Dubai student came up with an innovative idea to grow your own herbs and choice of veggies in a cabinet in your kitchen, and it takes very little effort.

Dubai-based 22 year old Rakesh Joe , electrical engineering student , bagged second place for his project in the Environment Category of the Phoenix Contact — Xplore 2015 Automation Awards that recently took place in Germany . He envisions with his Mini Automated Farming prototype — a three-shelved recycled cabinet where organic herbs and vegetables can be grown — that requires little to no knowledge of gardening skills.

He aims to integrate already available technology with clean modern farming techniques such as hydroponics for people who lack the knowledge to grow plants but have the need to grow plants.

In the UAE, the climatic conditions are very harsh. If someone wants to have a fresh garden in his balcony, it's eventually going to fail because it's so harsh out there. So one can have this in one's kitchen and just let the plants grow.

The farming cabinet is a plug and play device. It has three shelves with two tanks each containing a special substrate that act as the "ground" where the seeds will be planted. Using hydroponics — the process of growing plants without soil — the plants receive water and light automatically as programmed in the device from Phoenix Contact.

Every household that wants to grow their own greens at home but has space limitations can do so because the farming cabinet occupies only as much space as a fridge or a dishwasher does. They can grow parsley, mint, coriander, lettuce, tomatoes, chilli, lettuce, and wheatgrass, among others.

If it's wheatgrass, it takes just seven days to harvest in his kind of cabinet. Just put the seeds and on the seventh day, you can already harvest it and start juicing. Basil takes 15 days , coriander takes 20 days. It varies from plant to plant.

He is overjoyed with his invention . According to him the freshness is so good it's much better than what we get from the supermarket. When he cuts the coriander from his cabinet in his room, his mum smelled it all the way from the kitchen. The texture, smell, and quality of the herbs are much better. They taste very fresh and unique as per his professor who also tried it.

This project has tremendous potential especially in this region. The vegetables we consume can now be grown inside the kitchen, that's the beauty of it. One does not need to know about agriculture because everything is automated.

The farming cabinet is also water efficient with only approximately seven litres of water needed for a harvest of six types of veggies and herbs for a month.

In terms of power consumption, the cost had been calculated to be approximately Dh300 (approx. 80 USD) per year.

His plans are under way to optimise the design and produce the farming cabinet on a large scale for use in places in need of fresh produce like refugee camps, or in very arid areas.

He very confidently said "In 1984, the Macintosh was made and Steve Jobs believed in developing personal computers for the common man. In 2015, with a similar concept in mind, we are trying to integrate personal farming for the common man".

Three shelved recycled cabinet –How it works?

The prototype requires users to have little to no knowledge of gardening skills to grow organic herbs and vegetables at home.

The top part contains 3 shelves with 2 trays on each shelf. Inside the shelves are 5 sensores to measure the temperature , humidity , pH level of the water , and water level and the amount of growing nutrients.

The trays have a special substrate composed of 50 percent coco peat and 50 percent perlite that acts as the "ground" where the seeds can be planted.

How to do it ?

1)     Put the seeds of your desired plants on the tray. Depending on the type of plants , the HMI or the touchscreen Human Machine Interphase will assess the needs of the plants in terms of lighting , water , and nutrients based on the information from the sensors.

2)     The plants are watered automatically and the water stays on the tray for 5 minutes before it gets drained back to water container. The water's pH level is monitored regularly.

3)     The lights are programmed to stay on for however long the plant needs it during the day.

4)     A growing nutrient solution is infused into the plants to help them grow.

5)     Once any of the sensors detect irregularity such as the water level is too low or too acidic , and the like , the LED lights will blink continuously to inform the owner to act accordingly.

Isn't it an impressive automated farming technique that calls for very little space, very less time ,electricity , water , no gardening skills and minimal effort ?

Source :

http://gulfnews.com/culture/environment/grow-your-own-veggies-in-a-kitchen-cabinet-1.1489378