Environment Control for Vertical Farming

Temperature Control for Vertical Farming and CEA Systems

Plants, like most other organisms, require certain environmental conditions for optimum growth and metabolic function. Temperature is a key environmental factor that will influence plant growth profiles. For instance, if the temperature in a grow environment is too low for a given plant variety, this will adversely affect the amount of photosynthesis that the plant can undertake. If the environment becomes too hot, then plants will begin to cool themselves via transpiration, increasing water loss and reducing growth potential. In extremis, plants suffering from heat stress will exhibit a range of adverse stress responses, including tissue senescence, shoot and root growth inhibition, and damage or loss of fruit.

Thus, understanding and supplying exactly the right environmental and temperature conditions in a grow environment can result in significant differences in overall yield. In addition to keeping temperatures within the target range for plant growth, temperature management technology can also be used to augment environment characteristics. As an example, the optimum temperatures for plant productivity will likely vary during the day. Constant temperatures are less optimal for growth regimes than periods of diurnal temperature variation, such as higher temperatures to coincide with light period, and lower temperatures during the dark period. Plants recognise this variation through a process called thermoperiodism. Exploiting this natural system can improve the overall potential for growth, offering production advantages.