HERA-SSW v2 - High-Efficiency Root Aeration/Semi-Self Watering Planter

Description

Thingiverse, meet HERA-SSW v2. This is a project I embarked on inspired by this thing here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3754190 Unfortunately, the cited work was a bit big for my FlashForge Creator Pro to tackle, so I decided to create my own take on the idea. This is the second iteration, featuring a deep basin and highly perforated planting pot that retains soil while allowing water to flow in or out as necessary while creating a much larger air-soil interface than a typical pot, providing much better aeration to the roots. This design has benefits and drawbacks; Maurice94's version, I am almost certain, provides a better covered-exposed surface area ratio and better airflow than my design, especially because the vertically unobstructed design of his planter likely, at least in part, is leveraging and induced downdraft as a consequence of evaporative cooling, so eventually, I would like to iterate on my design in such a way that I too can take advantage of such effects. On the plus side for my design, the high basin and tall pot allow for the basin to remain partially full if necessary, to provide water over an extended period of time, however filling the basin more than a third of the way is not recommended, as I sincerely expect this would lead to root rot for susceptible plants. Of course, you should always water your plants as directed when possible as well, just please account for the fact that pots like these are going to require more frequent watering due to the increased ease with which water can evaporate from the soil. For those curious why this design looks somewhat bizarre, what with all of the perforations, it's actually an effort to leverage the gas exchange process of plant roots to the benefit of all involved, plants and people alike. Many plants absorb and inert toxic chemicals like formaldehyde, benzene, etc., however, much of this exchange happens in the roots rather than the leaves. In addition, plant roots do require a small amount of oxygen, and some benefit from better access to the nitrogen in the air as well. Overall, this allows better use of the plants themselves as biological air purifiers, but also helps many plants access nutrients more easily. The NASA study on which this design predicates its purpose: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19930073077/downloads/19930073077.pdf

Statistics

Category

Tags