Plant City agri-business doesn't sell fruit or vegetables.
WaterScapes Aquatic Plant Nursery has been in business since 1972, and it cultivates and grows live aquatic plants. Aquatic plants used in aquariums are a subset of the pet business. Live plants provide color and texture to aquariums in addition to oxygenating water, and some are essential for fish to breed. Live pond plants also offer homes for frogs and other wildlife, and shade that can reduce algae growth.
Pierre LePochat graduated from USF with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, then moved to Albany, GA, to work for Procter and Gamble. Eventually, the company offered him a buyout package, which he and his wife, Maria, took to be able to move back to this area to be near their families. Pierre planned to work in engineering in Tampa, but positions weren’t paying well enough to support their five children. So, Pierre looked into different businesses in the area. At the same time, the owners of WaterScapes were looking to sell and retire. Pierre’s analysis of the company led him to believe it would allow him to support his family. Also, he enjoyed being outdoors. So, he bought WaterScapes. Initially, the business did a little bit of growing, but a lot of importing and selling of aquarium plants and some pond plants. However, as time went on, Pierre transitioned to growing their own plants and providing plants for ponds, as well.
Pierre moved the business to the current location in 2006 for more land on which to propagate plants. The 16 acres were an old jalapeno and strawberry farm with only flatland and a barn. Now there are seven acres of nursery, a large main greenhouse that is 330 feet long and 140 feet wide, two main buildings with warehouse and packing space, and 27 smaller greenhouses—for a total of two acres under roof.
Rather than having a big five-horsepower (hp) well pump, Aquascapes has a pair of two-hp pumps. Only a single two-hp well wouldn’t be enough for their ongoing needs. The benefit of going with the two-pump option is that if one goes down, they have a backup to get by with until the other well pump is repaired. But the company does not rely only on drawing a constant flow of fresh water from the aquifer. Normally, once filled, water stays in the growing ponds. WaterScapes has a recirculating system with two 6,000-gallon holding tanks. From these, they flood the growing tables. The water drains off the back into a holding tank, gets filtered into the big tanks, and is used again and again.
One of Pierre’s sons, Anthony, began maintaining plants and boxing orders for the family business when he was eight years old. After high school, he earned a degree in Hospitality Management and a Minor in Business from USF Sarasota-Manatee. Among other roles, he worked in management at a food distribution company. However, “I was getting tired of the kitchen,” he said. At the same time, Pierre and Maria were talking about retiring, and made him an offer to take over the business. Anthony rejoined WaterScapes in 2019.
Another son, Patrick, graduated with a Biomedical degree from USF, spent three years in medical school at UCF, then decided being a doctor wasn’t the best fit for him, so he moved to working with computers. But his father approached him two years ago, “He asked me to come in for a month or two to cover for Anthony when he was having his first kid,” Patrick said.
“My wife was pregnant at the time, and we knew I was going to have to take some time off when my wife had the baby,” Anthony said. “We brought Patrick in to automate some processes in the office and do some of the computer stuff we were having a hard time with—and to fill the gap while I was out.”
“It was originally supposed to be two to three months, then it turned into that year, then it turned into a partnership,” Patrick added.
“Covid helped our business a lot because when people were stuck in quarantine, working from home, they needed hobbies,” Anthony commented. “They needed something to resort to, and put their time, money, and energy into—a lot of it was fish tanks. It literally doubled our business between 2019 and 2022….Our primary business is aquarium plants for fish tanks.” Aquarium plants are considered to be a small segment of the pet industry.
WaterScapes is the largest U.S.-based company that grows and sells pond plants, which they ship to customers like garden centers. “My biggest competition is from overseas,” Pierre said. “People in New York and L.A. buy from Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia. We are one of the only two that raise and grow aquarium plants in the United States. It is a little niche market, but we’ve got a big piece of a small pie.” WaterScapes offers customers 400 products and fulfills three million orders a year. This niche market keeps the 35 people on the payroll busy planting, tending to plants, harvesting them, shipping them in plastic bags, and handling customer service, logistics, and office operations.
“We wholesale to mom-and-pop stores across the country, and a few that are out of the country. We also wholesale to the distributors that sell to PetSmart, Petco, Pet Supermarket, Pet Supplies Plus, Meijer, and Tractor Supply Company.” The international customers they ship to are in the Netherlands and Canada. “Our largest customer is about 10 percent of our business,” Anthony said. “Seventy percent of our business is less than one percent of our customer base.”
In terms of pond plants, WaterScapes sells different kinds and sizes of lilies, oxygenators, floating plants, and more. For aquariums, they sell small, medium, and large plants like anubias, sword, aquatic ferns, and carnivorous plants such as pitcher plants and Venus flytraps. They have options to ship plants that are already potted or set. Some plants are regulated. For such plants, WaterScapes has a license to propagate in Florida, but they can only sell in specified states. The company’s biggest seller is hornwart (also known as coontail). The company is licensed by the state of Florida to harvest hornwart. “We have a boat,” Anthony said. “We have a crew that goes out to local lakes. Hornwort can be harvested with a pitchfork.”
For growing and harvesting on site, WaterScapes has propagated plants from which they can continue to harvest in rotation, and plants they grow that are sold only once. WaterScapes offers options according to the customer’s needs. They can propagate their plants in rock wool, which is made from pulverized rock that is spun like cotton candy, so it looks and feels like gray fiberglass. Another option is they drill holes in lava rock, put a plant in, and let it establish, so an aquarium owner can just drop it in their tank without having to attach a lead weight to the plant or bury it. They do the same thing with pieces of rough wood.
The family’s plan is for Patrick and Anthony to fully take over WaterScapes from Pierre in a year.
