Broken glass, chilling winds and fluctuating water temperatures will soon be a thing of the past at the Richard W. Pohl Conservatory, commonly known as the Bessey Greenhouse.

Renovations to the greenhouse, totaling $700,000, have been made largely possible through a $350,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and matching funds from various ISU programs.

Stephen Mahoney, greenhouse manager, said they are striving to bring the greenhouse up to date.

“There is a program through the NSF which helps colleges and universities renovate science labs and particular work areas,” he said.

The 18-room, 10,000 square foot greenhouse was built with Bessey Hall in 1967. The greenhouse is home to plants from all areas of the world and is also used for teaching and research projects in the botany, biology and plant pathology departments.

“Approximately 60 percent of the area is devoted for research, 20 percent is devoted for teaching and about 20 percent is devoted to the collection area,” Mahoney said. The collection consists of plants maintained for an indefinite period of time, some of which are used in research and class projects.

The greenhouse has the reputation of having the largest banana crop in Iowa, but Mahoney said, the Agronomy Hall and Horticulture Hall greenhouses have more banana trees. The Bessey greenhouse is home to Iowa’s largest cotton crop and also has several different species of rare plants in its collection.

The greenhouse has “the finest collection of plants west of the Mississippi River,” said Steven Rodermel, associate professor of botany.

Mahoney and Rodermel, along with Jonathan Wendel, associate professor of botany, are heading up the renovation project.

There are several parts to the renovation, including updating the heating, cooling, watering and fertilizing systems; creating a new biotechnology area; and replacing the glass roof and walls.

Last year’s winter storms broke some of the glass panels that make up the current roof and walls. Some of the plant collections were lost because of this and losing more of the collection equals losing biodiversity, Rodermel said.

All of the panels in the roof and walls will either be reglazed or else replaced with a twin-wall polycarbonate glazing material. This clear, two-layered, thermoplastic material will better resist hail damage and prevent leakage of heat, Mahoney said.

The heating and cooling system will also be replaced. Currently, the temperatures in the different rooms are controlled by only three thermostats.

“We’re going to put individual thermostats in each room and individual controls,” Mahoney said. This enables plants to live in the temperatures which are most suitable to them.

Evaporators are used to cool areas of the greenhouse, as well as vents in the roof which must be opened and closed manually with a pulley system.

These renovations, which are expected to be completed in two years, will benefit students directly, Rodermel said.

There are “a number of courses that study the plants in the greenhouse, including taxonomy and ecology. A lot of graduate students have their research projects up there,” he said.

Five students currently work at the greenhouse, but it is not off limits and any interested student can tour the greenhouse during business hours, Mahoney said.

“We are here to help and serve the students,” he said.

The greenhouse is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to noon on Friday.