I recently learned about a new product concept for an indoor hydroponic garden that looks like it has potential.
The kicstarter prices are not too bad. I dont know if itll fit into my budget, but I definitely want to try this thing out!
NIWA (www.getniwa.com) is a pretty slick looking 5 liter recirculating hydroponic system with lights and automation controlled from your smartphone.
Compared to the Aquafarm from Back to the Roots, this looks like a more serious food production system. The Aquafarm is a nice, compact system that can grow some herbs and is a good introduction to aquaponic gardening, the NIWA looks to be able to produce some serious food, and I suspect the price will reflect this increase in performance. NIWA claims to be able to grow tomatoes, strawberries, orchids, or medical plants.
Ive been in contact with Aga, one of the founders of NIWA, and asked about integration with a fish tank for an aquaponic system. While they havent yet worked with any aquaponic experts to determine what would need to be done to the system to integrate aquaponics, they will be offering a maker-kit on the kickstarter which will include the electronics and gear inside with instructions to build the system on your own. I can imagine this could be used to hack an aquaponic version.
Some of my favorite features:
Automatic nutrient and irrigation adjustment for different plants. You dont have to do additional research, just tell NIWA what youre growing, and the nutrients and irrigation cycles are adjusted to optimize growth. Or, if you want to experiment, you can manually adjust the settings.
Automatic heating, ventilation, humidity, and lighting control. NIWA claims to monitor climate. In the system and automatically adjusts for optimal growth. If there is enough light in the room, the lights will be off. If the room isnt bright enough, NIWA will sense this and turn on the grow lights.
Cloud connectivity lets you monitor and adjust the system from anywhere with an internet connection.
NIWA is getting ready to launch their kickstarter campaign on Monday, May 12, 2014.
The kicstarter prices are not too bad. I dont know if itll fit into my budget, but I definitely want to try this thing out!
www.getniwa.com
