Kitchen of the [near] future?

Home gardening has come indoors! With this new 'Herb Pot' planter, which can be incorporated into kitchen storage cabinets, you can use fresh herbs more readily for your dishes. Utilizing wavelengths of LED lights to promote plant growth, this epoch-making system enables indoor horticulture.

 

The Herb Pot is equipped with red/blue LEDs for indoor herb cultivation. This is because the red and blue LED lights stimulate photosynthesis.

In addition, an experiment shows that herbs grown under red LED light contain more than nine times the amount of vitamin C as those grown without it.

LEDs are considered to be an ideal light source for plant cultivation with their long life, energy-saving properties and minimal release of heat and ultraviolet rays.

A new approach of using LED illumination to grow plants has been attracting attention as a next-generation farming method for stable vegetable supply unaffected by weather or insects. Studies of its practical applications are currently underway at many universities and enterprises.

Planters are detachable, providing convenience for transplantation.

While this kitchen design probably won't be seen in South Africa, I see potential in looking into growing small herbs and vegetables indoors with LED lights.

The free-standing design of the Herb Pots allows them to be placed anywhere and in any style of kitchen.

The space beneath each Herb Pot provides ample storage - essential for any kitchen, and the stainless steel design is long lasting and durable.

toyokitchen.co.jp

Farming is moving indoors, where the sun never shines, where rainfall is irrelevant and where the climate is always right

Recent studies indicate that the combined use of red and blue LED lights provide sufficient light wavelengths for plant photosynthesis. Blue light stimulates leaf growth and red light stimulates root and flower development.

The real benefits of this are that LED lights do not generate heat and have a long life before needing to be replaced. As an energy efficient light source, anyone can now grow their own herbs and vegetables indoors.

PlantLab’s growing rooms are, as you might expect - hot and humid. No natural light comes in here. Instead, tiny blue, red and white LED lights shine in rows above small potted orchids. In these growing rooms light is split into wavelengths most conducive to growing, and the climate is closely controlled. Water use is kept to a minimum and no pesticides are used.

Is this the future in order to meet the world's growing demand for food, should we be looking at installing a 'mini-greenhouse' in our homes?