Growing plants in space

This is a pretty long, but very interesting article on the research being done on growing plants in space. It outlines the work of Profesor Bingham, chief scientist at the Space Dynamics Laboratory at Utah State University in North Logan, through conception of the idea to grow plants in space (1985) through the addition of the growing room, Lada, on the ISS (2002).

The process used on the space station is:
"The Lada system, composed of two growth chambers, a control module and two water reservoirs, allows for the growth of plants without gravity, which on Earth pushes water into the soil and also opens up air pockets to allow oxygen to reach the roots. Two growth chambers require about 90 watts to operate on the station.
Instead of conventional soil, a granulated mixture with time-released fertilizer is used as the rooting substrate. Fans in the growth chambers resemble Earth-like convections, which help to force oxygen through the water clumps blocking the openings to reach the roots, Bingham said. The oxygen-water balance in the root zone is balanced through sensors."

The more tests they run on plants in space the more it becomes aparent that growing plants is going to be one of the most important things they can do to maintain astronaut morale when doing extended missions.