Baldwin’s Bounty

RHS students learning cutting edge growing techniques

By John Underwood / john@gulfcoastmedia.com
Posted 9/23/16

ROBERTSDALE, Alabama — How does your garden grow?

Thanks to a federal grant and help from local farmers, agriscience students at Robertsdale High School are using cutting edge technology to grow …

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Baldwin’s Bounty

RHS students learning cutting edge growing techniques

Posted

ROBERTSDALE, Alabama — How does your garden grow?

Thanks to a federal grant and help from local farmers, agriscience students at Robertsdale High School are using cutting edge technology to grow a wide variety of vegetables in their own greenhouse system.

“All of our classes are working toward getting ready for greenhouse plants,” said RHS agriscience teacher John Manning.

A few years ago, RHS received a $300,000 federal grant, which was spent on equipment and materials to build two greenhouses on campus and students were invited by local farmers Joel and Allen Sirmon to observe and copy their hydroponics system.

Each semester, Manning said, the entire system is broken down and rebuilt so that a new crop of students can learn the cutting-edge techniques.

“We start out in the classroom,” Manning said. “Everything we do is safety first, so we spend a lot of time on safety and proper technique before students are ever allowed to use the equipment.”

Time is also spent developing a plan for what students will be growing and how to grow it, Manning said. Students then begin to work the plan, from germinating seeds in a tray system, to planting in a bucket system, which circulates water through the system, to harvesting plants.

By the end of the process, Manning said, students are looking to harvest about 3,000 individual plants over a six-week system. Using the system, Manning said, students have produced a variety of crops, including lettuce, turnip and collard greens, kale, tomatoes, peppers and a wide variety of vegetable crops.

“By using a climate-controlled system, we have virtually eliminated the need for herbicides and insecticides,” Manning said. “What we end up with is a totally organic product.”

Each semester, Manning said, he has about 170 students, from freshmen to seniors, participate in the program from RHS. In addition, students from Jeff Kelley’s classes from the South Baldwin Center for Technology, which also includes students from Foley, Gulf Shores and Fairhope, in the program.

In addition to the greenhouses, there are two garden plots, a small 40-foot-square plot located in front of the school, and a 100-foot-by 40-foot plot located behind the RHS baseball/softball complex.

There is also a pond system on campus which can be used for aquaculture, Manning said.

The agriscience classes are also working with the school’s consumer science classes, using the products harvested on campus to learn and develop recipes, Manning said.

Anything that is left over is sold to the general public.

“We had two public sales last year, one in the fall and one in the spring,” Manning said. Another sale has been scheduled from the current harvest, which will likely be by the end of October, first of November, Manning said.

In addition to greenhouse management, Manning also teaches lawn maintenance and sports field management classes. They assist in maintaining all of the school grounds and ballfields and are in the process of developing a three-acre driving range.

“Our number one goal is to prepare these students for a career,” Manning said. “Last summer we placed 26 students working in the landscaping industry and we are looking to place about 30 percent of our students working in some area using what we are teaching. It’s all about preparing them for the future.”