Hydroponic Rooms to Be The Next Big Trend in Home Design
What are the 3 trends colliding in 2016 to create the next big trend in home design?
We like to make predictions for the next year and this one seems to be a no brainer. Over the past 12 months, we have witnessed a significant amount of chatter among the media and believe that these 3 factors will collide to become one of the hottest new trends in home design. The world is evolving, yet there are a few fundamentals that are feeding into these predictions.
Our initial indicator that something is about to change was the explosion of interest for reducing carbon footprints a few years ago in regards to how far our food travels before arriving at the grocery. Think about how much lettuce needs to travel from California to Georgia.
This awareness has led to much of our commercial food distribution for lettuce to be rethought. A company based out of Atlanta, has stepped up to the plate and begun to use hydroponics to grow lettuce. Located pretty much in the middle of nowhere south of downtown and east of the Atlanta airport is a hydroponic farm of the future. And yes, it’s legal.
As the company’s founder became a new father in charge of his family’s grocery shopping; he quickly realized that a majority of the food in the local grocery was from other parts of the world and could only imagine how much jet fuel it took to get those products on his local grocery store. Read the article to learn how using LED grow lights helps his company grow all year long in Atlanta.
The second indicator that is fueling our prediction for Hydroponics becoming a big trend in home design is the concern around antibiotics, pesticides and E. coli risks of contamination of our food sources. Vegetables seem to be always in the news and this leads to our prediction that once people understand it really is easy to build a cheap homemade hydroponic system at home. We have some pictures in that link; which leads us to our third factor.
The third factor leading us to believe that “Hydroponic Rooms” will be the next big building trend is that these homemade hydroponic systems are ugly.
Guys, we know you don’t really care about having those deep water culture (DWC) buckets across the patio or even care about locating a grow tent with LED grow lights in a small corner basement to enjoy your own indoor gardening.
Ladies, we believe that you (1) really do care about the aesthetic looks of a hydroponics system, (2) want the benefits of growing and controlling the growth of your vegetables and produce and (3) would love to have a constant supply of only the freshest of vegetables without needing the daily or weekly trip to the grocery store.
These 3 factors lead us to believe that Hydroponic Grow Room are the next trend in home design!
We rest our case and can’t wait to watch this trend unfold over the next year. By the way, think about all of those home theater rooms that no longer get used; hence a lot of homes have the space already!
There are 4 main factors driving the hydroponic growing trends for 2016. Aside from the fact that hydroponic gardening and farming takes less water, less space and even can produce better tasting products, it can also be highlighted as an economic driver for many local communities ready to embrace the future needs of a growing population with a higher value placed on healthy food. In choosing the top 4 factors driving hydroponic growing trends, we’ve religiously read the local news feeds from across the US and through a combined 20 hours of intensive research and review of commonly reported statistics (and sometimes very boring statistics) we think the following 4 sets of articles help paint the future picture of hydroponics.
Since our blog’s start in 2014, we have noticed that there are 4 particular factors that are driving the trends emerging into reality, which we believe will set the stage for the following few years and wanted to call them out along with 4 articles (and 1 video) that we hope you will enjoy and inspire you to support the hydroponics revolution (okay, so it might not be a revolution…yet.)
(click for high resolution photo for sharing)
Just like we searched online to bring you the best hydroponic supply products in the hydroponic system shop section of our blog, we have also searched the web to find you our Top 4 rated “Best Hydroponic News Stories” that help frame the future prediction for accelerated hydroponic growth in 2016.
NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF HYDROPONICS
The first factor we wanted to highlight is highlight and focus on the necessity for driving our food production from the fields to controlled environments to help grow 365 days per year.
In a commercial setting; this type of trend is ranging from start-up companies retrofitting old retail store buildings (these are the places people went to shop before Amazon) with hydroponic and LED grow light systems to regionally focused companies buying old fashioned cargo containers that can host large vertical farms inside, which can then be easily shipped around the world to locations that may not have historically been able to produce food (think lettuce being grown in Alaska in January).
FRESH PRODUCE IN THE WINTER
We believe that with the global weather patterns changing and the more extreme types of weather (droughts in California where our lettuce used to be grown) happening around the world, it will only make sense to bring our food sources closer to the communities we live and place them in more controlled environments. It costs a lot of money to ship a head of lettuce to Alaska in the winter and it probably will not show up that fresh, but if we had the capability to grow lettuce in an old retail store in Alaska – that would be amazing for those individuals to enjoy fresh lettuce in the winter.
The following article, which was recently published in TechCrunch, quotes a another fantastic statistic that we think will set the stage for accelerated growth for the hydroponics industry. Particularly, the fact that the earth will house nearly 9.7 billion people by 2050, which will drive the demand for food production over the next 4 decades to be more than has ever been produced in the prior 10,000 (ten thousand… that is not a typo) years.
HOMEMADE HYDROPONIC SYSTEMS FROM RECYCLED MATERIALS
As you can see, commercial farms are beginning to embrace hydroponics and we will all feel the benefits at the grocery store in the future with fresher, cheaper and tastier food options all year long (think fresh organic blueberry pie in December.) Now we want to also think about the individuals who want to grow their own sources of food on a balcony, in a basement or in their kitchen with the help from hydroponics and LED technology. Most folks who start to grow hydroponically either start with a store bought kit; however many folks that read our blog want to create their own homemade hydroponic system.
We have found that the DIY and home hydroponic enthusiast is also benefitting from starting their homemade hydroponic system with much cheaper LED grow lights now available, affordable grow tents (check out these grow tents available on Amazon to compare and price) made by an ever increasing number of manufactures and simple hydroponic systems that can be made from components found online or at the local hardware and pet stores.
When it comes to a backyard homemade hydroponic system, we think you will love the ideas documented in this University of Florida publication paper describing (with pictures for each stage) on how to build a low-cost vertical soilless system for growing vegetables and small fruit using… recycled plastic bottles!
The team does a great job showing pictures for every stage for building the vertical “grow bottle” hydroponic system.
[quote ]There is nothing you can’t grow hydroponically.[/quote]
CHEATING THE SEASONS – WITH TECHNOLOGY
Since many of our readers indicated that they would like to see more video, we have included a video recently produced along with this article on Fox5NY and embedded it below. This Long Island vertical farm featured in the video is growing 6,000 heads of lettuce per week!
Here are four of our favorite quotes from the video:
1. “Growing hydroponically allows farmers to cheat the seasons.”
2. “There is nothing you can’t grow hydroponically”
3. “Hydroponic farming in general has been on the upswing in general, particularly because of severe weather patterns”
4. “As with any kind of farming, it starts with a seed. There are also no pesticides.”
FARM IN A BOX: Shipping containers are reused for fresh produce
The previous 3 articles really help show how hydroponics makes sense (did you hear in the video embedded above how it takes 50 gallons of water to grow vs. only 1 to 2 gallons hydroponically) and is actually a much more efficient way to grow a food supply locally and all year long. Technology also plays an important role now since the conditions can be controlled and monitored from the farmer’s smartphone anywhere in the world.
THE FUTURE OF HYDROPONICS
It is now easy to start thinking about the new possibilities for the future farm.
The future farm could be on your roof, in the old retail store on the North side of town or even in your neighbor’s empty lot. There is also a new trend in future farming that is growing through the use of special LED grow lights that are much more affordable than historic grow light bulbs.
Many systems even use solar power to generate the power needed to run these little LED grow lights that duplicate the sun’s rays. One company is now reusing those old cargo containers (remember when the economy was in full swing and we used these containers to transport products from China) as farms in a box. From Atlanta to Alaska, there are articles featuring these new kinds of farms that benefit from a controlled environment and can be customized for hot, cold and dark environments.
Climate controls, automated lighting and irrigation systems, and mobile apps for monitoring and maintaining crops remotely also allow farmers to grow year-round with minimal oversight.
We hope you enjoyed these 4 articles. We believe they provide a great foundation and frame up the future need for embracing hydroponics as it will become an integral part of our food production whether it be accessed in the product sold in your grocery store, grown in your backyard or bought from your local farmer’s market.
Compare Grow Light and LED Grow Lights For Sale online and through video before you buy.
We are always searching for the best products for growing hydroponically and our guys found some great grow lights to shop and a few informational videos that we thought would be great to share and hopefully help you in your online research.
We love the following comparison video that compares the LED to the HPS grow light. Which one do you think grows a better tomato? Thanks to an AdvanceLED YouTube channel for sharing these great videos.
AdvanceLED also provides a video describing the difference between names and numbers. This is well worth your time to review prior to purchasing your grow lights this year.
We also found a couple of other short videos on the AdvanceLED YouTube channel that we wanted to feature and encourage you to jump over and subscribe to their YouTube channel. This short video on the right (we think is the best) shows how quick an LED light system set up is compared to the HID grow light system. This time lapse video says it all!
Share your Grow Light experience with us on Facebook!
We love reading about all the coolest hydroponic trends around the country; so we decided to start our own Top 5 Coolest Hydroponic Project Trends in 2016.
These are our first set of trends pulled from Twitter so that you can retweet any that you find as a favorite hydroponic trend.
We surf online daily and like to find cool videos featuring hydroponics to share with our visitors. This video is from YouTube, Molly Gagliano, who recorded a 4th grader explaining their new hydroponic system in a class room. Way to go Molly and class! This is short and we wanted to help get your views up on YouTube!
Two very different schools benefit from hydroponics
We love reading the hydroponic news online and would like to share articles that our visitors may find of some interest – because we love these stories, we want to share the positive impact hydroponics has on the schools across the country.
The first article we love is from Ironwood, Michigan (with a population around 5,400) where local State Police donated hydroponic system equipment and grow lights to the local Ironwood schools. The school hopes to use the equipment to raise their own fruits and vegetables for snacks. Read Entire Article Here
The second article is from Stony Brook University where they report that in late August, a former shipping container made its way onto campus. This container will be the home to grow over 2000 heads of lettuce all grown in water and controlled through a smartphone app. Check out the picture of the container and read more from the sbpress.com Read Entire Article Here
Emily Donaldson is looking to grow both hydroponics and aquaponics education in the local Vermont schools; however needs some growth fuel! As the article states, “she turned her interests into a non-profit bringing ideas for sustainable development into schools. She calls it Cultivating Action. It started with the building of a hydroponic system in her old school.”
Read more about Cultivating Action at: http://www.cultivatingaction.com/index.html who has a goal to “Place an aquaponics system in every public school in VT by the end of 2017”.
Thursday’s unveiling of 8,400-square-foot West Kingston facility is first step for Atlantic Produce
Original Source: Providence Journal
By Paul Grimaldi
Journal Staff Writer Posted Sep. 16, 2015 at 11:47 amUpdated Sep 16, 2015 at 5:34 PM
A Massachusetts entrepreneur has staked out territory in Rhode Island for a new agricultural business he said will help Americans change the way they grow and consume produce.
The hydroponic greenhouse operated by Atlantic Produce near the University of Rhode Island in is the first commercial one in the state, according to the R.I. Department of Environmental Management.
Lewis Valenti, the founder of Atlantic Produce, is working with URI on the prototype for a hydroponic growing facility that can grow lettuce and other greens, in a chemical-free environment, year-round.
On Thursday, state officials will join URI administrators as they unveil the 8,400-square-foot facility in West Kingston, near the URI campus.
Homemade Hydroponic System for Beginners: A Step-by-Step Guide
Many people think that making a homemade hydroponic system is difficult to make on their own, and it needs extensive knowledge about equipment and gardening. Here is a quick and simple step-by-step guide for hydroponic newbies that helps you get going on the right foot.
[After reading this, check out our own pictures and experience from last season trying our own homemade hydroponic system n the “How To Make A Homemade Hydroponic System Cheap” blog post]
Determining the Plant to Be Grown
It is first essential to know the plant that you are going to grow in your hydroponic system. It is important to determine the type of plant and assess if you are going to grow them in a single system or scatter them using multiple systems. After deciding the type of plant that you will grow, decide the number of plant that you will grow for each type. You may want to have at least six to ten plant types per system, but this depends largely on the area for your hydroponic system.
Area Estimation
Estimate the size of the area where you will grow these plants. For example, a combination of 66 cabbages and silver beet can be grown in five pipes four inches round and three meters long by two meters wide. The whole unit in this instance is six meters. Measure and make a mark for the holes in each pipe. Leave about an inch for the spaces in between holes. Holes are generally four inches in diameter, and this corresponds to the measurement of the pot, which is also four inches. For the first month of your hydroponic system, utilize a shade cloth to prevent direct sunlight, especially in summer seasons where sun emits a significant amount of radiation that may damage the sprout.
Create your own hydroponic solution that is a combination of fertilizer and water. The strength and the PH should be accurately determined to make it ideal. The strength should be in an average of 24 CF, and the PH should be around 5.5 to 6.5 test using a paper PH strip. The CF can be measured using a CF meter. Make sure these levels are not just estimated.
Growing and Harvesting
Rinse the seedlings carefully to remove debris and dirt before putting them in the hydroponic medium. Make sure you don’t scrub the seeds because it may damage the roots. Never use chlorinated water to rinse the seeds because it may affect its growth. It is important to control the chemical balance of the hydroponic solution by checking it every day.
Make sure that you add a significant amount of water every day to keep the solution balanced since water mostly evaporates. Keep pest and bugs away as your plant grow. The full growth of your plant may take about four to six months. After harvesting, never forget to top rinse the entire hydroponic system and flush it with peroxide to destroy bacteria and mold.
Hydroponics Systems for Beginners: Where is a Good place to Start for Building or Buying your First Hydroponic Garden?
A great place to start building your hydroponic system is right at your backyard. This is a good place to start because you can easily access your garden whenever you need to. A good area is wide grassy backyard not frequented by pets. The location that is ideal is an area that is not covered with large trees and is not blotted out of the sun.
[Tip: Grow tents will help you grow inside all year long and all day long while keeping the bugs away]
There are many manufacturers that sell expensive hydroponic systems. A good place to start researching cheap and affordable hydroponic systems is right here in our deep water culture hydroponic system shop.
Thanks to readers like you, our blog has now become so popular that we started to shop online ourselves and handpick many products to include in our very own marketplace. A few years ago this was not possible, but today, there are so many products to compare if you decide to cheat a little bit and buy one of these great starter kits! We still would love to hear more about your experience! Check out our post “How to Make Homemade Hydroponic Systems Cheap” to see our own pictures and experience (we left out the pictures of the foam created because we added to much nutrient). Happy growing!
Far too many hydroponics enthusiasts end up failing for making mistakes that can be easily avoided by educating yourself. As long as you observe the following tips below, you should have pretty much little to no issue when it comes to growing your plants in a hydroponic system. These tips aren’t just focused on hydroponically grown plants; they can be applied to pretty much any other method of growing plants as well.
#1 Check your pH levels often due to plant growth phases Plants, similar to humans, have different stages of growth that requires them to have different requirements for optimal growth. The most fundamental aspect to understand about hydroponic gardening is the soil or nutrient enriched water’s pH level, which indicates how acidic it is. Different plants have different pH level requirements, but as a general rule of thumb, keeping your pH levels around 6 would be the most ideal. The easiest way to find your hydroponic system’s ph level is to use a ph level meter (buy it now). The most common methods of adjusting pH levels is to apply potassium hydroxide if you wish to raise the pH, or to apply phosphoric acid if you wish to lower it – kits are sold to make it very easy (buy it now). Food grade citric can also be used if you want to go the organic route.
#2 Test soil or water often to make sure you have the right amount of nutrients and don’t forget your water temperature As a general rule of thumb, you want to keep the temperature of your plant’s water grown in a hydroponic system somewhere around 70 degrees, with a margin of 5 degrees. It’s common for water to change its temperature, and you don’t want your plant to end up withering because you failed to keep its water at the right temperature. It’s important for you to keep testing your hydroponic plant’s water and ensure that the temperature is right. If it’s far too low, you may want to consider adding a heater or a cooler if it you find it warm.
#3 Use a liquid nutrient solution to ensure adequate amounts of food
All plants have a specific requirement for nutritional intake that has to be met. Having a quality liquid nutrient solution in your arsenal of hydroponic plant maintenance equipment will go a long way in taking out all the guess work when it comes to mixing the right liquid nutrient solution. Having this solution ready at your disposal will certainly make your life so much more convenient, and it will allow your hydroponic plant to get the appropriate amount of food and nutrients that it requires. After all, liquid nutrient solutions are pretty much what hydroponics are all about (buy it now).
