“I soon realized that medium selection is the most important thing to keep your seedlings healthy,” says Yongjin Oh, President of Farmers F.D.
Oh’s aquaponics operation is located close to Seoul, South Korea, and it supplies salad greens to the capital’s most upscale department stores. But it wasn’t always this way. Four years ago Farmers F.D. reached out to Koppert Korea – which represents Jiffy in this market – when its lettuces weren’t thriving.
J-7Cs: An eco-friendly, high-tech growing solution
There were a number of factors to take into consideration. As a grower of produce that’s consumed raw, F.D.’s main priority is food safety. It also needed an eco- and fish-friendly solution. That’s why Koppert advised it to trial Jiffy-7C Pellets. The pellets are made from RHP-certified coir, a natural byproduct of the coconut processing industry. They are industrially compostable because the netting that holds them together is made from all-natural PLA, not fossil plastic.
Jiffy adapted one of its high-tech growing solutions – the 42mm x 55mm J-7C Pellet – for F.D.’s raft growing method, while maintaining all the strengths of the original:
- Extra-washed, all-natural coir – non-toxic to fish
- Excellent water-to-air ratio for strong root development
- Suppresses algae growth
- Stays intact thanks to PLA netting to reduce debris
- Shipped and stored dehydrated for cost savings
Koppert and Jiffy ensure optimal performance
Koppert Korea and Jiffy’s global experts supported F.D. throughout the trial period and beyond it, to ensure the customer was achieving optimal results. In fact, the high-tech growing solution proved easier to use than expected. A Jiffy Plug Expander was added to the existing setup for additional time and labor savings. As a result, F.D.’s costs have dropped since it switched to J-7C Pellets, without any sacrifice in terms of performance. In fact, yields and quality both increased because the pellets stimulate strong root growth throughout the year.
“We tried all kinds of media,” says Yongjin Oh. “And J-7C Pellets resulted in the best growth of crop roots…even in summer or winter when the environment is poor.”
Today, the aquaponics operation uses more than 2 million J-7Cs a year. Demand for its produce continues to grow because consumers are more and more aware of topics like environmental pollution and healthy eating. As long as the salad greens look and taste great, of course!