Hydroponic Gardening News

Anyone who has been to Walt Disney World's Epcot theme park in Orlando, Fla., surely is familiar with the Land, the agriculture pavilion that offers a slow boat ride past plants sucking up nutrients from water rather than soil.

After the fifth or sixth time, the ride can lose its "wow factor." Still, the concept of hydroponics is no longer a thing of Disney dreams, at least not in a couple corners of South Jersey.

All you need to do is take a walk through Bruce Cobb's greenhouses in Cumberland County or saunter through Deptford's Tasty Harvest, South Jersey's only hydroponics retail store, to see the potential.

Cobb, 44, got his start in hydroponics shortly after graduating from the University of Delaware with a degree in plant sciences. His inspiration was growing lettuce under lights in the basement with his father.

Today, he owns ARC Greenhouses in Shiloh. Although somewhat larger than most, Cobb's plastic-sheathed greenhouses, encompassing more than three acres, don't stand out amid the many greenhouses on the rich farmland west of Bridgeton. The standouts are inside, thousands of butterhead lettuce plants, virtually identical and unblemished, growing in a trickling solution of fertilizers; colorful carpets of tiny arugula, cilantro and rainbow chard. Generators hum as they pump their own waste heat back into the toasty greenhouses.

"The environment is essentially perfect so we grow varieties that are bred for taste and flavor as opposed to shipping," says Cobb, inside his lettuce greenhouse. A "magic' mix

After years of trial and error, he has found the magic mix of technology that allows him to avoid chemical pesticides, recycle water and generate artificial sunlight in the dismal days of winter.

The one-acre lettuce greenhouse alone produces the equivalent of a staggering 80 acres of outside production. Rigorously controlled growing conditions allow plants to be grown more tightly and in less than half the time of field plants.

Hydroponics is not new. Historians have found evidence of ancient civilizations, including the Egyptians, Babylonians and Aztecs, growing plants in water instead of soil.

A new wave of development took hold during the 1600s and 1700s, the age of many new botanical discoveries. But it wasn't until the 1930s that hydroponics was brought into the modern era. That's when William F. Gericke of the University of California developed nutrient formulas to apply hydroponics to commercial farming. He coined the term "hydroponics," deriving it from the Greek words hydro for water and ponos for labor. Commercial potential

Hydroponics has a lot of commercial potential in New Jersey, especially as farmland dwindles, says A.J. Both, a Rutgers Cooperative Extension greenhouse specialist. But it's also a difficult leap for farmers to make, requiring new knowledge and significant capital investment. And lots of things can go wrong, from malfunctioning equipment to improper mixing of fertilizer solutions, he adds.

Some farmers dabble in lettuce and other greens as well as tomatoes that can grow quickly. But it's difficult for them to compete with inexpensive produce from California and the South, so they're unwilling to take the next step, according to Both.

"It's always in the back of people's minds . . . but nobody is really doing it like him," he says of Cobb's operation.

Cobb has carved out a niche, particularly with his "micro-greens," herbs and greens grown in minimal soil and harvested very young for their subtle, distinct flavors.

Bill Fischer, executive chef at Caffe Aldo Lamberti in Cherry Hill, uses a mix of these micro-greens in salads, as garnishes, even to make flavored oils and pesto sauces.

"The stuff I get from him is great," Fisher enthuses. "He cuts it in the morning and brings it to me that day. It's impeccable. It's pristine."

But it took years for Cobb to turn a profit.

"It takes a long time to learn everything you need to be successful," he acknowledges. Work already done

A lot of the hard work already has been done for the home gardener by companies that publish growing guides with their equipment and fertilizers, says Charlotte Trace. She and her husband, Chip, own Tasty Harvest Hydroponics in Deptford.

The commercial hydroponics industry generates $2.4 billion in sales annually and is expanding at 10 percent per year, according to the Hydroponic Merchants Association in Manassas, Va. For Trace, hydroponics is akin to a spiritual experience, a way to help others save the Earth.

Many of her customers have had their only previous exposure to hydroponics at Disney World. Some do it for the hobby. Some want only the freshest produce. Others are worried about the pace at which farmland is being consumed for housing developments.

Setting up a home garden can be simple or it can be elaborate, she explains.

"You can start off with as little as $100, or you can go insane and spend $2,000. It's your garden."

Reach Lawrence Hajna at (856) 486-2466 or lhajna@courierpostonline.com