Purdue’s Howard County office employing grow tower to teach gardening
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The green thumbs around these parts are familiar with traditional gardening. Till the soil. Plant the seeds. Tend to the garden. Reap the harvest. But how about growing plants in a tower?
The Purdue Extension Office in Howard County has a garden in its back room. It takes very little space, and it turns out plants in record time. The office employs a hydroponic grow tower, and this year the staff is getting aggressive in growing veggies and herbs and sharing that knowledge with the community.
According to Matthias Ingle, Extension Educator, ANR, the Howard County office obtained its grow tower from the Marion County office several years ago, but it wasn’t employed until this past winter. That all changed when Jodie Schmitt, Extension Educator, 4H, discovered it.
“It’s been one of those projects that just kind of fell along the wayside,” said Ingle. “I had other things to do, and it just didn’t raise to the top of my priority list. Then, along comes Jodie, and she wanted to get it going. She’s spearheaded it and got it up and going. We’re definitely grateful to have it.”
Schmitt became interested in the grow tower after seeing one at the Marion County extension office, not realizing Howard County had one in its possession. Once she realized it, she immediately went to work.
“We can grow plants by starting seedlings,” said Schmitt. “We start them in a non-soil base; a coconut core.”
From there, the seedlings can be transplanted to soil to complete growing. Ingle explained that leafy greens, such as spinach or lettuce, do best in the grow tower, though there are many different herbs and vegetables that can find success with this method. Schmitt has been experimenting with different plants, and she was surprised with the results.
“Things grow about three times faster in the grow tower,” said Schmitt. “So, if you wanted a three-week crop, you’re looking at radishes and lettuce. If you want to tend to them longer, there’s a lot more you can do. Plus, you can cycle through quickly and grow more things, even in winter since we can do it inside.”
Schmitt said that the produce grown with the tower will be donated to Kokomo Urban Outreach and the Kokomo Rescue Mission, should it prove to generate enough viable plants. Otherwise, the tower will be used as an educational tool for children in the 4H program, Ingle explained.
“It’s a great educational experience to bring in the kids and get them exposed to something that they may not have been exposed to before,” said Ingle. “We can do this even on a limited budget and a limited basis. It just exposes kids and adults to something totally different; gardening that wouldn’t necessarily be thought of as gardening.”
Further, the extension office can teach people how to make their own grow towers will more accessible items, such as PVC pipes and five-gallon buckets.
“A grow tower works in any environment because it’s indoors,” said Schmitt. “It takes a tenth of the footprint it would take to grow in a garden, and the fact that the plants grow faster means it can happen in multiple seasons. There are so many things you can use to build one, even without the lights. It can be placed near a window.”
For now, the grow tower is used as an educational tool for the local 4H program, but Schmitt hopes to expand its use.
“I want to have people come to us,” said Schmitt. “Obviously, we can’t have 100 first-graders come in, but we can have a classroom of them. We can stagger them and provide multiple activities, learning opportunities. There’s a lot we can do. I’m really looking at what the needs are and how can we promote it as much as possible.”