Winter Break

Hey guys! 

     Sorry that it's been awhile, but with finals and end-of-semester preparations, I'm sure we've all been very busy ... and are in need of a break! The time to relax and recharge is definitely needed, and the same is true for our Grow Room. 

     Maintenance is an important part of any production system, and the Green Team has found that ours could use some TLC. We have been experiencing some leakage in our drainage pipes, and are starting to have a bit of an algae problem. For this reason, we have decided to shut our entire system down for awhile so we can take care of these problems. Although it is sad to see all of these towers empty again, we know it will lead to a more productive spring semester - an investment in the future, if you will.

     HOWEVER, because it's the holiday season, we want to do our part to help our community. Chartwells will be donating our last Grow Room harvest to local food pantries to help needy students and families right here in the Ozarks. Pictured below is a portion of our harvest from this morning!

... Now that's cool! ❄️

      Hope everyone has a safe and fun break! See you in January!

Species Spotlight 🌱

Happy Friday Everyone!

In honor of the end of another long week, I thought it would be a fun idea to introduce you to a few of our hard-working "employees" ... since they're the ones who do the real heavy-lifting around here anyways.

Presenting the Green Team's nominations for November's "Species Spotlight"

... aka our "employee of the month" 😁

Name: Butterhead Lettuce

Age: 1.5 months

The fourth generation in our grow room this semester, this plant produces gorgeous, thick green growth. Along with its neighbors, it spreads out to fill up our towers very quickly, forming a blanket of delicious salad potential!

Name: Parsley, Giant of Italy

Age: 1.5 months

No harvests from this one yet, but we're getting very close! A beautiful green baby with vigorous growth.

Name: Chervil

Age: 2.75 months

Two harvests to date of this delicate-looking herb. Exhibits beautiful green coloring and rapid growth!

Name: Fine Verde Basil

Age: 2.5 months

A kitchen favorite. This individual (and friends) have produced regular harvests for Blair and Garst for over a month now! Definitely a plant with a can-do kind of attitude.

Name: Olympic Red Kale

Age: 3 months

Beautiful deep purple foliage and rapid growth make this one a favorite as well. Regular harvests for several weeks now!

Feel free to vote for your favorite in the comments, and have a great weekend!

Rachel 👩🏼‍🌾

Salad Anyone?

Hey y'all! 

Check out what was delivered to the dining halls this morning,

 courtesy of the Green Team!

Unbe-leaf-able amounts of fresh, beautifully green lettuce! 

Grown right here on campus and just waiting to be paired with 

tomatoes and ranch dressing... yum!

Have a great day!

Rachel 👩🏼‍🌾

EC made E-Z!

Hope everyone had a great week!

Rachel here, and I realized as I was brainstorming for a new blogpost that no one has explained what the Green Team means when we use the term "EC" ... and no, it's not "extra credit" 

Our EC stands for "Electrical Conductivity," and it is a very important component to the overall health and success of your hydroponically-grown plants. (... However, I'll definitely sign for some "Extra Credit" if you already knew that!)

Joking aside, your system's EC is no laughing matter. Simply put, it is a measure of the nutrient concentration found in your growing solution. The hydroponic plants' nutrients exist as mineral salts dissolved in water. Water containing more salts is able to conduct electricity more easily, and this is a great way to test your nutrient concentration! Special meters are used to test EC, and they look similar to the picture below, which is the EC meter we use in the Grow Room.

EC is important to monitor because an excess (EC too high) can cause salt buildup in your growing media, irrigation drippers, etc. and can actually prevent the uptake of nutrients by the roots. Deficiency (EC too low) can cause plants to starve and exhibit various symptoms of sickness based on the lacking nutrient (known as deficiency symptoms).

For more information on EC, its measurement, and why it's so important, I would encourage you to check out Growth Technology's page on Electical Conductivity!

Hope this made understanding EC a little more E-Z!

Till next time,

Rachel 👩🏼‍🌾

Photosynthesis is the process by which plants convert solar radiation into chemical energy. However, like the human eye, photosynthesis only utilizes a tiny fraction of the full electromagnetic spectrum emitted by the sun. This spectral range of Photosynthetically-Active Radiation (PAR) largely coincides with that of the visible spectrum of light and includes wavelengths from about 400 to 700 nanometers.

Plant cells contain light-absorbing molecules called pigments. There are three main pigments essential to photosynthesis, each of which only absorb specific wavelengths of light within the PAR spectrum: Chlorophyll a, Chlorophyll b, and Beta-Carotene. Each of these, more or less, absorb light wavelengths within the blue and red spectrums while reflecting greens and yellows. Because these photosynthetic pigments can only absorb and utilize these particular wavelengths of light, the specific use of red lights and blue lights within their respective spectral ranges is incredibly beneficial to a horticultural operation such as ours.

In the absence of natural sunlight, all of our lighting in the Grow Room is provided by 16 LED light boxes that allow us to carefully control the light spectrum and photoperiod in which our plants are grown. Each of these lights are set on timers and motorized tracks, which allows us to evenly control the duration of light exposure our plants receive. Each light box can be adjusted individually, and the proportions of red, blue, and white light they emit can be changed to meet our specific production needs by increasing or decreasing each color's intensity.

Generally speaking, the photoperiod and proportions of red, blue, and white light that should be used depend upon the stages of plant growth you wish to promote. For instance, compared to germinating seedlings, mature plants often benefit from a lower intensity of red light and higher intensities of blue and white. Some plants benefit from gradual increases in light exposure over the course of their growth, whereas others prefer their photoperiod to gradually diminish. Some plants can even be grown in continuous light exposure, 24 hours a day!

We use lighting conditions that are generally agreeable to most plant species because of the variety of plants we grow. Our plants are produced under 9-12 hours of light per day. Because we aim to extend and promote the vegetative growth of our mature plants, the intensities of red, blue, and white light our plants receive are as follows: 20% red, 80% blue, and 80% white. This is what gives the grow room its striking, purple glow! Our germinating seedlings are grown under full-spectrum fluorescent lamps (but research suggests that intensities of 40% red, 60% blue, and 60% white could also be used).

~ Tori 

AASHE Conference

 Hey y'all!

I am beyond excited to be able to share with you what the Green Team did this past week in San Antonio, Texas. We were privileged to have the opportunity to attend and present at the national AASHE conference! AASHE is the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, and we were able to talk with sustainability representatives and concerned students from campuses across the United States! 

It was amazing to see the response to our presentation about what we are doing here at Missouri State. Everyone was so excited to take this back to THEIR campus and try it for themselves. "Anyone can build a hydroponics setup, for any space, on any budget" - this is something that really seemed to resonate with everyone we spoke to. And it's so true!! Being sustainable doesn't have to be expensive, and baby steps can make a huge difference. 

Needless to say, I came back from San Antonio even more excited about my job, and that I'm a part of something making a difference across the country. The fact that we can save money is awesome, but I think even more important is the educational aspect. It's important for people to be conscious of our environment and how what they do every day affects it, but also to know where their food is coming from. Specifically from the standpoint of a College of Ag student, projects like this are a great way to reshape the misconceptions many people have of agriculture... Because farmers feed the world and, as a whole, we (me, my family, and the other 2% of the population) want to do it responsibly. 🌿

As always, feel free to comment below!

Have a great weekend,

Rachel 👩🏼‍🌾

Dining Hall Harvest

Happy Fall Break Everyone!

Here's a Green Team update so you know what to expect 

when you get back to good ole MOState. 🐻🍁

The dining halls have been stocked with lots of fresh herbs & greens.

The best part? They were grown by yours truly ... in the basement of Kentwood!

Seriously though, how cool is that?

Ready for delivery!

So much produce ...

... and it's all absolutely gorgeous.

What an awesome reminder of what this system is capable of, and how bright 

(and G R E E N) our future can be! 

Look forward to seeing you back on campus!

Rachel 👩🏼‍🌾