Life Sciences Complex Greenhouse Cost Center ... - UW Biology

Life Sciences Complex Greenhouse Cost Center Policies Document (April 20, 2017)* *Note – much of this information will be available via the LSC Greenhouse Website when it launches

I. Rationale The new LSC Greenhouse will be run as a cost center. This differs from operations in the past, when greenhouse space and services were covered fully by the Biology Department. There was no way for the Department to recover costs from internal and external users who relied on the greenhouse for research or teaching, even when those users had active grants or course fees that could cover costs. Thus, running the LSC Greenhouse as a cost center will allow the Department to recover costs from users, while providing more transparency to the allocation of scarce departmental resources. II. Requirements for use of greenhouse space and collections The use of the greenhouse space and collections will be managed through an online reservation system. In order to secure space, users must provide a Project Plan that includes estimates of bench space needs, project duration, basic care requirements and any special needs. Similarly, users desiring a tour or use of collections must provide a Project Plan that includes information on tour date & time and / or specific collection needs (i.e. which plants, delivered where, etc). A budget number and / or course fee is required to reserve space or secure services, although payment through private funds may also be possible. Research projects will be charged to research budgets, and teaching-related projects will be charged to course-specific teaching budgets generated by course fees. Greenhouse users are required to set up and take down their projects within the project time frame or will incur extra charges (including a fine). Reservation procedures will be determined by the future Greenhouse director and Greenhouse staff. Table 1. July 2018 Projected Charges1 III. Charges Estimate (Internal Users) Charges for the use of the greenhouse fall into five Fee General Usage $4.42 / sq ft / month different categories for users. These charges do not $34.92 / hour include indirect costs that are charged to grants. External Special Services Tours $56.86 / hour users (outside of UW) will incur an additional surcharge (TBD). Collections Usage $38.00 / student / qrtr Event Space $110.25 / hour 1) General Greenhouse Usage: Charge is $4.42 per square 1. Approved by MAA as of March 23, 2017. Per MAA

foot per month (minimum charge – 5 square feet for 1 requirements, will need to be re-approved and re-calculated in month). Any UW user renting greenhouse bench space spring of 2018. for research or teaching needs will be charged this fee. This charge includes the following basic services and supplies:  Use of the headhouse to pot plants at the start of the experiment  Watering 365 days per year on a fixed schedule (if desired)  Pest scouting and control by staff  Standard soil mix  Fertilizer application  Light and temperature programming  Greenhouse maintenance and sanitation  Composting of plant/ soil materials (following the completion of experiment); excluding autoclaving.

Users will be responsible for purchasing supplies (e.g. new pots, specialized soil) – orders can be added to regular quarterly orders by the greenhouse to wholesale suppliers (but this must be arranged with sufficient lead time for greenhouse staff). Additionally, users are responsible for the establishment and cleanup of their experiment within the project duration, or they will incur extra charges. See Greenhouse Space Usage Guide (VI below) for information on pot sizes and typical uses (to calculate space), but always consult Greenhouse staff for more precise estimates of space / time required.

Greenhouse Cost Center Policy

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2) Special Services: Charge is $34.92 per hour (minimum charge 1 hour). This additional charge is applied when teaching / research projects require services that go above those included in the General Greenhouse Usage Fee or Collections Usage Fee. Special services could include, but are not limited to:  Personalized watering / fertilization schedules  Staff time for repotting (if users prefer not to do this themselves)  Staff time to coordinate photographers / artists use of collections  Specialized pesticide application / plant care  Collecting samples and/ or harvesting at the end of the experiment  Development of teaching activities for new courses 3) Tours (led by greenhouse staff): Charge is $56.86 per hour of staff time (minimum charge is $113.72 for a 1-hour tour led by two staff; for 25 participants or less). This charge is for docent-led tours of the greenhouse and greenhouse collections for UW courses. Tours may also be provided to outside school groups and outside parties may also request tours, but these will be charged external rates. Tours led by non-greenhouse staff are not charged, as long as their timing is communicated to greenhouse staff, tours occur within business hours, and scheduling does not conflict with docent-led tours. Such tours cannot require staff time (or tour rates will be charged). 4) Collections Usage: Charge is $38.00 / student / quarter. This charge is for courses that make heavy use of collections (not research active space) throughout the quarter (e.g. by bringing plants into the classroom for weekly observation / demonstration in labs). Included in this charge is 5 hours of staff time, or 4 hours of staff time per 25 students in the class (whichever amount is more). Staff time can be used to help select plants from the collection for teaching activities, engage greenhouse staff in course activity development, or greenhouse tours (2 hours of staff time per 25 students). A Special Services charges will be required for additional greenhouse staff time beyond what is described here (e.g. more hours of staff time needed for plant prep / consultation). 5) Event Space Rental: Charge is $110.25 per hour (2 hour minimum during business hours; 4 hour minimum after business hours). This charge is for special events. Examples include dinners, parties, and weddings. These will generally occur after hours (to avoid conflicts with ongoing research / teaching activities), and if so, will require the presence of greenhouse staff. A 1 hour tour for 25 participants is included in this charge, but Special Services charges will be required for additional help from greenhouse staff (e.g. for additional plant arrangements, help with setup, etc). Tables and chairs (and catering) are not included in this charge. The number of attendees will be subject to occupancy limitations imposed by fire code restrictions (TBD). IV. Seed grants We understand that these charges may represent a burden for users with existing grants (submitted prior to the new LSC Greenhouse Cost Center structure). Additionally, not all research is immediately funded; yet, pilot experiments are often required to write competitive grants. Finally, the development of new course activities may require more funds than existing course fees permit. Therefore, the Research Committee will consider Seed Grant requests for ‘grandfathered’ projects, pilot experiments, and development of teaching activities (that cannot be covered with current course fees) for a period of three years following the opening of the LSC greenhouse (2018-2021). Details will be worked out, but we expect that requests can be made regularly to the Research Committee through an online proposal process. Proposals will include a brief description of proposed work, a justification for funding (including an explanation of why existing departmental budgets allocated to the user or course fees are not available), and an estimate of charges and time needed. Requests will be limited in size and duration, and will only be


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granted if space is available. Seed grants are not intended to provide full support for the research programs of individual faculty or graduate students; nor are they intended to support long-term projects. V. Estimation of Charges (for 2018, and into the future) Charges for 2018 (Table 1) are calculated based on past greenhouse operations, estimates of staff time needed for different greenhouse activities, staff salaries, supplies, and bench space available in the LSC greenhouse. Salary projections are for July 2018 (when the greenhouse is projected to open), assuming 100% occupancy of the LSC greenhouse. Charges / rates will be recalculated in spring of 2018 (according to UW MAA requirements), but we do not expect them to change much. Thus, researchers planning projects in the greenhouse should include these charges in their grants (Table 1), and instructors planning experiments in the greenhouse or the use of collections should include these charges (Table 1) when calculating course fees (consult Ben Wiggins). Charges will include a subsidy by the Biology Department, through the seed grants program and coverage of unrecovered costs (when greenhouse occupancy is < 100%). This is in keeping with the critical need for this facility by a large number of Departmental users. Charges will be recalculated annually (as required by UW Cost Center Rules), and will increase over time with salary increases and rising supply costs (we suggest including a 3-4% annual increase). Moreover, cost structures will be reconsidered annually, especially if a) Departmental usage declines and/or b) Biology Department subsidies rise steeply. This could result in charges increasing above that expected from cost-of-living increases. VI. Greenhouse Space Usage Guide. See appendix A for total space available in LSC Greenhouse. 1) Flats. Flats are used to germinate larger number of seeds (of any species), or to collect / organize several pots / inserts, each with different plants. See appendix B for pictures. Container Type Width Length (in) Area per flat # flats / 80 sq ft bench (in) Standard 1020 flata 12b 24b 2 sq. ft 40 a b b Web 1020 flat 12 24 2 sp. ft 40 a. All inserts designed to fit Standard and Web 1020 flats take up 2 sq.ft of bench space. However, because inserts are not deep, most are used to grow smaller plants (e.g. Arabidopsis, tree seedlings in their first few months). Common inserts can be found at the following web address http://www.growerssolution.com/page/GS/CTGY/insert. See Appendix B for visuals. b. Internal length and width are slightly less (~1/2 inch less); this reflects the external length and width you would use to calculate how many flats fit on a bench.

2) Square pots. These square pots can easily fit into 1020 flats (see #1). Use the # / flat (below, column 4) and area per flat (#1, column 3) to calculate bench space needed. Keep in mind this would be with pots at maximum density, not always optimal (see footnote a). Container Type Size (sq in) Depth (in) Max #/flata b Rose Pot 2½ 2¼ 36 c #3 3 2½ 18 #4d 4 3½ 12 e #5 4½ 4½ 12 a. Plants should be spaced on the greenhouse bench to allow for access by greenhouse staff to water, scout for insects and spray. As plants get bigger, growing at maximal density will decrease air movement, increase competition for light and may increase pests, impacting growth. Thus, greenhouse staff generally recommend a lower density than maximal. Recommended density depends on your plant and experimental needs. Assume long-term experiments will need from 50% to 100% more space than the above (i.e. 1.5 – 2x as much space as the maximal density reported here). b. Suitable for growing Arabidopsis seedlings to flowering, Mimulus, tomato, and Thalictrum seedlings (annd other similarly sized juvenile herbaceous plants) from cotyledon to 5th true leaf stage. See Appendix B for visuals. c. Suitable for growing small succulent plants, tobacco, vegetable starts. See Appendix B for visuals. d. Suitable for growing young corn, pea, compact sunflower and Mimulus. See Appendix B for visuals. e. Suitable for growing Mimulus and Thalictrum to flowering; and plants up to 2 feet tall; shallow-rooted spreading plants and some varieties of tomato. See Appendix B for visuals.


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3) Multi-container trays: These trays can be moved as a unit (and are thus more stable than individual containers) and have built in divisions to allow for growing multiple plants. They are deeper than square pots, and thus suitable for growing plants with deeper roots. Container Type Width Length #Cells Area / container # flats / 80 sq ft (in) (in) / tray bench Ray Leach Cone-tainer 12 24 200 2 sq ft 40 a Tray (200) Deep Pot Trayb

12

15

20

1.5 sq ft

64

a. Suitable for growing grasses, herbaceous perennials, fibrous rooted trees and shrubs, See Appendix B for visuals. b. Suitable for growing young tree seedlings, deep-rooted plants, plants that will be field-planted at a later date. See Appendix B for visuals.

4) Circular pots (for larger plants). These must be individually spaced. Container Top Diameter Height Bottom # pots / 80 sq ft bench Type (in) (in) Diameter (in) (maximum density)a 1 gallonb 6 7 5 320 2 gallonb 8½ 8½ 7 159 b 5 gallon 11 10 10 94 a. Plants should be spaced on the greenhouse bench to allow for access by greenhouse staff to water, scout for insects and spray. As plants get bigger, growing at maximal density will decrease air movement, increase competition for light and may increase pests, impacting growth. Thus, greenhouse staff generally recommend a lower density. Recommended density depends on your plant and experimental needs. Assume long-term experiments will need between 50% to 100% more space than the above (i.e. 1.5 – 2x as much space as the maximal density reported here). b. See Appendix B for visuals.

5) Local greenhouse suppliers include the following: http://www.steuberdistributing.org https://www.mcconkeyco.com/Pages/Store_Home_2.aspx 6) Spacing considerations  Optimum spacing of pots would allow leaves of one container to slightly overlap leaves of adjacent containers  Closer spacing tends to reduce plant quality, increase pest activity, and impedes greenhouse staff’s ability to water, scout for insect pests, and spray effectively.  The above information is available as a guide. While there are formulas to calculate pot spacing and bench capacity, we encourage you to contact greenhouse staff to discuss longer term experiments and plant growth expectations  For more information and pictures of containers visit these webpages: https://www.hummert.com/_uploads/default/pdfs/PDFs_Web/202-261_Propagation-Trays.pdf http://www.growerssolution.com


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Appendix A. LSC greenhose and space estimation

Greenhouse Research Bench Space Life Sciences Complex

Room

length (ft)

Note: R-1 intended for Biology Course Use width (ft) area per number of area bench (sq ft) benches (sq ft)

R-1

16

5

80

1

80

R-1 R-1 R-2 R-2 R-3 R-3 R-4

16 16 16 16 16 16 16

2.5 5 3 5 2 5 5

40 80 48 80 32 80 80

2 8 1 10 1 10 5

80 640 48 800 32 800 400

R-5 R-5

16 16

3 5

48 80

1 6

48 480

total bench area (sq ft)

800 848 832 400 528

Grand Total Bench Space = 3,408 sq. ft


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Appendix B. Visual of pots, trays and containers


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