{"id":40646,"date":"2024-08-26t14:50:34","date_gmt":"2024-08-26t14:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/?p=40646"},"modified":"2024-08-26t14:50:36","modified_gmt":"2024-08-26t14:50:36","slug":"hydroponic-sustainable-gardening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/hydroponic-sustainable-gardening\/","title":{"rendered":"expanding roots: hydroponic gardening creates more alternatives for sustainable food growth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
northwestern university third-year olivia schenker really loves the earth. the biology and environmental policy and culture major said the environment encompasses her whole life, from going vegan for five years to centering her future career around policy. one way she supports sustainability at northwestern is through wild roots, a student-run garden on northwestern\u2019s campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
schenker is an avid traditional grower with wild roots, but along with the other organization members, she will be pivoting toward an innovative form of gardening called hydroponics that wild roots is incorporating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
hydroponics is the technique of growing plants using a water-based nutrient solution rather than soil, according to the usda national agricultural library<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cit\u2019s kind of like a constant flowing water system, and there\u2019s no soil needed,\u201d schenker said. \u201cthe plants are just growing out of the water.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n rachel silverman, a mccormick school of engineering second-year industrial engineering major, is the co-vice president of engineers without borders, a student organization using engineering to promote sustainability. their newest project is partnering with wild roots to build the hydroponic system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n silverman said hydroponic systems pump water directly to the roots of the plants, which is beneficial for the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cdue to soil degradation, we lose soil faster than we can make it, so having an alternative available when we can grow produce without soil is really essential,\u201d silverman said. \u201csecond of all, it uses a lot less water than how you would normally grow plants because it doesn\u2019t have to be saturated in the soil and water can be recycled through the system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n hydroponic systems work circularly, with water pumping from the nutrient-filled water into the grow tray, and then cycling back to the solution tank where more nutrients are added. the nutrient-water solution is typically replaced every two to three weeks for an average-sized hydroponic structure, according to floraflex<\/a>. an energy source is needed to provide light for the plants when grown indoors and to pump the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n engineers without borders and wild roots are working out these technical details in an effort led by silverman and juliana gonzalez, a mccormick second-year majoring in manufacturing and design engineering. silverman said she and gonzalez weren\u2019t familiar with gardening alternatives like hydroponics before wild roots reached out, but when the organizations connected, engineers without borders researched the system and decided to take on the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201ci think you learn a lot more through doing. joining this club has taught me a lot more about the different solutions that exist,\u201d silverman said. \u201c[i am] just getting a better grasp of the situation with the environment and the ways we can help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n once engineers without borders agreed to collaborate with wild roots, they put together a rough design and worked through logistics with wild roots advisor corbin smyth. their final sketch is a 6-feet long and 4-feet wide structure with plants growing in horizontal rows above a water basin. while many hydroponic structures feature lights above the plants for controlled growth, this system will not need them because it will receive natural light outdoors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n gonzalez said the biggest barrier they faced was getting their materials approved. engineers without borders sent their material proposal to the northwestern student organization finance office (sofo) to order before spring break, she said. sofo officials asked the students to restructure their plans solely with materials from vendors approved on ibuynu<\/a>, a web-based ordering platform providing organizations with streamlined purchasing options.<\/p>\n\n\n \u201cthey ended up sending us the materials [list] back, and then we redid the materials and sent it back to our advisor, who sent it to sofo,\u201d gonzalez said. \u201cthe whole process took a really long time. it was very frustrating, honestly.\u201d but the process and patience paid off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n gonzalez said the students decided to exclusively choose items from home depot when rebuilding their materials list because the store is approved on the sofo platform. while engineers without borders initially planned to unveil the structure in late may of 2024, gonzalez said they are postponing the project launch until the coming academic year due to the delays. she said that even with delays, she thinks a hydroponic system will be meaningful enough for the university that the students are sticking with the plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n the hydroponic system will bring awareness about water consumption and waste on campus, gonzalez said. she added that sustainability is a large part of the world now, and integrating it into engineering projects is very interesting to her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n eric weber, director of operations at plant chicago, embraces and builds upon the sustainable aspects of hydroponics, they said. plant chicago, on chicago\u2019s south side, adopted hydroponic and aquaponic urban gardens in 2011 when the organization launched. their first systems were located at the plant, a former meat processing warehouse welcoming a collaborative community of small food businesses, according to the plant website<\/a>. plant chicago relocated their hydroponic and aquaponic structures to their current space a few blocks away in 2020, said weber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n hydroponics is one component of an aquaponics system, which pumps naturally fertilized water from fish tanks to plants growing in water, then redirects the plant-purified water back to the fish tanks, according to nelson + pade<\/a>. fish waste fertilizes the water and special bacteria in the water breaks down the ammonia in the waste that would be harmful to plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n weber walked us through plant chicago\u2019s indoor space, which boasts several hydroponic and aquaponic towers of various sizes. in the aquaponic structure, fish swim lazily on the lowest level and a series of pipes lead up to neat rows of plants growing in the water. weber said the main benefit of aquaponics over hydroponics is that it grows fish in addition to plants.<\/p>\n\n\n \u201cyou get the ability to have a potential protein source that you can harvest and eat in addition to your veggies,\u201d weber said. \u201cyou treat the system as its own living organism; you\u2019ve got fish, you\u2019ve got plants, you\u2019re trying to keep them living in harmony with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n the nutrient source in a hydroponic system differs significantly from that of an aquaponic system, weber said. in a solely hydroponic structure, the plants rely on a synthetic fertilizer rather than organically processed fish waste. according to weber, this ties into one of the main criticisms of hydroponic growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n critics of hydroponic growth don\u2019t see hydroponics as organic and instead prefer more natural methods, said weber. while the u.s. department of agriculture<\/a> (usda) makes no mention of soil growth in their definition of organic, the usda does specify that \u201cthe basic rule for organic agriculture is to allow natural substances and prohibit synthetic,\u201d according to the website\u2019s organic 101<\/a> subsection. if hydroponic and aquaponic systems do not use synthetic fertilizers, the usda recognizes them as eligible for organic certification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n