Question about Living with the Land ride, the greenhouse.

[MikeSF]

I'm not sure this goes in this forum, however the Theme Park Attraction is about as close to topic relevant as it gets... even though this question has NOTHING to do with strategies in the park.

Ok enough chatter... and I apologize if this is a silly question, but I do know some CMs work here, so maybe someone can chime in.

My question is about the greenhouse with living with the land. I've been on it a few times, and whenever I see pictures I always wonder about the sand that's around all the trees and plants (at least not those in hydroponics setups). Does that sand actually have a use?

I've tried to google the answer to this, and a few places say the plants grow in the sand. Now I know from personal experience that this is absolutely wrong, while some things might grow in it, no way everything in there grows in sand. The sand at most covers the planter beds/pots that have soil in them which is where the nutrients come from.

Option 1:
Sand is simply decorative, since they don't want to show walkways or the pots they happen to be in (as pots are easier to move around if you want to change things up), they simply cover it up with sand. They can make it look nice, uniform, and if anything falls (leaves, fruit, etc) it'll be easy to spot it and pick it up. Perhaps even keeps down on the weeds.

Option 2:
There is a non-decorative use for it! Only thing that comes to mind is perhaps it reflects more light out of the greenhouse than soil, so the greenhouse doesn't over heat THAT much.

Option 3:
Decorative option B, they don't really grow anything there, Disney artists are just really good at making live like plants/trees. As result sand all over the place, no soil at all.

I appreciate any answers, and if this doesn't belong here feel free to move it.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

We've taken the tour and the sand is (I believe) basically decorative. Underneath the sand they grown everything with hydroponics (you just can't see the working parts and the stuff (can't remember what it's callled ) that the plants are planted in / growing in)

 

[minnie mum]

Just took a careful look at one of the YouTube videos of the ride. Some of the trees look to be too big to be in a pot, and a lot of the smaller plants seem to be set out in rows, so not optimum for pots either. Whatever the growing medium that they are growing in, it looks like the sand is being used as a mulch. Partly decorative and partly (speculative on my part) to reduce evaporation from the growing medium. Whatever its purpose, it sure is pretty.

 

[MikeSF]

thanks for the replies. Hydroponics, never really thought of that on large scales, I was not aware you could grow trees with that system (at least of that size).

As to the too big to be in pots... trust me I've seen some large trees in planters before, it can happen... plus it tends to be nicer for greenhouses since it restricts how big the trees will get.

Mulch though, never really thought of sand as being a moisture retention system, makes some sense.

 

[budafam]

We just took the Behind the Seeds tour about 2 weeks ago (I surprised my MIL with it) and she was just blown away that they don't use soil and don't use rainwater. lol... I thought she was going to start an arguement with the tour guide over the fact that they should not be using processed water. I'm pretty sure Disney knows what they're doing... my MIL just cracks me up Sorry, had to share.. lol.

 

[matheke]

The sand is used to support the plants as soil would. The sand is clean and contains no other type of soil/medium. Sand has been chosen since it has great draining abilities and does not retain a lot of moisture. A predetermined amount of minerals, fertilizer and water is then introduced and data can be colleted on what is the best mix for the best results. While the sand provides a lot of support for the plants it also has the benefit of being very easy for root systems to develop in. Sand is also fairly Ph neutral so it can be easily made more acidic as needed.

Remember this is a big working lab

 

[LockShockBarrel]

On BOTH my Behinds the Seeds tours I don't remember them saying what the sand was for but that it was very important we not contaminate it. This was particularly reinforced in my 2nd tour which had several children. If I remember correctly, the CMs have to wear shoe covers if they step into the sand.

 

[MikeSF]

The sand is used to support the plants as soil would. The sand is clean and contains no other type of soil/medium. Sand has been chosen since it has great draining abilities and does not retain a lot of moisture. A predetermined amount of minerals, fertilizer and water is then introduced and data can be colleted on what is the best mix for the best results. While the sand provides a lot of support for the plants it also has the benefit of being very easy for root systems to develop in. Sand is also fairly Ph neutral so it can be easily made more acidic as needed.

Remember this is a big working lab

Thanks for the info, makes perfect sense now that you mention it, remove the soil from the equation and you can measure growth/color/flavor/whatever based upon what you alone add. My experience with hydroponics is free floating root systems, didn't occur that that being in sand would provide any use, but hey learn something new every day . Also I'm surprised that trees could be grown that way, but hey that's something else I learned too!

Thanks a ton everyone for the answers, I wanted to do the tour too... until I found out how much it would cost, then I realized after paying for tickets to the park I didn't want to know about it THAT much

 

[budafam]

Thanks for the info, makes perfect sense now that you mention it, remove the soil from the equation and you can measure growth/color/flavor/whatever based upon what you alone add. My experience with hydroponics is free floating root systems, didn't occur that that being in sand would provide any use, but hey learn something new every day . Also I'm surprised that trees could be grown that way, but hey that's something else I learned too!

Thanks a ton everyone for the answers, I wanted to do the tour too... until I found out how much it would cost, then I realized after paying for tickets to the park I didn't want to know about it THAT much

There's a discount if you book using a Disney Visa. I ended up paying just a bit over $30 for the two of us to take the tour which is probably the cheapest tour you can get on WDW property.

 

[MikeSF]

There's a discount if you book using a Disney Visa. I ended up paying just a bit over $30 for the two of us to take the tour which is probably the cheapest tour you can get on WDW property.

Well in my defense, anything larger than zero would have been too much It was my first trip there, and a REALLY slow day, combined with the fact the only foot traffic in that pavillion was Soarin (only 20 minute waits at that too!), we had the boat to ourselves and when they mentioned a tour I thought that it was a normal thing and not an "extra" along the same lines of signing your kid up to be in the Jedi school thing (although with no kids... maybe that costs money too for all I know!)

Either way, no harm no foul, but those types of things interest me the most, if I had one Disney place I'd hang out in all day, it'd probably be over there

 

[ttintagel]

I don't specifically know about LwtL, but I've done hydroponic container gardening. We used vermiculite granules instead of sand. They give support to the plants' roots and regulate how the water and nutrients come into contact with them.

 

[MikeSF]

I don't specifically know about LwtL, but I've done hydroponic container gardening. We used vermiculite granules instead of sand. They give support to the plants' roots and regulate how the water and nutrients come into contact with them.

Hmm that makes a bunch of sense, my only experience with hydroponics either "floating" roots, or misted roots, I guess with a substrate you can simply pour water over it and have the channels in the substrate divert the nutrient rich water where the roots are.

Man who knew I'd find out all sorts of great info at a Disney board

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

I don't specifically know about LwtL, but I've done hydroponic container gardening. We used vermiculite granules instead of sand. They give support to the plants' roots and regulate how the water and nutrients come into contact with them.

right the sand is NOT the hydroponic type medium - they have like 3 different ones as I recall from the tour. The sand basically covers up the medium that the plant is planted in. Does that make sense?

The CMs wear the little booties to avoid getting some tiny creature (started with an "n" I think into or out of the sand. I walked away with the impression that it's in the sand already and they don't want to spread it anywhere else but I could have that backwards.

 

[minnie mum]

The CMs wear the little booties to avoid getting some tiny creature (started with an "n" I think into or out of the sand. I walked away with the impression that it's in the sand already and they don't want to spread it anywhere else but I could have that backwards.

Nematodes??

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

Nematodes??

that sounds right to me!

 

[MikeSF]

Hopefully that's not why they tell you not to touch the sand!!!!!

Although to be fair nematodes (but he has flippers not feet!!! *kneeslap*) do occupy the largest animal species so it, chances are you have some crawling on/in you as well

 

[Plantlady]

I think the answer has been covered..

Sand is a wonderful growing medium, because the grower has 100% control over the nutrients that go into the plant.

Sand without adding the nutrients would not be the ideal medium, but in a greenhouse, or in a landscaping situation, this would be controlled.