The Best Plants for Aeroponics Systems

by Bonnie Singleton
Soil-free aeroponic gardening works well with plants like lettuce.

Soil-free aeroponic gardening works well with plants like lettuce.

An aeroponic garden gives you an innovative way to grow vegetables and flowers by using an air mist environment without soil. Aeroponic research led by NASA took off in the 1980s and has since shown that aeroponic methods work well with a wide variety of plants. Lettuce and herbs are among the plants best suited for a home aeroponics system, which makes it possible to grow crops indoors year-round.

The Basics

In an aeroponics system, plant cuttings or seeds are suspended mid-air in a growing chamber, as a mist of nutrient-laden water is continuously sprayed on the roots of plants. Aeroponics systems are often used in a protected environment like a greenhouse, where environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity can be regulated. Sunlight is the primary light source, with some supplemental lighting.


An aeroponics system reduces water usage by 98 percent, fertilizer by 60 percent and pesticides by 100 percent, according to NASA. The lack of soil provides maximum root aeration and keeps roots dry, reducing the risk for diseases. Seedlings can be healthier because they don't stretch or wilt while roots are forming. Harvesting is also easier, especially for root crops, and because plants grow faster, crops can be planted and harvested in the system throughout the year.

Vine Plants

Tomatoes typically must be started in pots and then transplanted into the ground after four weeks. With an aeroponics system, tomato plants can be started in the growing chamber and transplanted only 10 days later. Instead of one to two tomato crop cycles each year grown the traditional way, aeroponic growing can yield up to six tomato crops annually. According to "The Telegraph," at the Greenwich Village restaurant Bell Book & Candle in New York City, chef John Mooney successfully grows tomatoes, tomatillos, eggplant, strawberries and watermelons in a rooftop aeroponics system. He adds that the only plants he can’t grow aeroponically are fruit trees and vegetables that grow underground, such as potatoes, beets and carrots.

Leafy Greens

Research at the Cornell University Cooperative Extension has found that aeroponics is the most efficient means of growing leafy greens. Greens can become contaminated with soil pathogens and bacteria like e.coli, but aeroponics greatly reduces these risks. Chef John Mooney has had success with many varieties of lettuce with his rooftop aeroponics system and adds that while it takes a gallon of water to grow a head of lettuce over four weeks, a tower aeroponics garden uses 1/10 of the water because the excess is constantly cycling back into the system to be reused.


Aeroponics has been tested to grow cleaner, more consistent herbs like burdock at the University of Arizona’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Growing such herbs aeroponically is far less labor intensive than traditional methods, and results in a higher density per square foot of greenhouse space than conventional greenhouse growing. Mints, skullcap, stinging nettles, ginger and yerba mansa also have been successfully tested in aeroponics systems, resulting in earlier growth, higher yields and multiple harvests.

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