At five feet seven inches tall, 13-year-old Stephen Richter is dwarfed by the organic corn he grows with his mother Aloma Fowler-Richter.
The corn, which can soar to nine feet, is part of a one-acre research trial using Organa Power organic fertilizer. It began last year in greenhouses at the Richters’ market garden south of Saskatoon.
The fertilizer is delivered through a drip irrigation system every five days.
Both growers agreed it is effective fertilizer, adding a cob to every plant, producing corn with sweet taste and 17 rows of kernels.
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“It’s awesome,” Fowler-Richter said.
Her son agreed, noting the fertilizer contains 13 essential elements, including nitrogen, phosphorus, potash, copper, iron and boron.
“It enriches the soil to make the plant suck up the nutrients a lot easier,” he said.
“It works really good, better than any other fertilizer we’ve ever found.”
Bob Mullen, president of Organa Power in Ceylon, Sask., said the yeast-based fertilizer is made through a fermentation process and consists of a secret blend of ingredients from Asia, Mexico and the United States.
“I’ve been in horticulture a long time, but never seen a fertilizer that can do what this can do,” said Mullen, citing brilliant colours in flowers, 80-90 pound pumpkins and hydrangea-sized blooms on geraniums.
Interest is growing in the product, which is sold in Saskatchewan gardening stores.
The company supplied Aloma-Richter’s Garden Patch store with two pallets of product this year, up from less than one last year.
Mullen said the company operates a bottling plant with six employees and could scale up its production to handle farm sales.
Stores sell a two-litre bottle for about $12, while Mullen can supply up to 200-litre barrels for $300. It can also be supplied to farmers at bulk rates in 20,000-litre truck tankers.
