Yukon inventor opens the door to year-round growing
Source: CBC News
Posted: Mar 28, 2015 7:30 AM CT
The Yukon Research Centre is growing plants through the winter in a project that could revolutionize the availability of fresh food in the north.
The "Agridome" is the brainchild of project manager Glenn Scott with Yukon College's Cold Climate Innovation.
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Vegetables and herbs grow in neat vertical rows, getting their nutrients from a spray which is absorbed by soil-less "rockwool" around the plant roots.
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Scott hopes this prototype will eventually be used in communities throughout the Yukon, providing cheap and fresh vegetables, using a minimum of money and energy.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/yukon-inventor-opens-the-door-to-year-round-growing-1.3009597
jwirr
(39,215 posts)valerief
(53,235 posts)jwirr
(39,215 posts)think this is a great idea even for here in MN.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)nt
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)support in a tea. Ferment little cups with molasses and it gets even better.
Just fyi for anyone that is interested.
cstanleytech
(26,347 posts)FailureToCommunicate
(14,029 posts)insulation, for a start. 15 degrees at night is just a little too cold for most, you know, water based plants.
Response to FailureToCommunicate (Reply #4)
1000words This message was self-deleted by its author.
FailureToCommunicate
(14,029 posts)tclambert
(11,087 posts)Nights are so long there in the winter months, he would get very few hours of sunlight. I'm guessing really efficient grow lights, probably LEDs in the red and blue part of the spectrum (the only parts plants use) and reflective mylar on the inside of the dome, both to retain heat and give the plants every chance to eat every photon of light they can manage to catch.
I wonder what happens when it gets 3 meters of snow. And what's his power source for the lights and heater? Does he run a little generator outside the dome? Maybe a generator inside where it's warm, with the exhaust ducted to the outside? How much diesel fuel does it take to grow a tomato? For the prototype, he may wire his experimental dome into the university's power grid. But for people in remote Yukon areas, off the grid, they'd have to make their own power. Windmills, anyone?
Mugu
(2,887 posts)Hydroponic growers have been doing this for over 30 years. The only crop that has the value density to make such an operation viable is marijuana and the legal expenses of that crop make it problematic.
7962
(11,841 posts)24 hr growing, year round, no pesticides, no drought, LED lighting, etc
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)Was gonna try to get on Shark Tank, but it seems that is hard to patent, and they are so fussy about that.
7962
(11,841 posts)At least a basic description anyway, dont want you to give away any secrets you developed.
librechik
(30,678 posts)thing is, it's not patentable and won't make news on tv.
Blanks
(4,835 posts)If the government won't protect their investments, they're just not interested.