Stages of plant growth and reflection

Set up:

I added 5 ml of nutrient A and 5 ml of nutrient B before adding the water. After adding 9 litres of water, I added 40 ml of nutrients A and B.

I added some seeds into the pot with the necessary material.

One week later,

We went down to check on or plants and found that two of them germinated as sprouts can be seen. It was growing healthily and we were rather satisfied.

Two weeks later,

I didnt check on the plant daily and went down a week later after the last "visit" (Cause i kind of forgot about it). I was shocked to see that the plants were dying. I thought that is was due to too little water in the box thus i added more water, hoping that it would revive.

Few days later,

 

Even though the plants grew taller, the stems were not strong enough to keep the plants upright and it was still wilting. Kimberly and Nicole added some nutrients to it to keep it alive but to no avail.

Following weeks,

It is shown on the above picture that the plant is not healthy. It is starting to wilt.

Kimberly and Nicole tried to remove the dying plants and they added more seeds to the pot. Only the bayam germinated and the other plants died.

Harvesting,

The last time we went down to check on the plant, the bayam was very healthy and it was the only successful plant we grew. Even though we met with some problems through the process, with trial and error, we succeeded in growing hydroponic plants. (Partly.)

Pros and Cons:

The pros of growing hudroponic plants are that hydroponic plants do not require soil. It is also known as soil-less farming method. It can easily grow tropical plants is suitable to be widely used in singapore as Singapore is one of the many countries experiencing tropical climate. Sunlight is available all year round. The hydroponic kit can also be reused to grow other tropical plants, this makes it environmentally friendly.

The cons of growing hydroponic plants are that it is hard to achieve the correct solution. Even though hydroponic farming do not require soil, large amount of water is needed to grow the plants.

 Reflection.

The reason why our plants wilted may be because the solution. It was difficult to achieve the correct amount of water to the amount of nutrients. I have also read that water have to be cool in other for the plant to grow healthily. These areas are very crucial in growing hydroponic plants and they were the areas we did not pay much attention to.

Overall, I think that aeroponic farming is better than hydroponics even though aeroponic farming method requires machines. The set up maybe costly but in the long run, it is still cheaper than hydroponic farming due to the amount of water used in hydroponic farming. Aeroponic farming only require 10% of the amount of water used to grow hydroponic plants.

I think Singapore should create more aeroponic farms thus we do not have to rely on other countries for fruits and vegetables. Just by growing aeroponic plants should be sufficient for Singaporeans.

-Jiayu

Farm

The aeroponics farm is located Lim Chu Kang Agrotechnology Park, it is the first commercial aeroponics farm in Asia to adapt the aeroponics technology to grow vegetables. The aeroponic system is developed by Lee Sing Kong. He is also known as the father of aeroponics.
In this technique of farming, the roots are suspended thus the supply of oxygen is unlimited. Availability of air is important for circulation for this technique, unlike hydroponics where the circulation of water is crucial for aeration.This is one of the advantages of aeroponics.
Water and nutrients are sprayed periodically to the roots. Compared to hydroponics, maintaining the amount of nutrients in the solution for aeroponics farming is much easier.
Due to this technique also, more extensive fine lateral roots are present to absorption the nutrient. More finer roots increase the surface area and hence better absorption.
Aeroponics appears to be the perfect solution for urban agriculture in land and water scarce countries such as Singapore. Through innovation and technology, the farm is able to conserve almost 90 percent of water compared to the hydroponics method. 

Bollywood Farm is created by Mrs. Ivy Singh-Lim. The reason why she created bollywood farm is because humans are killing the earth thus Mrs. Ivy Singh-Lim wanted to tell everyone about the importance of nature and to educate the young ones.Even though there are many medical uses of the different plants on earth, most of do not cherish it :(


 Plants in bollywood farm have many different uses, such as moraga hibiscus. It acts as a shoe polisher and hair conditioner. Wild pepper leaves helps to relieve aches and fatigues and citronella is a natural mosquito repellent.By biting on the neem tree's branch is equivalent to brushing your teeth. The Indian Borage is also excellent for sore throat.
I have also found out another amazing fact about bananas: If the banana flower is pointing upwards, the fruit is not edible.


The water supply in the farm is the pond. It irrigates the farm and the water is used to water the plants. The farm also make use of organic compose. They decompose it and the fertiliser "feeds" the entire farm!


-Jiayu

Term 2 Group Assignment Reflection

The pictures show the process of the growing of our hydroponics plants. (Some parts of the process are missing.)

Week 1: We gave the seeds at least a week to germinate under sunlight, plenty of water and nutrients. At the end of week one, our plants were starting to grow very well, as shown in the first few pictures. The Japanese Cucumber was showing the most progress in the growing process and the Chilli Padi showed the least. This fact surprised us as we heard that Kang Kong was the fastest plant to grow.

Week 2: Our plants were growing bigger and taller, with larger leaves. We lifted the cover of the styrofoam box to check the health of the roots. They were white in colour, long and entangled with each other. We left the roots as it was as we did not want to damage the roots.

Week 2-3: Our plants were starting to wilt. At first we could deduced that the sunlight it received was too strong, hence causing it to wilt. Thus, Nicole Mui and I moved the box to a shadier spot. The leaves of the Japanese cucumber plant started to turn yellow and the growth of leaves were sparse. The stem of the Kang Kong started to bend and the leaves started to curl up. However, they did not turn yellow or brown. The Chilli padi started to rot and die. Surprisingly, the bayam managed to stay healthy for the longest time among the four plants.

Week 3-4: All the plants were dead. We found some leaves of the Japanese cucumber plant severed off from the stem. It looked like it was cut off and the stem showed hardly any sign of life. Hence, we pulled out all the rotting remains of the plant and threw them away. We supplemented more water and nutrients into the box and re-grew the plants.

The next few weeks... :

The Chilli Padi, Japanese Cucumber and the Kang Kong did not grow again, despite our efforts to re-grow the plants. The Bayam managed to grow tall and stronger than before. Due to this fact, I believe that the Bayam, although it is not the fastest plant to grow, can survive for a longer period of time, under poorer circumstances. The other plants did not survive, which led me to deduce this hypothesis.

I would like to thank my group members : Nicole Mui and Tan Jia Yu. They were the ones who helped to water the plants and nurture it. They also helped to take most of the pictures and "walked with me" through this experience of growing hydroponic plants.

I also would like to thank Miss Lim for sponsoring our project :)

Kimberley Lim~

(Sorry for not putting the pictures in order)

My group, which group members were me, Kimberley Lim & Jia Yu, grew our plants at the 'greenhouse' in school, just like everyone else. We grow four different types of plants. They were the Bayam, Chilli Padi, Kang Kong and the Japanese Cucumber.

The first week of growing our plant:

I went down to the 'greenhouse' to check on our plants once in a while. During those times, all our plants seemed to be growing strong and healthy.

The second week:

I did not check the plant for the next few days then, as I kept on going off for tennis. When I checked on it on one of those days, our Chilli Padi and Bayam were still growing quite well. However, I was shocked to see our Kang Kong and part of our Japanese Cucumber dying. Kimberley and I then decided to pull out those dead parts/plants and grow new ones, but to no avail. We poured more water and nutrients as we thought the plants died due to wilting. Next, Kimberley and I moved our plants to another part of the 'greenhouse' so that the plant would receive lesser sunlight (lesser but still sufficient) as we thought that this was the other reason why our plants died.

The next few weeks....:

Before I knew it, Term 1 came to an end, and so did our assignment. Even though the new seeds that we planted did not grow at all throughout all those weeks, I am proud to say that our group's Bayam is still gowing tall and healthy to this day (as you can see in the top picture).

Through this assignment, I learnt that it is not easy to grow plants. Therefore, I also think that subsistence farming is quite difficult too. Farming takes alot of time, attention and care so that the plants will grow well.

I would also like to thank Kimberley and Jia Yu for being such awesome group mates. I would not have been able to succeed in growing the Bayam without their help.

The last two photos were taken in the Aeroponics farm. It is a farm where plants are grown without soil. The pictures shows the way the plants are arranged and under what kind of conditions the plants are grown in. The plants are grown in greenhouses which can trap the heat. This makes the environment better for the plants grow in. The well, as shown in the second photo, has pipes connected to it to provide water for the plants, as seen in the first photo. The pipes has sprinklers that will spray water at the roots of the plants at 30second intervals. The roots are suspended as to allow unlimited air supply for the plant. The farm follows basic steps to grow the plants. For example, the butterhead seeds from Holland:-Firstly, the seeds are planted in a sponge and left in a dark room to germinate. -After 2 weeks, the plants (nursery plants) will receive more water as it lets the roots of the plant harden.-After another 2 more weeks, the plants are ready to receive more nutrients (sunlight).The Aeroponics Farm also came out with a drink called Lettucinno. it is similar to the coffee drink, Cappuccino. Lettucinno packs a punch too and helps keep a person more alert and it is healthier.

The first photo was taken at the Bollywood Farm. There, I found out about many different types of plants and learnt of the different types of leaves/plants that are use in different kinds of food. Take the Blue Pea Vine for example. The blue colouring that is used for nonya cakes are from that plant. The flower is edible and is sometime used for salad to beautify it. But we started the journey, the tour guide made us all drink water to hydrate ourselves. He also introduced a plant to us that repelled mosquitoes. It is called Citronella Grass. The tour guide also introduced to us some spices that were used for other kind of food and the food that they used for the famous Banana cake that they bake at the Bollywood farm. At the end of the journey, the tour guide made everyone sit at the tables and they served us Banana cake and milo. It was delicious

~Nicole Mui~

Group Post

We grew 4 different types of plants. They were Japanese Cucumber, Kang Kong, Chilli Padi & Bayam.

These few photos were taken a week later. It was RATHER HEALTHY.

However, a few days later, when we went down to check on it again, we found out that the plants were starting to wilt.... :( So were tried our best to revive it. We added more nutrients and water and even moved it to an area with lesser sunlight ( lesser but still sufficient).

The pictures that you just saw were the result that we ( Nicole Mui, Kimberley Lim & Jia Yu) received, even after best efforts. As part of the plants died/ wilted, we had no choice but to remove those parts. Despite our failures with these plants, we decided to grow the plants again, but to no avail...

But there was one plant that stayed faithful to our efforts.....

And that is.... THE BAYAM!!!! Our most prized procession.

Thank you Mr Bayam for being so faithful to us. WE LOVE MR BAYAM:)

Pros & Cons of High Tech Farming:



Pros
- It saves land
- It grows faster compared to the normal way.
- Lesser water needed
- Yield of the food is high
- Higher productivity of food
-Cheaper

Cons
- More expensive ( to set up the farm)
- Only certain types of plant can be grown
- Waste of resources, such as electricity.

Geography reflection

This shows the growth of some basil plants. The basil are grown again and again for 3 times and then the seeds are thrown away. The roots that are darker in colour shows the basil plant that has been grown before whereas the lighter coloured roots shows a newly planted basil seed. The roots are suspended from the Styrofoam 'lid' and water with nutrients are sprayed onto the roots at an interval of 30seconds via pipes. Water is obtained from a well with nutrients.[refer to picture 1] Seeds are planted into the Styrofoam boxes. This farm grows all types of vegetables such as butter head lettuces and many more. More plants can be grown in Little land space in an aerophonics farm. Plants can also be growth faster and plants growth will be healthy due to the consistent amount of water and nutrients. However, Large amount of money is needed to buy machines and fertilizers. Some chemicals in nutrients may also cause cancer and Alzheimer.

This is a picture of traditional farming at Bollywood farm. This is the growing of pineapples. The tires at the top support the pineapples as they are creeper plants. Traditional farming uses soil and nutrients are obtained from the soil. In traditional farming, more manual work are involved as water and fertilizers are added by the farmers. More space are needed in traditional farming. Plants may not be all healthy in traditional farming.

Reflection of trip to farms

After the farm trip, I felt amazed at how fast the world had changed. From traditional farming which uses soil to aerophonic farming. A fast, productive farming using machines. This showed how fast the world has changed in terms of food production to suit the massive demand of food on Earth. I think this type of modern farming will help Singapore. Singapore has a very small land area. Thus making every inch of land precious. Singapore's population is increasing rapidly. Hence, Singapore needs to find self-sustainacy thus, aerophonics can just be the answer to the food supply of Singapore. Little land area is needed and lots of food can be produced thus, it fullfills the conditions therefore, it is the answer to singapore's demanding food supply.

Reflection on growth of plants in hydrophonic kit I learned perseverance and dilligence from the growth of hydrophonic kit. Perseverance was needed to ensure that the plants grow. Dilligence was needed to ensure that recording of the plants was completed. Samantha lye[34] 2-1