Frequently Asked Questions.

General Questions.

Our office is located at 650 Cumberland Street, Cornwall, Ontario. K6J 4J5. We have one fulfillment center in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada.

Yes, please call ahead so we can schedule time with our Growing Specialist. You can reach us at 855-947-4769, or email [email protected].

Hydroponics is the practice of growing plants without soil. Instead, you add nutrients directly into the water supply. Liquid nutrients enable the plants to spend less time getting food from the soil and more time growing leaves. 
Hydroponics is also an answer to two of the world’s growing concerns: diminishing soil quality, and water scarcity.
Also, food safety concerns attached to traditional agriculture, such as high pesticide use and metal contaminants in the soil, are significantly more manageable if not entirely erased in a hydroponics production system.

ZipGrow’s online store is open and accepting orders. Our shipping times may be slightly longer than usual, as reported by UPS, our shipping partner. You can read more about how is UPS responding to the Coronavirus here.

Product Related Questions.

You can read all of our policies and terms of service here.

We do send our Farm Build team to set up your ZipFarmâ„¢ or your Greenhouse Bundles as well as give you the proper instruction on how to run your new ZipGrow System. We do not set up FarmWalls or Education Racks.

Many types of crops are perfect matches for the ZipGrow™Towers. Herbs like basil, mint, and rosemary are perfect matches for growing vertically. We’ve also had great success with leafy greens such as lettuce, kale, and arugula. With a little extra planning and preparation, you can also successfully grow fruiting plants such as strawberries. You can read our Quick Crops Guide here.
– Please note: strawberries and other fruiting plants can take a lot of work and use different nutrient ratios than greens and herbs.

In any size ZipGrow™ Towers you will space your plants 4-6″ crop dependent.
Larger statured crops will require 6″ spacing while smaller statured crops will require 4″ spacing.

For most of the crops we grow in our ZipGrow™ Towers – largely nutrient dense greens and herbs – we stick to about a 4-6 inch spacing. This inch spacing helps us grow 8-10 basil plants in a single 5′ ZipGrow Tower. Many of our farmers have reported they are able to grow:

10-12 lettuce-sized plants per 5 foot tower and 16-20 lettuce sized plants per 8 foot tower.

Other types of plants will require more specific measurements:

Mint, for example, grows like a weed and spreads throughout the entire Tower. This differs from most of your greens like lettuce and kale that tend to grow more centralized and gain the majority of their weight in one spot. Chives can also be planted closely together therefore allowing you to grow a lot more plants per tower.

A ZipGrowâ„¢ FarmWall can be mounted on any south facing wall or fence in the Northern hemisphere or a north facing wall or fence in the Southern hemisphere. You can also mount your FarmWall indoor with a light kit for year round production.

With the purchases of either of these two systems, we recommend purchasing the Beginner Bundle. You can get approximately 6 months of consumables with the beginner bundle. You will also need to source your own seeds.

Matrix Media is a plastic media used inside ZipGrow™ Towers. It is a fiber matrix that offers 290 ft² of BSA (biological surface area) per cubic foot. It is unique from other hydroponic and aquaponic media as it serves as a biological filter and plant anchoring in one. Matrix Media comes as a long strip, which is folded and pulled through the Tower like a zipper. Plants are sandwiched between the two sides of the fold. Matrix Media is black to disallow high algae growth. It is made of PET-1 (a type of safe, stable polyester from made from recycled plastic water bottles) with a water-based latex binder to prevent degradation.

Our ZipGrowâ„¢ Towers are manufactured in North America and made of virgin food grade PVC. Our Matrix Mediaâ„¢ is made from recycled BPA free water bottles that is coated with a proprietary material to prevent leeching.

ZipGrow Towersâ„¢, two PVC gutters, a drip irrigation system, a submersible pump, a media pulling hook, a bottle of nutrient solution, wicking strips, Matrix Mediaâ„¢ and miscellaneous hardware.

We do not send employees to maintain or run the ZipGrowâ„¢ products you have purchased.
The USDA’s National Organic Program allows the organic certification of hydroponic operations. Unfortunately in Canada soilless growing can not be deemed organic at this time. However since growing hydroponically eliminates the use of pesticides and fungicides, many of our Canadian Farmers market their produce as “better than organic”.
Our products are designed and developed by our engineering team in-house. Some are built on-site and for some innovations we partner with Canadian and international companies. For custom farm builds our team of experts travels globally to install.

Shipping Questions.

We do ship internationally. Please send us an email to [email protected] or call and get a shipping quote from our shipping department: 1.855.947.4769

If you are unable to proceed past the shipment section please call our customer service line at: 1-855-ZIPGROW (1-855-947-4769) or email [email protected]

Reseller Questions.

How can I be a reseller of ZipGrowâ„¢ products?

Please fill out the reseller survey and we will contact you soon after that.

Training Questions.

Where can I learn to build and manage a farm?
ZipGrowâ„¢ Training
Learn more
ZipGrowâ„¢ Blog
Learn more
Upstart University
Learn more
YouTube
Learn more
Guides
Learn more