Student grows and donates hydroponic lettuce

By Mark Ribble

LEAMINGTON — Students enrolled in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program at Leamington District Secondary School have been busy with projects geared toward creativity, activity and service.

The IB program requires students to deal with global issues and have a broader look at the world through the three main strands — creativity, activity and service. These are mandatory core components of the IB program, which is in many high schools across Ontario.

For Nickolai Dam, what started out as an opportunity to help feed fellow students, morphed into a way to help feed the community at large.

“Originally, the idea was to create a salad bar for students,” he said. “Then the COVID shutdown came along and we had to change plans.”

He had already applied for a grant to help offset costs associated with creating the salad bar and had teachers and students buzzing with anticipation.

His vertical hydroponic growing tower was supplied to him through a pilot project from the Ontario Student Nutrition Program.

He started off growing leeks and a few herbs, but eventually settled on leaf lettuce.

With initial help collaborating with the MAPS students from the school, Nickolai germinated his first crop and nursed them through to harvest, all the while planning to create the salad bar. Seeds were donated by Rijk Zwaan, a local farmer.

Nickolai Dam with his hydroponic leaf lettuce tower.

Photo submitted

When it was announced that schools were shutting down, Nickolai, with help from his teachers, got his tower into his car and took it home to see the project through.

He learned a few things along the way with regard to growing hydroponically.

“It’s better for the environment,” he said. “And being vertical, it doesn’t take up the ground space that a greenhouse or traditional farm would.”

He also noticed something when summer came along and he took his tower outside.

“The natural light seemed to make the lettuce better,” he said. “It turned red and had a better taste.”

Nickolai has been able to produce about 210 lettuce plants so far and has donated them on a regular basis, to St. Vincent De Paul Society Food Bank in Leamington.

He has no plans to stop growing and donating the lettuce.

“I’ve seen first-hand, how the shelves are full and then empty at the food bank,” he said. “So I believe there is a need.”