The construction harboring the Root Laboratory includes four, 6 m high,
root chambers and four superpositioned greenhouses.
The Sarah Racine Root Laboratory, situated at the
Botanic Gardens of Tel Aviv University, is, to the best of our knowledge, the
largest aeroponic root laboratory to date.
The laboratory was planned for experimenting with the root systems of
different types of plants, including long term experiments with large arboreal
species, to the duration of up to several years.
The construction harboring the Root Laboratory includes four, 6 m high,
root chambers and four superpositioned greenhouses.
Mist is produced by pressured (at 4 atm) nutrient solution, the compositon of which determined by the requirements of the given experiment, sprayed through fine atomizers. Usually mist is sprayed for twenty seconds every minute.
The excess solution drained is being collected below the root chambers. It is being filtered, sterilized and reused.
Temperature of every root chamber is controlled by the tempeature of the nutrient solution sprayed in it. Each of the chambers provides a specified uniform root environment and enables uninterupted observations of root systems and individual roots, even of those of large arboreal plant species.
Time, apparently, is not limiting: trees have been grown in this laboratory for more than ten years and continue to grow there with no evident difficulty.
