Smithers-Oasis sells its green foam worldwide for use in floral arrangements.
Now, the Kent division of the global company is growing the market for its brown foam — “growing media” used by hobbyists and commercial greenhouse growers alike to start seeds and cuttings.
A big focus is on the hydroponic food-growing business, in which lettuce and other vegetables are grown without soil, said Nathan Keil, product and marketing manager for Oasis Grower Solutions in Kent.
“It’s an exciting trend, an emerging market,” Keil said. “We know some of our customers have been doing it, but we really didn’t focus on it.”
Hydroponic methods require less land and water than traditional farming in fields, noted Peter Ling, professor of food agriculture and biological engineering at Ohio State University’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster.
“You can easily get 10 to 14 times higher yields” than with soil farming, said Ling, who is familiar with Oasis Grower.
Earlier this year, Oasis Grower broke ground at its complex in Kent on a new, bigger greenhouse to boost its research and development capabilities, particularly in the hydroponics market.
It’s being built amid a jumble of Smithers-Oasis mustard-colored buildings off Marvin Street, not far from Kent State University.
At 3,000 square feet, the greenhouse is three times the size of the current facility that is several decades old.
Parent company Smithers-Oasis, with corporate offices in Cuyahoga Falls, was born in 1954 when Vernon Smithers discovered how to make a plastic, water-absorbent cellular foam that florists could use to create flower arrangements.
This green foam revolutionized the floral industry and has become so widely known that florists refer to any floral foam simply as “Oasis.”
By the early 1970s, Smithers-Oasis had branched into developing the synthetic brown-colored foam growing media and Oasis Grower was born.
These days, Smithers-Oasis has about 800 employees and more than 20 plants worldwide. Locally, about 25 employees work at corporate offices in Cuyahoga Falls. Separately, about 130 work in Kent, at manufacturing and distribution facilities and the offices of Oasis Grower.
Oasis Grower’s early focus was on selling products — brown foam formed into cubes and other shapes that support the plants — to growers of geraniums, poinsettias and other ornamental plants.
Vijay Rapaka, manager of Oasis Grower Solutions Research, said the new greenhouse will be big enough for him to continue research and product development involving ornamental plants — and delve more into hydroponic growing methods of food.
As more consumers demand locally grown food, growers are using hydroponic methods — which allow them to grow year-round in a greenhouse, Rapaka noted.
The new greenhouse — set to open in June — will actually be three interconnected greenhouses, being built on a patch of grass on the south side of the Kent complex.
Rapaka said, “I needed room to grow — literally.”
He may even install a pond in the greenhouse in which growing plants — in Oasis Grower brown foam — would float around, mimicking a method some hydroponic growers use. The plants would be in plastic raft-like containers.
A big plus, he said, is the new greenhouse will be big enough to grow full crops, allowing him to conduct research on plants as they grow from seedlings to maturity.
Currently, marketing manager Keil said, the lack of space limits the focus to “the beginning stages of the [plant] propagation.”
The greenhouse, Keil noted, also will be tall enough to allow for vertical growing, which is catching on in especially tight spaces.
With enough room to grow a full crop of tomatoes, or some other vegetable, Keil said, “We’ll be able to develop new products, help growers solve their problems ... what keeps them up at night.”
What products will emerge from the new greenhouse?
Keil said they could involve foam — sold in various shapes and cellular structures — or some other material.
“We are innovators here,” chimed in Jeff Malek, Oasis Grower technical engineering manager.
There is competition. Rapaka said many competitors make their growing media with rock wool. It’s made of fibers manufactured by blowing or spinning threads of molten rock.
Great Lakes Growers, a hydroponic-growing operation in Burton, is an example of Oasis Grower’s expanding market.
Great Lakes owner John Bonner previously worked for another business, which used the company’s products for propagation of flowers.
About two years ago, he opened Great Lakes Growers, which grows herbs and lettuce for sale to grocery stores and restaurants. Great Lakes began with a 300-square-foot greenhouse, and earlier this year opened a 55,000-square foot greenhouse.
Bonner sees Oasis Grower’s new greenhouse as a logical step for the Kent company.
“Hydroponics is a growing market segment in their business, and the produce business,” Bonner said. “They’re a primary material supplier. I’m not surprised they invested some money.”
The price tag for the new greenhouse is about $500,000, according to Keil.
“Theirs is a pretty unique product,” Bonner said. “They try to stay at the forefront of the industry.”
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com.