EXTENSION PROJECT REPORT

VERTICULTURE

MUHAMMAD SYAFARIN BIN IBRAHIM 2011256494 AHMAD SAMSUDIN 2011825662 MOHD AL-HAFIZ BIN RAMLI AIMAN TARMIMI BIN

2011246294 NASRUN 2009216152 BIN MOHD ROZALI

MDM RAIHANA HANI BINTI ZAWAWI

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 2 1.1 Verticulture ................................................................................................................................ 2 1.2 A Brief History of Verticulture ................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Objectives................................................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Advantages................................................................................................................................. 4 1.5 Disadvantages ............................................................................................................................ 4 MAIN CONTENT ..................................................................................................................................... 5 2.1 Types of Plant That Can Be Cultivated ....................................................................................... 5 2.2 Preparation ................................................................................................................................ 5
2.2.1 2.2.2 2.2.3 2.2.4 Manufacture of Planting Container ........................................................................................... 6 Procurement of Growing Media .............................................................................................. 10 Crop Planting ............................................................................................................................ 10 Plant Maintenance on Verticulture .......................................................................................... 11

CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................................... 12 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................... 13 APPENDICES ......................................................................................................................................... 14 5.1 Questionnaire .......................................................................................................................... 14 5.2 Brochure................................................................................................................................... 15 5.3 Banner ...................................................................................................................................... 17

INTRODUCTION

1.1

Verticulture
Agriculture is one of many aspect of life that will never be separated from human being. As long

as people still need food, agriculture will always exist. Awareness the importance of healthy life make the people becomes more selective in choosing food. The needed of healthy food can be seen from the demand of fresh and organic food that higher on society. The most potential commodity to fulfil the needs for organic and fresh food is vegetables. Besides the cheapness and the easiness of its cultivation, vegetables also requires short period to be harvested. Agriculture extension as defined by Maunder (1973) is `A service or system which assists farm people, through educational procedures, in improving farming methods and techniques, increasing production efficiency and income, bettering their levels of living and lifting the social and educational standards of rural life1. Amongst the many of scopes and responsibilities of agricultural extension is to improve and increase agriculture production. As we already know, the main function of agriculture is to provide food for our consumption. Although, our country has our own industry of agriculture, but the production is still not enough to covers the demand existed. Thus, to achieve the goal as well as to prevent or overcome any coming hindrance and problems are not an easy task. It is not impossible that one day our agriculture industry may become unable to even cover one per cent of our countrys demand for food. It is not denied, the fact that western countrys scientists claimed that their experiment in genetically modified organism (GMO) may solve the food scarce in future. But, the controversy aroused on whether the synthetic food is safe or not to consume. So, as a citizen as well as human, we need to think and invent a new way to produce food that give us confidence for us to consume. For now the traditional farming, hydroponics and aeroponics are proven to be the safest way to produce food as long there is no excessive use of chemicals.
Figure 1: Artist drawing on future Vertical Farming Building

But what is to happen in the future when we become very populated and needed more land for accommodation? Naturally the land is not getting wider, but rather getting smaller due to corrosion of beach line or earthquake. Sooner or later, the farming land may cease to exist. But as there is problem, naturally we come up with solution. Nowadays, vertical farming seems to be the only solution to overcome the land

FUNDAMENTALS OF EXTENSION EDUCATION; Developing Agricultural Entrepreneurs, W. Hanisah Bte W. Ismail, 2007

scarce problem. Dr. Dickson Despommiers suggest this idea in his book The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century that is published in 2010. When the hardcover version of The Vertical Farm was published, there were no vertical farms. Now there are at least six farms in the works, including one in Korea (see photo), two in Japan in Quonset huts, and two underway in Holland and England. The mayor of Chicago gave a farming group a huge tax incentive to get started with a vertical farm incubator operation there, and there is also
Figure 3: This experimental, government-run vertical farm in Korea is one of the first to actualize Despommiers visions.

one farm going up in Seattle2. But for now, his idea is still Despommier

Figure 2: Dr. Dickson

being discussed around the problem that may arise if this technique or method of planting is used. There seems to be question on how to supply enough

sunlight to the plant in the middle of the building, whether to use electricity to produce light or just using sunlight by directing it using advanced mirror engineering, the profitability of the project and pollution of greenhouse gasses3. Hence, from the general ideas of vertical farming people of Indonesia come up with the
Figure 5: South Korean agency responsible for Vertical Farming Project

idea of Vertical Culture or VERTICULTURE. The main idea is to utilize narrow area to plant Figure 4: Vegetables planted
using Verticulture method

vegetables vertically by using a pipe or bamboo. From this idea, it expands to Verticulture Organic or VERTIGANIC, which is to plant vegetables using the same method but adopting an organic approach. This method can be assumed as mini vertical farming because it implies the ideas from Despommiers book.

1.2

A Brief History of Verticulture

Verticulture derived from the English words "vertical" and "culture", which means, vertically

cultivation techniques, means planting using multilevel system. This technique originated from the idea of "vertical garden" that was brought up by a seed company in Switzerland, about 1945 years ago. The main objective is the applications of engineering Verticulture optimally utilize less land (Andoko Agus, 2004)4.

2 3

http://grist.org/urban-agriculture/2011-11-29-talking-vertical-farms-with-the-expert-an-interview-widespommier/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_farming#Problems 4 http://dadanramdanipertanian.blogspot.com/

1.3
i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi.

Objectives
Utilizing narrow area for more vegetable production; Allows to plant either outdoor or indoor; Produce vegetables for domestic use or for commercial purpose; Promote green lifestyle; Help to reduce the Urban Heat Island effect in cities; Increase vegetable production margin over small area of land.

1.4
i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii.

Advantages
Efficient use of land; Mobile planting method; Easy to monitor and maintain; Can be applied outdoor or indoor; Reduce temperature of building; Can be used repeatedly; Grasses and weeds growth possibility are smaller.

1.5
i. ii. iii. iv. v.

Disadvantages
High initial cost (large scale requires green house); Must make sure to supply enough fertilizer; Prone to fungal attack because of high humidity due to high plant populations; Has a heavy weight because of the cement base; Limited root growth space.

MAIN CONTENT

2.1

Types of Plant That Can Be Cultivated

A. Leafy vegetables such as: i. ii. iii. iv. v. Lettuce; Cabbage; Mustard; Celery; Spinach.

B. Ornamental plants such as: i. Orchids;

C. Medicinal/herbal plants that have shallow roots.

2.2

Preparation
Plant cultivation by verticulture system is easy and cheap to be done. Inexpensive because the material

that used on verticulture system usually are unused goods. Verticulture is easy because basically, this system is same as with conventional farming. Generally, there are four procedures that must be done to plant vegetables using verticulture system. They are: 1. Manufacture of planting container; 2. Procurement of growing media; 3. Crop planting and; 4. Plant maintenance on verticulture.

2.2.1

Manufacture of Planting Container

The necessary tools and materials include: i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. 4-6 inch PVC pipes (4x6); Handsaw; Old pail; Cement and sands; Marker pen; Soil Mixture (planting media); Seeds; Paintbrush and paints.

Procedures: 1. PVC pipe preparation: First Step: Mark four points that equal length between each other. This point is the centre for the holes that we will make. Refer the diagram below.

90

Second Step: Using marker pen, draw the lines where the cuts will be made. The first line must be at least 10 cm from the top of the pipe, and the distance between top and bottom line must be at least 20 cm. At the side of the line, for another row of line, start the first line 20 cm from the top, so all the line will be alternate from each other. Refer the diagram below.

20 cm 5 cm 5cm

Third Step: Using handsaw cut the pipe at the marked lines.

Fourth Step: By using a strong flame, parch the pipe over the area that will be dented.

Fifth Step: After the pipe become soft enough, push it using damp cloth to avoid heat contact with our skin. If you are not careful enough these two steps may leave burnt or scorched mark to the pipe. So, the next step is necessary.

Figure 6: Scorched mark

Figure 7: Five steps completed

Sixth Step: Paint the completed container to cover the scorched mark of fire.

Figure 8: Painting in progress

2. Base preparation: First Step: Make a hole on the centre of pail bottom. Or you can just use medium size clay flower pot.

Second Step: Prepare the cement and sand mixture.

Third Step: Then place the PVC pipe in the middle of the pail all the way to the bottom where the holes can be seen from the pipe hole. Make sure the PVC pipe used is before the cutting and denting process.

Fourth Step: Next, pour the cement mixture halfway into the pail. Wait for it to dry for about 24 hours. Too much cement will make the base way too heavy to be lifted, too less, the structure will become unstable. Use your own justification.

Fifth Step: After it become dry, pull out the PVC pipe. Make sure the cement does not close the blocks you made earlier. If it does, try to remove the cement by knocking it with hard tool. The holes serve to remove excess water from watering process. Sixth Step: Lastly, you can choose whether to paint the old pail or not.

3. Planting media instalment: First Step: Prepare the suitable soil mixture for the plant you intended to plant. Further explanation on soil mixture is detailed on the next sub-topic.

Second Step: Put some large and small stones into the cement hole until one inches (1) thick.

Third Step: Install the completed PVC pipe into the holes.

Fourth Step: Pour the soil mixture into the holes of the pipe. To make the media compact, pour water to make the soil reduce to the bottom. Keep repeating the process until the soil level no longer reduced.

Fifth Step: Lastly, you can plant your desired crop.

2.2.2

Procurement of growing media

Growing media is the media that support the growth of plant roots. From this planting media, the vegetables absorb the water and nutrient through their roots to the all parts of vegetable. Good growing media is media that made from the mixture of soils, compost, and chaff. Ratio between soils, compost, and chaff are 1:1:1. Then, the three materials are mixed until evenly done. Soils have ability to bind nutrients and the nutrient can be absorbed by roots by cat ion exchange principle. Chaff can hold the water in the soils, while the compost ensuring availability of essentials material that can be broken down into nutrients that eventually can be used by plant directly.

2.2.3

Crop planting

There are two kind of planting crops on verticulture system. First, the seed is planted directly in the planting holes. Second, the seed initially planted in other media, after that, the seed is transplanted into planting holes on the pipe. Seed that can directly planted such as kale, spinach, mustard, etc. Seed should be sown first such as chilli, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, etc. Seedbed can be done in any container that can be filled with growing media and have holes on the bottom so it can drain excess water. Growing media for seedling usually made from mixture of sand with organic matter such as compost. Around two to three weeks, the seeds will germinated and have about 3-4 leaves. Ideally, the seedlings that have 4-5 leaves are ready to undergo transplanting. But, it is not directly moved to container planting. The 4-5 leaves seedlings must be moved to polybag first. Only after more than one

10

month the seed can be moved to container planting. On this age, the seedlings have better adaptation to be growing process on verticulture system. Either directly planting or seedbed first, ideally one planting hole is meant for just one seedling.

2.2.4

Plant maintenance on verticulture

Generally, the treatment of verticulture system is same as in the conventional cultivation system. They include watering, fertilizing, and pest control. 1. Watering: Watering is done whether with drip irrigation or direct irrigation system. Usually, the water is poured directly on the top of planting container. Be careful to not supply excessive water amount as it can cause the loss of some growing media from the planting container. Watering is only done to make the growing media always moist. Watering can also do by spraying water directly to the plant. This method takes a longer time because you have to spray the plants one by one. 2. Fertilizing: Vegetables need much more nitrogen fertilizer. Fertilizer is given once every 5-7 days with increasing doses according to the phase of plant growth. . For inorganic fertilizer should be poured into the planting medium, not the plants. This is to prevent the contamination of chemical substances on the plant which can be consumed directly. Organic fertilizer can be done directly to the plant. Organic fertilizer is diluted into liquid form so it can be due by spraying it using water sprayer. 3. Pest control: Pest control is done by observing plants regularly. Because of the small scale, pest control is done mechanically, such as directly removing pests by hand or pickup instrument. Weeds are very rare in verticulture system because there is no place for weeds to grow.

11

CONCLUSION

Verticulture is a method of cultivation that emphasize on the efficiency use of land. Besides cheap and easy to be done, gardening vegetables by verticulture system also have several benefits and advantages. The benefit obtained is able to provide the family needs on vegetables and also make the atmosphere around the house to be fresher as it also act as natural air filter. Gardening that often carried out is believed as an alternative activities that can reduce stress. The advantage that verticulture method offered compared to conventional system is the efficiency of land use.

Figure 9: Successful VERTICULTURE!

12

REFERENCES

FUNDAMENTALS OF EXTENSION EDUCATION; Developing Agricultural Entrepreneurs, Wan Hanisah Binti Wan Ismail, 2007

Vertikultur www.dadanramdanipertanian.blogspot.com

Talking Vertical Farms-An interview with Dickson Despommier www.grist.org

Vertikultur: The Future of Agriculture www.essymia.wordpress.com

Vertical Farming; Problems www.en.wikipedia.org

13

APPENDICES

5.1

Questionnaire

BORANG KAJI SELIDIK SISTEM PENANAMAN VERTIKULTUR (VERTICULTURE) Sila tulis skala pada petak jawapan yang dipilih bagi setiap pertanyaan berdasarkan kepada skala yang diberikan. 12345Sangat tidak setuju Tidak setuju Tidak pasti Setuju Sangat setuju

1. Penerangan berkaitan projek adalah jelas dan mudah difahami.

2. Projek yang dibentangkan adalah relevan dan mampu dilaksanakan oleh usahawan.

3. Kos projek yang dibentangkan adalah berbaloi dan mampu memberikan keuntungan kepada pengusaha.
4. Projek yang dibentangkan mampu menyelesaikan masalah kekurangan keluasan tanah yang dihadapi oleh usahawan sekarang. 5. Projek yang dibentangkan wajar dilaksanakan dan diperluaskan penggunaannya kepada seluruh Negara.

Komen dan cadangan penambahbaikan bagi projek ini: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

14

5.2

Brochure

15

16

5.3

Banner

17

18