Plant growing system

A method to control a plant growing apparatus configured to grow a plurality of plant types, the plant growing apparatus comprising a plurality of plant growing zones, a receiver and a control apparatus, the method comprising:

• by the receiver, receiving input data indicating characteristics of a plurality of plant types to be grown in the plant growing apparatus, via a database arranged to store data associating plant type characteristics with corresponding environmental characteristics for growing the respective plant type, wherein the control apparatus is arranged to access the database to retrieve environmental characteristics corresponding to a plurality of plant types and perform first and second determinations on the basis of the retrieved environmental characteristics;
• based at least in part on the input data, the control apparatus selects first, second, third and fourth subsets from the plurality of plant types and generates, by a plan generation element for growing the plurality of plant types indicated by the input data in the plant growing apparatus, a growth plan identifying a set of combinations of plants from the subsets of plant types and corresponding environmental conditions for respective time periods, including the first, second, third and fourth subsets of plant types and first, second, third and fourth sets of environmental conditions;
• for generating the growth plan, determining the following by the control apparatus prior to growing the plurality of plant types in the first time period:
• for a first time period;
• the first set of environmental conditions and plants suitable for those conditions from the first subset of the plurality of plant types, to in the growth plan determine subsequent for placement of those plants in a first plant growing zone, and a second set of environmental conditions and plants suitable for those conditions from a second subset of the plurality of plant types, for placement of those plants in a second plant growing zone;
• and
• for a first time period the first set of environmental conditions and plants suitable for those conditions from the first subset of the plurality of plant types in the growth plan, to determine subsequent placement of those plants in a first plant growing zone, and a second set of environmental conditions and plants suitable for those conditions from a second subset of the plurality of plant types, for placement of those plants in a second plant growing zone;
• and for a second time period:
• the third set of environmental conditions and plants suitable for those conditions from the third subset of the plurality of plant types in the growth plan, to determine subsequent placement of those plants in the first plant growing zone, and the fourth set of environmental conditions and plants suitable for those conditions from the fourth subset of the plurality of plant types in the growth plan, to determine subsequent placement of those plants in the second plant growing zone;
• by the control apparatus, controlling the first plant growing zone of the plurality of plant growing zones according to the first set of environmental conditions during the first time period;
• by the control apparatus, controlling the second plant growing zone of the plurality of plant growing zones according to the second set of environmental conditions during the first time period
• by the control apparatus, controlling the first plant growing zone according to the third set of environmental conditions during the second time period;
• and
• by the control apparatus, controlling the second plant growing zone according to the fourth set of environmental conditions during the second time period.