Engineering aspect of innovative growing systems

1. Introduction Greenhouse plant production systems include the nutrient delivery system, and the plant culture management technique, that are enclosed within a controlled environment. The foundation of all plant production systems is the effective, efficient and dependable means of nutrient delivery. This system must be compatible with the management technique. The specific plant culture management procedures are directly related to the experiences of the grower. A protected environment must include a structure with automated monitoring and control systems. All successful controlled environment plant production systems, capable of producing the plant or its desired byproducts will maintain these interrelated components. Innovativeness in the development of plant production systems allows for unique applications in traditional [earth-based] and non-traditional [extraterrestrial] applications. Fundamental engineering design will be inherent in all successful applications. The nutrient delivery system [NDS] consists of those hardware components that transport nutrient solution [water plus fertilizer] from a central location to each individual plant. The central location may consist of a large storage tank filled with pre-mixed, pH balanced, and proportioned nutrient solution. An alternative to the pre-mix nutrient solution storage tank is the proportioning system that mixes nutrient solution on demand from concentrated stock solution. The prepared nutrient solution is pumped to the crop, and may be distributed uniformly and directly to each individual plant [as with microirrigation drippers], or more broadly distributed to the crop that may be grouped in rows [within troughs], in zones [on benches] or as an entire greenhouse bay [ebb and flood floor]. Some means for control of the nutrient distribution pump is required. Irrigation frequency and duration may be based on fixed time intervals determined from past experiences, or be more specific to plant demands, and be based proportionally to measured solar radiation. The plant culture technique includes the procedures that are completed by the grower of the plants in order to produce a healthy crop of desired quality. These procedures or culture tasks are crop specific, but they are directly related to the type of NDS. In general, they include those tasks necessary for complete regeneration of the plant, and are specific to the " product " desired from the plant. For example, the product may be vegetative [leave, stem or root] or reproductive [flower, fruit, tuber]. The interrelationship among the labor to complete the culture tasks, the plant growth habit and the NDS, combine to determine the production program and specific labor …