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Twenty grow tips that are tried and tested.

Grow Tips

1. Temperature should be in the high twenty’s to early thirties Celsius for grow stage and around 26 degrees Celsius or colder for the bloom cycle. Read more

The must haves and do’s for any Hydroponics gardener. Episode one.

Firstly clean and sterilize  equipment. If you have purchased second hand equipment no biggie Read more

Hi all who are reading this column, it could save you or your loved ones life. Read carefully below.

When using HID lights i.e. High Pressure Sodium lamps and Metal Halide lamps. Besides the risk of explosion if mistreated. They become noisy. This in fact is the wafers in the transformer coming apart and in the gaps created the electricity makes noise and emits less light and also uses heaps more electricity. The general lifespan is actually only two to three years of constant use. While the ballast and light still work they can become unsafe. Read more

Maximum Growth

Once again, Michael Straumietis, of Advanced Nutrients has a bunch of tips for those of us who don’t quite know everything about hydroponics. The advice given this time around is about generally getting the biggest yield from your garden. No one technique will make your garden have massively different results, but add together a bunch of techniques and you have a huge difference.

Disease Prevention.
By protecting your garden and taking necessary precautions against disease you will help ensure great plant growth. Using a hydroponic nutrient system that contains salicylic acid. This compound helps beef up the plants natural defenses against disease. Keeping some fungicides nearby wouldn’t hurt either.
Being able to attack a fungal infection as soon as it starts may be what you need to save your crop should fungus break loose in your garden.
Read more

Sphagnum moss as a medium

If you want to try a somewhat unconventional, but still very effective growing medium for hydroponics, you should consider sphagnum moss. Though it is commonly thought of as a soil conditioner, sphagnum moss along with some quality sphagnum moss nutrients can prove to be tremendously effective for hydroponic growing. It is possible to use sphagnum as your sole growing medium, but it is typically used in conjunction with another growing medium, such as perlite.

While sphagnum moss and sphagnum moss nutrients can do wonders for the development of your garden, it comes with its own share of personal challenges. However, if you are aware of them and deal with them head on, you can enjoy this growing medium no matter what you choose to grow.
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Factors that Influence Nutrient Absorption

‘Big Mike’ (Michael Straumietis) of Advanced Nutrients has more golden tips for all the hydroponics Growers out there. This time its all about nutrient absorption, and how to ensure that your plant is taking in all the nutrients it needs.

The Roots have to be large and complex to ensure that you get enough nutrients to your plant. Using a good root booster will allow maximum uptake of nutrients, and help your plant stay healthy and alive if there is ever a problem in the system.
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Foliar feeding

Foliar sprays are a good way of feeding plants that need an urgent application. Foliar feeding should be applied shortly after or just before the night cycle when gardening indoors, although can be applied in early morning as well. (Always remember to use a green light if entering a grow room outside of  normal light cycle)

 

The major reasons for this time constraint is the biology of the plant leaf and the desire to not burn the plant by wetting it during peak sun exposure resulting in leaf burn.

 

            A leaf will use its stomata to regulate the process of gas exchange, mainly CO2 and transpiration. Stomata holes are located mostly on the underside of the leaf and the location where the uptake of the feed is going to take place, also where some insects like spider mites suck their meal.

 

They open and close throughout the day however most transpiring will happen during peak light hours. Intake will be maximized just before night cycle, or when daylight breaks causing a new daily cycle of photosynthesis.

 

New products have come to market giving gardeners the ability to manipulate these stomata so that they remain open when the nutrient(s) are present. They are added to the foliar feed and they appear to work quite well. Adding a wetting agent, also called penetrating agent, with your regular foliar spray will increase yield and quality.

 

DO NOT ADD insecticides to these enhancers because you will be in effect feeding them poison, even if mentioned on the bottle. Neem oil, or your own organic recipe should be tested on a small section of the garden before applying to the whole crop.

AeroGrow AeroGarden Hydroponics Kit Review – Indoor Hydroponics for the Rest of Us

Do you want to have that wonderful smile from the cook of your life? Or may be give a gift for your gardener? There is a unique and awesome gift that you can give to them to appreciate the efforts they did for you. Here is something new, AeroGrow AeroGarden Hydroponics Kit ! Now you can expect those smiles as their tasks become easier and handy with this amazing technology that has been introduced. And because it is so amazing, this has been also featured in Time Magazine! What is this all about?

Aerogrow system is a technology that has been produced in the recent years to address the mess associated with home gardening. The system is full functional self contained hydroponics system. What is hydroponics?
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Tips on lighting

Replace your lamps
After a year of running your hydroponic lighting systems, MH and HPS may lose up to 30% of their lumen output (LEDs typically last 3-6 years). You will get lower yield from your plants when you use old bulbs so it’s probably worth it to replace them.

Less is best
When dealing with hydroponics, remember that a plant can deal with an absence of something, better than it can deal with an abundance of something. If you over feed them, and leave the lights on too long, bad things will happen.

Lots of Lux

Be sure to have a high concentration of light on the plants. This will help ensure that they get all the light they need to grow.

Plants need the darkness
During the night cycle for your plants, make sure there is no visible light. Even a tiny LED light could hinder the flowering or fruiting process so ensure the plants are in total darkness.

Keeping Your Fruit in Shape

Raspberry problems

If there are dried up patches at the stalk end of your ripened raspberries, check the berries for beetle larvae. If you don’t find any grubs then it may be caused by low temperature .

Brownish grey fluff on ripening fruit is a sure sign of a grey mould. Increase the air circulation and make sure to get rid of the infected fruit.

Grape powdery mildew

open windows, vents and doors. The fungus is favoured by humid conditions so improve air movement around leaves.

Pinch out shoot tips to two leaves beyond the emerging grapes, or to five leaves if non-fruiting. Shorten regrowth to one leaf.

Thin out unwanted shoots and tie in new growth for even spacing and good air circulation. Side shoots should be at 1ft spacings.

Dust the foliage with sulphur. Repeat up to four times during the season to keep the disease in check.

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