New food-growth product a bit hairy
A Florida company has developed an all-natural product that it says could revolutionize how food is grown in the U.S. It's called Smart Grow, but it might be a tough sell. Dan Grech explains.
A sorel plant hairmat (Dan Grech/Marketplace)
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Loot Farms owner Harry Grafe
World Response Group CEO Blair Blacker in a Smart Grow warehouse.
TEXT OF STORY
Kai Ryssdal: There's a company in South Florida that's got a new product it says could revolutionize how food is grown in this country. Smart Grow, it's called, is all natural. It's inexpensive. It eliminates the need for pesticides, so it's environmentally friendly. But it might still be a tough sell as Marketplace's Dan Grech explains.
DAN GRECH: I'm with Blair Blacker, CEO of the company that makes Smart Grow. He's taken me to a nondescript warehouse in Florida City, where the miracle product is stored.
BLAIR BLACKER: Come on in.
GRECH: Well, you know, the first thing I notice when I walk in here is there's a little bit of an odor.
BLACKER: A little pungent odor, which is the odor of money, as far as we're concerned.
Actually, it's the odor of human hair. This warehouse is stacked floor-to-ceiling with hundreds of canvas bundles, shaped like giant sausages, filled with hair. The hair was boiled and sanitized before it was weaved into mats by needle-punch machines.
BLACKER: So you have approximately 10,000 pounds of hair in the warehouse that you're looking at.
GRECH: How much money is this hair worth?
BLACKER: This entire inventory is valued roughly at $400,000.
You can buy circular mats of hair, measuring 6 to 14 inches, that you place around plant stems. Or you can buy the mats as a roll. The hair crowds out weeds, conserves water, and supplies nitrogen and micronutrients. Plant pathologists at the University of Florida have found the mats eliminate weeds better than leading herbicides.
Farmer Harry Grafe was skeptical when a Smart Grow salesman first made the pitch. But Grafe gave it a try on an acre of sorrel plants. He spent a few hundred dollars on mats. And he went from sending a crew to weed four times a year to not weeding at all.
HARRY GRAFE: That's like $80 dollars an hour, 10 guys, OK. That's $800 dollars every time they weed it. So that would be $3,200 you save a year.
In controlled experiments, University of Florida researchers have found that hair mats can also make plants grow up to 30 percent larger. Grafe tried his own experiment on a row of bitter gourds.
GRAFE: And they were thicker, and they were taller, and they did look better. So the fertilizer potential of it works.
The hair mats are made in China. But not because of cheap labor. In China, hair is a commodity, used in wigs and even as an additive in food. While American barbers sweep hair into the trash, Chinese haircutters sell their trimmings to brokers. Blair Blacker says Chinese hair is also more nutrient rich because it's not as treated as Western hair. That means Smart Grow hair mats, which have the consistency of a soft brillo pad, come in just one color: black.
BLACKER: There is a slight nutritional difference between blond hair and black hair, but as far as a plant is concerned, they wouldn't notice the difference.
GRECH: Which is more nutritional?
BLACKER: Blond tends to be slightly less nutritional. Slightly. I'm not going to say a word.
Smart Grow packs retail for $4 at the Smart Grow Web site. The mats pulled in $300,000 in sales last year. They've also sold on cable shopping channel QVC and at Wal-Mart. Since 2003, more than two million have been sold. But Blacker says it can take a lot of advertising to get people past the ick factor.
BLACKER: If you're selling to people who are eco-minded, earth friendly, it's a natural product. And they jump on it. If you're with people who for some reason have a negative fetish towards hair, then no matter what you do they won't get over it.
Blacker says he's now focusing on agricultural clients in Florida: plant nurseries and vegetable farms. But he's looking for a few million dollars in venture funding to take the product nationwide.
In Florida City, I'm Dan Grech for Marketplace.
Comments
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From Maurepas, LA, 08/14/2009
My children from New Zealand are visiting China next week. Can you tell me what Chinese company supplies the weed matts?
05/20/2009
I wonder what it would do around citrus trees that have air roots. Mulching is bad for citrus because it suffocates the air roots, weeds steal water and nutrients... and weeds take over in a matter of days! Any one out there know the answer?
From Daytona Beach, FL, 05/19/2009
All sorts of fibers are good to use as a mulch. We have a lot of Spanish Mulch hanging in our trees that we use in our potted plants and along sidewalk planters. In addition wood chips work well as a mulch in big supply (free from many tree services). I'm not sure that the hair actually breaks down in any usable amount of time. I thought when they exhume fossils, etc. that the hair is often still in tact (like on mummies). Regardless, if the fiber (like hair) is woven into mats, then it would be alot easier to remove, till, and replace for the next planting (that's the problem with wood chips, so instead we just turn them in, it increases the water holding capacity of our beach-sand soil).
From SC, 05/08/2009
I hope it is human hair that has been clipped voluntarily and not dog hair. They eat them there ya know.
From Orlando, FL, 04/30/2009
I would have to assume that hair supply is much larger than coconut fiber (just take the amount of people in the world). I have tried coconut fiber mats in my nursery and did not have a great result in controlling weeds. I don't think that the coco fiber guys make any claim in providing nutrients though. I have to give a try to the hair mats to see what this is all about.
From Christiansted, 04/30/2009
I collect dry seaweed and seagrass drift from the high tide line at a nearby beach on St. Croix, and use it in a 1-2" thick layer on top of the soil. It works in any size pot, and contributes micronutrients to the plant as it degrades, while preventing weeds from growing in the pots.
From Beijing, 04/29/2009
What about coconut fibre mats? Coconut mat suppliers claim to have the same properties and uses and coconut fibre supply is huge and cheap.
Applaud the ingenuity of using hair, but find it hard to believe that this compared to the alternative that this is a good solution.
From Santa Rosa, CA, 04/29/2009
I thought it was a little amusing when they said the company had to get past the "ick" factor when selling their product, since it is made of hair. Don't most people that farm or garden know what manure is made of??
From Sunnyvale, CA, 04/29/2009
I actually heard the NPR broadcast of this on the radio the other day and thought to look for it on google and found this site. Just placed an order for some of the mats. The idea of crowding out weeds, natural moisture retention, and fertilizing sounds great to me.
To add onto that, I'm hoping it will keep those darn burrowing squirrels at bay.
From Denver, CO, 04/29/2009
I have been taking my own head shavings for the past decade and putting them in 6-12 inches deep in my soil... Particularly when I plant a new yearling. Mix it with cheerios and then plant. The long term benefits of A to B (which I have done) are at least 30% larger veggies and fruits. If folks can't get over it, they are wacked. The protein is fantastic, breaks down slowly. I would not use hair that has been treated, or has chemicals added (shampoos that are nasty, or conditioners either).
From Boston, MA, 04/29/2009
Who cares where the hair comes from, unless they are executing the dissidents specifically to harvest their hair? Come on...
From Boston, MA, 04/29/2009
Who cares where the hair comes from, unless they are executing the dissidents specifically to harvest their hair? Come on...
04/29/2009
Anyone check the hair for mercury and other toxic compounds that may be concentrated in these hair mats? What on face value seems like a fabulous idea may (hopefully does not) have a dark underbelly. Mercury concentrates in human hair and given the toxic compounds find in Chinese made goods these last few years, I suggest it's worth checking to alleviate concern before it arises.
04/29/2009
@ Anonymous Concerned:
While I can understand your initial passing thought any time one hears Chinese product and human byproduct in the same sentence, the math simply does not stack up; 1.4 billion live heads growing hair vs. 8,917 total confirmed executions in 2008. Even if every executed person's hair was harvested, this would amount to less than 00.001% of the hair in China.
From Tallahassee, FL, 04/29/2009
$80/hr. is correct, for *10* guys. $8/hr. each person.
From CA, 04/29/2009
That must be $80 a day. Its hard to believe they get all the weeding done in an hour ($800 each time 10 people weed)
From Yankee Hill, CA, 04/29/2009
Soylent green is peopleSZ!
Seriously, my daddy used hair clippings for years in his garden. He'd get it from the local barbershop. Never thought much about it...
From Beverly Hills, CA, 04/29/2009
At $80/hour for people to weed his farm, this farmer needs to learn about the benefits of using illegals for farm labor.
From Leesburg, VA, 04/29/2009
This is an awesome product. I tried it last year and I just reordered some more. I have to tell you I had my best gardening season ever with the hair mats. I bought them from www.SmartGrow.us. I highly recommend this product to everyone. You guys can also YouTube "SmartGrow" to see the Abc story I saw last year which was great as well.
From armonk, NY, 04/28/2009
This might solve two problems-deter the deer and allow plants to grow without the worries of weeds. Incredibly interesting-how do I buy some
From VA, 04/28/2009
Thank you for this very interesting story. At school, my 5th graders and I just read about how hair is used to soak up oil from oil spills. The students will love hearing about other environmentally responsible uses of our tresses!
From NY, 04/28/2009
Where can I buy this? I think this is great! I love when business and science converge.
From NY, 04/28/2009
I am concerned about the source of this product because of some reports that Chinese government officials are selling the remains of executed dissidents.
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