This time around was mainly doing research on what products we would be using and what would be best for the growth of the plant I wanted to grow hydroponically. Starting off, I needed to decide what plant I wanted to grow. This depended on both how I was planning on growing it and how measurable it is. My final decision was to grow lettuce meaning all the parts to do with nutrients and PH levels would be based on the best needs for lettuce.
In the document below you can see what notes I took. My next few steps in the coming days will be to figure out what I need to order parts-wise and to order them.
To look into where I got my sources and read a bit more into it the links below are a good idea to check out,
https://www.greenwaybiotech.com/blogs/gardening-articles/what-is-the-best-fertilizer-for-lettuce
https://hortamericas.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/e-gro-Nutritional-Factsheet-Lettuce.pdf
https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/HO/HO-309-W.pdf
https://www.geturbanleaf.com/blogs/leafy-greens/indoor-light-for-lettuce-leafy-greens
What went particularly well during your mentoring sessions?
I found that I was able to work really well with him and he explained things very nicely. It made the space feel like there was no judgement whatsoever about any questions I may have or not. We didn’t work too much together because of busy schedules but we came up with a basic game plan of what I needed to look into and when we needed it to stay on track.
What relationship challenges did you face? Were you communicating effectively with one another?
Yes, I think that we were able to communicate effectively. My mentor and I seem to work well in our learning styles and can both voice our opinions and ideas really well. I think this also helped us listen to each other and work towards a shared goal.
Working off of this, three ways I could improve my interactions with my mentor are: one, writing down the big ideas of what we talked about to make sure I don’t forget it. Two, make sure to clarify if anything is confusing of any sort, this can really help me gain a deeper understanding of what I’m doing. Three, make sure to get evidence and photos for my mentor to look at. This can help us understand what I’m working on when he isn’t there to help.