Lady Beetles, Mushroom growing research, and a Farmbot!

We have aphids and spider mite populations beginning to proliferate so students released some lady beetles this week to control both. We will take a look at the control provided next week and determine if we are seeing control. Next time this happens we will be more formal and do pest population assessments to quantify before and after predatory release. These are native convergent lady beetles Hippodamia convergens and they eat both aphids and spider mites. Above is a photo of the roughly 1,000 lady beetles released to begin controlling the aphid and spider mite pests.

One of seniors is working with a local farm (Martennette Farms of Hillsborough - recently named SCVTHS Business partner of the Year for all they have done for this program) to investigate using a sustainable resource for growing edible mushrooms. Our seniors choose a project to complete a mini-masters of science like research project. In the photo above the student is sterilizing the media to be used to run a pilot test and and determine some testing parameters and find out what easy mistakes we can fix to make the testing strong.

Finally we have our Farmbot construction project to share. We have been piecing together time to construct a box in our hoop house (as well as do some needed repairs to the hoop house) where the Farmbot will be stationed. A senior student is leading the assembly of this while other students are chipping in to sift compost by hand and fill the planting box with a sustainable and economical growing media. Hope to share another construction update early in the new year.

Happy Holidays and have a wonderful New Year. Thank you everyone for your support!

Mr. Fargo

Monday, September 18, 2023

September 2023

Plant Science September 2023

soils unit

Pictured below are soil samples collected from around the Agricultural Science building. I chose to elevate the learning and go slightly beyond the learning the learning objectives to include a question of: how do maintenance practices impact soil texture?

Each container is labeled to give students an indication of how much maintenance is performed on that soil's vegetation. Students performed a soil ribbon test on all five samples to determine the texture (sand, silt, clay components). We will be discussing in class how, or if, maintenance impacted soil texture results students observed.

Understanding soil texture is important for optimizing plant growth and production. Knowing the skill of ribbon testing is a simple very hands-on filed test with reliability. Students learned how to perform this ribbon test and received feedback on technique. What type of soil do you have at home and is it an optimal match for the plant material? Ask a student to assist!