EZ CLONE STORY
As told through an interview with Erik Biksa, of Grozine Magazine and
EZ-CLONE Product Creator, Billy Blackburn
1. What inspired the Company Founders to start EZ-CLONE?
In 1999, my best friend, Brad Mickelsen and I, ended up back home in Sacramento after a four year stint in the Air Force. We became roommates and started growing in our garage, basically just for fun to begin with. Brad was going to Sac State University for a bachelor’s degree in psychology and was also bartending. I was working on writing songs, recording music and starting the endeavor of becoming a musical artist.
Growing became addicting very quickly and was also a very creative outlet. However, from the beginning, we both had nothing but trouble with the conventional methods of plant cloning. I became fascinated with new ways to grow and became engulfed in the art of Hydroponics and Aeroponics. Reading everything I could get my hands on, I began making homemade Hydro and Aero systems. The creation of the first EZ-CLONE was simply just to help solve a problem for Brad and I. It was never even initially thought of as a product.
Around that time, Brad and I shopped regularly at a Hydroponic Store called Greenfire. Back then, it was only one of two Hydroponic Stores in the entire county of Sacramento. I remember going into the shop one day, and there was a little old lady named Margaret working behind counter. After politely voicing my dismay over the lack of mechanical connectivity of some plastic pieces I was looking for, she looked up, smiled and asked me if I wanted a job. I initially laughed and said “No thank you”, but after a week, I came back to ask if it was still available. I thought…what a great place just to learn how to become a better grower. I took the job.
After months of standing behind the counter, listening to people come in and voice their problems, I learned that plant cloning was one of the most difficult aspects of growing for the majority of the customers. This became the “light bulb” moment, and soon there after, Brad and I decided to start a Company.
SO, WHAT EXACTLY IS AEROPONICS?
Aer-o-ponics – (Plural Noun):
Aeroponics is the process of growing plants in an air or mist environment, without the use of soil or an aggregate medium.
WHAT ABOUT HYDROPONICS?
Hy-dro-pon-ics – (Plural Noun):
Hydroponics is a subset of hydroculture and is the method of growing plants using a small mineral/nutrient based solution, in water, without soil.
