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An Underground Farm Delivering Rare Herbs to New York’s Top Chefs

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Re: An Underground Farm Delivering Rare Herbs to New York’s Top Chefs

#11

Post by bobthepanda »

plusbryan wrote: post #10
subpixel wrote: post #8

As cool as the operations part of this is, I can't help wishing they were growing food that mattered on scale to make a difference. Lowering the carbon footprint of putting expensive garnishes on the plates of the 1% is a start, I guess.

Isn’t this the same ideology of Tesla? Innovate your product via the dollars of wealthy early adopters; as cost declines, widen your reach.

This is how most technology started out - electricity, cars, jets, trains, refrigerators, air conditioning etc.

Very few technologies have been created by targeting poor or middle-class people first.

Re: An Underground Farm Delivering Rare Herbs to New York’s Top Chefs

#12

Post by virtuexru »

sizimon wrote: post #7
arciini wrote: post #2

This reflects my experience of growing 1-2 herbs at home. It requires little space and you usually only use a tiny amount. Most of all, it's tastier and cheaper over time than the dried stuff. If there were a simple-to-maintain herb garden hydroponics set, I'd totally be interested!

Aerogarden makes a dead simple, self contained 3 herb hydroponics set complete with reservoir and light. You basically just plug it in and eat herbs in a couple weeks. I've been using one for a couple years to grow basil and some other stuff, and I really like it. Not sure if linking to products on HN is discouraged, but should be easy to find with a quick search.

Can I grow "herb" with one of these? Asking for a friend, of course.

Re: An Underground Farm Delivering Rare Herbs to New York’s Top Chefs

#13

Post by neaden »

subpixel wrote: post #8

As cool as the operations part of this is, I can't help wishing they were growing food that mattered on scale to make a difference. Lowering the carbon footprint of putting expensive garnishes on the plates of the 1% is a start, I guess.

Low calorie stuff like herbs or lettuce are essentially the only plants that are practical to grow indoors at scale like this. Which makes perfect sense when you think about it but unfortunately means it will be very difficult to try to scale up to providing 2000 calories to a person, let alone the amount of plant matter chickens and cattle take. Edit: To clarify what I'm getting at here is the fairly linear relationship between how much artificial light is input and calories output. If your indoor farm is getting natural light, such as a greenhouse, then things are different.

Re: An Underground Farm Delivering Rare Herbs to New York’s Top Chefs

#14

Post by unobtaniumstool »

This is awfully well-timed to coincide with their current campaign to crowdfund investments.

It's a cool idea, but their focus on expensive restaurants means it's not going to scale well. Also, growing basil on a shelf is a pretty straightforward process, and they have no particular technological advantage over any other company that wants to move in and do the same thing.

Re: An Underground Farm Delivering Rare Herbs to New York’s Top Chefs

#15

Post by module0000 »

arciini wrote: post #2

This reflects my experience of growing 1-2 herbs at home. It requires little space and you usually only use a tiny amount. Most of all, it's tastier and cheaper over time than the dried stuff. If there were a simple-to-maintain herb garden hydroponics set, I'd totally be interested!

Another plug for Aerogarden - along with the obvious output, it's been a terrible lot of fun for me.

Re: An Underground Farm Delivering Rare Herbs to New York’s Top Chefs

#17

Post by bearforcenine »

I've been digging into growing some greens, peppers, or other vegetables for fun. Playing with lights, pumps, and controllers seems pretty fun.

As far as I know Farm.one is using some Fluence Bioengineering LEDs for grow lights: https://fluence.science/innovator-spotlight/farm-one/ However, in the article it looks like they might be using strips of COB leds? Anyone have any thoughts or resources for doing this sorts of stuff?

Re: An Underground Farm Delivering Rare Herbs to New York’s Top Chefs

#18

Post by frgtpsswrdlame »

bearforcenine wrote: post #17

I've been digging into growing some greens, peppers, or other vegetables for fun. Playing with lights, pumps, and controllers seems pretty fun. As far as I know Farm.one is using some Fluence Bioengineering LEDs for grow lights: https://fluence.science/innovator-spotlight/farm-one/ However, in the article it looks like they might be using strips of COB leds? Anyone have any thoughts or resources for doing this sorts…

There's a subreddit: /r/hands_on_complexity which is the absolute best source of real, actual information on lighting for plants that I've found.

Re: An Underground Farm Delivering Rare Herbs to New York’s Top Chefs

#19

Post by bearforcenine »

frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #18
bearforcenine wrote: post #17

I've been digging into growing some greens, peppers, or other vegetables for fun. Playing with lights, pumps, and controllers seems pretty fun. As far as I know Farm.one is using some Fluence Bioengineering LEDs for grow lights: https://fluence.science/innovator-spotlight/farm-one/ However, in the article it looks like they might be using strips of COB leds? Anyone have any thoughts or resources for doing this sorts…

There's a subreddit: /r/hands_on_complexity which is the absolute best source of real, actual information on lighting for plants that I've found.

Awesome. Thanks for that! I was initialy put off the by the several year old posts, but it looks like SAG has been updating them throughout the years. https://www.reddit.com/r/HandsOnComplexity/

Re: An Underground Farm Delivering Rare Herbs to New York’s Top Chefs

#20

Post by rs999gti »

virtuexru wrote: post #12
sizimon wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aerogarden makes a dead simple, self contained 3 herb hydroponics set complete with reservoir and light. You basically just plug it in and eat herbs in a couple weeks. I've been using one for a couple years to grow basil and some other stuff, and I really like it. Not sure if linking to products on HN is discouraged, but should be easy to find with a quick search.

Can I grow "herb" with one of these? Asking for a friend, of course.

Yes: https://www.aeroweed.info/
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