Hydroponic farming at the Cuisinart Resort and Spa - Garden destination - Cover Story

Flower & Garden Magazine, Nov, 2001 by Howard M. Resh

Hydroponics, or soilless culture, the growing of plants without soil, has become the principal method of growing vegetables and ornamentals in greenhouses throughout the world. While "hydroponics" means "water working," it implies the use of water only with the added essential elements that normally would be available in a very fertile soil. However, as many crops do not like to grow without some substrate to keep their roots supported providing good oxygenation, most hydroponic cultures use some form of medium. When a medium other than soil is used, such hydroponics is often termed soilless culture" due to the absence of soil. The medium must meet the following criteria: (1) provide good oxygenation to the roots; (2) provide a sterile environment free of pests and pathogens; (3) be an inert substrate that will not release elements to the plant roots; (4) it must retain good structural integrity without decomposition; and (5) it must have good water retention, but not excessive that could cause inadequate oxygenation. All cultural practices that apply to hydroponics also apply to soilless culture. The plants must receive adequate nutrients in the correct proportions as is achieved through all types of hydroponics.

For this reason, we do not differentiate between "hydroponics" and "soilless culture" with the exception of the use of a substrate. Many substrates may be used in hydroponic culture, including sand, gravel, perlite, vermiculite, peat, rice hulls, coco coir, sawdust, bark and rockwool. Many crops, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and herbs, grow best in a soilless culture rather than a pure water culture system. The crops most suited to water culture include lettuce and some herbs as watercress and mint.

* COMMERCIAL HYDROPONICS

While most hydroponic culture of crops is under greenhouse conditions, some are grown outside in regions of the world with favorable climates. Both ornamentals and vegetables are grown hydroponically in greenhouses. While the ornamental operations are much larger than those producing vegetables, we shall discuss only vegetables, as here we are concerned with food production. The United States and Canada each have between 1,500 and 2,000 acres of hydroponic greenhouse vegetable production. This is small in comparison to that of The Netherlands, which has in excess of 25,000 acres. Greenhouses are necessary to permit year-round growing conditions. In northern areas having a winter season, cropping cycles are from December (seeding) through early November. Production of tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers begin in late February to early March and continue through early November. In more southern locations as the southwest United States or Mexico, the cropping cycles begin with sowing of seeds in July and production from October through June.

Lettuce and herbs can be grown in shorter cycles year-round giving continuous production in either location. The hydroponic greenhouse products are sold in most supermarket stores throughout North America and Europe.

The distance to ship the product largely determines the stage at which the vegetables are harvested. This stage of harvesting greatly influences the flavor and nutrition of vegetables such as tomatoes. For this reason, hotels and resorts in many places in the world far from the production areas of these vegetables must accept a less than optimum quality due to the shipping and handling of the product combined with the period of time for it to arrive at its final destination. In countries of the Caribbean, where little agriculture exists on many of the islands but large tourist facilities do, there is a real need for local production of the highly perishable salad crops and herbs. A hydroponic farm located in these areas seems to be the perfect answer to providing the resorts of these regions with fresh, nutritious product. Such has been the concept with "Cuisinart Resort & Spa" in Anguilla, B.W.I., a small island in the Eastern Caribbean.

* CUISINART RESORT & SPA

Cuisinart Resort & Spa is an exclusive resort located in Anguilla, one of the British West Indies islands in the Eastern Caribbean. With its pristine beaches and small population of about 9,000 inhabitants, it is an ideal place to escape from the congestion of our crowded cities and just relax. The resort was built with a health spa as part of a "wellness" program for its guests. With its isolation, however, came the problem of acquiring fresh vegetables, especially those required for fresh salads in the resort restaurants. The hydroponic greenhouse (farm) was built for that purpose, and it is an integral part of the wellness program.

Fresh tomatoes, European (seedless) cucumbers, sweet bell peppers, lettuce, bok choy and herbs are grown at the hydroponic farm to provide the hotel restaurants with "garden fresh" produce. All these products are harvested at their optimum ripened stage so that the guests can distinguish the "backyard garden" taste in their salads, pastas, pizzas, etc. In addition to this fresh flavor, the produce grown at the farm provides the highest nutritional value of any on the market. Tomatoes are vine ripened to their full mature red stage, at which time the plant has synthesized all of the potential vitamins and minerals it is capable of. This is unlike what is available in the commercial marketplace where field tomatoes are picked green and gassed with ethylene to turn them red. Even greenhouse tomatoes that must be shipped great distances will have to be picked at a turning-pink stage so that they will survive the handling in route to the consumer.