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Students work to improve agriculture program results - China LED Fluorescent Tube Light by e55he swrzsnb
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Students work to improve agriculture program results - China LED Fluorescent Tube Light by E55HE SWRZSNB
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| Article Posted: 11/23/2012 |
| Article Views: 47 |
| Articles Written: 2033 - MORE ARTICLES FROM THIS AUTHOR |
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Students work to improve agriculture program results - China LED Fluorescent Tube Light |
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Business,Business News,Business Opportunities
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Bulletin Staff Writer Patrick Henry Community College s Agriculture Research Center(ARC) still is in the experimental stage of its efforts to find thebest ways to grow plants without sunlight. Last semester was the first test for the project that has a goal ofusing vacant buildings in uptown Martinsville for something thatcould benefit the community and possibly create jobs in the futureby growing marketable crops of lettuce and other salad greens,according to Brian Roach, lab technician at the ARC. Its first semester produced a 90 percent crop yield, andhorticulture, agribusiness and viticulture students at PHCC wereable to take many plants home to eat, he said. The hope is to sellthe vegetation to the public some day, but he is unsure whetherthat will happen this semester because it found that packaging wasexpensive last semester, Roach said.
We re just going to keep experimenting and find out what growsbest under which light, he said. Time will tell what works thebest. Despite the crop yield, there were challenges in its infancy. For instance, fluorescent tube lights were used at the ARC buildingat 133 E. Main St., which did not allow the plants to matureenough to be productive because there was not enough light rangeto grow, Roach said.
Plants require an active range of 400 to 700 nanometers of light togrow, which the fluorescent lights didn t provide, he said. Another issue was that the fluorescent lights were mounted abovethe eight vertical hydroponic (water) units. Not all of the plantsreceived enough light, so only those near the top of the verticalunits matured, he added. This semester, the center is not using any fluorescent lights orvertical hydroponic units. Instead, the hope is to install LED(light emitting diode) lighting with the vertical hydroponic systemnext school year, Roach said.
The other light sources used last semester were round LED Fluorescent Tube Light fixtures and square LED panels. Both were successful at maturingthe plants, especially the round LED fixtures. However, the roundfixtures were expensive and the center chose not to use them againthis semester, he said. The goal of the center is to yield a crop with the least expense,he added. To experiment with more LED Fluorescent Tube Light and keep costs down, the centerchose to use the 12-inch square LED panels again this semesteralong with new four-foot tube LED Fluorescent Tube Light and two- by eight-foot LEDpanels assembled by Roach and designed by John Ayers, PHCC sassistant professor of viticulture/enology and horticulture, Roachsaid.
Since planting two weeks ago, the new lighting has shown to beefficient and plants are growing, with the tube lights showing theleast efficiency, he added. Changes also were made this semester in the varieties of plantsbeing grown. There are four varieties of lettuce now growing in the ARC, alongwith one variety each of kale, spinach, basil and turnip greens,Roach said. Harvest is expected around mid-October.
Five varieties of lettuce, including semi-head lettuce and cilantrowere grown last semester, he added. Roach said the center is only growing leaf lettuces this semesterbecause while the semi-head lettuce grew last semester, it did notyield large heads of lettuce. He feels that may have been caused byinsufficient air circulation in the building to keep fungus, moldand disease down, or there wasn t enough room for the heads togrow in the four-inch-wide plant beds, he added. The lettuce simply grew to its environment, Roach said. It s all experimental, Roach said.
What he has found is that the type of light is crucial to the plant s growth, he added. Later this semester, radishes, mustard and another variety oflettuce will be planted, he said. There are 36 plant beds in the hydroponic gravity panels, which aretables tilted to move the water and fertilizer down the beds. Bythe end of the semester, there will be 48 total plant beds in thehydroponic gravity panels, according to Roach. Last semester, there were only 16 hydroponic gravity panels, headded.
The ARC was funded by a $30,000 one-year grant from the U.S.Department of Agriculture through the Virginia Department ofAgriculture, according to Roach. Ayers said an application was submitted for another $30,000 grantfor the second phase but officials will not know until possiblyOctober whether funds will be awarded. That phase would focus onimproving production practices and addressing concerns abouthandling produce, he added.
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