By Clint Thompson
One Alabama farmer has cultivated a niche farming practice with his hydroponics operation.
Hydroponics is a farming practice where a producer grows plants using a water-based mineral nutrient solution instead of traditional soil.
It’s a process that Ralf Du Toit has made sustainable since 2012 with Extreme Greens Farm in Auburn, Alabama. While the main focus is on lettuce, Du Toit also grows tomato and cucumber with the unique process.
“It is still farming, but it has got a lot of technology and chemistry and innovative options or opportunities involved with it,” Du Toit said.
According to Oklahoma State Extension, hydroponics involves growing plants in a liquid nutrient solution with or without the use of artificial media. These media include expanded clay, perlite, vermiculite, brick shards and wood fiber.
Du Toit uses rockwool, a popular medium that’s made from melted basalt rock and chalk spun into fibers.
“We do use medium, like a rockwool that we grow, that we seed our product into. It doesn’t have any nutritional value. The only value that it brings is it holds the roots and it will hold a little bit of moisture,” Du Toit said.
“All of our fertilizer are mined products. So it’s like salt-based products, Epsom salt, even our nitrogen, our magnesium; everything is mined products. There is no petroleum fertilizer involved in our process,” he added.
System Advantages
There are numerous advantages associated with this farming practice. There is an elimination or reduction of insects, fungi and bacteria. Disease risks are reduced.
“The big thing with hydroponics with our operation is there’s no soil involved, there’s no water splashing on the product. We minimize the risk of people touching the lettuce, so it’s basically just one person touching it,” Du Toit said. “Our people are protected with gloves, hairnets, all of those things and then, you know, minimizing the touching of the plant. I think it cuts the risk of getting any disease or any problems with it.
“We don’t ever have a pressure that is to the extent that you have to use anything harsh.”
Du Toit said all of his lettuce is produced indoors in a greenhouse. Insect screens on the outside allow air to penetrate the greenhouses. However, insect pests are restricted; another benefit of the system.
“We don’t spray pesticides on our lettuce, and we don’t have to because we keep all the bugs outside. That’s a big thing for us,” he added. “I’ve always been more concerned about having a clean product than anything else. You get people that are big on organics and all those things, but I just did not want to introduce those risks to jeopardize the clean and safe product that I’m growing.”
One of the main challenges that Du Toit has with hydroponic farming is the heat. Located in southern Alabama, weather conditions play a huge factor in growing the crop.
“For us down here in South Alabama, the heat is hitting us hard right now, so the lettuce does not necessarily like to grow in this heat. The water temperature gets hot so the lettuce will not grow as well, but in a few weeks from now we’ll sing a different story,” he added.