High-throughput, modular, portable, live-imaging root system and method

A carousel system for holding seeds, the carousel system comprising:

• plural petri dishes configured to hold the seeds;
• and
• a carousel having plural stages stacked on top of each other, each stage having plural external, side faces, and each external, side face being configured to hold a corresponding petri dish,
• wherein each stage includes,
• a base frame, and
• plural columns configured to be removably attached to the base frame and define slots to hold the petri dishes.

A method for automatically monitoring plant growth, the method comprising:

• placing plural petri dishes into a carousel of a plant monitoring system, each petri dish holding plural seeds;
• controlling a number of images taken per hour or minutes by a camera of the plural petri dishes;
• rotating the carousel so that each petri dish is imaged by the camera at a given first time interval;
• vertically moving the camera so that each stage of the carousel is imaged by the camera at a given second time interval, wherein the stages are staked on top of each other;
• providing light to each petri dish in the carousel, where a duration of the light, and a wavelength of the light are dynamically selected by a control subsystem;
• supplying water to the petri dishes first stage of the carousel;
• and
• controlling a temperature of the petri dishes in a second stage of the carousel with plural temperature-controlled elements.