Greenhouse Update: Life on a Leaf

When we think of animals and ecosystems, we often think of vast savannas, rushing rivers or lush jungles. For many people, the ecosystem is a giant place where multitudes of plants, animals and other organisms live. But sometimes, an ecosystem can be very small, with much of the action taking place on just a few… Continue reading

Greenhouse Update: Large Scale Hydroponics

During our visit with the brothers at VAST Produce, our tour guide, John, told us something very interesting about how he saw hydroponics and aquaponics advancing in the future. He said it was a “chicken and the egg situation” because he believed that to find major technological breakthroughs that would open the industry to more… Continue reading

Greenhouse Update: A Visit to VAST Produce

The hydroponic and aquaponic systems we have at the Science Center are great demonstrations, but in terms of size and complexity, they’re actually pretty small compared to what you’ll find with industry professionals. Luckily for us, we recently had the amazing opportunity to tour a larger-scale hydroponic setup. Over the next few blog posts, we’ll… Continue reading

Greenhouse Update: What is Aquaponics?

While we patiently wait for the pests to make their next move, it’s important to talk about what exactly is in our greenhouse and how that environment affects how and what we grow. It’s time to explore the unique and wonderful world of aquaponic farming. When visitors come to the greenhouse, we like to ask… Continue reading

GROW greenhouse

Greenhouse Update: What About the Fish?

Shortly after writing the last blog post, we replanted in our deep-water culture with seedlings we started in soil. With the newly introduced seedlings, we’re diligently watching for any signs of new infestations. We laid out new sticky traps to keep an eye on the insect populations but haven’t seen any major changes from last… Continue reading

GROW greenhouse

Greenhouse Pest Update: Trapped and Recorded

It’s been two weeks since we started our pest-control adventure in the greenhouse, and since then we’ve made a lot of fascinating discoveries. We laid out sticky traps to survey the different kinds of insects living in the greenhouse, and now we’ve been taking the traps back to our exhibit microscope to take a closer… Continue reading

Aphids: Greenhouse Invaders

Today we meet the aphids! Aphids are tiny (and I mean really tiny, sometimes only a little larger than a grain of sand) insects that feed on the sap of plants. Despite the fact that they are problematic to farmers everywhere, aphids are very unique insects. There are more than 5,000 species in the aphidoidea… Continue reading

Meet our GROW summer YES teen!

You might remember from our last GROW blog post that the GROW team is hosting a teen from the Youth Exploring Science (YES) program over the summer. That would be me! My name is Christopher, and I’m going to be helping around the GROW gallery (mostly at the greenhouse) as well as writing blog posts… Continue reading

Artifact of the Week: Juvenile Ostrich

The common ostrich is one of two living species of ostrich, the large flightless birds of Africa. Although they cannot fly, these birds were meant to run. They can sprint up to 43 miles per hour, and their thick, powerful legs can cover large distances with ease. At just one-month old, ostrich chicks are able… Continue reading

GROW greenhouse

Now Open: The GROW Greenhouse

Have you ever visited the GROW gallery and wondered, “When will the aquaponics greenhouse ever be open?!” Well, you’re in luck! Thanks to safety improvements made by our exhibits department, the greenhouse is now open for self-guided exploration during the Science Center’s normal operating hours. We were able to creatively reuse material from the recently… Continue reading