About Doef's Greenhouses

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The Doef family is rich in history and currently operates a “state-of-the-art” 11-acre greenhouse about 6 miles west and 3 ½ miles north of Lacombe – on the south east side of Gull Lake.

 

Electricity for the grow lights in 9 of the 11 acres of the greenhouse, heat for the entire greenhouse during cooler evenings and winter, as well as CO2 for the plants is provided by Horseshoe Power's co-located tri-generation power plant.  The greenhouse plants love CO2 and in fact need the higher CO2 concentrations to thrive.

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The greenhouse produces fresh local vegetables all year around - even in the middle of our cold Alberta winters.

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Spring run-off water is collected in a reservoir on the property and rain water is also diverted into the same reservoir and is used to irrigate the vegetable plants in the greenhouse. Water-soluble fertilizer is added to the water and fed to the plants through individual dripper lines. The excess irrigation water is collected, pasteurized and re-circulated again, to conserve water and fertilizer. Weekly water samples are taken to monitor fertilizer levels, as well as to monitor levels of bacteria that may have entered the system.

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The greenhouse uses “Integrated Pest Management (IPM)” to minimize its use of pesticides;  introducing "friendly" predators to feed on the pests.  In exceptional cases, some spot spraying may be done in high infestations with “applicator-friendly” solutions. 

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Doef's vegetables are picked at the peak of ripeness – the peppers are picked twice a week at about 90% ripeness and the cucumbers are picked every day since they grow more quickly. From picking, vegetables are packed and shipped within a couple of hours, or packed and kept in a cooler until market time on the next day. Most of our vegetables are marketed at local stores and wholesalers with approximately 15% of our product marketed at local farmers markets.