Texas University students growing lettuce, spinach and kale indoors
The Senior Capstone Design project, made up of students Jared Broadman, George Dawson, Sanjiv Gopalkrishnan and Dominique Schaefer Pipps, aptly named their group "Lettuce Turnip the Beet." (LTTB) The main goal of team LTTB, through the vegetable cultivation machine, was to produce one salad per week, for a year.
The team has been working on the project since August, and created two versions, both with vegetables growing hydroponically - without soil. The first prototype is in an enclosed area outside. It is based on a triangular frame, has three circular grow tubes, and two pumps with inputs into each of the tubes. It is about 6 feet tall. The second prototype is inside. It is eight feet tall, hosts six square grow tubes, and one pump with an input to the top of the tube arrangement.
"We use a Platinum P900 LED to feed plants at the top of the device, with two smaller fluorescent lights to supplement the bottom plants. The entire device draws about the same amount of power as a microwave."
Golpalkrishnan continued, "We learned quite a bit from the first iteration that we implemented into the second, final prototype. We built the first prototype in November 2016 and the second prototype in February 2017."
Tomatoes are currently being grown in the outdoor prototype, because there is easy access to pollinators. The LTTB team found that it was easy to grow leafy greens indoors because they do not require pollination. The indoor prototype is currently growing lettuce, kale, Swiss chard and spinach.
source: chron.com