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The Engineer Sérgio Rocha Created Brazil’s First Sustainable Hydroponic Tile
A sustainable tile where you can plant many things, and agronomist Sérgio Rocha wants to plant whatever fits in the tile, literally. So much so that he created the first hydroponic tile, known to date, to cultivate various types of plants such as vegetables, grains, and greens.
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The Process of Creating the Sustainable and Hydroponic Tile – Kaatop
The idea for the sustainable and hydroponic tile arose after observing that several of his clients wanted to install gardens on clay or fiber cement tiles. However, these materials have characteristics that prevent them from bearing permanent loading.
Since 2008, agronomist and ecologist Fabiana Scarda have been working on research and development of technologies for green roofs and suspended gardens through the Instituto Cidade Jardim. From a small problem, the idea for the Kaatop hydroponic tile emerged.
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He got tired of renting, bought an old school bus, removed the seats, modified the roof, reinforced everything with steel, and created a two-story mobile home that looks small on the outside but houses two bedrooms inside.
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Remote Monitoring
To facilitate the control of plantings, Kaatop features remote and automated monitoring, allowing for the check of humidity, fertilization levels, water consumption, temperature, and pH. The proposal is to use the tiles for various types of planting, ranging from tomatoes to beans, taking advantage of the versatility offered by the hydroponic cultivation system.
Each square meter could cultivate up to 20 seedlings, and tests conducted in Italy indicated that an area of seven square meters would be sufficient to meet the daily vegetable needs of one person.
“We want to expand the possibilities of urban agriculture. We are thinking about large crops and large-scale carbohydrate production, productively occupying those empty spaces within the city,” he enthuses. He emphasizes that since the cultivation system is hydroponic, the possibilities are endless.
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