Any interest in growing some plants at hive13? I am looking into growing an indoor winter flower garden this winter, and was thinking about trying aeroponics (because it’s cool NASA stuff).
Just wondering. It would make a spiffy project in terms of digital automation (arduino, sensors, solenoids, pumps), and horticulture experimentation (cross breeding, cloning, etc).
Anybody interested?
Lorin
Definitely!!! My brother inlaw is in charge of the growing opperation fo Natorps. He was talking about some of their electronic sensors and i about spit my drink out at the costs.
I didn’t get to make it tonight as I was settling and moving some gear into a new job however will luckily have tuesday nights off and if i set up to work on the weekends it will likely be 3rd shift times.
I’m interested, though I think I would vote for trying Aquaponics over hydroponics…
Are you thinking about the sort where there is a misting spray, or more like the trickling water film?
There is also the question of where to put it. What sort of square footage are you thinking about?
Nancy
Possibly the annex, I hear it gets great waterflow from the roof 
jk
I’m interested
There’s a bunch of aeroponics and hyrdoponics related 3D files on thingiverse.
Are you thinking of using artificial lighting? Or limiting to plants that do OK with window light levels?
Mike
The big advantage to aeroponics is that it takes up very little space. (where the water is sprayed in a fine mist onto the roots). Also, due to no soil or medium, it’s light. Hence why it’s used by NASA. So:
1-2 square feet.
Could make it look nice and put it in the lounge.
Probably artificial LED lights, as our windows have crappy exposure and light.
Lorin
I’d be up for joining in for this.
One thing to note on lighting is you have to pay attention to led color spectrum. Plants need light in the blue and red spectrum, I think the blue is 660wl and the red is 440wl. Those are numbers in my head, but notes are elsewere currently. A lot of LED’s put out very specific color spectrums, and if you don’t check that it will cause lots of issues for plants. I found this out when making several aquarium hoods. Visually they were extremely bright, but my plants were effectively in full shade.
Yes indeed. LED grow lights exist & have come a long way. Yes they are specific blue and red leds, not typical LED bulbs or strips. The proper lights have become cheap and popular, so it’s not really worth it to make them anymore.
Here’s an example of an affordable one:
http://a.co/5z8VAUR
Bright CFLs work too, but not quite as well, and super bright CFL’s would be exceedingly annoying.
Lorin
I tend to grow nightshades – heirloom tobaccos mostly, which are actually beautiful, have many flowers, and smell amazing. I wouldn’t be averse to tomatoes or eggplant or herbs. I typically don’t grow vegetables, though – just not usually my priority.
Outdoors, I also cultivate amazingly hearty poison ivy, but not by choice. This region seems to be shangri-la for poison ivy – seriously, what is up with the ohio valley ecosystem?
A big motivation for me is to fend off the gloomy winter. A ficus just doesn’t cut it.
L
Pffft you didn’t know this is Poison Ivy Home LAND !!! , I can attest to its over developed potency as well even in the middle of winter, and I thank Mother Nature for Jewel Weed !!! and Indian herbal remedy 
Tobacco seeds. OMG Tobacco seeds. I’m not sure the variety that you have, but mine would leave seeds EVERYWHERE. I likely have several hundred seeds in our seed storage currently.
I would think the bathroom might be a nice place to set this up as there is 1) some available space near the glass block wall 2) easy access to water supply and disposal.
It might also be interesting to have a an aeroponic and aquaponic setup for fun since they can both be relatively compact and we can settle arguments about which is better for plants.
Plus then we could have a mix of flowers and herbs. Having Thai Basil or Oregano might be nice for the dishwasher class.
I’m assuming you are thinking the Aero setup would be the 5-gallon bucket method?
Aquaponics is very high maintenance in comparison to aeroponics. Even at hive quality standards.
When I taught middle school science I raised 300 rainbow trout in a 55 gallon tank from fertilized eggs in an aquaponic set up growing lettuces. (Which we later consumed as part of a pizza party event).It's very time consuming work between the cleaning, feeding, testing water quality it's a lot of labor.
I'd love to see it done, im sure you could put in a bunch of sensors to monitor it online but if something goes wrong or a clog forms and you get a leak... who's going to get there in time. These systems can go south very quickly it something bad happens. There would need to be fail dates in place.
I would suggest a field trip, or YouTube search, of the aquaponic set set up at WEST 6TH BREWING in Lexington, ky. They give tours of their set up, it's pretty neat.
I picked up 25x 3" net pots. I will likely have use of half of those, so If anyone else has projects going on let me know and I can supply you with them. Does anyone happen to have any 1/4 neoprene to use as stoppers for the pots?
Will
A mousepad is 1/4" neoprene. I have a couple I’ve saved. I am not in town at the moment, though.
I have sprinklers (misting heads) to mount to PVC for low pressure system, and I put the hive’s water pump in the bathroom by my etching tank. I’m out of town, but will start an aeroponic bucket for hive when I get back. I thought herbs for dishwasher certification class would be the ideal plants. I have not ordered lights. CFLs or Fluorescent tubes work well. I could order some full spectrum Red/Blue PAR LED bulbs from ali express if needed. LMK.
These setups are ideal for rooting clones as well, so if anyone wants to start a plant from cuttings give a shout on the list. I’m probably going to take some cuttings from the neighbor’s hedge and clone them. Heck of a lot cheaper than buying a potted hedge…
Lorin
I have a 24W LED grow light I can donate to the project, appropriate for a
smaller setup:
https://www.amazon.com/Apollo-Horticulture-Spectrum-Indoor-
Growing/dp/B00PBCG8X0
I've been wanting to try some plant cloning! I'm especially interested in
trying to clone weird hybrid veggies and fruits like cotton candy grapes,
which are not commercially available as plants. My understanding is this
would require petri dish culture to get the stem/fruit cells proliferating,
so may need a different setup than what you are doing...
Cheers,
Mike
Lorin apparently uses fancy mouse pads, all of mine were 1/16 of an inch thick. So I ended up ordering Neoprene covers that will be delivered today that are sized for the pots I purchased.
When the light getting delivered down there I can get one system started up.
It would be neat to build a timer from an arduino or the like that we can set advanced schedules for the light and pumps, add a humidity sensor, etc.
Will B
I would like to replicate that arduino for my greenhouse.
I am often here late, and if you would like me to turn on/off that light fixture hovering over the restroom garden, I can do so. I often need to use said facilities, anyhow (I promise to wash my hands, first!)
I wasn’t sure what kind of schedule you want for that light box to be on.
-kerensa
It should be on an automatic time of noon-5pm (I believe). It has been off every evening that I have been in the hive, and the sunday I came down after setting the timer it was on. That said, if the $5 mechanical timer ever failed I would not completely surprised.