Aimed at targeting the beginner vegetable grower, the seasoned home grower and commercial cultivators, local entrepreneur Wynand Bezuidenhout presents to South Africa his hydroponic vegetable growing system called Grow Machines. Developed through his skills as a qualified engineer, Grow Machines is a pioneering system in South Africa which enables growers to produce large or small crops of vegetables, flowers or forage without soil, in the most arid conditions with fewer resources than traditional methods.

Based on hydroponic technology, the Grow Machine systems do not require soil or ideal environmental conditions to ensure successful growth. Based on the Nutrient Film Technique or NFT, a very shallow stream of water containing dissolved nutrients required for plant growth is re-circulated past the bare roots of plants in a watertight gully or channel within the Grow Machines framework.

According to Grow Machines, their systems and hydroponic plants offer the market an energy efficient vegetable growing solution, cost efficiency in terms of seeding cost versus purchasing produce incurring transport, packaging and refrigeration costs as well as reduced carbon footprint on large scale farming.

Wynand comments, “I have spent countless hours, money and effort on researching and developing our hydroponic equipment. My passion and dream of making a positive difference in people’s lives and to give back to earth led me to develop a range of tested and proven hydroponic systems which produce  vegetables, and in tandem, a business and upliftment opportunity for thousands of South Africans. I am so excited to share the Grow Machines experience, techniques and knowledge in NFT production which will help a varied levels of growers to successfully produce vegetables and save considerable amounts of time and money on trial and error.”

“Our systems are soilless and hence do not make use of any dirt or organic matter to support the plants. This presents a huge cost advantage in the sense that it is not necessary for growers to buy and transport expensive growing aids such as soil or other hydroponic mediums. Just this cost cutting alone can make the difference between being successful or not in your vegetable growing, whether home or commercial.”

With Grow Machines, growers can produce a variety of non-tuber plants, flowers, vegetables and fruit including lettuce, herbs, spinach, zucchini, patty pans, rocket, strawberries, chilies, beans, peas, tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, to name a few. 

The Grow Machines farm is located  an area that is home to extreme weather conditions ranging from - 16 degrees Celsius in winter to 40 degrees in summer, interspersed with extreme wind, severe frost and frequent rain and hail storms. Thanks to this location in the heart of erratic climatic conditions, the team have learned from the elements and tailored and evolved Grow Machines to ensure the survival of various plant types in the most arid conditions, which would otherwise not have survived.

“Our systems are designed to be productive and reliable. We continually research and improve. We have machines for every step of the cycle from planting to harvesting. Even if you cannot afford a Grow Machine we believe that there still lies an opportunity in the supply chain. The nice thing about these opportunities is that most of them can be run from home without major expenses,” he adds.

Wynand explains that Grow Machines, coupled with a trained grower can supply plants with near optimal conditions. The result is faster growth, in some cases up to 50% faster, a better yield and superb quality. Much depends however on the operator (or grower). Hydroponics is a complex science and it is essential that the grower is properly trained. Through attendance to Grow Machines free, practical NFT training courses it’s Hydroponics Social Club, growers get any problems solved. The Homegrower Kit for example offers a one hour crash course in the basics of the system and the technique.

Encouraging small enterprise development, Grow Machines also presents low-cost opportunities to entrepreneurs including becoming a Grow Machine Agent to sell or install the Homegrowers equipment, selling commercial equipment on a commission basis, setting up a lettuce / herbs pack house to supply fast food chains, supermarkets, retail chains, hotels, coffee shops, restaurants, hostels and hospitals etc. As well as the opportunity for rural consumers to become a distribution point to small enterprise pack houses in the cities, becoming a distributor for the Grow Machines professionally grown seedlings or simply producing and selling living herb baskets.

Over and above supplying the Grow Machines systems, equipment and hydroponic plants for new customers, Grow Machines offers ongoing training, maintenance, seedling and products to both home based and corporate clientele to ensure sustained organic vegetable growing systems which produce good, cost effective crops to pave the way to self-sufficiency.