Aeroponics Vs. Hydroponics: Which Is Best For You?

There is a lot of confusion around the differences between aeroponics and hydroponics. Let’s take a closer look at the differences, similarities, important factors, pros, and cons, and discuss the best option for your garden.

What Is Aeroponics?

Aeroponics is a method of growing plants and vegetables without soil or any other growing medium. It is a subset of hydroponics that produces plants faster and more efficiently than traditional farming methods. When growing aeroponically, the plant is suspended with the plant’s roots exposed and then sprayed with a fine mist of nutrient-rich solution. 

Aeroponics allows you to be efficient with both your time and your natural resources. The plant’s root system receives more oxygen than its ground-living counterparts, as well as faster nutrient delivery, causing a rapid rate of plant growth. And, according to NASA, aeroponic systems reduce your water usage by up to 98%.

There are two kinds of aeroponics: High-Pressure Aeroponics and Low-Pressure Aeroponics.

Who Discovered Aeroponics?

It’s difficult to pinpoint the actual discovery of aeroponics, as several researchers and biologists over nearly a hundred years contributed to its development. The term “aeroponics” was first coined by Dutch researcher Frits Warmolt Went in 1957. He was continuing the research of Russian exobiologist Vladimir Arsikhovski from the early 1900s, specifically his study called “On Air Plant Cultures.”

But it wasn’t until Richard Stoner first submitted an aeroponic patent in 1983 that the term aeroponics received the recognition it deserved. With his new systems on the market, aeroponics grew in popularity. From there, aeroponics-grown food was soon sold in national grocery stores.

Stoner was a strong supporter of aeroponics’ resource-conserving capabilities, particularly its efficient use of water. He wasn’t the only one. Aeroponics soon caught the attention of NASA and the EDEN ISS for its potential uses in future space travel.

What is hydroponics?

Hydroponics is the process of growing vegetables or plants without the use of soil. But it can use another growth medium, like Rockwool, coco coir, perlite, or vermiculite.

Traditionally, there is a grow tray, which holds your hydroponic plants in a growing medium. Your system’s water reservoir is placed nearby, and water is either pumped through tubes or absorbed through a wick.

With hydroponics, you replace the soil with a nutrient-rich solution that goes in the water. Plant roots can be flooded and drained on a cycle or in Deep Water Culture hydroponics, or permanently submerged in water. Hydroponics offers the advantage of no energy wasted searching for nutrients.

When choosing a hydroponics system, there’s a lot to think about. Here are some of our favorites currently on the market:

• iHarvest Review
• Gardyn Review
• AeroGarden Review

What’s the best hydroponic system for you? It all depends on the size, price, and yields you’re looking for.

What Is The Difference Between Hydroponics and Aeroponics?

Aeroponics is typically considered to be under the umbrella of hydroponics (the same goes for an aquaponics system). Still, there are a handful of key differences between it and any other type of hydroponics.

Quick Explanation Video of Hydroponics Vs. Aeroponics

I went back and forth about adding the video below in this article. I’ve never seen someone smile so much while talking about plants dying from dehydration. But that said, she provides an incredible amount of information that’s easy to digest:

Growing Medium

With a hydroponic garden and hydroponic systems, you use a growing medium such as perlite, gravel, sand, Rockwool (rock wool), coconut husks, or clay pellets. With Aeroponics, the critical difference is that you do not use a growing medium at all. Instead, you expose the plant’s root system directly to oxygen. The benefit here is that your aeroponic plants get direct access to nutrients, making it the more efficient way to grow plants.

Clay pebbles – often called LECA or hydroton – are a lightweight hydroponic substrate that works well in most hydroponics forms, including aquaponics.

Watering

When using a hydroponic method, your plants are traditionally either submerged in a trough of nutrient-rich water or a regular flow of water is running through the growing medium. With aeroponics, the root zone is fed with a pressurized mist of nutrient-rich water. This spray is set on a timer (at least for high-pressure aeroponics), while with most forms of hydroponics, the plants and growing medium are consistently in contact with water. Like all forms of hydroponics, you’re not using as much water as traditional growing methods.

The clear winner in terms of water efficiency is aeroponics. With aeroponic plants in a controlled environment, you can expect to use fewer gallons of water than other types of hydroponics.

That said, it’s pretty tricky to compare water usage properly. In the case of hydroponics, water is usually measured in gallons per hour. With aeroponics, it is measured by the pressure of the nutrient solution – or pounds per inch.

Resilience

If there’s ever a power outage or problem with your equipment, the pressure pumps on your hydroponic system – aeroponic or otherwise – could shut off. A temporarily dead pump on most hydroponic systems isn’t a big deal, and the plants will likely be fine as long as the nutrient solution begins flowing again soon. For aeroponics, though, the plant’s roots are exposed and can quickly dry out and die without getting a regular spray of water.

Plant Security

With an aeroponic garden, you don’t have a growing medium to keep the plants and plants’ roots in place. To secure them, you’ll either need to use clips, foam sheets, or even boards with holes. In other forms of hydroponics, plants are held in place with various growing mediums, such as Rockwool. 

Aeration

With hydroponics, you need to figure out a way to oxygenate your roots. The roots need air to breathe, and it allows them to absorb hydroponic nutrients and water. To solve for this, most hydroponic systems use air stones, pumps, the Ktraky method – and a few other options.