The Growing Edge Magazine - Soilless Growing at Arcadia School

Soilless Growing at Arcadia School

by Douglas J. Peckenpaugh

For the past five years there has been an ongoing evolution of soilless growth at Arcadia School in Toledo, Oregon, located on the edge of the Coastal Mountains just a stone’s throw from the Pacific Ocean. Like many areas of the Pacific Northwest, Toledo and its surrounding area has largely been economically centered around logging and its associated trades. However, the scope of these industries has been scaled back over the years. Luckily, new eras reveal new strains of growth. Lately, a fresh discipline has been budding at Arcadia-as well as at numerous schools around the world.

Growing Together
Hydroponics, aquaponics, and other areas of soilless cultivation are constantly growing into mainstream agriculture. And although the mention of these growing methods frequently raises the eyebrows of adults, for the next generation, they will be commonplace. Therefore, forward-thinking educators are constantly finding new ways to incorporate soilless cultivation into the classroom. Such educational adaptation and expansion is immediately evident when browsing the grounds of Arcadia School.

Two small, fully outfitted greenhouses form the basis for the soilless educational element at Arcadia, which accommodates students in third, fourth, and fifth grades. Fourth grade teachers Mike Tyler and Mary Settlemier make use of one greenhouse and fifth grade teacher Valarie Baker heads the studies in the second house. Various types of hydroponic and aquaponic systems are featured in the greenhouses to teach aspects of horticulture, botany, chemistry, and ecology.

The classrooms are also home to several related systems and associated disciplines. Sections of different rooms are home to hydroponic systems and fish tanks. Posters and charts outlining the growing process dot walls and bulletin boards. It’s quickly obvious that Arcadia School is taking their soilless gardening seriously.

Incremental Education
Just like other scholastic disciplines such as reading, composition, and mathematics, Arcadia’s hydroponic curriculum is geared to each grade level in the school and each progressive year builds on the knowledge of the previous grade.

In third grade, students begin learning the basics of gardening and soilless cultivation. All of the aspects of hydroponics are discussed and the students even get to grow some plants and see the practical application of their knowledge.

Then, in fourth grade, the process is accelerated. Tyler has been instrumental in getting hydroponics off the ground at Arcadia. With some initial funding gained through grants from Fred Meyer, a regional superstore chain in the Pacific Northwest, Tyler began outfitting the fourth grade greenhouse.

Today, the greenhouse employs several growing models. An aquaponic setup dominates one corner of the greenhouse. Tilapia are grown and the effluent is used to feed different types of plants. In an aim to cross the boundary between education and business, mature tilapia are sold to the Depoe Bay Fish Company, based in Newport, Oregon, at the end of the growing cycle.

Hydroponic systems fill one entire side of the greenhouse, featuring modified nutrient film technique and simple, self-contained systems. Tomatoes, lettuce, and salad greens are the primary hydroponic crops in the fourth grade greenhouse. One student, Raven, was particularly proud of his tub-grown tomato plant that he had been cultivating for several months. He found himself impressed with hydroponic growing techniques. “Hydroponics grows faster because of using nutrient solution instead of water,” he said. “They’re getting nutrients 24-7.”

The other side of the fourth grade greenhouse features an innovative riparian “stream system.” A tank of goldfish that’s growing some aquatic plants sits on the floor of the greenhouse. The effluent-rich water is pumped to the top of the stream system where it runs in riverlike fashion down a gully that supports mainly strawberries and some other plants. Understanding riparian ecology is important around the globe but is especially pertinent in river-rich Oregon.

Natural sunlight is supplemented with some fluorescent lamps in the greenhouse. Some of the grant money acquired by Tyler went toward the purchase of a photovoltaic cell to provide some power for the greenhouse, including a solar-powered fan. And in a dedicated stroke of self sufficiency, Tyler said that they are breeding new fish stock in the classroom and might introduce koi into the aquaponic setup for the 2001-02 school year.

Baker’s fifth grade greenhouse also builds on both aquaponic and hydroponic concepts. The greenhouse-which is the newer of the two-was funded in part by the local pulp and paper mill, Georgia-Pacific. Volunteerism has also contributed to the state of the fifth grade greenhouse. One student’s father donated his time to install a thermostatically controlled fan to help maintain the proper climate in the greenhouse.

One of the projects that the fifth grade students undertook in 2000-01 was to compare and contrast the different growth results from three different nutrient solutions: Vita Grow, a popular retail product; Rebel Farms, a custom formulation from a commercial hydroponic grower based in Corvallis, Oregon; and a third solution that remained unknown. All plants were grown under the same environmental conditions in the greenhouse. Students measured growth rates and other parameters on a regular basis and found that the overall growth rates and plant performance were similar across the board, no matter which nutrient solution was feeding the plants. The students grew several different types of crops for the 2000-01 school year, including salad greens, lettuce, and green beans.

Continual Growth
Soon, once Arcadia School students move onto the local middle school, their soilless education won’t have to stop. The local middle school has recently begun looking into their possibilities regarding soilless cultivation and their curriculum. Good ideas are bound to spread.

Arcadia gets the parents and local community involved in their activities, as well. Near the end of the school year, Arcadia School puts on an event called “Arcadia All Stars” that highlights several of the various projects that have been in the works throughout the year. This well attended event reinforces the fruits of a year’s labor in the classroom and greenhouse--as well as the numerous other projects showcased at the event, including aspects of science, technology, art, and music--but also exposes the parents and community at large to the possibilities of hydroponics and aquaponics. They were even handing out a flyer that described how to build a simple hydroponic grower. For many folks, the knowledge gleaned at Arcadia All Stars may have been the first time they have been exposed to soilless cultivation.

Arcadia Principal Jeanne St. John has been thrilled with the enthusiasm displayed by the students and educators in their various growing projects. The Toledo area-like so many other logging communities in the Pacific Northwest-has been effected by the results of depressed industry over the last several years. Hopefully, the attention that Arcadia School has been devoting to soilless growing will help instigate the creation of new business models in the area. If these growing disciplines can eventually take root in the community, the economy and way of life in this coastal town will be greatly improved. And, in the meantime, Arcadia students will continue to grow in more ways than one.