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  • Author Author: wpolk
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wpolk

This is supplemental information provided to assist those participating in the Vertical Farming Design Challenge. Full Terms and Conditions can be found here.

 

In the Vertical Farming Design Challenge, we’re giving 15 selected Challengers a Kit of electronic components that can be used to provide the electronic infrastructure for a vertical farm proof of concept. The electronic design of the system is the main point of the Challenge; but one of the judging criteria will be the actual crops grown.

 

In an effort to level the playing field, we are requiring that each inventor grow the same (or similar) species of leaf lettuce. Soon we will announce that it’s time to germinate the seeds. That way, everyone will have been actually “growing” for the same roughly 50-day timeline – and it gives the inventors about a month to work on the electronics before they have to worry about starting the seeds.

 

We’re reaching out to professionals who know their way around an indoor garden who can help the engineers maximize their skills by providing details that will help them increase their crop yield.

 

To that end, we’d like to introduce:

 

  • Henry Gordon-Smith, Regional Manager in North America, The Association for Vertical Farming
  • Max Loessl, Co-Founder, Association for Vertical Farming
  • Milan Kluko, Founder and President, Green Spirit Farms
  • Cassie Lynch, Vertical Farm Assistant, FarmedHere
  • Matt Matros, CEO, FarmedHere

 

In addition to the insight our experts will provide below, we’ve also posted a couple of helpful getting-started blogs here and here. Happy farming!

  • in reply to Former Member

    Thanks for the reply Henry. image

     

    I'm checking out the Agritecture and Local Garden links now. I'll be sure to post them to my Vertical Farming FB page https://www.facebook.com/RicksVerticalFarmingProject

     

    During the challenge all the challengers will be growing the same crop. We have been provided Adriana Lettuce seed from Johnny's Selected Seeds. I am going to try and work with the 6 tier system for now and see if I can make it work through closely monitoring the lower plants for the EC of the nutrient solution. The point being to get the horizontal footprint as small as possible. One thing I have considered, that wouldn't be too difficult with the existing system, is to feed each tier directly. Or to feed the top three and lower three containers directly. All the top fed solution would still drain through all containers, but the lower three would get extra solution directly from the reservoir. It would not be difficult to  experiment with different feeding arrangements using the same basic configuration.

     

    I am going to incorporate aeration as this has been suggested by several people and my research has verified that it's just a good practice.

     

    Thanks again for the info!

     

    Cheers,

    Rick

  • in reply to RWReynolds

    Rick,

     

    Nice job on getting started!

     

    I agree with Milan that adding aeration will help but with a 6 container high flood and drain system I am concerned that there may be nutrient deficiencies. When I visited the first commercial VF in North America (Local Garden in Vancouver, Canada) I was amazed by how much the lower plants suffered from nutrient loss as water was distributed from level one to level 12. Your system is smaller but it may be a concern. If you can, I would suggest splitting your VF into two zones, 3 levels each. Either way, it will be an interesting experiment. What are you planning to grow? You could also experiment with more resilient crops on the lower levels and see if that makes for a more dynamic system. I know that an extra plumbing and pump might be a nuissance.


    More about local garden: AGRITECTURE - Last month we reported on Local Garden, a new...  

     

    Keep up the great work all!

  • in reply to RWReynolds

    Try adding some aeration to your system (small bubbler) this will not eliminate the salt (chloride) accumulation but will lessen its impacts and dissolved oxygen in H20 important...as for nutrient loss or leaving you may need to supplement your nutrient mix deign like I believe you r thinking as the first pass of nutrients will always absorb more but be careful of this nutrient build up as well so it is not become toxic to the plants...lots of fun lots of challenges good luck!  Monitor your EC and pH too as this changes during the growing cycle as plants uptake nutrients...

  • Thanks for the links, very interesting.

     

    And thanks for any input from the designated experts. As the cultivation piece is certainly my week point in the challenge I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions for them.

     

    So let's start with this... My design utilizes stacked containers, stacked 6 containers high, and will utilize a 3 part commercial hydroponics nutrient solution. The plan is to pump the solution to the top container and then the rest of the containers will receive solution through draining from the first. The grow medium will likely be a layer of perlite, to keep the drainage system clear, covered by expanded clay pellets. There has been some concern expressed on the possibilities of:

    1. The lower containers not receiving enough nutrient as a result of it being leached out during the drainage process. I think I can cover this issue simply by running my pump long enough to completely saturate the entire stack. I can verify this by monitoring the solution draining back into the reservoir. And then run the pump for some additional amount of time to be sure the system is completely flooded. Does this sound like a viable solution?
    2. Salt buildup in the lower containers. On this issue I am completely at a loss. I don't know enough about the chemistry involved to know how much of a concern this really is, how to monitor it or how to ultimately solve the problem. Thus the reason I am using an off the shelf hydroponic nutrient solution.

     

    Any help on these concerns would be greatly appreciated.

     

     

    Off topic...

    Like Shane, I have a bit of concern.  Simply because I have not yet received the EZR32WG starter kit. I am currently developing software on the EFM32ZG and I think the code I'm writing will port over with little or no effort. But the radio link is a large part of my design and I would like to start working on that as soon as possible. I have already asked Element14Dave about this and he assured me the correct band radio starter kits would be shipped as soon as he received them from SiLabs. But any additional information on the ETA of these units would be greatly appreciated. image

  • great post and helpful links

     

    just a couple of questions

     

    you say about a month left to finish the electronics that could pose an issue for me as one of my tools has just broken and it cant be replaced until the end of september and parts have also not arrived yet there expected delivery date is sometime during september

     

    i believe my seeds are on there way back to america or at the depo and are not being redelivered anymore

     

    other than them issues everything else seems to be ontrack