February 2022 - 10

duets
BY PETER KONJOIAN AND PAUL BRENTLINGER
Hydroponic Growing Systems
for Small Growers
That statement about making sense
financially is of the utmost importance.
For example, growth chambers have
extremely high levels of control and
very tight parameters around these
environmental variables but are much
too expensive to consider for commercial
scale agricultural production.
Peter Konjoian is president of Konjoian's Horticulture
Education Services Inc. His career spans four decades as a
commercial grower, researcher and consultant. Paul Brentlinger
is second-generation owner of CropKing Inc. in Lodi, Ohio.
Konjoian can be reached at peterkfes@comcast.net.
Peter: That's an excellent point, Paul,
about row covers qualifying as CEA. High
tunnels are on the list, too. Perspective
is key here as a traditional greenhouse
grower might feel that an unheated
high tunnel is a step backward while a
traditional field farmer will feel like it's a
step forward.
T
oday's guest is Paul Brentlinger,
second generation owner of
CropKing Inc. in Lodi, Ohio. Paul
has over 20 years of experience working
with controlled environment agriculture
(CEA) growers and has studied bestof-breed
controlled environment and
hydroponic practices across the globe
to integrate the most efficient and costeffective
practices into optimal systems for
CropKing. Paul leads the CropKing team in
consulting, sales and management.
Peter: Thanks for joining me today,
Paul. Let's begin by discussing CEA from
your perspective with a focus on small- to
medium-sized operations. Please share
your philosophy about how these systems
support the progress of our locally grown
food movement.
Paul: CEA by definition is a very broad
segment ... any aspect of control around
the plant environment falls into this
category. Frost nets or row covers are
actually a simple form of CEA. However,
as it relates to CropKing, we consider
our " goal " to be total control over the
environment. To the extent that it makes
sense financially, we want as much control
as we can get regarding heating, cooling,
lighting, CO2
, air flow, etc.
10 FEBRUARY 2022 GPNMAG.COM
Paul: One of the main differences that
will be obvious to many growers who are
utilizing some form of cover (cold frames,
row covers, or even greenhouses for
bedding plants) is the desire and need
for more control. Most of the time with
hydroponics we are looking to be growing
year round in that space, so we do tend
to invest heavily in environmental control
systems. Heating, cooling, humidity
control, CO2
flow and computer systems that assist in
the optimization of these systems are the
main objectives.
When we start focusing on control over
these variables, we want to have as much
as is financially justifiable. Assuming the
grower has the capacity and is willing
to learn how to utilize these systems,
they will make him or her a better, more
efficient grower.
Peter: Your point about how much tech
a grower should consider investing in
confirms a philosophy I live by ... just
because we can doesn't mean we should.
Your reference to growth chambers fits this
point perfectly. I'm enjoying an ongoing
conversation with Dave Bartlett of Bartlett
Instruments on this topic, too. Our advice
to growers when it comes to investing
in environment control technology is to
jump onto a low rung of the ladder initially
based on his or her level of understanding
and financial resources and then make a
plan to take small steps up the ladder with
the ultimate goal being as much control as
makes sense.
Writing with you and Dave reassures me
that we have private sector groups who
conduct business with the goal of helping
small growers climb these tech ladders -
you with hydroponic systems, Dave with
environment control, and others in their
respective areas of expertise.
For traditional growers considering
diversifying into CEA systems and crops,
how does this arena of production differ
from traditional production systems with
crops grown in containers of growing
media?
Paul: The caveat here is " financially
supplementation, lighting, air
justifiable. " As growers we would all love
the excellent control of a growth chamber
but we would all go broke growing food in
space as expensive to build and operate as
a growth chamber. It's about finding that
middle ground and that can be done either
through trial and error or by working with
experts who specialize in the task.
Peter: Let's drill down a bit deeper on
this point. We have a group of ornamental
crop greenhouse operators that is shifting
or considering shifting a portion of
production space into CEA edible crops.
These growers have been experiencing
the maturation of the ornamental crop
market and are looking to participate in
the rapidly expanding locally grown food
movement. I'm sure you field questions
from this group of growers regularly.
What is your advice when they ask what
systems need to be updated or otherwise
adjusted?
Paul: It will always be based on what
they are currently doing and what they
want to accomplish. What kind of facility
are they currently operating in ... what is
the " portion of production space " that they
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February 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2022
