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Alternative Crop Opportunity for Berry Growers
Mark here - I was approached by Bob Tews, who is a part of a Colorado family business that produces a liqueur called Tingala www.tingalaspirits.com He is looking for growers in the Santa Cruz County area who might have an interest in contracting with them to grow a fresh flower used in production of our alcoholic beverage. Tingala incorporates edible Spilanthes (Acmella alba, or “lemon drop”) flowers in production which he says is harvested much like strawberries, and hence my interest in posting this here. Currently they buy flowers in bulk from a farmer, but are looking to diversify their base of growers.
So we are clear, I've never worked with this crop so don't know much about it, but since I do hear from time to time from growers that they'd like to try something different than berries I figured I'd put Bob's request here.
Bob continues about the opportunity - his contact info is at the bottom of the page:
Spilanthes is a disease resistant perennial that grows and is harvested very much like strawberries and I believe would be adaptable to the plastic mulch and drip watering of strawberry growing. As such, it may provide a viable option for growers looking for a year round cash crop.
Initially, we are looking at establishing a small 500 to 1,000 sq. ft. sample plot to see if the flower adapts to strawberry growing conditions. At present, we buy 40 pounds of the fresh flowers per week. In the future we are looking to scale production as Tingala sales grow from 9 states to a national brand.
Please let me know if this is something you could present to Santa Cruz County growers or who I should contact for this request. I can follow up with more specific information if anyone has interest. Feel free to give me call (number below) anytime. Thank you for considering.
If helpful to know, here are a few more Spilanthes production details:
- Plants per acreage: potentially up to 2,500 plants per ¼ acre
- Yield per plant: an estimated 250 flowers per plant every 3 months
- Approximately 600 fresh flowers = 1 pound
- Harvest method: Hand-picked individual flower tops (on approximately half-inch stem), or because of the growth pattern in which the flowers are on a stem above the foliage, mechanical harvesting might be possible
- Handling and shipping: Because we crush and macerate the flowers in high-proof alcohol to extract flavor, they do not require delicate handling such as with flowers used decoratively. Shipping can be done by vacuum bagging, boxing, and sending overnight via FedEx or UPS to Colorado.
THE PLANT: Spilanthes (Acmella alba) is a perennial flowering herb in the family Asteraceae, native to the Amazon River Basin in South America. It has vigorous germination from seed and is transplantable from start in 6 weeks. The mature root structure is approximately 6”x 6” and from that grows into blue/green foliage with a height of 12” to 15” and a width of 12” to 28”. Optimal growing requires full sun of 6+ hours per day. Plants are disease and insect resistant. Flowers on the plant are long-lasting and take weeks to go to seed. Below are a few pictures.
I could also fly to California at some point. I'd enjoy meeting growers in person and discussing how best to work together. Our daughter doesn't live far from Watsonville, so I am in the area fairly often.
Are there any other questions that you have? Thank you.
Bob Tews
Tews Pro Services LLC
C 303 808-4072
