Estabrook's new greenhouse couples vast space with state-of-the-art systems
PHOTO / TINA FISCHER
Brothers Tom and Andy Estabrook stand in the company's new 55,000-square-foot state-of-the-art greenhouse in Pownal.
Estabrook’s nursery and garden centers has just completed a state-of-the-art commercial greenhouse in Pownal, which at 55,000 square feet is nearly as large as a football field.
Co-owner Tom Estabrook told Mainebiz while giving us a tour Tuesday that the new facility doubles the company’s production capacity while reducing the amount of time required to grow plants to the ready-for-market size by 30%.
The greenhouse was supplied and built onsite by the Netherlands-based company, Attko, which has a U.S. facility in Powder Springs, Ga. Estabrook called it, “The most technically advanced facility in the state for horticulture.”
All systems are computer controlled, including watering (from above and below), fertilizing and monitoring of the roof vents. Mechanized curtains can be closed at night to hold in heat. Automated radiant heat lines the floor, and piping along the walls and glass roof will provide warmth year-round, from a 30,000 gallon propane tank.
Sustainable practices
The company has been intentional about sustainability, and despite the facility’s expansive size, Estabrook said fuel consumption here will be less than in the company's Yarmouth location, where there are 27 traditional greenhouses covering 45,000 square feet, as well as a year-round shop.
In Pownal, water for the plants comes from a newly built 2 million-gallon pond on the property which is part of a complex water cleaning and recycling system.
Sevee & Maher Engineers, headquartered in Cumberland, handled sitework for the new Pownal location.
At any one time the greenhouse nurses 209,000 plants: mostly annuals but also perennials, herbs and vegetable seedlings, which the company retails at its long-time home base in Yarmouth and its seasonal satellite location in Kennebunk.
Estabrook said about 20% of the business comes from wholesale clients, grocery and hardware stores and other garden centers, all independently-owned and all in-state. The company also works with more than 300 landscape companies. Deliveries average between 5,000 and 10,000 plants a day.
The Estabrook family — seven of whom are involved in the business — sees expansion potential in northern New England, but the focus for now is on Maine customers. “The goal is to support independent, local businesses," Estabrook said
The expansion idea goes back to 1994; Estabrook’s bought the 16 acres in 2002. Plans call for eventual expansion to a total of 205,000 square feet of greenhouse space over an anticipated four-phase timetable, which Estabrook said will be determined by customer need.
Customer demand for landscape plants has remained high over the past few years, fueled in part by the influx of new Mainers and in part by the pandemic, when homeowners found sanctuary in their outdoor space.
“During COVID we had a captive audience," Estabrook said. "Times have changed now and we’re competing for people’s time with travel, golf, other things they can now get out and do. But with COVID, people learned that landscaping and improving their outdoor space doesn't improve just the economic value of their home, it also adds a lot of well-being and mental health benefits to their lives.
“There is also more call for locally grown product, and it’s tough to get distributors to come to Maine. Freight costs are high.”
The business has not been immune to tariffs and an unsteady economy but Estabrook said they haven’t been affected to the point where they’ve chosen to pass along the added costs to customers.
Estabrook is bullish on the health of the horticulture business in Maine, which he says is the fastest growing sector of the agricultural industry in the state. “The industry is ripe for expansion over the next few years. We have an opportunity to export to the whole of New England, and there are opportunities in land that could be put to use for horticulture.”
Educating an adequate supply of skilled workers needs to be more of a focus for our colleges and universities, he added. Estabrook serves on the advisory board for Southern Maine Community College, his alma mater and he’s in regular contact with educators at the University of Maine, “To help them understand where the industry is going and what it needs in terms of skilled labor for landscape and hardscape.”
The company draws employees from both schools.
Estabrook emphasized that future employees for the greenhouse of the future will need to have more technical skills, in addition to horticultural training.
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