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Food pantry's hydroponic garden to begin producing

Carl Orth/SUNCOAST

Liza Troyer scoops soil from a wheelbarrow to fill one of the stackable pots held by Peter Thompson at the new Volunteer Way hydroponic garden. The volunteer workers are preparing for the first shipment of 20,000 plants, which arrive Nov. 4.

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By Carl  Orth | The Suncoast News

Published: November 3, 2009

Updated:

NEW PORT RICHEY - Volunteer Way food bank officials are sporting green thumbs to combat hunger during the recession.

The first shipment of plants and seeds for a large-scale hydroponic garden at the food bank are scheduled to arrive today, Wednesday, CEO Lester Cypher reports.

Soon the food bank will be growing much of its own produce, such as lettuce, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and peppers.

The need is greater than ever as people who lost jobs try to make ends meet, according to Cypher.

"I have been serving hungry families for 23 years and have never turned away people that were hungry," Cypher said last December, after families swamped the food bank. During the depths of the recession, the food bank simply ran out of food on rare occasions and had to turn away people seeking help.

The first 20,000 plants will go a long way to supply produce. Peter Thompson and Liza Troyer have been among volunteer laborers helping to prep the garden.

Eventually, 35,000 plants will sprout on the acre-plus site about a block north of the Volunteer Way warehouse and headquarters, 7820 Congress St. The 6.89 acres donated to the organization offers plenty of space for expansion.

Instead of being planted in the ground, seeds and plants in a hydroponic garden are placed in soil in stackable pots hung from stakes.

Not only does the system allow many more plants in a very compact space, the plants can grow year round, Cypher said. They grow faster. And the garden requires far less labor.

An irrigation system squirts water into the pot on top which trickles down to the other pots in the stack.

Volunteer Way had tested a small-scale hydroponic garden since September 2008. About 1,800 plants are packed into a very compact space roughly 25 by 50 feet in the plot behind the food bank warehouse. That gave them an idea of what would grow best.

The larger garden will hold almost 20 times more plants in the stackable pots.

Cypher is seeking more volunteer workers to tend to the garden. To volunteer call Volunteer Way at 727-815-0433 or go its Web site.

Carl Orth can be reached at 727-815-1068 or corth@suncoastnews.com.

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