Students at Dabney Elementary School have been enjoying studying plants and flowers that have been growing in small pots or cups included in the school’s new Hydro-Stacker planting and watering system.
Their studies have been led by fifth-grade teacher Susan Hughes, who secured a grant from the N.C. Farm Bureau and the Vance County Farm Bureau in the spring to purchase the Hydro-Stacker. The grant was for $750 and was made available through the N.C. Agriculture in the Classroom program.
The Hydro-Stacker is white and consists of four shelves of plant cups, with 20 cups per shelf, stacked on top of one another. The Hydro-Stacker includes a water tank and extensive water hose system to keep all 80 plant cups watered. The system can be programmed for the water system to automatically come on at designated times. The Hydro-Stacker was developed in Florida, where most of the seasons are very warm and farmers must be creative in the way they keep their crops watered.
Hughes purchased the Hydro-Stacker soon after receiving the grant in June. With the help of her father, Pete Burgess, an owner and operator of Burgess Farms in Vance County, and others the Hydro-Stacker was erected in the Dabney Elementary courtyard. At the beginning of the school year in August, Hughes and her students began preparing the pots or cups for planting and also constructed a plant bed at the base of the Hydro-Stacker. Franklin Brothers Nursery and Grissom’s Fertilizer, both Vance County businesses, donated plants for the cups. Hughes said she and the students planted radishes, brussel sprouts, turnip salad, cabbages, romaine lettuce and flowering begonia plants.
Once everything was planted, Hughes involved all 43 of her students in taking care of the plants. They have programmed the Hydro-Stacker system to water the plants each morning and each night. Students keep the plant cups and plant bed weeded. They also water the plant bed regularly.
Hughes has incorporated art, math and science into her students’ studies of the Hydro-Stacker. They have drawn pictures of the system. They measure the height of the plants each week and record their findings in journals. They also closely follow the changes in the appearance of the plants as they grow and discuss the plants’ growth patterns.
“We’ve already gotten radishes to eat,” Hughes said. “I’ll be sharing the plants as they ripen with students to eat, so that they will understand how we have to grow our food in order to have the things we need to eat. We’re also getting ready to have the turnip salad to eat and the cabbages are getting closer to being ready.
“The students have absolutely loved working with our Hydro-Stacker,” she added. “They want to go out and work in our garden every day. It’s a great way to give them some hands-on instruction and have them learn more about agriculture and horticulture.”
Hughes’ Hydro-Stacker instruction has been so successful that the N.C. Farm Bureau has asked her to make a presentation about the system at its state conference in Greensboro in December. So, Hughes now plans to attend the conference December 7 and 8 to display the project, with pictures and a small replica of the Hydro-Stacker.