MEMBER PROFILE 



CHAKARIAN FARM GREENHOUSES 

 Home-grown Quality 



I like growing flowers," Bill Chakarian says. And 

 the emphasis at Chakarian Farm Greenhouses is 

 on just that. 

 Both Bill and Deb grew up in a Salem more 

 rural than it is today. Neither had an agricultural 

 background, but Bill always wanted to grow 

 plants and, soon after their marriage, they bought 50 

 wooded acres in Derry in 1977. 



They cleared five acres and built the 40'x96' gam- 

 brel-roofed barn — the first floor for sales and storage; 

 the second, an apartment ("We'd always thought this 

 would be temporary — but we're still here"); Bill's office 

 is still basically the kitchen table. 



They wholesaled, specializing in herbs and less ordi- 

 nary vegetables — bok choy, napa.but when a major 

 broker, finding he wasn't their only customer, canceled 

 his account, they needed to sell material at the farm. 

 They found that not only were there people out there 

 willing to buy, but that they enjoyed dealing with indi- 

 vidual customers. "Good feedback is one of the things 

 that keeps you going — the retail side of things can give 

 you this." 



The retail world also seems less volatile. In wholesal- 

 ing, there would be abrupt changes as trends were an- 

 ticipated — or created. In the retail side, these trends 

 appear, but not everyone is interested. "The numbers 

 of people and the variety of tastes create stability. You 

 can plan more comfortably." Today, 80% of their busi- 

 ness is retail. 



When they were farming, there was a greenhouse 

 in back of the barn — a 20'xlOO' single poly — a two-by- 

 four frame on telephone pole supports — used to get 

 a jump on the season with early lettuce, mint, and 

 tomatoes. 



This is gone, but today there are nine others. Di- 

 rectly behind the barn is a row of six — a 63'x96' three- 

 bay gutter-connected XS Smith (houses I, 2, and 3) and 

 three 30'x96' double-poly hoop houses (4, 5, and 6). To 

 the right of the barn is the most recent addition, a 

 63'xi44' three-bay gutter-connected (houses A, B, and 

 C) put up in 1996. 



THE BUILDINGS ARE AWAY FROM THE ROAD. The 

 driveway, lined with young sugar maples, leads past 

 two irrigation ponds toward the unadorned barn and 

 greenhouses around it. To the right are fields; beyond 

 these is woods. Other than the maples, there's no land- 

 scaping to speak of. The outdoor crop displays will fill 

 any bare ground. 



The season begins in January, but much work has 

 been done beforehand. They close at the end of Octo- 

 ber and in November, the entire range is disinfected. 

 "We disinfect pots, benches, everything inside the 

 houses. ..we're very cleanliness-conscious — we take off 

 our shoes if we need to stand on the benches. ..but we 

 rarely use fungicides." In December, pots are filled and 

 set in the appropriate houses. "We reuse pots — we en- 

 courage customers to return them — but we try to keep 

 things uniform." 



Much of their material is grown from seed. They use 

 a Bouldin and Lawson computerized precision needle 

 seeder. This recently replaced a small vacuum seeder 

 and they're happy with the new speed and precision. 

 They use pelletized seed whenever possible. Thirteen- 

 year-old son josh is the expert operator ("he knows 

 more about it than we do"). 



The seeder is set up in House 5. The newly seeded 

 288 plug trays are set on benches without bottom heat 

 and misted whenever needed. There's an 85-90% germi- 

 nation rate. 



Bill sees himself primarily as a grower and his deep- 

 est interest is in perfecting techniques. Records are 

 carefully kept and notes are taken. After several years, 

 patterns emerge and become the basis for production. 



"We grow something of everything — 30 varieties of 

 pansies; 25 of tomato; 15 of hot pepper (these rated for 

 hotness). 



He grows a variety of material in hangers — about 

 5000 total — and sees each variety as having its own re- 

 quirements. He buys three growing media and mixes 

 them in various proportions to accommodate the re- 

 quirements of each. Hangers are set on benches and 

 are not only hand-watered — but spot-watered, until 



A P R I L . M A Y 



