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In November 2015, just in time for the cold weather of winter, Steve Lorch announced that his new greenhouse, in which to grow his Table Rock Tea Company tea plants, was ready for use.
The work at Pickens, South Carolina, to complete the greenhouse took eight months of planning, engineering, and construction, and Lorch collaborated with FarmTek, who helped to design the new installation, and JT’s Greenhouse and Nurseries who constructed it.
Lorch wanted to be as off-grid as possible and so the greenhouse runs with no electricity. Ventilation is provided by a mechanical system of windows along both sides of the construction and on the three roof ridges. These can be opened and closed by a series of gears to create an updraft of air in hotter months.
The greenhouse is 72 feet by 48 feet and holds around 18,000 plants on a double tiered bank divided by aisles three feet wide to make it easy to move around the space. The floor is covered with gravel to allow for good drainage. The plants will live and mature inside the greenhouse for two or three years before being planted on the farm.
They are hand-watered, nylon netting fixed inside the roof creates shade in mid-summer, and gentle warmth in cold weather is created using an immersion system that runs on waste oil. A small 8 foot by 12 foot greenhouse within the greenhouse is the genetics lab where plants are propagated and where any variant plants are isolated and assessed.
Learn more: www.tablerocktea.com