Success Stories

A ‘FitBit’ for plants, EarthOne turned to BCIC to fill the gap in marketing

While many people love plants and spend good money on them, we may not all be plant experts. You might find yourself asking yourself, when did I water that plant last? Does it need more light? Should I add more soil? That’s why Sidhanth (Sid) Pereira, Founder & Head of Product at EarthOne, knew the market needed a product like this. While Sid was confident in his product, but knew, to be successful, they were going to need someone to help them with marketing. That’s where the Business & Commercialization Innovation Centre (BCIC) came in to help to give them the direction they needed.

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Phytotoxicity assessment of sodium for lettuce grown in NEREA®-based hydroponics

Niagara College’s (NC) Horticultural & Environmental Science Innovation Centre (HESIC) ran parallel crops of lettuce that were grown in a hydroponic Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) system in NEREA® and standard Oasis® rockwool at the NC greenhouse located in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, with the goal being to determine sodium concentration in both hydroponic solutions and the edible portion of lettuce.

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Evaluation of the effects of the weight of zeolite in peat moss-based media and the corresponding shipping logistics of potted plant products

IZ Weights Trial

IZC looked to Niagara College’s Horticultural & Environmental Sciences Innovation Centre (HESIC) team to determine if a new soil amendment was going to impact international shipping and handling of plants. The HESIC team created multiple zeolite-peat moss blend ratios and determined dry and wet weights of plants potted in several different pots with zeolite-containing media.

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Evaluation of the Performance of Zeolite-based NEREA® as a Media Amendment for Commercial Production of Basil in Canada

Fresh Basil plant

IZ reached out to Niagara College’s Horticultural & Environmental Sciences Innovation Centre (HESIC) team to work together to assess the performance of NEREA® as a provider of a short-term crop’s complete nutritional requirements. A small-scale trial was performed at the NC Teaching Greenhouse comparing germination and performance of Ocimum basilicum (basil) across a range of percentages of NEREA® blended with sphagnum peat moss.

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NC helps Quick Plug identify formulation of plug media to successfully encourage faster rooting of cannabis cuttings

Quick Plug wanted to produce a novel formulation of solid plug media applicable to several different crops, which would effectively reduce time to root emergence, ‘rooting’, without compromising plant health. Quick Plug turned to Niagara College’s Horticultural & Environmental Sciences Innovation Centre (HESIC) to conduct growing trials to evaluate two of their novel formulations.

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