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.
Constructing a sealed hydroponic grow room can be more expensive to set up, but you are able to create a totally controlled environment where every aspect of the plants growth can be manipulated. A sealed room is exactly what it sounds like, completely sealed, there aren’t any holes or vents to the outside from your indoor grow room. The first grow factor to control is the temperature.
Every indoor gardener knows that it is vital to the health of the plants to control temperature and to ensure that there aren’t any large fluctuations. The way that you deal with the heat from all of your lamps, dehumidifiers, pumps and ballasts, is by using an A/C system. The rule of thumb for deciding how big of unit is necessary to cool your sealed grow room is 4000 British Thermal Units, or BTU’s, per 1000 Watts of lighting. After temperature is dialed in, the next issue would be enriching your air with CO2.
CO2 is essential for pants to be able to photosynthesize. There are two standard ways to inject CO2 into your grow environment. One of them, which is more common among larger setups of 6000 Watts or more, is using a burner, where propane or natural gas is lit and the off gas produces CO2. The next method would be to open a bottle of CO2 and enrich the air directly. Many growers have found that having CO2 enriched air can produce up to 30% more yield. Next lets look at humidity.
Humidity is important to control, especially in the flowering stage of a plants life cycle, so you don’t create an environment where mold and mildew will thrive. Using a dehumidifier can control humidity. Much like an A/C unit, a dehumidifier can be purchased in many sizes and it is important to select on that fits your room size.
In a sealed room, you are able protect your plants from negative outside influences and at the same time, create a perfect environment for your plants to thrive.
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.
Pests and other pathogens can make growing indoors somewhat difficult. It is all about proper management of your indoor grow room or greenhouse. Preventative measures are always the best way for pest and pathogen management but sometimes these little critters and fungi spores find their way in to your grow room and begin to thrive. One new technology that is being used in commercial greenhouses and grows rooms is the use of UV-C T5 lamps.
UV, or ultraviolet, refers to a broad spectrum of light, anything from 100-400 nanometers. Ultraviolet has been further broken down into subcategories, and UV-C is the category that we are interested in. It is the section of UV between 185-280 nanometers. UV-C rays have the highest energy and is the arguably the most dangerous part of UV. UV-C rays can destroy anything from viruses, mold, bacteria, and mildew to plant pests like spider mites. Although it is successful in killing unwanted diseases and pathogens, it needs to be closely monitored because it can be harmful to not only you but your plants as well.
UV-C lamps can be used to sterilize a grow room before use, even though it is still recommended to clean everything with a weak bleach solution. Another possible application for UV-C lamps is to have them in your indoor garden and have them turn on for a few seconds to a minute depending on the wattage of the lamps. The UV-C rays only kill what they hit so it is necessary to place them in intervals in-between the plants to ensure that the plants are getting hit from every angle.
There is still more research needed for this application, as far as dosage of UV light, how far from the plant lamps should be placed, how long between dosages, but this will be a way for companies to reduce their dependence on chemical insecticides.
Article by, Brett McCormick, co-founder of Good Green Builders. Good Green Builders is a hydroponic grow room and Greenhouse builder in the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information or a free consultation call today, (415) 246-8055.
Source: UrbanGardenMagazine.com
When operating your own hydroponic grow room or greenhouse it essential that you understand various pathogens and how to prevent and treat them. What is a pathogen? A pathogen is an organism that can cause sickness. Fungi like: fusariums, pythium, verticillium, phytophtora, are ferocious invaders and can lead to total crop destruction. We have to understand that there is a large diversity of organisms that live on plants, in soil and water, in and on our food, and even on our skin. Some of these organisms are beneficial but the others are considered pathogens. These pathogens attack at the slightest sense of stress.
One destructive pathogen is pythium. Pythium is a root-parasite fungus that can multiply very fast under optimal conditions and will deprive the plant of food. This fungi will be present in almost any grow environment, no matter how clean it is. There are numerous ways for this fungi to reach your grow room so it is very important to keep it clean and track your quality of water that you are using. Pythium is considered a secondary infection because it takes advantage of plants that are already slightly damaged or stressed.
Detecting this pathogen in soil-based plants is a lot harder than that of hydroponic growers because of the access to the root system. If pythium has started to attack your plants, you will notice that the roots have started to turn from their normal white color to a light brown and eventually black. In a severe case, the lower portion of the stem will turn black and slimy. Fighting this pathogen can be quite simple if you have everything in your grow room dialed in.
There are some products that are sold to prevent the infestation of various pathogens including pythium. These products include but are not limited to, special silicate powders, beneficial bacteria or fungi. These products, either sold separately or in mixtures of various strains of both, are added to the nutrient solution. However, the main way to prevent this pathogen from taking over your plants is to keep your plants healthy. These basic rules are: good water quality, good ventilation, ideal temperature and humidity levels, optimal oxygenation of nutrient solution, general cleanliness, and a appropriate feeding program. It is very important to pay close attention to your plants to ensure that they are health and not susceptible to pathogen infestation.
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.
Source: maximumyield.com
Why is it that there are so few organic certified hydroponic growers out there? This should be a simple question to answer, but it isn’t. Each state has different guidelines for labeling produce as organic. In addition to this there are 36 non-governmental agencies, which can certify produce as organic. If a California grower wants to sell his produce as organic they must register with the California Department of Agriculture and pass inspection. California growers can also obtain a certification through the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF), which actually has higher standards for organic than the state. If the grower in California doesn’t obtain the CCOF certification, which is optional, they can’t sell produce as certified organic. A grower in another country can only sell his produce as certified organic if they get certified by one of the 36 non-governmental organizations. In addition to this, produce from any state can be sold as certified organic if it passes inspection form one of the 36 agencies, even if it doesn’t meet their states requirements. Sounds like they need to figure this out. And they are…
Basically the organic label is a matter of bureaucratic definitions, which vary from state to state and country to country. The USDA, state governments, non-government certifiers, consumers, and many other agencies are writing a federally mandated set of organic standards.
While organic farming methods do produce superior and safer crops than the larger agribusiness operations, modern hydroponic techniques can supply equally safe food that in many cases has a higher nutrient level and superior taste to that of its soil counterparts. Many consumers don’t know this and for them it is only the label that counts. The main problem for hydroponic growers in gaining organic certification is the nutrient formula that they use for cultivation.
Another concern for certifiers is the way that media such as rockwool cubes and slabs are disposed of. Considering the fact that the organic label also gives people the sense that the food labeled organic was produced in the most sustainable manner possible. Even thought this fact has nothing to do with the quality or safety of the product, certifiers have a problem with this. This is one reason that hydroponic growers have had a hard time gaining organic certifications.
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
This article will give you some insight on different ways that you can control the temperature of your indoor grow room. As explained in the previous article, temperature is one of the most important grow factors to control in order to promote healthy and vigorous plants. One of the main ways to control temperature is with an exhaust fan, this will help you keep your grow room temperature to an ideal 70-75F. A quality fan should be able to exhaust your room of the stale air in about five minutes and should be turned on once an hour. In conjunction with the exhaust fan you will need an intake fan to bring in cool, CO2 enriched air from either an adjacent room or outdoors. Another thing that you could do is hook up the exhaust fan to a thermostat, once the temperature in the grow room reaches its designated limit, the fan will turn on and exhaust the hot stale air form the room.
If you are having heat problems due to your lamps, an air-cooled reflector might provide some relief. An air-cooled reflector is an airtight reflector that runs an inline with a fan to take all of the heat from the bulb and exhausts it out of the garden. This will allow you to bring the lights closer to the plants than normal, which will greatly increase the efficiency of your lights and should lead to greater yields. These are a few ideas to help control the temperature in your grow room. More ideas are to follow.
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
SunPulse bulbs were designed to produce the true photochemical reactions plants need to photosynthesize and produce the maximum amount of chlorophyll. This means that these bulbs were made specifically for plants. Gerald Garrison designed this bulb; he has indoor food production facilities of his own. These are the first digital bulbs to be introduced to the market. It is made in four unique Kelvin colors: 3K, 4k, 6.4K, and 10K. A lighting schedule is located on every bulb box, which outlines when to use each particular bulb. These rotating bulbs allow for full spectrum lighting. SunPulse’s 1000W commercial Grade bulbs were originally designed for commercial food facilities. They are now made for the smaller producers as well. They are currently in stores available for the consumer and cost around $1,950.
Article by, Brett McCormick, co-founder of Good Green Builders. Good Green Bulders is a grow room contractor in Oakland, Ca. For more information or a free consultation, call today, 415-246-8055.
Source: Urbangardenmagazine.com
There is a huge up side to the future of indoor hydroponics lighting. The technology is improving but it will come at a huge cost to the consumer. The first lighting technology that will be profiled is the Sulfur Plasma lamp. This technology, developed by Plasma International, a British/ German company., will not be in stores for 1-2 years and is projected to cost around $3500 per light. The lamp and magnetron unit is an electrode-less lamp that includes an evacuated quartz bulb. The lamps produce almost no ultraviolet light and little infrared. It provides a full and continuous spectrum. Full spectrum lighting is the is the best type of light for plants being that this is the type of light that they have evolved to exploit.
A study was conducted by Wageningen University using Plasma International’s Sulfur Plasma Lamp for cucumber growth. They found that cucumbers grew 60% faster then they did under a traditional HPS bulb. It was also noted that there was an increase in size of branches and leaves. These lamps can easily cover the same area of a 1000W HPS lamp but because of the reduced heat, it could be placed closer to the plants. These bulbs are currently available for research purposes only.
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 all today, 415-246-8055.
Source: Urbangardenmagazine.com
The majority of indoor gardeners are using 1000-Watt High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lamps to light their plants and are still using magnetic ballasts. Believe it or not this technology has been around for more than 30 years in its same form. If you think of the computer industry a lot has changed in that same time frame. This was because of all of the human ingenuity and the demand for more from the consumer side. This is hopefully what will happen in the near future for indoor horticulture lighting.
We don’t need a Ph.D. in Photobiology to know that the sun is the only benchmark for new technologies in the indoor lighting field. Plants have adapted over millions of years to best exploit the solar energy generated from the sun. How plants relate to light can be related to how we as humans hear, by frequency. One of the primary reasons that indoor gardeners have used HPS bulbs is because NASA did a study basically stating that plants are efficient at using red light. HPS bulbs do a great job at promoting vigorous plants but they only provide plants with a limited light spectrum and a lot of heat in the infrared part of the spectrum. As we all know, heat can be a nemesis to your indoor garden if not taken care of properly.
There are alternative lighting systems out there that will provide a fuller spectrum of light and produce much less heat but they are not very economical and in some case not even in the stores. More information will be provided on the future of indoor horticulture lighting soon.
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