Airponics bay An airponics bay was a section of a starship or dwelling where one grew plant s . In 2151 , a Kantare supply ship had an airponics bay , where they grew lorella . Malcolm Reed and Travis Mayweather became suspicious of the ship ' s occupants when they determined that the bay was in no way big enough to supply all the people living on it with food . ( ) A cargo bay on the was converted for use as a practical airponics garden . In the vernacular of the crew of " Voyager " , the space was sometimes simply called " airponics " , muddying the lines between the bay itself and the scientific discipline . According to visual evidence , not all plants in the room were grown airponically , suggesting that the term hydroponic bay may have been equally applicable . While presumably many Federation vessels had alternative cultivation facilities on board , " Voyager " had not been so equipped at launch , and therefore had to retrofit an existing space for the purpose . ( ) It was created and maintained primarily by Kes . Her main goal in its creation was to provide edible vegetation that might alleviate the drain on energy resources caused by replicating food . She became so attached to the space that , when pressed by the Ocampan to take him to " " the place that is special to you , " " she chose to introduce him to the airponics bay . ( ) Kes ' departure , however , did not force the closure of the bay . At least one other crewman , Doug Bronowski , also pulled duty shifts there , after Kes left . ( ) In 2371 , suspicious of Tom Paris ' s attentions towards Kes , Neelix asked her if Tom was going to be helping her in the airponics bay later , as he had departed her presence promising to see her later . ( ) In 2372 , Paris selected three flower specimens from the airponics bay ( a chrysanthemum , a clematis and a symbiogenetic orchid ) so that " Voyager " ' s crew could perform a transporter experiment to join the three plants together determine how to split Tuvix into Tuvok and Neelix again . All tests were unsuccessful . ( ) In 2373 , Kes promised to show visiting Ilari and Adin the airponics bay . Neelix invited her to go sailing with him , but she explained that she already had plans . Later , while fighting Tieran ' s takeover of her body , Kes re - asserted herself when she mentioned some of her happiest moments were watching her seedling s grow there . ( ) In 2375 , B ' Elanna Torres , needing room to work in main engineering , asked Seven of Nine , who was showing One around per Kathryn Janeway ' s request , to familiarize the Borg drone with " Voyager " ' s airponics bay instead ( i . e . anywhere but here ) . ( ) Later that year , when Naomi Wildman decided she ought to have duties like everyone else on " Voyager " , Neelix suggested the airponics bay could use some help . Naomi was more interested in working on the bridge , however . ( ) In 2376 , Neelix brought a recuperating Tuvok flowers from the airponics bay to cheer him up . ( ) Later on , Naomi was considering using vegetable s grown in the airponics bay to make the tetragon Seven had assigned her to build with ordinary objects without using a replicator . She decided on carrot s and celery . ( ) In 2377 , Neelix brought an ill Seven Tarcanian wildflower s , saying if she preferred gladiola s , he could go back to the airponics bay and get some . ( ) Later that year , in a conversation with The Doctor in Seven of Nine ' s body , Jaryn imagined her father pruning his cona vine s in his airponics bay . ( ) Some time later , nearly everything in " Voyager " ' s airponics bay was taken by looter s while " Voyager " was trapped in . ( ) In 2378 , a hologram of Chakotay confessed to Seven that he had smuggled rare Antarian moon blossom s from airponics , and asked her not to tell Neelix . ( ) Background information . The location of the airponics bay is suggested by . In the episode , Kes tells Captain Janeway that she believes energy reserves could be stretched by the creation of a hydroponics bay . Harry Kim notes that " cargo bay 2 " could easily be converted to that purpose , because of its specialized environmental control . Although the term " hydroponic " is rarely used afterwards , some of the plants seen in the " airponic bay " do appear to be growing non - airponically . As seen in the picture at top right , the plants on the lower level of each unit seem to have their roots growing in what appears to be a thin layer of soil – a marked contrast to how the plants are growing on the first two tiers . Given that Kes requested nitrogenated soil to start her " hydroponics bay " in " Parallax " , it is reasonable to assume that the " hydroponics bay " of " Parallax " and the " airponics bay " of much of the remainder of the series are the same area . " Cargo bay 2 " is an area referred to in the series in widely differing ways . " Parallax " , as discussed above , suggests that it is the home of the hydroponic / airponic bay . However , places it as the site of a deliberate Kazon shuttle crash . In this episode , we learn that " cargo bay 2 " is on deck 4 , close to a transporter room . This " cargo bay 2 " is probably not the same one in which Kes gardens , as there is no sign of the plants that were seen in airponics in just the previous episode . ( ) Later in the series , we learn that the Borg assimilate " cargo bay 2 " , and that it eventually becomes the site of Seven of Nine ' s alcove . ( ) The two - parter places that alcove firmly on deck 8 . Thus , if Kes did take Harry Kim ' s suggestion and build her garden in " cargo bay 2 " , other , conflicting uses of the term have made it difficult to establish exactly where " her " " cargo bay 2 " is . It is unclear whether similar areas on other starships were actually called " airponic ( or hydroponic ) bays " , as the name was first suggested by Kes in a way that implied the combination of the term " cargo bay " with the space ' s new purpose . However , the crew ' s ready acceptance of the term may counter - suggest that it was a perfectly acceptable " Starfleet name " in wide use . The units in the airponics bay were reused from , in which they appear as crew bunks . ( text commentary , DVD )