Garden Culture Magazine: US 8 by Garden Culture Magazine

USA - CANADA UK EDITION 路ISSUE ISSUE810路 2015

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KNOWLEDGE Issue 8 FREE COPY

Great against:

Aphids, Weevils, Leafhoppers, Leaf miners, Broad & Russet Mites, Powdery Mildew, Thrips, Two Spotted Spider Mite, White Flies, Nematodes, Alternaria solani (Early blight), Botrytis (Gray mold), Fusarium, Pythium, Verticillum dahlia (Wilt), Rhizoctonia solani (Root infections), & more.

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c e n t r a l co a s t

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CONTENTS I INDEX

A MITE-Y PROBLEM 50

LEDs

URBAN AGRICULTURE

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

check

engine

74 18

34 IN THIS ISSUE OF GARDEN CULTURE:

URBAN FORESTING

WHO’S GROWING WHAT WHERE

9 Foreword

59 The Dunning-Kruger Effect

11 Product Spotlight

60 The Scientific Method

18 The Growth of Urban Agriculture

68 Shorties

21 Acid-etched Canning Jars

70 Foliar Feeding

22 The Renaissance of Rudolf Steiner

74 Urban Foresting

28 Going Soilless by 2075

78 Shorties II

34 Check Engine

80 Cereal Yield: A Giveaway

39 Five Cool Finds

84 Hydro Chillies are Hotter than Ever

40 The Magic Weed

91 Nutrient Solutions

45 The Hydroponic Riddle

96 LEDs – a Bright Future?

48 What is Nitrogen

104 Mushroom Hunting in My Backyard

50 A Mite-y Problem

109 Forever Stoked

55 Who’s Growing What Where

113 Life in the Hive

22 THE RENAISSANCE OF RUDOLF STEINER

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FOREWORD I CREDITS

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V P O PER AT I O NS: Celia Sayers ldlabel.nl www.go Email: celia@gardenculturemagazine.com t. 1-514-754-1539

N C U LT

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Maxigrow 221125 Supplies T: 01246 row.com Gardening Direct k W: maxig 320850 upplies.co.u T: 01226 gardenings W: direct

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Everest Fernandez’s article “Check Engine” will hopefully get you thinking about what it means to listen to our bodies. We bring our cars to the shop when that cursed “check engine” light comes on, but rarely are we attune to the mechanisms in our own bodies, and there is no Check Body light to let us know when something is going wrong. And, when it does try to tell us something, we are usually too busy to notice or just plain ignore it. Something to think about, I am going to try to listen a little harder for the Check Body signal, just in case it goes off.

the int ernet

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We will take a look at the always-evolving world of LEDs. Personally, I think they are the light of the future, and soon to become the #1 lighting in indoor horticulture. We are not there yet, but it is definitely exciting times for new lighting technologies.

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In “The Scientific Method”, Stephen Brookes gives a 101 on how to conduct a proper test, one that uses the framework for most scientific studies with verifiable results. Just in case you were going to go to all that trouble of testing for yourself, you might as well do it right. If you are not the scientist type, it allows you, the grower, to better judge the claims being made on any given product.

ING ROW OF G ART THE

With all of this newfound interest in hydroponics, organics, and other cutting edge growing techniques, the market has been inundated with countless innovative new products and companies. With this, of course, come the claims. Every week there is another promise for miraculous results. I did the math once, if I used every product that claims to increase yields by 20%, I would triple my already amazing results! Seeing the truth through the hype requires special skills that can be learned by all.Who verifies these claims? How can companies legally advertise that their product can do this without proof? According to 15 U.S. Code § 52 - Dissemination of false advertisements it isn’t. The violation is a misdemeanor and carries a fine of no more than $ 5,000. It is against the law to make false claims. But, of course, many people do not care about that law thing and say whatever they want. Their study said… but was their study any good?

er ch more waton y hold mu wing. The h the cleanest coco ed for gro wit cally design These are mixed le in the world. ble specifi cture. ms availab ed clay peb their porous stru diu ifi me cert g of RHP best growin The only pebbles because one of the than round market, giving the

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USA reporting record sales.

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ED I TO RS Executive Editor: ... Eric Coulombe r Growing tandard fo S ld o G Email: e Th eric@gardenculturemagazine.com Senior Editor: Tammy Clayton Email: tammy@gardenculturemagazine.com

D E N G A R

indeed. The market is booming worldwide, with the UK and

Garden Culture™ is a publication of 325 Media Inc.

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The outlook for 2016 in the indoor gardening industry is bright

CREDITS

FOREWORD

O H Y DsRtr y indu

Gardening Advanced 2420 ing.com T: 020 8443 ced-garden W: advan

DESIGN Job Hugenholtz Email - job@gardenculturemagazine.com Special thanks to: Our writers: Brian Burk, Green Knight, Evan Folds, Tammy Clayton, Everest Fernandez, Kyle L. Ladenburger, Stephen Brookes, Chris Bond, Theo Tekstra, Amber Fields, Agent Green, Alistair Martin, Grubbycup, and the Forever Stoked Collective. PUBLISHER 325 Media 44 Hyde Rd., Milles Isles Québec, Canada t. +1 (844) GC GROWS w. www.gardenculturemagazine.com Email - info@gardenculturemagazine.com ADVERTISING Eric Coulombe Email - eric@gardenculturemagazine.com t. 1-514-233-1539 D I ST R I B U T I O N PA R T N ER S • Sunlight Supply • Hydrofarm • Rambridge • Biofloral Website: www.Gardenculturemagazine.com facebook.com/GardenCulture twitter.com/GardenCulture © 325 Media

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product spotlight

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHTS

My Favorite System I Love NFT

BY ERIC COULOMBE

For its overall simplicity, speed of growth, and pla nt versatility my favorite garden is NFT. NFT, in case you don’t know , is short for Nutrient Film Technique.

No one knows NFT better than Michael Christian, the founder of American Hydroponics, and industry pioneer since 1984. In recent years, they have turned their focus and NFT expertise to the commercial agricultural sector. I asked him, why NFT? “NFT is one of the simplest, efficient, and most productive methods for growing greens and herbs I’ve ever seen. Since 1995, we’ve grown just about everything in NFT… except potatoes. ;-) The technology is deceptively simple, a slow moving recirculated stream of nutrient rich water flows down a flat-bottomed plastic channel. What’s so cool about it is the ease of diversifying. If markets shift, it’s easy to change varieties without missing a beat. Most of our clients are doing 24 crop turns a year, year round in greenhouses (compared to 4 in soil), which makes it very profitable per square foot. Amazing technology!” Most systems or growing styles have their own merits, and work great when properly maintained. I have tried almost every technique possible, and had success with all of them, but the simplicity, and versatility of NFT won me over. There is no one-way to set up NFT, and is perfect for people who like to build their own gardens. When using canals, or tunnels there are no limitations to what can be done. They are stackable, which means the useable square footage can be doubled, tripled and more depending on ceiling height. Length is also not an issue, as they can be cut to whatever your space requires.

Michael Christian, the founder of American Hydroponics,

I am presently using Nutriculture’s NFT Gro-Tank. It was my first table style NFT as opposed to canals. I love it - best NFT ever! Last winter I grew Kale in 4 different systems, this new one beat them all; the fastest growth, and the largest plants with the least maintenance. It took me 5 minutes to set up, and came with everything but the rockwool. It is also the easiest to clean in between harvests. If you are a beginner, or looking to grow lots of leafy greens, there is nothing better than NFT. Advancements in watersoluble nutrients and additives have made NFT a viable option for any grower. It is my favorite system, but then again, that’s just me.

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-4 Crop master QD Another world first in horticultural lighting from Budmaster LED. The Cropmaster QD-4 is four watts of pure efficiency using the latest ‘Cadmium Free Quantum Dot Nano Crystal’ technology giving an exacting spectral output. The Nano crystals are excited (powered) by 62% (Radiant) efficient LED, making this the world’s most efficient LED grow light. Place this neat little unit on top of your propagator, and you will be amazed at what four watts of CFQD can do.

Gavitareflectors Gavita’s new range of reflectors builds on 30 years of experience developing horticultural lighting fixtures. As lamps change, so do reflectors. Gavita’s new line of reflectors are specifically developed to offer an even higher efficiency with the current generation of double ended lamps. The M 110 DE SR (Small Room) reflector provides light levels and uniformity never seen under a single fixture. You want a deep crop penetration with great uniformity for larger plans? The HR96 reflector is your choice. Want to be a bit closer to the crop in a large room, or optimal distribution with lower light levels? The W 150 DE will deliver you unrivalled uniformity and efficiency. Gavita Holland. Enlightening. www.gavita-holland.com

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHTS

N E W B u d m a st e r C O B -X The new Budmaster COB-X light engine is here, and as you have come to expect from Budmaster, we have chosen the highest-performing COB (Chip on Board) on the market from ‘CITILED the Light Engine’. The CITILED Series 4 High CRI COB outperform every other COB on the market on both efficiency and output, winning the ‘Highest Luminous Efficacy’ award year on year. So, if white is right for you and your plants, we can now offer the most efficient white LED possible. Shortly to be followed by the launch of the CITILED Horticultural Cob (pink light) series, which will be the world’s first proper horticultural COB.

HYDROMASTER HM50 0 HM Digital is thrilled to bring the HydroMaster (HM-500) to the growing community . With its rechargeable battery , this continuous monitor offers the grower the option to wall mount it, or use it as a portable monitor to test various solutions without losing calibration! As can be expecte d the HM-500 offers convenient features such as high and low alarm set points, versatility wit h TDS readings (both 0.5 and 0.7 scale), and the ability to rea d up to 20 readings. With its huge touch-screen and simple navigation, the HM-500 has set a new standard in superior quality, easy to use pro ducts.”

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Patented Aeration Container

They may look the same until they don’t.

Patented Aeration Container

THINK QUALITY. THINK SMART. BUY SMART. The Containers You Use Effect The Plants You Grow THE ORIGINAL www.smartpots.com

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHTS

Sunglass by day, grow glass by night

ium m e r P Seven d o h t e M tics: p O m o o e with Grow R HPSx Transition pairs fresh styl new Limited Edition Revolution

Method Seven’s m eyewear for 2016. the absolute best in grow roo technical prowess to bring you e sodium lights, and e and protect under high pressur Transition lenses color-balanc outside. Its unique ses by darkening when you step actually transform into sunglas and a wide fit offer e features concealed flex hinges hand-crafted Italian acetate fram ity. Full UV protection. maximum comfort and durabil not only a fresh look, but deliver proper cleaning and microfiber pouch included for Protective hardshell case and Seven.com storage. $169 - www.Method

mmoth a M e h T avita Elite G Tents Gavita and Mammoth tents work together to create the perfect growing space for your Gavita DE. Using every possible photon, and making the most out of your lamp is the objective of all growers. But lack of knowledge, misinformation, or poor design often results in wasted light. This inefficiency directly influences your yield. G1 and G2 are designed to give optimal light levels, and uniformity for a 1 or 2 1000W light room. Like all Mammoth Tents: • 100% Waterproof • Light-Proof Design • Super Solid – 22mm Steel Poles • Easy One-Person Assembly • Highly Reflective Mylar • Available in 2.15m (7.1 feet) and 2.4m (7.9 feet)

) n o i t (evolu

d e va b a l l a s t

solution. DEva is a completely integrated, plug ‘n play, no compromise plant lighting ® right built is The state of the art, low frequency Silent Squarewave electronic ballast e, into the reflector, passing the FCC’s tough Class B EMI limits.The 97% reflectiv comes which aluminium reflector houses an Ushio double-ended 1000W HPS lamp r included. All you have to do is plug it in, and start growing. Surge protected, compute controllable, and generator safe, DEva also offers peace of mind.

d e v a R L C -1

Co n tr ol le r

These days having a great ballast isn’t enough. Smart controllers are soon to be the new normal for indoor growers. Just like DEva, our controller was designed and manufactured in-house. While the DEvas can work with your existing controller, the RLC-1 takes it a step further. It will simulate sunrise and sunset, gradually waking up your plants, and gently putting them to bed. It will also capture data on; incoming power, lamp life, voltage changes, brown-outs, and black-outs. The RLC-1 also senses room temperature, and will automatically dim the lights if the room becomes too hot. No more fiddling with knobs, output power can now be controlled by the RLC-1, from 600W to a blinding 1150W - in 1% increments. The RLC-1 connects with up to 512 DEva 1000W grow lights! Engineered to be simple. Find out more: revolutionmicro.com/revolution-products/

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NOTHING SAYS GROWING MEDIA BETTER™

INOCULANTS WITH GUARANTEED VIABLE SPORES • Improves nutrient and water uptake • Increases plants’ resistance to stresses from nutrient imbalances and drought to increase post-transplanting survival rate • Increases crop vigour, plant quality and quantity of flowers/fruits

PROVEN RESULTS† TOMATO

+38%

INCREASE IN FRUIT PRODUCTION

GREEN PEPPER

+90%

INCREASE IN FRUIT PRODUCTION

† Results obtained from independent plant growth trials. Individual growth results may vary to a degree. Additional results and details are available.

FOR HIGHER YIELDS, USE PRO-MIX® HP GROWING MEDIA WITH CUTTING-EDGE BIO-ADDITIVES.

Ne w! Hydro Flow ®

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHTS

tion a g i r r I ot DeepRo itter m E p i Dr ™

in indoor itter may be the biggest news mingly simple looking drip em see this $5, than less at that It’s hard to believe ed a 61% reduction in water pendent agronomists conclud inde by ted duc con y stud ion in gardening this year! A recent was there an enormous reduct this new drip emitter. Not only h wit on) vati ser con er ation wat Irrig took DeepRoot consumption (serious itional drip units. Specifically, “it trad r ove ed rov imp ly vast vine --water use, but soil saturation was only 2.84 gallons of water per ter content saturation) --- and /wa soil % (50 t poin that ch to rea eners this is sure be an only 4.5 hours to .” For indoor and outdoor gard vine per er wat of ns gallo 7.38 n system versus the drip unit’s 9 hour and antages, the DeepRoot irrigatio ition to water conservation adv add In nt. me elop dev ble rda t growth. The proprietary important, and affo also promotes downward roo ch whi e zon t roo the to ctly Hydro delivers water and nutrients dire 6” and 12” sizes exclusively from wth on the emitter. Available in gro e alga and ging clog es inat design virtually elim ducts.com Flow. www.hydro-flowpro

Titan Controls Atlas 1 When it comes to controlling CO enrichment in garden spaces, the name 2 “Titan” tops the list. One of the tried-and-true indoor, and hydroponic gardening workhorses, the Atlas 1 by Titan Controls has been improved for 2016. This CO2 controller has the same durable design and features it’s long been known for, but now, for the same price, this flagship unit comes standard with a remote sensor! The Atlas 1 remote sensor can be placed up to 100 feet away from the control unit and in the best place in your garden canopy to accurately measure and enrich the garden with CO Updated 2. NDIR (Non-Dispersive Infrared) sensing technology results in faster, and more precise CO2 readings. Add to that, Titan’s proprietary low voltage sensor breakthrough is not affected by RFI from ballasts, or other RFI emitting devices. Because the remote sensor cable is booted, corrosion and contamination from harsh grow room nutrients, humidity and sprays is virtually eliminated. A 15 Amp rating allow the use of several CO 2 generators or CO2 regulators to operate from a single Atlas 1 CO2 monitor/ controller with remote. www.titancontrols.net

Winner!

2015 Sunlight Supply Product of the Year ’s

Congratulations to Green Cleaner

We are proud of our friends over at Central Coast Garden Supplies, makers of Green Cleaner for having such a great year. Started a little over 1 year ago, this simple product has taken the market by storm. I personally have been using it for a while and love it. It works great, and I don’t have to worry about any toxic residue on my food or herbs. So what is it? Green Cleaner combines all-natural pesticides in a concentrated form. It all starts with non-GMO soybean oil, and sodium lauryl sulfate. The soybean oil suffocates pests on contact, such as spider mites, broad mites, and russet mites, while the sodium lauryl sulfate coats bugs, leaving them covered and very unhappy. Citric acid, and alcohol are added in specific proportions. The citric acid infiltrates the soft-bodied insects exterior to acidify, and destroy them. The alcohol is a key ingredient that both dehydrates the bugs, and evaporates c e n t r a l co a s t any remaining residue of the oil and sulfate. The result is a concentrated combination of pest killing power. www.centralcoastgarden.com

GARDENCULTUREMAGAZINE.COM

BY BRIAN BURK

The Growth of

Urban Agriculture 1890s Detroit: where vacant city lot gardening for food security began

In the past, most people of the world used land wherever they could for growing food. It was necessary and purposeful. It seems though, due to industrialization and urbanization, that we, as consumers, have become complacent with the ease of grocery shopping. But unfortunately, like most changes, it took poverty, unemployment, and rising food costs to get North Americans to look at their empty lots, front lawns, or that slim patch of soil in front of their sidewalks as a source of food. We call this idea Urban Gardening today.

Urban gardening has been around for years - but recently it’s come

URBAN AGRICULTURE I GARDEN CULTURE

full circle

One of the first instances, in the United States, of using empty city lots to grow produce was initiated by Detroit Mayor Hazen Stuart Pingree. 1890s Detroit wasn’t what someone would consider a shining mecca of hope. The streets were overflowing with violence while Detroit’s inhabitants were in a monetary drought. This lack of cash made it difficult for people in the city to purchase any food. Mr. Pingree, obviously worried, had an idea; he made an appeal to use empty land in the city for gardens and potato patches; it was a success. Pingree’s Potato Plan was implemented, and it was copied from city to city, all over the nation. These once vacant lots now housed a source of an abundant and sustainable food source, which allowed the less affluent city dwellers of Detroit, and across the country, to eat and earn money during an economic recession.

vegan lunches to students and community members. The kitchen serves by donation, but no one is turned away for lack of funds. There are also many schools and businesses who get into the growing game. The Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, CA integrates gardens into schoolyards so kids can get involved with the growing process. There is also a movement in the United States called Slow Food USA, which “provides technical assistance, resources, and partnerships to cultivate the next generation of healthy eaters of good, clean, and fair food.”

The first type is in your backyard, literally. This seems to be the most common type, planting seeds where you live, watering, and letting your produce grow. It gives you a great feeling when you pick your food from outside your door, and put it straight in the pot to cook.

In a city where growing space is hard to come by, rooftop gardening offers a viable means of food production. The Alternatives’ project in Montreal holds workshops to help locals acquire the skills needed to start their own rooftop garden. If you visit their website, they teach you how to start one up as well. Also, billed as the largest rooftop garden in the world, is the Brooklyn Grange. The Grange is around 108,000 square feet, or 2.5 acres. It’s spread across two rooftops, and provides around 50,000 pounds of organically grown food. The produce is sold to restaurants, and through local weekly farm stands. According to the Brooklyn Grange’s website “Rooftop farms have the potential to improve urban quality of life, create jobs, increase access to healthy, fresh foods, and provide environmental and agricultural education to those of us who live in and love the city.”

Community projects are another example of local food growing. As the name implies, it is based around community efforts to make sure their area is provided for when it comes to food security and food production. Some community projects include The Stop community food center in Toronto, The People’s Grocery in Oakland, CA, and there is also City Farmer in Vancouver, a group that will teach you the ins and outs of growing in the city. Concordia’s Loyola Campus in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce has a community garden named The People’s Potato, which provides members of this community fresh fruits and vegetables. It also encourages locals to get up close and personal with the process of managing a sustainable food source. Attached to this garden is a soup kitchen serving

Urban gardening has been around for years. Recently, though with the change in behavior towards GMOs and organically grown produce, this idea has grown; it’s come full circle. Once we grew our own foods out of necessity, to feed our family and the families around us. You didn’t pay for a tomato, you grew it or traded it for something that you didn’t grow yourself. But modern times and modern devices brought a change in the way we interact with our sustenance, blinding the world with the illusion of convenience, when in reality, the most convenient food is outside your back door, on your roof, or maybe a little farther from your porch in the local community garden. Urban gardening will keep growing and growing. It will continue to expand out of the need for at least one thing, the hope that everyone can be fed. 3

Since then, in North America, urban gardening has grown into many shapes and forms, allowing people from all walks of life to get involved. As interest and participation swelled in recent years, it has evolved into an agriculture movement.

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wholesale enquiries USA 1-844-20-BLOOM CANADA 1-877-38-HYDRO

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Available in all leading stores

The Essential Essential Mix Mix The

STORAGE I GARDEN CULTURE BY GREEN KNIGHT

Acid-Etched

canning

jars

Canning jars are commonly used as storage containers for dried herbs. They are glass, reasonably priced, seal tightly, and come in several useful sizes. As with other clear stash containers, once filled they should be stored in a dark location (like a drawer or cool, dry closet), to prevent light damage.

While very functional, canning jars are also a bit on the plain side, so I decided to see if I could do something to dress them up. I liked the results, and thought I’d share. Glass etching is a technique commonly used to etch wine glasses to commemorate special events such as weddings. WARNING: The etching cream has acid in it. Gentle readers, keep it off your skin, and things you don’t want acid etched. The materials used were a small jar of glass etching cream (purchased at a craft store), some etching stencils (also bought at the craft store), a few clean canning jars, a couple wooden craft (popsicle) sticks, and a pair of disposable gloves. Follow the instructions on the acid cream you buy, but the general process is to: Make sure the area you are applying the design on is very clean, if in doubt, wipe down with alcohol first, and allow to dry. Carefully apply the stencils for your design, or use blue

painter’s tape to mask off lines and patterns. Small areas tend to look better when acid etched than large areas, so avoid large voids in your patterns. Put on the gloves, and using a craft stick, carefully apply small amounts of the cream to the areas to be etched. The areas should be well covered, but don’t use enough to cause a dripping problem. Quickly wipe up any drips with water. I’ve found it helpful to return in a short while and disturb the surface with one of the sticks, mixing the cream about again. Wait as per the instructions, 5 minutes or so, (I haven’t found a drawback to leaving the creme on an extra minute or two to make sure it has taken, whereas if the cream is taken off too soon, the pattern may be too light). Remove the stencils, and rinse with water until clean. Dry and admire. If it comes out well, impress your friends with it. It doesn’t make your jar work any better; it doesn’t have any use other than aesthetic. Sometimes it’s worth making things a little prettier, or a little nicer, simply because you can. Even if it is just a canning jar. 3

BY EVAN FOLDS

ncee of sanc issa na ais Re The R en

BY Evan Folds

r e n i e t S f l o Rud

there is more to life than what is physically here My start in agriculture began over thirteen years ago with a revolutionary book called Secrets of the Soil, and I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t say this lightly, but it changed my life.

RUDOLF STEINER I GARDEN CULTURE

“biodynamics” - agricultur al methods developed by Steiner repr first reaction to indust esent the very rial agriculture I was schooled at a major university with degrees in biology and religion, and as a result of the countless hours spent memorizing textbooks and analyzing the philosophies and understandings of popular science and antiquity, I believed that I had a good grasp of the human condition and our place within Nature. I was soon to find out that I had only scratched the surface of the realities and mysteries of the natural world. Secrets of the Soil allowed me to put dogma aside, and humbled me to the qualitative and supersensible secrets of life that are not readily introduced without effort and experience. Rather than worshiping the experts of the past and present, I realized that in order to come to terms with the inner workings of being alive, I had to become my own expert.

be found in a work called The Agriculture Course that is also a worthy read for anyone looking to expand their understanding and abilities within agriculture. The biodynamic methods Steiner recommended were presented in a way that at the time was impossible for my analytical mind to understand – leveraging celestial rhythms for plant growth, burying cow horns full of manure and quartz for seasonal potentization, stirring water back and forth in order to implode, energize, and potentize, “peppering” the land with the essence of pests in the correct moon cycle, and the list goes on.

a revolutionary book called Secrets of the Soil changed my life

The popular science taught in school is quantitative, not qualitative; it leads with the mind, not the heart. Spirituality in science and education is sacrificed for the literal comprehension of following directions, and what can be measured with replication. My journey into spiritual science began with a book, and soon manifested in me seeking out farmers and shamans that had already accomplished a connection to our spiritual reality. They didn’t need to listen to others to seek truth, they found it through experience. They helped me find comfort, not in the concept of a remote higher power or data derived through the scientific method, but in the idea that there is more to life than what is physically here, and that the further we look, the less we know. Secrets of the Soil was also my first encounter with a man named Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925). The agricultural methods developed by Steiner are now known as “biodynamics”, and represent the very first reaction to industrial agriculture. The lectures that introduced the biodynamic methods can

Biodynamics is not a complete farming system, but as I began putting these methods into use, and began to experience the results of their implementation, I found that the skepticism I was taught to embrace washed away into amazement, excitement, and humility. Not only was I a better farmer, but I became a better person. Through my growing curiosity, and the relationships I developed, I taught myself through experience to align with the essence of Steiner’s approach – that the materialistic and measurable reality we are asked to adopt through popular science, organized religion, and education are only half of the story. Life happens in its fullness through imagination, intuition, and intention; and our ideas are real, not in the sense of them being thoughts, but that they become our literal reality. For planet Earth and human consciousness, life before Rudolf Steiner was a different sort of place. Never before had such a man been able to articulate the spiritual language necessary to express the true nature of human consciousness, and how we must use it in order to realize our potential and, in fact, never before was such a man needed so desperately. GARDENCULTUREMAGAZINE.COM

RUDOLF STEINER I GARDEN CULTURE

Food plants no longer co nt the forces people need ain The turn of the 20 th century marked the onset of the industrial revolution, when humanity began to collectively rely on education and outside sources rather than on instinct. What he brought forward allows the individual to leverage the value in the construction of industry and human analytics, and walk with consciousness into the materials and energies that manifest the modern human.

there are forces at work in the living soil food web that cannot be seen with the eye

In the introduction to The Agriculture Course Steiner was asked, “How can it happen that the spiritual impulse, and especially the inner schooling, for which you are constantly providing stimulus and guidance bear so little fruit? Why, worst of all, is the will for action, for the carrying out of these spiritual impulses, so weak?” Steiner replied, “This is a problem of nutrition. Nutrition as it is today does not supply the strength necessary for manifesting the spirit in physical life. A bridge can no longer be built from thinking to will and action. Food plants no longer contain the forces people need for this.” For me, this quote answers the challenges faced by the modern world – what we think, we grow, and what we eat, we know. Living foods and localized regenerative agriculture offer tangible solutions to the issues that we face - climate change, economic development, healing through food, decentralization of agriculture, and on and on. We are stuck in the Catch-22 of being unconsciously malnourished, yet lacking access to the life force in food that will allow us to break the chains that bind our will into inaction.

So who was Rudolf Steiner? He was born on February 25th, 1861 in Kraljevec , Austria. At the age of eight Steiner was already aware of the spiritual world. Writing about his experiences at this age in his autobiography, he said, “... the reality of the spiritual world was as certain to me as that of the physical. I felt the need, however, for a sort of justification for this assumption.”

At an early age Steiner’s father recognized his abilities and facilitated his development through home schooling that culminated in his acceptance into the Vienna Institute of Technology where he studied mathematics, physics, natural science, and philosophy through an academic scholarship. From this higher schooling, he was entrusted with the task of publishing the natural scientific works of Goethe, who was a prominent 19th century figure in German literature and culture. This commission was a pivotal moment in Steiner’s life, providing stability and the mental space to develop his own philosophy he called Anthroposophy, which attempts to synthesize the realms of science and mysticism. Anthroposophy postulated that heightened consciousness allows mankind access to spiritual knowledge, a centerpiece to understanding the thrust of his professional career. Anthroposophy provided a platform for Steiner to investigate the spiritual significance of many aspects of the human experience, from the arts and architecture, to education and societal order, even agriculture. The areas of his interest and expertise are almost endless. GARDENCULTUREMAGAZINE.COM

there was aned e increasing n e to for all peopilnto penetrate s of the mysterie Nature

Steiner never conducted a project, or developed a lecture without being asked. He was more of a supersensible problem solver than an egoist or a philosopher, as he has been pegged by many who are aware of his work. He gave over 6,000 lectures in his lifetime, upon reading them it is obvious that there is more going on than a pondering of scientific or philosophical tenets. His work was rooted in experiencing the realities of the spiritual world in our physical forms, and applying them towards a marriage of the two that realized the potential of the human condition. Steiner had an amazing gift of spiritual insight, but an equally amazing ability to remain rational to all aspects of the living system being investigated. He did not discount the materialism and reductionist science of our age, he embraced it, and made it an integral part of his approach, which is critical to any possibility for widespread acceptance. For instance, we rely on the microscope to evaluate soil microbes, but there are forces at work in the living soil food web that cannot be seen with the eye, or measured with the instruments charged with investigating the material world. Rudolf Steiner called them ‘formative forces’. Realizing that what holds humanity back from spiritual knowledge is a lack of soul courage precipitated by a lack of life force in our food, Steiner encouraged people to search within themselves with restored vitality and motivation. He even developed curriculum around a set of practices to accomplish this in his work Start Now!: A Book of Soul and Spiritual Exercises. Steiner put it in this way: “Human beings want to receive everything passively, to sit down in front of the world as though it were a movie, and to let the microscope and the telescope tell them everything. They do not want to temper the instrument of their own spirit, or soul, through activity.”

RUDOLF STEINER I GARDEN CULTURE

In other words, we must rely on our intuition and experience in using these supersensible concepts to determine their value, not simply the ability to measure and replicate. When he was asked upon first articulating the biodynamic methods if the research should begin right away, he replied, “The most important thing is to make the benefits of our agricultural preparations available to the largest possible areas over the entire earth, so that the earth may be healed and the nutritive quality of its produce improved in every respect. That should be our first objective. The experiments can come later.” Steiner therefore requested all people, through individual meditative activity, to awaken to a new level of consciousness. In addition, there was an increasing need for all people to penetrate into the mysteries of Nature and humanity through the spiritual metamorphosis of individual awareness. This process could be ac complished by the development of human spirit forces, not solely from external substances and matter. Our science, culture, religiosity, etc. are all dominated by the materialism that defines the modern age. In Steiner’s view, antiquity was born with an innate connection to the spiritual world that is lost on the modern human, and it is our task to rediscover it consciously. We see this in modern conventional agronomy where we are at the mercy of toxic rescue chemistry, and the incessant economic and intellectual onslaught of corporate materialistic agriculture, but we see the antidote to this phenomenon being expressed within and all around us at the local farmer’s market, or in our own methods of resistance and buying power. Going beyond the rudiments of popular science and religion, our better angels demonstrate that the inherent life force woven through all plants, stones, soil, water, and air is central to our survival, and our relationship to the soil is of vital importance to our future. Regenerative farming techniques, what we call BioEnergetic Agriculture, contains the answers to what ails modern society, all that is required of us is to put them into action. 3 GARDENCULTUREMAGAZINE.COM

BY TAMMY CLAYTON

GOING

SOILLESS BY 2 075 That’s not a goal, it’s what over half of Earth’s land surface could become in the future. Bald. Reduced to vast expanses of naked bedrock. Not much hope of reaping a harvest from that, let alone a profitable one. Worse still despite the knowledge dispensed by Cornell University in 1997 that topsoil was being lost at 15 times greater rate than ‘acceptable’ levels on over 90% of American cropland, the number of acres under till has continued to increase.

SOIL LOSS I GARDEN CULTURE

the National Resources Conservation Service still uses estimates from 1941 to determine tolerable topsoil loss SO IL EROSI ON FROM TR ADITI ONAL AGRI C ULTUR AL PR AC TI C ES IS A M A J OR CONTRIBUTOR TO ENVIRON M ENTAL DA M AGE, WATER SHORTAGES, AN D C LI M ATE C HANGE IN MULTIPLE WAYS

There’s an acceptable level of soil loss? Yes, the Tolerant level, or T-factor, which was determined in 1941 to be 3 tons per acre using the reasoning that it would take 400 years to lose that all important 8 inches of fertile topsoil. The criteria used to formulate this standard were economic, not environmental. It was based on the amount of fertilizer a farmer would have to apply to replace the soil nutrients lost to erosion. They decided that 4 tons a year would not be viewed favorably by farmers in terms of the cost maintaining crop fertility.

75 Years Later Despite some noise that crop vigor requires all 8 inches of rooting depth, the National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) still uses this T-factor developed way back when. In some soil types, that 3 tons per acre is still acceptable, while in others it hits 5 tons annually. In the eyes of NRCS, tolerable topsoil loss means enough still intact to produce a crop with a reasonable investment in farm inputs. And the ‘conservation service’ openly states that their standard assessments do not cover all the erosion taking place. While they know that conventional cropping methods refresh the topsoil by less than one quarter ton per acre, in 1985 they devised a T1 and T2 level of acceptable erosion standards. T1

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Precision farming doesn’t replace the topsoil

covers economical concerns on the cropping site, while T2 covers off-site social concerns like water quality. “Soil erosion at rates greater than T is a special concern because it threatens agricultural sustainability. Sheet and rill erosion tends to be a greater problem in the humid East, while wind erosion is a greater problem in the arid and semiarid West. Estimates of streambank, gully, irrigation-induced, and ephemeral gully erosion currently are not included in standard soil erosion assessments. Such forms of erosion can be substantial in certain situations.” -- State of the Land, NCRS publication And on top of that, there is geologic, or natural erosion that takes place without any disturbance from man.

The Erosion Standards The T-factor data the NRCS uses to track the state of the land was tabulated for all soil types in the United States, but until recently there was very little actual measuring of the soil washing off from rain, snow, and ice movement. Some of the richest soil in the US is being washed into the Mississippi Watershed, which ultimately deposits into the Gulf of Mexico - laden with fertilizers, and agricultural pesticides. This has resulted in a huge dead zone not far south of the coastline. In 2014 it was over 5,000 square miles of water, and thanks to heavy rains in June 2015... it has grown to 6,474 square miles. The Gulf Dead Zone disrupts the environment from the water’s surface to the bottom of the ocean.

SOIL LOSS I GARDEN CULTURE

Surely, this lost soil is being deposited along the way nationwide, yet all worries in The States are about the nutrients, farm chemicals, and urban contaminants. No mention of decreasing depths in waterways due to erosion runoff is found in the expectable resources. It was largely foreign sources and retail books located while researching this topic that referred to increased flooding from topsoil runoff being deposited in waterways. Maine Department of Transportation knows that ‘runoff sediment’ smothers fish eggs at the bottom of waterways... sounds like raising the bottom to me. In a book about Nigeria written by Lorna Robinson in 2006 a farming case study relates that the local streams and rivers were much shallower than they had been before the forest was cleared. So, how much of the flooding in recent years is really climate related, and how much is caused by poorly managed soil not being able to absorb heavy precipitation coupled with shallower catch basins; streams, rivers, and lakes? The change would have been slow, but steady, increasing more rapidly as the decades passed, more acreage went under till, more forests were cleared, more roads and subdivisions were built, and cities expanded.

The Big Picture That 3 tons of topsoil lost annually per acre of tilled farmland is an average based on average soil moisture. There are currently some 349 million acres of cropland in the US, and 90% of it is losing topsoil at 100-200% greater rates than previously assumed. The total loss annually is over a billion tons of viable soil - just in the United States.

Loss of Control And what, one wonders, is all the soil doing to the depth of rivers and streams? Iowa cropland has lost over 50% of its topsoil in the past 150 years - where did it go to exactly? Dirt is heavier than the organic matter in erosion runoff, so it isn’t going to remain moving with the water for long, certainly not all the way from the central Midwest to the Gulf of Mexico. It can’t all be traveling from the Heartland to the Gulf as heavy sediment, and cropland soils from coast to coast heads to the lowest point in a downpour, and under melting ice and snow.

Some have adopted low-tillage ‘conservation’ planting methods, which does reduce the amount of erosion with less soil disturbance and cover crops. While farmers all over the world report that this does improve a crop’s ability to withstand dry spells, it is not widely adopted in the US. And calling it a conservation method when the amount of soil erosion is still many times greater than it can be replaced continues to waste the resource that feeding the world relies on, and the planet needs to maintain balance.

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SOIL LOSS I GARDEN CULTURE

REASONING THAT 3 TONS PER AC RE LOST ANNUALLY M EANT THE 8 INC HES OF TOPSO IL WOULD L AST 40 0 YEARS This so-called tolerable level of erosion is destroying life in oceans and freshwater quality, increasing algae bloom, removing the soil’s ability to absorb water (which in turn increases flooding), reducing soil’s capacity to hold water in reserve for crop resources, and causing a lot of sequestered carbon to be released into the air. It’s not just a problem in the US. The same farming methods are used in Europe, Canada, South America, the UK... literally everywhere. Like the oil industries, the industrial agriculture system just keeps chugging on, doing what they’ve always done, on an ever increasing expanse of land. Oh, it’s more precise these days? The planet isn’t a factory. Precision doesn’t replace the topsoil, and given the amount of artificial nutrients and chemical problem killers they’ve applied, 60% of the world’s arable soils are seriously degraded or dead. Which means? It erodes at a faster rate than healthy soils rich in organic matter, and teeming with microorganisms. But Big Ag continues to claim that they’re prepared to feed the coming population explosion. As if monster tractors and massive implements, coupled with GMO crops, glyphosate, and cheap fertilizers can replace fertile ground. They ignore this massive soil erosion problem that increases while doing things their way, even though erosion creates over $25 billion in lost productivity in the US every year. No skin off their teeth, they’re not farmers, but suppliers. Perhaps the Chemical BioAg Mob is busy concocting GMO crops that produce their own fertilizer, pesticides, and weed killer simultaneously so it will thrive in subsoil economically, but it’s highly unlikely they’ll ever have a solution to feeding the world with solid rock as a growing medium.

The Future Maybe in 2075 the big money will be in arks outfitted with solar power, growing rooms, and wireless multimedia walls. We’ll need floating cities if all the topsoil on cropland is allowed to be lost. All the major cities are built next to rivers, lakes, and oceans... and seas are already rising due more to runoff than melting polar ice.

What? “A staggering paper was published recently indicating that nearly half of the sea level rise since 1960 is due to irrigation water flowing straight past the crops and washing out to sea.” -- Professor John Crawford, University of Sydney, Time’s World Economic Forum (2012) But it’s really bigger than agricultural runoff from this aspect. Mining is also a contributor. Then you’ve got buildings, paved surfaces, residential lawns, household and industrial water use added to the total amount of groundwater that finds its way to the oceans. And all of it contains things that do not belong in the water - salt or fresh. And groundwater extraction has more than doubled since 1961 too. Obviously, soil erosion from traditional agricultural practices is a major contributor to environmental damage, water shortages, and climate change in multiple ways. Unfortunately, a lot of people still view soil like the chief of the U.S. Bureau of Soils did in 1909... “The soil is the one indestructible, immutable asset that the Nation possesses. It is the one resource that can not be exhausted; that can not be used up.” And this will be the legacy of our era, one that values profits higher than modest changes that might preserve the very source of our existence. If it doesn’t change civilization will collapse, and it won’t be the first time that poor agricultural practices brought it all to a grinding halt. Those deposits in the Gulf of Mexico may give archaeologists in the future the same clues on what happened to us as samples from the ocean floor off the coast of Greece provided us with information about the demise of the Mycenaean civilization. But that would only account for part of North American Sources: civilization. A few hundred years from now, • bit.ly/nrcs-paper-1990s what befell the rest of North America could • bit.ly/T-factor-paper become as mysterious as the disappearance • bit.ly/j-crawford of the Mayans; the most recent agriculture • bit.ly/cruse-erosion power culture to vanish. 3 • bit.ly/druid-report • bit.ly/runoff-sea-levels GARDENCULTUREMAGAZINE.COM

BY EVEREST FERNANDEZ

k c e ch

CHECK ENGINE. It was my trusty 1992 Subaru Liberty GX’s oh-so-helpful red warning light. When it first appeared I was concerned. Would I make it home before the engine exploded? I did—you’ll be relieved

to hear—without incident, and later that evening, a more mechanically-minded friend assured me that I had nothing to worry about. It happened all the time, he claimed, and wasn’t worth investigating further. Sure enough, after a few months, I became quite used to it, and after a year or two of willfully ignoring it every day, I even began to find those persistent, flashing, red capital letters perversely comforting.

CHECK FOOD! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!

CHECK FOOD. No such warning light exists, alas. Just imagine if it did! Picture the scene. You’re seated in your little booth with the other McZombies, about to chow down on some ammonia-disinfected, herbicide-resistant, corn-stuffed, gut-diseased, deeply sad cow burger, the patty drowning beneath a cheese-like substance indistinguishably merged with a proprietary sauce. Waiting in the wings is a tub of your favorite, supersized soda. It’s basically a heavily fluoridated concoction of carbonated water and headache-inducing, vision-blurring artificial colorings and flavorings. You tell yourself that you’ve been good—after all, you passed on the full-fat, high fructose corn syrup cola, and opted for the aspartame-laced “diet” version instead. CHECK FOOD! Those words flash into your field of vision, most likely still in the default font, demanding your attention before you take another bite. CHECK FOOD! For the love of God!

REMIND ME LATER. Better yet, DON’T TELL ME AGAIN.

Perhaps if Google Glass II ever gets off the ground then dietary dialogue boxes like these might actually exist one day. It would certainly necessitate some form of augmented reality, because our brains—the natural, biological arbiters of our awareness, aren’t going to do it on their own. On the contrary, this most precious of

organs (the one which, depending on your philosophical gait, is either responsible for creating the fabric of our individuality, or for filtering universal collective consciousness into a personalized stream) are the most critically injured by this head-on collision with junk food. Processed, notional “food”—empty of any goodness or vitamins, and instead pumped full of fat, salt, and sugar— not only fools our simian impulses into craving it, but it also starves our brains of the essential compounds required for healthy function, and basic cellular maintenance. We see it manifested in the everyday stuff—irritability, lethargy, depression, boredom, apathy, and confusion—to the diseases we hope we’ll never get: various forms of cancer, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s. Sure, our hearts, livers, lungs, bowels, bladders and, in some cases, balls aren’t immune to a trash diet either—but it’s the brain, that three pound lump of who knows what, the seat of our consciousness, the living, respiring basis of everything we think, feel, intuit, and know, that we should be concerned with the most. But here, my diligently listening choir, lies the rub. Our “concerngenerators” themselves are the damaged goods! Junk food is biochemically neutering our very ability to feel “concerned” in the first place. Hello? McFly? Anybody home? Think McFly! THINK!

e n i eng I BECAME QUITE USED TO IT, WILLFULLY IGNORING IT EVERY DAY, I EVEN BEGAN TO FIND THOSE PERSISTENT, FL ASHING, RED CAPITAL LETTERS PERVERSELY COMFORTING. Consider, if you are able, the results of an Australian study that fed rats a high-fat, high-sugar diet. These poor little creatures performed worse on special memory tests, and were unable to find objects as well as their healthy-eating rodent counterparts. It’s not just scampering little rodents either. A later study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed healthy people who ate junk food for five consecutive days performed worse on cognitive tests measuring attention, speed, and mood. Even more recent research has demonstrated that the part of the brain used for learning and memory—the hippocampi—is smaller in people with unhealthy diets. The study, published by researchers at Deakin University, and the Australian National University (ANU) suggested that seniors with unhealthy diets had smaller hippocampi compared with seniors who ate healthier diets. Now that I’ve hopefully softened up your suggestibility by citing a scientific study or two, it’s time to drag you down my tinfoil-lined rabbit hole. You see—it’s all a big conspiracy orchestrated by a shadowy group of misanthropic globalists, we deferentially call “the elite”. Mass-produced, genetically modified, empty food is increasingly the only affordable option for the masses with the happy side-effect of numbing more than just our powers of critical thought—it’s economicallymandated birth control for the working classes too! Just as the lab rats fed GM corn were rendered sterile after a few

GARDEN CULTURE

Smart Foods

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Walnuts They contain polyphenols, which are believed to improve communication between neurons.

Fish Fish is packed with Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids, which affect the permeability of cell membranes at synapses, aiding interaction between neurotransmitters. This increases your ability to learn and retain information. Choose sustainable, smaller species.

Spinach Boosts blood vessels and flow throughout the body and brain.

Olive Oil More fatty acids and polyphenols. Mussels Contain amazingly high levels of vitamin B12, which helps insulate your brain cells from the effect of aging.

Dark Chocolate Just a nibble will help your concentration.

Greek Yoghurt Packed full of calcium to help you avoid anxiety and slow thinking.

Asparagus Its high folate content helps ward away depression.

Berries Flavanoids in strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries (to name just a few!) may help to reduce your risk of Parkinson’s disease thanks to their anti-inflammatory properties.

Turmeric Reportedly the reason why so few Indians suffer from Alzheimer’s compared with their American peers.

SMART FOOD I GARDEN CULTURE

We can stop playing the victim, and actually start taking responsibility for our own food supply!

generations, many independent scientists and researchers are concerned that the same fate awaits economically disadvantaged North Americans. This mass extinction of North America’s surplus labor force doesn’t require the costly construction of Nazistyle gas chambers, no matter how many low paid jobs it would create. A cheap, processed food diet is mandated upon those unfortunate individuals whose paychecks aren’t able to stretch to the twelve-dollar tubs of freshly prepared pineapple chunks languishing at the entrance of Whole Foods. Neither can they stomach the cost of the organic, grass-reared, boneless Icelandic lamb winking at them from behind the meat counter. Nay. Forced to hunt and gather in a far less salubrious commercial milieu, the weekly “treat” of the American underclass, if indeed they undertake to cook for themselves at all, is a three-dollar, shrink-wrapped pair of pork tenderloins—the sanitized and insidious product of both the profit-driven, industrial food system, and the ever-dwindling purchasing power of our inflationary, debt-based money supply. We wouldn’t choose to eat part of a pig that’s spent its short life going insane, unable to even turn around in a cage, along with tens of thousands of other wretched creatures stood in a lake of their own excrement—but two tenderloins for three dollars? That’s a no-brainer! (Hopefully you see what I did there.)

There is another way, of course. We can stop playing the victim, and actually start taking responsibility for our own food supply! This naturally requires a certain wherewithal. It’s far easier just to blame Uncle Sam’s experiment in fascism, and spread our darkest imaginings via Facebook than to actually get our hands dirty. You have to know what you can grow, when to grow it, where to get the seeds, and how to germinate, propagate, and grow them into nutrient-dense, wholesome produce. Furthermore harvesting, preserving, and preparing a homegrown crop or two takes time, experience, and skill. If that sounds intimidating, a positive first step forward is to discover your nearest farmers’ market, and connect with folks who may well be a little further down the path. Hopefully you’ll find some gracious spirits. In any case, search the web for “community gardens” and “community supported agriculture” in your area. Finally—if you’re still wondering about the fate of my 1992 Subaru Liberty GX, congratulations on a functional hippocampus! Unfortunately, I am unable to sate your curiosity, because I found the corresponding fuse for the warning light, disconnected it, and sold the vehicle to an unsuspecting stranger. 3

The results of the Deakin University / Australian National University (ANU) study are available on BMC Medicine at http:// www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/13/215

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T EC H N O COAST E RS Keeping hardware up-to-date translates to a mountain of redundant computers, but here’s a way to reduce waste while protecting the environment, and your furniture. Made from recycled circuit boards edged with a silicone ring. Very modern. Surprisingly stylish. Certain to offer some conversation starters at your next gathering. The new party debate...What device was your coaster in during its first life? By Motherboard: bit.ly/circuit-coasters.

BUMBLE BEE SKEP You certainly want these industrious insects near the veggie patch. Bumble bees are better at pollinating tomatoes than any other bee! What better way to invite them into residence than a suitable home close to food? To ensure they move in - get your bee skep situated in early spring. The skep is traditionally made from wicker or straw, but here’s a classy, modern version that will last for many years. It’s not limited to ground-placement, and will look great anywhere you want it. From Gardener’s Supply: bit.ly/bee-skep.

CUBIST MICRO GARD EN The no-fuss indoor plant becomes a work of art in these gorgeous planters crafted from a solid hunk of reclaimed Western Cedar. Classy enough for any room, or the office to add greenery to the smallest space. It’s a set of 3 modern planters with a hand-rubbed oil finish, measuring 3” high and wide. Holds succulents from a 2.5” nursery container with enough room for adding a bit more grow media. From Andrew & Melissa: bit.ly/cube-garden.

UPCYCLED PENCILS A high quality writing utensil made from whole recycled newspaper sheets tightly wrapped around HB #2 leads. Unlike some recycled-paper pencils, the used paper wasn’t mulched, or treated with toxic chemicals to make the materials look new and pretty. Betcha didn’t know they did that! The pencils and materials are all made in the USA, so there’s no toxic ink from China in there either. The erasers are high quality, smudgeless, and latex-free. By TreeSmart on Amazon: bit.ly/eco-pencil.

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What better way to express your gratitude for those Christmas gifts than some bee-u-tee-ful wildflowers? These handsome note cards are made from seeded paper that grows a patch of pollinator-friendly annuals. Directions are printed on the back of the cards. Soak overnight, tear up the wet paper, sow under a thin layer of soil, and water daily until the flowers sprout. More designs and greetings available, plus coasters, tags, papers, etc. From Bloomin: bit.ly/seeded-cards.3 GARDENCULTUREMAGAZINE.COM

BY KYLE L. LADENBURGER

THE MAGIC WEED The benefits of sea kelp to humans, animals, and plants alike have proven self evident for many years. Common uses include food, nutrient supplements, skin and hair products, animal feeds, fertilizers, and soil conditioners. However itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s used, kelp has always seemed to improve the subjectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wellbeing. Kelp thrives in specific ocean waters, acting like a filter as it absorbs the vast array of minerals needed for plant and animal growth and well being from the passing waters.

KELP IS SO MUCH MORE THAN A FERTILIZER

GROUND KELP MEAL BENEFITS BOTH MICROBIAL LIFE AND PLANTS In addition to all of these essential mineral elements, kelp also contains amino acids, vitamins, and plant growth hormones. There are several different types of sea kelp used in garden products, such as Nereocystis, or Pacific Bull Kelp, but the species that is most often used in normal applications and in numerous research studies conducted over the last forty years is Ascophyllum nodosum from the north Atlantic, sometimes called Norwegian Sea Kelp. Ascophyllum nodosum grows in the mid-intertidal zone where shifting tides alter the water depth drastically changes daily. At low tide the kelp falls to the ocean floor, and after the tides return the kelp rises up, erected with the assistance of small air bladders at the base of the fronds near the stem that allow the kelp to occupy the space closer to the surface where sunlight is plentiful. Kelp thrives on an abundant amount of sunshine, and can perform photosynthesis in its fronds and stems alike. INCR

KELP I GARDEN CULTURE Common techniques for manufacturing kelp fertilizer include chemical alkaline extraction, cold processing, and simply grinding the dry kelp into coarse granules. Kelp meal, the ground up product isn’t water soluble, but when mixed into a soil or growing medium is beneficial to both microbial life and plant growth alike. Cold processed kelp is a light green liquid with a pleasant marine type smell. It is manufactured without high heat, no chemicals are added, and it has a lower nutrient value than traditional extractions. Some say that cold processing keeps beneficial substances like amino acids and plant growth hormones in a more plentiful, and plant-available state, but there has been little research to substantiate this claim. Kelp that has gone through the chemical alkaline extraction process is the most common method used, and represents the majority of the kelp products on the market today.

Regardless of its form, kelp is marketed and sold as a plant fertilizer. Which is technically true, based on the fact that it does contain essential plant nutrients. Yet, this classification is a bit misleading, EASES as the available nutrients exist in such LATERAL An important distinction that must be small quantities, with the exception BRANCHING... made is that kelp is not truly a plant. of potassium in certain products, that PROMOTING Like a plant, it does perform photosynit would not be feasible to solely use HEAVIER thesis to create its own metabolic enerkelp. The amount needed per applicaFLOWERING gy, however kelp does not take in water tion would be so high that it wouldn’t and nutrients through roots. Instead, it foliar feeds, absorbing be considered sustainable to either plant growth or a grower’s all essential elements needed for development from the surbudget. rounding waters. At the base, where the roots would be found Although kelp contains elemental minerals, and several other on a plant, kelp has appendages, called “holdfasts” that anchor beneficial substances, the most important constituents are the them to the ocean floor. natural plant growth hormones, referred to as PGRs (plant growth regulators). The PGRs found in kelp include auxins, Extremely sensitive to the surrounding ecosystem, kelp will gibberellins, and cytokinins, which together control numerous only thrive in areas that are relatively unpolluted, making their aspects of plant growth and development. Growers can utilize presence a good indicator of clean water, and in turn a healthy these in a variety of ways to enhance overall plant health and aquatic ecosystem. This is important because it can grow up to yield. 10 feet tall, and kelp fields make an excellent habitat for ocean ENHANCED SEED GERMINATION life both small and large. Which is why sustainable harvesting methods are a must. For years, growers have been soaking their seeds for 24 hours in a solution of kelp and water, which results in faster than norHarvesting kelp is done manually or with specialized machinmal germination. The question is: Why does this work? Well, ery. In an effort to be as sustainable as possible, the kelp is this is mainly due to the presence of plant growth regulators harvested at maturity by cutting it about a foot above the called Gibberellins. holdfasts, which allows enough surface area to generate new growth. Ascophyllum nodosum, and other kelp species, can Gibberellins are involved in the creation of enzymes that stimureach maturity and be harvested every 3-4 years. After harlate the breakdown of the seed coat (shell), and the stored provesting, the kelp is rinsed to remove excess sea salts, then teins inside that help feed a sprouting seedling. Sprouting seeds dried, and processed.

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KELP I GARDEN CULTURE

AIDS ROOT DEVELOPMENT FOR CUTTINGS, SEEDLINGS, AND TRANSPLANTS

will create gibberellins on their own, but introducing them at such an early stage via the kelp speeds up the process. This is most helpful for seeds that are difficult or slow to germinate, such as basil seeds.

THE OVERALL BENEFITS OF KELP SHOULD NOT BE UNDERSTATED

ROOT DEVELOPMENT BOOSTER The plant growth regulators contained in kelp called Auxins that both initiate and increase root growth. Soaking the end of a cutting in kelp can help stimulate the development of roots due to the naturally occurring auxin Indole-3-acectic acid (IAA). Cloning or rooting gels and solutions contain the synthetic auxins Indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), and Naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), and are widely used for asexual propagation of numerous species of plants. Supplying young seedlings with a kelp and water solution can also help to encourage rapid growth, and establishment of the root system. A larger, more robust root system is advantageous for a young plant as it allows the plant to absorb water and nutrients more readily. Similarly, treating transplants of all ages with a kelp and water solution at the time of transplant can reduce “transplant stress”. Allowing faster adjustment to the new rooting environment leads to less plant loss. Continued use throughout a plant’s life cycle often results in a healthy, sprawling root system that can support ample growth.

BUT IT’S FERTILIZER!

That’s what the label says, and it’s found with fertilizers in a shop, but the most important components of the product are the hormones (PGRs), since the elemental nutrient levels are so minimal, and micronutrients are almost nonexistent. So, if plant growth regulators are such an active component in kelp products, why aren’t they on the label? Regulations, and their accepted wording. Each state’s Department of Agriculture regulates the sale and distribution of fertilizer products. Plant growth regulators, however, synthetic or natural, fall under EPA regulation, because like pesticides, they enable a grower to manipulate plant responses in a way the normal plant nutrients cannot.

INCREASED FLOWER BUD PRODUCTION

Registering a product through a state agency as a specialty fertilizer is an easier, less costly process compared to obtaining an EPA registration number. Since kelp contains essential plant nutrients, most, if not all, kelp product manufacturers and distributors take the path of least resistance, and register their product as a specialty fertilizer. The only claims allowed for this registration are elemental nutrients, and/or soil/plant amendments. The labels and marketing can’t refer to the most important ingredients - the PGRs.

PGRs work both together and alone, and the concentration of one in comparison to others can result in a host different plant responses. For example, when auxins are in greater concentrations compared to cytokinins root growth is accelerated, and when cytokinins outnumber auxins lateral shoot development is increased. In flowering plants, more shoots will correlate into more flower bud production. Treating a plant transitioning into the flowering stage with kelp via roots or foliar spray can dramatically increase flower bud sites.

The overall benefits of kelp should not be understated, but it’s hugely important to understand as much as we possibly can about the products we use on our gardens. Often the labelstated purpose of a material is not the only way it helps your plants, harvest, or soil. Sometimes the underlying benefits are the most desired. Realizing this will make it easier to understand how we can properly utilize the benefits of kelp for all of the plants we grow. 3 GARDENCULTUREMAGAZINE.COM

BY STEPHEN BROOKES

RIDDLE I GARDEN CULTURE

The NPK Hydroponic Riddle There are five houses that grow five different crops in a row. In each house lives a person with a different nationality. The five owners feed their plants with a certain brand of nutrients, use a certain brand of media, and have different lights. None of the owners have the same nutrient, media, or type of light…

Other facts:

test your logical deduction skills!

1. The Canadian grows strawberries. 2. The Dutch use Hydrotops. 3. The Americans use T5’s. 4. The pumpkin grower is on the immediate left of the broccoli farmer. 5. The pumpkin grower uses LED’s. 6. The owner who uses DWC incorporates Botanicare into their feeding schedule. 7. The tomato grower cultivates in coco. 8. The owner living in the center house has HPS lights. 9. The Australian lives in the first house. 10. The owner who cultivates in soil lives next to the one who uses Canna. 11. The owner who incorporates Ionic lives next to the one who uses coco. 12. The owner who grows in rockwool uses the sun for light. 13. The British grower uses clay pebbles. 14. The Australian lives next to the chili grower. 15. The owner who grows in soil lives next to the one who uses CFL’s to grow. 3

THE QUESTION IS… WHO USES ‘DUTCH PRO’ TO GROW THEIR PRODUCE?

There are no tricks involved, and for solving the problem you only need to make use of logic.

FIND THE CORREC T ANSWER: W W W. B I T. LY/ N P K - R I D D L E

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STEPHEN BROOKES – NPK TECHNOLOGY

Without the 4 Nitrogen atoms in the chlorophyll molecule, there would be no photosynthesis

What is…

nitrogen?

“England and all civilised nations stand in deadly peril of not having enough to eat. As mouths multiply, food resources dwindle. Land is a limited quantity, and the land that will grow wheat is absolutely dependent on difficult and capricious natural phenomena... I hope to point a way out of the colossal dilemma. It is the chemist who must come to the rescue of the threatened communities. It is through the laboratory that starvation may ultimately be turned into plenty...The fixation of atmospheric nitrogen is one of the great discoveries, awaiting the genius of chemists.”

The “genius of chemists”, was the German Fritz Haber, who discovered how to artificially fix Nitrogen (N), along with the industrial engineer Carl Bosch, who scaled up the process so it could be accomplished on an industrial scale. The process came to be known as the Haber-Bosch process, producing over half a billion tons of artificial manure every year, requiring a huge 5% of the world’s natural gas to do so. The Haber-Bosch process sustains more than a third of the world’s food production, so it transpired that Sir William Crookes was absolutely right in his prediction on the importance of Nitrogen fixation in the agriculture industry.

Nitrogen

The 7th element of the periodic table, it is an odourless, colourless, and mostly inert gas, and continues to be colourless and odourless at a liquid state. Nitrogen makes up around 78% of the air you breathe, and is present in all living things, including the human body and plants.

Sir William Crookes – 1898

The importance of Nitrogen Nitrogen is found in both organic and inorganic forms in the plant. It combines with Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen (sometimes with Sulphur) to form amino acids, amino enzymes, nucleic acids, chlorophyll, alkaloids, and purine bases. To emphasise the importance here, amino acids are the structural building blocks of proteins, so without Nitrogen there are no amino acids, and no amino acids means no life. Furthermore, Nitrogen has an essential role as a base element for nucleotide molecules, the building blocks of DNA and RNA, which are the blueprints and translators of the genetic code respectively. Lastly, without the 4 Nitrogen atoms in the chlorophyll molecule (C55H72MgN4O5), there would be no photosynthesis. This also helps to explain why a Nitrogen deficient plant turns yellow, due to the lack of chlorophyll’s green pigment… Nitrogen is kind of important when growing plants.

NITROGEN I GARDEN CULTURE

Nitrogen makes up around 78% of the air you breathe, and is present in all living things

Nitrogen and Metabolism

Plants absorb Nitrogen as either NO3- (Nitrate), or NH4+ (Ammonium) ions. Both of these ions supply Nitrogen to the plant, but they will have big differences within the plant’s metabolic pathways. Nitrate for example, is absorbed by the plant slowly, and as we mentioned before provides the materials needed for the production of amino acids A typical Nitrogen and other structures. In comparison, ammonia is absorbed rapidly, and can cause problems such as deficiency will manifest toxicity if present in high concentrations.

itself within the plant as a pale green coloring on the lower leaves

The uptake of NO3- stimulates the uptake of cations (Positively charged ions), however, chloride (Cl), and hydroxyl (OH-) anions (Negatively charged ions) restrict NO3- anion uptake. This could be an explanation for why some cultivators choose to let their water stand for 24 hours before watering, which allows the chlorine to evaporate off, or use a water filter. This practice has never been studied scientifically, so we cannot say for certain that the cultivator will reap any apparent benefits other than the water reaching room temperature to reduce shock from cold/hot watering.

It should be worth noting that over watering can also look like Nitrogen deficiency to an untrained eye, as it also manifests itself as a yellowing of the plant, the cause of this is a lack of oxygen at the root system. Nitrogen excess makes the leaves a very dark green colour, any new growth will be succulent, and the plant is very susceptible to disease, insect infestation, and drought stress. Lodging, blossom end rot (BER), and lack of fruit set can often occur as well.

Spotting Nitrogen Issues A typical Nitrogen deficiency will manifest itself within the plant as a pale green coloring on the lower leaves, moving upwards through the plant as the deficiency becomes worse, eventually turning brown and dying. Plant growth is slow and maturation occurs earlier than normal with possible stunted growth. Nitrogen is a highly mobile element within a plant, therefore when a deficiency does occur, Nitrogen can translocate to the parts of the plant that require it the most, i.e. the new shoots and younger parts of the plant. This explains why yellowing occurs from the bottom upwards.

The importance of Nitrogen cannot be understated, it is a fundamental part of the growth, and an important part of the flowering stage in a plant’s life cycle. However, with a good nutrient formulation, and sound cultivation practice, it should be a very rare occurrence that a Nitrogen deficiency or excess occurs in the grow room. Thanks for reading the second installment of ‘What is…’, hopefully I’ve added a little insight into the 5th most abundant element in the universe. 3 GARDENCULTUREMAGAZINE.COM

BY CHRIS BOND

Both adult and immature mites can do extensive damage to plants

MITES I GARDEN CULTURE

Few pests bother the indoor gardener like spider mites. They seemingly appear from nowhere, and spread havoc exponentially. Knowing how to control your growing environment is one of the best ways to control these pests. Few pests bother the indoor gardener like spider mites. They seemingly appear from nowhere, and spread havoc exponentially. Knowing how to control your growing environment is one of the best ways to control these pests.

SPIDER MITES EVOLVE FROM EGG TO ADULT IN AS LITTLE AS FIVE DAYS Mite Biology Spider mites are small, sucking pests that can be difficult to see without the aid of magnification. They are usually brown or translucent, yellow or green in color, sometimes red, and are as small as 1/50th of an inch (.5 mm). A hand lens of at least 10X magnification is usually required to positively identify spider mites. Both the adult mite, and their immature progeny can do extensive damage to plants. The most common species encountered by the indoor or home gardener is the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch. They are known to affect well over 200 species of garden, field, greenhouse, and hydroponic crops. The life cycle of spider mites is very rapid. It can vary some between species, and varies with temperature, but with all mites, it includes the egg stage, the larval stage, two nymphal stages (protonymph and deutonymph), and the adult stage. At about 80째F, (26.7째C) spider mites evolve from egg to adult in as little as five days. It can take several weeks in cooler temperatures. When unchecked, there are many generations of spider mites per year. Adult females live for up to one month, and can lay several hundred eggs during that time.

Two-spotted spider mite under magnification.

Photograph by Eric Erbe, USDA. Digital colorization by Chris Pooley, USDA.

Symptoms Mites do their damage to plants by sucking out the sap from the leaves. Their pattern is to start on the undersides of leaves, and then move from leaf to leaf, as they drain the plant of its vital liquid, and as the mite populations continue to explode. Damage to plants from mites appears as yellow-speckled or mottled leaves, appearing on the undersides of leaves or needles first, but quickly evident on the tops as well. If unchecked, the leaves eventually turn yellow or brown, and the entire plant will die due to its inability to photosynthesize. Typical leaf damage from the sap-sucking of the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch.

Photograph by University of Florida.

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Prevention Mites are often inadvertently spread by people. An innocent visit to a local garden center can mean returning to your grow area with some unwelcome hitchhikers. If possible, change your clothing before entering your garden spaces, and make sure to sanitize your hands thoroughly before and after tending to your plants. They can also travel on a slight breeze on their web. They do overwinter outside under Webbing produced by leaf litter and other organic debris, so it is possible that an two-spotted spider mites, Photograph by University of Florida. otherwise clean growing area, can quickly become a host site Tetranychus urticae Koch. for a spider mite outbreak when it warms up in the spring. Like spiders, mites spin webs. They Their natural distribution is throughout Europe travel about on their network and North America, ranging from temperate MITE DAMAGE of fine webbing, and often this is zones through the subtropics. They can survive FIRST APPEARS visible after mite populations start through even the harsh Canadian winters in the ON THE to swell. microclimates created near homes and buildings.

UNDERSIDE OF LEAVES

To test for the presence of spider mites, place a sheet of white paper under the leaves of your plants, and tap or shake the leaves. If there are mites present, some should fall on the paper and appear as moving specks across the paper. Black specks of frass (fecal material), amber-colored eggs, and white skin-castings are another sign that mites are present.

Mites do best in warm and dry conditions. If possible, your grow area should be kept as humid as possible, or at least as much as your indoor plants and crops can tolerate. This can be done by periodically misting your plants, undersides too, with a spray bottle. Make sure also that you do not let your soil get too dry between waterings either, as this can promote the spread of mites as well.

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MITES I GARDEN CULTURE

MITES DO BEST IN WARM AND DRY CONDITIONS

Anytime that you intend to introduce new plants to your growing areas, they should be temporarily quarantined to make sure they are not housing a mite population. Further prevention includes selecting species of plants that are known to be less susceptible to mite damage.

Chemical control includes miticides or acaricides (another name for pesticides that kill mites) containing bifenthrin, abamectin, bifenazate, hexythiazox, or spiromesifen as their active ingredients. Just like with natural controls, it is important to treat the undersides of the leaves, unless the pesticide is trans-laminar, meaning that a surface treatment will migrate through the leaf, and will kill the mites or insects on its underside.

Control Spider mites are not true insects. For this reason alone, many gardeners fail to control them with widely commercial insecticides. They are 8-legged arachnids, and can only be controlled with miticides, or those formulations and controls which are meant to kill or disrupt the biological activities of spiders or ticks. If possible, take your plants outside to treat them, so that you are not just knocking the mites off, only to return to their original host, or to move on to another. If this is not practical, the same effect can be achieved by taking your plants into the bathtub to treat them so that any mites knocked loose simply disappear down the drain. This option, though should not be used with chemical insecticides, as they will eventually find their way into the water supply. Regardless of your choice for organic, natural, or synthetic control, it is wise to treat only a small area of an infected plant first to check for phytotoxicity, which causes damage to the plant by the remedy. Some formulations can actually burn leaves of sensitive plants, so it’s best to read the entire label to make sure that the plant or crop that you wish to treat is appropriate for the pesticide selected. Some natural or organic remedies for control include using a forceful stream of water to dislodge them from your plants, applying insecticidal soap, or horticultural oils (these should be at about 2% oil to prevent foliage burn). Homemade insecticidal soaps can be concocted with 2 teaspoons (10 mL) of a mild dish soap mixed with a gallon (3.8 L) of slightly warm water. A disposable paint brush or toothbrush can be used to spread the soap onto the leaves, ensuring contact with the mites, as well all knocking them off. Neem oil is an effective pesticide that also has fungicidal properties as well. Soaps and oils should be applied about once per week until no further damage is noted. As they hide out mostly on the undersides of leaves, it is important to make sure that both sides of the leaves are treated. Sulfur can be an ingredient in both natural and synthetic mite control. It can be found in spray or dust form.

It should be noted that the reason spider mites are such a bane to growers is their high adaptability to synthetic pesticides. Those that are not killed by a pesticide due to their genetic resistance pass those genes on, and before long, chemical pesticides are rendered useless, because the mites are unaffected by them. Pesticide applications also inadvertently kill the beneficial insects that help to control the populations of spider mites. A typical scenario is that repeated applications of any chemical pesticides results in an environment where there are few to no natural enemies of spider mites, and a population of “super” spider mites that are not susceptible to the active ingredient in the pesticide develops. For these reasons, no one method should be relied on alone, or for any extended period of time. Those formulations that are effective on the adult spider mite, are not typically effective on penetrating the egg, and are not always useful in killing the larval or nymph stage as well. This is one of the reasons that multiple applications of pesticides are generally needed for effective control. Predatory mites such as Phytoseiulus persimilis, and Amblyseius californicus can be released in your grow areas to kill spider mites. These “good guys” do not bite people, and will stay put where you release them. When they have done their job, they too will die, as there is no more food source for them.

Summary Spider mites can spread easily by the slightest breeze, or by traveling unbeknownst on clothing. They reproduce quickly in warm and dry climates, and are difficult to control with conventional insecticides. The most effective way to protect yourself from an outbreak is through sanitation, and vigilant monitoring. Action should be taken at the first sight of spider mite damage, and should not be done with half-measures. When possible, dispose of affected plants before the mites get a chance to spread to others. 3

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Who’s g n i w o r G What

2) Chicago, Illinois

Roll With It

1) Birmingham, Alabama

Growing Hungry Minds In the middle of downtown sits an urban farm that covers an entire city block. This is the base for the Jones Valley Teaching Farm, an initiative whose foundation is the belief that the greatest resource for Birmingham’s future is found inside their local schools today. Their mission is to connect youngsters with healthy food, and real world knowledge that puts the skills they’re currently learning in class to work in growing crops, discovering nutrition, and farm projects. The program is staffed by farmers, teachers, and volunteers who educate both youths and community members interested in learning to grow and cook fresh food. They have farm labs going at city schools that involve kids from kindergarten through high school. Like all urban farming initiatives, the hold farm markets to sell the produce from over 60 organic crops, along with other events that center around good eating, nutrition, and social connection. If you’re in a desert without an oasis - build one. Learn more: www.jvtf.org

CREDIT: Greg Lindsey / SAIC

CREDIT: Jones Valley Teaching Farm

Where

WHAT’S GROWING ON

Since 2003, City Farm in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood has been a welcome slice of green in the concrete jungle. Its founder, Ken Dunn, a farm boy, arrived in the city fresh out of college and the Peace Corp back in 1972. Amazed at all the rubbish-strewn vacant lots, and the number of people looking for something to do, he decided someone had to fix this. His non-profit Resource Center for recycling came first, followed by a composting program, which opened the doors to this urban agriculture program. Something sustainable needed to be done with the tons of horse manure the Chicago Police Department generates annually.

plots. The largest City Farm site has sat on premium land, pumping out organic heirloom tomatoes, and more under an agreement with the developer since 2002. A mixed use development will start going up there on the corner of Division and Clybourn next spring. No big deal, Ken and company have already secured vacant ground half a block up the road.

Today, the oldest farm inside Chicago has full and part time employees managing the agricultural operation on multiple

Onto Plan B... Always be prepared to roll with the flow. Website: bit.ly/chi-city-farm. 55

WHAT’S GROWING ON I GARDEN CULTURE

3) Austin, Texas It ain’t easy finding 5 fertile acres intact within big city limits, but it’s possible. When artist Carol Sayles and builder hubby, Larry Butler arrived in 1992, that, and the original 1830s house in disrepair, was all that remained of a once prosperous 50-acre farm that Austin had swallowed. They had a dream to farm, but careers and kids kept it a weekend adventure until the Texas economy tanked in 1997, leaving them with plenty of time for agriculture. A foreign endeavor in Austin at the time, but the acres of fresh food growing in a densely populated area created a hunger for super fresh produce that spawned the birth of several more urban farms in the city. Boggy Creek Farm was one of the first truly urban farms in the U.S. They raise chickens, and certified organic fruits and vegetable on 2 sites, the other about an hour away in Gause.

CREDIT: Sincerely, Emily

Birth of A Movement

They are pioneers well-known in the area as the source for incredible fresh foods marketed right off the property in the city of Austin - along with local honey, cheeses, and grass-fed beef. It’s a hot spot for good, seasonal foods. Starting a movement isn’t reserved for young people. Website: bit.ly/boggy-creek.

4) Seattle, Washington

Mission: Pollination

CREDIT: Ballard Bee Company

How does a home remodeler turn into an apiarist? For Corky Luster, it was the realization that the world didn’t really need another sink installed, but it did need assistance with keeping pollinators in place. He helped a friend with hives in college, and enjoyed it. Noting that

there didn’t seem to be many bees in the city anymore, he put 2 hives in his backyard, which brought remarks from friends that they’d love to have hives too, if they didn’t have to take care of them. So, why not a citywide apiary? And so, the Ballard Bee Company was born, an army of one urban pollination service focused on restoring the bee population to good levels for plant and garden health. Luster has over 50 hives rented out in backyards, and on rooftops today. His clients range from teenagers to prominent chefs, and the honey sells locally, down the West Coast, and on Corky’s website under several select nectar blends. He also teaches beekeeping classes, and sells supplies. That’s hitting the sweet spot. Learn more: bit.ly/ballard-bee.

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the art of growing

Trey Carskadon Director of Marketing Sunlight Supply, Inc.

COLUMN I GARDEN CULTURE OPINION PIECE BY THEO TEKSTRA MARKETING MANAGER GAVITA HOLLAND BV

YOU KNOW WHAT GRINDS MY GEARS?

The Dunning-Kruger Effect In this columns Theo Tekstra discusses observations in the indoor garden culture. There is sometimes so much urban legend, and so little science in this industry. It is time to “myth bust” some of these urban legends, and have a fresh breeze move through the industry. I am sure you recognize this: You learn something new that sounds so incredibly logical, that suddenly a lot of pieces fall into place. It is like an epiphany, and all you wish to do is share this with your peers as you have found the solution. You become a prophet, a savior, and you spread the word. I know I have been there many times. I don’t know if this has anything to do with age, but I do know that I have become a lot more reluctant about “spreading the word” as I got a bit older.

Enter the Dunning-Kruger Effect In 1999, David Dunning and Justin Kruger of Cornell University observed this effect and published the paper: Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties in recognizing one’s own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments.” Do not think that this only applies to “stupid” people, on the contrary! If you are really smart, you might assume that your competence in some fields automatically makes you a master in other fields in which you are less competent. The result is the same, though. The following is not a representation of the original results, but it is a somewhat exaggerated illustration that gives you an idea of the effect:

The most confident people might not be the most reliable!

The first peak is also referred to as “mount stupid”: you think you know a lot, and are extremely confident in expressing that knowledge, but in reality you know nothing. You see that a lot in YouTube videos, because you need confidence to be able to present a convincing story. Remember guys, not all that is published on the internet is true! So, how does this relate to hydroponics might you ask? Well, think of it this way: if the person you are talking to in a sales situation just quit his job in office supplies, and is now bringing you the gospel of new grow technology, you might want to check the facts. The most confident sales people might not be the most reliable. The strongest statements might not be the whole story. Specifically, in an upcoming industry such as ours, this can be a real problem. Now, where are you on the Dunning-Kruger scale when it comes to lighting? I am pretty confident in my lighting competence, having worked in this industry for many years, and still I do not pretend to know everything, but I do know a lot. So, specifically for you guys I put this test together, which is published on the Garden Culture website. Answer the questions, and then read the answers. It’s anonymous, we will not hold it against you ;). 3 Test Your Knowedge: www.bit.ly/DK-test.

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BY STEPHEN BROOKES - NPK TECHNOLOGY

the

method 60

How to conduct a proper scientific enquiry?

SCIENCE I GARDEN CULTURE The hydroponics industry - along with every other industry where competition’s fierce - is rife with false information, grand marketing claims, and questionable testing procedures. This either serves the manufacturers who can easily sell their products to a misinformed audience, or it produces less than reliable results from researchers who may not understand how to use proper scientific process to achieve reliable data. This article will hopefully provide some clarity to proceedings by providing an insight into how to conduct a proper scientific enquiry that gives reliable data, which can be improved upon by others. When manufacturers, wholesalers, shops, and customers have access to these studies, they can all make informed decisions as to what is best for them. This will help us rid our beloved industry of the profiteers looking to make a quick buck with no interest in producing great products.

a proper scientific enquiry that gives reliable data Scientific procedure: Why should we bother using a scientific method?

The basic outline of a scientific enquiry: 1 2

3 4

5 6 7

Identify the area you want to investigate, and define the question you wish to answer. Research this area with a comprehensive literature review (Google scholar, books, hydroponics magazines, established websites).* Remember to reference everything that you put into the literature review, and throughout the article. Plagiarism is wrong, and damages credibility. Create a hypothesis based on what has been learned in the literature review. Design an experiment to make the hypothesis testable/ falsifiable, and a method for collecting the data. This is where we increase validity by taking into account all the potential variables and biases. • The method of conducting the experiment is written down step by step, this is your scientific procedure. • Equipment list is written down to help others replicate the study exactly. • Conduct the experiment exactly as laid out in the experimental procedure. If you make any changes mid-experiment, make the changes to your experimental procedure. Results – Organise your data to see if it supports, or rejects your hypothesis. Conclusions – Make sure your conclusions are consistent with the data. Abstract – Although the abstract goes at the beginning, it’s written at the end. It’s a 250 word long summary of the whole experiment.

*Academic literature reviews do not generally accept websites or magazines as a part of a literature review, but because our current

The scientific method according to Richard Feynman, is about taking a guess about the world based on observations, and then testing that guess (hypothesis). If that guess disagrees with experiment, it’s wrong! It doesn’t matter how clever you are, how beautiful your guess is, or if your name is Einstein, if it disagrees with experiment, it’s wrong. If the hydroponics industry conducts it’s testing procedures according to scientific method, making its research transparent and published, it can be reviewed by peers to see if it’s valid, and then re-tested to see if the results are reliable. As Carl Sagan says, “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”

Conducting a scientific enquiry: Start with the hypothesis. A question is created that is testable by scientific method. There should be two possible hypotheses, or scenarios, that can be deduced from this question: the null hypothesis (H0), and the alternative hypothesis (H1). To put it simply, the null hypothesis is the opposite of the alternative hypothesis. The researcher tries to disprove, reject, or nullify the H0, which is usually the common view of something, whilst the alternative hypothesis is what the researcher really thinks will happen. An example is as follows; H1 (Alternate Hypothesis): Tomato plants exhibit a higher rate of growth when planted in compost rather than soil.

evidence base (in hydroponics) is small, I think it acceptable to visit established websites/magazines to see what has already been done, and what the results were.

H0 (Null Hypothesis): Tomato plants do not exhibit a higher rate of growth when planted in compost rather than soil.

This is a job for The power of...

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SCIENCE I GARDEN CULTURE When constructing a hypothesis remember to be as accurate as possible, for example a null hypothesis such as “Tomato plants show no difference in growth rates when planted in compost rather than soil”, is flawed. If the plants grow slower than in soil, the hypothesis is not supported or disproven, and the experiment is invalid.

a valid scientific study includes determinate variables, indeterminable variables, and constant variables

Furthermore, avoiding conceptual variables is vital (also called fuzzy logic), whereby the hypothesis is vague, lacks clarity, and is only partially true, an example being;

“Plants grow quicker when fertilized.” What is meant by plants? Are they from seed or clones, what type of plant is it, and what variety? There are millions of plants, specify which one is being tested. How is ‘growth’ defined? Is it weight, height, foliar mass? How is ‘quicker’ defined? What units are being used, what method of measuring is used, and how often is growth being measured? Is it over 1 month, or 1 year? Frequency of measuring also depends on the length of the study. If it’s over 1 year, measuring every 5 hours is impractical.

constant, so that conditions are the same throughout. This is how the variables look in our example;

The independent variable (what we change) is the fertilizer X, we then measure the dependent variable (what changes as a result of the independent variable), which in this case would be the plant height and mass. Lastly, our constant variables (everything we keep constant), such as type and amount of soil/compost, pot size, plant genetics, amount of water and light. There will be many more variables, and that’s one of the most important jobs, to identify all of the variables, and take them into account when planning the scientific procedure. Experimental Bias. Once the hypotheses have been finalised, the researcher looks at potential biases that could affect the reliability of the data. There are potentially dozens of bias that can creep into a study. It is the job of the researcher to assess what bias could affect the study, and either correct them, or write them down to be mentioned in the conclusion.

The hypothesis statement. It is imperative to be accurate in your hypothesis statement, so that readers know exactly what they are reading about. A good hypothesis statement would be as follows;

A longitudinal 12-month study to assess increased growth rates of Purple Haze tomatoes with increasing dosages of fertilizer X.

If it disagrees with experiment, it’s wrong!

Once a hypothesis has been established, it’s time to test it in a fair manner that makes the results dependable, and replicable. A fair test will only change one variable at a time, this is called your independent variable. You will be observing the changes that the independent variable provides, and this is your dependent variable (what happens in the experiment due to the factors you have changed). Lastly, we have our constant variables, the parts we wish to keep

SCIENCE I GARDEN CULTURE The following is a short list of common biases: •

•

Experimental error – This is a result of not taking into account all possible variables, usually when a proper plan has not been written down and the researcher has missed an important variable. Although this means the results are less credible, mentioning it in the conclusion allows future research to improve on the results. Inclusive bias – Products that are being tested were ‘available’, or have been sent by a manufacturer. A lot of manufacturers are reluctant to send out their products for testing, because of the lack of scientific rigor, or incorrect conclusions which may put them in a bad light. There is no immediate problem with this, just as long as the researcher doesn’t say product X is the best on the market, when products Y and Z didn’t get tested. Measurement bias – This arises from an error in the data collection, and the measuring process. If the instrument measuring the data is faulty, or incorrectly calibrated this will lead to inaccurate data. Properly calibrated equipment, and multiple testing/measurement will decrease measurement bias. Researcher bias – Possibly the hardest to control without blinding the researcher. It is very hard to be completely unbiased towards products we are testing, as humans always have a slight affinity towards one product or idea than another, and this can impact the results. For example, testing two fertilizers (X and Y), the researcher has used both before, and had good results with X, but not with Y. When fertiliser Y outperforms fertiliser X in the study, the researcher may do a rerun of the experiment to see why the data doesn’t hold true with his current belief, adding to his researcher bias. He may have already biased the experiment by spending more time with the plants using the fertilizer he likes; it all adds up to unreliable data. In order to control this, the researcher blinds the experiment to himself, by putting both fertilizers in the same type of bottles, and labeling them fertiliser A and fertiliser B, researcher number 2 will then fill the bottles with the fertilisers. The true identity of the fertiliser doesn’t come out until after all the data has been collected. Confirmation bias – This occurs when the researcher looks at the results from their research, and tries to fit them around pre-existing expectations and hypotheses. An example of this could be as follows; the data may show that fertiliser X grew a taller plant, but fertiliser Y produced more foliage… The researcher in their subliminal or conscious bias may choose to focus on the tall growth of favoured fertiliser X, and not mention the abundance of foliage from fertiliser Y.

a hypothesis avoiding conceptual variables is vital… otherwise it’s fuzzy logic The above list is not exhaustive, there are too many to list in this one article, but it is essential for any researcher to keep these points in mind when planning and conducting any experiment. It is also important for people reading scientific articles to consider where bias may have affected a study so that they can assess the reliability of the experiment. Before the experiment is carried out, the researcher will write down an exact list of the equipment they have used, which allows exact replication of the test to be carried out by others. The researcher will decide how many times to carry out the experiment to increase reliability (An experiment on 100 plants holds more weight than a test done on 10). Lastly, the researcher will decide on whether to use a control group to act as a baseline. In our example of fertiliser and plant growth, the control group could be a plant grown using plain tap water or a very low concentration of fertilizer; all other tests are compared against this baseline to measure increased or decreased growth. When variables and bias have all been accounted for, the experimental procedure has been written down step by step, and a list of equipment has been made, it’s time to conduct the experiment and record the data. Crunch time! It is important to remember that things go wrong during experiments. Don’t ignore problems, and carry on regardless. A good researcher will write down exactly what went wrong, and include it in their conclusion as a point of error that could have affected results. Furthermore, a scientist that becomes fixated on proving a research hypothesis loses their impartiality and credibility. Be impartial, and your credibility increases.

test the hypothesis in a fair manner that makes the results dependable, and replicable GARDENCULTUREMAGAZINE.COM

SCIENCE I GARDEN CULTURE

reading scientific articles... consider where bias may have affected a study to assess the reliability of the experiment Conclusions:

Summary:

For any research project, drawing conclusions is the final, and most important part of the process. Success or failure is not a measure of whether a hypothesis is accepted or refuted, because both results still advance scientific knowledge. The only time an experiment is a failure is when results are reached through poor experimental design, or flaws in the reasoning process, thereby invalidating the results! So, as long as the research process is robust and well designed, then the findings are sound, and the drawing of conclusions can begin.

If you’ve made it this far, well done. This article is literally just the basics, and we could write a whole book on different research techniques, but hopefully this can act as a starting point for all future tests to be based on, and as an industry, we can strive towards good science moving forward through false marketing and bad science. I would love to see an increase in experiments being done, and more importantly, people conducting experiments with scientific rigor.

A researcher should summarise what they believe has been learned, and assess the strength of the hypothesis. Furthermore, even if all biases and variables have been accounted for, the data can still be misrepresented in the conclusion. A good conclusion for a first or second time test might finish as follows; “The data showed that product X outperformed product Y by a margin of _ _ _. However, due to variable A and variable B, the data may not be representative. We therefore recommend that further testing is needed, and they should take into account variable A and B.” Also, if you feel the results have been biased in any way, you should mention them in the conclusion. It is far better for you to pick up on the shortcomings of the test than anyone else to pick the test apart, it gives you real credibility, even if the test is flawed. Hypotheses are rarely proved; it is better practice to use terms such as supported or verified. This is because very few experiments give clear cut results, and testing usually uncovers more questions to be answered than actual answers, but with each test, we get that little bit more confident that what we believe to be true, is in fact so.

“If you’re not willing to learn, no one can help you. If you’re determined to learn, no one can stop you.” 3

Success or failure is not a measure of whether a hypothesis is hypothesis accepted or accepted refuted

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SHORTIES I GARDEN CULTURE

Tomato Pollination Facts The most efficient pollinator of tomatoes is the bumblebee. Hand pollinated tomatoes will always be of lower quality, and be borne in less abundance. For this reason commercial greenhouses that specialize in tomatoes are now putting bumblebee hives inside the growing area - not honey bees. Why? Only bumblebees can hang onto a tomato blossom and effectively make more male anthers release their treasure. They do this by exercising their flight mechanism without moving, which emits a Middle C sound, the vibration of which coaxes the tightly held pollen gate to open... without fail. Time to invest in a tuning fork for better indoor tomato harvests.

So Much for Urban Sprawl Despite all the angst over urbanization and urban sprawl, only 66 million acres are considered developed lands. This amounts to 3 percent of the land area in the U.S., yet this small land area is home to 75% of the American population. In general, urban lands are nearly useless for biodiversity preservation, and once converted do not normally shift to another use. (www. bit.ly/US-land-use)

Climate & Water Facts No, the main cause of sea levels rising is NOT melting glaciers. The truth is that groundwater extraction is more to blame. Our drinking water and industry uses are almost as guilty as the much blamed irrigation of crops by the agricultural sector. Jobs and consumers are responsible for 25% of the annual sea level rise. Agriculture is responsible for another 50%.

Fertilizers For The Future.

*Proprietary "A/B" Formulations *Seasonal Fertilizer System Technology *Full spectrum A to Z nutrition *Excelled quality and quantity end results

Who Filled Your Plate? Only 2% of the U.S. population produces all food consumed by the nation. Of course, they get a lot of help from imported goods, but just a few generations ago, 90% of Americans produced all of their own food. Today? Only 3% grow their own food.

- Perfect for any growing media www.NewMilleniumNutrients.com

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nutrients pass through the cuticle on some plants

BY KYLE L. LADENBURGER

eeding Foliar FFeeding

FOLIAR FEEDING I GARDEN CULTURE

The application of liquid fertilizers to foliage, commonly referred to as foliar feeding, has been a topic of heavy debate for over the last 50 plus years. This is the method of spraying plant-available liquid nutrients on the above ground portions of the plant, the leaves and stems, in an effort to positively affect its health and overall nutritional status. Some see it as a way to maximize plant development, while others view it as a misguided means of obtaining a quick fix to a more systemic problem. This, my friends, is where the enthralling debate begins, but at not all where it ends.

The spotlight on foliar feeding began to truly shine back in the early 1950’s when Dr. H.B. Tuckey, head of the Department of Horticulture at Michigan State University, and his colleague Dr. S.H. Wittwer began a series of greenhouse laboratory studies. Their focus was to find efficacy in the method of foliar feeding. Utilizing radioactive isotopes of known elemental plant minerals, the men applied solutions containing the minerals onto the leaves and stems of the test plants.

completely understood process, some basic principles do apply. Stomata are generally opened during periods of high light intensity when photosynthesis occurs at a faster rate and more carbon dioxide is desired. They will also tend to be open during times of high humidity, when water is plentiful, and the plant is less concerned about conservation. However, the stomata will remain closed to conserve available water when temperatures are exceedingly hot, generally above 80° F (26.6ºC), or if it has very dry conditions.

MINER ALS ENTER INTO THE PL ANT, AND SOME E VEN TR ANSLOCATE THROUGHOUT

After the applications were in place they measured with a Geiger counter to track whether the mineral isotopes not only entered the plant, but if they moved from one part of the plant to another, a process called translocation. Through their testing they found that the minerals indeed entered into the plant, and certain minerals were even translocated throughout the plant. The results of these studies sparked a new era of testing, the adoption of new practices by growers, and the beginning of a serious debate that is still relevant to this day. So, how does foliar feeding work? Elemental plant nutrients and water are able to enter into a plant primarily through the stomata, but can also pass through the cuticle on some plants, which is a thin waxy layer on the outside of leaves and stems. The stomata are tiny, pore-like apparatuses that open and close to allow oxygen and water vapor to exit the plant (transpiration), and to allow carbon dioxide to enter, where it is a driving force of photosynthesis. The word stomata stems from the Greek word ‘stoma’, meaning mouth, and the opening and closing is regulated by task specific cells, appropriately referred to as “guard cells”. Opening and closing of stomata is directly affected by certain environmental conditions, and though it is not a

This type of self regulation is of vital importance for a plants’ survival, and it is important that a grower understand this if they wish to foliar feed effectively. When foliar feeding in the hot summer months, it is recommended to do so in the morning or early evening, when the sun is out, but the weather is relatively cool. For best results, mix the fertilizer solution at half rate or less. Doing so will reduce the overall concentration of elemental mineral ions, possibly increasing the likelihood of them entering into the stomata. Unlike with soil applications, the ideal pH for foliar feeding is right around 7.0, which is known as a neutral pH. Particle size plays a huge role in a successful foliar application so use a sprayer with the finest mist available. Spray both the tops and bottoms of the leaves as well as the stems. Adding a surfactant or wetting agent is also beneficial, as water molecules have a high surface tension rate, and tend to “heap” together and bead up on the leaf’s surface. A wetting agent will lower the surface tension, allowing the solution to thin and spread out more evenly. The main mode of entry into a plant for water and elemental mineral nutrients is through the root system. From time to time, imbalances and undesired interactions between GARDENCULTUREMAGAZINE.COM

FOLIAR FEEDING I GARDEN CULTURE

ONLY A VIABLE METHOD WHEN DEALING WITH MICRONUTRIENT D EFICIENCIES

nutrients, often micronutrients, can occur in the rooting medium effectively rendering them unavailable to the roots, a situation referred to as “nutrient lock-out”. This is a common occurrence in soils that are poorly managed and excessively fertilized. When the nutrients become locked up with other elements, and even certain soil particles, it can lead to nutrient deficiencies, even though they are technically still in the rooting medium.

PARTICLE SIZE PL AYS A HUGE ROLE IN A SUCCESSFUL FOLIAR APPLICATION

If the nutrient is unable to be obtained through the traditional mode of entry, or if a nutrient deficiency occurs for any reason, foliar feeding can serve as an alternative method for providing the nutrient to the needy plant. However, this is really only a viable method when dealing with micronutrient deficiencies, since these essential elements are needed in relatively small amounts. It is not possible to get a sufficiently large amount of nutrients through the stomata. Elements such as Nitrogen (N), and Phosphorus (P) are needed by plants in higher quantities, and the only way to achieve proper levels is through absorption by the roots. Elements needed in smaller amounts such as Iron (Fe), and Magnesium (Mg) can be maintained at healthy levels through foliar feeding. Foliar applications can also be utilized for beneficial substances, such as sea kelp and compost teas. The naturally occurring plant growth regulators (PGRs) auxin, cytokinins, and gibberellins found in sea kelp extracts can positively affect plant development by increasing lateral shoot and flower bud formation when applied through a foliar application. Many

growers will also spray plants with a compost tea which often contains natural occurring PGRs, as well as beneficial microorganisms that can help fortify the plant against attacks from harmful organisms and pests.

A trend has been occurring within the liquid fertilizer industry for quite some time now that depicts foliar feeding as a simple fix for what may be a major systemic problem. Often companies include in the marketing of these products language such as “maximizes plant health”, or “increases yield”. Though foliar feeding can certainly be beneficial, from a nutrient perspective it should be a last resort type of endeavor. If a grower continually experiences the same types of nutrient deficiencies it may have a lot to do with the mineral composition of the rooting medium, or an insufficient/imbalanced fertility program. Heavy reliance on a foliar feeding regimen is likely not the best way to approach the situation. Having the soil tested, choosing a different growing medium, or making careful adjustments to a fertility program are all ways of minimizing the need for a foliar application that is truly more of a temporary fix than a reliable long term solution. If a grower maintains a proactive approach to plant fertilization and care, the need to supplement with foliar applications can be greatly reduced, or even eliminated. However, if minor nutrient issues arise, the grower wishes to apply an auxiliary beneficial substance, or maybe just give the plant a little boost - foliar feeding, when done correctly, can be an effective addition to one’s gardening repertoire. 3 GARDENCULTUREMAGAZINE.COM

All urban foresting initiatives and programs deal with managed newly wooded areas

Urban Foresting BY AMBER FIELDS

It’s hard to imagine, but all of Europe was once heavily forested from the Arctic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea, as was most of Ireland, and the UK. In the 1600s thick forest blanketed 50% of the US, and 75% of Canada. And this is just part of the immensity of tree cover that flourished on Earth in the past, though deforestation in many areas of the world has taken place more recently.

For starters, it will take a minimum of 100 years to call a new planting of trees a forest, and many decades will pass before they benefit the community with reduced CO2, shade, and increased oxygen. Then there is the challenges such urban trees face. Street trees can be ineffective carbon sequestration elements. Many are left to get tough or die, struggling to produce a few leaves. Canopies are pruned back to protect structures, whacked off around utility lines, and butchered along roadways so they don’t impede large trucks. All of this ‘maintenance’ or lack of care is reducing the amount of foliage available even further.

In large, densely populated cities, there isn’t enough ground available to replace the missing trees uniformly. Instead, urban forestation can only take place in small, scattered locations. Making matters worse is the fact that not all tree species will thrive in an urban environment. Many grow too large for the available space. Biodiversity is severely challenged, trees in poor health are pest and disease magnets, and urban environments magnify or alter climate in their hardiness zone. Photo: Architizer

If you investigate the term ‘urban foresting’ online you find that all such initiatives and programs deal with managed newly wooded areas - in parks, along streets, on portions of properties not covered by pavement and buildings. While this is all very commendable, and a step in a better direction, it has shortcomings.

Going Up, Not Out A recent restoration project in the historic district of Milan, Italy may hold the answer to greening cities everywhere. The vertical forest has arrived in the form of two residential towers known as the Bosco Verticale that are covered with almost 17,000 plants. Not mosses,

URBAN FORESTING I GARDEN CULTURE

Photo: Luca Nebuloni/Wikipedia

The vertical forest has arrived - the Bosco Verticale is covered with 730 trees, 5,000 shrubs, and 11,000 perennial and groundcover plants GARDENCULTUREMAGAZINE.COM

URBAN FORESTING I GARDEN CULTURE

grasses, and succulents planted in a wall garden, mind you, but planted terraces up the face of all four sides, and a roof garden that hold 730 trees, 5,000 shrubs, and 11,000 perennial and groundcover plants. The highrise buildings have 18 and 26 floors of condos surrounded by a total planting space that’s equal to 2.5 acres (1 hectare) on flat ground. Initially, there were supposed to be 900 trees, but in consulting with botanists and horticulturists, the engineers reduced the number to a level that would not challenge the structural ability to bear the load of the plants. Still, the plantings contain almost twice as many large trees as smaller types.

Greener Still With all those large plants towering overhead, the soaring structures are softer presence than the surrounding neighborhood, and will become more so as the trees and shrubs expand and mature in the coming years. All those leaves will do wonders at cleaning carbon and dust from the air in the Porta Nuova district of Milan, simultaneously with increasing available oxygen. Then there’s the food and habitat for birds and pollinators all these plants will provide. But this is just the beginning of the benefits this vertical forest offers. This thick green wall will provide the condo residents with more sustainable homes. The plantings and consistently moist growing media provide a buffer against the climate extremes with less reliance on energy that will increase over time as the plants work

at attaining maturity. The thick tree canopies will give homes relief from the intense summer sun, but allow more sunshine in in the cloudier days of winter. One might wonder how much pressure maintaining all these raised gardens will put on the local water supply. Imagine the water bill if such were the case! But the Boeri Studio architectural team designed the buildings to use greywater for watering the forest. Additionally, the towers have photovoltaic energy systems that generate, recuperate, and optimize electricity for residents.

Tomorrow’s Urban Forest The urban forest of the 21st century can be a lot more sustainable than just a clump of managed trees. It can reduce both the carbon footprint, and the need for traditional energy sources, while making the city a softer, more pleasant place to live. And if they can grow large trees on the side of high rise buildings, then it seems that growing fruit trees and food bearing plants is possible too. So, where is it? The world’s first totally outdoor vertical orchard? Bosco Verticale was completed and opened for residency in October 2014. It offers several sizes of homes from small and efficient to high-end penthouse living. Last November, the buildings won the prestigious International Highrise Award that honors recently finished buildings over 328 feet tall (100 meters). The competition was stiff with 26 nominees from 17 countries, but no other entry was anything like the ‘forest vertical’ in Milan. It’s a highrise development in a class all its own. 3 GARDENCULTUREMAGAZINE.COM

SHORTIES I GARDEN CULTURE

Vestigial Lawns

BY GREEN KNIGHT

Once upon a time, a long time ago, there were grazing fields where the family sheep or cattle would eat grass, and it was common to have a home garden that produced fresh vegetables and herbs for the table. Over time, houses have gotten closer together, the livestock has been relegated to areas away from the general population, gardening has mostly been relegated to a hobby, and all that is left is a vestigial field known as a â&#x20AC;&#x153;lawnâ&#x20AC;?. Since there is no longer livestock to keep the grass short, a mechanized replacement known as a lawnmower is used, which produces no milk or meat, but rather is an ongoing expense that is used to harvest

a material so useless that it is either left in place to decompose, relegated to a compost pile, or for an additional fee carted off somewhere to be turned into compost and sold back to the homeowner to grow more grass with. Worse yet, it is a requirement in some areas to have such lawns between house and street. In many areas the rights of either keeping an animal to tend to the maintenance, or to replace the grass with a productive garden have been removed. Millions of acres and billions of dollars are dedicated each year to these high maintenance non-producing pastures. Alternatives to grass lawns include ground cover plants that have lower maintenance demands and require fewer resources, the use of native plants that naturally grow well in the area, or where legal to do so, a return of visible herb and vegetable gardens. In these days where the shallow and useless is often valued more than the real and productive, it is the latter that is deserving of support. 3

Well Traveled

Mass-produced food in the US is transported an average of 1500 miles from farm to consumer. 3

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BY AGENT GREEN

: In a bizarre move, the government sold the Canadian Wheat Board to a private corporation comprised of foreign investors in the spring of 2015. It was heralded to give farmers opportunities that the long-standing export monopoly didn’t present.

According to a late July press But... they handed release, Agriculture Minister Giving farmers better control C a n ad i a n W he at Gerry Ritz sees this as a win-win over the prices they command B o a r d a s s e t s situation... “The commercialization for their harvest would best be o v e r t o “ fo r e i g n of the CWB has been part done by turning the wheat board e n t it i e s f r e e o f of the government’s broader over to the farmers. Especially modernization of Canada’s grain when said agricultural engineers ch a rg e .” sector to stimulate investment, have invested millions of dollars and create jobs and economic growth for farmers and into the infrastructure that moves and stores their harvest Canadians.’’ cross-country to ports for shipment. Instead, managing a major portion of Canada’s farm economy was sold to Given the numerous complaints about short shipments, foreign interests operating under the freshly formed and product quality since Ottawa took over CWB company named Global Grain Group (G3). operations in 2011, along with loss of sales, poor transport, and misallocated payments - it was apparent that change was needed. But this goes against the grain. Who Is the G3? This new corporation that now owns 50.1% of the Granted, having the right to choose where to sell your Canadian Wheat Board is a partnership between Bunge, harvest without going to jail is a more positive horizon a U.S. agrifood conglomerate, and SALIC, a governmentfor farmers. So, the news that the wheat board would be managed Saudi investment fund. transformed into a private company in the near future a couple years ago made perfect sense. It would strengthen Why would the world’s third largest wheat exporting the economy in the Prairies, home of most Canadian wheat country sell all control of such a valuable commodity to growers. foreign corporations? It’s easy to see why a desert country

CEREAL YIELD I GARDEN CULTURE

y a w a e v A Gi 5 0 .1% O F T H E C A N A D I A N W H E A T B O A R D CO N T R O L L ED BY U S A N D SAU D I CO R P O R AT I O N S

FOREIGN I NTERE STS NOW M ANAGE A M AJOR PORTION OF C A N A D A’ S FA R M E C O N O M Y would be eager to acquire the answer to reducing the cost of such a basic food need. Surely, the Canadian government is aware that cheaper grain imports translates to lower farm incomes. You can’t cut prices, and maintain previous income levels. That’s what happened to the U.S. economy. Less is not more in money, and wheat is Canada’s most important agricultural crop. As a major exporter of a top staple grain, the CWB should have sold for billions - not paltry millions with a promise to invest $250 million in the export infrastructure. Basically, they handed the keys to thousands of train cars, ships, facilities, and more over to their biggest competitors for a song.

Promises, Promises The farmers may have gained the right to choose their buyer, but the G3 needs them to remain on board to be successful. The government sold just enough of the CWB to give the G3 control, with the remaining 49.9% being held in trust for the farmers through a loyalty rewards scheme to ensure lots of grain still flows through the G3’s hands, instead of their competitors.

They promote this Farmer Equity Program as if they were giving farmers something big for nothing, when it’s really financial assistance being sought by the G3. They want growers to fund their startup, venture capital so to speak that may not pan out for the investors in the end. And in 7 years (at minimum) the G3 will shed these “minority interests” at “fair market value” to become 100% owners. No doubt followed by taking the company public with shares and stockholders. For every tonne a farmer sells to G3 Canada Limited, the now “fully Canadian company,” they receive $5 in equity. But there’s a ceiling, and time limitations. The cumulative available farm equity is set at $249 million. It covers all wheat sold to the CWB from 2013-14 through 2015-16 harvests, and represents just under 4 equity units per acre of wheat based on current crop yields in Western Canada. In other words, the farmers who built the wheat board, and have invested heavily in its assets over the years are now the expendable minorities in their own marketing agency after being enticed to fund the takeover. And they cannot cash out their equity units until the G3 decides they no longer need the funds to operate.

GARDENCULTUREMAGAZINE.COM

CEREAL YIELD I GARDEN CULTURE

...financing G3’s b usiness acquisiti on for seriously dis counted returns Fan and Spread

W he at fa r m e r s are now expend able m i n o r it i e s in their own marketing agency

The old system operated from a single desk, giving farmers a lot of input on how the wheat board was run. Now there will be many desks, and shipping off both coasts. The G3 is building new storage facilities in different locations, which some farmers see as modernization and improvement. Yet, a distinct divide has formed among farmers since the change in ownership took place.

There are other farmers who view these events from the opposite point of view, such as Manitoba farmer, Dean Harder. He can’t see where the new arrangement gives grain producers any control over the new wheat board set up. He doesn’t think this equity thing is win-win for farmers. After all, it is only $19.47 in fuzzy promises per acre harvested per year. Not the greatest rate of return in exchange for bankrolling your export agent’s paycheck, and operational costs. Venture capitalists get at least 12%. This equity arrangement is a fraction of that based on the purchase price - not the amount fetched on the market. Meanwhile, the more political agriculture groups; the Western Canadian Wheat Growers, and Grain Growers of Canada welcomed the deal. But not all in politics favor the new entity or the arrangement. Like many farmers, New Democratic Party Parliament Member, Pat Martin, has issues with these developments, both the deal’s structure, and Ottawa having handed Canadian Wheat Board assets over to “foreign entities free of charge.” Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz says that the $250 million the G3 paid to secure the controlling interests of the CWB has helped the government to pay down the debts the Crown-owned trade board accrued.

It Still Has Debts?

Obviously, they let it go for less than they should have. And while grain growers no longer face imprisonment over selling their harvest elsewhere, it remains to be seen if it will actually help them gain financially. It may look highly lucrative going in, but the government no longer has any controlling interest in Canada’s grain exports, nor any say on what corporation the G3 can sell their interests to in the future. Turning the wheat board into a commercial company opens the doors to anyone in the world with enough money to buy them out. Right now, farmers have nothing but promises, beginning with this one by G3 CEO, Karl Gerrand... “Farmers can enjoy the growth of the enterprise we’re building simply by delivering grain for a market value. That’s pretty exciting for growers. When you do the math on some of the larger volumes, the equity can grow quickly, and they can share in the growth of G3.” Fluff. Candy coating the reality, which is best described by NDP PM Pat Martin... “I think it’s a sad for the Canadian grain industry. There never was a business for abolishing the wheat board to begin with, but you really have to question what kind of a business model it is to hand it over to an American agrifood giant, and a Saudi agrifood giant who until recently were your greatest competitors.” How does selling your wheat to your biggest competitor while financing their venture for seriously discounted returns, and reducing the cost of imports into the desert equal economic gain for farmers? It’s not logical. 3

BY ALISTAIR MARTIN

r e v E n a h T tter

o H e Ar

A UK Perspective

There is no doubt, we love our chillies in the UK. Whether eaten raw for a local Chilli Challenge, or added to a Friday night curry, we can’t seem to get enough of these little fiery pods of mouth tingling (and sometimes bum-twitching) goodness! What many people don’t realise is that it was actually the Portuguese who were responsible for bringing this humble fruit to this part of the world; it is reported that Christopher Columbus first encountered them in South America way back in 1490. A physician on Columbus’ second voyage in 1493, named Diego Alvarez Chanca, first introduced them in Europe. He was more interested in their medicinal properties than commercializing them, leaving the door open to Portuguese traders to bring them to mainland Europe to replace the much coveted Black Pepper - which at the time was so valuable it was used as currency in some parts of the world!

Black pepper pods have been used since Roman times as a seasoning to bring heat and flavour to bland foods. There were cheaper replacement herbs that would add some heat, but at the expense of being quite bitter. As rice and potatoes were one of the main staple ingredients in everyday meals, the Chilli was perfect for adding depth and flavour to many dishes. Within 50 years, and with the help of barter and trading, the Chilli had made its journey throughout Europe and Asia, forever changing our diets and culinary tastes.

HYDRO CHILLIES I GARDEN CULTURE

we can’t seem to get enough of these little fiery pods re people everywhere a l year growing chillies al long indoors

t h e p e r fe c t plant to show how a fa s t flowering annual will p e r fo r m

Retail stores in any industry spend endless time and energy working on their merchandising strategy. Positioning key products at exact heights in certain locations through the store. Setting up for one holiday, after the last one just ended. Millions of pounds are spent every year trying to figure out the best way to lay out a shop and feature certain products all for one reason, to get people to spend their money. Indoor garden centres are no different, or at least they shouldn’t be. Retailers who want to feature their equipment and gardening prowess have a merchandising strategy to grow beautiful gardens. Without a doubt, the resounding plant of choice grown in these display gardens is the chilli.

If you pop down to your local hydroponics shop, you will more than likely find various chilli varieties being grown in a multitude of different methods, but what exactly makes this the display plant of choice for so many shops? Many hydroponic retailers find chillies are the perfect plant genus to show how a fast flowering annual will perform in the growing systems and environments they have on display; the plants adapt easily to different growing methods, are hardy, pretty to look at and fruitful. They provide that perfect starting point for discussing

a customer’s requirements, reassuring the retailer that any equipment they later purchase is suitable for their own garden back home, and not just another case of “My mate says I need this .”

It’s important for the retailer to show his potential customers that he/she can grow. Which is one of the all-important factors for customers; they need to have confidence when parting with their hard earned money that this guy standing in front of him knows what he is talking about. As chillies also produce clones with unparalleled ease, they’re ideal for an any propagator demonstration, and once the latest cuttings have rooted, they can be gifted to a new customer. We’ve found this can be just as welcome as an introductory discount, and also ensures they have something to grow straight away. In recent years, the trend of the Super Hot Chilli has come extremely popular. No longer are these Scovilletopping fruits reserved for the craziest of cultivators, they are a means of showing how easy indoor cultivation can be. As chilli festivals pop up in every county across the UK, many home growers are now able to produce multiple crops throughout the year, regardless of the outdoor weather. People everywhere are growing chillies all year long indoors. This has lead to a UK wide

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HYDRO CHILLIES I GARDEN CULTURE

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chilli competition, where cultivators show off their hottest and best looking pods, not to mention the hundreds of Pod Review videos where brave souls test their taste buds (or lack of them!) while chewing down the most recent of their harvests.

The old adage of drinking milk or yoghurt to lessen the

heat of Chillies is based in science and not just folklore. The chemical that gives chillies their heat, known as Capsaicin, is hydrophobic and is actually spread by water (think of oil floating on top of a puddle). This prevents the Capsaicin from being washed away or diluted. Capsaicin does, however, dissolve in alcohol and fat; while alcohol can help, there is only so much one can drink before it gets rather messy! Yoghurt and milk contains casein, a fat-loving protein that has a detergent effect on the capsaicin (think of the affect soap has on grease), allowing a higher tolerance of these super hot fruits. You don’t need to look far on the internet to find a whole host of national and local chilli communities uniting to swap valuable information, seeds, and growing techniques. We, the UK’s hydroponic retailers, are helping lead the way by example, showing everyone just how easy it is to grow your own, and become self sufficient. Who knows, perhaps the hydro industry will host our own Super Hot Chilli competition.....We’ll bring the Chillies, you bring the milk! 3 GARDENCULTUREMAGAZINE.COM

NPK Podcast Live The NPK Podcast delivers the need-to-know information for cultivators without the annoying adverts. Stephen and Thomas don’t pull their punches and talk frankly about the hydroponics industry, as they see it. The following podcasts are a selection of their favourites from the previous episodes…

• Pest and disease part 1 – In this podcast, Stephen and Thomas talk about pests, specifically spider mites, Thrips, fungus gnats, black fly and pond skaters. The methods to get rid of them, tips to prevent future attacks and how to spot when you have got them. • An interview with William Texier – A live interview from Barcelona during the grow show, NPK Live is with William Texier discussing growing plants, his top tips for all cultivators and a chat about his book. A top interview with one of the industry’s most knowledgeable cultivators. • Nutriculture grow systems – In this week’s podcast, Bill and Craig from Nutriculture talk about the systems they produce and more importantly how to use them. Plus, a great insight into which systems might suit different growing styles. A must-listen for the system grower • Nutrients – In this no-holds barred podcast, Stephen and Thomas give their opinions on hydroponic nutrients, dubious marketing claims and bad science in hydroponic tests. The NPK Live podcast is released every Sunday at 12pm GMT on iTunes, the NPK website and a host of other podcast platforms. http://tinyurl.com/NPKHydroponics http://tinyurl.com/NPKLive

Enjoy!

BY GRUBBYCUP

NUTRIENTS I GARDEN CULTURE

Nutrient

Solutions

Mixing undiluted fertilizers together may cause nutrient precipitation.

Nutrient solutions (or variations thereof) are the most common method

Salts are often used as nutrient sources because they also have a positive and negative side

of supplying replacement nutrients to garden plants after the initial growing medium supplies have been diminished.

Plants need access to nutrients for the various metabolic processes used in growth and development. In a natural setting, these nutrients are supplied by the nearby decomposition of plants that have completed their life cycle, animal waste (and ultimately the animals themselves after they have completed their life cycle), as well as existing mineral content in the soil. In a domesticated setting (such as a field or a flowerpot), decomposing material is generally relegated to the compost pile, so once plants absorb the available nutrients from the growing media, the media will become barren - unless the nutrients are replaced. Hydroponic mediums generally donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have any nutrient value, and plants are therefore entirely dependent on this â&#x20AC;&#x153;replacementâ&#x20AC;? nutrition from the start.

In order for the replacement nutrients to be useful to the plant, they must come into contact with (or within very close proximity to) the root system. Plants also require water to be available to the root system, because water is required for photosynthesis. Light energy is absorbed by the plant, which divides the water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen is combined with carbon dioxide (CO2) to form glucose. It is common practice to combine nutrients and water into a nutrient solution. Nutrient solutions are created by dissolving measured amount of nutrients (often salts of N.P. K, et al.) into water (the solvent). Hydrophilic (water-loving) materials like salts tend to dissolve easily in water, because water molecules have a positive charge on the side GARDENCULTUREMAGAZINE.COM

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NUTRIENTS I GARDEN CULTURE

Organic nutrients are less capable of mixing with the water without separation than salts

with the two hydrogen (H) atoms, and a negative charge on the oxygen (O) side, These are attracted, and attach easily to many other molecules.

ule suitable for many flowering plants. Usually these schedules are designed to supply additional nitrogen during vigorous growth, and additional phosphorus during the flowering and fruiting stages. Do not mix full strength concentrates together before adding them to the water, as this can have detrimental effects on the finished solution. When mixing a nutrient solution that has more than one concentrate added to it, make sure to add the concentrates individually to the solvent (the water), and stir at least briefly between.

Meters are best at estimating the nutrient levels when salt-based fertilizers are used

Salts are often used as nutrient sources because they also have a positive and negative side, but are generally held together with a weaker ionic bond. Water molecules attach themselves to either side of the salt molecule, and literally split them apart. This is why many chemical hydroponic solutions make use of nutrient salts dissolved in water. Organic nutrients are often less miscible, meaning they arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t as capable of mixing with the water without separation, and should be shaken to create a suspension before use. If the local tap water is questionable; reverse osmosis filters, or other filtering systems can be used to clarify and clean before use.

There are several nutrient companies that sell concentrated solutions which can be added to water according to the manufacturerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s directions for use. These directions often include a week by week sched-

Pure water does not conduct electricity, but once conductive materials, such as salts, are introduced, the nutrient solution will do so. If a little conductive material is added, little conductivity results, as more conductive material is added, the solution conducts electricity better. Meters are best at estimating the nutrient levels when salt-based fertilizers are used, since salts have a large impact on conductivity. These meters are much less useful when using non-salt-based organic fertilizers. TDS (total dissolved solids) meters measure this property to estimate nutrient levels, and display their information as either on the EC scale, or one of the PPM scales.

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NUTRIENTS I GARDEN CULTURE

EC and PPM meters only display the total amount of electrically conductive contamination present, not specifically what the contamination is

In fact, the “EC” in “EC meter” is an abbreviation for “electrical conductivity”. The EC number is easy to compare against other EC readings, since it is simply a measure of how conductive a material is, and it sidesteps the PPM conversion problem.

Nutrient solutions also require a suitable amount of available oxygen

PPM (parts per million) meters use the same principle, in fact they are the same meter with the results displayed slightly differently. There is currently an issue with the lack of a standard conversion between EC and PPM which often leads to confusion. Depending on which of the three most popular PPM standards are used, the conversion factor is .5, .64 or .7.

of electrically conductive contamination present, not specifically what the contamination is. These meters do not give the specific N-P-K values.

In a recirculating system, the nutrient solution is replaced periodically, both to rebalance the mix of available nutrients, and to remove any leftover salts in the solution. To help wash away undesirable salt buildup in the growth medium a practice known as “flushing” involves applying clean water to the medium for the purpose of dissolving, and removing any salts that may be collecting in it.

While this might lead some to believe that the EC scale should therefore be adopted, and the PPM scale abandoned - it isn’t that simple. When calculating nutrient solutions from scratch, it is very handy to measure by how many milligrams of material is added to a liter of water, which is literally parts per million (PPM). 1 milligram of sugar in 1 liter of water is 1 part sugar per million parts of water. One part per hundred is used so often in similar calculations that it is generally abbreviated to percent (per hundred).

Nutrient solutions also require a suitable amount of available oxygen. The level of freely available oxygen in water is known as its dissolved oxygen (DO) content. Air stones are used to increase DO. The amount of air that water will hold is dependent on temperature. The warmer the water, the less air it will hold, and the more important additional aeration becomes. If the amount of dissolved oxygen drops too low, the water will go stale, and create conditions for anaerobic (airhating) bacteria to develop. Anaerobic bacteria are the rotting and spoilage bacteria responsible for the foul odors in stagnant water.

Regardless of the scale used, the information gathered with a meter, coupled with the specific nutritional needs of the plant, can be helpful in maintaining a suitable nutrient solution. However, keep in mind that EC and PPM meters only display the total amount

Nutrient solutions can be as simple as following directions on a bottle, or as complicated as mixing a chemical cocktail like a mad scientist, but they serve an important part of keeping your plants healthy and productive. 3 GARDENCULTUREMAGAZINE.COM

BY THEO TEKSTRA – MARKETING MANAGER GAVITA HOLLAND BV

THE FIRST LEDS WERE COMMERCIALLY ON THE MARKET LONG BEFORE THE FIRST HPS L AMP

A BRIGHT FUTURE? “LEDs are the future”... How often have you heard that in the past few years? So, is the future already now, or are we getting there? Is LED the new “wonder light,” or do we still have to learn to appreciate LED? An overview of the history of LED and the current status.

LED LIGHTING I GARDEN CULTURE

History Did you know that the first LEDs were commercially on the market long before the first HPS lamp? It was 1962 when the first (infra)red LED hit the market, and the first HPS lamp came out around 1968. The LED found its way into computers, watches, calculators, and other appliances that needed a long life, low power indicator or display light. First, there were the red LEDs, and later new technologies enabled other colors too. The first green and yellow LEDs came out in 1971, but it took until 1993 until the brilliant blue and white LEDs hit the market. Back then we never thought that LED technology would replace the incandescent lamp, or even the highly efficient sodium lights. That is a development of the last 10 years. LED has evolved into what we call a “disruptive technology”: it displaces established technology, such as incandescent and CFL, and shakes up the industry. In 1993, we had the first white LEDS, but it took until 2006 for LED technology to hit the 100 lumens per Watt mark. Today, there is LED technology that goes even beyond that, though it becomes harder to raise the bar, and it does come at a cost.

Technology Without diving too heavily into the actual technology, LED light is based on what we call Electroluminescence. In laymen’s terms: When applying electrical power to a crystal (a semiconductor), it starts emitting light. Contrary to what you would expect, light does not exit the semiconductor in all ways, but in certain directions due to its structure. By shaping the semiconductor in a specific way you can focus the light. The LED is usually embedded in a clear molded plastic, that acts not only as a housing to hold the fragile electronics, but also as a lens to diffuse the light from the emitter.

Cross-section of Philips LED, Luxeon K2

Not all energy is converted to light, and not all light escapes the semiconductor, and there is a lot of heat development as well. However, in contrast to HPS lighting, this is not infrared radiated heat, but conducted heat. So LEDs do create heat, just not as radiant heat, but conductive heat. This is why LEDs need to be thoroughly cooled, and this is also the Achilles heel of many LED fixtures. Temperature is the enemy of a long LED life and light maintenance, hence the need for a large thermal heat sink. So the light of LEDs contains very little heat, in contrast with high pressure sodium, which contains about 55-58% infrared radiation. Is that a lot? Not when you realize that the sun emits 53% infrared radiation. There we already have one big difference between HPS and LED.

White LEDs Now each specific semiconductor will give you a specific color of light, but there is no semiconductor that emits white light. How do they do that? Very simple: think compact fluorescent (CFL). When they developed a blue LED in the 90’s, they suddenly also had the technology to make a white LED, by adding a phosphorous layer on the blue LED. So basically a white LED works the same as a CFL: The blue light excites the phosphor, and depending on the blend of that phosphor, a specific color (band) will be emitted. The phosphorous layer is usually semi-transparent, so some blue light will also still come through. By changing the phosphor coating you can change the spectrum. However, phosphor coatings do have a conversion efficiency, and they do reflect some light back to the emitter as well. The best coatings nowadays are 85% efficient at optimal temperatures, so there is a loss of light too. Moreover, a phosphor coating close to the emitter will heat up, decreasing its efficiency. That’s why white LEDs are less efficient than their blue counterparts. The phosphor coating is more diffuse than the original blue LED. Lens systems are required to get the light where you need it.

GARDENCULTUREMAGAZINE.COM

LED LIGHTING I GARDEN CULTURE

TEMPERATURE IS THE ENEMY OF A LONG LED LIFE AND LIGHT MAINTENANCE Remote-Phosphor LEDs Relatively new on the market are the remote-phosphor LEDs. They are more efficient than the integrated white LEDs, with up to more than 20% better conversion rate than the standard white LED. How does that work?

At this moment the best single color LEDs can do up to 2.7 μmol s-1 per Watt under ideal circumstances, for white LEDs this is about 2.4 with remote-phosphor technology. These are the top of the line LEDs with a very high efficiency, but they also come at a cost. In 2000 at a conference, Dr. Roland Haitz presented a forecast about LED price and output development, now known as Haitz’s law. It defines light per package, so not necessarily the efficiency. As you can imagine, there is a theoretical maximum in the amount of light you can convert from energy. What is interesting though is the prognosis of the price compared to the light output.

Phosphor conversion process in a white LED and remote phosphor system – Source: CREE A normal white LED has the phosphor coating very close to the emitter. There will be conversion losses and reflection losses as you see in the illustration, but the biggest problem is the temperature of the LED, and therefore, the phosphor layer itself. Some of the blue light will pass, some will be converted, but the conversion rate is negatively affected by the temperature of the phosphor. In a remote-phosphor application, we use blue LEDs and a phosphor coated (glass) disk at a distance from the LEDs, in a reflector. While the efficiency of this system is a lot better, it will only produce diffuse light, because, due to the size of the phosphor disk, and the diffuse output of the light, it is very hard to concentrate this light. Also the costs can be much higher than single white LEDs, because the costs of making the fixture with the disk is higher, not to mention IP ratings you want to achieve. So, for close diffuse lighting this is a great technology, but not so much for focused high intensity top lights.

The law is about as follows: Every decade the cost per lumen drops a factor 10, while the output per LED package (single unit) increases by a factor 20. So you will get bigger LEDs with higher output, against a much lower price. What does this mean for our purpose? First of all, the efficiency of LEDs does NOT increase a factor 20. It is not even said that the higher output LEDs will be much more efficient - at first, they will just have a higher output. What is interesting though is that prices will drop. We have seen this in the past ten years, and we still see a drop in price.

Output Power / Light Output / Efficiency The theoretical efficiency of an LED could even be over 4 μmol s-1 per Watt when all of the energy could be converted, It would require far future technology to even get close to this, so don’t count on that coming for years. We will see though that efficiency will get a bit better still, and that the prices are going to drop.

GARDENCULTUREMAGAZINE.COM

LEDS ARE AN EXCITING NEW LIGHTING TECHNOLOGY

LED LIGHTING I GARDEN CULTURE

COB LEDs less light, a value you would not reach with HPS lamps (they would already be replaced). The light maintenance is greatly influenced by the junction temperature, which is the temperature of the base of the LED. High temperatures decrease this dramatically:

Cree high output white COB You might have heard about COB LEDs. COB stands for Chip on Board, and it is a way of producing cheaper high output LEDs by pre-mounting many of them on a board. While the high output single LEDs range up to several watts, you can make COBs in much higher wattages, combining multiple LEDs. A phosphor coated COB will have less glare than the single point LEDs, but the light density is also a bit lower than the single LEDs. A lens system is needed to direct the light, leading to extra losses. COBs are developed to reduce costs and increase output, and they are not necessarily the best solution for all lighting needs. They might be too concentrated in some applications, or not concentrated enough for deep penetration. COBs will decrease the price of LED fixtures, but it remains to be seen how they can be best applied.

Source: Philips technology white paper So, environment and cooling of the LEDs plays an important role in getting optimal light levels and optimal light maintenance. A L90 of 25,000 hours could well be much lower.

Light Maintenance HPS light maintenance is specified as percentage of light maintained over a period. For the Philips GreenPower plus 1000W EL this is as follows: 4,000h 8,000h 10,000h

98% 96% 95%

LEDs are specified differently. For household LEDs we use the specification L70 as an industry standard: It is found out that 70% lumens maintenance is close to the threshold at which a human eye can detect a reduction in light output. So, the L70 specification gives you the number of hours of operation until there is a degradation in light of 30%. For plants, however, light maintenance is crucial. You should always look at a L90 for LEDs that are used in Horticulture. This is already 10% GARDENCULTUREMAGAZINE.COM

101

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A MICROMOLE OF LED LIGHT IS STILL 6-10 TIMES MORE EXPENSIVE THAN HPS What is the verdict? LEDs are an exciting new lighting technology. They are efficient, available in almost every spectrum you desire, and they have a long life. You can use them in applications where HID lamps could never be used, for example: • • •

Interlighting (lighting between high crops in greenhouses) Multi-layer growing (food factories where distance to the crop is low) Specific supplemental light (for example to supplement HPS)

LED LIGHTING I GARDEN CULTURE

HPS is not an alternative for any of those applications. However, there are some disadvantages as well. LEDs are on full trial in many greenhouses, because growers want to experience what is needed to grow under LED successfully. However, replacing HPS top lighting with LED has a few problems that need to be overcome: 1. Uniformity. As you want to intercept as little light as possible you must make light strips that fit under existing or new profiles. 2. Climate conditions. LEDs perform best and live longest when they are not driven to their highest wattage, and are kept cool. Temperatures at the top of a greenhouse can be very high. 3. Little infrared heat. Even in a desert, the nights are cold. In the winter seasons, when the assimilation lighting is used most often, the infrared radiation of the HPS light is a very efficient way to heat your crop. With LEDs you will need to heat your greenhouse as all the heat dissipates at the back of the LED. Also, the lower infrared radiation leads to less evaporation of water, so you need to up the EC of your nutrients by more than 25% in many cases.

Above: Tomato LED trials at GreenQ – innovation center in The Netherlands

4. Price. A micromole of LED light is still 6-10 times more expensive than traditional HPS lighting. This is the biggest problem, as you have to invest heavily, and will need to keep that installation for at least 5-7 years. In that time we expect LED to become at least 20-40% more efficient, so when are you going to invest? When there is a more efficient HPS lamp available, it is just a matter of changing a lamp, but you can’t with LED. For indoor uses, many of these issues are the same. As it is your primary lighting indoors, the investment is very high. No infrared means that you will need to find a way to keep your crop at the optimal temperature, while 1000W of LED create the same heat gain as 1000W HPS. So in a recirculating room there is hardly any advantage in cooling. We will need to learn how to grow under LED. Prices still need to drop to make them a viable alternative for HPS. But the future is nearing, and it is a good idea to get some experience with growing under LED, as you will be confronted with different growing challenges. 3

103

BY ERIC COULOMBE

MUSHROOM HUNTING

Wood hedgehog 104

MUSHROOM HUNTING I GARDEN CULTURE

in My

Backyard I have had an interest in foraging for mushrooms since I can remember. As a kid our Italian neighbors used to pick mushrooms all over suburban Montreal. But it wasn’t until they came to our cottage, my present home, that I saw their real passion. Apparently, I lived on a treasure trove of wild mushrooms. They would go out for a couple of hours, and come back with bags and bags of mushrooms. I remember their passion, singing as they hunted, and the pure joy when they found a new species.

Apparently, I lived on a treasure trove of wild mushrooms Ever since, I’ve wanted to go out there, and do the same thing. I have friends in California and Pennsylvania who pick tons of the most delicious fungi. The problem was mushrooms like Amanita Virosa. This wild mushroom, which sprouts prodigiously throughout Quebec, is as poisonous as they come. Eat a single bite, and you’re dead. It won’t happen right away either. You’ll feel fine for a day or so before the symptoms begin. By then it’s too late, your liver will have been damaged beyond repair. Yikes! After doing a little research I found there are several very poisonous mushrooms in my area, and many that look like yummy mushrooms. So, I just never did it. Every Friday, in our little community of Morin-Heights, there is a small farmer’s market. We bring the kids, and like to see what our local farmers are up to. It happened that we met Susan Valyi. She was set up with her booth full of pictures of mushrooms, and a table with samples of local varieties. After talking fungi for a couple of minutes

she told me she does group tours in my area. Instead, I proposed that she come to my house, and show my wife and I what kind of gastronomical delights are growing in our backyard. We arranged a date in late September. Susan arrived promptly at 10 am; we had limited time, so we got right to it. It hadn’t been too rainy in most of Quebec, and Susan told us other regions had very few mushrooms. We had a good rainfall not long before, the ground was still moist, and good for mushroom growth. Our home is in an amazing setting. We border a small private lake, that flows into the Bonnie Brooke river. The entire area is scattered with small rolling wooded hills. The river flows through a valley through miles of forest. The natural watershed keeps the area wet, and the dense forest keeps the floor covered in decomposing matter.

GARDENCULTUREMAGAZINE.COM

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MUSHROOM HUNTING I GARDEN CULTURE

It wasn’t long, and we were finding tons of different varieties

European destroying angel, Amanita virosa

Woolly Milkcap, La ctarius

We walked along the river towards the waterfalls, a walk I had done a thousand times in my life. Just 2 minutes in, and we find our first treats. “Hedgehogs!” She says with some exuberance. They are apparently a delicacy, and rare. Slightly nutty with a nice firm texture. It wasn’t long, and we were finding tons of different varieties. Most were not edible, but some were. Like the Bolete or Boletus family was well represented, and we found two types that were edible, but learned that there are some that are not, and to be careful. The bad ones are not poisonous, but could definitely make you sick. They bleed blue/ grey when you cut them, got it. We also found some Lactarius, here too there were two types. They also bleed, a kind of latex like substance when you cut them. We also found a bunch of honey mushrooms, and two amazing medicinal ones, reishi and chaga. The old adage time flies when you are having fun certainly applied here. Our 2

The problem was mushrooms like Amanita virosa hour tour was almost over, I could have continued all day. There was that sensation you get, like when you are fishing, (or hunting I suppose, I don’t hunt), or like in sales; the big one could be right around the corner. It was really enjoyable. I go to a lot of effort to grow my own food. And when I do eat what I grow, I do it with a great sense of satisfaction and pride. Mushroom foraging has the same impact. Not only were they some of the best tasting things I have ever eaten, they were free. I was super proud to present my dinner guests with my wild mushroom risotto, and other delectable mushroom dishes. I highly recommend mushroom foraging to anyone who has enough brains to do it properly. I myself am hooked. 3

GARDENCULTUREMAGAZINE.COM

107

ART I GARDEN CULTURE

Forever Stoked

GARDENCULTUREMAGAZINE.COM

109

ART I GARDEN CULTURE

BY ERIC COULOMBE

Forever

Stoked

I was standing in line to get a beer at the Emerald Cup in Santa Rosa. I wasn’t sure who was actually waiting and who was just standing there so, I decided to move up closer to the front. “Hey, you” I heard from behind me. I turn, this guy is looking right at me. “You, cut in line” he said seriously but not too upset. I move just behind him and continue to talk in line. It turns out that its Charlie Clingman from the Forever Stoked Collective, whose art I had just admired.

Forever Stoked is a grass roots artist collective based in Morro Bay, Califiornia, with a simple mission to spread positive energy through artwork. Nature is the source of inspiration, with the surf and ocean being close to the group’s heart. Limited Edition Canvases, Paper Art Prints, Greeting Cards, Art Stickers, Deluxe Leather / Canvas Cuffs, Hemp Art Cuffs, Art Apparel, Hats, Patches and more, are made by the Friends and Family of the artists in Morro Bay, California. Their gallery located at 1164 Quintana Road features art of the main FS collective Charlie Clingman, Chris Pedersen, Peter Pierce, and Jordan Haughey, as well as many other local artists. Paintings are constantly being rotated in the spacious industrial style gallery.

a simple mission: to spread positive energy through artwork

I purchased a print of a surfing Stormtrooper for my son and now their art is in the magazine. I hope you enjoy their artwork as much as I do. Perhaps not the best advice for children, but if you are an adult, I highly recommend talking to strangers. You never know what can happen. 3

GARDENCULTUREMAGAZINE.COM

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HONEY BEES I GARDEN CULTURE

Life In the Hive

Did you know that a honey bee’s job is based on its age? At least for the worker bees it is, and it seems that in a bee’s world a human year is condensed into a single day. And if you think kids today mature rapidly - check out how it is in a bee’s world. At 1 to 2 days old they spend their time cleaning cells - beginning with the one they were born in. The youngsters are also tasked with keeping the brood warm. At 3-5 days of age their job is to feed the older larvae. No one trusts the little kids to care for the youngest larvae - they’re not ready for that until they reach 6-11 days old. Next they graduate to wax production and comb building at 12-17 days of age, as well as now being able to carry food and cover undertaker duties. Imagine a 15 year old removing the corpses of elderly relatives so their decomposition doesn’t foul up the home! But things get more reasonable after this stage. Young adults aged 18-21 days stand guard duty at the hive entrance. At age 22 they are fully mature worker bees that are allowed to fly out and collect pollen, nectar, and water while pollinating plants. It’s a full life span at age 40-45. Days. A honey bee’s lifespan ends in 45 days max. 3 113

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The gods must be crazy The gods must be crazy