BIOGRAPHY ON IGS

           Mike Dial grew up in Northern California near and around Santa Cruz.  He loved the great out doors and mother nature. Enjoyed hiking in the mountains, fishing in the rivers and lakes that N CA had to offer. Mike’s father was a Navy man in World War 2, and this was the first introduction to hydroponics. While in the Pacific Islands the US Government had to find a way to feed all the troops as food was scarce. So the government put in some very basic hydroponic systems to produce food for the troops and it was very successful. Mikes father seen and experienced this, so when he returned home he bought some blueprints for a basic hydroponic system and built it successfully. Well as a kid Mike seen and experienced this and it stuck with him. Mike did not realize it but it would become his calling later in life. And as a young teenager he went to work on his uncles farm, first part time then full time. He learned many things like how to feed yourself off the land by growing all your own produce and the value of healthy nutritional produce. Mike was also very mechanically skilled and could build almost anything with his hands.
    When he was 23 years of age he left his uncles farm and got his contractor’s license (the youngest person at the time to obtain a contractor’s license) and ended up later on in the San Diego and Palm Springs Area contracting and building houses. He was very successful for many years until the housing and real estate market crashed to an all time low. At this time Mike lost a lot of money and properties due to the market. Mike had had enough and packed up, bought property in Oregon and went up there to live and get away from it all. He went thru th hardships of the economy for a while, and was deciding what he wanted to do.
    But while living in Oregon, growing his own food and growing vast varieties of fruits and berries and enjoying living off the land. He also liked the small communities in Oregon, and how everyone helped each other, and traded there different goods and produce for other items others produced on there land.
    So the economy and housing market started to recover after a few years and Mike was gearing up to go back into construction building houses. He moved back down to San Diego, and did construction for a short amount of time, but soon realized it was not his passion.
     So in 2003 Mike started Innovative Growing Solutions, Inc. with his friend and partner Scott. So they started a small retail garden shop with the hopes of teaching people the benefits of hydroponics and how the nutritional benefits and water saving make it the future of farming.
     So the more Mike dealt with hydroponics, the more intrigued and innovative he got. So thru much research and testing, Mike learned a lot about the micro biology of plants, and the way it affects the tissue and nutrition of the plants. And with CA having a water shortage crisis, and so is most of the world, hydroponics was sure to be the answer to producing food now and into the future. So remembering back to his childhood with his father he remembered the hydroponics kit he built, and the how his dad told him about the hydroponic systems that fed the troops during WW2. So researching and testing new technology and trying new ideas Mike was able to develop better and more efficient ways of growing thru hydroponics. Mike has shared his findings and has taught it to all his customers at IGS over the years.
    Now being 2009 nutritional value and our water resources are becoming very important topics and concerns in our world. And worldwide people are looking for new ways to feed the masses. And now Mike is working with a few individuals introducing his ideas and theory’s for producing more nutritional food, more efficiently and conserving water at the same time.  This was a true sustainable movement that could benefit the people and the earth tremendously.
         Mike thru IGS wants to teach and educate people on better ways of growing, being more sustainable and knowing what’s in your food and the nutritional value of it as well. So with water being more scarce every day, and food becoming less and less nutritional it seemed like the perfect thing for Mike and IGS to do to create a better way of life for our children after were gone.