hydroponic
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Kanye West's sustainable Yeezy concept uses algae foam
The next sneaker in Kanye West's Yeezy line could be made from algae foam. West offered a glimpse of the shoe at Fast Company's Innovation Festival today. He also shared that Yeezy is planning to move its headquarters to a 4,000-acre ranch in Wyoming, where it will grow its own algae in a hydroponic farm.
Hydroponic gardens could end Arctic food shortages
You don't have a wide variety of food choices if you live in remote parts of the Arctic. Some consumables can take so long to arrive that they're already past their "best before" dates, and that's assuming they arrive in the first place -- shortages are considerably more common. However, Alaskan companies Native Kikiktagruk Inupiat Corp and Vertical Harvest Hydroponics could make fresh greens a mainstay even in more inaccessible regions. They've developed indoor hydroponic gardens that grow vegetables like kale and lettuce in shipping containers filled with LED lights. As you don't need soil or a warm climate, you can provide tasty veggies just about anywhere you have reliable power.
The SproutsIO smart microgarden nurtures your inner botanist
I'm not good at remembering to water my one houseplant. I know I'm not alone -- the phrase "black thumb" exists for a reason. And if some of us can't even manage something as basic as adding a little H2O regularly, asking those same people to worry about humidity or soil pH for our flora is right out. Unfortunately, that means a lot of us don't get to enjoy the benefits of growing our own herbs or vegetables at home. The SproutsIO connected planter, now on Kickstarter, aims to solve that by not just reminding you to water your plant, but creating an entire support system aimed at your individual wants and needs about what to grow.
Home Lohas brings hydroponic gardening into your room, rabbit guard not included
While running between booths at Computex earlier this month, we were momentarily distracted by these vegetable boxes (maybe it was lunch time as well). As it turned out, this product was launched by Taiwan-based Home Lohas around the same time as when the expo started. The company pitches its hydroponic gardening appliance -- so the vegetables rely on nutritious water instead of soil -- as a hassle-free, low-power solution for growing your own greens, plus it's apparently the only solution in the market that doesn't need water circulation. With its full spectrum LED light, air pump and timers, harvest time can apparently be reduced by about 30 percent. It's simply a matter of filling up the water tank, adding the necessary nutrients and placing the seeded sponge on the tray (the package includes three types of organic fertilizers and some seeds). The only downside is that this system costs NT$15,800 (about US$530) in Taiwan, and for some reason, it'll eventually be priced at US$680 in other markets. If that's too much, then stay tuned for a half-size model that's due Q4 this year. %Gallery-191544%
Bitponics personal gardening assistant eyes-on (video)
Plants need TLC just like any other living thing, but sadly, they're not really great at telling you what they want. Bitponics is looking to take a bit of that guess work out of hydroponic and aquaponic gardens with a WiFi base station that monitors your plant life and connects to automated accessories that help you care for them. The device ships with monitors for pH, water temperature, air temperature, humidity and light, connecting to the company's Bitponics Cloud system, so you can monitor things remotely via web browser. The system's not cheap -- it's set to run $499 when it ships, fittingly, this spring. Check out a video walkthrough of the setup just after the break.%Gallery-187330%
The Herbi Smart Hydroponic Garden: Life support for plants
Keeping a plant alive should be simple for responsible adults such as ourselves, but one look at the greenhouse graveyard on our windowsill would suggest otherwise. Luckily, the Herbi Smart Hydroponic Garden knows exactly what your plants are craving, thus eliminating the guess work involved with feeding and watering. The device measures water levels, PH levels and nutrients in the soil of up to six attachable "silos" that can house just about any kind of household plant or herb you can throw at them. You can add supplies (water, fertilizer, etc.) to the device that will automatcially be distrubuted to the plants for up to a month. When something is running low an icon is lit up by a blue LED, letting you know exactly what you need to add in order to keep your plant from turning into compost prematurely. No word on pricing or availability yet, but we're hoping, for the sake of our wilting basil, that it's easier to get a hold of one of these than it was the elusive RFID-enable herbarium from Philips.
