Who We Are
SLIP is an innovative start-up launched by two St. Louis entrepreneurs who envision a healthier and more abundant future for our city, through agro-tech, urban revitalization, responsibly. SLIP also provides training and employment to our small team of interns.
What We’ve Done
Installed a hydroponics grow display and supplied kale and strawberries to City Greens Market
Educated youth groups on the benefits of hydroponics
Developed our own liquid-cooling, patent-pending LED grow lights
Set up micro-grow spaces in Old North and South City with Good Life Growing
Moved into the Greencubator in June 2019, a revitalized factory-turned-grow space
Harvested our first crop of Genovese, Dark Opal, Thai, and Spicy Globe basil in July ‘19!
Delivered fresh produce to neighborhood favorites Local Harvest and City Greens Market as of July ‘19
Supplied local restaurants such as Pizza Head, Juniper, and Master Pietza with fresh basil
What we want to do
Building our farm, maximizing our grow space, and experimenting with new crops.
Designing state of the art, energy efficient grow lights for commercial usage.
Offering tours and field trips of the Greencubator and SLIP farm, and educational opportunities off-site (like the first day at COCA’s “green cuisine” camp!)
Partnering with local gardening organizations such as Intersect Arts Center to provide input on community spaces.
Become a partner of SLIP as a customer, investor, or for an educational experience!
“Farm smart: save water, save land, save lives.”
Hydroponics 101
Hydroponics is an agricultural method enabling us to grow plants without soil, indoors with nutrient-rich water, growlights, and climate controls. Plants need a few things to grow and thrive: water, circulating air with plenty of CO2, the nutrition of the sun, and the nutrition of the soil. With indoor hydroponic growing, we create all the ideal conditions for growing food.
Hydroponics offers a controlled, indoor environment, increasing our yields without the stresses of weather and pests — which also means we need far less chemicals to keep our plants healthy. The nutrition of the sun is replaced with LED growlights, and fans and cooling keep our air moving and clean.
Our water is a perfectly balanced, pH-adjusted nutrient solution, delivered right to the roots (where the name “hydro” comes from). SLIP uses a recirculating vertical Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) — our vertical growth system allows us to grow large amounts of produce within a very limited amount of space.
Our educational event installation, 2018
The process
The nutrient film technique (NFT) involves a small, shallow stream of nutrient-rich water, recirculated over roots through a channel, gutter, or tube.
Recirculated water reduces environmental footprint, saving between 70-90%.
Promotes faster growth cycle, increasing annual yields
Saves space, maximizing resources
Growing indoors allows outdoor spaces to re-wild and recover from humankind’s massive agricultural footprint.
The equipment
Vertical Growing Modules
Seedlings are transplanted into towers and fed targeted liquid nutrients, through constantly moving water
Home-Made Lights
LEDs emit custom color wavelengths ideal for plant growth
Timers and Sensors
Controls watering/feeding cycles, promoting more vigorous growth