{"id":50966,"date":"2013-10-24T08:30:44","date_gmt":"2013-10-24T12:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=50966"},"modified":"2013-10-23T20:35:35","modified_gmt":"2013-10-24T00:35:35","slug":"living-green-wall-takes-root","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=50966","title":{"rendered":"Living Green Wall Takes Root"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DSC_0026\"<\/a>Morrisville State students maintain the living green wall in a greenhouse at Morrisville State. From left: Collin Kehoe, of Hamlin; Jen Zidzik, of Lambertville, NJ; and Tom Reilly, of Utica. All are students in the horticulture business management bachelor degree program.<\/p>\n

\"DSC_0059\"<\/a>Shannon Greene, of Sauquoit, a horticulture student in the greenhouse production concentration, performs maintenance on the living wall in a greenhouse at Morrisville State.<\/p>\n

\"DSC_0109\"<\/a>Jen Cook, of Ithaca, a horticulture student in the floral design concentration, works on the living green wall at Morrisville State. Photos by Nicolas Murphy<\/p>\n

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(Morrisville, NY \u2013 Oct. 22, 2013) A new green trend has taken root on the Morrisville State campus\u2014and it\u2019s growing vertically out of a wall, without soil, in the college\u2019s crop greenhouse.<\/p>\n

The living green wall, comprised of 100 tropical plants and ferns, was recently installed by EcoWalls, a national and leading firm in green wall systems, with the help of students in Morrisville State\u2019s horticulture and landscape architectural studies programs.<\/p>\n

The three-by-12-foot hydroponic system provides all of the plants\u2019 needs right on the wall where they are growing in pockets of felt in a soil-less rooting medium with a closed recirculating irrigation system\u00a0 feeding them water and nutrients.<\/p>\n

A versatile means of growing both edible and ornamental plants in interior and exterior environments, living green walls are a current environmentally sustainable practice in the horticulture and landscape industries.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a lesson Aida Khalil, associate professor of horticulture and design, wanted to instill in her students when she applied for and successfully obtained a grant from the New York State Floral Industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough this system, students are learning what it takes for plants to grow on a wall\u2019s vertical plane, and how rooting can take place without soil if nutrients are provided in the irrigation system.\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cOur horticulture and landscape architecture students and faculty\/staff will be able to learn more about \u201cvertical gardens\u201d in terms of plant selection, culture, design, and hydroponic systems maintenance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Khalil\u2019s educational goals reach beyond teaching students about new technologies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis project provides them with a foundation of knowledge about sustainable practices in the industry and also exposes them to entrepreneurial niches in the field,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ben Mosher didn\u2019t know much about hydroponics when he started taking horticulture classes at Morrisville State. That\u2019s all changing for the horticulture landscape management student from Baldwinsville, who is among those monitoring the system.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one thing to learn it from a textbook, but this has brought learning to life and we are actually experiencing and becoming a hands-on part of it,\u201d said Jen Zidzik, a horticulture business management\u00a0student from New Jersey.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s adding another feather in the cap of Tom Reilly, who has taken an avid interest in all types of growing. \u201cThis goes beyond studying theory,\u201d said the horticulture production student from Utica. \u201dI like to get involved and here (at Morrisville) you jump right into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still in the experimental stages, students monitor the living architecture on a daily basis. Part of the learning process is working out the kinks.<\/p>\n

Because the plants have gone from growing in soil to water, some of them are experiencing transplant shock. Students are responsible for determining those types of problems then devising a plan to fix them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are experimenting now what plants work best. It is all part of the trial,\u201d said Collin Kehoe, of Hamlin, a horticulture business management student.<\/p>\n

The lessons are especially helpful to Mosher, who plans to take over and expand his family\u2019s small nursery business in Baldwinsville.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, he is taking in valuable lessons through his classes, like how to run and market a business.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s taken a vested interest in the living wall project and learning all about its benefits which include environmental aesthetics, energy savings, pollution filtration, air quality improvement, building insulation, noise reduction, and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)\u00a0 certification.<\/p>\n

An entrepreneurial aspect has also come to light.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a small-scale version of an industry on the rise,\u201d Kehoe said.\u00a0 \u201cYou don\u2019t see a lot of this around yet, but some day it could be a booming industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are now making money by doing this,\u201d Khalil said. \u201cThis is preparing our students for the industry and they can go out and design these systems some day on a residential or commercial-scale.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Morrisville State students maintain the living green wall in a greenhouse at Morrisville State. From left: Collin Kehoe, of Hamlin; Jen Zidzik, of Lambertville, NJ; and Tom Reilly, of Utica. All are students in the horticulture business management bachelor degree program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23679,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agfarming","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50966\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}