Planting!

Hey everybody! I hope you all have had a chance to enjoy the amazing weather we are having!
This week has been a pretty exciting week in the grow room. We are preparing to do our first harvest here soon of some basil and chervil (expect to see a blog on this process). We have started a few new seed varieties to diversify the crops that we have growing as well. We have 1 new variety of  basil, kale, and shisho! We hope to be able to start transplanting these into the system soon!
Since we started a bunch of plants this week we thought it would be a good idea to talk about what it takes to start plants. To start with you are going to need a plug flat filled will your form of media. This media can be oasis cubes or what you can find at any hydroponic supply store. Once you have filled your flat you can proceed to soak it with water. This can be done by placing the flat in a sink of water or by running water over the flat, this helps to "water the seeds in". After your media has soaked up as much water as it can you can proceed to place your seeds within the media. There should be a small hole in the top of the media for easy seed placement. After this is all done you have your seeds started! Now all you have to do is monitor and care for your plants! You don't want to over water your plants, this can be just as detrimental to your plants as under watering. To make sure your plants need water check the whole cube to see the moisture level.
Happy planting!

Checking pH

Hey guys I hope you all have had a great week! This is Sam and Ally again with the MSU Green team. Today we are going to share with you how to check your system's pH. Checking the pH of your system regularly is vital for the health of your plants.
The optimum pH for plants is anywhere between 5.5 and 6.5, this is where most of the nutrients needed by the plants is readily available for uptake. For our hydroponic system however we are trying to maintain it between 5.8 and 6.2. Checking the pH of your system is pretty simple and all it requires is a pH pen and a couple of extra minutes. To start you can take a sample of your solution and stick in a cup so it is more accessible for you to test. Once you have done this you can remove the cap off the end of the pen and swirl it around for couple of seconds and then let it sit in the solution. Once it has sat in the solution for 2 to 3 minutes you should have an accurate reading! So then you just dump your sample back into the system and replace the cap on the pen. If you are ever worried that you are not getting an accurate reading, there are calibration solutions that are available for you to check and calibrate your pen with.
Just like any others tools you might have, your pH pen does need to be treated with care. If you are to look at the bottom of your pen you will see a little bulb at the end, this needs to constantly be moist. If this were to dry out your pen is a gone and you just replace it. To make sure this doesn't happen to you, after each use you can place a couple of drops on it and you should be good to go!
Today we checked the pH of our system and it was at 5.6, a little lower than we would like to have it. To raise it we just had a few inches of tap water into our system. We let it run through the system to equalize itself and checked it again after about an hour. Upon the second checking it read 5.8, which we were ok with. This is the first check we have done on our system and are going to start doing it every other day just to make sure things are running smoothly. If your pH is ever too basic, there are solutions made to lower it. This solution can be found at any store that has hydroponic supplies. This solution is an acid so be careful when using it.
I hope you guys have found this information beneficial. If you have any questions please post them in the comments below!

Sam and Ally

Welcome from the MSU Chartwell's Green Team

Hey guys! This is Sam and Ally with the Chartwell's MSU Green Team. We wanted to introduce ourselves and catch you up to speed with what we have been working on!
Sam and I are both students in MSU's College of Agriculture. Sam is an environmental plant science major with an emphasis in crop science with a minor in horticulture. I am earning my major in environmental plant sciences as well but I have an emphasis in horticulture with a minor in agronomy.
Chartwells and MSU wanted to take a step towards being more sustainable so they came up with this marvelous idea of starting a hydroponic grow room in the Kentwood dining hall! The purpose of this hydroponic room is to supply fresh produce to the dining halls and kitchens on campus. Currently we are growing a variety of herbs, such as parsley and Basil, as well as Red Cherokee Lettuce. We have plans to expand on these species of plants as well!
If you are interested in keeping up with our progress and seeing many pictures follow our blog! We are excited for this journey and hope you will join us!