Green Roof Vegetable Production in Three Different Growth Medi

Green roofs are living rooftops that have been around for centuries. Green roofs serve many purposes including food production, insulation of buildings, and reducing the urban heat island effect. More and more research is being done to utilize unused space on top of buildings for a better community. Food shortage is one of the biggest problems in the United States and across the world. Due to increased population and a decrease of resources, fresh food is becoming more difficult to obtain. Fresh produce intake increases in communities as the amount of available produce within 100 meters of their residence increases (Bodor et al., 2007). Urban agriculture could help mitigate the shortage of healthy food by getting the community involved to produce their own food. Local food production results in less cost and less spoilage of food due to decreased transportation and increased quality of produce. My study was designed to demonstrate that vegetables can be produced successfully on a green roof in three different growth media. The growth media blends evaluated were 100% compost, 50% green roof media and 50% compost, and 100% green roof media. Vegetables were grown in FiltrexxRTM GardenSoxx RTM. Vegetables were planted over two growing seasons from 2015 to 2016. The results from my study demonstrated that carrots and lettuce are viable crops on a rooftop garden using the studied system. In the one harvest of Buttercrunch lettuce, there was no significant difference in lettuce biomass produced between the three different growth media blends used. The first growing season with Short 'n Sweet carrots, showed no significant difference in carrot biomass produced between the three growth media blends. In the second growing season, started July 2016, the results of the carrot biomass harvest varied between the growth media blends. Carrots grown in the 50% compost and 50% green roof media blend had the most biomass when compared with carrot biomass from the 100% compost blend. I have demonstrated that Short 'n Sweet carrots and Buttercrunch lettuce can be grown in GardenSoxxRTM on a rooftop garden in three different growth media blends.