My Account
A seed of an idea grew into a burgeoning business over lockdown for Snells Beach’s Vicki and Josh Rothwell.
Groconut is a horticultural coconut water that makes use of naturally occurring growth hormones, including auxins, gibberellins and cytokines to speed up plant growth.
Vicki says it is especially useful for making sure that seedlings take and grow roots, and it can be used in place of a root hormone for propagating plants.
“It’s just like synthetic hormone products, but it is natural, organic and vegan. Most gardeners don’t know there is a natural alternative,” she says.
“A coconut contains everything needed for a growing a tree in sandy, low nutrient soil.”
Groconut is safe for all plants, even orchids which can be fussy about fertilisers.
It also doesn’t give plants the brown ‘fertiliser burn’ at the tips of leaves.
It works by stimulating the plant to take up soil nutrients more efficiently and is best paired with a quality soil.
Vicki uses cactus mix with extra perlite and adds a Groconut solution to every second watering of her plants.
The Groconut business itself has experienced a growth spurt. Within a month, Vicki was contacted by wholesalers, including Kings Plant Barn, to sell her product.
Vicki and Josh, who have three children, have been flat out packaging up to 200 sachets a week in their garage in Snells Beach.
The product is patent pending and the trademark is being approved so it can also be sold in Australia.
Groconut is riding the houseplant trend which has swept up young Kiwis into a collecting frenzy. Plant fairs are now regular events in Auckland.
Vicki saw a Hoya Compacta house plant that sold for $6500 and a Philodendron Minima that sold for over $8000 on Trade Me recently.
Her favourite spot to acquire new plants is using the honesty box at the Warkworth Museum in Parry Kauri Park.
Groconut can be bought in 25g ($11.99) or 45g ($18.99) sachets at groconut.com, or from the Plant Love store in Snells Beach or Kings Plant Barn in Silverdale.
