This is an air atomized aeroponics setup - the roots get sprayed with very fine droplets - 50 micron on average as a target. Its drain to waste - not circulating. The roots get sprayed, then any water that drips down to the bottom is tossed out.
This is my most recent thread with more build details.
Sort of, but not the way you might be thinking. The roots can grow sideways, or even up in this kind of setup. Its like they dont care about or believe in gravity. They will grow directly toward the sprayers - no matter where you put them - until they cover them up completely. Once the sprayers are blocked, things dont work as well as they should if you are not careful how it is setup.
Yes, just 1" construction foam from Home Depot. I use it for the ceiling/lid of the root chamber. The green disks are just the normal net pot pucks. Not sure if they are neoprine or what, but very soft.
Thats all root. On that grow I screwed up more than once and severely damaged the roots. That plant grew a huge main tap root - about 1.5" in diameter - and thats what you are looking at. The plant to the left grew many very small roots. There is another plant you cant see which grew differently again with several medium sized tap roots in the 1/2" to 3/4" range. All three were the same strain, but reacted very differently to the problems I caused.
The root chamber is 24" in diameter by about 29" tall = around 56 gallons total volume. The roots can fill it all the way if you grow long enough, but these were autos. Here are some more pics at different stages.
I was mainly trying to show how the roots can fill the net pot to support the plant even when there is no medium.
There is another net pot burried on the far left side where all those medium sized tap roots are, but you cant se it.
