Aeroponics is still a growing business. Look Ma, no soil!

Foododdity: Aeroponics is still a growing business. Look Ma, no soil!

Look Ma, no soil!  Aeroponics is a carefully cultivated system of growing plants in air, using only nutrient mist to farm crops horizontally or vertically.  NASA has been working with plants in space since the 1960s, but they have really kicked it up a notch by working with Aeroponics.

Aeroponics systems can reduce water usage by 98 percent, fertilizer usage by 60 percent, and pesticide usage by 100 percent, all while maximizing crop yields. Plants grown in the aeroponic systems have also been shown to uptake more minerals and vitamins, making the plants healthier and potentially more nutritious.

Tomato growers traditionally start their plants in pots, waiting at least 28 days before transplanting them into the ground. Using an aeroponic system, growers can start the plants in the growing chamber, then transplant them just 10 days later. This advanced technology produces six tomato crop cycles per year, instead of the traditional one to two crop cycles. …