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Archive for Hydroponics

Fresh Fruit and Vegetables

Posted by: Brett McCormick · Comments (0) · February 22nd
Monday, February 22nd, 2010

Everybody knows in the back of their mind that a healthy diet is the foundation to a healthy lifestyle.  Health Canada states, “Adequate nutrition is essential for proper growth and development …Healthy eating contributes to an overall sense of well being and helps people look, feel, and perform better.”  It is suggested that you should eat 5-10 servings of fresh fruit and vegetables daily.  If you are concerned about quality of what you eat you should consider growing your own food.  This is because recent food production has been shifted from quality to quantity.   As well as the fact that genetically modified foods are widespread throughout our grocery stores.   One of the best ways to cultivate your own food is hydroponically.

You can convert a basement, spare room, or garage, into a hydroponic grow room that will help you live a healthier lifestyle.  A study done by Plant Research Technologies in San Jose found that tomatoes and peppers grown hydroponically had dramatically higher vitamin and mineral content than that of its soil counterpart.   Another advantage to growing hydroponically is that you can have multiple harvests per year, opposed to only one harvest in soil.  Cultivating food in your own hydroponic garden can be a very fun hobby and very rewarding once things are up and running.

Article by, Brett McCormick, co-founder of Good Green Builders.  Good Green Builders is a grow room contractor in Oakland, Ca.  For more information or a free consultation call today, 415-246-8055.

Source: Hydroponics.com

Categories : Grow Room Development, Harvesting Tips
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Maximizing Nutrient Environment-Part 1

Posted by: Brett McCormick · Comments (0) · February 18th
Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Nutrient management can be a hard task to master however once you are dialed in; you will reap the benefits of enhanced plant growth, higher yields, and higher overall crop quality.   It is all bout understanding your equipment and your grow room environment.  It all starts with the water.  You need to know what is in your water.  Water with high levels of conductivity, or high salt levels, is not ideal for hydroponic cultivation.  It is important to constantly check your water source with a dissolved solids meter, also called an electrical conductivity (EC) or parts per million (ppm) meter.  By doing this you will be able to tell if your water source is consistent.  Consistency and keeping all grow factors in proper balance is key in an indoor grow environment.

Your nutrient solution temperature should remain in the 65 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit.  Also it is good to remember that plants roots evolved in soil where soil temperatures are slow to change.  With this in mind, extreme changes in temperature in the root zone can cause shock or invite root disease.  The next topic for maximizing your nutrient environment is maintaining your nutrient solution’s pH between 5.5 and 6.8.  You want to adjust your pH to remain in this range, checking it periodically.  But there is fine line that you don’t want to cross, maintaining a perfect balance of 6.2 can actually do damage.  A fluctuating pH is common and this just means that your plants are absorbing the nutrients from your solution.

Another important aspect in nutrient management is changing your nutrient solution.  The common question is when do you change the solution, but there isn’t a common answer.  When you top off your reservoir you should make note of how much water was added.  Top off the reservoir as needed and make sure you make a note as to how much water you are adding each time.  Once the amount of water added equals the total reservoir volume, it is time to drain and replace the nutrient solution.

Article by, Brett McCormick, co-founder of Good Green Builders. Good Green Builders is a grow room contractor in Oakland, Ca.  For more information or a free consultation call today, 415-246-8055.

Categories : Harvesting Tips
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Recirculation Basics-Part 1

Posted by: Brett McCormick · Comments (0) · February 17th
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Growing hydroponically drastically reduces the usage of various resources necessary for an indoor grow.  Water is one of them.  The days of run-to-waste or open irrigation have almost come to an end.  Pure water, which is essential in a hydroponic system, is becoming more and more scarce.   It is important for people to re-circulate their water and nutrients to limit the water usage.  When cultivating in your hydroponic grow room you can reduce water consumption up to 80% by using a water recirculation system.  A recirculation system will also allow you to save money on all of the nutrients and additives that make up the nutrient solution.  Water is the key to any hydroponic system.

It is very important to know what is in your water.  If you don’t know what is in your source water, and if the performance of your plants suffers, you will not know where to start to diagnose the problem at hand.  It is important to have a low EC water source so that the water can dissolve the required nutrients and so you wont have a build-up of nutrients.  When dealing with a closed or recirculation system it is important to top off your reservoirs to make sure that the nutrient solution is of the right concentration.  Plants will take up the water in the solution quicker than the nutrients in the solution. When deciding on reservoirs for your hydroponic grow room bigger is better.  This is because the nutrients will stay in balance longer, larger volumes of water helps stabilize temperature, and also enables the grower to make more subtle adjustments to avoid any spikes in EC or pH.

Article by, Brett McCormick, co-founder of Good Green Builders.  Good Green Builders is a grow room contractor in Oakland, Ca.  For a free consultation call today, 415-246-8055.

Source: urbangardenmagazine.com

Categories : Hydroponics
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Who’s Afraid of Hydroponics

Posted by: Brett McCormick · Comments (0) · February 16th
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

There are many misconceptions that give hydroponics a bad name in the agricultural world.  The truth is that cultivating foods hydroponically is the way of the future and is already prevalent in the agriculture community.   The word “hydroponics” is derived from Greek, “hydro-ponos”.  This can be directly translated to water at work.  One of the main benefits to growing hydroponically is that the majority of the crops energy is put into the plants fruits and flowers and not the root system.   Therefore producing a much more vigorous plant with less resources used.   One of the main misconceptions of hydroponic cultivation is that hydroponics isn’t and can’t be organic.  That is untrue.

There are many different types of organic based hydroponic nutrients as well as organic mediums for growing crops.  Coconut coir, which is a favorite for hydroponic cultivators, is all natural.  Also, crops produced hydroponically, if fed the proper array of nutrients can be just as nutritious as organic produce.

There are many advantages to growing hydroponically, some of them are: Higher yields, increased growth rates, less labor involved in the maintenance, plants can be left un-attended longer, water usage is reduced when using a recirculation system, and finally many hydroponics systems provide plants with more nutrition while at the same time use energy and space.  These are just a few advantages to growing hydroponically.

Article by, Brett McCormick, co-founder of Good Green Builders.  Good Green Builders is a grow room contractor in Oakland, Ca.  For more information or a free consultation call today, (415) 246-8055.

Source: Urbangardenmagazine.com

Categories : Hydroponics
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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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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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Comparing Hydroponic Gardens

Posted by: Brett McCormick · Comments (0) · January 13th
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

This article talks about hydroponics and the different methods for growing hydroponically. The first one method is passive hydroponics. Passive hydroponics is the lowest yielding method however it is the easiest. One of the main benefits for growing hydroponically is that there is unlimited space for your plant’s roots to grow but in passive hydroponics this advantage does not apply.

The next method on the production scale is deep-water culture. This method is very simple in design and limits the risk of root damage. One negative to this method is the difficulty of growing in large scales because of the size of the reservoir compared to the tray.
Flood and drain or ebb and flow systems are very popular for indoor grow rooms because of they are simple, versatile, and efficient. One negative for this system that is so popular is that the cycling of nutrients is dependent on a submersible pump. The growing medium, often rockwool or coco-coir, dries easily and therefore needs to be watered multiple times a day.

Another type of re-circulating hydroponics system is the drip or sprinkler system. This system allows the roots to have large amounts of oxygen. The nutrient solution, also very rich in oxygen, flows 24 hours a day.

The final method for growing hydroponically is the Nutrient Film Technique or NFT. This is where the plant is grown in a sloped pipe and the roots are allowed to grow freely without any medium. This is the highest yielding method of hydroponic growing. This is the most yield productive for a number of reasons. This method allows for the roots zone to have optimal oxygen levels at all times. It also allows the roots to have constant nutrient uptake. This hydroponic system is the hardest to master but can be very rewarding if done properly.

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.hydroponics.com

Categories : 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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