In a modular vertical farm, you're most likely to find a variety of leafy greens growing year-round. We actually explained why leafy greens earlier on.

But to summarize, these crops are usually fast and easy to grow at reliable volumes while giving you the most return on investment.

Growcer's modular farms are optimized for leafy green production but that doesn't stop the curiosity of customers from brewing. What about tomatoes? Tobacco? Peppers?

That curiosity blossomed at The Barrett Centre of Innovation in Sustainable Urban Agriculture at Durham College. Keep reading to see how they've explored beyond the world of leafy greens.

jalapeño peppers in vertical farms 🌶️

Let's add a bit of spice~

At The Barrett Centre, the plan was to plant peppers and tomatoes into two rafts and add extra lighting. They run an Osiris Access Farm, which is modified for accessibility and optimized for leafy green production.

Let there be light

For fruiting plants (like peppers and tomatoes) the extra light was crucial to give the plants what they needed to bloom. This was accomplished using a 120w Quantum board mounted above the plants to bring the PAR reading to 800-1000 mmol/m2/s.

Outgrowing expectations

James, the operator, says the plan was to grow all the plants out then pick the stronger ones to continue the experiment. However, the plants quickly outgrew his expectations and soon filled the rafts (even growing beyond their specified determinate height). 

Timeline

The tomatoes and jalapeno peppers were first planted on February 2 and harvested on May 27 (almost four months of growth compared to your typical 6 week cycle for lettuces).

Jalapeno Yields

The first yield of jalapeno peppers was only 500 grams (slightly less than average). The jalapenos were full of spice and slight sweetness.

Once they got comfortable with their new environment, the yields followed.

• First Harvest, May 27 - 500g

• Second Harvest, June 17 - 500g

• Third Harvest, July 2 - 600g

• Fourth Harvest, July 17 - 500g

• Fifth Harvest, August 1 - 1,400g

Tomato Yields

Sadly, the tomatoes had a different fate. At the first harvest, the tomatoes lacked flavour and the operator decided to discontinue their growth. (Sorry tomatoes!)

In addition to the lack of taste, the tomatoes also “polluted” the water with their flowers and aborted fruits, making it harder for other plants to thrive.

Big stretch

Once the tomato production was eliminated, the peppers spread out to occupy one side of a raft.

James says this was done for two reasons:

1. The pepper plants became top heavy and began to lean.

2. The peppers needed horizontal support ACROSS the runway to encourage this lateral growth (why fight their growing path, when you can support it?). Then supplemental lighting was directed toward these horizontal plants too.

While the plants encountered a small “shock” after being repositioned, their fruiting production wasn’t severely interrupted and continued.

Pollination

A key difference between vegetables and fruits is that fruits require pollination.

James shares throughout the experiment, all the flowers were hand pollinated using an electric toothbrush. He pollinated the crops once a week for no more than 15 minutes. James speculated that as the experiment progressed and only one row of peppers required pollination, it became easier to provide “more thorough pollination of the flowers” which could be why yields improved over time.

And there you have it! Nothing like a mini experiment to spice things up.

If you’re interested in learning more about The Barrett Centre of Innovation in Sustainable Urban Agriculture at Durham College, check out what was said during the grower panel.