A clever mini-greenhouse to grow over 30 types of vegetables at home throughout the year. This is what a company from Brescia has introduced with their new appliance (yes, that's what we'll call it) that enables easy-to-grow vegetables to thrive with no chance of them being affected by weather or parasites.
The Tomato+ team. Left to right: Ilaria Gremizzi, Graziani Cavaletti, Matteo Lanfredi, Giancarlo Pesce, Cristian Bicelli, Daniele Rossi, Andrea Copeta
Tomato+ is a start-up established by 28-year-old Daniele Rossi, who is about to launch a truly unique tool onto the market. "We have patented Tomato+ in 160 countries and we believe it is revolutionary. It is more precise and technologically advanced than similar products available on the market, especially abroad. The grow-box measures 60x60x200 cm and it could work as a furnishing as well," explains 29-year-old Claudio Guerrini, sales manager.
The vegetable "automatic grower" is placed in the kitchen, but it doesn't look bad in the sitting room either.
According to the developers, growing vegetables has never been so easy. You just need to place the pod with the seed inside the box, select the crop on the display, fill the 20-litre tank with water and add mineral salts. The software will set the temperature, humidity, hydroponic management and light cycle automatically. The grow-box is made up of 4 cells and each can hold one tray with up to 81 (biodegradable) pods. Lettuce needs more room, though, so each tray can hold around 20 pods.
A box of basil pods
But was is truly new, according to the promoters, are the LEDs and management programme. At the moment you can choose from among 30 products, but the team's agronomist and IT expert are working to widen the range. Among the products that can be grown there are: basil, parsley, rocket, valerian, spinach and lettuce.
There are 4 growing cells
The grow-box is also perfect for restaurants who want to amaze their customers with closer-than-local ingredients.
For further information:
Tel.: (+39) 030 2501314
Email: c.guerrini@tomatopiu.com
Web: www.tomatopiu.com