What is a ZipGrow Tower?
ZipGrowTM Towers are top of the line, high density vertical farming or gardening towers developed by Dr. Nate Storey at the University of Wyoming.
History
ZipGrowTM Towers are the product of seven years(!) of research on highly productive, high density vertical farming techniques at the University of Wyoming by Dr. Nate Storey.
Throughout his research in Agronomy, Dr. Storey spent countless hours researching aquaponic production and novel produce sales and distribution models in hopes of helping farmers live better while bringing a higher quality product to market.
Nate, along with his business partner Paul Bennick operate Bright Agrotech, one of the only independent and profitable aquaponic farms in the world in Laramie, Wyoming.
To do this they use ZipGrow™ Towers. Nate continues to research the use of tower production techniques to increase productivity and reduce costs for hydroponic and aquaponic growers.
But, what’s so special about ZipGrowTM Towers?
Productivity
ZipGrowTM Towers are specially designed for high density vertical crop production using either hydroponics or aquaponics. These single-sided towers incorporate our special Matrix Media inside a solid PVC housing that allows growers to stack towers in tight configurations while maximizing growth.
By growing vertically with ZipGrowTM Towers, growers are able to double or even triple that of traditional horizontal production or other tower system designs on the market.
The single-face design is a result of scientific research on the effects of light depletion rates. By ensuring high reflectivity with a white, single-faced design ZipGrowTM Towers reduce light extinction significantly and maximize yields, especially in high density configurations!
Ease of Use
The single-sided, lightweight design of ZipGrowTM Towers not only ensures maximum yields in small spaces, it also offers growers several ease of use benefits.
A significant benefit ZipGrowTM growers enjoy is just how easy it is to move about through the towers making maintenance, pest control and tower transport a breeze. This is contrary to other tower systems with bulky bases or traditional horizontal systems where you have to roll the systems out of the way just to check your crops.
Moving easily through rows of towers not only reduces time and energy, but also some MAJOR headaches.
Transporting ZipGrowTM Towers from mass to mass or from greenhouse to a LIVE display at a grocery store or restaurant is also a breeze!
Other Features
ZipGrowTM Towers are not only more productive than other hydroponic or aquaponic methods out there, they also give growers many other features.
For one, they are light weight and mobile which allows growers to the freedom to pick them up, rearrange them, harvest them in a different spot or easily transport them live to market for customers to harvest themselves.
Second, ZipGrowTM Towers are one of the only vertical tower designs on the market with a media-based system. Most conventional tower designs are aeroponic in nature which is usually less productive due to the temperature fluctuations in the root zone. Thus, by using media to secure our roots, we’re able to buffer those temperature fluctuations and increase growth rates.
Finally, ZipGrowTM Towers just last forever! We’ve designed our media to last years and years, with the tower housing lasting much longer. That translates into a single upfront investment that we recoup over and over again as we continue employing our towers to feed our community!
Irrigation
To irrigate ZipGrowTM Towers, a drip nozzle is directed to the top of the tower and into the Matrix Media where your plants’ roots are being held. As the water/nutrient solution trickles down through the media, plants are able to uptake the nutrients from their roots.
In addition to the high specific surface area, biological surface area, and very high void space, the towers/media have a whole host of good bacteria inside to help plant growth. We also recommend incorporating redworms inside the towers for aquaponic production to help break down solids, metabolize fish waste and deliver more nutrients to your plants.
Learn More About ZipGrow Towers
To learn more about ZipGrowTM Towers, visit our website: http://www.brightagrotech.com/
To purchase ZipGrowTM Towers, check out our online store: http://www.shop.brightagrotech.com/
To find bulk pricing on ZipGrow Towers, send us a contact form at: http://www.brightagrotech.com/Connect.php
Want to compare ZipGrow Towers to other hydroponic/aquaponic techniques?
Check out the ZipGrowTM Production Estimates Guide!
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