Emerald Coast Growers Builds State-of-the-Art New Seed House

Jennifer Zurko

Emerald Coast Growers has added a seed house to increase production efficiency at its Florida operations. In the new seed house, the flat filler, Blackmore seed machine, LED germination racks, stratification cooler and temperature controlled germination room are all under one roof.

Pictured: The new seed room at Emerald Coast Growers’ Florida location

Seed needs a temperature controlled germination room to allow for some species to be germinated in a controlled climate when it would otherwise be too hot in the greenhouses. The new facility provides this, as well as a cooler for stratification of seed trays for hard-to-germinate seeds, daylength control and an in-house seed tray filler that allows for varying media mixes for specific seeds for even small batches.

In addition, the company installed a monorail through the seed building that connects all areas to the connected seed greenhouse where seed trays are finished off before being sent out to ranges to be dibbled into trays. This allows the majority of the work to be carried out by a single grower.

“The new facility gives us the efficiency of having everything together,” says Josiah Raymer, General Manager. “This increases our control over inventory, sowing rates, germination percentages and our growing conditions.”

With the change, all seeding for Florida locations is done in one facility, giving the company more control over greenhouse variables including lighting, watering needs, fertilizing, cut backs, scouting for pests and disease management.

Flow is from one end of the seeding building, out into the greenhouse and out the other end of the greenhouse when trays are pulled for production.

For more information on Emerald Coast Growers or any of their products, visit www.ecgrowers.com or call (877) 804-7277. GT