Growing Solutions, Inc.

Growing Solutions (GSI) is headquartered in Eugene, Oregon, where it was founded in 1997. Founder and CEO Michael Alms came to Oregon in 1996, selling greenhouse systems for Teufel Nursery. One of his accounts, Karl Rubenberger of Umpqua Organic Farm in Roseburg, had created a prototype system that produced an aerated microbial solution from compost to use as an organic foliar spray on his Asian Pear trees. The prototype consisted of a specialized vortex nozzle designed by Rubenberger, a conical holding tank, and a recirculating pump. When Alms met Rubenberger during the early stages of experimentation with the prototype, Rubenberger was seeking someone to refine the concept and take it to market. Recognizing a great opportunity, Alms negotiated an arrangement with Rubenberger, honed the design, and developed a manufacturing process and distribution network that formed the basis of Growing Solutions as a business. Production of the 50-gallon MicrobBrewer™, believed to be the first commercial Compost Tea system, began in 1999. The first two of these units went to customers in Hawaii—one to an organic ginger farm, and another to a tropical fruit grower on Maui. Demand grew for a smaller size, prompting the design and production of the 12-gallon MicrobBrewer. Lotusland, a private botanical garden in Santa Barbara, California, purchased the first of these.