Everywhere you look, businesses and industry alike are moving toward a more environmentally friendly approach to doing business. They're going “green.”

The Central Coast Greenhouse Growers Association, composed of 16 greenhouse growers and other related businesses within the nursery industry, is not unlike other industries in their environmentally conscious approach to doing business.

Greenhouse growers in Nipomo and Arroyo Grande are producers of some of the most sought-after roses, ornamental flowers, tropical plants and countless varieties of vegetables in the nation.

They have long been advocates for such ideas as water conservation and hydroponics, energy efficiency through computer controlled climates, integrated pest management and organic growing methods.

Koch California Ltd. is one such grower.

The family-owned and -operated company has 30 years of experience growing premium quality roses. It is the first nursery in the United States to grow roses hydroponically and has been using hydroponics since 1987.

“All of our plants are grown in buckets of cocopeat,” said Susanne Koch Snyder, who owns Koch California with her husband, John.

Advertisement

“Cocopeat is a great growing medium and is used because of its ability to retain water and nutrients,” she explained. “It is a byproduct of the coconut. It's a renewable resource. There's mountains and mountains of this stuff in Sri Lanka. When we're done using it in our greenhouses, we use it as a mulch in our gardens at home.”

One of the primary benefits of growing hydroponically is the plants are closely monitored for essential nutrients throughout their life.

Because plants require different nutrients during the vegetative or growth phase than they do during the flowering stage, it is a process that is entirely computer-controlled.

“We collect and reuse our irrigation water,” Snyder said. “We are able to control and retain our own runoff. When you grow hydroponically, you're able to control plant nutrition, too. Our plants are tested weekly for proper pH and nutrients.”

When it comes to energy efficiency, Koch California's energy consumption is also carefully monitored by computers.

The nursery burns natural gas in order to obtain carbon dioxide, which is then pumped into the greenhouses to stimulate plant growth.

“Plants love carbon dioxide and need it for growth,” Snyder said. “When the sun comes up, they want CO2, so we give it to them - lots of it.”

The heat created by that process is then stored in hot-water tanks until it is needed at a later time, when it is then transferred to the greenhouses to control temperature and relative humidity.

“We heat our greenhouses 365 days a year,” Snyder said. “Our boilers are 97-percent efficient.”

She added, “During the winter, it's often too cold for good plant growth. So we use the hot water for heating purposes. The rest of the year, we use the hot water to control relative humidity in the greenhouses. A little venting, a little heating. Cold air is warmed up and relative humidity drops.”

Because of the amount of sunshine the Central Coast receives during the year, there is no need for artificial lighting.

“Sixty-five to 70 percent of our greenhouses are roof,” Snyder claimed. “Our plants get lots of sun all day.”

For added efficiency during the winter months, the company has installed double-walled, acrylic heat curtains, which has helped prevent heat loss through the walls of the greenhouses.

Probably one of the most innovative and ecologically sound ideas Koch has incorporated is integrated pest management - the use of “predator bugs” to control “bad bugs” like aphids and two-spotted mites .

“We have a team of four employees that are constantly inspecting our beds of roses,” Snyder said. “California roses have some of the most stringent restrictions on pesticide usage in the nation.

For more than 10 years, we've been using biological methods to combat the two-spotted mite,” she added. “We use predator bugs to combat bugs that are detrimental to our roses.”

To combat aphids - a bane to every rose grower - Koch has released 50,000 ladybugs in the area surrounding its greenhouses.

Within the greenhouse, the company uses a predator wasp that lays its egg inside an aphid.

“(The larvae) basically grows and grows until it bursts out of the aphid,” Snyder said. “The wasps don't bother the roses any.”

The company realized consumers look for products that minimize the use of pesticides. It's been Koch's goal to use so-called “softer” pesticides as needed to control bugs like the Western flower thrips larvae that will often feast on rose petals, leaving them brown and wilted.

“We do other things to keep the bug population in check around here,” she said. “Bright-yellow sticky tape is good for attracting bugs. We hang it all over the place. The thrips just love it. We're always trying to outfox and trick the bugs.”

Anyone interested can tour Koch California Ltd., and many other greenhouses, during the Central Coast Greenhouse Growers Association Open House from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

Todd Cralley can be reached at 347-4580 or tcralley@santamariatimes.com.

April 27, 2007