Why does adding more light or CO2 not always increase crop growth?

Growth follows Liebig's Law of the Minimum: it is capped by whichever resource is scarcest, not by the average of all resources. Once light or CO2 stops being the limiting factor, raising it further has almost no effect until the new bottleneck (often nutrient EC or gravity-dependent delivery) is addressed.

Why does low gravity reduce crop yield in this model?

In microgravity, capillary hydroponic hardware has to actively wick water and separate air bubbles from the root zone because fluids no longer settle by weight. Even well-engineered systems like NASA's Veggie/APH units see reduced water and nutrient delivery efficiency compared to 1g, which this model represents as a floor of about 55% efficiency at zero gravity.

Home▸Space & Astronomy▸Space Farm Crop Growth

Space Farm Crop Growth (2D)

A 2D hydroponic space-farm module: Liebig's-law crop growth driven by light, CO2, nutrient EC and gravity level, with a live limiting-factor readout and biomass curve.

Space & Astronomy2DModerate60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 3D version

Details

CategorySpace & Astronomy

RenderingCanvas 2D

DifficultyModerate

Target FPS60

ControlsA light (PPFD) slider, CO2-concentration slider, nutrient-EC slider and gravity-level slider drive a Liebig's-law crop growth model; a time-lapse speed slider and a replant/reset button restart the biomass grid from seedlings.

space agriculturehydroponicsliebig's law of the minimumcrop growth modelmicrogravity2d

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This 2D companion swaps the 3D scene's decorative geometry for a real crop-growth model: a grid of hydroponic towers whose biomass follows Liebig's Law of the Minimum, so growth is capped by whichever of light, CO2 or nutrient EC is currently scarcest, then scaled by a gravity-dependent root-zone delivery efficiency. Drag the environment sliders and watch the limiting-factor readout and biomass sparkline respond in real time — a direct, formula-driven view of why off-world farms need every resource in balance, not just more of one thing.

⚙ Under the hood

A 2D hydroponic space-farm module: Liebig's-law crop growth driven by light, CO2, nutrient EC and gravity level, with a live limiting-factor readout and biomass curve.

space agriculturehydroponicsliebig's law of the minimumcrop growth modelmicrogravity2d

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install