Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Making Vermicompost Tea—Hands On at Cal Poly's Center for Sustainability

SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA—Growing Solutions’ Compost Tea System100 is the most recent addition to an exciting new vermicompost system in place at Cal Poly’s College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences (CAFES). Created in partnership with VermiVision President Ralph Crevoshay, the composting system uses Sonoma Valley Worm Farm’s (SWVF) Continuous Flow VermiComposter designed by SVWF President Jack Chambers. The VermiComposter CF’s Flow-Thru technology produces a high-grade vermicompost excellent for making vermicompost tea.

Cal Poly faculty, staff, students and community gardeners recently expanded their vermicompost vision at a hands-on workshop with Growing Solutions President Michael Alms. Cal Poly’s CAFES Center for Sustainability and VermiVision co-sponsored the event at the San Luis Obispo campus.

Organized by Center Director Hunter Francis, the event took participants through a start-to-finish training using the System100. During the first day, Michael presented the science and technology behind the System100, as participants filled compost baskets and readied the System100 for its 24-hour brewing cycle.

The following day, the Fine Bubble Diffusion aerated vermicompost tea was harvested and applied. Application methods, dilution rates and cleaning techniques were discussed and demonstrated. Cal Poly staff and students will continue to make vermicompost tea using the entire composting system, and apply the finished tea to campus orchards, vegetable gardens and sports fields.

“Working with Cal Poly CAFES’ new vermicompost program is very exciting,” Michael noted. “As our industry continues to mature, the need for university-backed data is paramount for further education and outreach to our market. The compelling interest for Growing Solutions is the quality of leadership for this program combined with the commitment to an integrated systems approach using the SVWF VermiComposter and our System100 technology.”

Sonoma Valley Worm Farm has been selling red worms for composting for more than 40 years. SVWF produces high quality organic vermicompost and vermicompost tea, recently introduced Aerated Composting Systems and Continuous Flow VermiComposters. http://www.sonomavalleyworms.com/

VermiVision was founded in 2011 to bring high quality, commercial grade vermicompost to mainstream agriculture and landscape horticulture. http://vermivision.net/

Cal Poly’s Center for Sustainability advances sustainable food and agriculture systems through education, demonstration of sustainable agricultural practices, investigation, and facilitation of collaborative efforts for sustainability, both on campus and in the community. http://www.sarc.calpoly.edu/

About Growing Solutions Incorporated

Liquid compost extract, or compost tea, made with Growing Solutions Compost Tea Systems is in use in 26 countries worldwide as an organic alternative to chemical fertilizers. Growing Solutions is the industry leader, providing fully integrated and engineered compost tea systems with the highest degree of quality and reliability available. Growing Solutions’ range of compost tea systems addresses the widest variety of applications for plant and soil health, from home gardens to commercial greenhouses, and small organic farms to municipal greenways.

Growing Solutions' patented Compost Tea Systems using Fine Bubble Diffusion technology, and Growing Solutions' OMRI-listed Compost Tea Catalyst are manufactured and distributed for sustainable agricultural and horticultural markets worldwide. More information is available at www.growingsolutions.com.

CONTACT: Michael Alms, Growing Solutions, 541.343.8727

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

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