Founder, High Caliper Growing Inc.
Ralph Reiger was born, grew up on the south side of Oklahoma City and graduated from Capital Hill High School in 1940. He volunteered for military service immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor and became a fighter pilot in what was then the Army Air Force. Ralph flew the P-37’s, P-42’s and P-51’s in 105 combat missions over England, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany, eventual achieving the rank of Air Force Captain. After the war he became one of the original pilots to form the Oklahoma Air National Guard.
He graduated from the University of Oklahoma and married Claire Neill. Together, they had three children and were married over sixty years. Ralph worked at Merrill Lynch for over twenty-five years, becoming the Oklahoma City office’s top producer and sales manager. In 1978 Ralph retired from Merrill and started a tree farm. Two years later, frustrated at ball & burlap digging methods, he began experimenting with growing tree in porous, fabric containers. The first trees were harvested in 1982 and in 1984, Ralph started selling the “Root Control Bag” to commercial tree nurseries.
Ralph passed away in 2010. The company he founded has evolved greatly, but we still sell “Root Control Bags” to many of the same nursery growers we partnered with in 1984! Thank you Ralph, for being a great American, and for originating the idea of plants growing in a fabric container.
This picture was taken in England.
Smart Pot salutes all veterans and their families for their service and sacrifice
