Garden herbs used on Pi Day
Great to see our herbs being used more in Sodexo events! Check out the mint, lemon balm and basil used in the pie day recipes!
Cleaning Up and Replanting
This week with our new group of Incredible Edible-ers we decided the aeroponic needed a big cleanout. The students worked together to empty it and got their hand’s dirty scrubbing the debris.
Death by root rot – Learning from the aeroponics
This week we cleaned up the aeroponics, cutting back and removing dead leaves and updating the nutrient levels.
We were talking and learning more about root problems. With the aeroponic technology, we are lucky to see the roots as they grow, it gives us a great opportunity to learn about how to further care for sick plants.
Root rot occurs when the roots are too saturated in water and bacteria develops in the damp area, rot spreads, slowly killing the roots that water our plants. It was too late to save our purple basil plant but with a little TLC, we are now monitoring and cleaning up the roots of other plants. Check out our lemon balm that made a come back after its roots were struggling!
In the future we need to check on the roots of our plants every so often, just to cut back some of the harmful areas to ensure plentiful growth and survival!
Basil – Death by root rot
Before and after cleaning up the root system
Root Rot Symptoms:
Dying plants, Creeping black stems, Leaf Wilt, little plant growth, pale leaves
The rotting roots look very dark, fragile and mushy. The healthy roots are white or light green and stronger
How to fix it
- Pulling out the plant
- Using your hands, pulling out or cut out the dark mushy roots.
- Optional – Soap and rinsing the roots with gentle soap water
- If in a pot, change the soil completely or improve the drainage.
3 weeks of aeroponic growth : Update
About three weeks ago our aeroponic tower was installed with small shoots of veggies such as Pak Choy, Thai basil and even eggplant! Three weeks on and it’s just about overgrown. The rate at which these vegetables are growing is faster than we’ve ever seen on campus, clearly, this new technology creates an environment of nutrients, minerals and hydration that accelerates its growth.
Below is a side by side comparison to see this incredible growth.
Growing on the aeroponic is the following,
Dwarf Tomatoes, Red Giant Mustard, Nufar Basil, Black Leaf Pak Choy, Rocket, Marigold Tangerine Gem, Kyoto Minuza, Orange Mint, Dark Opal Basil, Mulato Chili, Tuscan Kale, Baby Eggplant, Chinese Capsicum, Leaf Lettuce Thai Basil, Mustard Greens, Ulam Raja, Lemon Balm and Butterhead Lettuce.
Let us know if you’d like to take some home or if you have any recipes you’d recommend!
Garden Update : The Aeroponic Tower
Look out for the tower in the Tent Plaza!
You may be thinking, what’s the strange white tower with veggies growing on it in the tent plaza?!?
You may have heard of hydroponics but have you heard of Aeroponics? That strange tower is our new Aeroponic system, a plant growing technique in which plants are grown with no soil, they are suspended in Rockwool, whilst water and nutrients are delivered to them inside the tower. Whilst hydroponic plants are suspended in water, aeroponic growing systems are an advanced subcategory of hydroponics, that requires even less water!
These plants grow their roots in a soil alternative called Rockwool. Then, a solution of water and nutrients are pumped to the top of the plant tower and trickled down the inside, evenly spread over the exposed plant roots.
The nutrient solution we add to the tower nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are needed to encourage plant cell tissue development for healthy growth!
What are the benefits?
– It uses less space, grow vegetables in unique spaces!
– It uses less water, conserve this precious resource!
– With no soil, there’s no weeding, pests or contaminated soil!
– Because pesticides usage is not a requirement, harmful chemicals are not widely entering natural ecosystems and our diets!
Look out for the aeroponics, notify Incredible Edibles if you have any questions or want to get involved!
Using doughnuts to make sure no mosquitoes can spawn!
Students in the incredible Edibles team will be measuring and tending to the nutrient and pH levels.