Cucumbers a growing business at Martindale

Mr McKenzie has a hydroponic Lebanese cucumber business in two greenhouses on a 70-hectare block at Martindale.

He got the idea from a friend at Corindi on the North Coast.

“I had the land and water and I don’t know much about cattle which is what most people around here run, so I thought I’d give it a go,” Mr McKenzie said.

After 20 years in the power industry, Mr McKenzie set up the greenhouses.

He already had the water, with a 30-megalitre creek licence.

Each greenhouses holds 1000 plants in 500 pots

Mr McKenzie can harvest up to four times a year, with the cucumbers taking about three months to mature.

“They're prolific growers,” he said.

“They take a bit longer in wintertime, but they’ll still produce the same yield – it just takes a bit longer to get there.”

He aims to produce 10 tonnes a crop, harvesting 40 tonnes of cucumbers each year.

The cucumbers are grown from the seed in sawdust.

Mr McKenzie has almost mastered the planting process, with only 14 of his 2000 plants failing this crop.

“Ten of them germinated and came up but they didn't keep growing, so I’m constantly improving the strike rate,” he said.

“The first crop ended up with about 1400 plants and last was around 1600.

“At the start I had mice getting in there and taking the seed but now I’ve got them under control.”

The plants grow about 2.5 metres high before they’re trained over a pole and continue growing back towards the floor.

“Usually they'd grow along the ground like a pumpkin or watermelon, but they’re trained on the string to grow vertically,” Mr McKenzie said.

Water is pumped from the creek to a tank then gravity fed to the greenhouse.

The plants are watered every day for three mins each hour, with nutrients mixed in with the water.

“Between two greenhouses they use just over two megalitres a year so it’s only a small amount of water,” Mr McKenzie said.

“The nutrients are the biggest ongoing expense but even with that, I’ve refined it and I’ve halved the costs from when I started,” Mr McKenzie said.

Mr McKenzie handpicks the crop and stores the produce in a coolroom where the cucumbers are picked up to be taken to market.

He sells his cucumbers to agents in Sydney and Newcastle who supply to markets and specialty fruit stores.

“To find the market was easy enough, but a lot of the networks they have on the North Coast, I just don't have about here,” he said.

“Refrigerated transport was a tough one to come by at first because there are only a few operators here.”

The cucumber size depends on the market, so all cucumbers picked are sold, even if they’re not at their biggest.

“Sydney shops prefer the smaller size cucumbers – they’re after the little snackers. There’s a market for every size.”

Mr McKenzie’s wife Nicole may also be able to join the team once he doubles his production.

“If I was just running cattle I’d still be working at the power station, but having this means the hobby has become the business and I can be at home, working outside and looking after my cucumbers,” Mr McKenzie said.

“This shows that a small amount of ground can provide a living.

“With another two greenhouses it’ll be sustainable for the two of us to work on farm.”