Here is a link to an article written by Good Green Builders for the current edition of Urban Garden Magazine. It is all about creating a community greenhouse that would provide four families with fresh vegetables throughout the year. Check it out and let us know what you think. We hope that you enjoy the article.
http://urbangardenmagazine.com/2010/04/how-to-feed-four-families-with-a-hydroponic-greenhouse/
Managing your pH is very important when growing hydroponically. It is critical for pH to remain in the range of 5.0-6.0 with an absolute maximum of 6.5. At these levels nutrients will remain dissolved in the nutrient solution and therefore available for uptake by the root system. If the pH of the nutrient solution is higher than 7.0 some of the important elements can precipitate and become unavailable to the roots. This can cause plumbing blockages as the elements precipitate out of the nutrient solution. As for the other side of the pH scale, lower pH levels tend to have little affect on the stability of the nutrient solution. Adjusting your pH and knowing when to do it is also imperative to a successful crop cycle.
The pH should be adjusted on a few different occasions. First, it should be adjusted when the nutrient solution is first made. Second, the pH should be adjusted after topping off the nutrient solution with water or additives, especially if they are highly alkaline. Lastly, in a re-circulating system, pH should be checked on a daily basis because the uptake of water and nutrients causes pH to change. There are a few different ways to minimize the fluctuations in you pH of your nutrient solution.
The first way to minimize the pH fluctuations in your nutrient reservoir is to use a brand that is pH buffered, especially when using highly alkaline water. The other thing that you should do is to supply two gallons of nutrient per large plant. If you don’t do this, your pH fluctuations will be greater, particularly during the hot and dry months where water uptake and evaporation are excessive.
Article by, Brett McCormick, co-founder of Good Green Builders. Good Green Builders is a hydroponic grow room/ greenhouse builder in the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information or a free consultation, call today, (415) 246-8055.
When managing your indoor grow room it is important to understand the benefits of CO2 enrichment and how to maximize the CO2’s effectiveness on your plants. CO2 enrichment will promote optimal photosynthesis generally resulting in higher yields. The most common and effective type of CO2 enrichment is through bottled CO2 and combustion generators. The placement of your CO2 enrichment device is very important. Studies have been done that conclude that the enrichment should take place in the upper third part of the canopy because this is where photosynthetic activity is at its highest.
There are two properties of CO2 that you need to consider when enriching your grow room with CO2. The first property is the weight of CO2. CO2 will drop to the ground because it is heavier than air. For example, at 77 F, CO2 weighs 66 ounces per three cubic feet compared to air, which weighs 42 ounces per three cubic feet. The next principle that needs to be taken into consideration is the fact that cold CO2 will descend to the floor and hot CO2 will rise to the ceiling of your grow room. Diffusion is also responsible for the movement of CO2, although it will not travel very far with just simple diffusion. Diffusion, in this instance, is where the gas will move from places of higher concentration to places that have a lower concentration.
To ensure that you have a homogeneous CO2 concentration, especially in larger grow rooms; it may be necessary to have multiple CO2 enrichment devices. Location is also very important; you want to make sure that you place your CO2 source as far away from the exhaust system as possible. Plants will use up the available CO2 very quickly and because this gas diffuse slowly it is important to have multiple oscillating fans to make certain that there is a homogeneous mixture of CO2 in your grow room.
Article by, Brett McCormick, co-founder of Good Green Builders. Good Green Builders is a hydroponic grow room/greenhouse contractor in the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information or a free consultation, call today, (415) 246-8055.