First Rays Named as Primary U.S. Online Retail Outlet for Inocucor Garden Solution® Plant Probiotics

December 2nd, 2014

Long-time international horticultural product supplier counts over 10,000 greenhouse growers, floriculturists, hydroponic growers and urban farmers as customers.

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. and MONTREAL, December 2, 2014–First Rays, a 20-year-old, web-based retail horticultural products firm based in Doylestown, Pa., has been named the primary online retail outlet for Inocucor’s Garden Solution®, a fermented plant accelerator produced by Inocucor Technologies, Inc., the Montreal-based ag biotech company.

Currently, Inocucor Garden Solution is approved as a soil amendment by 20 U.S. states. It is also approved for organic gardening and farming by the international Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI). It can now be ordered for same-day shipping from First Rays’ website at shop.firstrays.com.

Under development since 2007, Inocucor Garden Solution is fermented from a consortium of naturally occurring beneficial microorganisms, including yeasts and bacteria. It works to accelerate plant growth and improve disease resistance in greenhouses and hydroponic growing operations and on farms.

“We are always on the lookout for safe, sustainable products that help our growers increase yields and improve plant health,” said Ray Barkalow, owner of First Rays. “As an early user of Garden Solution, I’m pleased to help make it available to a broad U.S. audience.”

Barkalow, an international authority on orchid cultivation and a regular speaker at national orchid-growers’ gatherings, has worked with Inocucor’s Garden Solution — which he calls a “plant probiotic” — in his own greenhouses.

First Rays will be sharing Barkalow’s tips on the use of Garden Solution with its more than 10,000 regular customers, who include greenhouse growers, floriculturists, hydroponic growers and urban farmers in the U.S., Canada and 39 other countries worldwide.

Barkalow has been tracking the progress of Inocucor’s Garden Solution in the field, including its role in the rescue of the nearly extinct tropical lady slipper orchid (Paphiopedilum tigrinum) and in trials with vegetables at McGill University, Clemson Coastal Research Extension and several organic and conventional greenhouse operations in the Carolinas. These studies have shown how Garden Solution stimulates plant growth, increases plant biomass and promotes earlier maturation of fruit and vegetables, often increasing yields by 10 to 15 percent.

Inocucor Garden Solution is patented and registered as a soil amendment in approximately 20 U.S. states. Regulatory approval for its use in nearly two dozen states is expected by mid-2015. It is also registered as a water treatment under the name of Aqua Solution® in Québec and Ontario.