{"id":4852,"date":"2020-06-08T09:38:41","date_gmt":"2020-06-08T09:38:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/superflux.in\/?p=4852"},"modified":"2020-07-10T15:09:10","modified_gmt":"2020-07-10T15:09:10","slug":"experiments-in-indoor-farming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/superflux.in\/index.php\/experiments-in-indoor-farming\/","title":{"rendered":"Experiments in Indoor Farming"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From Aeroponics to Fogponics, Kratky to Permaculture, we present a glimpse of our indoor farming experiments, methods and prototypes developed for ‘Mitigation of Shock’<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Five years ago, we began Mitigation of Shock<\/a><\/em> by imaging one possible future in which supermarket shelves lie empty. We imagined the confluence of elements leading to this future: economic instabilities; broken supply chains; simultaneous crop losses in the world\u2019s major breadbaskets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mitigation of Shock<\/em> tries to understand what it might mean for people to adapt their domestic lives to thrive in such a future: everyday people resourcefully fixing and making their own tools; growing their own food; sharing skills and offering mutual support and care to those that need it in their local communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until very recently, this future may have felt very distant, dystopian almost, to most people. COVID-19 has now pushed this possible future right into the foreground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mitigation of Shock<\/em>, first shown at Centre de Cultura Contempor\u00e0nia de Barcelona<\/em> (October 2017 to May 2018)<\/a> and more recently at ArtScience Museum<\/em>, Singapore (November 2019 to July 2020)<\/a>, is an immersive installation that makes tangible the potential lived implications of the climate crisis. Visitors are able to step inside a local family\u2019s home and directly experience what such a future might feel like: a living space shared with experimental hydroponic and organic food computers; a future brimming with examples of how we might have to adapt our way of living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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EXPERIMENTS IN GROWING FOOD INDOORS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Conceiving and producing both installations took months and involved many moving parts. Of course, there was some speculation, but our work for Mitigation of Shock<\/em> was rooted in hands-on experimentation. For months, led by Jon Ardern<\/a>, we surrendered half the communal space in our studio for trialling and playing with experimental growing systems, trying to find the most fruitful techniques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this post, we wanted to share some insights specifically into the food growing methods that we explored and adapted, the lessons we learned and how our approach changed because of them. We start with a few technical and equipment-heavy hydroponics systems and then explain our progression to a slower, permaculture-based growing approach. This isn\u2019t meant to be a full step-by-step guide, but more of an overview of our process. In sharing these methods and tools, we hope that they might inspire your own experiments, or at least start some conversations!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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PRODUCTIVE (AND PRECARIOUS) HYDROPONICS SYSTEMS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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For most hydroponics systems, seedlings are grown in damp “rockwool”. We found we had more success if they were first germinated in a damp paper towel sealed in a plastic bag. Once their roots emerged, we placed the seedlings in the rockwool cubes. We then nestled each cube amongst a cluster of clay beads in a mesh pot as drawn opposite.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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KRATKY SYSTEM<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

We began by setting up a straightforward \u201cbeginner\u201d hydroponics system known as a Kratky System<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a Kratky System<\/a>, once the roots begin to grow out of the rockwool, the seedling assembly is placed in a pH balanced nutrient solution with the mesh pot immersed in the water. Plant roots require a constant supply of water, nutrients and – surprisingly – oxygen. The principle of a Kratky System is that the water is used up at the same rate as the roots grow. This means that a given proportion of the roots is always exposed to air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kratky is a simple system that we found works best with non-flowering plants. Give this one a shot for lettuce and kale!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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KRATKY VARIATIONS<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

We also conducted a series of experiments building on the simple Kratky System, adding in a floating nutrient fogger to the surface of the water and air stones to introduce more oxygen into the system. The airstones appeared to have a minimal effect whereas the fog system definitely helped to accelerate growth, albeit with a little added complexity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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LOW-PRESSURE AEROPONIC SYSTEM<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, we set up a more complicated <\/strong>Low-Pressure Aeroponics System<\/strong><\/a> in which plant roots are intermittently sprayed with water and nutrient solution by a pump system created using plumbing pipe and screw-in spray nozzles. In creating this system, it\u2019s worth noting that we found we required quite a powerful pump and particular nozzles to get the spray effect we were looking for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n