THE BOTTOM- On Saba there are hopes of soon harvesting locally grown strawberries, among with other fruits and vegetables.

The Saba Hydroponic Farm Project, managed by Gezondheid Farms in collaboration with the public entity Saba, has entered the final phase of construction. The concrete slabs of the small and large greenhouses have been poured and the road to both greenhouses is ready.

With the construction of the two greenhouses being completed by mid-2023, or possibly earlier, operations toward crop production and sales are scheduled to start this spring. Currently, the farm has completed grow trials on lettuce, leafy greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, bell peppers, okra, eggplant, watermelons, cantaloupes and honey dew melons.

Strawberries

The farm is now concentrating on strawberry plants. The farm’s location at Rendez-Vous on the higher part of the flanks of Mount Scenery allows for cooler temperatures and higher humidity required to grow strawberry. “With 50 mother roots purchased early October, the farm has developed a cloning process to birth off 700 baby strawberry plants to add to the inventory, ready for transplant to outdoors when the equipment has been installed and is ready for use” says Jim Garza of Gezondheid Farms.

Once the construction of one of the two greenhouse structures has been completed, the strawberry seedlings and the 20 plus other crop variety seedlings will be placed outdoors, germinated in the farm’s tissue culture processing cabinet in the current showroom facility.