Green Circle Growers in Oberlin, OH, is one of the largest greenhouse operations in the U.S., providing plants to stores such as The Home Depot, Giant Eagle, and Sam’s Club. The operation is No. 10 on Greenhouse Grower’s Top 100 Growers list, with more than 5 million square feet of environmentally controlled space. Green Circle Growers’ team is committed to efficient and sustainable production practices and utilizes the latest in automation and technology to achieve its aim of producing high quality product with no waste.
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Green Circle Growers has three transplant lines that include Urbinati RW 64 units, the fastest transplanters available on the market with a capacity of 70,000 plugs per hour. Operators can program one machine for several different tray sizes, and plants run through the unit in a matter of seconds.
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Sixty wireless finger-grippers on the transplanters run remotely by a receiver-transmitter affixed to each gripper that relays its exact position to the computer. Plant Manager Sean Rishel says quality control on the transplant lines has improved to the point where only two workers are needed to look over the plants, and most of the time the errors are due to humans, not the machine.
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On the operation’s automated orchid production line, Green Circle workers place orchids into clamps on a machine that lowers the orchids into empty pots for filling.
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The machine has improved both quality and efficiency during production.
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The transplant line also includes a KV-XL flat filler from AgriNomix, which is fed with soil from an overhead conveyor line. Electronic controls automatically adjust the soil batch with the help of photo eyes attached to the hopper that alert the unit when more or less soil is required.
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In the orchid greenhouses, an overhead drum unit filters solids in recycled runoff water to 20 microns. Glass filters will eventually bring solids down further to 5 microns. After pH and electrical conductivity adjustments, water is stored in fresh silos that maintain it at 68°F. The fresh water buffer is large enough to cover all the watering needs for one day, says Frank Paul, one of two Head Orchid Growers at Green Circle.
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The computer program managing the water retention system controls the cycling of the water from the time it hits the overhead drum filter to when it leaves to water plants in the greenhouses.
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Water from the fresh silos cycles through the nutrition station, where multiple fertilizer solutions are mixed. The solutions are stored in a one of five recipe silos, which keep the water at 80°F.
“We’re entering our 48th year and are still increasing the business,” says co-owner Jason vanWingerden. “This is a result of a long-term commitment from many of our staff members, as well as the vision my father set up for the company.”
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Check out the photo gallery for an up-close look at automation at Green Circle Growers.