Press Releases

---

Growing Green with Compost Tea

Sound Horticulture Assists Elzinga & Hoeksema’s Compost Tea Production Project

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Innovation is a buzz word we may have all heard one too many times, yet there is that particular instance that occurs now and then that truly merits the term. Consultant Alison Kutz-Troutman of Sound Horticulture has played an integral role in what greenhouse growers will certainly herald as innovative—Elzinga & Hoeksema (E&H) Greenhouses first commericial organic greenhouse built from the ground up.

Unveiled at their media event March 12, the E&H greenhouse features a dynamic compost tea delivery system producing 1,000 gallons per day. Kutz-Troutman is a key part of the team working with Mark Elzinga to see this project to fruition. She specified the Growing Solutions Compost Tea System500, having worked with the Eugene, Ore., manufacturer for more than 10 years, including her own use of a Compost Tea System for greenhouse production at Cascade Cuts in Bellingham, Wash.

Adding compost tea is a key fertility component to E&H’s new four-acre organic range. The delivery system uses variable frequency drive pumps and flow meters allowing the flow rate to be varied at any time during the production cycle, as the crop dictates. Kutz-Troutman notes that other ingredients such as kelp can be added to the system as well. “This is a great example of a nursery looking at the whole picture, from soil health to crop protection,” Kutz-Troutman said.

Sound Horticulture provides consultation to greenhouse and other organic and conventional growers in the areas of biological controls, compost teas, soil blending, and site specific design solutions. Alison Kutz-Troutman is a commercial grower with more than 25 years of experience including owner/operator of Cascade Cuts in Bellingham, Wash.

Elzinga & Hoeksema Greenhouses, founded in 1962 in Portage, Mich., is one of southwest Michigan’s largest commercial greenhouses with five locations and more than 30 acres of actual production area in the Kalamazoo and Portage areas.

Growing Solutions Incorporated provides products for plant and soil health. For more information about the company and its products, visit www.growingsolutions.com.

CONTACT: Michael Alms, Growing Solutions, 541.343.8727

-30-

Growing Solutions Announces New 10-Gallon Compost Tea System™

EUGENE,OR—Growing Solutions, Incorporated, announces the introduction of a new member to its family of durable Compost Tea Systems™. The new 10-gallon unit, called the System10™, is ideal for homeowners, small nurseries and research institutions that do not require the volume of tea produced with larger commercial systems.

Growing Solutions decided to move forward with the development of a more compact system in part because of an increased interest and awareness of compost tea among homeowners and the general public. “We felt its time had come,” explained Michael Alms, Growing Solutions’ President, “and we wanted to offer a version very similar in construction and performance to our existing line.”

Growing Solutions’ patented (U.S. Patent No. 6,649,405) Compost Tea Systems are easy to use, easy to clean, and are designed for years of safe and consistent operation. The System10 delivers the same reliable performance, fine bubble diffusion technology and industrial grade components as the larger Compost Tea Systems, with greater portability and convenience.

Orders for the System10 are being taken now for delivery in December 2005.

Growing Solutions, Incorporated—an Oregon-based corporation formed in 1997—designs, manufactures and distributes compost tea systems and related products for sustainable agriculture and horticulture markets worldwide. Larger commercial Compost Tea Systems in the Growing Solutions’ line include the System25™, System100™ and System500™.

For more information about Growing Solutions, please visit our website at www.growingsolutions.com

CONTACT: Michael Alms, Growing Solutions, 541.343.8727

-30-