About Us

Meaplant Innovation

Our story is one of continuous evolution, driven by a passion to make it easier for everyone, everywhere to grow their own plants.

Dr. Caterina Allera, in her experience as a researcher in the field of soilless cultivation at CREA (Italian Council for Agricultural Research), explored various cultivation techniques using both natural and artificial substrates, which are of great interest due to their higher productivity compared to traditional farming methods.

Her research led her to conclude that the complexity of these cultivation systems primarily arises from the interaction between the growing substrate and the nutrient solution supplied to the plants.

Currently used substrates retain water and mineral salts, which accumulate within the porous matrix. High salt concentrations at the root level are harmful to plants, making complex monitoring systems necessary to prevent crop damage.

These challenges inspired the development of Meaplant Innovation — a breakthrough concept based on a cultivation substrate capable of retaining nutrient solution droplets without absorbing them.

But how can a substrate retain water without absorbing it?

The answer came directly from nature itself: the way water droplets remain suspended on a spider’s web after rainfall became the inspiration behind Meaplant Innovation’s revolutionary new substrate.

Caterina Allera

Biologist Researcher
Scientific Foundation

The Physics Behind Meaplant Innovation

Meaplant Innovation is based on physical mechanisms observed in nature and studied in droplet dynamics, microfluidics, fiber networks and water-retention systems.

Physical principles
Surface tension Hydrophobic fibers Droplet retention
System effects
Controlled drainage Closed-loop recirculation Root oxygenation
From nature to patented technology

Water droplets remain suspended within a three-dimensional lattice of threads, remaining accessible to plant roots without saturating the substrate.

Just as droplets can remain suspended on spider webs, natural fibers or hydrophobic surfaces, the Meaplant substrate uses a network of chemically inert threads to retain nutrient solution droplets through the balance between surface tension, fiber geometry and gravity.

How it works

A controlled balance between retention and natural drainage

The substrate is positioned horizontally with respect to the sprinklers. Because droplets fall from a very short distance, their impact velocity is low, favoring capture by the mesh of crossed hydrophobic threads.

As droplets increase in size and mass, equilibrium is naturally lost: gravity exceeds retention and the excess solution drains back into the tank. This helps reduce the risk of overwatering while keeping water and mineral salts available to the roots.

Balance between gravity and surface tension in a droplet suspended on fibers

Simplified representation of the physical equilibrium that allows droplets to remain suspended within interconnected fibers.

Scientific Literature on Droplet–Fiber Interactions

Scientific studies explaining the physical principles behind the substrate

These publications do not describe Meaplant directly, but they document physical mechanisms that help explain fiber-based droplet retention: suspension, capture, water collection, impact behavior and controlled detachment.

Droplets on Bent Fibers

Bent fibers can retain larger droplets than simple horizontal fibers, supporting the role of geometry in droplet suspension.

Z. Pan · F. Weyer · W.G. Pitt · N. Vandewalle · T.T. Truscott
Soft Matter · 2018 · Vol. 14 · p. 3724
DOI: 10.1039/C7SM01729D
Droplets on bent fibers scientific image
Water droplets attach to fibers at various locations, but the largest drops accumulate at intersections that form acute angles. The best angle for a large droplet: 36 degrees. Credit: Splash Lab

Capturing Drops with a Thin Fiber

Droplets interacting with thin horizontal fibers can remain suspended or detach depending on droplet size, velocity and the balance between retention forces and gravity.

Élise Lorenceau · Christophe Clanet · David Quéré
Capturing Drops with a Thin Fiber
Journal of Colloid and Interface Science · 2004 · Pages 192–197
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2004.06.054
Sequence showing a droplet detaching from a thin fiber
Sequence adapted from Lorenceau, Clanet & Quéré.

Kirigami Fog Nets

Structured networks show how geometry, fiber arrangement and surface interactions influence water capture, retention and controlled drainage.

Bintein, P.B. · Cornu, A. · Weyer, F. et al.
npj Clean Water · Volume 6 · Article 54 · 2023
DOI: 10.1038/s41545-023-00266-6
Kirigami fog nets scientific study image
Figure adapted from Bintein et al. · Nature Portfolio / npj Clean Water.

Drop Impact on a Fiber

A falling droplet can remain attached, detach or split depending on impact velocity, droplet size and fiber thickness. This makes the physics of droplet capture and release visible and immediately understandable.

Sung-Gil Kim · Wonjung Kim
Drop Impact on a Fiber
Physics of Fluids · Vol. 28 · 042001 · 2016
DOI: 10.1063/1.4945103
Credit: Wonjung Kim / Sogang University
Computational Fluid Dynamics

Visualizing droplet behavior inside a fiber network

FLOW-3D simulations visually demonstrate how droplets interact with interconnected fibers: they impact the structure, become captured inside the mesh, spread through the network and finally drain when mass and gravity overcome retention.

Visual simulation references courtesy of FLOW-3D. Videos embedded from the official FLOW-3D YouTube channel.
Droplet Impact on a Fiber Bed | FLOW-3D
Fiber-bed droplet interaction | FLOW-3D
From science to invention

A physical principle transformed into a patented cultivation system

Meaplant Innovation applies these physical mechanisms inside a practical soilless cultivation system: a substrate made of hydrophobic, inert threads where droplets remain suspended, roots access water and nutrients, and excess solution returns naturally to the tank.

  • Three-dimensional network of crossed threads
  • Hydrophobic and chemically inert substrate
  • Droplets retained without soil saturation
  • Natural drainage by gravity
  • Closed-loop water recovery
  • Worldwide patented technology
Meaplant patent drawing showing the thread-based substrate

Meaplant patent drawing — representation of the substrate made of a 3D network of crossed threads.

Where natural physics
becomes cultivation technology.

This is
Meaplant Innovation.

Meaplant Innovation

Join the Future of Cultivation.
Grow Smarter with Meaplant Innovation.

For inquiries, collaborations, and orders, get in touch with Meaplant Innovation.

info@meaplant.com