systems come in many forms. Plants may be suspended in the water full-time

or they may be fed by a continuous or even an intermittent flow. Aeroponic

plants are never placed into water, even for a minute. Instead, aeroponic

plants receive nutrients from a mist that is sprayed onto their roots

several times an hour.

filled with a chemically inert media such as perlite, clay pellets, rock

wool, sand or gravel. The media is similar to soil in that it holds the

plants in place as they grow, but unlike soil, hydroponic media does not

provide any nutrients. Aeroponic systems typically employ boards, foam

sheets, plastic clips or other methods to suspend the plants in space. No

with their roots constantly submerged or sit in a trough where the water

flows over the roots regularly. Aeroponic plants never have their roots

submerged. Instead, their exposed roots are sprayed three or four times per

hour with nutrient-laden water, providing them with just enough water and

is any disruption to the flow of liquid nutrients. Some systems,

particularly deep-water-culture hydroponics, aren’t much affected by

outages. When the power comes back on they pick up right where they left

off, though in systems using the nutrient film technique the plants can be

damaged if the pumps are off too long. Plants in an aeroponic system are

highly vulnerable to outages since there is nothing to keep the roots from

drying out. These plants can die very quickly without moisture, often in