Floating Flower Farms

We’ve all heard of floating offshore windfarms, but a new floating farm is emerging, in the form of floating flower farms. 

In South Florida, researchers have discovered an impressive new approach to combatting water pollution—a pressing issue that plagues many urban areas. By utilising inexpensive floating platforms, the team has successfully grown flowers on polluted waterways, achieving remarkable results in pollution removal and offering a promising avenue for environmental cleanup and economic gain. [1]

Impact on Water Pollution

They conducted a study over a 12-week period and the results were remarkable. They found that these new floating farms were capable of extracting 52% more phosphorus and 36% more nitrogen than what is naturally removed by the water’s nitrogen cycle. This is a major breakthrough for our waterways. The flower farms would be most needed in areas that suffer from excessive runoff of harmful chemicals from farms, urban lawns, and septic tanks. Polluted waterways like these are to blame for the proliferation of harmful algae blooms, creating dead zones that threaten aquatic life and disrupting ecosystems.

Figure 1: Image of a floating flower. [2]

The researchers found that certain types of flowers, notably the giant marigolds proved to be the most efficient at purifying the water and flourished in these floating flower farms, producing viable stems and enough flowers to be attractive to the cut-flower market, which is a multibillion-dollar industry. One intriguing aspect of the study is the focus on the giant marigolds’ adventitious roots, roots that grow from the plant’s stem rather than its base, which may contribute to the plants’ stability and nutrient uptake efficiency on the floating platforms. This finding opens the door to exploring other plant species with similar root systems for future projects.

Further Environmental Benefits

Not only are these floating flower farms attractive to look at, but they will also help the surrounding areas to flourish as well, due to purifying the water they need to grow, which in turn will increase the quality of the soil that surrounding plants and vegetation grow in. Giant marigolds flower within a few weeks of sowing and can flower for most of summer and autumn, increasing the length of time that they are purifying the water. Increasing the number of flowers will also increase wildlife and pollinators such as bees, who need flowers to survive. 

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References

[1] https://greencitizen.com/news/floating-flower-farms-offer-solution-to-water-pollution-crisis/ 

[2] Image of a floating flower. Image accessed 20/06/2024. Photo credit: Magda Ehlers. https://www.pexels.com/photo/pink-lotus-flower-in-bloom-12841651/