What time is it? Time to go green!

Research Paper - Hydroponic Garden

History / Current Events of Hydroponics- Isabel Sizemore

Hydroponics have been used in ancient times dating back to the Babylon era / empire when they
invented one of the seven wonders of the world, their hanging garden. Due to the terrain, this
empire was forced to adapt or to have no food for its people. Because of this need for adaptation,
the idea of hydroponics emerged as a result of the hanging garden. Hydroponics solved multiple
problems within agriculture and plant growth. For example, plants weren’t able to get enough
oxygen to grow, hydroponic gardens included an oxygenated nutrient reservoir to give the plants
more oxygen to maintain their levels, and to allow for the plant to grow in the best way possible.
Alongside oxygen, hydroponics solved the idea of a possible water drought. Plants need lots of
water when in soil, but a hydroponic garden requires less water because the garden allows for
exact precision of the water and the most efficient use of water. Additionally, both the oxygen
levels and the water precision allowed for civilizations to have total control over their plants
which made them grow efficiently.

As mentioned, hydroponic gardens have been used throughout centuries, meaning that
hydroponics has continued to evolve as society and civilizations are evolving. In modern times
now, hydroponic gardens use: recycled water to avoid runoff or evaporation, planting crops that
grow the fastest. Both of these factors are also incorporated into a recent modern planting project
with NASA. NASA is working on trying to grow vegetables in space for the astronaut to eat to
stay healthy. They are currently using the foundation of a hydroponic garden, but they are
changing the factors of light, temperature and carbon dioxide for the fastest, and most efficient
growth of plants and nutrients. Therefore, hydroponics has changed the plant agriculture field
indefinitely due to more civilizations having total control over plant growth, and due to recent
developments to continue this evolution of hydroponics.

https://www.nasa.gov/missions/science/biofarming.html

Impacts of Hydroponics - John Fuentes

Hydroponics is a plant growing system that uses nutrient rich water to help grow the plants and
support the roots instead of soil. It has impacted the environment by allowing less water usage to
farm by recirculating water and using small amounts at a time to water the plants instead of the
excess water draining into the environment. This allows water to be used for other things like
drinking. Hydroponics also provides a greater yield of fruits and vegetables because the plants
are more densely placed together which allows for more plants to be grown in small amounts of
land. It is also easier to control the pH level of the water, the type of light, the amount of light,
and the amount of nutrients in the water. This prevents things like diseases from infecting the
plants because they’re in a more controlled environment as opposed to an outside environment.
Hydroponics has impacted society by using water 90% more efficiently. Production of plants
also increases 3 to 10 times in the same amount of space and they can be produced almost twice
as fast. This allows farmers to make a larger amount of food in less time.

Industry Case Study - Zachary Amdur

Back in 1977 Stuart Dvorin had the bright idea to found Hydrofarm. Hydrofarm is a hydroponics
company that sells various items from lighting, to irrigation, or even climate control devices.
They even have 23 sub companies that make the various products that Hydrofarm sells. Building
and selling in the Agriculture industry, Hydrofarm has a market share of $35.26. William D.
Toler has done a great job of expanding the company mid pandemic. This quarter's revenue was
$429.3M with an astounding 212 employees Hydrofarm doesn't have a specific client although
they have multiple retail stores all across the US. The major reasons for the success of the
company - Hydrofarms success can be attributed to their amazing open in the stock market and
them being at the forefront of agricultural devices. For over 40 years they have supplied devices
leading in cannabis growing as well such as the special LEDS. Something unique is that they
don't stick themselves to just agriculture in a flowers or food based, but also having technology
for that cannabis sector that is up and growing. As it becomes more and more legal to own and
grow cannabis, people will turn to Hydrofarm for the tech to grow their own cannabis.
Overcoming that obstacle of the cannabis industry can be big as the market is a multi billion
dollar sector, but the legislation to match all of this movement is coming quite slowly so they
must push for more legislation.
Hydroponics Garden Design Research(2C-John/Zach):
● The basic components of a hydroponics system are a growing medium, a nutrient
reservoir, and a nutrient solution.
● Plants use nutrients by taking essential elements from the soil and water through their
roots to use as food and promote growth.
● Plants get nutrients in hydroponics by absorbing them from the water and air into their
roots.
● The 16 essential elements are Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Phosphorus,
Potassium, Calcium, Sulfur, Magnesium, Iron, Chlorine, Manganese, Zinc, Copper,
Boron, and Molybdenum.
● Some of the uses that the top 9 elements provide are cellular respiration from oxygen and
water from hydrogen and oxygen. Nitrogen is part of proteins and nucleic acids.
Phosphorus synthesizes the nucleic acids and also phospholipids. Sulfur is an amino acid
which plays a role in photosynthesis and growth like Magnesium. Potassium regulates
stomatal opening and closing. Calcium regulates nutrient transport. Boron assists in
metabolic regulation.
● Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen make up over 95% of a plant’s dry weight which is taken
from air and water.
● Plants get the remaining 13 nutrients from soil which are absorbed into the plant from
water.
● The first number tells the amount of nitrogen, the second number is the amount of
phosphate, and the third is the amount of potash.
● Light triggers a chemical reaction in the plant that breaks down the carbon dioxide and
water and makes glucose which provides energy for plants to grow and repair.
● There are 4 main types of grow lights which include: Incandescent lights, Fluorescent
lights, High Intensity discharge lights, and LED lights
● Incandescent lights are the cheapest but the weakest and are fine for a few plants or those
with sunlight as well, Fluorescent lights are the most popular because they're good for
flowering, germination, and vegetative growth. High Intensity discharge lights are the
more expensive lights, they are efficient with high energy discharge to give off lots of
light and blue light to promote growth but it does have less flowering. LED lights are the
 new kind of lights with zero heat and little power requirements, and can stimulate 5700K
color temp of sunlight and produce red and blue band spectrums for growth and
flowering. Currently the LEDs are up there for the most expensive as the tech is newer
but with time it should drop
● Water helps promote cell growth for plants and is a key factor in photosynthesis
● The fill/drain method works by having a reservoir under some plants that is hooked up to
a pump, the pump then sends the water through the soil giving the plants nutrients and
will then drain back into the reservoir and go again through the cycle. The drip method
though is where the plants are given water on a time basis and water is slowly dripped out
of a pipe onto plants
● The perfect nutrient solution should have a PH of 6-6.5
● Soil is proven to have a generally good conductivity which means as it gets that water
and transfers the nutrients to the plants that energy exchange and transfer is proper as
well, but with oversaturation of the soil it could become a poor conductor and poor for
growing plants
● Different mediums include coco coir, clay pellets, gravel, perlite, phenolic foam,
rockwool, sand, sawdust, and soils
● Primarily a growing medium should have a proper PH level of 5-6.5, have room for air
flow through it, and allow for maximum root growth
● Plant propagation is the breeding of seed species to get an ideal seed/specimen
● The two types of plant propagation is Sexual and Asexual, Sexual is when the male
pollen is combined with the egg of the female to get a new seed which has 3 layers: the
outer coat which protects the seed, the endosperm which is a food reserve, and the
embryo which is the plant itself. Asexual reproduction takes the parent and has it
reproduce a duplicate of itself creating an identical offspring seed
Individual/Organization Contribution Content { chloe}
When founders and co-parents Jacob Pechenik and Zooey Deschanel had children, they
came to the realization that fresh, safe, and flavorful food is expensive and inaccessible
and they believed there was a better way. Lettuce Grow was born out of a need to raise
our collective consciousness about the foods we grow and eat -- so systematically change
how we grow and eat food -- now and for our children’s future. Our founders vowed to
invent a way for everyone regardless of knowledge, income, or experience - to grow
their own food quickly and easily. This effort to universalize this experience led to the
development of our Farmstand for outdoor growing, and Glow Rings to allow for indoor
growing as well. In their efforts to democratize the growing of food for all, they are also
decreasing transportation emissions, drastically reducing water usage and recycling
ocean-bound plastics from places that lack recycling initiatives. Their first farms started
in Los Angeles and Austin, recently they have expanded to other cities in the USA, with
the main office being centered in LA. As a result of the development of Lettuce Grow,
they’ve been able to give back to communities through our program Lettuce Give.
Lettuce Donates 1 Farmstand for every 10 sold. Stakeholders at schools, nonprofits, or
community organizations can nominate themselves or others for a grant that will give
them a Farmstand and seedlings to get them started. Our program works together with
communities to provide organizations with everything they need to grow successfully
and make an impact.

Global Market Analysis {Zaja}

There are 1,803 hydroponic gardening businesses in the United States. They have
many companies that are involved with hydroponic gardening but some examples are
Hydrofarm, Lettuce Grow, and Agrisea. The global hydroponics garden market size was
estimated at 2.1 billion in 2020. The largest user in hydroponic gardening is the United
Kingdom and they use about 54 million pounds. Hydroponics uses 90 % less water than
standard gardens use. Plants can also grow faster and healthier with hydroponics. There is
also no weed or soiled required for hydroponic gardening.