Yes, I finally get to grow some things in our biology lab! I’m crossing my fingers that the tomatoes and lima beans we planted last week in vermiculite will grow and thrive under the light rack in the biology lab. I’ve haven’t germinated these type of seeds in vermiculite before, so I hope it works. Otherwise we won’t have a lab to do in three weeks and I’ll look pretty silly as degree-carrying botanist. Teaching is kind of like live theater, you get one shot and you’re always on stage. It’s scary yet exhilarating at the same time.
Do you have any recommendations for cheap and easy plants to grow for experiments? Or growing suggestions for starting seeds for hydroponics?
Photo by dbesa
I choose vermiculite since we can wash it off and transplant them to water for a mineral nutrition and/or toxicology lab. Yes, we are engaging in hydroponics in the classroom!
I asked my students if they knew what hydroponics meant in class, and there were some snickers from the back of the lab. Unfortunately hydroponics seem irrevocably linked to growing marijuana. Hey, what about hydroponics for growing tomatoes? And there have been a million interesting experiments in agricultural research using hydroponics
It might seem like I’m railing against marijuana-growers lately, so don’t take it personally if you have some stowaways in your greenhouse. I just don’t appreciate my name showing up on websites about growing marijuana. It’s not likely my students or administrators are spending time googling me, but what if? It’s not the best impression when you’re trying to get tenure at a college with conservative values.
Let me explain. I first wrote for the hydroponics magazine The Growing Edge in the late 90’s. The magazine is focused on the commercial greenhouse owner or the enthusiastic hobbyist, and clearly is not catering to pot-smoking crowd. The editor actually asks writers for the Growing Edge to not write for other magazines that have that reputation.
But I vanity Googled myself a few years ago, and on the top of my hits was an excerpt from one of my articles was on some site that had “smoking” in the address.
I asked my students if they knew what hydroponics meant in class, and there were some snickers from the back of the lab. Unfortunately hydroponics seem irrevocably linked to growing marijuana. Hey, what about hydroponics for growing tomatoes? And there have been a million interesting experiments in agricultural research using hydroponics
It might seem like I’m railing against marijuana-growers lately, so don’t take it personally if you have some stowaways in your greenhouse. I just don’t appreciate my name showing up on websites about growing marijuana. It’s not likely my students or administrators are spending time googling me, but what if? It’s not the best impression when you’re trying to get tenure at a college with conservative values.
Let me explain. I first wrote for the hydroponics magazine The Growing Edge in the late 90’s. The magazine is focused on the commercial greenhouse owner or the enthusiastic hobbyist, and clearly is not catering to pot-smoking crowd. The editor actually asks writers for the Growing Edge to not write for other magazines that have that reputation.
But I vanity Googled myself a few years ago, and on the top of my hits was an excerpt from one of my articles was on some site that had “smoking” in the address.
I know there are probably laws against reprinting someone’s work on the Internet without permission, but what about a quote? Can anyone quote you and put your name on their website without permission? I’ve gotten married and changed my name since then, so it’s not a real issue for me now. But I’m sure this issue is affecting some people somewhere.
14 comments:
I've never practised hydroponics - not even for the growing of marijuana! So I'm keen to find out how you go and whether the vermiculite you chose worked out. Please keep us posted.
Just wanted to add, when you use vermiculite be sure and wear a dust mask. Some vermiculite contains asbestos. Apparently, the risk is considered minimal, but to be safe it's best to use in a well ventilated area and to wear a dust mask.
Regarding hydroponic plants to start with, I don't think you can do better than tomatoes, personally. They're relatively easy to grow and you'll probably be able to get some tasty treats as a reward. :)
CP- Thanks for the warning. I've heard that breathing perlite dust is bad for you, but I didn't think about vermiculite.
So far the tomatoes haven't sprouted, but the lima beans and radishes are coming along. Maybe the seeds were no good. Bah. Hydroponic tomatoes do sound tasty.
What are you planning to do with your plants once they grow? If you just need adult plants, Arabidopsis is ridiculously easy, as is Wisconsin Fast plant. They both germinate easily and grow to maturity in 6 weeks or less. They are rather small however, so if you need stem cross sections or flowers to examine, stick with your veggies.
Peas are pretty easy as well. Tobacco is another good choice, though it can get HUGE. It has large leaves, thick stems and decent sized flowers. Makes lots of seed as well.
Welcome botanical girl! (Reading her blog always reminds me of my plant molecular biology days.)
After spending 3 yrs nursing those little Arabidopsis babies, I thought I'd bever want to look at them again. But it would be fun to grow some mutants in my classes, especially the botany class. Little plants like this do well in hydroponic medium like Rockwool, by the way.
For this experiment, with my Environmental Science class, I was hoping to add some toxins to show the effects on the plants' growth.
I'll second botanicalgirl's peas vote, and raise it a bush green bean. I tried basil last semester, and it didn't do too well (but, while all the plants stayed small, they did nicely demonstrate the effect of added fertilizer).
I plant Amaryllis in a self-made hydroponic setup.
I use a colander on top of a dark bucket, and it is connected to a pump and a timer .
It grows extremely fast and well, you get spectacular and beautiful plants.
I started my hydroponics setup only about 3 days ago, after reading the theories from the net. It is called the wick system. Items used :- a non working or heavily scratched compact disc, a rounded freegift cup or any plastic container, 2 to 4 strands of cotton mob threads, water and seeds. Howto :- Tie up the threads at the middle parts and poke through the cd. Better still if you can enlarged the hole of the cd to about 1 inch diameter. Its just like making an oil lamp. The thread acts as the wick. Soak the wick in water, plug into the cd, one side dangling and one side flattened to the cd. Fill the cup with water to about 3/4 full. Place the cd and wick on top of it, wick dangling into water. Lastly spread some seeds on the flattened wet thread. I have spread some Spinach beans, and after 2 days I can see roots coming out. Hopefully it will grow nicely.
Looking out at lettuce, basil, Tomatoes, cukes, Dill, oregano and much more growing on my back deck hydroponically as we speak.
Here in Hattiesburg Ms in the middle of Nov. and we started late but hope to have ripe tomatoes for Christmas.
Home made setup, anyone wishing pictures contact me at e_bourne@bellsouth.net
what about soybeans? My last visit to korea I remember seeing something like an at home hydroponic system specifically for soy bean sprouts. Pretty normal considering how prevalent soy bean sprouts and mung bean sprouts are in central asian cuisine. (I'm a chef by the way go fig?;)
I have been working with hydroponic gardening for about two years and have a blog also.
hydroponicworkshop.blogspot.com/
It may have some useful information for your project.
Good luck.
Jack
I used perlite and had great success with a home built NFT system.
hi! I am growing lima beans in a hydroponic system for my science fair project. Knowing someone else is doing this helps alot! haha I was just wondering what kind of system did you use and did vermiculite actually work? Because as you probably know the medium isn't suppose to have any nutrients so I was thiking of using something similar like sand? Tell me what you think! thanks
Yes, it did work to get the plants started! It was a little tricky rinsing off the roots, but otherwise worked well for our experiment.
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