We can now utilize completely different materials to construct our farms because we don't have to carry heavy loads and do not have any components in the root zone of the plants. So we use fabric instead of steel or plastic. This is without a doubt more sustainable, as well as considerably less expensive. As a result, the plants grow on vertically hanging round plant carriers made of fabric within which the interior spaces of the plant carriers are filled with fog while the outside areas are illuminated by LED lighting. The rounded form of the plant allows us to use more space because it takes up less room, while also allowing for greater heat dissipation and better humidity management.
‍

Fogponic irrigation not only cuts down on a lot of parts and makes maintenance easier, but it also reduces the amount of equipment that needs to be maintained. High pressure is usedin hydroponic systems, for example, which is supplied to theplants through tiny nozzles. Unfortunately, this leads tofrequent clogging of the nozzles, which results in plant deathand significant expenses for running and repairing thesefarms.In contrast to that, fogponic systems don't have to fight theseproblems. In fogponics, we don't use high-pressure nozzlesbut the ultrasonic vibrations caused by the ceramic discs forma tiny water droplet that contains all of the nutrients and waterrequired by the plants. This is done centrally, so there's less work and components to manage. It just takes a little stream of air to deliver enough water to the roots, giving them adequate oxygen as well. We can also precisely control the temperature in the root zone through adiabatic cooling by the speed of this airflow. The usage of a fogponic system entails a lot less effort and expense than conventional hydroponics and aeroponics, because these systems are quite prone to failure and expensive to maintain. As a result, the cost of maintaining our system has been cut by about 90%, it is considerably safer concerning growth factors (including CO2 and O2 availability) and plant growth behavior and nutrient uptake has been favorably influenced as well.
‍

Through our round planters, the light-weight construction and the use of textiles, we can maximize the space usage of our farms and grow up to four times more plants in he same space, as conventional rack systems would.
‍

Round planters give us the option of curving space into more surface area in the farm. In short that means, that you got more exposure of leafs to light in the same space - ergo a higher output. While you still got the same space to cool, dehumidify and entertain, that means you got less costs per plant, further reducing the costs of growing in our system compared to the standard!
‍

Because of the extensive use of LED lights and the horizontal rack pattern of most vertical farms, one of biggest concerns and cause for failure is heat management and proper humidity control. Especially in the middle east and other hot environments. By the nature of their design, the layered systems create heat barriers that prevent heat and humidity toflow where the naturally tend to - upwards.To allow warmth and humidity to freely rise up, we simply turn the growth surfaces vertical and hang our planters from the ceiling. That saves a lot of problems and money and the root zones are secured from radiation and excess heat by the LED lights positioned in between the planters.
‍

In existing vertical farms, harvesting and farming is done by accessing the different layers of the farms with a scissor lift. Going up, harvesting, going down, left, up again,harvesting…. And so on. A very time consuming work. We conceived a simpler and more modern technique in our farms. We initially separate the growing area from the working area to produce "white" and "grey" zones. A clean room separate from the workers is used for the growth sector, which allows for better security. The plants are simply carried toward a harvesting station - the grey zone - where they can be pulled up and down with a rope, harvested, cleaned, and replanted for future growth. It's straightforward.
‍

In addition to all these improvements, fogponic watering has a very special effect to the roots - explosive hair root growth, amaxing oxygen uptake, and a faster metabolism. Indeed, the first findings about fogponic growth of strawberries by Michio Kanechi in Kobe University in Japan, where the reason that our founder Martin Peter started to be interested - actually amazed - by the potential of fogponics for indoor farming. The first findings showed exceptional results: A three times higher fruit count on strawberries at the same time as a 25 %higher sugar content! So far we can only confirm these results in all other plants we tested, including a variety of leafy greens and even tobacco. The quality of the plants is exceptional, especially concerning the roots.
‍

"Light yield" indicates how much of the light generated by the lamps actually reaches the plants. Lamps are positioned over crops in traditional vertical farms, as you may see in numerous examples of traditional vertical farms. However, if we can see the lamps above the plants, it means that the light initially intended for the plants does not reach them but is captured by a camera, a shelf, or another portion of the farm. Typically, a vertical farm loses up to 30% of energy to such light waste.T he lights in our Lite+Fog farm are positioned between the plants and vertically. So we really utilize up to 99 percent of the energy to light plants, and nothing else. To summarize, by wasting less, we can save up to 30% on our power bills.
‍

The second area in which we increase our light-energy efficiency is through rotation of the planters. In this case, we mimic a natural process to get more use out of the energy provided. It is quite easy to explain: normally, the sun travels from east to west above the plant once during the day. As a result, the plant is uniformly illuminated throughout the day. In this case, it has a shadowed side in the morning, which in turn gets light the evening - and that restores a kind of balance in which the whole plant gets even lighting throughout the day. If we do not have a light source that moves, however, one side of the plant will always be in shade. This reduces the lighting's efficacy significantly. To eliminate this deficiency of conventional indoor farms, we rotate the plant - here again,we may save up to 50% energy.*
‍