There’s something green growing in the Harvard Public School science room, and it’s getting kids excited.
Through the Cultivate ACCESS Program at UNL, HPS Science teacher Jodi Bahr purchased a hydroponics tower, which grows plants using a water-based nutrient solution instead of soil.
Bahr said the kids have been excited about the tower, which arrived about three weeks ago, and she’s excited to watch students experience the plant growth, harvesting the plants, and expanding their taste pallets by eating the plants.
The tower stands about six feet tall and features two individual towers on a base. Each tower has a spot for a plant cube, and in each spot there is a black tube that filters water to the plant.
Water is filtered from the bottom of the tower a couple of times a day, and needs to be changed every few weeks.
Bahr said hydroponics is a growing industry, so it’ll be nice to have the tower available for students to see the progress of plant growth.
“It’s fun to see the kids come in after a few weeks and be excited to see progress,” she said.
Bahr was given $1,000 to purchase the tower and accompanying plants through the program, so there was no cost to the school.
In the future, when needing to purchase new plants, Bahr explained each cube costs $4.99, or they can purchase a yearly subscription of either $408 for one year or $686 for two years.
The yearly subscriptions allow the option to do time-lapse videos that Bahr can share with students, free shipping on plants, plant food, and they receive 10 plants per month.
Some of the plants on the tower currently include basil, sunflower, lettuce, cilantro, and dill. Each cube has a label with the plant’s name.
Eventually, Bahr said she’d like a row of plants to always be in harvest so that they can be given to local churches and served at lunch.
Veggie plants aren’t the only thing that can be grown on the tower, Bahr explained, as there’s also been talk of growing fruits and flowers.
The towers have two cameras pointed at the plants, which have been helpful in recent weeks with snow days. Bahr can access the cameras through an application on her phone, so she can see if the power has gone out or if she needs to come in and work with the plants.
