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Food For Thought: The Importance of Full Nutrition in Consumable Crops

Posted by: Brett McCormick · Comments (0) · January 27th
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

The way we produce food as a whole is not conducive to a sustainable and healthy future of the world’s inhabitants.  Growing foods organically and hydroponically are potential solutions to one of the principle issues we have with regards to our food production.   Our food today is being mass-produced and solely for a profit.  With industrial agriculture, plants are given the bare minimum they need to grow.  For example, tomatoes produced industrially would only contain 13-17 minerals, all used to grow the fruit.  If that same fruit was allowed to ripen on the vine and was provided with a wider spectrum of nutrients, it would contain many more sugars, amino acids, enzymes, and free radicals.  Many people are turning to producing their own foods in hydroponic grow rooms so they can ensure that what they are eating is actually beneficial to their diet.

If you don’t have your own hydroponic grow room or buy foods at farmers markets than you are probably eating nutrient deprived foods.  The reality of the issue is that we are what we eat and nutrition plays a huge role in our overall quality of living.  As Rudolph Steiner, an Australian scientist said, “Nutrition as it is today, does not supply the strength necessary for manifesting the spirit in the physical life.  A bridge can no longer be built to will and action.  Food plants no longer contain the forces people need for this.”

Article by, Brett McCormick, co-founder of Good Green Builders.  Good Green Builders is a hydroponic grow room contractor in Oakland, Ca.  Call today for your free consultation, (415) 246-8055.

Source: UrbanGardenMagazine.com

Categories : Harvesting Tips
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Activated Charcoal Carbon Filters: The Deodorizing Solution

Posted by: Brett McCormick · Comments (0) · January 25th
Monday, January 25th, 2010

After constructing an indoor hydroponic grow room it is important to make sure that you deal with the odors of your harvest ready crops.  Pungent odors, from various indoor crops, will find their way out of the grow room and into the noses of your neighbors.  Cabbage is a great complimentary dish on your dinner plate but it is certain that your neighbors would not like the odor of a 1000 heads ready for harvest.

Within an indoor grow environment heat and humidity can cause aromatic compounds to multiply creating an unpleasant odor.  Some of these aromatic compounds that add to the pollution of the air are: Pollen, plant material, growing media, nutrient solutions, organic sprays. There are a few different ways to deal with these problems and the most effective and most environmentally friendly way to do this is through carbon filtering.

Charcoal activated carbon filters have become the favorite method of odor removal in the hydroponic industry. Activated carbon is an absorbent made from vegetable or mineral based raw materials.   A good filter is able to filter out 99% of air born aromatic compounds.  Carbon’s ability to absorb decreases at higher temperatures and diminishes with a relative humidity of higher than 60%.  Hydroponic grow rooms should not exceed 60% so this shouldn’t be an issue.  Carbon filtering is the only solution for grow room odor.

Article by, Brett McCormick, managing partner of Good Green Builders.  Good Green Builders is an indoor grow room contractor in Oakland, Ca.  Call today for a free consultation, (415) 246-8055.

Source: Hydroponics.com

Categories : Harvesting Tips
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Why Air Movement Counts

Posted by: Brett McCormick · Comments (0) · January 22nd
Friday, January 22nd, 2010

When constructing your own hydroponic grow room one must consider all of the factors essential to the growth of your plants.  It is understood that while some factors are more important than others, they are all part the big picture and must remain in balance to obtain the best results.   One of these factors that promote a healthy plant is the movement of air.  Air movement is very important for a few different reasons.

Often times indoor gardeners believe that more is better and don’t realize that more can actually hurt their indoor garden environment.  An exhaust fan is one of the most important pieces of equipment in an indoor grow.  This is because it helps regulate temperature, CO2 levels and relative humidity.   A quality exhaust fan should be able to remove the volume of air in the room in three to five minutes.  This process of removing hot air and replacing it with cold air (through an intake fan) is easier in the winter months due to outside temperatures.  With that said, it is much harder to control temperatures in the summer months.

There are a few different things that you can do when trying to lower the temperature of your grow room in the summer months.  One of them is turning your lights on in the middle of the night.  Another solution is having air-cooled reflector lights that has its own exhaust system.  This will remove the heat of the bulbs before it reaches the indoor grow room.

There are many pests and diseases (mold, mildew, spider mites) that can be prevented through the proper movement of air in an indoor hydroponic garden.

Article by, Brett McCormick, managing partner of Good Green Builders.  Good Green Builders is an indoor grow room contractor in Oakland, Ca.  Call today for a free consultation, (415) 246-8055.

<small>Source: Hydroponics.com</small>

Categories : Harvesting Tips, Indoor Grow Rooms
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CO2: The Secret Ingredient for a Better Harvest

Posted by: Brett McCormick · Comments (0) · January 20th
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

Every recipe has a secret ingredient that is essential to the outcome of a dish.  The same can be said for that of indoor hydroponic growing.  If you already have an indoor grow room you know how important it is to have every aspect of the grow in proper balance.  In the latest edition of Maximum Yield, it discussed how carbon dioxide (CO2) is that secret ingredient when growing hydroponically.

Without taking water into consideration, plants are comprised of mostly carbon and oxygen, which comes, mainly, from the CO2 in the air.  CO2 is an essential element of the photosynthesis process, without CO2 the plant would not be able to grow to its full potential.   As the concentrations of CO2 increases in your grow room, the photosynthesis process is increased and therefore your plant will grow much bigger.  However, there is a point of diminishing returns.

A plant ideally requires a CO2 level of 700 parts per million (ppm) and 1000ppm during the light period and around 400 ppm in the dark period.   You want more CO2 in the air during the light period because that is when the photosynthesis process occurs.  CO2 isn’t the only factor in your grow that is important to the end results.  It is important to master the basic needs of your plants and then start enriching your indoor grow environment with CO2.  CO2 alone will not have a significant impact on yields and flower quality if all the other factors are properly maintained.

Categories : CO2, Harvesting Tips
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Plant Obesity: Choosing Higher Yield over Healthy Crops

Posted by: Brett McCormick · Comments (0) · January 18th
Monday, January 18th, 2010

After reading this article it made me wonder why there aren’t more people with hydroponic grow rooms producing their own foods. There have been countless articles written about this same topic and how our food supply has been depleted of many nutrients that they once had. To make this point more clear a study of 45 corn varieties developed from 1920 to 2001 found that concentrations of proteins and amino acids have declined in the newer varieties. The article uses two more examples of fruits and vegetables to reiterate the point at hand. One being the calcium levels in broccoli have declined by 8.5 milligrams in a 50-year period. The next study showed a decline in mineral levels in 14 varieties of wheat by 22-39%.

This has all happened because of the industrialization of our nation and our food supplies. A bushel of corn loaded with vitamins and minerals will sell for the same amount of bushel depleted of nutrients. So far there isn’t an added value for farmers to start producing nutrient rich foods. This is why people need take matters into their own hand and start producing their own food supplies through their own hydroponic grow rooms. Until there is a shift in societal norms, these large farmers are going to produce foods for a profit and not for the most nutrient rich foods. The big picture, as noted in the article, is that plants and animals cannot operate at full functionality without having access to all of the physical elements.

Article by, Brett McCormick, managing partner of Good Green Builders. Good Green Builders is a grow room contractor in Oakland California. For more information or a free consultation give me a call at (415) 246-8055.

Source: www.maximumyield.com

Categories : Harvesting Tips
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Water World: The Many Advantages of Hydroponics

Posted by: Brett McCormick · Comments (0) · January 15th
Friday, January 15th, 2010

This is a great article if you are interested in reading about hydroponic industry as a whole. It details the history of hydroponics, the industry today, and some of the benefits of growing hydroponically. The article speaks on the larger scale production of vegetables but is easily related to the small time farmers who have hydroponic grow rooms of their own. Most of the article used tomatoes as the subject for discussion. Tomatoes were traditionally picked for the size and uniformity of the fruit, however; consumers’ tastes and preferences have shifted. They now desire a fruit that is full of flavor and high in nutrient content. Growing hydroponically has enabled, both, small and commercial farmers to produce more high quality fruit.

Another interesting topic discussed is the comparison of growing hydroponically to that of field growing. Growing hydroponically requires higher nutrient doses and the threat of power outages could ruin crops. That doesn’t mean that field growing is completely energy efficient in itself. Field growing does not recapture resources, takes longer to grow, yields less than growing hydroponically, and finally has mother earth to deal with. Yields are varied on a year-to-year basis due to weather and other environmental conditions. While growing hydroponically will help feed all of the worlds population in the future.
Article by, Brett McCormick, managing partner of Good Green Builders. Good Green Builders is a grow room contractor in Oakland California. For more information or a free consultation give me a call at (415) 246-8055.

Source: www.culinate.com

Categories : Harvesting Tips, Hydroponics
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Yield of Dreams: An Optimal External Environment for Accelerated Crop Growth

Posted by: Brett McCormick · Comments (0) · January 8th
Friday, January 8th, 2010

This article from January’s edition of Maximum Yield speaks of the importance of mocking nature as much as possible when growing indoors. The purpose of the article is to describe how the photosynthesis process works and how it relates to modern indoor growing. It goes on to explain the three processes of photosynthesis: Photosynthetic activity, respiration and transpiration and how they all feed off one another. It is very important to understand how these processes work on an individual basis as well as how they do with one another.

It breaks down all of the external factor that go into creating an ideal indoor grow room that will allow you to maximize your crop yields. The article explains how it is easy for an indoor gardener to create an imbalance in the growing equation due to the high intensity lights used. This imbalance is created because factors such as temperature, carbon dioxide, minerals and vitamins are not supplied in the same abundance. One of the main issues when deciding the type of lighting you want to use for you indoor grow is how theses fixtures handle excess heat. Excess heat will harm your plants and as discussed in the article it is very important to make sure that all of theses factors are controlled to promote a healthier, higher yielding crop.

The next topic discussed is the importance of essentially giving your plant exactly what they need. In short, you want to give your plant all of the nutrients it needs so it doesn’t have to produce any itself. With doing this you will enable your plant to do what you want it to do and that is to do…grow big and healthy.

One can’t go with put the other, supplementing your plants with nutrients doesn’t make up for having poor growing conditions. It is all about recreating the balance of nature in your indoor grow room.

Article by, Brett McCormick, managing partner of Good Green Builders. Good Green Builders is a grow room contractor in Oakland, California. For more information or a free consultation give me a call at (415) 246-8055.

Source: www.maximumyield.com

Categories : Harvesting Tips, Indoor Grow Rooms
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The Potential of Hydroponics

Posted by: Brett McCormick · Comments (0) · January 6th
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

This article from September’s issue of Maximum Yield tied in Darwin’s theory of evolution, Thomas Malthus’ ideas of overpopulation, and the benefits of growing hydroponically. The main ideas and principles of the article are that we have created a world that we have just recently been able to manipulate into something that we believe is more beneficial to us. Our tampering with nutrient levels in plants for the economic benefit has made our food supply devoid of nutritional value. An example made in the article is how applying high levels of phosphorus to raspberries doubled the yield but the levels of eight other minerals declined by 20-55%. We are also living in a world where Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO’s) are prominent in more than 70% of our food in our grocery stores. Although they are unmarked so the consumer doesn’t know if they are purchasing foods with GMO’s.

The next topic discussed, which is tied in with all of the above ideas, is that growing hydroponically is not only beneficial to the health of our population, it can be more lucrative than conventional farming practices. Growing hydroponically enables people to control what they eat and make sure that they are receiving their essential minerals and vitamins from a real source…not a packet of pills.

Article by, Brett McCormick, managing partner of Good Green Builders. Good Green Builders is a grow room contractor in Oakland, California. For more information or a free consultation give me a call at (415) 246-8055.

Source: www.maximumyield.com

Categories : Harvesting Tips, Hydroponics
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