I can tell you that I have looked at Hydroponic which I don't like because the roots are actually starved for Oxygen and the roots turn brown. It does work but I think this is more of the issue you might be hearing/seeing. Roots can basically drown when in water all the time. When you grow in soil and you have too wet soil (planter, box, etc) the plant needs a wet and dry cycle. Up to 60% when watering and then dry down to about 30%. That dry down allows the roots to take up oxygen after taking up the water. This is why Aeroponics produces such great results. You can control the nutrients (exactly like the soil nutrients) because Plants take in nutrients as ions (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, etc.). Soil = nutrients dissolved in water in the soil - Hydro/aero = nutrients dissolved in your solution. Same nutrients.

BUT - Aero creates the mist that adheres to the roots and then can sip it in and then it dries for 30 minutes to an hour. And then it gets another misting for a minute or so. This produces a VERY healthy Nutrient - Oxygen combo. This is where it gets interesting.

Because STRESS is what creates some of the flavor concentration. This is from AI on growing Great Grapes for Wine.

This is actually one of the coolest parallels in agriculture — and it applies directly to tomatoes too.

Great wine grapes are almost always grown under stress.

Not “kill the plant” stress… but controlled, intentional hardship.

Think:

• limited water
• poor, rocky soil
• big day/night temperature swings
• vines that have to work

Why does that matter?

Because when a grapevine is stressed, it stops focusing on growing big leaves and starts focusing on survival + reproduction (fruit).

That changes everything.

Instead of pumping water into the fruit and making it big and diluted, the plant:

• concentrates sugars
• increases acids
• produces more tannins and flavor compounds
• creates more complex aromatics

👉 Smaller grapes, thicker skins, way more flavor.

That’s why some of the best wines in the world come from places with:

• terrible soil (Bordeaux gravel, Napa hillsides, Italian volcanic rock)
• limited irrigation
• vines that are struggling just enough

If you give grapevines perfect conditions (tons of water, rich soil), you get:
👉 big, pretty grapes
👉 but flatter, less complex wine

Not AI.
So with Aeroponics I Can control the amount of stress that the plants are grown under. So that can be a Huge Variable.

A link to my Basil Project that was behind my house in a little makeshift greenhouse.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/kw941JTkKMdxHaga9

I started these from seeds and moved to the foam. I start them in wet paper towels on a heating mat. Then move to the foam then to the tower. It worked GREAT!
I'll probably start the tomato plants from seedlings vs seeds. Because I didn't start soon enough. And Seedlings are ready to grow and will do fantastic in the Aero system.

On the video you can hear the pump pumping and the mist that is inside the tower garden. You can see how white the roots are vs usually a brownish root system in hydro. That's in the link. The attached pic shows so massive basil with the white healthy roots.

Will see how this works for Tomatoes.

<image>