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The business partners, who opened their store in 2013, donated a water garden to the classroom, along with blue stone for the tank and some colorful Betta fish, selecting Harvey’s school colors of blue and maroon. The water system uses the waste product from the fish to give nutrients to the plants. The plant roots, in turn, filter the water and keep it clean for the fish.
Fermin and Myers visited The Harvey School and conducted a lab with the chemistry students, guiding them through the process of making a passive hydroponic system using a 2-liter soda bottle on Monday, April 6. They brought coconut fiber to use as a growth medium and felt as a wicking material and gave students a packet of basil seeds to grow. They also brought in an aeroponic system and walked the students through how plant cuttings are grown through forcing air and water to create new roots.
Prior to the visit of Fermin and Myers, Jeanne Schumacher introduced her students to the history of hydroponics and its growing popularity in helping to solve the world hunger crisis.
“It is estimated that by 2050 the world’s population will have boomed to 9.1 billion people and food production will need to increase by 70 percent,” said Schumacher. “With farmland not evenly distributed throughout the world,” she said, “hydroponics can help to meet these needs because it is more efficient, uses less water, provides the exact nutrients the plants will need and cuts down the growing time needed.”
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