Aeroponics is an established method of cannabis cultivation: traditionally, it a system whereby plants are suspended in a fixed, horizontal tube. The roots hang down where they are repeatedly sprayed with nutrient rich water. Aeroponic growing typically requires gravel or grow rocks, multiple sprayers, hoses and a host of other gardening equipment. These systems often take up a lot of space, and can be hard to maintain.
However, there is a new method for aeroponic cannabis cultivation available: Tower Garden. Tower Garden is a subsidiary of Juice Plus. This vertical aeroponic garden is expanding cannabis cultivation opportunities one garden at a time. Tower Garden is well known in the world of vegetable gardening as a way to simplify gardening, while at the same time reduce the cost of growing at home. The patented growing system recycles 100% of its water and nutrients, and uses 90% less water and space as traditional soil gardening. It can be used both indoors and outdoors.
Erika Ashbaug, a Tower Garden franchise owner in Seattle says, “I first had the idea to sell Tower Gardens when I saw how much they help people grow vegetables. I thought, ‘why couldn’t we do the same thing with cannabis?’”
“The great thing about the Tower Garden is how easy it is to use,” she explains. “Especially for people with disabilities, or mobility challenges, this could be a new way for medical marijuana patients to get their medicine.”
After planting seeds or seedlings, the user simply fills the reservoir with water and nutrients. Then, a pump on a timer pushes the water to the top of the tower, where a single sprayer releases the water into the tower. Gravity does the rest of the work, with the nutrient-rich water dripping down over the roots. Gardeners simply refill the reservoir and add more nutrients when the water is low.
Erika points out some other advantages to using the Tower Garden: larger and healthier plants, lower expenditures on water, nutrients and other growing supplies, a greater yield in smaller growing spaces and, due to rapid growth, more growing cycles in a year.
In a recent study at the University of Mississippi, the Tower Garden growing system was used to compare aeroponic gardening to conventional gardening. Tower Garden yielded 30% more veggies. The study also points out that using aeroponic gardening helps growers produce consistent chemical profiles in their plants, which is a very important factor when growing cannabis to treat specific medical conditions.
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