Discussion
rack-mount hydroponics
Animats: Years ago, when California had a really severe drought, I saw a large version of this to grow grass for horses. It had a stack of trays with lights, and each day, you harvested one tray, fed your horse, and replanted the tray. It was only cost-effective when grass hay was really expensive.
esafak: I found growing my own produce to be a great way to appreciate farmers and my local supermarket.
chronogram: What's the idea behind not using capital letters?
defrost: Singapore is currently claiming title of "world's largest (and tallest) indoor vertical farm" with a five story, two hectare automated racked site (Jan 2026):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJuo6Te1fM4 (2.5 minutes)
shellfishgene: I wonder if they are profitable, or if some sort of government support is involved. I don't think power for all those lights is particularly cheap in Singapore, and the competition in the surrounding countries has cheap labor and lots of free sun and rain.
Gigachad: Gen Z illiteracy crisis.
cowthulhu: The author is trying very hard to look like they are not trying at all.
mvkel: Presumably a shibboleth for human-generated content
SilverElfin: There have been vertical farms in Singapore that went bankrupt previously. I don’t think this model has worked very well in general globally, compared to traditional farms. This particular one is producing insanely expensive produce. For example the lettuce that is mentioned is over $14 a pound. It’s also a hydroponic farm which means only some crops can be grown.
jodacola: Is that a subtle 5th Element reference in the crontab?This is fun!The following isn’t a knock on anyone doing cool stuff like this: I’ve avoided any sort of tinkering and automation of my gardening because I find gardening to be a slower-moving, meditative escape from technology. My brain shifts into a different mode (almost a flow state?) when I’m out working in the soil and tending to my plants.
zdc1: Gen Z will often write like that, feeling that using capitalisation feels too "formal" for non-professional communication.It's feel just the next evolution in our written messaging dialect. Gen X had c u l8r?. Millennials didn't have to pay per character, and got full qwerty keyboards so opted for normal sentences. And now Gen Z have decided that auto-capitalisation is unnecessary.
Brajeshwar: You did mention the reason for a server rack as a matter of circumstance. But if I were to do and really want the Hydropnics part, I’d sell the Server Rack (good price) and buy the cheaper Pallet Racks. The first thing that comes to mind is that it will be easier to plan, pluck, change lights, etc.Server Racks - you don’t interact with them often, but you will need to with the Hydroponics one.Also, your setup is too clean. Water will drip, spill, the pebbles will fall. Looks really nice, though.About 5 years ago, I worked with a Climate Research Scientist friend, growing exotic plants in dutch-buckets, tower aeroponics, and rack mounted red-lit setups to induce Vitamin B-12 (only found in meat, so deficiencies develops in vegetarian) to Spinach trying to produce Super Spinash.
RagnarD: All lower case, instant won't read.
