By CAMERON PLUMLEY
Student Reporter
With spring plants beginning to bloom, Amarillo College is updating its greenhouse. Cafe collaborations, greenhouse repairs and an all new updated outdoor learning space are just a few changes underway.
Many things this year are new with the AC greenhouse. Stem Research Coordinator Crystal Moss said, “We will be collaborating with Badger Cafe for greens and produce, as well as an updated outdoor learning space.”
Summer Brown, a horticulture major, said, “They are building a quarantine zone for plants that need to be transferred into the greenhouse. It’s to check to make sure they have no diseases.”
The AC greenhouse will also be making some upgrades this semester. “The motors in our greenhouses are planned to be replaced at some point this semester,” Teresa Gaus-Bowling, the program coordinator, said.
Many students will use the greenhouse for hands-on learning. “There will be greenhouse systems training for full time users and a student-led vertical farming project,” said Moss. “There will be experiments with radishes to explore nutrient deficiencies,” she said.
Students are growing many things this semester. “Currently each student has five tomatoes that they are caring for during the semester,” Gaus-Bowling said. She added that the greenhouse allows horticulture majors to explore a wide variety of topics. “This year there will be a variety of things we will study including types of soils, plant nutrients, crop development and plant diseases.”
“We are studying how plants can be susceptible to diseases, proper planting techniques from farm to home and so much more,” Brown said.
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