Close
0%
0%

Project EDEN

Project EDEN is an open initiative to grow crops quickly, under near-optimal conditions with automated aeroponics habitats.

Similar projects worth following
Earth's population of over 7 billion people presents challenges for food supplies amidst overpopulation. Earth has a limited number of locations with soil and seasonal weather conditions to support growth of produce. Often fertilizers, pesticides, and GMOs are used which inevitably pollutes the ecosystems through chemical runoff and introduction of invasive species. The pollution increases with the fossil fuels burned to transport and refrigerate produce, of which almost 2/3 is thrown away - producing methane in landfills. Soil based farming also needs large amounts of water and space.

EDEN uses aeroponic nutrient misting systems to grow indoors, without the need for soil. All self-contained, so no runoff. Vertical farming allows use of lateral space. With fresh produce less can be imported and thrown into the trash. Photosynthetically Active LED spectrum, CO2/pH automation, and humidity control will be active to ensure plants grow in near-optimal conditions.

The faster food grows, the more there is for the 800 million people estimated to already be undernourished. The less water consumed growing food, the more there is to drink. Farming doesn't have to pollute, it can reverse pollution.

Project EDEN is an automated aeroponics system which can grow plants faster, use less water, and consume more carbon dioxide than outdoor plants.

Aeroponics is essentially growing plants without soil, and has a few benefits:

  • Air as a growing medium lets more oxygen into the root structure
  • <50 micron droplets of mist easily deliver nutrients to the roots
  • Less water consumption through a self-contained system
  • More plants can be grown per square meter by utilizing vertical space.

NASA has experimented with aeroponics in space and have found High Pressure Aeroponics (HPA) systems to be efficient. EDEN will utilize HPA in a fully automated growing system to ensure that plants are watered in optimal conditions. A microcontroller will balance the pH level in a tank of nutrient solution using an ISFET for readings and peristaltic pumps to lower and raise pH. When the determined pH of the nutrient solution is detected, a solenoid opens to fill a reservoir where the temperature of the solution is controlled. Once the temperature is just right, water is sucked out of the reservoir and shot into a pressurized accumulator tank at 100 PSI and then blasted through a nozzle, producing 5 second mists of <50 micron droplets every 2 minutes.

It takes more than delivering nutrients to a plant to grow indoors. Plants thrive on carbon dioxide. The atmosphere typically offers 300-600 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide (CO2) for plants to absorb and process into oxygen. That's about the amount needed to sustain growth, but there is a distinction between surviving and flourishing. An abundant amount of CO2 can increase growth by up to 30%. EDEN will pump CO2 from a tank at around 1200-1400 ppm based on calculations from PID and CO2 sensors. A gas solenoid will close approximately 2 hours before the night cycle begins respiration, so no CO2 goes to waste. EDEN definitely isn't carbon neutral, carbon enrichment of plants devours carbon dioxide at a much higher rate than what outdoor plants are capable of.

EDEN will use a large array of horticultural LEDs in conjunction with the CO2 system. Horticultural LEDs emit Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) which uses less electricity by focusing on the spectrum of light plants actually use for photosynthesis. This saves electricity by not powering colors of light that plants don't absorb much of through photosynthesis.

Plants use different amounts of light at different stages. The user will be able to access a web server which can configure growth profiles for various stages of the growth cycle. EDEN will allow the user to control the ratio of red/blue light the plant receives, the total amount of light, and the amount of time the plant receives light. The configuration doesn't stop there though, CO2 PPM, humidity, water temp, pH, and misting cycles can be controlled as well. By having the ability to import/export growth configurations in a controlled environment, users can share their results with others to find the best possible conditions that different plants can grow under. We hope that encouraging experimentation will expedite the production of plants used for food, fuel,medicines, and materials. Its possible for EDEN to make farms of cities, deserts, tundras, and oceans, considering aeroponics has already made farming in space a possibility. That matters when forests are being cut down to make room for farms, when they could go undisturbed - or at the very least be used for low income housing.

View all 27 components

  • SPACE LETTUCE

    sadhana08/10/2015 at 07:02 0 comments

    Astronauts will soon be eating space lettuce.


    http://gizmodo.com/astronauts-will-eat-space-lettuce-for-the-first-time-ne-1722798340

    More and more research seems like its being conducted into light formulas.

    I don't have a huge update this week because I'm transferring jobs from Tampa to Denver within the next two weeks and its been a time sink. This comes the week of the entries so things are hectic.

    I have managed to create some better diagrams than I was using before.

  • Designs

    sadhana08/02/2015 at 21:23 0 comments

    This weekend I've been working more with google polymer to get the web-interface going. It's going to take a little more work with node.js to get it functional. I'm theorizing more ways to make this run efficiently in memory with all of the dependencies.

    Still looking kind of empty but I wanted to post some progress. I've also made more progress on the CAD schematics and should be ready to have the enclosure machined soon. Here is the most complex part, the bottom of the LED array enclosure.

    The opposite piece for the bottom enclosure is a circle with a hexagon in the center and two rectangles which will remove to allow access to the CO2 tank and nutrient systems. The other parts will just be big circle discs and the siding.

    I plotted the LEDs as well.

    It only shows red, white, and blue even though there are deep red and royal blue. I've found the easiest way to distribute the LEDs would be in rows. For the reds you see, one horizontal row will be red, the next deep red, then red, etc. Blue and Royal Blue will be similar except on the opposite axis.

    If you've seen the front page, you'll know the project deadlines are coming. I plan on releasing a video soon.

  • Design Revisions

    sadhana07/19/2015 at 09:49 0 comments

    So last week my buddy Dakota and I talked more about the project. Dakota brought to my attention some issues going into drafting the project that needed further work. In this case it was mostly the root chamber and mounting it to the rest of the enclosure. Its now past 5am and mostly figured out, have a look?

    I wanted the root chamber to be modular and to support the weight of the LED array in addition to several pounds of vegetation. What I am left with is about 5 feet of root chamber with 15 growing pods (the circles - to be coupled with an elbow and rockwool growing base). There is a capability for much more than this, but I don't want any canopies.

    The windows between the pods will have removable magnetic PET plastic sheets to access the roots for harvesting, or to take a quick look at the root structure. The end result will be wrapped in a reflective barrier to prevent light from damaging the roots. I'm pretty satisfied with this root chamber because it can be easily be modified for more or less plants depending on their size.

    More work must go into the structure of the enclosure. I must also address the heat the LED array is bound to produce, and there's a lot of power distribution stuff to think about.

    I'll conclude this log with an updated partslist!
    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lPFTdldgs6HVyugyByvTj9iVUbvBaWwO2ivABECh8HU/edit?usp=sharing

    It's just about finished, it has the correct pipe fittings and most of the equipment short of the temp/humidity stuff. I will add parts to the official components list as I build EDEN.

    This week I am putting more thought into the programming as components will be coming in soon.

  • LEDs

    sadhana07/11/2015 at 00:48 1 comment

    The LEDs are ordered. Its looking like $140 for a 900w ~20,000 lumen array. That price includes:

    • 100x 650-660nm Deep Red LEDs with pcb
    • 100x 610-630nm Red LEDs with pcb
    • 50x 460-465nm Blue LEDs with pcb
    • 50x 445-455nm Royal Blue LEDs with PCB
    • 6x 250w power regulators

    I'm also ordering 300 45 degree angle reflector lenses and some relays to control the amount of powered LEDs. I'm looking around for some very powerful white LEDs - these won't be 3 watts like the rest, I want something brighter. The white LEDs are mostly intended for monitoring plants with the human visible spectrum, but I'd like for them to be able to be utilized for their spectrum signature as well. I'll be prototyping with some old PC power supplies I've found laying around at work until I can sink more into a fancy ~1500w PSU.

    In other news, it looks like GE and Phillips are onto the right idea!

    http://www.slashgear.com/philips-is-developing-led-light-growth-recipes-for-indoor-farms-08392246/

    The researcher center is 234m2 — one of the biggest ever, says Philips — and it is located in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The company will be concentrating its efforts on developing light recipes for growing strawberries, herbs, and leafy vegetables , as well as increasing the production of carb-rich food like potatoes that are grown indoors.

    If you've been following the project, you may recognize this as one of the main goals, except EDEN also emphasizes on the entire habitats 'recipe' for success. We've recently passed a thousand views and have a pretty good ratio of followers to show for it. On top of that EDEN won some sponsorship prizes for the top 50 atmel and TI parts projects . I'm super excited to see the open source hardware communities response to this once the prototype is ready!

    I have my old engineering classmate coming over this weekend for some work on the enclosure and I can't wait to keep you guys updated!

  • Components

    sadhana07/05/2015 at 23:24 0 comments

    The pipe fittings are finally mapped to their respective regions. In the below diagram you can see numbers which indicate a particular bulkhead union or fitting. I have also calculated the hose diameters and its looking like I'm I'll be making a large part order in the near future. Prior to ordering all of my components I will be updating the components list and attaching a spreadsheet with numbered parts and an assembly diagram.

    The LED array is at the height of my priorities because the deadlines and shipping ETA is becoming ever closer.

    I have decided that I will use 288 LEDs consisting of about 198 red (about half deep red) and 90 blue (about 40 royal blue). I will also use 6 high power white LEDs for observation. I will arrange these in a hexagonal matrix of about 7 rows. At approximately 3w each that provides around 900w of lighting at full brightness.

    I ran into a problem with the original plan of using an 8 inch diameter pipe for the root chamber. 8 inch pipe runs about $40 per foot. I decided a more effective solution would be to make a hexagonal root chamber. Flat surfaces are easier to mount pipe entries onto for the plant base. I'm excited to implement this new strategy because formerly a circular pipe would have been a hastle for potatos, turnips, and carrots - as it would have left the roots mostly inaccessable. With a hexagonal root chamber they can be removed as panels allowing for easier harvesting. If possible Id like to use a transparent material so root growth can be examined by removing the reflective sheilding around it.

    Apart from that it is mainly the temperature/humidity system that needs to be drafted. I have ideas but considering that I have about 6 weeks remaining I may put this aside until I have a beta unit completed.

  • CO2 Enrichment System & LED arrays.

    sadhana06/26/2015 at 21:20 0 comments

    It's been a crazy week since my last update. I've started with the HTML5 webpage, I haven't gotten as far as I'd have liked to due to a busy schedule. I have been working out a lot of the design challenges, particularly with the CO2 / LED systems. The nutrient delivery system is mostly complete in terms of the design however I have been struggling to make sure all the fittings are uniform to avoid unnecessary pressure fluctuation in the lines.

    • CO2 SYSTEM

    The Carbon-Dioxide enrichment system not only keeps the plants inside of EDEN alive, it bulks them up allowing more growth to occur. Without a fresh supply of CO2 the plants will eventually wither away like my girlfriend's failed attempt to grow flowers in her window. The most basic way of supplying CO2 is by having good ventilation so outdoor air can circulate and replenish the CO2 concentration. This is easy to implement - however is less effective. Atmospheric carbon-dioxide levels are not ideal for plant growth, even with all the fuss about climate change. There is also the challenge of keeping the air temperature just right, the humidity right, the pressure right, and the nasty pollutants out. Because of that, relying on ventilation varies too much to achieve controlled results like other alternatives offer.

    EDEN will use 24 oz CO2 tanks. The tanks I have selected for this project are actually paintball tanks in order to allow ease of refills. Theoretically I expect the tanks to last the duration of the grow, if they run out - they can be refilled during the sleep cycles since plants use light to absorb CO2. I have invested a good amount of confidence in these tanks after seeing them used in aquaponics projects, with some users actually complaining that their aquarium plants are getting too big.

    CO2 tanks for paintball guns typically are around 800-1000 psi, overpowering most of the electronically controlled gas solenoids I've found for the project. I've found a low pressure regulator which will drop the pressure down to around 100 psi, however I must do extensive testing to make sure it's not going to vent CO2 outside of the gas lines. It has been a challenge to ensure all fittings match up perfectly, but progress is being made.

    I'm going with a cheaper CO2 sensor like the MG-811 and coupling it with a pressure sensor to determine the right flow intervals. Something to note is that a full tank releasing gas for 5 seconds is going to be quite different from a low tank releasing gas for 5 seconds because of a pressure drop. The pressure sensor will detect drops which helps to calculate how long to keep the solenoid open and when the tank is low. The role of the CO2 sensor is to determine the overall demand.

    • LED Array

    The LEDs are closely tied to the CO2 System. From my research I have come to the conclusion that the CO2 absorption rates increase as the amount of light increases. Initially when I learned of CO2 enrichment I became skeptical of greenhouse gases because plants thrive at higher levels, until I realized that the amount of light would not increase to accommodate those absorptions. The LED array must be powerful enough to provoke higher CO2 consumption.

    Many hydroponics projects use crazy expensive lights, with claims of 'full spectrum' and gigantic power consumption being used as marketing standards. LEDs are not only more power efficient, they allow for targeting the spectrum of light that chlorophyll captures and uses for photosynthesis. Our optical sense tells us these huge HID arrays are bright, but plants have a different sense of optics.

    This week I found an LED supplier in China that is selling 3W LEDs with pcbs for around $35 per hundred. I'm anxiously trying to order these ASAP so they arrive before THP deadlines. They are 440-470nm (Blue/Royal Blue) and 610-660nm (Red/Deep Red), and emit about 70 lumens of brightness each. I expect to use around 300-400 LEDs. 900-1200 watts of light is quite a bit, but my logic behind that amount is due to the idea that not...

    Read more »

  • Web Interface

    sadhana06/16/2015 at 04:49 0 comments

    This week I will be working on some of the web interface for EDEN. I have begun to order the components which are coming from China. I want to work on as much code as possible in the meantime, so over the coming days I will be working on most of the front end. I will likely host a web server on EDEN which is connected to locally, but I'm toying with the idea of remote access. I'm also considering that protected WiFi networks will require passwords, so more thought must go into that whole situation. For now I just want the webpage built.

    The interface will include features such as:

    • Misting Interval / Amount + schedules
    • LED balance + schedules
    • pH balance + schedules
    • CO2 level + schedules
    • Relative Humidity + schedules
    • Temperature + schedules
    • Import / Export configuration

    That is the basic functionality I'd like to accomplish. Adafruit has some neat IR cameras that monitor plant growth which would be fun to implement into the web UI for comparing results, but that's for later. Later there will also be a need for a community webpage in which configurations could be exchanged, and of course a main website.

    Aside from that, I've freed up more time and resources to see this project through to the end. I'd estimate by this time next month I should have all of the components short of the enclosure.

View all 7 project logs

Enjoy this project?

Share

Discussions

Neil K. Sheridan wrote 07/02/2017 at 21:27 point

Great project! I just heard abt it on the hackaday climate chat. If you could obtain the C02 from coal-burning power plants chimneys or just from ambient air like http://www.climeworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/02_PR-Climeworks-DAC-Plant-Case-Study.pdf and upscale the whole HPA system to large greenhouses (or pressurised tents) that would be great!

  Are you sure? yes | no

sadhana wrote 07/03/2017 at 13:29 point

Thanks for the Feedback Neil! I definitely wanted to pop in there to share the idea! In testing this project is equipped with a ~1 lb CO2 tank as measurements are taken for how long this amount of CO2 will last and how much biomass it equates to. The goal for the unit is to not only be a modular stand alone greenhouse, but to also cluster with other units over a network to receive commands from a technician/farmer. I havent updated this project in a while but I have been saving a bunch of new ideas to share once I'm further along in production, there's pretty much a new machine from where this last left off!

  Are you sure? yes | no

Neil K. Sheridan wrote 07/03/2017 at 18:27 point

No problem! :-) Great! Hope you get some free time to work on these new ideas then! 

  Are you sure? yes | no

Rob Blake wrote 02/29/2016 at 11:53 point

Exciting project. I would love to hear more about how it is going!

  Are you sure? yes | no

sadhana wrote 03/09/2016 at 06:20 point

thanks for swinging by, have been on hiatus but its still going! Moving closer toward routine updates again.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Michael Vowles wrote 08/19/2015 at 10:29 point

Hi mate, I'm looking forward to how this all turns out! I think you have a great idea for the HAD prize!

  Are you sure? yes | no

sadhana wrote 08/19/2015 at 16:39 point

I appreciate the support! I'm looking forward to building it, and hope it ends up as a great idea for earth as well!

  Are you sure? yes | no

dev-zzo wrote 08/10/2015 at 08:57 point

The project is indeed impressive at least from the technical side. I am just wondering:

a) What would be the end price of each lettuce unit, assuming that this is installed e.g. indoors in Germany or U.S. of A. somewhat offsetting installation costs. This should include electrical power and water consumed, plus CO2 tank refills.

b) This is supposedly designed to help undernourished populations in developing countries. What would be the end price of say an installation that grows 100 units of lettuce? Could the target populations indeed afford installing this?

c) Taking into account costs of running the system, how does it compare against the "old school farming" (that is, throwing seeds into soil and watering them periodically)?

As I am trying to grow plants indoors myself, these are the questions I am really interested in seeing answered. Last time I did the math, it turned out that growing plants under artificial light is not economically viable -- that it, it's MUCH cheaper to go and buy latuc at the grocery store.

There are two main issues -- components have to be dirt cheap, and so has to be energy and materials consumed. Unfortunately, I found no way around any of those. PAR LEDs cost quite a lot and consume a lot of energy when assembled into lights. The cheapest I could do with LEDs was using off-the-shelf white LED COBs; the cheap power issue is not solved yet.

  Are you sure? yes | no

sadhana wrote 08/10/2015 at 16:17 point

a.)

The short answer is I'm not sure yet. I haven't reached the end and the prices I'm getting my components at are retail currently.

Electrical usage is not really a constant, it depends on the growth configuration. At full power its about 1kW, but not always necessary. It really comes down to how much light you decide to use.

Water shouldn't be a large cost, this uses 90%+ less water than soil based farming. I expect 2 gallons per grow, it will require more testing though.

Co2 is about $5 a tank / grow I estimate. Cheaper if one fills a 20lb tank and uses it to charge their 24 oz tanks.

b.)
I don't have the 'end' cost just yet as stated before. 1 unit can do up to 90 heads since the tower is modular. I would estimate ~60 heads to be a good number to estimate one tower can do effectively. I'm trying to make the price comparable to the cost of an appliance, as cheaply as possible would be the end goal. There are many ways to cut corners, but until I see the growth statistics I can't determine which corners can would be best cut.

 
c.)

 Plants will grow in dirt cheaply. No question about it. But they will not grow dense and quick enough to support population as it increases. Once soil is tapped for nutrients - it grows nothing. Many parts of the world cant grow in soil because its no longer fertile.

LEDs currently use power, but at the same time they're continuously becoming more efficient. While this project could be ahead of that time, it can still save money in many different ways. I'm not going to do the economics until I have the cold hard data from extensive testing once this project is complete. There are many costs to soil based farming that are not considered in reverse, and for the time being I want to refrain from too much speculation.

  Are you sure? yes | no

dev-zzo wrote 08/11/2015 at 07:49 point

Hey Keith, thanks for providing your answers!

a)

Please also consider that in developed countries like U.S. there are typically no issues accessing energy, water, and CO2. Developing countries, on the other hand, typically do have shortage of energy and/or clean water. I am not sure whether you can obtain a CO2 tank there at all.

c)

Would not fertilizers be a more efficient solution, considering costs? IIRC experiments with supplying fertilizers to developing countries in Africa yielded very good results, this was in New Scientist I think. Yes, you have to fertilize each year, but then, similarly, you have to provide power to Project EDEN constantly as well.

d)

As for LEDs and efficiency...  there is one thought I just had, that is, I am really interested in seeing a plot of plant growth speed vs light intensity. I suspect it won't be even nearly linear; there should be a certain speed limit at which cells are able to divide. It might happen you don't actually need as much power after all.

e)

The best topic -- power dissipation and cooling! :-) How do you plan to cool the thing? Suppose you have 5 units stack, each having a 1kW light built in, totaling to ~5kW power in. Given a typical efficiency of 35% light output, we have 5kW*(100-35)%=3250W of heat to dissipate somehow; 650W per stack unit. That's a lot.

Can you post the LED types you ordered?

  Are you sure? yes | no

sadhana wrote 08/13/2015 at 19:41 point

While this grow environment can grow everywhere and I'm trying to develop open-source hardware and software for it to be free to all, its circumstancial who it's good for. The power infrastructure has to be there, as with any electronic device. I believe that adding to the food supply is the main goal, where ever possible. More food needs to be grown in order for developing countries to be able to access it in the event of food shortages. Countries without water will probably not be growing any vegetables in soil, but with this project that water will be used far more efficiently than soaking dirt with it.

Fertilizers are not a more 'efficient' solution compared to this project, because this project uses fertilizers in the form of liquid instead of soil. Liquid fertilizer will go further because with aeroponics, the roots absorb what they need and the rest returns to the tank. With soil not all of the fertilizer comes in contact with the roots.

I currently live in a state where commercial farming pollutes the groundwater through means of fertilizer runoff. This creates algae blooms which in turn disrupts the ecosystem. In places like South America, forests are being cut down to make room for farms because soil based farming requires so much space, and only certain parts of the world have soil and weather conditions to allow for it.

Energy is a more renewable resource than our freshwater or land that is in increasing demand. My goal is to use only what is necessary to effectively grow produce at a faster rate than what current infrastructure can create. Aeroponics can work without LEDs and that would significantly cut power consumption, but outdoor light is not a constant. Sunlight is present for different hours, different places, at different times of the year, in different intensities. That is a huge bottleneck and doesn't offer the same level of consistency in growth speed or yields.

EDENs strength is that every grow can be almost EXACTLY the same, regardless of sunlight, season, or weather. By having a controlled environment, testing can be conducted to determine the necessities for effective plant growth. Growth configurations can be compared to previous tests to more accurately determine what works best as far as light, co2, humidity, pH, feeding, and temperature. That level of analysis is almost impossible in a precise manner with outdoor farming.

As far as power dissipation, this system cannot generate that amount of heat because the power supply doesn't create that amount of power. The heat of the array is something I'm addressing though. The LEDs will be mounted to aluminum heat syncs and passively cooled by circulating the air. 

The LEDs are located in my project logs. I used the following:

100x 650-660nm Deep Red LEDs with pcb - http://www.ebay.com/itm/321788397858
100x 610-630nm Red LEDs with pcb - http://www.ebay.com/itm/321356962292
50x 460-465nm Blue LEDs with pcb - http://www.ebay.com/itm/321356962292
50x 445-455nm Royal Blue LEDs with PCB - http://www.ebay.com/itm/321356962292

Here is some further reading that may interest you, EDEN is currently in this vertical farming challenge to address some of these issues. 

http://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-76810/l/vertical-farming-design-challenge?sr=rcontent

  Are you sure? yes | no

norman wrote 08/10/2015 at 07:50 point

Have you any projected costs per unit output? I know that is not essential at this stage but if the energy inputs/unit are prohibitive it would rather destroy the object of the exercise.

  Are you sure? yes | no

sadhana wrote 08/10/2015 at 16:20 point

Not exactly, the prototype is at retail for all its parts so any figures I'd estimate would be inaccurate to the true capabilities of the system when scaled.

  Are you sure? yes | no

norman wrote 08/10/2015 at 07:49 point

Should there not a different humidity level for the roots and leaves? Maybe the spraying of roots handles this. One plant that could give difficulties with this technique is potatoes. Potato tubers are underground stem and hence have chlorophyll on their surface. Thus they go green when exposed to light. This in turn produces solanum, a poison which, even in low doses causes abortion. Both these problems would be solved by a semi-permeable, opaque membrane at the root/stem junction. However, I'm not sure how this could be added without without adding greatly to labour costs.

  Are you sure? yes | no

sadhana wrote 08/10/2015 at 16:26 point

Yes there should, roots love humidity, leaves not so much. I really like your idea, I'm going to look more into this because carb-rich potatoes are definitely an important crop. 

  Are you sure? yes | no

norman wrote 08/10/2015 at 17:23 point

One way to do it, if growing from seed, is to create a dimpled membrane with little holes at the dimples. Then seeds could be shaken on this and would lodge in the small depressions (reversed dimples). Roots are geotropic ie they are affected by gravity so grow downwards. Thus, quite naturally, the roots would be below the membrane and the vegetative parts above. I'll look round for what might suit as a membrane. There are probably such things in agriculture already.

  Are you sure? yes | no

sadhana wrote 08/13/2015 at 23:02 point

I was going to use rockwool in combination with a wide mesh basket originally. The problem I'm noticing is that the dimple holes may stunt root growth if they're too small, or lose the seeds if they're too large. I would need something that can expand to accommodate the stem. Perhaps a fabric with low amounts of light transmission.

  Are you sure? yes | no

jonsweb wrote 08/14/2015 at 13:23 point

Norman,

The part about green potato posing in incorrect in many ways. 1.)Solanum is not a poison but a genus of plants. The poison you are referring to is called Solanine. 

2.)The amount required to cause any damage to an adult is somewhere around 4 pounds of green potatoes. I cannot find anything at all regarding green potatoes and miscarriages(abortion means it was intentional, miscarriage means it was not) please cite a source if you have one.

(http://www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/greenpotatoes.asp)

That being said, I think you are onto something with the membrane idea. I think having a different setup for each plant type is a must anyways so this could be used to customize the root vegetables setup.

  Are you sure? yes | no

norman wrote 08/14/2015 at 17:22 point

I went to agricultural college almost 50 years ago (can't believe I'm that old) so apologies fro confusing the genus with the poison. The miscarriage bit came from the effect of feeding green potatoes to cows. Cows eat a lot . I've since googled for 'green potatoes cows cause miscarriage' and have seen evidence for neurological effects and some reference to miscarriage.

From here:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/508397-are-green-potatoes-harmful-when-eaten/

'Pregnant women should avoid eating green potatoes as the glycoalkaloids  (solanine) may be harmful to the fetus or cause miscarriage, reports CSIRO.'

BTW, abortion is used by vets so it applies in the animal world. Also, from here:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abortion

'spontaneous expulsion of a human fetus during the first 12 weeks of gestation'.

  Are you sure? yes | no

sadhana wrote 08/14/2015 at 22:32 point

It still seems like an effect that can be easily avoided with a few extra measures. I've already ditched a few low cost materials because they weren't the right form of plastic, so I'm definitely going to take measures for that in beta phase most likely.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Frank Vigilante wrote 06/09/2015 at 03:59 point

Real nice!

  Are you sure? yes | no

Similar Projects

Does this project spark your interest?

Become a member to follow this project and never miss any updates