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atoctin Mountain Growers was started in 1985 by Bob and Denise Van Wingerden in Keymar, Md. In the beginning, the young couple did everything themselves, from planting to delivering plants. Nearly 35 years later, the company employs 60 to 70 helpers in peak season. Catoctin Mountain Growers has 25 acres of growing space, including a 15-acre, state-of-the art glass greenhouse. All four of the Van Wingerden children, now grown, are involved, or plan to be, in the business. Tyler is vice president of sales, responsible for all sales and business development, new customers and new products. Bill is in charge of dispatching deliveries and logistics. Christina is greenhouse manager. She manages crews and sees to it that products are where they need to be. Blake is a senior at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., and plans to come back to the family business after graduation. Walmart is the company’s biggest customer, and under terms of its merchandising program, Catoctin Mountain Growers employs 110 to 115 additional people in spring and fall to water plants in 50 Walmart stores in Maryland. Tyler Van Wingerden said they like to be in the stores to help keep the plants healthy. The family is dedicated to growing top quality annuals, perennials, mums and poinsettias, 175 varieties of plants in all. Annuals make up 80 percent of production. A small number of perennials is grown for specific customers. The 15-acre greenhouse has had 2 more acres added to it. The greenhouse is a single structure, all under one roof with lots of entrances. “We like going from one area to another without getting wet,” Van Wingerden explained. The greenhouse is divided into bays with poles for support. Every bay has an overhead boom and all but the oldest section have ebb and flow flooring. All of
the floors are concrete. “We drain, filter and reuse the water,” Van Wingerden said. “Depending on the type of plant and where it is in its life cycle, we use either the overhead boom or flood to get water all around the roots. Not using overhead watering means less disease, and when plants are in flower, they don’t want to wilt the flowers, he added. Catoctin Mountain Growers has a unique slow sand filtration system that Bob Van Wingerden has been pioneering. All irrigation is done from their own pond, Van Wingerden said. All the gutters and drainage are directed to the pond. Water is pumped through a sand filter slowly, not under pressure, in a large concrete rectangle 40 feet by 60 feet and 4 feet deep. In addition to sand, the filter contains 2 feet of gravel. Water trickles through, then is stored and pumped to the greenhouse as needed. Van Wingerden said they are figuring out different and better ways to clean the sand filter. For now, they drain the filter, leaving a half inch of water above New shipping dock which the sand, then use a heavyis part of the 2 new acres built last year. duty shop vacuum to take off the top part. “We’ve also learned ways (continued on next page)
30 • Summer 2019