One of the main benefits of having hydroponic towers in the classroom, is hands-on learning. Our towers offer a modern and engaging way to teach students about plant biology, farming, healthy eating and sustainability. They are a perfect tool for integrating STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education. Instead of relying on textbooks, students can interact with real plants and observe how they grow.
Learnings in Biology and Living Organisms
All living plants come from seeds. Students will learn the germination process, and what conditions (moisture and temperature) are required for a seed to sprout into a seedling. They will learn about the biological processes that plants undergo, such as cell division, photosynthesis, nutrient absorption, and growth patterns. Tangible interaction with living plants makes biological concepts easier to grasp and understand.
Learnings in Farming
Many adults were drawn to their profession from a young age. A child’s mind can be inspired, especially when they are young. Introducing farming and agriculture in the classroom may lead children to become our future farmers of America. Learning hydroponic and vertical farming techniques is especially applicable in today’s world. With so many traditional soil-based farms migrating to hydroponic and vertical growing, these methods are a useful skill to learn and know.
Learnings in Business & Economics
When kids stroll down the produce section at their grocery store, they don’t pay attention to the prices. While a seed costs less than a penny, a head of romaine is $4 at Whole Foods. What operating costs are involved in growing a $0.01 seed, into a $4 head of lettuce? What profits can be realized by the farmer, and how many heads of lettuce can the farmer sell?
And what's more - how that lettuce is grown makes a big difference in pricing. What is organic lettuce vs. non-organic lettuce, and how does that affect the price?
Learnings in Healthy Eating
The rates of childhood obesity are growing. Early-onset puberty is also on the rise. Kids go through puberty earlier now than ever before.
A lot of the produce we buy is sprayed with chemicals. This helps conserve the plant during the commercial farming process, which results in greater yields. Hormones and antibiotics are given to chicken and cattle, so they grow faster and produce more. Increasingly, ultra-processed foods are becoming more and more common in our mainstream diet.
Now more than ever – it’s important to teach kids to eat from that side of the plate. To learn the benefits of healthy eating. Plus, harvesting with the classroom is a lot of fun. The best part of growing a hydroponic tower is you can eat off it! Food grown in a hydroponic tower is completely nutrient-rich, organic, free of chemicals, and totally unprocessed. The way food is meant to be.
Learnings in Sustainability
Teaching sustainability in schools has become increasingly important, and hydroponic systems offer an effective platform for demonstrating eco-friendly practices. Hydroponic towers use significantly less water than traditional soil-based gardening, because water is recycled through the system rather than lost to evaporation or runoff. In a world facing water scarcity, this method of growing food is more sustainable and can inspire students to think critically about resource conservation.
By learning about and practicing sustainable farming techniques, students develop an understanding of the importance of environmental stewardship and the role they can play in creating a more sustainable future.
Advanced Research by Institutions and Universities
ALTO Garden towers are studied in research labs across the country to analyze the impact of different variables when growing. For example – what happens if potassium levels are increased in the nutrient solution when growing spinach? If more red light is provided at the flowering stage for tomatoes, can yield be increased? A/B testing is performed while holding other variables constant, which leads to the discovery of new growing methods.
Several schools and universities have ALTO Garden towers in their classrooms and labs. Here are some of the folks we've worked with:
Educator FAQ
ALTO Garden towers are currently used in elementary schools, and all the way up to high schools and universities. We find that 3rd grade is about the right grade for elementary school children to get introduced to hydroponic systems and learning about the essential things that make plants grow – light and water. As kids get into upper elementary school and middle school, they generally start learning about photosynthesis as part of their curriculum. And in high school, they can start learning about the essential macro nutrients for plant life such as Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Calcium and Magnesium.
We receive interest from classes of all subjects. From elementary school, up to specialty sciences like biology and chemistry. But you would be surprised by some of the teachers we’ve spoken with. We had a Spanish teacher who got a hydroponic tower for her Spanish class! Teachers like to teach regardless of the subject. Learning how to grow food applies to everyone.
The germination process is very educational for children, which greatly enhances the entire experience and learnings from hydroponic growing. We highly encourage educators to teach the germination process – what a seed is, the conditions a seed must have to germinate, moisture levels, temperature, and how different species have different germination times. We also find it’s more rewarding for the class, to grow from seed. You can learn more about germination in the germination section of our website.
We suggest you start with lettuce. Lettuce is easy to germinate. It's also fast-growing so you’ll see results fairly quickly. Kale is also beginner-friendly. The impressive size and deep green of kale is awesome, and it grows almost as fast as lettuce. The heartiness and robustness of kale makes it very good for beginners. Herbs will take longer to grow than lettuce or kale, but their harvesting window is longer. Herbs can be kept for “two seasons” meaning – you can grow a second season of lettuce while still harvesting your first season of herbs. Herbs are more bountiful over the long-run.
The ALTO Garden GX Tower with lights has two timers – one timer for watering and another timer for lighting. Both of these timers will need to plugged into a nearby electrical outlet. The base of the ALTO Garden GX Tower is 1’ 8” x 1’ 8” so about 3 square feet will be required. A water gauge comes included which helps monitor the water levels inside the reservoir. Periodic “topping off” of the reservoir will be needed a couple times a month.
Yes, the ALTO Garden GX Tower can be used outdoors. It is rated for both indoor and outdoor use.
If you plan to place your tower in the classroom next to a window, it should be placed by a south-facing window which gets at least 7 hours of sun a day. For indoor use, the GX Tower with lights is highly recommended. Young seedlings for example, can suffer from extended periods of cloudiness in the weather. Having the GX lights will provide much greater control and flexibility of your lighting schedule.
We do not charge sales tax outside the state of California. If your school district is in California, we’ll surely honor your tax-exempt status. Please contact us for our W-9 form and we’ll be happy to provide a copy. We can also fill out any vendor profile forms which may be applicable for your district.
To place your order directly on our website – you should pay with a credit card or with a PayPal account. You can also send us a check and we can process your order that way too. For purchase orders, please contact us and we’ll provide an application. If you're already set up for invoicing on Amazon, here is a link to our Amazon listing.
