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Growth industry

Summerfield man patents gardening system

Katie Pohlman
katie.pohlman@starbanner.com
Tim Carpenter, owner of VertiGro in south Marion County, patented the system that grows plants in vertical towers. The hydroponic system is being used in schools, prisons, small farms and gardens, and on islands in the Caribbean. "The whole thing was to save space and energy," said Carpenter, the Florida Association of County Agriculture Agents' Marion County outstanding agriculturist in 2017. [Doug Engle/Staff photographer]

Trays of lettuce, broccoli, spinach, rosemary, and three types of mint seedlings float in an orange kiddie pool filled with water and dotted with pink, blue, and green cartoon mermaids behind Francis Marion Military Academy.

A few feet away, pairs of students in matching black shirts and tan cargo pants dump blocks of coco fiber into round blue storage tubs. As water is added to the tubs, students massage the blocks, made from coconut husks, until they resemble fluffy dark-brown soil. This process is called rehydration, which prepares the fiber to be placed into a VertiGro hydroponic growing system that promises greater yields in less time with fewer resources.

Tim Carpenter said he developed and patented VertiGro in 1994 after he realized he could not make money using old hydroponic methods. Now, the system of stackable pots is used in schools, prisons, small farms, gardens and Caribbean islands.

Each tower consists of a base pot with four rotating pots stacked above, allowing users to grow 20 plants per tower. Systems can consist of one tower for the hobbyist, 44 towers for the military academy, or even a 5-acre greenhouse in Puerto Rico.

"The whole thing was to save space and energy," said Carpenter, who was named the Florida Association of County Agriculture Agents' Marion County outstanding agriculturist in 2017.

The military academy's system is split in half: one side for harvesting and the other for planting. A student walks around holding a tray of broccoli seedlings with one hand while he uses the other to push a hole in the fiber with his finger. He then drops the seedling in and moves on.

Students work in the garden at the academy as part of biology class with Thomas Allison. They decide what to plant and how much to plant. The students are in charge of estimating the cost of materials and potential yield.

According to Carpenter, Allison "got grants for all the greenhouse and Verti-Gro systems at Horizon Academy at Marion Oaks and just recently got a new position at Francis Marion Military Academy."

When Allison first introduced the idea of a VertiGro garden to the military academy, others thought the students wouldn't like it. But they love it.

Allison said the students will sometimes pull a tomato or pepper off the plants and eat it.

"I'd rather see that than (students) walking around with bags of chips," he said.

Other students will take parts of the harvest home to their families. Teachers do the same.

Harvesting from the towers is as easy as snip, turn and repeat.

Carpenter said he can harvest 100 pounds of tomatoes — most as big as baseballs — from one tower. He harvests so much he gives them away to whomever stops by his operation in Summerfield.

David Holmes, Marion County director for the University of Florida's extension office, said VertiGro is important in figuring out how to feed a growing global population.

"The good lands are being taken for development," he said. "We have to figure out how to feed more people with less land input."

VertiGro requires less land, water and pesticides than typical gardens. Multiple-tower systems are connected by a PVC pipe overhead, which delivers water and nutrients to the plants, which flow downward through all levels. The system can be programmed to water the plants at a specific time each day for a certain length of time.

Jimmie Smith, of Ocala, said VertiGro is a gift from heaven. He has a 100-tower greenhouse at his home, where he grows lettuce, strawberries, collards, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, and peppers.

Smith said he had ground gardens all his life and dabbled in another style of hydroponics a few years ago, but nothing compares to VertiGro.

"You don't have weeds. You don't have back troubles. You still have a few bugs, but not hardly as many. And the food tastes so much better," Smith said.

He checks on his garden once a day, compared to spending eight to 10 hours in his garden before, he said.

VertiGro systems can also be equipped to withstand cold weather and freezes. All it takes is a hose and a tarp.

At Carpenter's Summerfield operation, each line of towers has a hose snaked around the bottom. When the temperature drops to 40 degrees Fahrenheit he throws a tarp over the plants and turns on the water, which sprays up from the snaked hose. The warmer water keeps plants from being harmed.

Allison uses the same system at the military academy. During this winter's freezes, he lost a few fringe leaves, but that's all.

Carpenter also designs greenhouses that provide warmth to plants during the winter and cools them during the summer, as well as being capable of withstanding hurricane-force winds.

The 5-acre greenhouse farm in Puerto Rico that Carpenter helps was one of the very few to survive Hurricane Maria. About a month after the storm, he said, the operation was back up and running.

Carpenter doesn't just provide the product, Allison said, he also teaches how to use it. Carpenter came out to the military academy to teach students the fundamentals before they dove into their garden. He does the same for individual customers.

"I depend on Mr. Carpenter and his boys to keep me straight," said Jimmie Williams, of Ocala.

Williams just upped his garden from three to five towers, which he uses to grow tomatoes, collards, kale and bell peppers. He doesn't have much experience in gardening so he relies on the guidance of Carpenter and his staff. He said he's always impressed with Carpenter's harvest and only hopes to come as close.

Smith agrees.

"If you listen to Tim Carpenter and do what he says to do, a dead man could grow a garden," he said.

Contact Katie Pohlman at 867-4065, katie.pohlman@starbanner.com or @katie_pohlman.