Pubdate: Sat, 07 Jan 2012
Source: Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA)
Copyright: 2012 The Press Democrat
Contact:  http://www.pressdemocrat.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/348
Author: Julie Johnson, The Press Democrat

POT-FUELED PROSPERITY IN HYDROPONIC GARDENING

As plastic bottles shuttle along humming conveyor belts in General 
Hydroponics' vast Sebastopol factory, a row of nozzles fills the 
bottles with a bright pink liquid.

The production of this proprietary mixture of phosphates, sulfates 
and potassium is being fueled by the popularity of growing plants indoors.

Once an industry focused on orchids, roses and tomatoes, hydroponics 
is now being propelled into mainstream business by marijuana.

"I used to be put off by seeing the work I did always show up in 
marijuana-focused stores," said General Hydroponics founder Lawrence 
Brooke, a scientist-turned-entrepreneur who has been developing 
fertilizers and water-pump systems since the 1970s.

But today, as business booms, he acknowledges the revolutionary 
influence of soil-free growing methods.

"People who grow medicinal cannabis know it's the most powerful 
tool," Brooke said. "Farmers ought to be paying attention."

He is among a cadre of business owners and gardeners who have brought 
Sonoma County to the forefront of a national surge in indoor farming.

More than two dozen local stores with names like Gonzo Grow in Santa 
Rosa, House of Hydro in Petaluma and Revolution Hydroponics in Sonoma 
have opened, many during the past five years.

"God knows, we've seen them pop up everywhere," said real estate 
agent Barry Palma, senior vice president at Cornish and Carey Commercial.

That boom is fueled by a steady hum of water pumps bringing 
nourishment to an unknown number of marijuana plants under an untold 
number of roofs.

"The vast majority (of hydroponic retailers) are doing business 
legally, but they're capitalizing on an illegal market," said Santa 
Rosa Police Sgt. Mike Tosti, who runs the department's narcotics unit.

Hydroponic gardening was developed as a way to get nutrients directly 
to plant roots.

The English philosopher and scientist Francis Bacon first published a 
study on such methods in the 17th century. A UC Berkeley scientist 
coined the term hydroponics in 1937.

The method avoids the soil that breaks down nutrients into elements 
plants can absorb. With hydroponic methods, the roots come in direct 
contact with nutrient solutions they can absorb.

Plants sit in pots of pebbles or shallow plastic bins. A constant 
stream of water delivers air and carefully crafted mixtures of 
elements plants need to thrive.

Plants are less hampered by pests. Water can be recycled.

"They just suck it up directly, optimizing the plant's diet, which 
optimizes growth," said Bob LaGasse, executive director of the 
Progressive Gardening Trade Association based in Manassas, Va.

He traces the beginning of the decade-long surge in alternative 
gardening techniques such as hydroponics to the Sept. 11, 2001, 
terrorist attacks, which drove many people to start growing their own food.

Organic and local food movements further bolstered the technique's 
popularity, as has high unemployment.

However, none of those factors has generated as much interest in 
growing plants indoors as marijuana.

"The activities of the medical marijuana industry have overshadowed 
the progressive gardening aspect," LaGasse said. "And a lot of 
single-purpose shops did open."

California led the way with the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, and 15 
states have since passed medical-marijuana laws.

The recent referendum to legalize pot, Proposition 19, drove many 
entrepreneurs to open businesses ancillary to marijuana production, 
particularly after several polls showed significant percentages of 
California voters supported legalization, said David Solotky, General 
Hydroponics' chief financial officer.

Proposition 19 didn't get enough votes statewide and failed, though 
it was favored in Sonoma County.

Many owners lacked business savvy and failed within a short time of 
opening, Solotky said. Stores opened up, sometimes several within 
blocks in a neighborhood.

A glut of shops drove prices down.

"They thought they were in an easy business, but the opposite is 
true," Solotky said. "It's a very competitive business."

Alisha Alton and her partners opened Elite Hydro Garden Supply on Old 
Redwood Highway in Cotati about six years ago.

Since then, she's watched people rent a storefront and throw up a 
shingle with hydroponic in the name and, almost as quickly as they 
open, fail and shutter.

"It's not as easy as people think it is," Alton said.

Still, customers keep coming and several stores have expanded to two 
or three locations within the county.

Hydroponics retailers appear to be a rare breed of business that is 
expanding in a troubled economy. But the county hasn't yet taken a 
close look at how much money is being made, said Ben Stone, director 
of the Sonoma County Economic Development Board.

"It's hard to track because there's no government number of it, no 
classification," Stone said. "It seems to be a sector that's more 
than weathering the storm."

Many shops keep stacks of glossy trade magazines and brochures for 
conventions in Las Vegas and Long Beach focused on hydroponics.

Flip to the back of Canada's Maximum Yield magazine, and California 
takes up five pages in a directory of hydroponic distributors 
nationwide. Santa Rosa's nine shops are second in number only to San 
Diego's 12.

If design is any indication, the industry appears to be have moved 
beyond its hippie roots.

A Maximum Yield spinoff lifestyle publication features a bikini-clad 
woman and a motorcycle on the cover.

Though full of psychedelic graphics, there isn't a pot-leaf image to 
be found in industry publication pages.

Brooke said he has a long-established policy to not focus advertising 
on a specific crop, including marijuana.

An informal survey of Sonoma County shopkeepers showed many agree.

Alton, of Cotati's Elite Hydro Garden Supply, said many of her 
customers probably shop at her store for supplies to grow marijuana, 
but she's instructed her staff to avoid the subject.

"A lot of them are probably doing medical but I try to respect their 
privacy," said Alton. "We don't talk about it directly."

As long as state and federal laws conflict regarding marijuana, 
marijuana production will remain a delicate subject.

Many Sonoma County hydroponics shop owners declined to even talk 
generally about the industry.

"It's somewhat of a discreet business," a Sebastopol retailer said.

Detectives do get tips "that some of the hydroponic stores are 
involved in other illegal activities," said Tosti, the Santa Rosa 
police sergeant.

He declined to comment on whether any shop owners are under 
investigation and Sonoma County District Attorney spokesman Christine 
Cook said her office isn't handling any cases linked to hydroponics stores.

"I don't think the majority have illegal sales going on the back 
door," Tosti said. "But they are benefiting from medical marijuana, 
or at least the guise of medical marijuana."
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