Hishtil: Bringing spices and peppers to every windowsill

in recent years gardening culture has been evolving and has been adapted to suit the new urban lifestyle as well as consumer demand for a finished product that is attractive and practical. this change led to an increase in the use of balcony plants, and flowers such as petunia and balsam are included in this plant category.  hishtil has chosen to focus on balcony plants for self cultivation by the consumer with an added value. one example of this new development is the increasing prevalence of edible plants grown in urban settings.

recently, hishtil decided to concentrate its efforts on unique patentable products, such as peppers grown on a stake (psipop), which is a grafted pepper plant growing on a “stake”.  this is an aesthetic plant that can be grown on a window sill. another product offered by the company is a small basil tree and unlike the regular basil tree, which can only yield a limited number of pickings, with proper care this small basil tree can last for several months.

hishtil’s main markets over the past decade are western europe and north america, but it has also penetrated the markets in eastern europe and russia. hishtil’s young trees are sold in leading retail chains such as tesco as well as marks and spencer in england, walmart in the us and carrefour in france. in israel, hishtil’s products are sold at the leading garden centers throughout the country.

hishtil’s flower pots can be used for growing spices on the windowsill throughout the year. what makes hishtil plants unique is that they can be produced continually all year around, in accordance with the perennial demand; in winter tea drinks such as mint, sage and lemon thyme, while in summer basil and oregano are more in demand.
additionally, hishtil grows organic spices.  the major retail supermarket chains carried out strict tests for pesticide residues before they accepted these spices and placed them on their shelves. the flower pots satisfy the strictest standards and therefore the company can win over a very large share of the market in western europe. 

in contrast to gardening product, an increasing number of balcony products are making their presence felt and they have the added advantage of becoming available for use faster. customers do not like waiting and therefore the current transition is from growing the plants in the garden to cultivating them in flowerpots and on windowsills, thereby facilitating greater control over light and irrigation.  furthermore, there exists a popular demand to buy a ready-to-consume product.

hishtil is continually working to develop innovative products, which are impossible to replicate and are patented. hishtil specializes in growing grafted vegetables such as tomatoes, eggplants and peppers. the grafting process aims to combine strong varieties such as the wild tomato, which although it bears no fruit it is very sturdy in the soil, and it is grafted on the cherry tomato. this combination results in a plant with strong roots and a very tasty tomato.  it is important to note here that the rootstock chosen by hishtil is resistant to soil-borne diseases and also reduces the need to apply chemicals and furthermore it yields a larger harvest from regular vegetable seedlings.