Polk County Living
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • March 22, 2017 9A
Hydroponics: speed vegetables to your table
CORVALLIS — Ask expe-
rienced gardeners what
makes their garden grow
and they’ll come up with
the same response: great
soil.
Good answer, but not the
only one. The same crops
grown in soil thrive in
water, too, as long as there
are nutrients and oxygen
involved.
In fact, vegetables grown
hydroponically root and
grow faster than traditional-
ly grown plants, said Barry
Burnsides, an Oregon State
University Extension Serv-
ice master gardener. This
ages-old system uses a mix-
ture of water and nutrients
to grow plants inside or out.
He does both, but prefers
the outdoors because
there’s no need for lights.
“You can grow any plant
in hydroponics if you use
the proper system,” said
Burnsides, who spent
months researching hydro-
ponics and building four of
the six types of systems. He
grows lettuces, greens, pep-
pers, cilantro, cucumbers,
basil and even tomatoes,
melons, squash and cu-
cumbers on trellises.
He said the easiest sys-
tem is the floating raft
method. In its simplest
form, a floating raft system
consists of a sheet of foam
with holes cut in it for the
net pots that will hold the
plants. The foam floats on a
tub containing water, nutri-
ents and oxygen. The oxy-
gen is added to the nutri-
ents using an aquarium
pump pushing air through
a 1-inch porous soaker
hose. More nutrient mix-
K YM
P OKORNY
These Polk County groups would welcome individuals
who have time or expertise to volunteer. Organizations
that would like to be added to this list should call 503-623-
2373 or email IOnews@polkio.com.
Your
Garden
ture is added as the plants
take it up.
Burnsides also recom-
mends the nutrient film
technique (NFT). In that
case, pipes with holes
drilled in them for plants
are positioned horizontally
at a slight angle so the
water easily moves through
with the help of gravity. The
nutrient solution is moved
by a small fountain pump
through a ½-inch line to the
highest point and flows
through the pipe and over
the plant roots back to the
storage tank. An aquarium
air pump is used to add
oxygen to the nutrients in
the storage tank.
“Hydroponics is effi-
cient,” Burnsides said. “It
takes less water than grow-
ing plants in soil. In dry
areas, it’s a big plus. The
other place it shines is if
you’re trying to grow in an
area with poor soil.”
Hydroponic systems gen-
erally need grow lights and
heat when used indoors,
according to Burnsides,
who will teach a class at 11
a.m. April 8 at the Josephine
County office in Grants
Pass. Cost is $85 for the
public; $70 for Extension
master gardeners. For those
out of the area, he advises
doing a search of the inter-
net for resources. There are
many how-to articles and
videos as well as materials
PHOTO: FLIC.KR/P/SYU9ST
Plants take up water and nutrients that flow through a
PVC pipe in the hydroponic nutrient film technique
(NFT).
and kits to buy.
Though he grows inside
— especially to start seeds
or for cuttings of things like
fuchsias, rhododendrons,
coleus and hydrangeas —
Burnsides suggests starting
with a floating raft or NFT
system outdoors. Be sure to
give plants eight hours of
sunlight and use shade
cloth with 30 percent
screening during the
hottest part of the year, and
frost cloth for freeze and
bug protection.
“It’s nice to set one up
next to the kitchen,” he
said. “You can harvest salad
or stir-fry for dinner right
out your back door. You
don’t get any fresher than
that.”
For most plants, Burn-
sides uses a fertilizer for-
mulated for tomatoes,
which is premixed with the
correct amount of micro
and macro nutrients. He
adds it to the water and re-
plenishes as plants take it
up. Lettuce grown hydro-
ponically is ready to harvest
in 30 days rather than the
60-day cycle it takes when
grown in soil. There’s also
the benefit of no weeds,
fewer diseases and pests
and the need for less space.
Of course, there’s always the
best reason to grow vegeta-
bles in any kind of medium:
the quality of the produce.
“You wind up with the ul-
timate, freshest veggies,” he
said. “The flavor and crisp-
ness and quality of what
you can grow is better than
what you find in the store.
And to see the growth
stages and know you were
part of that is rewarding.”
MI TOWN
Our local elementary,
middle and high school stu-
dents will be taking a break
from classes and other
school responsibilities next
week, so families can enjoy
time at the beach or just a
few days catching up on
sleep or hanging out with
friends. It’s been a long win-
ter for everyone and we’ve
crossed our fingers that
Mother Nature will bring
some welcome sunshine
and blue skies to our corner
of the world.
—
Springtime is a season of
hope and renewal for all of
us, and the signs of new life
are all around us. At our
house, we are trying to find
time to do house and yard
projects, see some excellent
local baseball games, and
enjoy the best of college
basketball during March
Madness.
P ATTY
T AYLOR
D UTCHER
Columnist
—
Trees are beginning to
blossom and bring some
much-needed color and
brightness to our communi-
ties, and not a moment too
soon. Record-setting rainfall
with flooding to low-lying
areas have occurred this
winter and springtime, and
even the meteorologists
have been surprised by the
sheer amounts of rain and
snowfall. Let’s hope that one
weather extreme follows an-
other and that springtime
will bring lots of sunshine
and warm days for all to
share.
—
Monmouth Public Library
has excellent spring break
programs for kids next week,
with Bob the Builder at
10:15 on Tuesday, a Green-
house make and take proj-
ect on March 30 at 10:15
a.m., and the movie, “Trolls”
on Friday, March 31 at 2 pm.
—
Independence Public Li-
brary spring break pro-
grams include Go Fly a Kite
on Monday, 3-D Pens and 3-
D Printer on Tuesday, Bob
the Builder on Wednesday,
Goofy Science on March 30
and Makey Makey Boards
on March 31. All activities
are at 3 p.m.
—
The 11th Annual Commu-
nity Health Fair is scheduled
for April 6 in the gymnasi-
um-cafeteria at Talmadge
Middle School. Everyone is
invited to visit the exhibits
provided by health care and
fitness professionals, and
learn more about services
available in our community.
The Talmadge Health Fair is
a free event, and includes a
dinner which is served from
4:30 until 6 p.m. All the ex-
hibits will be open from 5 to
7 p.m., so there is plenty of
time for your family to enjoy
dinner and learn about
health care options in MI
Town. Please contact Cheri
Higgins at chiggins@cen-
tralk12.or.us or call 503-606-
2462.
—
Bob Miller, longtime MI
Town resident, passed away
earlier this month. Bob and
his wife, Bonnie have given
much of themselves to our
community and have been
wonderful friends and
neighbors. Bob was a proud
Navy veteran of World War
II and Korea.
PEDEE NEWS
Daniel Russell traveled to
Moravian Falls, N.C., to
spend a week with longtime
friend David Hofshi and
family. The Hofshis are con-
verting a barn into a beauti-
ful home and are also work-
ing to find the best crops to
grow on their organic farm.
While there, Daniel visited
the location of the 1753
Moravian settlement at
Bethabara. Incidentally, the
water that flows through
that region becomes the Pee
Dee River. Pedee Creek, and
Pedee itself, gets its name
from the Pee Dee River in
North Carolina.
—
The students at the Pedee
Campus of the Luckiamute
Valley Charter School are
doing all they can to earn
money for their class trip
A RLENE
K OVASH
Columnist
later this spring. They sold
pies earlier, and they will be
selling flower bulbs soon, as
well as having a few car
washes in the upcoming
months.
On May 5, the kids will
have a carnival fundraiser in
the evening at the LVCS
Bridgeport campus, which
the whole community is in-
vited to.
—
These Pedee middle-
schoolers have also been
busy with other events. On
VOLUNTEER
OPPORTUNITIES
March 10, they hosted a
grandparent’s day party in
the afternoon and had sev-
eral grandparents come,
play games with the kids,
and see what they’ve been
doing. Then on April 25-
27, the sixth-graders will be
heading to outdoor school
at Tapawinga Camp near
Falls City.
—
The Kings Valley students
have been having a great
time, too. March 10 was the
hundredth day of school.
The elementary classes cele-
brated many different ways,
such as dressing like they
were 100, wearing a shirt
decorated with 100 different
things (Band-aids, buttons,
pom poms, googly eyes),
finding different ways to
count to 100 ($1) using
• AARP Foundation Tax-Aide – 503-930-7636
• After DARC — 503-623-9501
• Arc of Polk County — 541-223-3261
• Central School District — 503-838-0030
• City of Dallas — 503-831-3502
• City of Independence — 503-838-1212
• City of Monmouth — 503-751-0145
• Crime Victims Assistance Program — 503-623-9268
• Dallas Area Chamber of Commerce — 503-623-2564
• Dallas Fire Department — 503-831-3532
• Dallas Food Bank — 503-623-3578
• Dallas Kids, Inc. — 503-623-6419
• Dallas Police Department — 503-831-3582
• Dallas Public Library — 503-623-2633
• Dallas Retirement Village — 503-623-5581
• Dallas School District — 503-623-5594
• Delbert Hunter Arboretum — 503-623-7359
• Girl Scouts of Southwest Washington and Oregon
— 1-800-338-5248
• Ella Curran Food Bank — 503-917-1681
• Falls City Arts Center — 503-559-6291
• Falls City School District — 503-787-3531
• Family Building Blocks — 503-566-2132, ext. 308
• Friends of Dallas Library — 503-559-3830
• H-2-O — 503-831-4736
HART (Horses Adaptive Riding and Therapy)
— 971-301-4278
• HandsOn Mid-Willamette Valley — 503-363-1651
• Heron Pointe Assisted Living — 503-838-6850
• Independence Health and Rehabilitation
— 503-838-0001
• Independence Public Library — 503-838-1811
• Kings Valley Charter School — 541-929-2134
• Luckiamute Watershed Council — 503-837-0237
• Luckiamute Valley Charter School – 503-623-4837
• Meals on Wheels — 503-838-2084
• Monmouth-Independence Chamber of Commerce
— 503-838-4268
• Monmouth-Independence YMCA — 503-838-4042
• Monmouth Public Library — 503-838-1932
• Northwest Human Services — 503-588-5828
• Oregon Child Development Coalition — 503-838-2745
• OSU Extension Service - Polk County — 503-623-8395
• Perrydale School District — 503-623-2040
• Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of
Polk County Inc. — 503-623-8473
• Polk Community Development Corporation
— 503-831-3173
• Polk County Community Emergency Response Team
— 503-623-9396
• Polk County Museum — 503-623-6251
• Polk County Public Health — 503-623-8175
• Polk County Resource Center — 503-623-8429
• Polk Soil and Water Conservation District
— 503-623-9680
• Relief Nursery Classroom — 503-566-2132
• Rickreall Watershed Council — 503-623-9680
• SABLE House — 503-623-6703
• SALT (Senior and law enforcement together)
— 503-851-9366
• Salvation Army — 503-798-4783
• SMART (Start Making A Reader Today) — 503-391-8423
• Salem Health West Valley Hospital — 503-623-8301
• Victim Assistance Program-Polk Co. District Attorney’s
Office 503-623-9268 x1444
• Willamette Valley Hospice — 503-588-3600
Matinees are all shows
before 6pm. New pricing for
matinees are: Adult $8.00
Children $7.00 • Senior $7.25
Pricing does not reflect
3D showings.
Friday - Thursday • March 24 - 30
LOGAN (Digital) (R)
(12:05 3:10) 6:15 9:20
CHIPS (Digital) (R)
(12:00 2:25 4:50) 7:15 9:40
(1:00 3:50) 6:40 9:30
POWER RANGERS (Digital) (PG13)
change, listing 100 different
words to describe school,
and doing 100 acts of kind-
ness. Ten students and
David Crowe did 10 different
exercises. Lastly, there were
100 students in the pre-
school and elementary to
celebrate 100’s day!
—
Pedee Church will be hav-
ing an all-church cleanup
and mission fundraiser on
April 1. In addition to clean-
ing up around the church,
they will have a rummage
sale (items needed), a bake
sale, and a barbecue and
potluck at noon. This will be
a fun time to come together
as a church and community
to get things done and
help raise money for Eric
Schwanke’s mission trip to
Africa this May.
*BEAUTY & THE BEAST (Digital) (PG)
(12:10 3:05) 6:00 9:00
*BEAUTY & THE BEAST (Digital) (PG)
(12:40 3:35) 6:30 9:25
LIFE (Digital) (R)
(11:50 3:00) 6:10 9:25
LEGO BATMAN MOVIE (Digital) (PG)
(1:15)
(3:45) 6:45 9:45
THE SHACK (Digital) (PG13)
KONG: SKULL ISLAND (Digital) (PG13)
(1:40 4:25) 7:10 9:55
*Starred Attraction. No Passes.
It’s there when you need it!
Your local phone book.
Knights of Columbus Dallas Council #8129
2017 Alaska Fishing Trip to Pybus Point Lodge
Congratulations Tony Cuccia of Dallas
DOOR PRIZE SPONSORS
— Special
Coming
July
2017
Thanks To All That Contributed
• Ixtapa - $25 Gift Certificate
• Miramar - $25 Gift Certificate
• Towne Barber Shop - 2 Haircuts $13 each
• Dallas Animal Clinic - Pet Grooming $50
• Van Well Building Supply
- $50 Gift Certificate
• Nymeyer’s Workshop
- Wood Plaque Gone Fishing
• Nymeyer’s Workshop - Wood Plaque Eagle
• Nymeyer’s Workshop
- Alligator & Burlwood Candle Holder
• American Sportsman /Micky Garus
- CHL Class, Mug & Hat
• American Sportsman /Micky Garus
- CHL Class, Mug & Hat
• American Sportsman /Micky Garus
- CHL Class, 2 Mugs
• VanDuzer Vineyard
- 2 Bottles of Premium Wine
and 4 Tasting Ccertificates
RECYCLE
A little effort.
A big difference.
Your local businesses
at your fingertips!
Attention business owners!
Find out if you are included.
Call today! 503-623-2373
Karen Sanks, ext. 118