Our Process

hatchery — where our single oysters are born

We spawn oysters in the springtime of the year using broodstock native to South Carolina. Oysters are free swimming larvae for the first 16-21 days of their life, after which point, they metamorphose and cement themselves to a hard substrate. Our hatchery techniques have been developed to mimic Mother Nature as closely as possible to increase larval and settling success. Hatchery work requires excellent attention to detail and constant vigilance. After roughly one month our oysters are moved from the hatchery as single set oysters to the nursery. .They are barely visible to the naked eye as individuals at this time.

nursery

In the nursery the oysters are housed in silos which are part of an upweller system. Fresh seawater is pumped through the tanks which provides a continuous food supply for the oysters. Oysters are filter feeders, meaning they filter microscopic plants from the water, so this system provides an ideal environment for growth. The oysters require daily care while in the nursery and must be graded on a routine basis to keep like sizes together. Once they reach roughly 8mm in size the oysters are called ‘seed’ and are placed in bags and moved out to the cages in the river.

Grow out — from seed to harvest in the coosaw river

Our oysters are raised in OysterGro floating cages in the Coosaw River, opposite Lady’s Island. The cages are anchored to the seabed and each contains six bags. The bags are routinely brought to shore so the oysters within them can be graded, with larger oysters being moved up to larger size mesh bags. Routine air drying of the crop is imperative to control biofouling on the oysters, bags and cages and is accomplished by manually flipping the cage over. In the event of a major storm, we may sink the cages to the seabed to avoid damages from the storm itself and storm-related debris. After about 12-16 months in the Coosaw our signature Single Lady oysters are ready to be harvested..

HARVEST — YES, OUR OYSTERS CAN BE ENJOYED 365 DAYS A YEAR!

Our Single Lady oysters are ready for harvest at roughly 3 inches in size. You can enjoy our oysters year-round because our mariculture techniques and strict post-harvest handling keeps consumers safe. Specifically, our cages are continuously submerged, preventing the oysters from accumulating bacteria during low tide exposure on hot days. Our oysters are harvested to order and available in the best restaurants from Mount Pleasant to Savannah.