What tower system is recommended for a school?
Tower Garden aeroponic systems are perfect for schools and educational centers as they allow to be used indoors and outdoors. There is no bending over, no weeding, no tilling, no spraying pesticides, and no mess since it is soil-less.
For educational centers, there are two options:
#1) Small automated Tower Farm (10 towers minimum):
For a school, we advise a fully automated system of 10 to 20 towers (7 pots/28 plants per tower) plus one LED-light-kit per tower for indoor growing.
A 7-pot tower (28 plants) is the perfect size to plant and harvest without the use of a ladder ( safer with children).
Towers may be used outside from spring to fall and brought inside to be equipped with lights during the cold season ( or inside year-round).
Please watch the following video to see a 7-pot commercial tower with LED lights:
A Tower Farm featuring 10 towers (7 pots/28 plants per tower) costs about €8000 including shipping. LED light kits cost €279 to €289 per kit (depending on country).
#2) Tower Garden for personal use (no minimum):
A school can start with less towers by just getting as little as 1 tower of the residential/personal use model with lights (there is no minimum purchase) which is now available for sale in Europe:https://agrotonomy.com/residential/
The Tower Garden European model comes with 5 planting sections/20 plants per tower.
However, with the Tower Garden for personal use, the nutrients need to be mixed in the water and added to the tower manually on an ongoing basis (versus a Tower Farm which is fully automated and where nutrients need to be changed only once a year). Of course, this option allows a school to order 2 to 3 units. The model for personal use will produce equal results (the components of the tower itself as well as the nutrients are the same as the towers used in a Tower Farm).
For schools, we definitely would advise a small automated Tower Farm thus giving less responsibility to whoever is in charge of supervising the system ( nutrients only need to be changed every six months on average). Forgetting to give water and nutrients on time would result in crop loss and in the breakage of the pumps.
