Barry Thoele has been growing plants hydroponically for over 20 years. “Hydroponics,” he explains, “is growing plants in water—and not necessarily food plants. We use water and a nutrient mix that, in my case, is formulated for whatever particular plant. We use plant-specific nutrients—I grow lettuce and herbs in lettuce nutrient, I grow tomatoes in tomato nutrient, cucumbers in a cucumber nutrient, and they’re all formulated for the optimum growth of the plant.
“Same way you would even if you were in soil, you fertilize different plants with different nutrients to produce the fruit, or to produce abundant green. In our case these are plant-specific so it allows me to grow a better quality plant. It allows me to run my reservoirs with water longer without having to do changes or without having to worry about having too much of one nutrient or too little of another.”
In the 3,000 square-foot greenhouse where he grows lettuce, for example, Barry can grow the same crop year after year hydroponically without crop rotation. The crop is up off the ground so he doesn’t have to bend over to deal with it or pick it. He can grow 420 heads of romaine a week for harvest. The system has 2,620 plant sites. He grows romaine lettuce, cilantro, basil, kale and parsley all in the same system. He says that to grow the same thing in the ground rather than hydroponically would require over seven acres. “An acre, for anybody who doesn’t know, is 40,000 square feet,” says Thoele.
Barry admits that there is a learning curve. “That’s why I teach classes. But once you get through that learning curve it’s not the same as growing in soil. You’re able to correct nutrient deficiencies when you recognize them…I don’t look for maximum growth in my plants; I look for optimum growth. I want the plant healthy, I want the fruit tasty, I want my lettuce sweet and crunchy, and that’s what I’m able to do here. What most people don’t understand is that whatever you put on the ground—and I used organic compost—the plants use about 10-20% of the nutrients you put on soil. The rest of it, either the rain washes it down to your hardpan or down into surface water.”
“I can grow indoors, in greenhouses or high tunnels, or I can grow in my basement. I have a system set up and right now I’m trialing LED lights for the right light mixture for growing greens year-round. In Minnesota, I’m looking out the window and I’m seeing my snow drifts are chest high. It’s not like you’re going to grow in a greenhouse this time of the year. And in Minnesota we can grow year-round—you can heat—there are ways to do it; there are people that do do it. The problem is, between mid-November and mid-February we don’t have enough sunlight. We’re down to an 8-hour day. Effective growing sunlight for the plant is only about 6 hours. And then if you add overcast into that you’ve cut that effective light back to two hours. So then you have to add in supplemental light. So if you have to add in supplemental light and heat, then you’re not going to make any money. You’re going to be paying out all your money in heating and electric bills.”
Barry says with new technology hydroponics isn’t too complicated. “I find it easier because I don’t have to weed. I don’t have to deal with soil-borne pests and pathogens that we have here like blights, and I can do ten times the production that I could do if I were doing it in the ground. And I just don’t have the back to bend over and dig in the ground anymore. I’m getting old. I like things on tables and waist high where I can work easily on them, and cucumbers and tomatoes where I don’t have to go hunting through the vines.”
Barry’s business, Barry’s Cherries, has about 7,000 square feet of season extending high tunnels and greenhouses. “I built this from scratch because I saw a need and I’m really, really tired of the food that we’re getting in our grocery stores. I’m also really tired of the food safety recalls that we’re having. I am a firm believer that if we want jobs back in rural America that we need to start looking back at local production of food. This type of production can go anywhere. You can do it in Staples, in Bemidji, in International Falls, they’re doing it in Canada.
“Most other countries, most of their food production is going indoors because the climate has gotten so unsettled that keeping things outdoors is problematic…Mono-cropping creates a lot of pests that regular agriculture deals with with sprays. I don’t want to spray, so we use exclusion screens to keep the bugs out. We modify our systems to make it less labor intensive. I eat the food that I grow, so I want the best crop.”
In the full interview below, Barry Thoele (pronounced THO-lee) explains how he got into hydroponics, talks about where he sells his food, describes what his system looks like, and gives a preview of his workshop this Saturday in Park Rapids.
The March 9th workshop is sponsored by Hubbard County Extension and is held at Northwoods Bank, 1200 E 1st St in Park Rapids MN from 1-4 p.m. To register call Hubbard County Extension: 218/732-3391. (NOTE: The workshop scheduled for 3/9 is cancelled due to the winter storm. It will be rescheduled.)
