sprayed through a hose, controlled with a water timer.

I'm considering eventually building one of these myself. Perhaps it could even be powered by a solar pump, to be totally off the grid.

One downside is that it seems to require prepackaged nutrients that are dissolved into the water. Whereas I would prefer a somewhat more closed, self-sustaining system that doesn't depend on externally manufactured and possible costly delivery of nutrients.

Any general thoughts?

[jennypenny]

I've only seen it done in a large greenhouse.

Here you can see the roots of the plants hanging down. They were on a track and circulated through a mister that looked like a small plastic shower (sorry, no picture of that part).



Here are some plant towers without the roots exposed who also rotated through misters on tracks.

[ThisDinosaur]

I looked into it. Appears to be more work and more expensive than old fashioned potting soil.