About us: Dr. Tiedjens
Dr. V.A. Tiedjens, one of the founders of Growers Chemical Corporation in 1955 at Milan, Ohio, was a pioneer in the development of fertilizer solutions.
Dr. Tiedjens had degrees from the University of Wisconsin in 1921 and 1922, and Rutgers University in 1932. He experimented with the use of fertilizers, both liquid and dry, and since 1923 he was recognized as one of the leading plant nutrition specialists in the world.
In 1931 Dr. Tiedjens was an early researcher of aqua ammonia as a source of nitrogen for plants. Dr. Tiedjens was director of the Virginia Truck Experimental Station at Norfolk and U.S.D.A. coordinator for the research laboratories at Germantown, PA and at Charleston, SC. Dr. Tiedjens also pioneered hydroponic growth techniques while working for Standard Oil of New Jersey in Aruba and Curacao in the Dutch West Indies.
Dr. Tiedjens was a past vice president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His name was in "Who's Who in America", "American Men of Science", "Who's Who in Education" and "World Who's Who in Commerce and Industry".
Dr. V. A. Tiedjens doing Field Research.
The Growers Program as conceived by Dr. V.A. Tiedjens evolved during his many years working as a student, graduate student, and basic researcher within the United States collegiate system. From his review of early basic scientific research Dr. Tiedjens concluded that calcium was the key element for healthy productive soils. Using various technical publications and his years of field research, Dr. Tiedjens devised a test for determining appropriate soil calcium levels necessary for an ideal growing media to encourage optimum economical plant growth, health, and reproduction.
Dr. V. A. Tiedjens doing Field Research.
While establishing the importance of calcium, Dr. Tiedjens was also experimenting with different methods of fertilizing crops. In the early days, if a farmer was using any fertilizer at all, it was in a dry form, but early on Dr. Tiedjens had found that plants can only absorb fertilizer nutrients when they are in a liquid form. He rationalized that if he dissolved dry materials in water they would be better utilized by the plant. This led to the dawn of liquid fertilizers. Dr. Tiedjens then felt another step could lead to even greater
“Dr. V.A. Tiedjens speaks at a farm field day about the Growers product in 1956
efficiency; he completely bypassed the soil and applied the liquid fertilizers directly on the plants. This became the beginning of foliar nutrition of plants, but not until after he substituted higher grade raw materials for the normal materials found in dry fertilizers.
At this point Dr. Tiedjens felt he had the ideal combination of growing environment and plant stimulation to bring a plant full circle from germination to harvest. This combination of fertilizer treatments and growing environment came to be a program that very simply could be adapted to any agricultural operation.
Dr. V.A. Tiedjens speaks at a farm field day about the Growers product in 1956