Recipient Organization
KENTUCKY STATE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
FRANKFORT,KY 40601
Performing Department
Agriculture & Environmental Science
Non Technical Summary
Efforts to increase the urban food supply, create community, and the local food movement have led to an increase in urban agriculture. Despite the growing interest in urban agriculture, startup and input costs and access to land are still barriers. These barriers can result in creative ways of growing that can have multiple benefits for the community such as rooftop agriculture, or reduce costs to growers such as container production in small plastic "kiddie" pools.An increase in urban agriculture could also mean an increase in fertilizer use in urban green spaces. This increase is due to vegetable nutrient requirements that are greater than those of many urban ornamental plantings, and the over application of fertilizers. These factors could lead to an increase in nutrient runoff from urban areas as urban agriculture increases. Best management practices to reduce this nutrient loss are important to protect the health of downstream waterways and help minimize costs to producers. The first two objectives of this project will examine these issues of nutrient runoff in urban agriculture in two ground-level growing systems and a green roof system.Urban farmers may seek to offset the costs associated with production by including high-value crops or reduce upfront costs by using objects repurposed as containers. Greens are considered a high-value crop and some common production practices can ensure a consistent supply for the family table or for sale. Such practices will also be examined in the first two objectives of this study. Vegetable crops typically grown in urban farms and gardens usually require full sun, which may be a challenge in the urban landscape. Mushrooms are another high-value crop that urban farmers could produce to take advantage of diverse light conditions in urban growing sites. The third objective of this study will examine the use of shady urban spaces for mushroom production in Kentucky. The fourth objective of this study will compare several commercially available containers and small plastic pools, commonly called "kiddie pools", to determine how they will impact the operational costs of small urban growers.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
0%
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
1. Gain a better understanding of current urban agricultural practices in central Kentucky and their potential impact on water quality (objectives 1 and 2)2. Gain a better understanding of how diversification with high value crops can increase urban farm productivity. (objectives 1, 2, and 3)3. Gain a better understanding of how containers made from different materials will perfume over time in an urban agriculture setting (objective 4).
Project Methods
All research will take place at the Harold R. Benson Research and Demonstration Farm in Frankfort, KY.Objective 1Platforms were constructed in May 2018 an consist of a 1.2192 x 1.2192 m plywood deck 0.6 m (2 ft) above the ground. 16 platforms are topped with plastic round kiddie pools and 16 are topped with lined raised beds. Raised beds and containers were filled with a locally sourced top soil. All are fitted with drainage and gutter so that runoff water can be collected for analysis.The containers and raised beds will be divided into four nutrient management treatments with four replicates each: conventional fertilizer, organic fertilizer, 7.21 kg/m2 compost plus organic fertilizer, and 14.42 kg/m2 of compost. The conventional fertilizer used will be a mix of 10-10-10 and 34-0-0 fertilizers to supply exact plant nutrient recommendations. Organic fertilizers used for will be a mix of Tomato Tone (3-4-6), Blood Meal (12-0-0), and Bone Meal (4-12-0) (The Espoma Company, Millville, NJ). The compost applied will be a 0.5-0.5-0.5 compost (Black Kow® composted cow manure, Black Gold Compost Company, Oxford, FL).Compost will be applied in late March. The first crop will be planted from seed in early April and planting and harvesting will continue until the first frost in October. Fertilizers will be applied at each planting. Plots will be subdivided into quarters so that planting can be staggered. Greens will be harvested at the leaf or baby stage, approximately 30 days after planting. Plants will be harvested to enable regrowth and will be cut 3 or 4 times, at approximately 7 to 14 day intervals, before plants are removed and a new seed planted. Lettuce will be planted in the first growing season and a second green will be chosen for the second and third growing seasons. At each harvest, data will be collected on the amount of time it takes to harvest the plot (hereafter referred to as harvest time), total yield, and marketable yield, the number of days between planting and the first harvest, the number of days between each cut and harvest, and the number of cuts between plantings. Runoff water will be collected from each plot once per month, weather permitting. Water will be analyzed for pH, conductivity, color, and turbidity, and ammonium-N (NH4+), nitrate-N (NO3−), total phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) using a Hatch DR6000 Spectrophotometer.Harvest data will be analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) with agricultural system and nutrient management system as fixed effects. Water quality data will be analyzed using ANOVA with agricultural system, nutrient management system, and sampling month as fixed affects. The significance of treatment interactions will be determined using F tests; interactions that do not have a significant effect will be removed from the model. Significant differences among treatments will be separated using multiple comparisons by Tukey HSD with an alpha of 0.05.Objective 2This objective will continue research started in 2018. Platforms were constructed as per the raised beds platforms in objective 1. These beds were filled with 5.08 cm (2 in) of Rooflite® Drain media, topped with Rooflite® Separation Fabric, and finally filled with 20.32 cm (8 in) of Rooflite® Intensive green roof media.The research design includes four replicates each of four nutrient management treatments: additions of 0, 0.30, 0.60, or 1 kg/m2 of compost. The compost used will be the same as the compost selected for Objective 1. The remaining plant nutrients will be supplied using the same organic fertilizers used for Objective 1. Fertilizer rates will be determined by examining media test results, the amount of nutrients provided by added compost in each treatment, and based on nutrient recommendations for greens. Compost application, crop planting, fertilizer application, and harvesting will be the same as Objective 1.Harvest data collection and runoff water collection and analysis will also be the same as Objective 1. Green roof media sampling will continue three times each year: once in the spring before the addition of compost; once in the spring immediately after the addition of compost, but before planting; and once at the end of the growing season after the final harvest. Each platform will be divided into quadrants. One subsample will be taken from each quadrant of a plot and mixed to create a single sample for each plot at each sampling time. Media samples will be analyzed for pH, soluble salts, nitrate-H, ammonia-N, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, boron, copper, iron, manganese, sodium, zinc and moisture and organic matter content by the Pennsylvania State University Agricultural Analytical Services Laboratory.Harvest data will be analyzed using ANOVA with compost treatment as a fixed effect. Water quality and green roof media data will then be analyzed using ANOVA with compost treatment and date sampled as fixed affects. Regression analysis of runoff nutrient content will also be performed to look for additional explanatory factors. The significance of treatment interactions and significant differences among treatments will be analyzed using the same methods as Objective 1.Objective 3Space under the research platforms used in Objectives 1 and 2 will be enclosed to block some light and limit pests and used for mushroom production. Three mushroom types and four growing substrates with four replicates each will be used. Mushroom types will include shiitake and oyster mushrooms and growing substrates will include natural hardwood log and artificial log substrates. One additional mushroom type and two additional substrates will be identified through additional literature review.Data will be collected throughout the experiment to evaluate the success of mushroom production, including monitoring for predation and disease, overwintering success, survival through any extreme heat or drought conditions, and the fresh weight of each mushroom harvest. Number of harvests and time between harvests will also be tracked.All measured variables will be analyzed using ANOVA with mushroom type, substrate type, and growing season as fixed effects. The significance of treatment interactions and significant differences among treatments will be analyzed using the same methods as Objective 1.Objective 4Repurposed containers, including kiddie pools, storage totes, and five-gallon buckets, will be compared to commercially available planters made from plastic, resin, and a wooden half-barrel. Four replicates of each container type will be examined. Holes will be drilled in the kiddie pools, storage totes, and five-gallon buckets and these will be set on cinder blocks to allow drainage. All containers will be filled with the same growing substrate and planted with a crop. All containers will receive the same amount of fertilizer per area for each crop and be irrigated to meet water needs not supplied by rain.This experiment will start in the growing season of 2021 and continue for the three years of funding. Should containers be in good condition at the end of the three years of funding, the experiment will continue until the longevity of the containers can be determined accurately. Crop production will be assessed based on total yield, marketable yield (according to appropriate grading standards), and crop plant biomass. The longevity of containers will be determined by monitoring all containers for breakage and other signs of wear that would make them unsuitable for crop production. Cost-effectiveness will be determined by dividing the market value for the container at the time of the experiment by each container's growing area and longevity. All measured variables will be analyzed using ANOVA with container type and growing season as fixed effects. The significance of treatment interactions and significant differences among treatments will be analyzed using the same methods as Objective 1.