Day 2: University of Wisconsin by Abby

 

Our third stop of the second day on the Summer Ag Tour was the University of Wisconsin-Madison. We started off our tour of greenhouses, which are part of the horticulture department. Isaac, who used to work in the greenhouses, showed us around the different plants that are housed in the multitude of greenhouses.

 

The Allspice tree in the conservatory room that Isaac allowed us to pick the leaf and smell.

He first showed us the conservatory which is mainly used as their showpiece room and is open for all the students to enter as they please for a change of scenery. It mostly consists of tropical plants and an allspice tree, which is where allspice is produced and collected to use in your kitchen. Then we went to the mist house, which is exactly how it sounds. A lot of the plants housed in there are cuttings from the other plants they have throughout their greenhouses. As it sounds, the inside is very misty as they have an automatic misting system.

Cuttings of plants in the mist room

 Next, we went to the production house, which mostly consists of plants that produce fruit, vegetables, or spice. All the produce that is produced by the plants are used for the students on campus. They don’t use soil as their medium to grow plants in this room but instead use rock wool, which is a hydroponic growth medium. After 4 years of growing produce, they have harvested close to 400 pounds of produce. Isaac was nice enough to let us try some of the cherry tomatoes that were growing in the room, and they were incredibly good. 

One of the cherry tomato plants in the production room that Isaac allowed us to pick and eat (which were SO GOOD!)

He then showed us one of the learning greenhouses which is used as an overflow for the students’ plants. One of the plants he showed us was a “sensitive plant.” It’s given this name because each time you touch the plant, its leaves will close together. The plants have evolved to have this trait to protect itself from animals and it happens because of a change it forces to have in its water pressure.

 After that he showed us the cactus house, which was home to many cactuses and succulent plants. There was one cactus that was hairy, and you could touch it too! But he warned us of one of the dangerous cactus plants in the room: the bunny-eared cactus. The cactus has little microscopic needles and are extremely painful, hard to remove, and easily spread through touch. Isaac also let us take some succulent propagations for us to take back home and grow. 

The "hairy" cactus in the cactus room. You can safely touch it and it feels like course hair.

Finally, he showed us the super shade tropical house. This house includes orchids, flowering shades, ferns, and a cacao tree. There were more rooms than this, but those were the only ones we were able to see given our time. 

All the tropical plants in the super shade tropical room. 

Isaac then passed us on to Lauryn.

 

Lauryn took us to “Babcock Dairy” where you can purchase ice cream, which we all did. Lauryn then took us to their College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) building where she gave us a little more information about the college and what they offer. She talked about the many majors they have within the CALS program and some certifications that they have. On campus they have different interest groups in which you’re able to live in a learning community. These learning communities house many people together who share a similar interest or who are studying the same major. Many of the students gain work experience and internships opportunities through the different programs offered in CALS. We wrapped up our tour with Lauryn and then decided to walk to the campus garden where we spent a little time. Afterward, we took a walk around campus before we officially ended our tour of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.