Reaching New Heights 

DT Plant Science class uses grow tower to learn

By:Benjamin VanDiest

The DT Plant Science class has a tall, tubular structure to help them learn about growing plants. Ag teacher Mr. Dave Johnson purchased a Grow Tower a few years ago to help his students get a visual representation of what they were learning.

“I saw a Grow Tower at a convention and thought it might be a nice way to show plant growth to the students and that we could produce some food to use in the school lunch program,” said Johnson.

The base of the tower, which can hold 25 gallons of water and fertilizer, has a tank that pumps water to the top of the tower and rains down onto the roots of the plants on a timed schedule. The Grow Tower even waters the lettuce when no one is at school, and the pump vibrates while pumping the water to the top.   

The purpose of the Grow Tower is to help students learn the life cycle of a plant and the supplies needed to aid the seed in growing. Watching the seed turn from a tiny plant into a leaf of lettuce is the rewarding factor of this lesson.  

When the lettuce is ready to be harvested, the students cut the lettuce off and take it to the cafeteria. With full production, the students can take 2 lbs. of lettuce every three weeks to the cafeteria. Right now the Grow Tower only grows lettuce, but someday the Grow Tower will grow other vegetables for our cafeteria. 

“The lettuce from our Grow Tower makes a mean salad during lunch because it is so fresh, especially when you add ranch to it,” said sophomore Gabe Waters.  

Green Food Solutions is the company that manufactures the Grow Tower. The company is based out of New Jersey, and its mission is to make local food systems that provide freshly harvested food for everyone. Since the tower is suspended in the air, the class can grow lettuce 2 times faster than traditional methods and it uses 90% less water and 90% less land.  

“It was a cool thing to watch a little seed grow into a big lettuce plant that could feed our school,” said DT sophomore Bryan Shafer. 

Bryan Shafer tends to the plants on the Grow Tower.