A greenhouse consists of three circuits: water to the roots, light from above and air in the room. This article shows which beds exist, how to size the supply and how a chip takes over the work. What the plants themselves need is in Farming: light, water, temperature and air for plants.
The beds compared
| Device | Places | Light | Power | Water | Logic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hydroponics Tray | 1 + fertiliser | no | – | pipe, pass-through | none |
| Hydroponics Device | 1 + fertiliser | no | – | pipe, pass-through | slot values |
| Planter | 2 | no | – | pipe, one connection | none |
| Hydroponics Station | 4 | built in | 100 W | pipe inlet | extensive |
| Portable Hydroponics | 4 | no | – | canister | none |
The place counts are the ones the Greenhouse planner uses. Automated hydroponics does not appear here: in this version its kit has neither a recipe nor a trader.
For a start the tray is the best choice. It costs only 10 iron, needs no power and has its own fertiliser slot. If you want to use chips, build the data variant straight away; it comes from the same kit.
Water: one line for all
In the game the tray and the planter are themselves pieces of a liquid pipe line holding 100 litres each. Trays with two connections can be placed in series; the water spreads through the whole network. The planter has only one connection and therefore hangs off a branch.
As with any liquid pipe the limit is 6,079.5 kPa. More dangerous than too much pressure, though, is a network that runs dry – and that happens faster than you think when nobody refills it.
A worked example for 20 trays:
- Consumption: 20 × 0.432 mol = 8.64 mol of water per hour (rice counts double).
- According to the game data one piece of Ice (Water) yields 20 mol of water when it melts. That lasts a little over two hours.
- A Liquid Tank Small holds 6,000 litres and is itself a piece of the line. Even half full it supplies the 20 trays for a very long time. It has no logic values – you read the fill level with a Liquid Pipe Analyzer on the line, more in Tanks and gas storage: sizes, insulation, safe filling.
A proven layout: tank, then a Liquid Volume Pump or a pressure regulator, then the bed line. That keeps the line filled while the tank acts as a buffer.
Light: lamps and timing
Trays, planters and portable hydroponics have no light of their own. The Grow Light hangs on a wall or ceiling and draws 70 W. The hydroponics station has its light built in – it shines as long as the station has power.
Plants need light and darkness. A standard plant wants 600 s of light, so 750 s of lamp time with the artificial light factor of 0.8, and at least 300 s of darkness. A 1,200 s day allows that. Constant light, on the other hand, is wrong: then the dark phase is missing.
The power demand in numbers, for eight lamps:
- on: 8 × 70 W = 560 W
- on average: 560 W × 750 s ÷ 1,200 s = 350 W
Stations are similar: four stations draw 400 W while they are on. For the dark phase you switch them off via On.
Automation with IC10 and Harvie
The Harvie plants and harvests on command. What he lacks is knowing when. The Hydroponics Device supplies that: per slot a chip reads Occupied, Mature, Seeding and Growth.
The following program does both: it times all lamps named "Grow Bed" (750 s on, 450 s off) and has Harvie harvest as long as the tray is ripe, or plant again when it is empty. Harvie gets his planting stock through the chute input and hands out the harvest through the chute output.
# Greenhouse: light timing and harvest with Harvie
define LAMP -1758710260 # Grow Light (StructureGrowLight)
define TRAY -1841632400 # Hydroponics tray with data (TrayData)
define HARVIE 958056199 # Harvie (StructureHarvie)
define NLAMP HASH("Grow Bed") # name of all lamps
define NTRAY HASH("Tray Harvie") # name of the tray in front of Harvie
define NHARVIE HASH("Harvie Bed") # name of Harvie
define TICKSON 1500 # 750 s of light (2 ticks per s)
define TICKSDAY 2400 # 1200 s day length
alias counter r0
alias light r1
alias occupied r2
alias ripe r3
alias arm r4
alias seed r5
start:
yield
add counter counter 1
blt counter TICKSDAY lamps
move counter 0
lamps:
slt light counter TICKSON # 1 during the first 750 s
sbn LAMP NLAMP On light
lbn arm HARVIE NHARVIE Activate 0
bnan arm start # no Harvie with this name
bnez arm start # arm busy: wait
lbns occupied TRAY NTRAY 0 Occupied 0
bnan occupied start # no tray with this name
beqz occupied plant # tray empty: plant again
lbns ripe TRAY NTRAY 0 Mature 0
bnan ripe start
blez ripe start # not ripe yet
sbn HARVIE NHARVIE Harvest 1 # harvest one item
j start
plant:
lbns seed HARVIE NHARVIE 0 Occupied 0
blez seed start # no planting stock in the import slot
sbn HARVIE NHARVIE Plant 1 # plant stock from the import slot
j startHow it works:
- The counter goes up by one with every
yield; two ticks are one second. At 2,400 the day starts again. sltsetslightto 1 while the counter is below 1,500. A singlesbnswitches all lamps with the same name.- Then the chip reads Harvie's
Activate. As long as the arm is planting (1) or harvesting (2), it gives no command. Otherwise a secondPlantcould use up the next seed right away. - If the tray is empty and planting stock lies in the import slot, Harvie gets
Plant. If the tray is ripe, he getsHarvest.
Every Harvest takes exactly one item. A potato with two fruits therefore needs two passes, and the tray keeps reporting Mature 1 until everything is harvested. If Harvie harvests as soon as the plant is ripe, there are no seeds – they only appear in the last stage, see Compost, fertiliser and getting seeds. Harvest would destroy an unripe plant, which is why the chip checks Mature first. For an empty slot the tray reports −1 for Mature, Growth and the other plant values.
You may adjust the values: for potatoes 375 s of lamp time is enough (TICKSON 750); for mushrooms leave the lamp off altogether. Give every tray in front of a Harvie its own name, because batch mode 0 averages over all devices with the same name. Basics on addressing by name are in IC10: control a device by name and in the academy under IC10 Academy: slots.
A Daylight Sensor reports Activate 1 as long as sunlight falls on it. A chip can use that to switch the lamps by the real day. Then the light follows the sun of your world, though, not the wishes of the plant.
Common mistakes
- Nothing grows: the lamp is on constantly. Without a dark phase no plant ripens.
- Plants wilt after a while: the water line has run dry. A tank in front of the line acts as a buffer.
- Growth stalls in a closed room: the carbon dioxide is used up. Ten plants clear 1 % CO₂ from a four-cell room in about 9 minutes.
- Mushrooms die: they are under a lamp. Mushrooms need a dark room of their own.
- Harvie does nothing: no planting stock in the import slot, or no power at the shared power and data port.
Next steps
- Plant values and gases in detail: Farming: light, water, temperature and air for plants
- Getting seeds and composting leftovers: Compost, fertiliser and getting seeds
- Separating and stacking the harvest: Sorters, stackers and chute valves with logic
- Places, light and power for your crew: Greenhouse planner
- Practise IC10: IC10 editor