Garden Culture Magazine: UK 14

IN THIS ISSUE OF GARDEN CULTURE: 9 Foreword

50 Who’s Growing What Where

10 Editor’s Pick

52 History of Hydroponics - Part IV

12 Product Spotlight

58 What Is Sulphur?

16 The Universal Solvent and Errors of Misapplication

60 Homegrown Up A Wall

24 A Look at Medicinal Mushrooms

64 CBD Made Easy

29 Shorties

68 Light Matters - Part IV

30 Your Inevitable Battle With Fungus Gnats

76 My Gardening Flaws

36 Growing Big Things In Small Spaces

78 Art Feature

40 5 Cool Finds - Kickstarter to...

79 Freshwater Shrimp in Aquaponics

44 Brown Thumb

e r ro rs In this edition, we will uncover some of the most common indoor gardening errors, so you don’t have to learn them the hard way.

Starting with the basics, in the article Brown Thumb, Evan Folds discusses the shortfalls of conventional “wisdom” in agriculture. In the aptly titled Your Inevitable Battle With Fungus Gnats, Everest Fernandez explores strategies to help you cope with, and avoid the pesky bugs. Grubbycup offers full disclosure on some of his own shortcomings as a gardener in My Gardening Flaws. Learn about how Kevin Fortey took on a new growing method in the Giant Veg World, the proper watering techniques suited for each growing method, common lighting errors, and much more.

Let’s face it, indoor gardening is not that complicated. But, as a gardener, you NEED to do the work. Plants do talk to you, the trick is to learn as much as possible about their language, and spend a certain amount of time listening to them every day.

Someone once told me, practice does not make perfect.

Only correct practice will enable you to master something.

Pretty wise words from a football coach.

I would like to dedicate this edition to the memory of Jeff Edwards, gardener extraordinaire, who left this world far too early. He left behind a hydro legacy that will live forever. Thank you for all your support, especially for bringing so many fascinating little known facts in the series The History of Hydroponics. Part IV, the last instalment by Jeff, can be found on page 52. 3 Eric

Garden Culture™ is a publication of 325 Media Inc. ED I TO RS Executive Editor: Eric Coulombe Email: eric@gardenculturemagazine.com Senior Editor: Tammy Clayton Email - tammy@gardenculturemagazine.com V P O PER AT I O NS: Celia Sayers Email: celia@gardenculturemagazine.com t. 1-514-754-1539 DESIGN Job Hugenholtz Email - job@gardenculturemagazine.com Special thanks to: Albert Mondor, Christopher Bond, Evan Folds, Everest Fernandez, Grubbycup, Jeff Edwards, Kevin Fortey, Mary Minchin, Nicholas Di Genova, Stephen Brookes, Tammy Clayton, and Theo Tekstra.

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 • Maxigrow • Nutriculture DGS • HydroGarden • Highlight Horticulture Website: www.GardenCultureMagazine.com

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I love reading books, blogs, and really anything I can on progressive growing techniques. And, Mama Editions has published some of my favorite “go to” books. The two mentioned below, are in my opinion, some of the best ever written on the subject. The more you know, the more you’ll grow.

- Eric Tigrane Hadengue and Michka Seeliger-Chatelain are passionate about books, and the social change that they can inspire. Thanks to this passion, Mama Editions took root.

Today, the team behind this forward thinking publishing house is bringing ideas to paper, with over 60 volumes in their catalogue exploring subjects as varied as shamanism to channeling, to indoor gardening. One of the latest explores the amusing and life changing journey of Bruno Blum, artist and rock music writer, in the descriptively titled, Die-Hard Meat Eater to Vegan. The more popular books have been translated into 10 languages, sowing knowledge around the world.

For the avid grower, there are two books in their roster that are indispensable.

Book #1 -

The Organic Grow Book Gardening Indoors and Outdoors

By Karel Schelfhout and Michiel Panhuysen A practical handbook revealing organic gardening techniques, a resource filled with innovation, as well as many secrets rediscovered.

Beneficial micro-organisms, bokashi or biodynamic compost, permaculture, vortex, power of the elements... This opens the doors to a full-scale (r)evolution where productivity goes hand in hand with quality. With its broad array of unprecedented strategies and prov-

en tips, this eco-responsible and highly humorous guide is a must for all mindful gardeners, whether beginners, or experts.

Karel Schelfhout has been a recognized figure in the world of horticulture for over thirty years. He played a prominent role in disseminating cultivation techniques first used in the Netherlands, and subsequently switched to organic growing.

Michiel Panhuysen, a journalist published in several languages, specializes in organic and urban gardening.

The Organic Grow Book also includes an annually updated professional directory, the BioScope, listing addresses, websites, trade shows, festivals, and more than 400 professional entries.

Book #2 -

Hydroponics for Everybody All About Home Horticulture

By William Texier A richly illustrated, “bible” of hydroponic gardening that will surely help increase your harvests above and beyond what you thought was possible.

Whether their roots are in water, in the air, in coconut coir, or in clay pebbles - hydroponics allows you to grow healthy plants and harvest fruits and vegetables 365 days a year. From basic gardening tips for beginners to hightech installations and professional know-how, this comprehensive guidebook brings together everything you ever wanted to know about the art of hydroponics.

The latest edition also includes a chapter on current trends, and will answer all your questions about urban gardening, planted walls, bioponics, sustainable microfarms, and kitchen farms.

William Texier was born in Paris. He discovered hydroponics in 1985, and became passionate about the technique. With his friend Lawrence Brook (The creator of General Hydroponics Nutrients), he developed aeroponic systems, and conducted research in California. A research pioneer in the hydroponic industry, he invented and patented “bioponics” (organic hydroponics) in 2004. With his thirty years of experience, he is considered a worldwide authority on these innovative methods of gardening.

To this date, Hydroponics for Everybody has been translated into seven languages.

This pure Mycorrhizal wettable powder is for use with water on established plants, or by adding it to your Hydroponic reservoir. Simply add to water, and apply around the base of your plants to increase the availability of nutrients and enhance root development. Provides improved soil structure and moisture content to the plant, as well as a biological connection between roots and nutrients present in the soil, promoting growth.

Mykos is made of fast-growing, beneficial fungi needed to break down, cycle and retain nutrients, providing plants with a balanced intake of food, moisture, and a front line of defense against pathogens and disease. This greater nutrient availability leads to a ‘xplosive root and plant growth, and an ‘xceptional harvest!

Protects your plants against drought & heat stress • Increased yields • Strengthens root structure and reduces transplant shock • Improves plant efficiency • Great in hydroponics, transplanting, coco amending, and top dressing.

Mykos has been used to break the last 9 World-Records for ‘Xtreme plant growth, including a 2,230.5lb pumpkin in 2015!

To find your local retailer, visit Maxigrow.com/where-to-buy/. For more info, visit xtreme-gardening.com/mykos.

for hydroponic HydroTops is on a continuous mission to provide high quality products organic bio100% a or, systems. Start your grow on the right foot by using Bactivat flower and stimulant that leads to enhanced, compact vegetative growth, and profuse system to defence l fruit production. Additionally, Bactivator provides a natural microbia , which in turn, resist fungal infections by pre-emptive consumption of their food sources increases resistance to pest attack. division As the plant progresses, Top Heavy Crop enhances and optimises cellular shorter a plant, bushy and physiological function in your plants. You can expect a very vegetative growth period, with an increase in yield and crop quality. the yield of all To top it off, Triple F is a natural, organic stimulant developed to increase the onset of flowering plants. It can be used with all types of media and feed systems after . demand flowering, assisting in nutrient uptake during this period of high their site is For a downloadable feeding schedule, visit Hydrotops.net. Be sure to revisit, undergoing a transformation.

The DEva Embracing new digital technology at an affordable price.

• • • • • • • • • • •

First and only Silent Squarewave® electronic ballast (virtually no EMI) Surge protected, computer controllable, and generator safe HumidiGuardTM epoxy coated electronics for long life 97% reflective German Miro aluminium reflector (Wide angle reflector option coming soon) Includes Ushio Pro Plus 1000W DE HPS 2100 μmol/s lamp Passes both FCC Part 18 and Part 15 Class B EMI limits Arc tube plasma maintains a steady and constant temperature resulting in better colour

rendering, and improved lamp life Cool running with excellent heat dissipation Low frequency and highly efficient Built with high-quality tested circuits and components 3-year warranty

Raw power and light intensity is nothing without smart control. While the DEva can work any lighting controller, the RLC-1 can simulate sunrise and sunset, and gradually warms up your plants, just as Mother Nature intended. It can also capture data on incoming power, lamp life, voltage changes, brown-outs, and black-outs... thanks to a built-in clock with a 30-year rated battery backup.

• • • • • •

Timed control of up to 512 DEva 1000W lights over two zones Can control up to 256 lights simultaneously per zone No start-up surges Programmable sunrise/sunset Automatic lamp dimming and switch off when a preconfigured temperature is reached Each zone has 3 auxiliary switches to activate external equipment.

Designed and Sourced From the Ground-Up. All Revolution Micro products are manufactured at a stateof-the-art, ISO-certified manufacturing facility in Thailand.

To find your local retailer visit Maxigrow.com/where-to-buy/

Designed for use with the Maxibright Daylight 315 ballast, and Philips 315 CDM lamps. The compact size of the Horizon wide-angle reflector from Maxibright has excellent light output, uniformity, and diffusion.

To find your local retailer visit Maxigrow.com/where-to-buy/

The Horizon Daylight reflector is manufactured from highly reflective aluminium that is formed around the lamp to provide high PAR levels of light over a wide area, also ideal for integrated use with other sonT or metal halide lamps.

• • •

Wide-angle coverage 1.2m x 2.4m Highest output area out of all wide-angle reflectors.

Natural convection effect for reliable heat dissipation.

The Sun Systems LEC 315 reflector is ideal for use with the Maxibright DAYLIGHT 315 ballast and Philips 315W lamps.

The Sun System® LEC® 315 RA™ Remote Reflector utilises cutting edge Light Emitting Ceramic® technology. This fixture is a remote style reflector for better versatility in your growing area.

It has a highly reflective textured aluminum insert for excellent output, uniformity, and diffusion. Designed specifically for highly efficient agriculturally engineered CDM-T Elite Lamps. The LEC is built to last with a powder-coated galvanized steel housing.

Built in the USA by Sunlight Systems. Designed specifically for the Philips 315 CDM lamp To find your local retailer visit Maxigrow.com/where-to-buy/

Water (H2O), the universal solvent, 2 molecules of hydrogen and 1 of oxygen, is the life-force that drives our planet, and so amazing, that entire books have been written on it.The simple fact that water acts differently to almost any other substance (density decreases when it freezes), has allowed life on earth to flourish. If this were the other way around and ice sank, it would be a very different world, possibly uninhabitable!

Sometimes, we need to go back to basics and... look at our water

So many times, as hydroponicists, horticulturists, or botanists, we look too far into a problem and try many exotic methods of figuring out why our plants are reacting in a certain way. We over scrutinise the nutrients, lighting, environment, and any other area that can influence plant growth. Sometimes, we need to go back to basics and look at what seems too easy to have been missed, we need to look at our water. So simple and abundant, we can often overlook one of the most important molecules in the universe. So we will follow in NASA’s footsteps and follow the water…

Before we get into common watering mistakes, we’ll look at the quality of water, and the errors that can be made in not understanding how to manage area-specific water.

Hard/Soft Water Whether you have have hard or soft water is easy to find with a quick Google search of your locale. If you live in an area where the water can come from one source or another, it’s important to monitor and use the appropriate nutrient, designed either to balance the calcium and the magnesium that makes water hard, or the lack of it, which makes water soft.

Very hard water areas would benefit from using a reverse osmosis filter to remove some of the minerals in the water, therefore softening it. Very soft water area growers can benefit from adding a small amount of cal-mag nutrient, which will help buffer the nutrient solution and prevent big pH swings. Lastly, if in a hard water area, the extra buffering from calcium and magnesium can mean it takes a lot of acid

to bring the pH down to an acceptable point (5.5 - 6.5), so using a nitric acid pH down in vegetative growth, and a phosphoric acid pH down in flower can help with plant growth at different times of it’s life cycle.

pH

The pH of water needs to be between 5.5 and 6.5 for efficient absorption of nutrients.

In hydroponics it’s best between 5.5-6.0, coco prefers 5.8-6.3, and soil likes 6.0-6.5. Common errors with pH include growers being too strict with a specific pH number, and adding large quantities of pH up or pH down.

This can lock out other nutrients and cause deficiencies, while in reality, it’s good to let the pH swing a little between acceptable values, so that the full spectrum of nutrients have the opportunity for complete uptake.

Over/Under Watering Possibly, the most common mistake that any grower can and will make. Firstly, I don’t like the term ‘overwatering’, maybe it’s being a little pedantic, but it’s impossible to ‘overwater’ a plant. It is however, entirely possible to run so much water through a plant medium, that it pushes all of the pockets of air (oxygen) out and suffocates the roots of the plant. This, is the number one mistake when cultivating plants, and if allowed to continue, can cause a succession of deficiencies and plant abnormalities. In the most severe of cases, it creates a breeding ground for pathogens, and the root zone becomes an anaerobic playground for Pythium and other root disease monsters.

Underwatering can just as easily lead to plant wilt and death as overwatering can, however, I have seen many horrific looking plants come back from the brink when given a healthy dose of H2O. Underwatering is essentially a lack of commitment from the grower, through laziness or mismanagement. There are so many options available today, such as automatic feeders, gravity fed systems, and timers, that there is no excuse for any plant to lack water to the point of wilt. To hit home the point of underwatering, the plant will close its stomata during periods of drought, and essentially stop all processes to conserve what little water it has left. Your plant is in suspended animation until you water it, or it dies!

Water Temperatures An easy mistake to make, is thinking that water temperatures really don’t matter that much. Get the water out of the tap, add nutrients, check EC, check

pH, and feed. A few days or weeks later, set of roots, allows the roots and the media it’s good the grower is left wondering why they’ve to wick the water upwards through the pot, to let the got deficiencies or root problems. When using the amount of water that each individual too warm, the amount of oxygen decreases plant requires, rather than a one-dose-fits-all pH swing a dramatically, creating a breeding zone for little between approach that can be the downfall of many a anaerobic bacteria, such as Pythium. If too top feeder. acceptable cold, the plant is unable to take up nutrients values efficiently, specifically phosphorus. The Top feeding when a plant is young and lacks ‘Goldilocks’ temperature for water is 18°C an established set of roots is best practise. or 64°F. At these temperatures, the water is A common mistake when top feeding is cool enough to hold sufficient oxygen, but warm enough to to drench the pot with a lot of water, which over time can allow good uptake of all nutrients. Keeping an eye on water compress the media, pushing the air pockets out of the pot. temperatures can pretty much prevent root rot and other You’ll know if you’re doing this, because one day you will think rhizosphere pathogens. someone has stolen 2-3 inches of media out of all of your pots. They haven’t, you’ve just been a little overzealous with the top feeding. Chill out with the pressure hose approach, Oxygenation and lightly drizzle the media from the outside inwards.

The error of many a grower is not fully understanding the importance of oxygenation at the root zone. Whilst A second mistake that top feeders make, is watering with knowing that the roots require an oxygen rich (aerobic) just enough to saturate the media and the roots. Over time, environment, many growers will still saturate the media with this will lead to an accumulation of nutrient salts, and can water (overwatering), and forget a plant’s basic physiology throw your EC/PPM/Cf readings way off, leading to nutrient needs. Therefore, getting the watering technique just right burn. Always make sure that with each new watering, there is is essential for a healthy crop, and to do so, you need to sufficient water being put through each pot, so that it ‘flushes’ understand the system that you use, whether that is simple out excess salts from previous irrigations. Lastly, it’s always hand feeding, or a sophisticated deep water culture system. good practise to flush with plain water, at least 3-4 times per cycle, to remove the accumulation of salts that occur, especially in warmer environments.

Hand Watering The most basic watering technique used throughout the world by millions of gardeners, and still one of the most effective when done correctly. Two types of hand feeding exist in the hydroponics industry - top feeding and bottom feeding. Top feeding allows the water to soak the top of the media and drain down, irrigating the roots along the way.

Bottom feeding, usually when the plant has an established

Bottom feeding, in my opinion, is better for your plants, and easiest to implement in a smaller garden. Bottom feeding into individual saucers is very exact, but most people will bottom feed into a deep tray containing a few plants. The main mistake when using this method is to leave excess water in the saucers or trays, putting the root zone into anaerobic conditions. When done correctly, the media will absorb what

it can to keep the rootball moist, with any excess siphoned off for the next irrigation, or disposed of. After a while, you should know roughly what the plants are drinking, allowing for accurate amounts of water, leaving no waste, and nothing for the pots to stagnate in.

Flood and Drain (Ebb and Flow) Moving from hand watering to a system can make your life a dream, or a nightmare, depending on how it is approached.

Typically, growers will move from hand feeding to a flood and drain system for ease of use, and potentially healthier, more productive plants. The most common mistake made in flood and drain systems is to think the system will do all the work, while the grower sits back and relaxes… Mistake number 1!

It can take some time to configure a flood and drain system

correctly, but the time spent here will pay dividends over the coming months. Firstly, you need to consider the media that will support your plants. Two common choices are clay pebbles and a pebble/coco mix, typically 60/40. From here you need to decide on irrigation frequency, irrigation height, and irrigating time.

will require less frequent irrigation (higher water holding capacity). The second part to consider is the current stage of plant growth, as young plants need less frequent irrigations compared to mature plants. Third, we have our environment to take into account. During early vegetative growth, the temperatures should be lower than in flowering, and the humidity should be higher, therefore transpiration levels are relatively low, and the plant requires less watering cycles.

Mid to peak flowering, temperatures are higher, and humidity tends to drop, which increases the transpiration rate, and means that watering frequencies also need to increase.

There are no absolutes when it comes to irrigation frequency.

What works for you with a particular plant and environment may not work for somebody else, so start with 2-3 irrigations a day* in pebbles, and 1-2 irrigations a day in pebble/coco mixes for young plants. Adjust as required for the environment, and keep a record of irrigation frequency for later adjustments and future growing. Plants showing signs of growth, and root systems becoming established are good indicators to increase the irrigation frequency. *A “ day” being when the lights are on, whether this is 24 hours, 18 hours, or 12 hours.

Irrigation Height and Duration Irrigation Frequency Common errors in flood and drain systems include: • Increasing or decreasing irrigation frequency, because your calendar says it’s been 2 weeks since you last increased the cycle, and it’s now time…

• Not changing the irrigation frequency at all throughout the grow/bloom cycle.

• Your plants are showing signs of stress, so therefore you water them more frequently without doing a proper diagnosis.

• Watering often increases yield and size, so you water during the night, and too frequently through the day.

Avoid these common grower mistakes by making sure you follow proper irrigation techniques. It will save you a lot of headaches in the future.

Pebbles will require more frequent irrigation (low water holding capacity) compared to a pebble/coco mix, which

A common mistake with irrigation height is not making sure the pots are on an even surface. Having some pots higher or lower than others results in different flood heights, overfilling some pots and under-filling others. Make sure your floor is level, this can be done easily by filling the pots by initiating a flood cycle.

While checking the flood height, it’s good practice to time the cycle, to avoid these mistakes of not allowing all the pots to properly fill during the flood, or leaving the water in the flooded state for too long.

If the floor is uneven, it’s probably worth investing in trays that will raise the pots up off the floor, tilting them slightly to improve draining. These are then much easier to manipulate, and ensure all pots are the same height. Flood height should

DWC - Deep Water Culture reach roughly two thirds of the way up the pot. Less and you risk not keeping all the roots moist, too much and you may keep media, such as coco, wet for too long.

A good irrigation duration for pebbles would be a couple of minutes before draining. For pebble/coco mixes, once flooded to the correct level, it needs to drain immediately to prevent diseases, such as root rot, from a lack of oxygen.

For a healthy, productive plant in a flood and drain system, you need to apply a hand feeding mentality of daily checks and investigation to the system. Only then will you see the improvements flood and drain systems have to offer.

There are two common mistakes in DWC, and unfortunately, not addressing either one of these will seriously hinder your plant’s growth. The first is using water that’s too cold, or too warm.

The second is not oxygenating the water adequately enough. If the roots sit in water that’s too cold (below 15°C/59°F), it will not take up nutrients. If they are in water that’s too warm (above 22°C/71°F), the water cannot hold enough oxygen. The golden point is at 18°C or 64°F. At this temperature, we achieve a good level of dissolved oxygen and nutrient uptake.

NFT - Nutrient Film Technique

For good oxygen levels, simply moving the water around is not sufficient for increasing dissolved oxygen in the water. To do this, the surface tension of the water must be constantly broken to allow the oxygen to dissolve in. This can be done with air stones, air curtains, or a pump that pushes water to the surface and breaks the surface tension.

Common mistakes when watering or irrigating an NFT system include not using any spreader mat on the tray to help evenly distribute the flow of water. A spreader mat will ensure the water forms an even layer, and if allowed to drape over the edge, will remove any trickling effect.

Stealth is wealth in this instance.

At the beginning, leaving the water pump on 24 hours a day before the roots are properly established can lead to ‘overwatering’ the rock wool. Immature plants do not have

As you’ll notice with DWC, it is impossible to ‘overwater’ as the roots are constantly submerged in water. The term overwater technically means that the roots do not have access to enough oxygen (the water has displaced the oxygen). You will notice that in the systems mentioned above, oxygen is always the critical factor when setting irrigation cycles or flood frequency, and it should be the number one point to keep in mind when irrigating any type of plant - in a system or hand watered.

To finish, if a cultivator is attentive, passionate, and open-minded, they will only make these mistakes once before learning from them, and making changes. Nothing can replace a perceptive grower, and that is the number one piece of information to take away from this article. 3

the root system to take up water like more mature plants, and so, require reduced irrigation. Either putting the pump on a timer or manually turning the pump on once a day for a couple of minutes to soak the rock wool is good practice at the beginning. The dry period will allow the roots to search, producing a healthier root mass.

When the roots and plants have matured (the rock wool is covered in roots), the pump can be left on 24 hours a day.

A good amount of water to pump through is roughly 1 litre a minute, but this depends on how many plants are being grown, the size of the channel, and the environment.

“Empty your mind…

You must be shapeless, formless, like water.

When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup.

When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle.

When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot.

Water can drip and it can crash.

Become like water my friend.”

- Bruce Lee

The use of mushrooms for their medicinal properties has been known for hundreds, even thousands, of years. Anecdotal evidence of their use can be traced back to almost all human cultures, especially those in Asia and Europe. The deliberate cultivation (as opposed to just foraging) of medicinal fungi can be traced back to at least the 12th century in China. Three of the more common varieties of currently sought after medicinal fungi are the Mikei Red Reishi, Chaga, and Turkey Tail mushrooms.

Reishi

Chaga

The Reishi mushroom is originally native to coastal areas of China. Note that in the west, we typically defer to the Japanese name for this mushroom, “Reishi.” In China, it is known as “Ling Chih.”

The Chaga mushroom, long used medicinally for its antioxidant properties, is actually a fungal parasite of trees.

Its preferred hosts are birch, beech, hornbeam, alder, and chestnut trees. Many folks have probably walked right by it without realizing what they were looking at. It appears as a hardened black, crusty mass on the outer bark of numerous deciduous trees in North America, and other temperate forests, such as those in the UK, Europe, Scandinavia, and New Zealand. It can sometimes be confused with a burl.

Of the six different colors that can be found, the red Meiki is the one most commonly foraged and cultivated. This waxy fungus is found in the wild growing on dead, decaying logs and stumps. The Reishi is a polypore fungus. Mushrooms of this type have spores on their undersides as opposed to gills. Many related polypore species are found throughout North America. They are usually smooth, and are often known as “shelf” mushrooms due to their platform-like attachment to trees and stumps.

For more than 2,000 years the Chinese have been using this medicinal mushroom to fight off a variety of afflictions including fatigue, insomnia, arthritis, and weakness from numerous causes. Some sources cite it’s healing properties being taken advantage of in China as long ago as 7,000 years.

More recently, however, the red Reishi can be found in medicines, compounds, and tinctures that may help individuals with hypertension, and diabetics suffering from both types 1 and 2. The immune-boosting properties of the Mikei Red may also help those with Hepatitis, and HIV/AIDS. According to a Cornell University publication, Reishi mushrooms are officially endorsed by the Japanese government as a treatment for various cancers.

Unlike the Reishi, which is nourished by dying wood matter, the Chaga feeds off of living trees. Left unharvested, the Chaga will eventually kill the host tree, over a long period of time. Proper harvesting is actually an act of good earth stewardship, and can allow up to 3 harvests during its life - both the tree and the Chaga fungus continue to live in a symbiotic relationship, providing us with both the environmental benefits of forests and a renewable source of natural medicine. However, excessive removal, whether through greed or lack of knowledge, is destructive, killing both tree and the fungal growth quickly.

Chaga, like numerous other mushrooms, medicinal and culinary, can be produced and cultivated in labs and commercial settings, and with the growing demand, may help ensure the long term survival of the promising polypore.

Turkey Tail Another widely-found fungus, that has also been used in Asian healing for thousands of years, is the Trametes versicolor, commonly known as Turkey Tail. In the UK, however, many refer to it as the Many-zoned Polypore.

If you find that Chaga products are helpful to your health, make sure you source them from a company that obtains them responsibly. And it’s in your best interest to steer clear of Chaga from trees growing along roads. The best health benefits will come from trees living as far from pollution as possible.

In the US, it has recently been given FDA approval in conjunction with trials being conducted at Bastyr University in California for patients undergoing chemotherapy treatments. The medicinal benefits of this particular fungus are thought to increase the immune system. Chemotherapy, of course, weakens one’s immune system, so the Turkey Tail will be given to try to quantify how patients with advanced prostate and breast cancer fare when the treatments are paired. 3

A new alternative to leather has been found in the natural fiber of pineapple leaves. The totally sustainable material came about while Carmen Hijosa, a leather goods consultant for the World Bank, was investigating ways to improve the leather export industry in the Philippines. But in doing so, she realized that leather is unsustainable, and started looking into possible replacements using local natural fiber resources.

The Philippines is the 3rd largest producer of pineapple in the world, and as a result, has a wealth of strong, flexible fiber that is actually problematic crop waste. Working with local weavers, Carmen created a non-woven substrate material with the properties of leather. It is sent to Spain for finishing into a certified vegan fabric known as Pinatex, perfect for furniture upholstery, footwear, bags, and accessories.

This didn’t come about quickly. The research and development process took 12 years, and is the work of a joint effort of people in the UK, Spain, and the Philippines. Pinatex isn’t just better for the country’s ecology, it creates new income streams for farming communities. Nothing like finding cash in your garbage!

Learn more: www.ananas-anam.com

Just one more side effect of supersizing and monoculture… lactose intolerance. It’s not from human evolution, but the cow’s. An A1 beta-casein protein prominent in Holsteins tailor-bred for super high milk production of low fat milk to be precise. Until market demand shifted to low fat milk a few decades ago, more dairies raised normal cows. And far fewer people suffered from lactose.

Almost all mainstream dairies raise 100% Holstein herds.

Meanwhile humans, goats, and normal cows carry the A2 beta-casein protein. This rogue protein from modern breeding was discovered in New Zealand, founding the brand, a2 Milk.

It’s available in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, the US, and China. Many lactose sufferers have no problem with milk from A2 cows.

No local source for a2 brand milk? Look for small dairies raising Jersey, Guernsey - anything but Holsteins. There’s a good chance milk from such herds won’t make people sick.

Sources: • www.bit.ly/A2-milk • www.bit.ly/wrong-milk • www.bit.ly/breed-shift • www.bit.ly/a2-brand

Fungus gnats are annoying for so many reasons, but perhaps the most vexing of all is that you unwittingly paid for the privilege of introducing them to your indoor garden. Coco coir, for instance, is invariably shipped in compressed blocks from their exotic country of origin and, more often than not, it’s expanded and rehydrated outdoors, completely unprotected from the mixed blessings of mother nature. At certain times of year, that big pile of coco coir languishing outside the manufacturer’s packaging plant, can become ripe for impregnation with thousands of tiny eggs laid by pesky little fungus gnats. Before you can say “infestation,” it’s bagged up, and on its way to your local hydro store.

Introduction Now—don’t get me wrong. I love coco coir. The same scenario could be applied to peat-based potting mixes, or the stuff that passes for “soil” at your local purveyor of indoor gardening treats. Some companies claim that they steam sterilize their coco coir or peat (also ridding it of beneficial biology such as Trichoderma), however, it’s rare.

So, if you suddenly find gnats flying around your garden, I’d wager that your unsterilized growing media was the likely vehicle.

While you digest that bombshell, let’s take a closer look at fungus gnats, and the damage they do. The adult gnats are commonly just two or three millimeters long, although they can grow larger, and look like miniature mosquitos.

It’s more likely that you’ll find them crawling around on your plants, pots, trays, and growing media, rather than buzzing around, as they’re very poor fliers. It’s also easy for novice growers to confuse them with winged root aphids, which are better fliers with a rounder, broader body and a long tail.

Fungus gnats (aka Sciarid flies) are usually from two insect families: Mycetophiliadae and Sciaridae.

The adult gnats themselves don’t do any damage. It’s their larva—hatched from tiny eggs laid by female adults in moist growing media—that cause all the issues—especially to young plants.

The larvae primarily feed on organic material, algae, and soil fungus. However, as their numbers grow, (they have a 28-day breeding cycle, and females can lay up to 300 eggs during their lifetime) their appetite broadens to include your plants’ roots and stem tissue. As they gnaw, unseen beneath the surface, roots are subjected to numerous wounds which, in turn, open up a gateway to secondary infections from the likes of Pythium, Phytophthora, and Fusarium. Seedlings and young plants are most vulnerable to this attack, and can even die. Older plants will stop growing, leaves will discolor and wilt, and nutrient and water uptake will slow.

All this from one and a half cubic feet of growing media that cost you over twenty bucks?

Don’t Waste Any Time in Declaring War Fungus gnats aren’t just going to go away by themselves.

On the contrary, if you don’t act quickly, what starts off as a few pests buzzing up when you shift some pots, or brush up against a plant, will soon turn into a major infestation.

The gnats seek moisture and humidity. If you top-feed your plants, then listen up! Constantly wet surface growing media is perfect for the gnats to lay their eggs on. Consider irrigating your pots from below (i.e. ebb and flow), allowing your plants to wick up moisture instead.

Whether you have fungus gnat issues or not, it’s always a good idea to allow your growing media to dry out more between waterings.

If you’re growing in stonewool (rockwool) blocks, try using block covers, or cut some squares of plastic sheeting to cover the top of the blocks. Not only will this help to prevent algae forming, it also helps to form a physical barrier between those frisky female gnats and potential egg-laying territory.

Adult female fungus gnat flies can live and lay eggs for between one and three weeks. At temperatures above 77°F (25°C) the complete life cycle from egg to larvae to adult fly takes around three to four weeks.

If you notice the gnats’ numbers growing quickly, try Azamax—a botanical insecticide, miticide, and nematicide.

It’s always good to have stuff like this on your shelf. You can use it as a foliar spray while you’re inevitably waiting for your local grow store to order in any beneficial insects.

Make up a medium strength solution—one fluid ounce per gallon—and foliar apply immediately. Work fast, wear a respirator mask and gloves, then get the hell out of there. Azamax isn’t available in Europe, so growers there often choose a product called Toppel, which contains Cypermethrin, a synthetic pyrethroid.

Nematodes

Two-Pronged Attack To get rid of fungus gnats, you should target adults and larvae simultaneously. For the adults, go with a hit of foliar sprays, and yellow sticky traps. For the larvae, I recommend nematodes and predatory mites. Some growers also treat their propagation blocks and growing media with mosquito dunks containing Bacillus thuringiensis Israelensis (BTI) as both a precautionary and reactive measure. One or two “dunks” per gallon of water. Many growers will water with BTI as part of their potting up routine, especially when using the types of growing media I mentioned earlier.

Sticky yellow traps are a really handy monitor for pests.

I recommend using them in your garden, whether you’ve seen bugs or not. Odds are a sticky trap will show you a pest before you would’ve seen it yourself. Lay them on top of your pots rather than hanging in the air and don’t forget to peel away the protective wrapper from both sides. I often find that I catch more gnats on the underside than on the top.

Parasitizing nematodes (Steinernema feltiae) are incredibly effective against fungus gnat larvae, and can decimate fungus gnat numbers in days, while causing no harm whatsoever to your plants. The nematodes enter body openings in many types of soil larvae, and use them to breed, killing the larvae in the process. Typically, you have about a week to deploy the nematodes, but they can last much longer if you store them in the fridge. Just keep them sealed, or at least, away from the butter. Ewwww.

Fill a watering can with dechlorinated water, add a clump of nematodes, and stir. Apply carefully, and evenly, to the surface of your growing media. I redirect the drain pipe of my ebb and flow table to catch the run-off, so I can re-apply to other plants. They won’t survive long sitting in water, so use it up right away.

Predatory Mites Predatory mites are awesome. The one to ask for is Hypoaspis miles, but note that it has recently been reclassified as: Stratiolaelaps scimitus. Whatever you prefer

Tactical Top Dressing to call it, these mites are amazing for the indoor gardener.

They not only target fungus gnat larvae, but also springtails, thrips pupae, and other small harmful soil insects. They will reside around the upper surface of the growing media, and will ferociously eat fungus gnat larvae lurking in soil, peat, coco coir, and also clay balls and rockwool.

My best advice is to go buy yourself a tub of these mites today, and release them into your garden, whether you have seen any pests or not. They can last up to 70 days without food, so why not just let them hang out in your grow room on the off-chance? Usually they come packaged in sachets or tubes of peat and vermiculite. A 34-ounce container of Stratiolaelaps scimitus retails for around forty dollars, and can treat between 100-200 three gallon pots, so it’s not going to break the bank. Sprinkle it on the surface of your growing media, and you’re done.

Top Tip: Before distributing the mites into your garden, roll the tube back and forth a few times, and leave it on its side for ten minutes. This will create a more uniform spread of Stratiolaelaps scimitus mites within the peat-vermiculite mix before dispersal. If stored upright for too long, all the mites will try to make their way to the surface of the mix, which will lead to the first few applications getting all the goodies.

If you can’t get hold of predatory mites, then try a top dressing with diatomaceous earth, Growstone Gnat Nix, or Gnat Block by Flying Skull. Diatomaceous earth is fine for us to handle, but to a newly born gnat it’s like crawling over razor wire. Always wear a respirator when handling it though, as you don’t want to inhale the dust. It’s only really effective when dry, so try not to get it wet. Once again, flooding from the bottom is the preferred method of feeding. Some growers use neem cake in their soil mix, or neem seed meal as both a soil enricher and a preventative measure against fungus gnats.

If you’re growing in NFT gro-tanks, then be aware that capillary matting is also a favorite for fungus gnats so be sure to secure the tank covers well to avoid gaps.

Finally, don’t forget to secure your air inputs with intake filters or bug screens, and always keep your grow room clean and tidy! (Sorry if I sound like your mom, only cooler.) If you’ve been gardening outdoors, take a shower, and change your clothes and footwear before entering your indoor garden. A few extra minutes, and a little extra vigilance as part of your garden routine, can save you months of frustration further down the line.

Check out Everest’s personal battle with Fungus Gnats by visiting his rather awesome, super fast-paced YouTube channel: Just4Growers — all your growing questions answered! 3 www.youtube.com/user/Just4Growers/

The year 2016 was very exciting and productive, with some notable personal achievements. For the very first time, in a partnership with the University of Nottingham, we grew hydroponically with an AutoPot XL system. Our challenge was to grow the UK’s largest bell pepper.

Back in March, I thought to myself, “How on earth am I going to do this?” When I first purchased the equipment, it felt like taking control of a car for the first time, daunting, but exciting - a new world to explore and discover. The world of soilless media was opening, and I had a lot to learn, but I needn’t have been so anxious, a new me was dawning.

Hydroponics Is Easy To get started, we needed to invest in some equipment.

We purchased a blue lab truncheon, which is essential in hydroponic growing. You need to know what the strength of the nutrient solution is before feeding the plants, and while they are consuming it. If the conductivity reading is too low, the plants may not be getting enough nutrients. If the conductivity reading is too high, your plants can dehydrate.

Having the right tools to understand the conductivity of the nutrient solution takes the guesswork out of feeding your plants. Reading the solution was simple, and the truncheon indicates the EC by its flashing lights.

The pots hold 25 litres of growing media, and have a built in AQUAvalve, which controls the flow of nutrients into the base of the pot. We used a 60/40 mix of coir and clay pebbles for both the tomato and peppers.

For our first pepper record attempt we set up the AutoPot XL inside our Keder greenhouse. This gravity-fed system is extremely versatile. It offered us an easy, and efficient watering system for growing both a giant tomato, and a selection of giant peppers.

In order to keep the plants healthy and happy, apart from monitoring the EC levels, maintaining a good pH is one of the first things that we needed to do. The pH of the area around the plant’s roots (the “root zone”) is what determines which nutrients the plants can uptake. If the pH of the root zone is too high or too low, your plants will not be able to take in certain nutrients. As a result, plants will show signs of a nutrient deficiency, even when that nutrient is present.

When planting the peppers into the Autopot in late March, our mycorrhizal inoculant was mixed in around the roots. For the first few weeks, we watered the plants around the root to encourage them to establish into the growing medium.

Once they were established, we filled up the tank with rainwater and our liquid feed, checked the EC and PH, and then ran the feed into the AutoPot base. This feed, which incorporated the new Nano product, was changed every two weeks to ensure that the plants were continually getting the best nutrients possible.

For the very first time in our growing history, we didn’t need to worry about the plants drying out. The reservoir did our job for us. In addition to the gravity feeding, we used SB Plant Invigorator as a weekly foliar spray to prevent insect infestation, which will ultimately reduce a plant’s ability to grow to its maximum potential.

The peppers grew to over 5 feet high, and once set, the fruits were supported via string tied up to the metal frames inside the greenhouse. The hydroponic system cut two months off the growing time compared to a traditional peatbased container system with hand watering.

So far, it’s all looking grand. But here’s what happened at the UK Giant Vegetable Championships with not only our first giant pepper attempt, but our first hydroponic grow too.

The Competitions The highlight of the gardening calendar year for any giant veg grower, ourselves included, is taking the giant vegetables to the various shows in Harrogate, Malvern, the East of England, and a Welsh show at Aberglasney Gardens. The UK Giant Vegetable Championships takes place at the Three Counties Showground in late September, welcoming almost 70,000 through the gates for the two-day event.

For the third year running, the Malvern Autumn Show played host to the UK National Giant Vegetable Championships.

This year’s event was sponsored by CANNA, and entries shot up 20% to a record-breaking 360 competitors. Our ranks swelled by almost 80 new growers.

A staggering four world records were broken, along with two UK records. Two new competition categories were introduced in 2016 for Heaviest Bell Pepper and Heaviest Red Cabbage, and it was in this second category that one of the world records was smashed. Triple world record holder David Thomas from Hayle in Cornwall beat the previous record by almost 4.5kg with his monster red cabbage weighing in at a staggering 23.2kg, the same weight as the average 7-year-old child. This record stood for over 90 years, set by Mr. R Straw in 1925.

Other world record breakers include World’s Longest Carrot (6.245m), World’s Longest Beetroot (7.956m), and World’s Longest Radish (5.023m) - all grown by Joe Atherton from Mansfield. My brother and I established two UK records for the Heaviest Bell Pepper (560gr), and the Heaviest Field Pumpkin (72kg).

TV Coverage A number of growers at the Malvern Autumn Show were featured on the BBC Countryfile Diaries programme, including Ian Neale (Snoop Dogg’s mate), and ourselves. It was a great honour to be asked to play a part. Presenter Margerhita Taylor helped us load up the giant veg to move on to the UK Giant Vegetable Championships where we won 4 First Prizes for the Heaviest Bell Pepper, Cantaloupe Melon, and Radish, and Jamie picked up the prize for the Largest Sunflower Head.

A Taste of Japan Our next exhibition was the Aberglasney Gardens Giant Vegetable Show in early October. A day before the event, we welcomed visitors from Japanese TV channel NHK to our garden as part of a programme showcasing Wales and giant leeks. It was our first experience of garden guests from Japan.

The NHK film crew followed us to the show at Aberglasney Gardens, where the presenters helped us lift and weigh the veg. The weekend of filming will be broadcast on NHK sometime in December.

The TV company was so impressed by the

leeks that two weeks after filming they asked us to send two specimens to Japan to showcase during their live broadcast.

Our giant leeks made the trip first class via British Airways.

Crazy, I know, but all great publicity for the promotion of giant vegetable growing all over the world.

We are currently preparing for a talk on giant vegetable growing at the Scottish Branch of The National Vegetable Society on the 18th December 2016, where there will be a chance to win an Autopot XL system. If you have the chance to visit the event, we look forward to seeing you.

It looks like 2017 will be another busy year for us. We will sit down over the winter to assess what went well, and what didn’t, keeping our minds open to new developments and ideas.

Hopefully we can set some more records next year. Following our record-breaking success this year, we are excited to announce that our unique formula of giant pepper feed will launch in early 2017.

Until next time… 3

The trend to Grow Your Own is inspiring many designers to create products that will help achieve a perfect growing environment, with esthetics, and ease of use in mind. Some take full control of the whole process, hurtling us into the Jetson’s era of household automation. Although most of these small startups only offer shipping to the United States, they are great sources of inspiration. Perhaps the next funding campaign will be for wider distribution.

R E A DY TO D I V E I N ?

1

Say hello to Grove, the only truly successful Kickstarter launch featured on our blog. A compact aquaponic garden that lets you dabble in aquascaping too. Fresh food and fun in a sleek bamboo cabinet.

Equipped with 3 LED fixtures optimized for the adjustable height grow bed, seedling tray, and aquarium.Variable spectrum, smart sensors, OS app control, preset or custom settings. Ships to the US and Canada. www.grovelabs.io. Original post: www.bit.ly/grove-post.

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R ES E RV E YO U RS BY PRE- ORDERING

The NIWA is definitely a cool hydroponic gadget. Take advantage of available sunshine growing near a window, or rely on compact CFL lights to ensure good plant energy. Though a successful Kickstarter campaign, this product is only available for pre-order.

WiFi-enabled, app connected, program your crop, and watch it grow.

Automated, remote control, 5 liter reservoir, and 6 plant sites. www. getniwa.com. Featured on our blog: www.bit.ly/our-NIWA-post.

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SNEAK PEEK!

Though not yet available for sale,The Grobo has a unique, and desirable feature - the door is made from fluid glass, changing from clear to opaque at a touch. Instantly create night in the garden, or make your grow totally discrete.

Equipped with a carbon filter, environmental control, and 8-color spectrum LEDs with sunrise and sunset. WiFi-enabled, app connected and fully automated. www.grobo.io. Featured on our blog: www.bit.ly/our-grobo-post.

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R E D U C E GA R D E N WA S T E

The 1st compostable plastic pot! SelfEco Garden officially launched in January 2016, and ships within the US. Molded from biopolymer PLA made from starchy plants, with distillation waste included as fertilizer. Readily composts in the ground, reusable for 6 months, and disintegrates quickly in a landfill.

Once seedlings are big enough for the garden, flip the tabs down to allow root growth, dig the hole, and plant. Not high tech, but definitely smart. More info: www.SelfEcoGarden.com.

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S M A R T O U T D O O R WAT E R I N G

The Edyn Water Valve is part 2 of a successful Kickstarter campaign covered here in Issue 9.

Paired with the Edyn Garden Sensor, the valve only activates irrigation when soil is dry. Healthier plants, and no over watering! No sprinklers running in the rain. Reduce water use, and save money.

WiFi connected, efficient remote management via smartphone.

Solar-powered, real time monitoring, built to withstand weather and common garden inputs. Available at Home Depot in the US, and online at www.edyn.com.

Our blog feature: www.bit.ly/edyn-post. 3

The sad irony of agriculture is that, even with the best of intentions, we generally work against what we would want if we were asked. From corn to cannabis - our crops are grown for yield and shelf-life, instead of quality and nutrient density.

Our fertility is artificial not natural. Our subsidies incentivize the wrong people, and the worst crops. And the list goes on.

At the risk of being cynical and pompous, agriculture has been co-opted by “experts” that do not know what they are doing in regards to progressive regenerative agriculture, and greed that values money over nourishment. Take, for instance, the fact that well over 90% of agriculture is conducted using manmade artificial fertilizers and toxic biocides. How do you think Mother Nature, the very source of all agronomic activity, feels about that?

Collectively, agriculture focuses more on what we want to get out of the plant, instead of what the plant wants to provide for people. Of course, this is why so many people grow their own gardens. The joy and challenge is profound and therapeutic, resulting in many levels of value to the grower and society at large.

Gardening is not obvious, so the market for consulting is quite large. Bad advice is bad advice, but our unwillingness to become our own experts in the garden can actually hold us

back. In full evaluation, the best tools for becoming a master grower are common sense and critical thinking. And it’s a lot easier than you may think.

A trip to the local USDA Extension Service for advice offers a great example. Any surface evaluation into the work of Cooperative Extension will notice only positive things. Take this passage from their website: “The hallmarks of the extension program — openness, accessibility, and service — illuminate how cooperative extension brings evidence-based science and modern technologies to farmers, consumers, and families.”

Who can argue with that? But make the connection that a call to the Extension “helpline” results in advice to use cheap synthetic fertilizers and toxic biocides. Rather than advising growing soil using organic practices, they recommend growing plants at the expense of the soil, and killing all of the problems created with toxic artificiality. It is quite a conundrum, not much different than our healthcare system being based on managing symptoms and reactionary medicine.

The point is not to demonize the Extension, or doctors for that matter, but to challenge us to think for ourselves. Does it make sense to use artificial materials to grow living things?

What we think, we grow.

For those just catching the gardening bug, there are some great books available that no doubt provide a good starting point for becoming a successful grower. But one cannot read a book and master the art, in fact, taking gardening books too literally can get you into trouble.

A good example is the famous “Square Foot Gardening” book. The general recipe calls for 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 vermiculite by volume. The formula then proceeds to recommend the number of plants to sow per square foot.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand where this comes from – keep it simple – but it reduces gardening to an equation, and results in growers imagining that they are doing it “wrong.”

Gardening is not about right and wrong, only better and best.

Plus, it sends people driving all over town looking for the proper ingredients, when there are all sorts of ways to grow a successful garden. I owned a retail garden center for over 14 years, and I cannot tell you how many people came in looking for these ingredients and ratios; and how many people had their garden gridded out like an architect to plant in the right proportion to space. Not only does this cripple potential, but it does not invoke imagination and intuition, both vital components to successful growing.

processes involved in the ecosystem that can be of benefit, like soil microbes or beneficial insects. In fact, the average grower spends more time trying to discourage these processes than standing in reverence of them.

Most “mistakes” made when gardening are simple to fix. For instance, in my garden center it was my observation that most self-proclaimed “brown thumbs” were a result of simply overwatering their plants. The gardener thought they were helping, when they were just suffocating the roots.

Even the most complicated issues in the garden can be deduced with some critical thinking. Plants don’t lie, but unfortunately, they cannot verbalize their wishes - we must listen with those vital faculties of intuition and imagination. It is easy to simply do what you are told, but the magic of gardening can only be experienced through controlled and proper experimentation, and a little shot of rebellion. Gardening is not about following directions, it is more feel than equation. In fact, agriculture may have been the very first act of human rebellion.

Gardening is about reducing stress, not the anxiety of “getting it right.” As with just about any worthwhile endeavor, growing plants is about perspective and insight earned through making mistakes. There is much more to this than just growing plants.

It was also my observation that poor soil conditions resulted in great discouragement to the average backyard gardener. It is too easy to think that all we need to do is till up some ground, put the plants in, and water with some fertilizer. Residential development destroys soil fertility, and budget fertilizers amount to no more than fast food at best. This is a recipe for disaster.

For example, when we consider it our responsibility to grow a plant in the first place, then we are not imagining all of the living

There is nothing worse than putting maximum effort into a garden and getting nothing out of it. Hydroponics is a method

of growing plants that can take the guess work out of going to pay more for it and, just like with artificial fertilizers, growing by putting 100% of the responsibility for plant you will be required to add it to the garden forever. Without growth on the grower. It is the closest thing in gardening soil microbes present, there are no construction workers to an equation as one can automate or fertilizer factories. All responsibility their garden almost completely, falls on the human to grow the plant, GARDENING IS NOT but it is still not without required when we really need to be getting out consideration.

ABOUT FOLLOWING of the way. This reality is why forests can grow trees with zero fertilizer or DIRECTIONS, IT IS For example, the majority of irrigation.

MORE FEEL THAN gardeners in the United States use EQUATION artificial budget fertilizers from Big Growing and leveraging the abilities Box stores. They are man-made of soil microbes is the essence of and salt-based, just like hydroponic fertilizers; but they brewing compost tea. Because microbes are so small, do not even contain the basic essential elements required it is very difficult to treat them with the respect that for plants to grow. They wouldn’t work in a hydroponic they deserve, and it creates a ripe environment for false system. authority. There are far too many “experts” in the field of microbiology given how little we really know. Estimates tell In other words, gardeners using these cheap fertilizers us that we know only 5% of bacteria and 10% of fungi based are actually taking advantage of and degenerating their soil on the rate of discovery. Thankfully, microbes self-organize. without even knowing it. Can you imagine an employee in the Big Box store talking you out of buying their fertilizer All “compost tea” is beneficial on some level. But many on these grounds? Too often gardening is about sales - not growers out there are using recipes born of anaerobic success. microbes or mycorrhizal fungi, both unable to survive in an aerobic compost tea brewer. This is not harming anything Comparing a soil and hydroponic garden can be a good way per se, but represents a hindrance to the type of yields of teasing out how to start becoming our own experts. and results we could be getting by pondering the processes Think about it. On some level, using artificial salts in a behind the application. living soil environment makes no sense, yet growers do it all the time at the suggestion of garden centers. But why The same sort of sentiment can be used with many buy a bag of good organic potting soil and dump artificial hydroponic growers who do not believe that organic salts on it? If we are going to use artificial fertilizers why options like compost tea can be used in their systems. not separate them in a recirculating hydroponic system? In Their mindset is sanitization using hydrogen peroxide and fact, many of the issues we experience in the garden are other cleaning agents in an attempt of keeping the hydro born of treating soil like a hydroponic system. system clean of any unwanted microbes.

In its simplest form, organic growing is about feeding soil microbes; but the microbes have to be there to be fed. This, in effect, is what makes “organic” growing more expensive.

Without soil microbes present in your soil garden, you may get a better result using organic inputs, but you are

Bottom line - if you are a grower, don’t be a follower. Apply advice you get with a grain of salt, and a critical eye. Let your plants tell you what is right or wrong. The reality is that if we only do what we are told, we will never learn a thing. And our garden, and ourselves, will suffer for it. 3

1) Helston, Cornwall

Bee Savvy How many beekeepers today run their operation according to the bees’ desires and natural rhythms... and rely on native bees? Matt Pitt and his Cornish Black Bee Company do. By preserving and breeding only the Native Black Bee, improved bee health is already at hand. They are perfect for the climate, able to continue working through cold, wet weather, and stronger than imported bees.

Pitt never transports a hive, it’s just one more cause of colony stress. Nor are they fed sugar in spring and winter, finding that the queen naturally practices population control as a healthy hive solution. Bees aren’t ignorant, they have survived on Earth for millions of years.

Brilliant! Taking a cue from the bees themselves is resulting in stronger colonies, with the helping hand of the Cornish Black Bee Company, of course. Learn more: www.bit.ly/natural-apiaries.

2) Glasgow, Scotland

Filling Gaps Established in 1996 near Kelvinbridge, The Coach House Trust started life as a registered charity helping people realise their full potential. The volunteer organisation also tackled 8 vacant gap sites near their Belmont Lane headquarters, turning them into gardens. The Belmont Lane Community Gardens are now award-winning green spaces providing work for the mentally challenged and recovering addicts.

Other projects include the transformation of a derelict garden centre in Knightswood into the Alderwood Road Community Garden, an organic gardening learning space and a market garden. This most recent project produces ornamental plants and vegetables that are sold at both locations.

The Coach House Trust continues to work with local organisations and schools to promote healthy living, and social and economic inclusion.

Filling vacant lives, plates, and spaces with purpose. Website: www.bit.ly/CHT-gardens.

3) St Davids, Pembrokeshire, West Wales

Field to Loaf Torth y Tir is a community supported agriculture project, and registered Community Benefit Society. They raise heritage grain that is hand-harvested, stone milled, and handmade into sourdough peasant breads baked in a woodfired oven. Totally local, very sustainable, and far healthier than any bread made from commercially grown and milled grains.

Rupert Dunn’s Torth y Tir is a first in the UK. It’s modeled after France’s well-established ‘Boulanger Paysanne’. Rupert is currently trialling ‘landrace’ wheat from Brittany, where the climate is similar to Wales. This fall, perennial rye was added to the mix on their land. Building a community

supported bakery...and scaling up production of heritage grains, are the next steps for this CBS. Investigate further by visiting their website and Facebook page.

An idea that can be replicated anywhere. Learn more: www.bit.ly/torthytir.

4) Bristol & Beyond

Growing Everything From salad greens and herbs, to a new lease on life and opportunity, the Severn Project makes growing a multiple purpose benefit. They’ve come a long way from working stony soil with no experience in 2010. Six years later, Steve Glover’s community startup has grown into an innovative urban farm model to be applauded.

The goal was to produce local food, and give recovering addicts and ex-offenders a purpose in life. At times the going was rough, but it’s a huge success, with two farms in operation on leased land. This fall, the Community Interest Company is in the process of purchasing 6 acres in Wiltshire to grow even more. Soon, the project will launch a Social Franchise program so others can replicate their ‘food with a purpose’ model.

Two thumbs up! Every community needs this. Learn more: www.bit.ly/severn-grp 3

In Part III, we learned about exciting developments in the late 1930’s-1940’s when the Japanese invaded, and started using the first hydroponic farm in the South Pacific before World War II.

This autumn, Jeff Edwards, the author of the series The History of Hydroponics, a seasoned veteran of the hobby hydroponic industry, a hydroponic history enthusiast, and creator of HydroponicGardening.com, passed away. The world lost a great person, someone who helped shape the industry of indoor gardening as we know it. Jeff was like the grand professor of Hydroponics. A historian with an endless drive to educate and motivate people to know more - politics, gender and race equality, environmentalism, food security, and of course, the complex world of cannabis regulations.

Jeff always had a passion for our industry’s history. When I asked him if he would be interested in writing one long, or maybe a two part article on the history of hydro, he didn’t hesitate in saying yes. I should have known he could never keep it that short. So far, Garden Culture readers have enjoyed three installments of the History of Hydroponics. And we always looked forward to learning the details unearthed by Jeff.

His third installment happened to be too long. So, we chopped it in half, giving us all this last chance to read more. An industry rich with history, this part only brings us to the first “Entrepreneurial Era” of hydro, just skimming the surface of the efforts to help WWII. It is the most complete history ever written on the subject. Sadly, he will not be able to finish his story, himself.

Jeff’s teachings live on and, hopefully, someone will carry the torch and finish the “long” article.

You will be missed. - Eric Coulombe

A number of entrepreneurs took up hydroponics early on, as a direct result of Dr. Gericke’s work. The first with any measure of success being Ernest W. Brundin, a University of California graduate of Montebello, California. A well-to-do businessman, Mr. Brundin was taken by the early accounts of Gericke’s work, and independently started his own greenhouse tomato farm, experimenting by himself at producing commercial quantities of soilless grown tomatoes. Once established, his one-half acre was producing 40 tons of tomatoes a year, and he believed he could eventually produce 100 tons to the acre.

He named his new concern The Chemical Culture Company, and was so successful, that by May of 1938 he had already secured contracts to supply the dining cars of eastbound transcontinental trains. Eventually Brundin secured steamship dining contracts, along with shipping them for sale, as far away as New York City.

In early tests, Dr. Gericke had warmed the nutrient solution of his tanks with soil-heating cables, believing at the time that warming the nutrient temperature would increase growth. An earlier attempt at beginning a commercial tomato farm failed due to the prohibitively expensive electricity cost these cables required.

Brundin turned to solving this issue through steam, developing and patenting a growing system that connected a hundred growing tanks to a centrally located reservoir. The temperature of the nutrient was raised to 80°F by a steam boiler, before being mechanically pumped back to the growing beds on a timed schedule, after which it would drain back by gravity to the reservoir. Brundin was almost as active as Gericke in promoting hydroponics, and in fact, held a weeklong exposition of his “now world-famous plants” in the downtown location of The May Company, a leading department store in Los Angeles.

Brundin can be credited with patenting the first hobby hydroponic system, called the “chemical agriculture system” in 1938.

He also developed and patented the first passive hydroculture pots for home use, described as a “double-decked” pot that contained the nutrient solution below a growing pot with a wick that would carry the nutrient solution up to the roots of the plant, and included a built-in solution level indicator.

Brundin wasn’t alone, however. Another one hundred tank commercial hydroponicum was established by a former student of Dr. Gericke’s near Sacramento, known as the California Packing Company. Rolland Langley of Mountain View, California, was a pioneer in establishing hydroponics as a teaching tool in schools. Used by thousands of teachers, in 1939 Langley developed a small leak proof hydroponics kit that could be used in

any school window, complete with a “... tank, tray, excelsior, rice hulls, and the plant nutrients.”

On the east coast in August of 1938, ads for salesmen to act as distributors for a “... quick selling line of hydroponic chemicals and equipment...” began appearing in many newspapers, placed by the Modern Gardening Sales Company of New York City.

In November of 1938, George Zarafonctis, the maître d’ of the Hilton Hotel in downtown Lubbock, Texas, opened a rooftop hydroponicum to supply fresh vegetables to the hotel restaurant. Many other examples of hydroponic entrepreneurship exist, too numerous to list here.

Expositions During 1939, a number of expositions featured exhibits highlighting the new soilless growing techniques, including the San Francisco Golden Gate International Exposition, where growing tanks were constructed of glass, so that visitors could see the plant roots growing, the 1939 State Fair of Texas, and other state fairs as well.

Perhaps the most popular show was in the Heinz Dome at the 1939-1940 New York World’s Fair, an exhibit that contained displays representative of the company famous for their Heinz 57 ketchup. On display were several tomato plants being grown via “chemi-culture,” with the plants rooted in sand, and individual bottles of nutrient solution fed to the roots via gravity through clear tubes. And while it was admitted that these weren’t the same tomatoes that Heinz currently used in their products, they predicted that crops grown in the future could be done so without soil. So popular was the Heinz exhibit during the first year of the fair, it was greatly expanded for the 1940 season (May-October). The company hired G.B. Van Veghten to grow an expanded selection of both flowers and vegetables for the attendees viewing and educational pleasure.

War! After leaving the University of California to pursue hydroponic research on his own, Dr. Gericke continued to promote his latest research under the auspices of his newly adopted terminology. Any opportunity he could avail himself of to spread the promise of hydroponics, he took advantage of. He also would use this time to complete his book published in 1940, The Complete Guide To Soilless Gardening, the title of which curiously lacked any reference to hydroponics.

In the introduction, Gericke hits back at the conclusions of Hoagland and Arnon laid out in Circular 347, saying that “Some scientists who failed to realize the import of natural and field conditions have compared yields from small hydroponic basins with those from basins of fertile soil, and also with those of sand treated with nutrient solutions, using the same number of plants each. In using the same number of plants in the hydroponic basin as in the soil, these experiments have made the mistake of limiting the productive capacity of hydroponics to that of soil.

Comparison can be only by growing as great a number of plants

in each case as the fertility of the culture medium can support.”

He also emphasizes that hydroponics isn’t yet a precise science, and that much experimentation still needs to be accomplished, while warning against exaggerated claims of the press and shady businessmen. Yet, he goes on to say that the productive powers of hydroponics dwarf those of agriculture. He also foresees other benefits including preserving natural resources, or what he termed the “cycle of conservation.”

After America’s entry into the war in late 1941, Gericke continued refining his techniques and in 1943, announced in the January 10th issue of the Oakland Tribune that “Because he believes that he can best serve his country by disseminating information about his agricultural ‘revolution,’ Dr. Gericke has opened to the public his experimental gardens at 1555 Scenic Avenue.”

He went on to state that “... his principal concern at present is that every backyard, however small or rocky, is converted to wartime production.” And beginning the following week, every Sunday for the next 3 months, Gericke published detailed information in the Oakland Tribune for the public on just how to carry out this task. Thousands visited his personal gardens as a result, and countless soilless gardens were planted for the war effort. 3

Next we were to visit how hydroponics helped the war effort, and how the post-war years led to renewed interest by the public and commercial interests. Unfortunately, we may never get the chance to learn those details, or much about everything that took place between the end of this article and recent history. This is the last installment in this series. Jeff had planned to continue on from where he left off here, but passed away before he was able to share anymore of this fascinating saga. We hope the rest of the more obscure parts of the story didn’t leave with him.

In the place of Jeff’s standard biography, we thought a few words from some of the people he touched, would be more appropriate.

Jeffrey J. Edwards, beloved husband and father died on Monday, October 24, 2016 at Memorial Hospital at the age of 57. Well known, widely liked, and deeply admired throughout the industry, his presence among us will definitely be missed.

“I first met Jeff Edwards when he worked for the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) in Washington, D.C. in 1984. He arranged for me to speak at their national conference that year, and we became close friends and business associates.

After he left NORML, he started a grower supply retail store in Maryland, and later an online store selling a diverse product line of indoor and outdoor gardening supplies. He also became passionately involved with the Hydroponic Society of America (HSA). At the time, it was a group of older gentlemen, and us younger ones joined the organization. We all came up through the Cannabis ranks and Jeff, with his friendly and personable nature, helped soothe the ruffled feathers of these long time hydroponic vegetable enthusiasts, and showed them we were also interested in vegetables and herbs too. Just a different kind of herb than they were used to.

As the long time organizers of the HSA passed away, Jeff took up the mantle of being the lead director of the organization, helping morph it into the Hydroponic Merchants Association which later became the Progressive Gardening Association. In all these organizations, Jeff’s passion and traditional work ethic drove the organizations forward. Jeff always had a big smile on his face and an energy that was unmatched by anyone.

He had a vision for all the organizations he was associated with, and worked as hard as anyone to make them all succeed.

It was shocking to hear of his sudden and unexpected passing, and his positive energy will be missed by all who knew him.”

- Tom Alexander, Cannabis Speaker, Presenter & Visionary

“I loved that guy, and will miss him a lot. I don’t think anybody did more for the hydro related industry than Jeff.”

- Harmon Davidson - Hydroponic Industry Pioneer

“In 1995, I started a non-profit and called it Institute of Simplified Hydroponics. At that time I was not accepted in the hydroponics world, nor was my idea to find a way to use our technology to feed the world.

At a Conference, Jeff Edwards walked up to me and handed me a piece of paper. When I opened it I found a check for $1000.00. It was a large sum of money for me. Jeff then told me that he believed in what I was trying to do, and wanted me to go ahead with that dream at all costs.

I think it might have been a turning point for me.

Now, 22 years later, we have a pathway out of hunger using simplified hydroponics. Just two days before Jeff passed I announced our success with using sweet potato on Facebook. I do not know if he saw it.

I am sure that a lot of women in terrible poverty will be helped by this technology. It was Jeff’s hope and dream long ago, now realized. We all owe him a debt of thanks for being there, and being so supportive. Let’s remember this, and go forward with that wish.”

- Peggy Bradley, Institute for Simplified Hydroponics

I usually like to start an article with an applicable quote, but they were all terrible and meaningless so I’ve come up with my own, thought provoking, intellectually stimulating, deep and heart felt quote….

“Don’t throw rotten eggs if you can’t stand the hydrogen sulphide.”

- Stephen Brookes, 2016

So what is Sulphur?

Sulphur, elemental symbol (S), is a bright yellow element (non-metallic) with the atomic number 16. It is the 10th most abundant element within the universe and is a naturally occurring element, but can also be extracted from some common minerals. If you have ever heard of fire and brimstone, Sulphur is referred to as the brimstone in certain religious books. Common uses for Sulphur include gunpowder, battery acid and match heads.

In terms of smell, pure sulphur has no odour, the foul smell associated with Sulphur comes from many of its compounds such as mercaptans which gives skunks their foul smelling defence. Another sulphur compound that is particularly smelly is hydrogen sulphide, which we associate with rotten eggs, stink bombs and poorly converting car exhausts. I know many of you would love to know what this smells like, but Eric just wouldn’t allow me to put my scratch and sniff patch in all the magazines.

Apart from its history and olfactory effect on humans, it is used to manufacture numerous products including fertilisers, medicines, sugar and paper amongst other things.

Sulphur is the primary source in the production of sulphuric acid, the world’s most widely used chemical. Sulphuric acid is an essential intermediate in many processes in the chemical and manufacturing industries. Sulphuric acid also is used by the fertiliser industry to manufacture phosphates, Nitrogen, Potassium, and sulphate fertilisers.

Why do plants need sulphur?

Following Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium, Sulphur is an essential plant nutrient. It contributes to an increase in crop yields by providing direct nutritive value, providing indirect nutritive value as a soil amendment, especially for calcareous/saline-alkali soils and it improves the efficiency of uptake with other essential plant nutrients, particularly Nitrogen and Phosphorus.

Within the plant, Sulphur is a molecular building block for a number of proteins, hormones and vitamins, such as B1. It is also found in a number of important plant tissues, including seeds and cellular fluid which allows it to play an important role in water management. Lastly, it plays an integral role in the production of oils and flavours.

Most sulphur-containing fertiliser materials can generally be divided into two groups, one of fertilisers containing sulphate, and one of fertilisers containing elemental sulphur. Sulphate-containing fertilisers provide most of the fertiliser sulphur applied to soils. The most significant and popular sources are ammonium sulphate, single superphosphate (SSP), potassium sulphate and potassium magnesium sulphate. These materials have the advantages of supplying sulphur primarily as a component of multi-nutrient fertilisers in a sulphate form that is immediately available for plant uptake, but the most important form of sulphur for fertiliser is the mineral calcium sulphate (CaSO 4). Elemental Sulphur is hydrophobic (not soluble in water) and cannot be used directly by plants, so over time, soil bacteria has to convert it to soluble derivatives, which can then be used by plants.

The main causes of deficiency include an unstable pH that continuously rises above 6.0 (Hydro) or an excess of Calcium which would outcompete Sulphur for the plants uptake pathways. Another way deficiency can occur is if the grower mixes their base nutrients (A+B) in their concentrated forms rather than mixing with water. The Sulphur reacts with the Calcium and precipitates out of solution forming calcium sulphate (gypsum).

The useful part…

As much as Sulphur plays a critical role in certain plant processes it doesn’t seem to get as much attention as other plant nutrients. I think that the more we delve into Sulphur, the more we will realise just how important it is and what other roles it plays in allowing a plant to reach its genetic potential.

Too much Sulphur and a plant will slow its growth, produce deep green foliage and show nutrient burn on the tips of leaves.

Not enough Sulphur manifests itself with slow and incomplete flower formation, young leaves will turn light green followed by stunted growth. As this progresses the veins begin to yellow and the stems can turn woody.

However, Sulphur deficiency is rare as most fertilisers contain highly soluble forms of it. Sulphur deficiency can resemble Nitrogen deficiency in many ways, however out of the two deficiencies, Nitrogen will be the more likely.

To correct a deficiency, make sure the hydroponic nutrient you are using has a plant soluble form of Sulphur in it and also that the pH is in the correct range when feeding.

If their is a Sulphur excess, as with any excess, run water through the growing medium up to 3 times the amount of the pot (15 litres through a 5 litre pot).

Thank you for reading the latest edition of “What is…” the next edition will be looking at the micronutrients we use and more specifically at Boron.

I’d like to finish with a saying we have in Liverpool.

“If you’re driving along and you suddenly smell rotten eggs, either your catalytic converter needs changing or you didn’t fully read this article and someone has taken to throwing rotten eggs at your car” - Stephen Brookes (2016) 3

Don’t have a garden for your veggies?

No problem – you can grow them up a wall!

Over 80% of North Americans and 75% of Europeans live in cities, many of them in apartments. Perhaps you’re one of them, and you’d like to grow some of your own food, but you don’t have a garden. Why not simply grow vegetables and herbs on your walls?

Green walls can be true works of art, like tableaux where the plants’ colours, shapes, and textures make them resemble the fabulous creations of a talented painter or sculptor. Green walls are not only highly ornamental and decidedly different, but also very useful – a great way to grow edible plants where you couldn’t otherwise. Vegetable gardens have been taking over the highest buildings and structures of late!

Cells and pockets It’s relatively easy to grow vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers in an outdoor green wall made of thick geotextile fabric pockets (Smart Pot makes this type of product), or made of plastic or metal panels composed of several cells.

The cells or pockets are then filled with a growing media for planting in. You can also use a system like this to grow veggies indoors in winter.

Vegetables do require some essential conditions to grow, though. First of all, most veggies require at least six hours of sun a day in order to thrive. So, be sure to place the greens you’re growing on a wall that gets full sun, and is protected from the wind. At northern latitudes, once all risk of frost is past, May or June is the best time to plant many vegetables native to the tropics, like cucumbers, eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes. Some root vegetables and leafy ones, like beets, spinach, and radishes can be planted outdoors in a green wall even earlier, in some areas, as early as March or April.

If your green wall is indoors, sufficient sunlight probably doesn’t come through your windows for vegetable plants to grow and develop properly. That means that it’s often necessary to use LED grow lights for an indoor edible green wall.

Also, the cells or pockets in your green wall must contain lots of light and rich potting soil, made of a blend of compost, sphagnum moss, and perlite. I highly recommend Pro-Mix Premium Organic Vegetable and Herb Mix. An edible green wall also needs to be irrigated and fertilized frequently, especially if it’s located in full afternoon sun. You can water your wall by hand, with a watering can, just as you would for most other containers. It will usually take two or three waterings a week. A drip-irrigation system, hooked up to an outdoor faucet (with or without a timer) can also be installed on a green wall. In that case, it’s best to

use liquid fertilizer, but you could also add slow-release granular fertilizer high in nitrogen and potassium to the soil at planting time.

and Mini Bell series peppers, and ‘Little Fingers’ eggplants also bear small fruit, making them a good choice. Finally, surprising as it might seem, you can also grow carrots and potatoes vertically. Just be sure to choose a short, round carrot variety!

Edible and attractive You can grow almost any vegetables and herbs on a green wall. The best food plants for vertical gardening are leafy vegetables like swiss chard, spinach, kale, and leaf lettuce. Most herbs are easy to grow on a wall, too. Basil, chives, mint, oregano, parsley, trailing rosemary, savoury, and thyme all do especially well.

If you’re interested in growing tomatoes on a wall, you might like to choose a compact, trailing variety that produces small fruit, like ‘Lizzano’ or ‘Tumbling Tom’ for instance. Lunchbox

Climbing and edible Lots of climbing vegetable and fruit plants, like cucumbers, winter squash, Malabar spinach, scarlet runner beans, yardlong beans, and hardy kiwis are ideally suited to vertical gardening. Some edible flowers, like canary creeper nasturtiums, also like to climb. All these climbers should be grown in containers and placed against a trellis-covered wall. Climbers are another good option for cell or pocket green walls, because they will also grow downward.

YO U C A N G R OW Instead of the ubiquitous fan-shaped Some garden centres and hardware wooden or plastic trellises, I’d suggest A L M O S T A N Y stores carry prefabricated wooden, netting like that used to keep birds V E G E TA B L E S A N D off fruit trees. It’s inexpensive and metal, or plastic trellises you can use HERBS to support your climbing crops. For discreet, and will blend in with your twining plants like runner beans, you can vegetation and building materials. It even just screw metal wires into your walls for them to must be firmly attached to the wall with screws and wire. climb. However, you’ll find it even easier to grow annual Thread the wire through the edges of the netting and then climbers on nylon string – fishing line usually does the trick attach it to the screws, which must be solidly anchored in – because you can just cut the string to remove their dead the wall. Leave at least 2.5 cm (1 inch) between the wall stems in late fall. and the netting. This is a great way to cover a large area, and to grow a variety of edible climbers together. 3

3 Mushrooms in Chocolate

What’s on the horizon for hot edibles? Yes, the focus is on safer, healthier foods, and better Earth stewardship. Here’s what is most likely to be the next big things.

Sweet chocolate requires lots less sugar by adding mushrooms.

They remove cacao’s bitterness. Look for mushrooms listed in the ingredients for anything chocolatey.

4 Plant Waters

Grass fed beef is about to get bumped to second choice as regenerative agriculture awareness spreads. Look for cuts from animals raised on this herd and soil management practice.

Low sugar flavored waters you might begin seeing in include cactus and maple. Everyone knows maple is a natural sweetener, but cactus fruits also offer vitamins and minerals, and claims of electrolytes and antioxidants. Aloe vera water is said to aid digestion and weight loss.

2 Fresh Moringa

5 Fruit Burgers

Leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds of the tropical Moringa tree are edible. Look for its processed forms as food additives. But fresh is even better! Its high levels of benefits make it very attractive for salads and cooking. Tip: It can be container grown as an annual.

Avoiding soy meat substitutes? Jackfruit burgers are one option developed, made possible simply by adding a few standard kitchen seasonings. Then there’s heme protein from yellow peas that gives veggies a similar taste and texture to meat.

1 Regenerative Grazed

Source: www.bit.ly/new-food-trends

I wrote this book because, after researching CBD and realizing its many health benefits, it became increasingly obvious how frustrating it was to try to sieve through and correlate the immense amount of data that is being accumulated by scientists, researchers, and patients on this subject. Especially for those who are in desperate need of this data right now, and are short on time and/or resources to do it. I felt patients and carers needed a reliable, scientifically, and medically accurate resource that was conveniently accessible, that they could show to their medical professional.

The studies cited in the book are only a select few of what is available (out of literally thousands), but from what I have found they are the most currently relevant.

What are the Health Benefits?

What is Cannabidiol?

Cannabidiol is a major ingredient of the Cannabis plant. It is non-psychoactive, nonaddictive, and non-toxic.

Current research is showing that this completely natural compound has potential in reducing and/or preventing seizures, inflammation, nausea, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, alcoholism, PTSD, rheumatoid arthritis, epilepsy, and cardiovascular disease. It has anti-psychotic and antianxiety properties. It works effectively as a painkiller against muscle spasms and neuropathic pain; both of which can be extremely hard to find relief for. It is a more powerful antioxidant than vitamins C or E. Further studies conducted by universities are showing reductions in cancer cell growth and cellular deformities. The list goes on, and with no proven side effects, CBD is shaping up to be a potential medical bombshell that has been overlooked for far too long.

Why are CBD extracts so good for our bodies?

Vitamin CBD! CBD is a really clever little compound! It is both an agonist and an antagonist, meaning it can open and close molecular pathways to enhance cellular health. It has no proven side effects, and works in a multi-faceted way, so it can exert its therapeutic impact in many areas of your body. This compound puts on its little red cape, and helps your body fight cancer, free-radicals, diabetes, relieve pain, reduce inflammation, and help strengthen your immune system.

There are more than 15,000 published scientific and medical works showing significant therapeutic properties for cannabinoids, CBD in particular, and trials are still ongoing. Researchers are still sorting out how CBD works on a molecular level.

I have read and personally heard a lot of incredible success stories regarding the use of CBD in a variety of healthrelated issues. But CBD is not a miracle cure for everyone.

It is a potent dietary supplement that helps the body heal itself, and when used in conjunction with a balanced diet and exercise, it can only benefit.

CBD is not found as easily as you may think. Different strains of cannabis have different strengths of THC and CBD.

Because THC gives you the ‘high’, most of the cannabis acquired non-pharmaceutically has high concentrations of THC, and extremely low concentrations of CBD (too low for noticeable medicinal benefits). These strains have been bred to serve a specific function- to produce THC, and get you ‘stoned’!

It is difficult to find genetic strains of cannabis with low THC and high CBD, in a form without the psychoactive effects or the health risks of smoking. Burning cannabis also incinerates significant amounts of the cannabinoids before your body can absorb them. This is where CBD extracts, such as CBD oil are of benefit.

What Does It Do? Some of the science behind CBD. While it’s becoming clearer that CBD alleviates many ailments , understanding the science behind CBD can be a little daunting.

In our body we have an important physiologic system called the Endocannabinoid System, which was accidentally discovered during studies funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse! This system is made up of cannabinoid receptors found throughout our body in our brain, organs, connective tissue, glands, and immune cells.

Our body produces natural ‘messenger molecules’ that bind to these receptors called endocannabinoids.

The cannabis plant also produces natural components that bind to these receptors, called Cannabinoids. Out of more than 80 active cannabinoids in the cannabis plant, the most widely known are THC ((−)-trans-Δ9tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol). These

cannabinoids mimic our body’s natural endocannabinoids, and although in different parts of the body they cause different reactions, the main thing they do is ‘keep the peace’.

Cannabinoids are like our body’s mediators. Their goal is to make sure our body stays constant, stable, and in optimum health. This is called homeostasis, and we all need homeostasis to work successfully in our bodies for life to continue.

The discoveries about CBD are continuing to amaze, and these facts need to be available to everyone. 3

BIO Mary Minchin is a former pharmaceutical employee & advocate of CBD and its many benefits. She is in her third year of her science degree, majoring in biology & chemistry. She recently switched her focus from pharmacy to science to pursue other more meaningful passions. The book CBD Made Easy was written with the purpose of simplifying how CBD works in the human body, listing all the currently known ailments CBD can alleviate, then directly referencing the related medical studies in one short publication. www.cbdmadeeasy.xyz

In the series “Light Matters”, Theo Tekstra discusses the different aspects to lighting, such as quantity, quality, efficacy, special applications, new developments, and the science behind it.

I usually write about how to do things right. Unfortunately, it is sometimes much easier to explain what goes wrong. I chose 5 common errors people make when lighting their plants. It is also the five that often totally grinds my gears. See if you recognize it.

Mistake #1 “The 4x4 grid” One of the most common questions we get is about the spacing of our fixtures. “My buddy says that they need to be spaced in a 4x4 grid (120x120cm), right?” No, that is so wrong in so many ways! Your buddy don’t know shit!

First of all, HPS lamps always give you a rectangular throw, never a square. So, the correct way to position them is in rows, where the fixtures are aligned, and to have the distance between the rows much greater than the distance between the fixtures in a row. This way you get the best overlap, penetration, and uniformity. In a square grid the light levels in the overlapping area will become way too high!

This can even lead to bleaching of your crop.

Here is how a HPS lamp throws its light, seen from the top.

Basically the three dimensional light spread is sort of a big donut. It is practically impossible to turn this into a square without some really serious reflector losses. The only way you can get a somewhat square field is to have the lamp vertical, and use a very specific reflector. But, as most of the light will go through your reflector in a vertical position, this leads to much greater reflector losses. The DE lamp is not even suited to run vertical.

Secondly, a 4’x4’ (120x120cm) is way too small a surface for the output of this fixture. In a room with several fixtures, even in the correct positioning, that would lead to average light levels of over 1300 µmol m-2 s-1, and in most cases that will completely over-saturate your crop in between the lights. Light levels of 1000 µmol m-2 s-1 are already only for those who have

absolute control of their climate and CO2 levels, and master growing as professionals. Though in many cases, this is the optimum to get the best return from your space, it is the high end on the lighting scale. Unless you really know what you are doing, don’t go that high. If you are not so sure, you should stick to 700-800 µmol m-2 s-1 average, and you will get much better results (you can always choose to boost 15%). More is not always better.

Here is an example of how, in a 10 light room, your lamps should be positioned for an optimal grow room with high light levels. In the previous edition of Garden Culture, I explained how you can optimize your grow space for light, and how to deal with positioning. Read it in UK 13/US 11 on www.bit.ly/GC-mags.

Mistake# 2 – “Open reflectors are deep reflectors” So, air cooled (AC) reflectors are wider reflectors? Wrong!

Open reflectors, like our HR96, are actually much wider reflectors than air cooled reflectors, and bring most of the light outward instead of straight under the lamp.

First of all, let’s look at the light spread of air cooled reflectors.

Air cooled reflectors are deeper by default, because they have a glass filter installed. This causes refraction and reflection of light through glass: at angles >41 degrees the light reflects back into the reflector, so air cooled reflectors are seldom any wider than 85 degrees. You will need more distance for uniform light levels, as the intensity straight under the light is a lot higher.

Open DE reflectors are much wider, and actually bring more light to the sides than straight under the lamp. They are designed to overlap, and through overlap create the best (horizontal and vertical) uniformity and penetration of your crop, as the light comes in at a much lower angle.

Remember, the sun is never straight above your plants all the time.

The difference in spread can best be illustrated in a polar diagram that shows you the light exit angle from the reflector, from left to right: The first two diagrams show the light angle of 2 popular “deep” reflectors, the third is an open reflector spread.

Open reflectors create light uniformity, horizontally, as well as vertically: The best uniformity and intensity of light you get in the centre of the room, because only at the walls you will lose light. We recommend that you use no paths but rolling benches, and keep a perimeter around your crop, for optimal utilization of your light and the best results.

Mistake #3 – “The 1-1 replacement” So, you are a grower, and you are using 1000W single-ended lamps in a large air cooled reflector, and you are thinking about changing to DE fixtures. You have already grown in your current setup for several years, and your room is dialed in just right. However, you want to take it to the next level, and replace your air cooled hoods with open DE reflectors at the same position. Suddenly things go bad. Crops crumble, bleach, you are getting heat problems, and unless you dim your lights, things do not improve at all! WTF super awesome DE? We are going deeper down the rabbit hole now… Let’s look again at the light that reaches your crop. Air cooled singleended fixtures result in lower light output, because of the reflection back into the reflector, and the extra reflector losses you get because of that - the losses by having to go through glass, and the losses because the glass filter is never completely clean. Add the higher output of the double-ended (DE) lamps, plus the fact that users never replace their AC reflector (which reflectivity deteriorates as well over time), and you understand why good DE fixtures output sometimes way more light on average, at the same power use!

Keep in mind what you learned about positioning: Replacing lamps that hang in a 4x4 grid can create serious overlap problems, resulting in extremely high light levels.

So, replacing old fixtures with DE’s can seriously increase your light levels, up to values that are no longer healthy for your plants. If you are already growing at high light levels, that is a real showstopper. A waste of energy too.

Unfortunately, most growers buy 1000W fixtures to replace 1000W fixtures (bigger is better, right?) instead of 600 or 750W fixtures, and then dim them down to 750 to get desirable light levels. That’s actually another common mistake. Running a 1000W lamp at 750W is really not that efficient, and it will have a worse spectrum. Always right-size your lighting!

Mistake #4 – “I’ll just overlap lights over my plants” Many growers position fixtures straight above their plants so they overlap over the plants, and not in the paths. Let me illustrate that for you by showing the same light plan with the reflectors rotated just above the plant.

First, we have the positioning as we recommend, using the same positioning as in the earlier shown example to light our complete room:

First of all, look at the scales compared to the previous diagrams, because they represent different light levels. The highest light levels in this example are >1100 µmol m-2 s-1 (hot spots). That is a dramatic change in high light levels!

Though the average light level did not increase much at all, the peaks are a whopping 19% higher, peaking at over 1100 µmol m-2 s-1! And still you see a lot of light getting lost between the tables. In this sample, even with the rotated lamps, at least 10% of the light would still get lost.

“No problem”, you’ll say. “I will just use an air cooled reflector. As you explained to me, they have a glass filter, so they should not be as wide, and I can come a lot closer to the crop. That will prevent that high level overlapping light, and light loss.”

That may sound logical, but because of that deeper reflector you will need much more distance from that reflector to get good uniformity, or you will have extremely high light level differences. Remember, these calculations were made with the reflector 3.5’ (106 cm) away from the crop!

I am showing you the complete room, and just one side to zoom in on where a table is. You see the room is lit in a very uniform way, the highest light intensity hardly 7% more intense than the average light level, meaning there are no peaks in light, no “hot-spots.”

Now, let’s look at what happens if we rotate the reflectors 90 degrees, to overlap the light over our tables at the left and right of the room:

This is the same calculation with a single-ended air cooled reflector, also at 3.5 feet (106 cm) from the plants. For this calculation, we used the best single-ended lamp and AC reflector we could find! First, look at the scale. Every color now represents 200 µmol m-2 s-1 light difference to reflect the much lower uniformity. Average light levels are about 30% higher with DE configuration. You see you will have peaks (hot spots) of more than 50% higher than the average light levels! “Not fair!” I hear you say. “You have them turned the wrong way around. This is not how they should be used.” Ok then, let’s rotate them 90 degrees. However, this is not how most people use them in reality.

Indeed, fixtures in line gives a much better result: You see a better uniformity (although still a lot worse than the overlapping open DE’s). This also proves that all horizontal reflectors, even air cooled reflectors, give you a rectangular spread. But look at the average light level, uniformity, and peaks. Using the DE open reflector still results in average 30% more light, and the peaks of the air cooled are still 30% higher than the average light level, with the peaks straight under the lamps. So actually you would get more light on your crop, even using separate tables, by lighting your whole room with DE reflectors. Of course not all DE reflectors are made the same and light spread/uniformity can vary greatly between manufacturers.

Mistake 5 – “Air cooled lamps can hang closer to my plants” Let’s dismiss another fable: “Lights can not come close to the plants, because of all the heat (radiation), so using air cooled hoods lets you come closer to the plant.” Sounds pretty logical, right?

The reality, however, is a bit more complicated. AC reflectors output less light, specifically the single-ended fixtures - up to 40% less. They distribute light at a smaller angle (deeper reflector by design), so they concentrate a lot of light straight onto a smaller surface. They give a higher intensity straight under the lamp, and that intensity could even be a lot higher than a DE lamp when you come close to your crop. Indeed, they create less heat on your plants, but at the right light levels you should not have any problem with that anyway! So, they are actually masking the fact that they give less light overall, and at close distances, too high light levels directly under the lamp.

In fact, we have seen that an air cooled reflector should be hung a bit higher than an open reflector to get good uniformity, because the air cooled is a deeper reflector.

The average light levels, however, because of the air cooled reflector, are lower. The uniformity will never be as good as with the specially designed DE reflectors.

Nobody is perfect. We all have flaws, and we all make mistakes. Knowing one’s flaws is the first step in correcting them, or at least the first step in finding ways to deal with them. In the spirit of encouraging other less than perfect gardeners, here are a few of my own personal mistakes and gardening related “opportunities for improvement.”

I have a weakness for seeds. Flipping through seed catalogs and picking out delightful varieties of this and that to try is an entertaining, if not inexpensive pastime. The racks of seed packet displays tempt me to over ambition and inflated optimism. For any given garden planting I tend to accumulate enough seeds for an area several times the size of whatever is needed. If I stopped buying seeds, and just used seeds from my collection, I still wouldn’t have time to plant them all before some of them aged out.

I start way more seeds than I finish. While there is some justification in starting a few extra seeds and select the healthiest sprouts, I tend to abuse this principle. There are some valid reasons for this, such as killing extra seedlings being easier than not having enough, but to be honest sprouting seeds is entertaining to me, and usually happens during a time of year when my enthusiasm is high, and my aspirations inflated.

Along these same lines, I once found myself in possession of a few hundred pounds of various types of squash during the year I learned how large and prolific these plants can be. Squash pretty much took over my garden that summer.

While the first few are pretty common to gardeners, this one is a bit more quirky. While I have had success and fun sharing communal style gardens with others, my personal garden is off limits to other people. My personal garden is my sanctum sanctorum, my fortress of solitude, and my

little piece of peace. While I believe it has had a beneficial effect on my mental health as literally a “safe place,” it has caused a few problems over the years. One glaring drawback is not having other folks water for you while out of town.

Speaking of leaving town, sometimes I do a lot of that. Setting up a garden to go unattended for a week to ten days isn’t too difficult. However, things happen, and one time I found myself unexpectedly staying on the far coast for an extra week during a trip. I had an indoor garden back home and the reservoir ran out of water, and instead of a garden, what I came back to was a wilted and dying, but still impressive spider mite metropolis.

And finally, I’m not sure if this counts as a flaw, but I’d rather give any excess bounty from my garden to friends than sell it. Although this is a permissible flaw in a hobbyist gardener, it does mean I wouldn’t make a shrewd businessman as a professional farmer.

Some flaws can be mitigated just by knowing about them and making small changes, such as my knowing if I am going to buy seeds, that I should decide on the maximum amount I want to spend before I start looking through them.

Some changes take more effort to accommodate, such as configuring the garden to run for longer periods while unattended if need be. Ignoring your own flaws doesn’t help you cope with them, but once they are identified, taking steps to reduce the detrimental impact they have on your life often can. 3

Most people who want to raise an edible fish stick to growing tilapia in their aquaponic systems, but you can also mix in the delicacy of freshwater shrimp or crayfish, which are sometimes referred to as crawdads. There are a variety of species of crayfish living in different areas around the world. Some types are better for just creating the nutrient rich water you need for your aquaponic lettuce and herbs, as they have very little meat, like Marbled Crayfish. For readers in the US, native species can make your venture less expensive by catching them in the wild, but you will have to watch out for disease, and learn how to identify males and females first.

The best choice for eating is without question the Giant Red Claw Crayfish, a native of Australia. Not only does this type of crawdad have excellent meatiness, it also grows faster, and larger, than all other varieties. You can actually harvest red claws that weigh well over a pound apiece, which brings them to be referred to as a freshwater lobster, rather than shrimp. Whether you’re wanting to grow them for your own enjoyment, or to sell, this can make your indoor meat and lettuce garden a lot more interesting.

How much would a freshwater lobster go for on the market? Looks exciting. A quick search on Google turns up 9 ounces of soft-shell Louisiana crawdads going for $57 before shipping. Apologies for not being able to match it

better, fresh crawdads were out of season at the time this article was written. Still, it could be very lucrative in the right market.

Crawdads are territorial creatures, and they do have a tendency to want to go for a walk. Red Claws in particular are a bit homicidal as youths, but you can calm them down, and stop the warring over space with sunken PVC pipe condos. Control their escape routes by not giving them an easy exit. Cover intake and outlet pipe openings with screen hoods, and don’t let cords and tubes offer them a ladder out of the tank. Some people add slippery sides taller than the tank walls, or an added inward protrusion around the top of the walls that makes it difficult to get over the edge.

Test the Water

The Red Claw is super productive at breeding, so they will keep you supplied with babies. The slow season for mating is May through June. How many Red Claws can you house in your tank? Space planning tips for healthy accommodations is 5-15 per square meters (10.5 square feet). The water doesn’t have to be super deep, as these crayfish thrive beautifully in both shallow, fast moving streams, and slow, deep water in the wild. Be prepared to provide keen herd management. They procreate exuberantly, but many a crawfish farmer has no problem selling his harvest. Some even wish there was a little less demand, so they had a few more to eat.

You can learn more about giant crawdads and order breeding stock at Stick-Fins Fish Farm in Florida (www.bit. ly.red-claws). Note that if you live in the state of Florida, you need an aquaculture permit to grow imported species. For some great care and feeding info read this aquaponic forum thread (www.bit.ly/red-claw-forum), particularly Allen Patillo’s lengthy post toward the bottom of page two, though you will find some other great tips before you get that far through the discussion.

Just like lobster and crabs, this delicacy is best prepared from live catch. If you’ve never eaten fresh crawfish, you have no idea if it’s a) delicious, or b) makes the stuff sold in stores taste really poor. So, why would you start growing it? Most of what you can buy is actually imported from China.

Here’s your chance to check it out…

You can order live jumbo wild-caught crawfish for £13.00 per kilogram online, shipped via courier anywhere in the UK and Europe. This option offers 8-10 pieces per kg, but smaller graded sizes are also available in season: www.bit.ly/live-crawfish-uk.

An awesome price that might allow for fast resale, and a great way to test your market before you dive in with both feet. The easy way to discover the price you can command, and how well they sell in your area.

Before you decide to start growing crayfish, check if it’s legal in your area, and if you need a license.

There can be no escapees from your system due to invasiveness and environmental risks.

Info: www.bit.ly/invasive-uk and www.bit.ly/non-native-uk. 3