For traditional gardeners used to getting their hands dirty, picking weeds and hurrying through Michigan’s limited growing season, hydroponics will open up a whole new world. Translated from the Greek as “water works,” hydroponics is the practice of growing plants without soil. It’s gardening without the garden. What we learned in school about plants needing air, water, soil and sunlight is still true to a degree, only with hydroponics the soil is replaced by synthetic or organic nutrients and sunlight can be mimicked by artificial lighting systems.
“I was a Disney kid,” says Jay Lawrence, proprietor of local hydrponics retailer Growco Indoor Garden Supply. “My dad was a workaholic 50 weeks a year, but pulled us kids out of school for two weeks every winter for a vacation at Disney World. I was fascinated by the hydroponics display at Epcot Center. I took the behind-the-scenes tour every year, and eventually could have given it myself. I did hydroponic growing for school science projects.
“But as a hobbyist I had no place to buy supplies. So when I was looking to start a business, hydroponics was my first thought.”
Lawrence started Growco Indoor Garden Supply a decade ago with both a physical location and an Internet site. “I was the first online organic gardening company,” he says, “and shot to the top of the search engines.”
Today about 65 percent of his business comes from Internet sales to people all over the country. The retail store has outgrown various locations in the city and is now located at 1042 Michigan St. NE, between Diamond and Fuller avenues.
John and Bridget Ujlaky also gravitated toward hydroponics during the e-commerce boom of the last decade. They tested the waters for three years online before opening their retail location, Horizen Hydroponics, at 1622 Leonard St. Nn west Leonard near Walker Ave. The shop, which has since grown from 900 to 2,000 square feet, showcases lots of different plants in various hydroponic systems, including aeroponics, ebb and flow, enclosed, passive, rotating, and drip systems, and cloning machines.
With hydroponics, nutrients are customized for the particular plant you want to grow, and are delivered through the water. “The plants are spoon-fed everything they need,” says John Ujlaky, “so they can put all their energy into growth. It is similar to caring for a swimming pool where you monitor the pH level.”
Many systems are self-watering on timers. More oxygen to the water encourages root production. The plants grow rapidly and are very efficient and more productive than plants grown in soil. “Two excellent examples of hydroponics being used successfully are strawberries and carnations,” explains Lawrence. “Tower planters of four or five levels can grow a tremendous amount of strawberries in a container on your driveway. And today 95 percent of carnations grown for commercial use are grown with hydroponics for better productivity and the perfection of the bloom.”
Perhaps still considered by many as “niche” gardening, both the Ujlakys and Lawrence see hydroponics as the wave of the future, the perfect way to feed the world’s people. Not only are plants grown with this method more vigorous and productive, but recent issues with our food supply highlight the safety of eating vegetables produced hydroponically.
“People want to take control of their food sources locally. They can grow safer peppers, tomatoes and spinach, for instance, without pesticides. They don’t have to wonder what chemicals and diseases they may ingest,” says Ujlaky, noting that the technology could also lower food costs. “With so much of our produce imported from California, Central and South America, transportation costs will go down.”
Some of the more ambitious urban farming theories and experiments have incorporated hydroponic technology for its ability to efficiently produce large amounts of food in small, even vertical, spaces. So-called skyscraper farms have become a popular topic among architects, sustainability advocates and urban planners worldwide. In Portland, Ore., the proposed Center for Urban Agriculture could supply about a third of the food needed for the mixed-use project's 400 residents. Columbia University is advancing a similar plan in Manhattan.
On that subject, Growco is soon donating a large rotating garden to the culinary program at Grand Rapids Community College. As the plants rotate around, the gravitational pull causes them to grow very strong root structures. Consequently, they end up being short, yet have big stems and lots of top growth.
“But the biggest advantage is the footprint,” says Lawrence. “You can grow a tremendous amount of plants in a small space."
Powered by a small motor and two 250-watt bulbs, the rotating garden doesn’t use much energy. Lawrence harvests three to four pounds of basil every week with such a system. “It’s perfect for pesto lovers,” he says.
One of the few drawbacks of hydroponics is that it doesn’t lend itself to mixing plants, as each has specific requirements. You couldn’t buy a rotating garden, for example, and grow parsley with your sage, rosemary and thyme. But it is still cleaner than soil gardening, and there are no pests, plants can be grown indoor year-round, and grow faster and are more efficient.
Lawrence also grows a large variety of bonsai plants at his shop. Grown in soilless clay aggregate, his bonsais have been shown and won competitions at the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Scuplture Park.
Together, the two hydroponics shops attract customers from as far away as Chicago, Traverse City and the Upper Peninsula, ranging from farmers to students.
For soil gardeners, an East Fulton fixture
Soil gardeners will love Nature’s Own in Grand Rapids' Midtown neighborhood at 1005 Fulton St. NE. Owner Kathy Briel-Gray started her plant shop in 1977 when she was just 17 years old because "she loves living things." She and partner Tom BruinsSlot specialize in “weird” house plants not found at typical plant store locations.
People don’t shop at Nature’s Own for philodendron or snake plant; instead Gray and BruinsSlot offer sensitive plants, cobra lilies and pitcher plants that eat flies, living stones, ghost plants and pencil cactus. Many of their plants are grown in their own greenhouse to keep a ready supply on hand.
Their location is convenient for its varied customers – business people, flower children stuck in the ‘60s, guys trying to impress girlfriends with their green thumbs. Long-standing corporate customers are their bread and butter.
Also stop in to see Gray’s line of greeting cards. She has written over 1,000 sentiments and one customer drove two hours to purchase one of Gray’s cards to take to a funeral she was attending.
“I learned by doing,” says the bubbly and enthusiastic Gray. “I have given it my heart and soul over these many years. I love what I do and that, along with top-notch customer service, has made Nature’s Own a success.”
Deb Moore, a Grand Rapids resident, is a freelance writer, personal historian and contributor to Rapid Growth. She last wrote for Rapid Growth about the growth of the John Ball Zoo.
Photos:
Jay Lawrence of Growco
Interiors of Growco (4)
Nature's Own on East Fulton near Diamond
Photographs by
Brian Kelly - All Right Reserved