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!

In Fall of 2023 our Hydroponics team decided to upscale this project. After lots of negotiation the club was able to secure a greenhouse space on campus to build our own hydroponics system. We are no longer partnering with 10C however we have built a fully functioning system to grow Boston lettuce. The team is now hoping to partner with the University of Guelphs hospitality services. The project aims to provide fresh produce for hospitality services and the CSA Student FoodBank. Our current system has 10 troughs with the ability to grow 100 plants total. Nutrients get added into the water which cycles through the systems and reservoirs using a pump. Stay tuned for more updates on the new system we plan to build!