Team Alpha

1. TeamAlpha Alex Marchese Andrea Garcia Kunal Khiyani Rosa Castro Carolina Caputo

2. The Basics of Aeroponics!! • Aeroponics has to be in a dark place so it can be protected from ultraviolet rays. • The temperature is easy to control. • Unlike growing plants with water and soil Aeroponics is based on water and nutrient solutions. • There is a part called the “ dry cycle” that means that the roots are in oxygen in your dark chamber for the plant. • Aeroponics is a system that is a “closed loop” which re-uses the nutrients. • Plants in the Aeroponics system can be growed close together.

3. What is Aeroponics? • A plant system where the roots of plants are misted with a nutrient rich solution to promote growth without the use of a medium. • Aeroponics was first developed in 1942 by W. Carter. • The purpose was to facilitate the easy examination of roots for research purposes, still a primary application of Aeroponics. • In the old day scientists used Aeroponics to grow citrus, avocado apple, coffee, and tomato plants and examine their root structures and test their response to varying levels of moisture. • Because Aeroponics allows the grower to precisely determine water and nutrient concentrations, it is ideal for the study of the effects of drought or flooding on a variety of crops. • www.wisegeek.com/what-is-aeroponics.htm • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/aeroponics

4. History of hydroponics • Hydroponics was developed by two German Scientists in the early 1860’s • Hydroponics was mostly used in China, Asia, and India • Hydroponics came from nutriculture type of planting , they had this idea of hydroponics because they wanted planting without the growing medium. • Hydroponics means water working , they got this name from the Greek. • Scientists started to support this experiment while world war two was beginning.

5. Archeologists in the Aeroponics field • The top picture is a scientist named Keje Skola this shows a Aeroponics space field, they also used it to see how the plants would grow in low gravity, and on Earth. • This is a Aeroponics field as you can see it looks very high tech.

6. History of Aeroponics(: • Aeroponics was discovered by F.W. in 1957 • Aeroponics didn’t immediately became discovered it was a slow moving progress by two different people L.J. Klotz and W.Carter • It was NASA that helped Aeroponics increase there popularity.

7. Benefits of Aeroponics Pros Cons Provides a better growth and greater plant density. Roots are well oxygenated Roots can be taken out easier. The environment is the same for the roots. Bacteria or fungi will infect the roots. You can study a particular nutrient with affect the rest. Since it does not need soil, it helps you grow plants wherever you are. It can be costly. Any slight variations in the water or nutrients, can affect the results. Salt can be accumulated in the nozzles, which can result in the damage of the plants.

8. Common uses of Aeroponics • The most common use is for growing plant without soil. • They use water and they spray the roots of the plant to grow. • The plants have to be in a dark place. • Aeroponics is a type of indoor gardening that removes many of the disadvantages of both traditional soil-based growing and hydroponics growing. • It can be used to grow most types of plants, and provides a controlled environment. • The method is used by growers who need tight control over their plants, and by people who want to remove the need for pesticide use. • Aeroponics also allows for naturally disease free cultivation, since plants are removed from an environment where they could come into contact with diseases. • Common research done in Aeroponics • The NASA is doing research to see how plants grow in low gravity and on Earth to deliver the nutrients to the plants. • They also use it to grow food in the NASA

9. How does an aeroponics growth station work? • There is no soil or growing medium used in an aeroponics growth station. • So then the plants are kept in a growing station. • The plants are grown suspended in the air. • The aeroponics spray nozzles exhaust a fog from the nutrient solution which makes the plants grow quickly.

10. Vegetable Determination The vegetables that our team has chosen to do are Pumpkins, Lettuce, and Squash. These three, after research, came out to be the most likely to grow in our weather in Miami. There are different types of each of the vegetables we are doing. We chose the Simpson Elite Lettuce, the Sweet Sugar Pie Pumpkin, and the Summer Squash. Sweet Sugar Pie Pumpkin Simpson Elite Lettuce Summer Squash