"One of our customers had issues with their clone success rate due to a fungal pathogen. With Root, they were able to eradicate that and now have a very high successful cloning rate. Moreover, using our product decreased the time their plants need to be in the vegetative state, resulting in more growth cycles per year," says Victoria Holden, the Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Imio who has a Ph.D. in Microbiology.
Victoria Holden pictured at the Indoor AgTech in New York this year
Founded in 2019, the company has been developing beneficial microbes that can help dismiss the need for synthetic chemicals in CEA. For their first product, Re-Gen, the company was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to develop it. Their second product, Root, was launched at the beginning of 2022: a group of microbes that produce hormones that help plants grow stronger roots.
As Victoria puts it, Imio's solution allows farmers to grow healthier, more profitable crops and restore balance and vitality to their land. All by harnessing the power of microbes.
A product trial shows stronger roots with Imio's solution
Expanding
For now, the products have been mostly catered to the needs of cannabis growers, as the team has seen a lot of excitement for their products. However, the company is currently working on testing the products on other crops as well.
"We've had some great results with Re-Gen on corn and hay. We're also testing Root on lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and ornamental flowers, for example. As we are a small team, we wanted to focus on just one market at first. Now that we are improving our production processes, we're feeling ready to help other crop growers as well."
All natural and safe to handle, Imio's patented microbial inoculants are proven to increase healthy crop yields by, according to Victoria, as much as 35% by increasing nutrient uptake. On top of that, they quickly transform wasted plant matter into living, nutrient-rich fertilizer.
The company has also spent a lot of time developing the products from a liquid into a powder form. "This makes it a lot more environmentally friendly to send. Moreover, the product is much more shelf stable and consistent as a result." Victoria explains that customers receive the microbes in a freeze-dried powder version.
"Simply add water to the packaging, and they will come back to life. We usually recommend waiting for 4 hours for them to wake up, after which it is ready to be used."
For more information:
Imio
www.imio.co