University of Guelph Hydroponics

The Hydroponics team at Guelph has some exciting news! We have secured a greenhouse space to begin the construction of our new proposed system. This system aims to produce around 200 heads of lettuce each week to meet the Boston lettuce demand of two meal halls at the University of Guelph with the potential to expand to meet the demand for all meal halls on campus. This project also aims to help improve food security for students on campus by donating a portion of production to the CSA Student Foodbank. The plan is to collaborate with hospitality services at the University of Guelph to assist with the growth and harvest of the lettuce, whereas our team is solely responsible for the design and build of the system. The design has already been created as shown in the attached image of the CAD. It will consist of 4 separate sections with 12 troughs each and 15 potting spots in each trough. This brings the total number of potting spots to 720. The water will be pumped through each section and nutrients will be added accordingly. The recycled water will then flow through a UV filter to kill any pathogens before returning to the main reservoir. Make sure to check back in for more updates on this new system!