No Cows in Our Greenhouse, Our Lettuce is Pure

I just heard on the radio that the spinach contamination in California was caused by cow manure in the spinach patch. Seems like the cattle ranch is right next to where they grow the spinach. With hydroponic lettuce grown in secure greenhouses, no such problems exist.

What is more worrisome is that there were reports of lettuce crops having been contaminated by the same e-coli bacteria that got to the spinach. It happened in field-grown lettuce in California, but also in some organically grown lettuce in Ontario. This could undermine the public’s belief in the safety of all salad vegetables, so we took some steps.

We made larger signs for our retail outlets, vouching for the purity of our hydroponically-grown Boston lettuce. It seems to be working, the lettuce is selling out, and our buyers are pressuring us for the daily 400 heads, which is our ultimate goal.

We contacted local media outlets and arranged to be interviewed about the e-coli outbreaks. We reassured the viewers or the listeners that our hydroponic lettuce was as safe as the vegetables they grow themselves, probably safer, since we don’t have cats peeing in our vegetable patch.

In order to make sure that our lettuce is resistant to harmful bacteria, we use several different Advanced Nutrient products. Tarantula is a complex blend of 57 different bacterial mico-organisms. When used as a root colonizer, it has 1.4 million colony forming units or CFUs. Tarantula comes in powder form, and it contains the spores of beneficial bacteria, known as Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria or PGPR.

Voodoo Juice is a liquid suspension of five PGPRs, while Piranha is a powder concentrate of beneficial fungal spores. When used together, these products act synergistically, ensuring that many harmful fungi and bacteria don’t get a chance to invade our precious lettuce crop.

Root size is increased, making for bigger heads of lettuce, and nutrient absorption is accelerated, speeding up growth. If we could cut down the time it takes for our lettuce to mature from 36 to 34 days, we could sell an additional 800 heads of lettuce during those two days saved, once we reach our production goal.

Research has shown that beneficial bacteria are most effective when used in tandem with beneficial mycorrhical fungi. 25% more growth was observed when Piranha was used with Tarantula, than with Piranha alone. Add Voodoo Juice to the mix and the symbiotic effect is truly astounding!

There is a fourth product that complements the other three, and that is Advanced Nutrients SensiZym. It is definitely the world’s best agricultural enzyme product. When used in conjunction with Piranha, Tarantula and Voodoo Juice, it accelerates the growth of beneficial microbes, helps our lettuce crop utilize water and water-borne elements better, and promotes rapid growth and high yield.

SensiZym has a shelf life of 18 months and features live ingredients, as opposed to the competitor’s products which have been found to contain inert enzymatic units. It is backed with Advanced Nutrients unparalleled money-back guarantee!

By using Barricade, we make our lettuce plants resistant to pathogens from the inside out. The potassium silicate in this product strengthens the ability or our lettuce plants to transport nutrients in their root cells and it increases cell wall stability. This makes our lettuce resistant to stress, drought, pathogens, and insects.

Silica is a buffering substance that enables plants to successfully deal with potentially toxic levels of pollutants, salts, and minerals. It also helps heal downy mildew, powdery mildew, and botrytis or gray mold.

As an additional step against powdery mildew, which is an insidious fungi that attacks many vegetables, we spray our lettuce with Protector. The potassium bicarbonate in this product alters the pH of our lettuce leaves, making them inhospitable to the fungi. Protector is completely safe and does not contain any harmful chemicals.

In order to induce systemic resistance to all sorts of pathogens in our lettuce, we use Scorpion Juice. It stimulates the innate immune systems of our plants, enabling them to fight off any fungi, viruses, mold, mildew, or tiny parasitic insects. It is the same as “vaccinating” our lettuce plants against a whole array of intruders.

For faster growth and to combat plant stress, we administer Organic B, as well as VitaBoost Pro. The former contains the all-important B vitamins, while the latter is the best multi-vitamin formula designed specifically for plants. It also fights root zone pathogens.

Armed with this assortment of preventative measures, we are certain that our hydroponic lettuce crop is safe from diseases and pests. Our automatic controls make sure that the lighting levels, heating or cooling, humidity, CO2 levels, pH, Electrical Conductivity (EC—often measured by a CF—Conductivity Factor—meter), and the temperature of our Nutrient Pond are just right.