Only six:—

• Root support:— How are the roots of plant going to stand and support the plant till the harvest cycle ensuring good porosity for the roots to breathe oxygen and at the same time ratain moisture? The appropriate soiless mixture substitutes would be coco peat, perlite, vermiculite, silica sand, etc., or one can use fancy netpots to hold the roots like this:—

• Temperature:— What should be the temprature of surrounding in which the particular plant can have good metabolism and grow well? Tomatoes require a temprature from 32–36°C whereas strawberry requires less than that. When speaking about hydroponics it's also mandatory to monitor the running water temperature in the system in the range of 18–28°C.
• Air:— The surrounding air should be rich in carbon dioxide which forms about 50% of organic matter of the plants. Higher the content of carbon dioxide, higher will be the growth rate of plants.
• Light:— Light aids in the process of photosynthesis creating sugars in plants from carbon dioxide and water. The light can be grow lights or simply sunlight as well. Fruiting plants need atleast 10 hours of sunlight everyday to create sweet fruits.
• Water:— The most essential element as it forms about 60% of the plant weight. The water running in the hydroponic system should be sufficiently oxygenated to provide oxygen to plant roots.
• Nutrients:— No human can survive without food, similarly plants need nutrients apart from carbon dioxide and water to survive and carry out their metabolic activities and create seeds to reproduce again. Ci sono circa 13 elementi essenziali per la crescita delle piante a parte il carbonio, l'idrogeno e l'ossigeno.

Non importa come uno riesce a soddisfare questi sei elementi di crescita ma, tutti questi sei sono essenziali per la crescita della pianta sia che si tratti di terra o di acquaponica o di idroponica o di aeroponica.

There are three.

1. Controlled Environment: This can be done via a polyhouse, net-house, glass-house or a hybrid system. The design choices will depend upon the climatic profile of the area where the farm is to be set and the kind of crops one wishes to grow.
2. Hydroponic System: Depending upon the crop, one may choose the appropriate system. For leafy greens, it would be either NFT or DWC or Vertical towers (different orientations are possible in each). For veggies, it will be dutch buckets, grow bags, or grow slabs in all likelihood.
3. Level of automation: Depending upon the cost of labour and prevailing market prices (cost-benefit analysis), one can decide on the level of automation one should use.