The difference between hydroponics and aeroponics is that aeroponics produce higher yields and larger plants than hydroponics. It also uses less resources. However, aeroponics requires more knowledge than hydroponics and is harder to set up. In this post, we’ll be comparing aeroponics and hydroponics so you’re properly informed before taking the leap!
What is Aeroponics?
Aeroponics is an alternative farming system where plant roots hang suspended in the air. They’re provided nutrients through a pressurized mist. Aeroponics produces massive plant growth and high yields.
Benefits of Hydroponics
Here are some benefits of hydroponics:
- Hydroponics are a great way to farm or garden if you don’t have access to land.
- Hydroponic farming can take place anywhere. You don’t have to worry about climate or soil quality.
- You can completely control the climate. You can adjust the temperature, light intensity, humidity, nutrient levels, pH, and more. This lets you grow year-round!
- Hydroponic systems use about 10% of the water that conventionally grown plants use because the water is recirculated within the system.
- Hydroponic plants grow faster than conventionally grown plants because you can completely control the environment.
- You’ll never have to weed your hydroponic garden!
- Hydroponic plants are less susceptible to pests and ailments, and therefore require less insecticides and herbicides.
Disadvantages of Aeroponics
Some disadvantages of aeroponics include:
- You need to pay constant attention to the nutrient density ratio and pH because of how sensitive the system is. This may be hard for beginners to grasp.
- High initial setup cost.
- You’re in big trouble if there’s a power outage!
- It’s a more advanced growing technique with a lot of knowledge needed.
- Your plants can easily die if one of the parts of the system malfunctions.
- If you don’t sterilize your water, it’s easy for microorganisms to reach the plant roots.
What is Hydroponics?
Hydroponics can take many forms, such as DWC or ebb and flow. Essentially, hydroponics is an alternative farming system where roots are suspended in water mixed with a nutrient-rich solution and aerated with a pump.
Benefits of Hydroponics
Here are some benefits of hydroponics:
- Hydroponics are a great way to farm or garden if you don’t have access to land.
- Hydroponic farming can take place anywhere. You don’t have to worry about climate or soil quality.
- You can completely control the climate. You can adjust the temperature, light intensity, humidity, nutrient levels, pH, and more. This lets you grow year-round!
- Hydroponic systems use about 10% of the water that conventionally grown plants use because the water is recirculated within the system.
- Hydroponic plants grow faster than conventionally grown plants because you can completely control the environment.
- You’ll never have to weed your hydroponic garden!
- Hydroponic plants are less susceptible to pests and ailments, and therefore require less insecticides and herbicides.
Disadvantages of Hydroponics
Here are some of the disadvantages of hydroponics:
- Hydroponics can be time consuming. Plants grown in soil gardening can be ignored and still thrive. Meanwhile, hydroponic plants require constant monitoring.
- You need to know what you’re doing when it comes to hydroponic growing. The smallest mistake can wreak havoc on your system. It’s important to know your stuff before starting out.
- If you have a power outage, all of your plants can die.
- It’s easy to over- or under- adjust problems in your system, such as if more of a nutrient is needed.
Aeroponics vs Hydroponics: How Do They Compare?
Let’s break down aeroponics vs hydroponics blow-by-blow.
Growing Medium
Hydroponic systems use growing mediums like clay pellets, coconut husks, rock wool, sand, gravel, and perlite.
Meanwhile, aeroponics is an agricultural method that doesn’t use any growing medium at all! Rather, the roots of plants are exposed directly to oxygen. Because of this, the aeroponic roots have direct access to the nutrients they need. This alone makes aeroponics highly efficient.
Watering
When you’re growing hydroponically, the plants usually get submerged in a nutrient solution or there’s a regular flow of water running throughout your growing medium.
Meanwhile, aeroponic plants are watered a little differently to say the least! Their root zone gets fed with a mist of nutrient-filled water.
Aeroponics are more water efficient, but it’s hard to fully compare how much water is used. This is because hydroponic water usage is typically measured as gallons per hour. Meanwhile, aeroponic water usage is measured in pounds per inch (the pressure).
Resilience
If you have trouble with your equipment, or if the power goes out, both aeroponic and hydroponic systems are out of luck. But the stakes are a little higher for aeroponics.
That’s because a faulty pump isn’t the end of the world for hydroponic systems as long as it starts working again soon. But the roots of plants in aeroponic systems can dry out really quickly and the plants can die if they’re not getting regularly sprayed with water.
Plant Security
In hydroponic gardens, plants are held in place with different kinds of growing mediums- for example, rock wool.
Aeroponic gardens don’t use growing mediums to keep the plants in place. You need clips, sheets made of foam, or boards with holes in them to secure your plants.
Aeration
When it comes to hydroponics, oxygenating your roots is one of the biggest challenges. When plants are grown via soil gardening, there are little pockets of air allowing them to breathe so they don’t drown. But when they’re grown in water, it’s important to oxygenate it since there are no air pockets.
Some methods of aeration include the Ktraky method, air pumps, and air stones.
For aeroponics, on the other hand, the pressurized nutrient spray sufficiently aerates the roots.
Skill Level
Hydroponics and aeroponics are great ways to increase plant growth in a sustainable way. However, some hydroponic methods are much easier than others. For example, you don’t even need electricity for a wick system.
But aeroponics vs hydroponic need a system that can spray pressurized water onto the roots of your plants, typically on a timer. When you’re building an aeroponics system you need to dial in the pressure, the water lines, the pump, and how you secure the plants.
Even if you buy an aeroponic system instead of doing a DIY project, you still need to keep up with the system with regular plant monitoring, nutrient testing, pH testing, and more.
Both hydroponics and aeroponics offer a steep learning curve for people who are used to traditional gardens.
Energy Requirements
Lots of sustainable agriculture methods are based on using less fossil fuel and less machinery.
But hydroponics and aeroponics are both climate-controlled environments that need electricity and water.
The environmental benefits of aeroponics and hydroponics outweigh the power they use, but it´s worth note that they do both rely on energy.
Types of Aeroponics
There are two main types of aeroponics.
High-Pressure Aeroponics
High-pressure aeroponics uses water below 50 microns. That´s considerably smaller than half of a human hair!
The small particles of water let the roots have more oxygen, which increases plant growth.
Plants grown in HPA systems are also hardier and healthier because the extra oxygen improves nutrient availability.
HPA systems need special sprinklers and a powerful pump. They also take quite some time to set up.
The majority of commercial growers use high-pressure aeroponics because of how quickly the plants grow.
Low-Pressure Aeroponics
LPA is your best option if you´re first starting out because it requires the least amount of tools and knowledge. All you need is a pump, sprinklers, water reservoir, and a root chamber platform.
The majority of low-pressure aeroponic systems use water droplets ranging to 50 microns soak the roots with the nutrient solution.
The key benefit here is that LPA systems are incredibly easy to maintain because there aren’t that many moving parts.
This kind of aeroponic systems also works with many different kinds of plants so you can grow a diverse, thriving garden.
Types of Hydroponic Systems
Let´s go over some different kinds of hydroponic systems.
Wick Systems
Wick systems use a wick, aka a soft fabric string.
The nylon or cotton wick absorbs the nutrient solution and gives it to the plants in trays or containers.
One end of the wick is put into the bottom of the tray into the growing medium, while the other end is in the water reservoir.
Liquid flows up the wick until the medium is damp. When the medium becomes dry again, the wick will continue to suck up the nutrient solution.
Deep Water Culture (DWC)
DWC is when you grow hydroponic plants without substrate. The roots are suspended into the nutrient solution.
The water is oxygenated so the roots don´t drown. The oxygen lets the plants take up the most nutrients possible, and the plants grow incredibly quickly.
The air pumps needs to be on constantly or the roots will drown.
Nutrient Film Technique (NFT)
The nutrient film technique is a kind of hydroponic system where a shallow amount of nutrient solution is recirculated through channels onto the bare roots.
By using the correct channel slope, flow rate, an channel length, you will properly expose your plant roots to the perfect amount of nutrients, oxygen, and water.
NFT creates high yields just like most hydroponic systems. And just like other systems, it’s susceptible to power outages.
Ebb and Flow (Flood and Drain)
Ebb and flow is one of the most popular and well-known hydroponic systems. It’s low-cost and easy to set up, while requiring an intermediate skill level to upkeep.
Plants are put in a tray that gets flooded with nutrient-rich water periodically. Then the water drips back to the reservoir to be reused.
Usually there´s a submerged pump connected to a timer that you can adjust based on the kinds of plants you´re growing, the temperature, the humidity, and your growing medium.
Ebb and flow systems need minimal maintenance and don´t use much electricity or water.
FAQs
Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions.
Who Discovered Aeroponics?
It’s hard to say who exactly discovered aeroponics. Many biologists and researchers spent nearly a century working towards its development.
The word “hydroponics” was first used in 1957 by a Dutch researcher named Frits Warmolt Went.
But aeroponics finally started to gain recognition in 1983 when Richard Stoner submitted a patent for aeroponics. Now that there were aeroponic systems available on the market, the method grew in popularity. Suddenly aeroponic food was even being sold in the grocery store!
Eventually, aeroponics caught the eye of NASA for its potential usage in space expeditions.
Do plants grow faster in hydroponics or aeroponics
To begin, the difference between aeroponics and hydroponics is that hydroponic plants grow more quickly because they’re able to establish their roots faster.
Aeroponics have a slower growth when first starting up because all of their energy is going into developing their roots systems.
But once the aeroponic plants have established their roots- usually in a few weeks- they’ll catch up to the hydroponic plants.
As young adults, aeroponic plants are larger than hydroponic plants. They can be as much as 30% larger after six weeks.
But after six weeks, the growth rate of the aeroponic plants drop and the hydroponic and aeroponic plants become about equal.
However, lots of annuals- such as lettuce- are harvested before the six week mark. In this case, aeroponic plants take the lead.
Can all plants be grown with aeroponics?
Pretty much all plants can be grown with aeroponics. Let’s go over some of the most common choices.
- Tomatoes: Tomato crops can be grown aeroponically because it eliminates the difficulties that you run into during traditional cultivation. Tomatoes are able to be harvested at least 5 times a year, instead of the typical 2 harvests.
- Herbs: Herbs grown aeroponically result in more herbs per square foot compared to traditional growing. You can even grow ginger using aeroponics!
- Leafy greens: The most efficient way to grow leafy greens is with aeroponics. It’s easy for greens to become contaminated in soil gardening by pathogens and bacteria growth. Meanwhile, aeroponics reduces the risk of root diseases.
- Fruits and vegetables: Fruits and vegetables thrive in aeroponic systems.
Does aeroponics use less water than hydroponics?
Aeroponics uses less water than hydroponics. Hydroponics also needs about four times the amount of nutrients compared to aeroponic growing.
Why is aeroponic more expensive than hydroponic?
Aeroponics vs hydroponics is more expensive because it has a more expensive initial cost.
Aeroponics requires “fancier” equipment than hydroponics because of the pressurized hoses.
However, aeroponics pays for itself over time because it needs less water and hydroponic nutrients to operate.
As a beginner what should I begin with, hydroponics or aeroponics?
As a beginner you should begin with hydroponics. Hydroponic systems are much more simple than aeroponic systems, cost less to set up, and are easier to maintain.
Is investing in a hydroponics farming system a good idea for the long run?
Investing in a hydroponics farming system is a good idea for the long run. Growing your own food with hydroponics saves you money while grocery shopping and is also healthier for yourself and the environment.
Can you combine aquaponics and aeroponics?
You can’t combine aquaponics and aeroponics.
If you’re thinking of hooking an aeroponic hose up to your fish farm, consider the following!
Aquaponics creates a bunch of suspended solids in the water. It’s a lengthy process to remove these solids from the water.
There are also some nutrients that get locked into the particulate matter that would need bacterial processes to get released.
In all, it’s not worth all of the filtering processes to connect your aquaponic and aeroponic systems.
Meanwhile, aquaponic and hydroponic systems work quite well together.
Related Questions:
Here are some other questions that people have about aeroponics.
Aeroponics vs hydroponics yield
Aeroponics has a higher crop yield of plants than hydroponics. This is because of how efficient the system is. The technique allows the plants to uptake the most hydroponic nutrients possible from the nutrient solution.
Aeroponics vs soil
Aeroponics are more efficient than traditional farming methods. It requires less resources such as fertilizer and water. Aeroponics also produces higher yields than soil gardening.
Conclusion
Aeroponics is the right choice for you if you’re looking for high, efficient yields and have a strong knowledge base. If you’re just starting out, hydroponics will do the trick. Both are more efficient than soil gardening and can take place anywhere for yields all year round.