|
|
|
Posted 8 January 2009. Crop Management. University of Missouri Student Grows Tomatoes in Crushed Glass University of Missouri. cafnr.missouri.edu Columbia, Missouri (December 18, 2008) -- A University of Missouri student has found a new use for waste glass that usually ends up in landfills.
Samuel Garrett McKee, a senior in the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, is finishing a research project in which he used crushed glass as a medium for growing hydroponic tomatoes. He harvested his first tomatoes using this process on Dec. 13. "There hasn't been a lot of research done on growing plants in crushed glass," McKee said. Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil. Hydroponically grown plants usually have their roots in a mineral nutrient solution or an inert medium such as perlite, gravel or mineral wool. "Crushed glass is normally used as an aggregate in asphalt, but that is about the extent of the current market for it. There are tons and tons of it available. It just needs a market," he said. "My research discovered that crushed glass will work as a base for growing vegetables hydroponically," McKee said. "I have not analyzed all the data, but my test plots produced tomatoes at roughly the same rate as two other commercially available hydroponic growth mediums, perlite and Hydroton." Of the materials being recycled today, glass is still one of the most difficult to reuse. One major problem is the mingling of clear and colored glass. When colored glass is mixed together, the result is an undesirable greenish-brown color. A study by the Missouri Recycling Association indicates that mixed glass makes up about 5.4 percent of the portion of the state's waste stream that ends up in landfills. "The glass currently is very low-cost because there is so much available," he said. "The other two growth mediums I tested it against cost much more. Also, I believe glass can be reused indefinitely, whereas the store-bought growth mediums are porous and will fill with salts over time, eventually making them unusable for growing plants. By providing the glass with a new market, recycling glass will become that much more profitable." McKee, whose hometown is DeSoto, Mo., has a dual major in fisheries and wildlife sciences and forestry with a minor in soil science. He plans to work in conservation. Contact: |
