Students throw salad party with crops grown through hydroponics
February 2, 2023
Students taking a brand new course at Lakeville South High School finished their first semester by throwing a salad party. They harvested and ate lettuce and herbs that they grew inside their school through hydroponics. They learned about this method of growing food in their Environmental and Biomedical Engineering class, which is part of the STEM Academy program.
Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil. It can be done indoors or outdoors all year long and uses less water than traditional soil-based systems like farming. It is also space-efficient, taking up less space than gardening or farming in soil.
“We planted little seeds in these coconut cores that represent soil. We put them in our hydroponics towers, which are built out of PVC pipe. Water runs down through the pipes, watering the plants. Then the water gets sucked back up with a water pump, creating a continuous cycle,” explained 10th grade student, Addie Perkins.
“For our light source, mimicking the sun, we have LED lights that are specialized for indoor growing,” said Perkins.
“It’s insane to see how much they grew and how fast they grew. They seem to grow faster than normal plants,” said Perkins.
It only took two months for the hydroponics towers in the STEM labs at Lakeville South to grow lush with green plants. The students grew different types of lettuce including iceberg, romaine, and buttercrunch. They also grew several herbs including basil, oregano, dill, kale, and even catnip. The students also tried growing a few vegetables including beets and spinach.
On one of the last days of the semester, the students gathered around their crops and harvested their hard work. They filled bowls and ziplock bags with the lettuce and herbs they grew. Then they took the green goods over to a table and started building salads with various dressings and toppings that they brought in.
“You know, it tastes even better because we grew it. It’s just the fruits of our labor. It tastes great,” said 12th grade student, Kate Clark.
“If planted properly, hydroponic systems like the one the students built can provide fresh produce for a family of four to five for the entire year,” said STEM teacher, Kurt Weber.
Mr. Weber says he sees hydroponics as an important part of farming in the future. He says a big financial challenge to the technique was the cost of LED lights, which are now cheaper than they used to be. Mr. Weber says the smaller space needed for hydroponics means you could grow crops on existing spaces like rooftops and indoor spaces like warehouses. It’s part of the lessons the students learned while growing the plants.
“A lot of these kids have never planted anything. The concept of growing something without soil was new for a lot of them. So it’s been a real draw for not only this class, but the entire building to see what we’ve been doing and how big these crops grew in such a short amount of time,” said Mr. Weber.
Environmental and Biomedical Engineering is a one-semester class that will be offered again in the second semester. Mr. Weber says several of the same students will be taking the course a second time as an Independent Study. During the second semester, the students will also try growing some fruits and flowers with hydroponics.