by Michelle Willson, Feature/Entertainment Editor
There has been a buzz about grow lights that can be seen in Jesse Dunn 129 at night.
Assistant Professor of Agriculture Dr. Tracy Beedy said she bought the grow lights to help her plants that she is growing for her Plant Science class this spring.
Right now she has a lot of typical crops and weeds from this area. Including corn, white clover, Bermuda Grass, different types of Bluestem and Sedge.
She said that the plants help her students learn how to manage plants and crops, how to get rid of the weeds and the benefits of crop rotations.
She said that for some of her students having the physical specimens in front of them helps them learn and memorize better.
“These plants are also on the list for the FFA interscholastic,” Beedy said. “I will put them out when the FFA teams come trough to do their plant judging.”
She fertilizes her plants mostly with “Fish Fertilizer” only occasionally will she use “Miracle Grow”.
Beedy just recently made a trip to the middle of the state to find a heavy clay for her class.
Beedy said she got the soil “Partly to show them and partly to have them take it in their hands and discuss at what moisture content you want to plow it and why.”
She said she started gathering her plants in August. Since they don’t keep the greenhouse running year-round and the school doesn’t keep these rooms well heated and cooled. It would be impossible to keep the plants alive all summer.
The plants were in the greenhouse until December when they were going to shut the greenhouse down they brought all the plants to Jesse Dunn 129.Beedy said Dr. Clark will be opening the greenhouse in a few weeks for her class and Clark going to leave her a little place to put her plants.
“I had situations where before I got the grow lights I was leaving the overhead lights on and the police were coming around and turning them off every evening,” said Beedy. “I finally put a note on the door that said ‘please leave the lights on for the plants’ and they stopped turning them off.”
Beedy bought the grow lights because there’s not enough light in the winter.
“The days are too short,” Beedy said, “The days are too cloudy and there is not enough light coming in.”
She explained that there is simply not enough light in this room if she did not have the grow lights the plants would die.
Some students have noticed the purple glow of the grow lights at night.
“You can get grow lights that are white light or you can get them that are purple,” Beedy said. “Plants only use the red and blue light anyway so they don’t necessarily need the green. They bounce the green off. That’s why the plants look green to us.”
She said If students are interested in Agriculture they should enroll in the Horticulture class.
“Dr. Clark teaches that class and they use the greenhouse,” Beedy said. “It tends to something the people really like.”
In that class they grow the flowers that will be planted during campus beautification day.