Elzinga & Hoeksema Greenhouses, LLC

Owner: Mark Elzinga
Founded: 1962
Size: 30 acres under 5 greenhouses
Main Crops: Bedding plants, blooming potted plants and certified organic vegetables & herbs

The year 2000 marked a new era for E&H under Mark’s leadership, building a state-of-the-art “new millennium” greenhouse. This is the same site where the new four-acre organic facility was unveiled during an open house in March. Bells and whistles include rolling benches, booms, highpressure sodium lights and the largest solar-thermal heating system in the Midwest. Water is heated by 200 4- by 10-foot solar panels,
pumped through 23 miles of polypropylene tubing sunk in 300 wells, 300 feet deep, and then stored in a 65,000-gallon insulated water tank at 120º F. While Michigan’s year-round ground temperature is 53º F, the solar panels have already raised it to 63º F.