How Disney does vegetables

These pictures are from Epcot which Walt Disney first imagined as a place for research of the future. This greenhouse shows how gardening can be done year round in a greenhouse by using hydroponics.

These are Papaya trees.

Passionfruit, both yummy and beautiful.

Here is various vegetable plants. Notice the gourds on the right have thick vines since they are so old. These "vegetable trees" are my favorite.

Eggplant trees

Cucumbers

A tomato tree!

Mickey shaped pumpkin ^_^

These tomatoes are really neat. Look at the top, they are attached to something that moves them constantly. Now notice the roots of the tomatoes hanging below the plants? They are run through a machine periodically that sprays nutrients and water on them.

How about a herb garden?

I got to go through that when we went to Disney, and it was so cool. Not sure which is harder though doing that or digging in the dirt, I know which is cheaper though LOL Plants are suppose to have dirt far as i'm concerned LOL

The Living With the Land tour is really awesome. Great pictures!

The 2nd to last picture is what they call Aeroponics as they have the roots hanging free and constantly mist them with small quantities of nutrients.

They use special braces to make the squash and pumpkins have Mickey and other shapes.

Apparently if you have lunch and/or dinner in the "The Land" complex, you are eating at least some of the vegetables grown in the complex. We ran out of time though.

I would have loved to go on the walking tour but not enough time either. I can only imagine the cost of the systems they have there.

Pie, thanks for posting these pics; it's so neat to see something like this. I wonder - since hydroponics is a proven system - why this method of growing isn't used more? Expense? Space? I can only say I'd LOVE to have a greenhouse like that!

I went to Epcot and could not find this place there. Is this a special tour?

Those pictures look awsome! Especially the gourds and the eggplants...I'm lucky if I get 1 eggplant from my plant!

http://www.wdwinfo.com/maps/epcot.htm

#8 in the lower right corner. The building/complex is called "The Land". The particular attraction about inventive agriculture is called "Living with the Land". There are some slide presentations interspersed with some commentary about the dangers of monoculture. But the focus is on the techniques they are using, experiments they are trying, and success they are getting. Some of the techniques for growing plants are really remarkable. Living With the Land can be done as either a boat ride or a walking tour. The walking tour may require a special ticket or reservation, I don't know.

The Land complex also has restaurants and some other attractions such as Soarin which is a cool, non-scary ride which lifts you up in the air and projects video in front of you of flying through canyons, over forests, etc. and uses a combination of misters, fans, and piped-in fragrances to recreate the areas you are flying through. When you fly over the California citrus groves, it smells like citrus blossoms and ripening oranges. The chairs you are suspended in (If I recall correctly, it's something like 12 groups of 6 seats) subtly raise, lower, move forward and back to match up with the video. Fun ride, I'd do it again.

Soarin is one of my favorite rides. I think most people might miss the boat tour, it doesn't look like anything special at first. There is no way of knowing that the huge greenhouse is back there, it is hidden well.