Managed by the Biosystems Engineering department under Dr. Recsetar, this project seeks to maximize aquaponic nutrients by directing them to lemons, oranges, and plum trees that will be planted outside of the Controlled Environment Agriculture Center's (CEAC) aquaponics greenhouse. Once mature, the produce will be donated to Campus Pantry for redistribution.
In addition to purchasing trees, the project will install a rainwater harvesting system, a cistern, and an irrigation line to direct the collected water and aquaponic nutrients from the greenhouse to the trees planted outside. A rainwater cistern will be installed on the greenhouse's roof to collect rainwater via gutters, followed by the installation of a drip irrigation system with a sump that allows for the drawing of nutrient water from the aquaponics system as well as the cistern of rainwater and city water, if necessary.
This design allows the dilution of nutrients to the necessary level for tree irrigation while not depleting the nutrients in the aquaponics system completely. Once the pipes are in place and the irrigation system is operational, a soil moisture sensor will be installed to save water by only irrigating the trees when necessary. Aerobic mineralization of solids removed from aquaponic systems produces stabilized biosolids, which when used as nutrients for trees would allow them to completely close the aquaponics system loop, producing no waste.
Once the trees are fully mature, they expect to harvest and donate over 500 lemons, plums, and avocados per year to Campus Pantry.
The project team successfully planted orange, lemon, and plum trees outside of the greenhouse, installed a 1,500-capacity rainwater cistern and irrigation system, and spent more than 50 collective hours on managing the project.
The greenhouse team is excited to watch the fruit trees over time and eventually produce fruit. In the meantime, the trees are already working to decrease temperatures around the greenhouses, which adds to energy and cooling savings, especially in the summer.
