Greenhouses Reap Benefits of Sustainability and Promote Healthful Living

Ruby Tuesday Pick of the Week: Solexx/Adaptive Plastics
Why It’s a Gem: Solexx greenhouses are the epitome of sustainability made easy

Slow food. Organic. Local produce. Healthful, sustainable food is no longer a trend; it’s become part of the nation’s social conscience, with even the First Family raising their own victory garden.

With 20 years’ experience in the market, Adaptive Plastics is taking the next step by introducing a modular greenhouse that makes growing so simple even those of us with brown thumbs can raise a bumper crop – for a fraction of the price of store-bought organics.
(This interview has been edited for clarity and length.)

Lynda Resnick: In this week’s Ruby Tuesday, we’re speaking with Michelle Moore, owner of Adapted Plastics, makers of Solexx. For our readers, Michelle, can you describe your business model, and its unique selling proposition?

Michelle Moore: We have several different product lines, and they’re all using [our unique] plastic in ways to accelerate [plant] growth or [as reusable containers in the agriculture industry]. We make a line of greenhouses; a line of tree guards, which are used to protect trees in transport and when they’re growing in the field; and a line of reusable plastic totes that are used to harvest food directly from the field and can be used hundreds of times, [eliminating] cardboard box[es], which [are hard to dispose of and not good for the environment].

LR: Oh, lovely! The main [products] I want to talk about today are the greenhouse kits, because I think that’s what our readers will be most interested in. Because it’s really a consumer product, whereas your other two are more for the [industry], right?

Michelle Moore, owner of Adaptive Plastics, maker of Solexx

MM: Correct. The greenhouses are ultimately a consumer product. [We sell] a bunch of different sizes, but the smallest is 8’x8’. You can grow over a hundred square feet of plants, because we have tiered benches and hanging rods, and the light is so diffuse coming into the greenhouse that there aren’t any shadows. It’s all usable space.

LR: Wonderful! Now, you have been in this business for how long?

MM: Twenty years. My father started the company; he was interested in selling reusable totes. There was a [plastic] product that was used to protect very small plants, and university testing showed that it accelerated growth as much as 30 percent. It got him thinking about a greenhouse. He had one of the picking totes at our house, and he left it upside down on our lawn for a week. When he moved it and went to mow the lawn, there was a patch of grass that was exactly the outline of the [tote]. The [grass was] much taller [and greener] than [the rest of the lawn].

LR: Oh, my!

MM: It was pretty amazing. He’s kind of the mad-scientist type, so he disappeared for a while and designed a greenhouse.

LR: You’ve been in business 20 years, and you’ve been seeing nearly a 20-percent increase in growth every year for the last five years. What do you attribute that to?

MM: I really think it’s quality. There are a lot of greenhouses on the market, and there are a lot that look really good in a picture, but they just don’t deliver the value. I think our value is very, very high. The greenhouses are highly insulated; they have about a 2.5 R value, which is more than double most double-wall polycarbonate greenhouses on the market. People are concerned about efficiency.

LR: And your particular material is different than what everyone else uses. Can you talk about the material you use?

MM: The material is called Solexx, and it’s a double-wall material with a flute in the center. It looks like an I-beam, if you’re looking at it sideways. The honeycomb construction allows you to seal the flutes, which means that you’re trapping the airspace. So, not only are you capturing the heat during the day, you’re retaining it at night. It [has] a milky-white look [that] distributes the light very evenly.

LR: Your father invented this material?

MM: No, the material was in existence. He invented the greenhouse. When he was starting, he was talking to quite a few different manufacturers, and they all said that it couldn’t be done, because the material will break down. What we did was develop the particular chemical formulation so that the material would last. That is something that is unique to us.

LR: And that is your unique selling proposition, because nobody else can sell a greenhouse made of this. Is that correct?

MM: That is correct. Now, there is somebody who is using a similar-looking material, and we’ve had it tested, and it breaks down in 6 months.

LR: Don’t you just hate it when you’ve created a business, and people come in and try to pull one over on the consumer?

MM: Yes!

LR: It’s all about getting your information out there and letting people know that you’re the [best] one.

MM: I actually was just reading in your book how you did that on the site, and I think that’s something that we really need to start focusing on, because it’s a lot of money for somebody to spend for something that isn’t going to last.

Solexx's Grow For It greenhouses help budding victory gardeners reap bumper crops that are organic, sustainable, and affordable, right on their own property.

LR: Exactly. Did you know that during the Second World War that something like 40 to 60 percent of households grew their vegetables? It’s unbelievable. And now I think that we’re going back to the earth, in a way. I mean, what could be better for the environment than growing [your food] outside and walking it in the house? That’s like a zero carbon footprint. It’s an exciting place for you to be.

Let’s say I want to buy the 8×8. How much would it cost me?

MM: The [Solexx] one starts at about $2,500. Our new system, called Grow For It, [is] designed specifically to grow a large amount of food in a small space. We’re still working on the details for the release, but we’re targeting about $4,000 for an 8×8 Garden Master Solexx greenhouse, [including] everything to actually grow the food.

LR: Oh, it’s a complete. That’s fabulous! So it’s a turnkey operation. Do you know the demographic profile of the people that are buying your greenhouses?

MM: Yes, although it’s changing very rapidly. [The demographic used to be] somebody who was in their mid-50s and later. Women are primarily the driving force, although it is a joint decision — it’s a pretty expensive item, so both people are typically involved. Oftentimes, there is a triggering effect. Whether it be that somebody is retiring, or their children are just moving out for the first time, or the death of a spouse, there’s usually some event that’s triggering them buying a greenhouse, something that they’ve wanted their whole life.

That has really changed substantially in the past few years. We’ve noticed that when we’re doing trade shows or other [public] events [that] very often it’s young families that are coming by interested, and that has never happened before. I think what’s happening is kids are learning about growing [foods] in school. There’s much more of a gardening curriculum, much more of an awareness, and they’re bringing that interest to their parents.

Gardening skipped my generation. My generation was the first generation where a lot of mothers were working, so you had two-income households, and they didn’t have a lot of time, food was very inexpensive, and all of the prepared foods were [being introduced to the marketplace]. Most people I know my age [were exposed] to gardening through their grandparents. And now they’re getting it through their children.

LR: Your business is so important for this new time that we’re living in. I would come up with a payment plan. I would do this like traditional direct marketing. You also need a back end; meaning that, once you sell them the greenhouse, you want to continue selling them things that they might need. You want to keep these people with you, so that if you invent new seeds that work, new concepts in flowers and vegetables and whatever, that they can order more materials as time goes on. It costs so much to get the first customer, but once you’ve got them, it’s free to market to them.

I would make [Grow For It] your first consumer offer, along with an active consumer site that is user-friendly. You could have a blog where people that are using your greenhouses can talk about their experiences. This is something that would ignite the imaginations of so many people!

MM: We just started a blog on the Solexx site. Our sister company, the Greenhouse Catalog, is doing a lot of direct marketing and has a blog that’s been going for about two years.

Solexx's new Grow For It greenhouses will make growing your own produce easier than ever.

LR: [On the site, there’s] too much information for a consumer. I’m sure it’s in line, but it’s just overwhelming. I want a site [with] just your [line]. With all these other companies [on the site], how can you talk about the unique selling proposition of your line? It’s so special.

MM: One of my biggest challenges with the new Grow For It system is that it is patentable. I am pursuing patents, but I also think that probably more important than the patent is the brand identity. What I’m trying to figure out is how to create a very, very strong brand with a small budget, so that the patent is just secondary protection.

LR: Right. There’s also a strong argument for not having a patent, and just keeping it a secret, because patents can be broken. Now, once I buy [the Grow For It greenhouse] for $4,000, why do I need you after that?

MM: We’re working on a software system as well, where you input what you want to eat and it will develop a very detailed planting schedule of what you need to do every single week in the greenhouse. You’ll know you need to plant broccoli this week to harvest it roughly X amount of weeks later. [Also,] the growing media is made of coconut pith and chunks of coconut husk, and organic dry nutrients. We’re getting it directly from the source in Sri Lanka.

LR: That’s great, because you’re giving business to the people of Sri Lanka. That’s another way of giving back.

MM: Until it started being used as a growing medium, this was the only part of the entire coconut, including the roots, that didn’t have a use. Now, every single part of the coconut is used.

LR: Oh, my God, what a story! Michelle, I love this! It is so exciting. What about the pots?

MM: As people start growing, they’ll use more [pots]. The way the greenhouse is most effective is if you’re taking things out of the greenhouse as [the weather] warms up. For example, potatoes need to have some shelter from frost, but as soon as that main frost is gone, those can all come out. You just need to wait until the major frost is done, and it won’t hurt a larger plant, so it makes room for more. [The customer will] need more smart pots. They could easily have 250-300 different plants that they’re cycling through.

LR: [Can they] be knocked down [for shipping]?

MM: They actually can be knocked down and go completely flat.

LR: Oh, great. Fabulous! I love what you’re doing. You want to make sure you have a back end with these people. I hope you’ll do this as a consumer product. And you want to tell people that, for example, a family of four will get a payback in X amount of months, that in two years they would be getting their money back from what they didn’t buy at the market.

MM: With about $100 investment in a season, you can grow about $1,500 dollars of produce.

LR: Wow. And there are four seasons.

MM: Exactly. So, some places are getting a three- or four-month season; some places are getting nine. You can grow even cool crops all year. If you’re buying lettuce in winter, it’s extremely expensive, and you can grow it organically and have more lettuce than you could possibly imagine. I’m thinking [the payback is] probably two years, if you eat the expensive, high-quality organic food. But the taste is beyond compare. We’ve been harvesting peas for a little over five weeks now, and they taste like candy.

LR: I am very excited about you and your business.

MM: I so appreciate it. It’s such an opportunity to talk to you. I really appreciate the fact that you want to help small businesses, because there aren’t a lot of resources for us sometimes.

LR: All the best.