Oregon Indoor Organics offers tropical indoor plants

Located on Hwy 30, Rainier’s Oregon Indoor Organics has unique plant treasures residents and passers by may not be aware of behind its door. The business originally started on Rainier's A Street in 2009, selling hydroponic equipment catering to the emerging cannabis market and individual growers.

The owner, Steve Knebel, grew up around plants. "My grandfather had Herman seed and floral in Portland when I was little so it was kind of in my blood," said Knebel. "I did commercial floor covering for 25 years, and then, when I decided to get out of that because of my knees, I decided to open up the hydroponic store."

In addition to the Rainier store, Knebel, in 2015, expanded to include a location in Kennewick, Wash. "I had two of these hydroponic stores," he said. "We were the first ones in Cowlitz and Columbia Counties to do this, offer hydroponic stuff without having people drive to Tacoma or to Portland. As of today, we're the last ones standing from Tacoma to Vancouver to the ocean that still sells to individual growers. We still have stuff but not a lot."

In 2015, Knebel relocated the Rainier location from A street to the current B street address - for better visibility right on the highway - and closed the Kennewick location to make things easier to manage, due to changes in the cannabis industry.

Shiloh Parkin, who manages day-to-day store operations, was a long-time customer and friend from the early days of the store opening. "I've known [Knebel] since the day he opened," he said. "My mom has always been into gardening, so I was always around it and she was into the unusual stuff, but my background was in the cannabis industry. I was one of the people that was doing heavy CBD breeding back then. I was actually on the medical side, and I did a lot of really in-depth research with the cannabinoids and the terpenes and their medicinal effects."

In late 2016, Knebel had an employee walk out and Parkin took his place the next day. "I knew what was going on and I was very knowledgeable in the industry," Knebel said. "It was a good fit." After Parkin joined the team, the cannabis industry experienced a variety of changes which impacted their more seasonal, core sales. Parkin and Knebel looked for ways to make up the difference in order to stay open and turned their attention to plants.

"We decided that we weren't going to do what the big box stores had," said Knebel. "All the stuff in here is rare and unusual, down to the veggies that we have. This is stuff you're not going to find anywhere else. That's kind of where our mindset is, we want to have stuff that nobody else has; 80 percent of the stuff that's in here, you're not going to find at any of the other stores."

During COVID, Knebel and Parkin noticed the boom in houseplant purchases and began sourcing exotic plants to expand their inventory. They worked with Oregon-based growers from Willamette Valley, Estacada, and Woodburn up to Seattle, some of which they still source from today. One of their most popular selections is carnivorous plants, of which they have an entire wall of different varieties.

"Someone might add carnivorous plants to their home plant selection to help, well, just because they're cool, but also to help with flies," said Parkin. "The pitcher plants love sugar ants. There's an enzyme the plant produces and that keeps water out so it doesn't dilute that enzyme, or fill up the pitcher, so the bugs crawl down inside and they can't get back out. They fall into that, and the plant digests them."

The store also features a number of specialty succulents and cacti with names like mermaid tail, spiral, string of turtles, and crown of thorns. Shoppers can also find a curated selection of philodendrons, alocasias, spider plants, rare begonias, arabica, and the sensitive plant, a customer favorite which closes and droops its leaves when touched, but only for a few minutes. "A customer came in and said, 'Hey, can you order these,'" said Parkin. "I found them, brought them in, and we've had to keep them in stock ever since. They're one of our biggest sellers."

Oregon Indoor Organics features grow equipment for mushrooms and gourmet countertop grow kits from Warren-based Fidler's Fungus Farm. The veggie starts include a wide selection of rare heirloom tomatoes, Hungarian wax peppers (known for their sweet taste), habanada peppers, and lemon spice jalapenos, to name a few. "If there's something you're looking for and can't find, come in, let us know," said Parkin. "We will go ahead and see if we can't find it and bring it in for you."

Oregon Indoor Organics is located at 210 East B. Street in Rainier and is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more info, call 503-556-5565 or email oregonindoor@gmail.com.