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Garden Requirements


I've been looking into ways of making a self contained hydroponic system for a dome that would be completely shielded from outside light I have a few questions on the feasibility of this.

  1. Would it be possible to generate enough electricity through a stationary bike to run the lamps and pumps? Could we create a battery array large enough to store at least 12 hours worth of power for the lamps and pumps necessary to run this system?
  2. All the literature on hydroponics I've come across talks of using store-bought fertilizer. My concern here is that this will eventually run out. I would like to recycle human waste and compost it in order to complete the food cycle. Is it possible to sufficiently break down human waste into a water soluble form that would be usable in a hydroponic system? Would this composting process need additional organic materials such as grass, or leaves which would have to be grown separately to support the process?
  3. Let me preface this question by saying I am not by any stretch of the word a botanist. Would running the lamps and pump system 24 hours a day reduce the amount of time it takes to produce crops without any detrimental effects on the crops? Or do plants need rest?

Offered by Ryan.

For Question 1, see the Bike Gen TOPIC.
For Question 2, see the Fertilizer TOPIC.
For Question 3, see the Illumination TOPIC.

Offered by Roger.

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