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Brandon Pillon
Deeply rooted in the growing industry I find myself constantly seeking out new and improved ways to constantly better my ever expanding life in the gardening community. Good food (home grown), friends, and adventures are what make my days complete. When I’m not cloning or gardening I can be found relaxing in nature with my dogs, trying a new recipe or pondering ways to enrich my life and the lives of those who I care about. Being able to contribute and help others are the nutrients my soul thrives on. Keep it green!
Fro m the Edi tor Pag e Five Biks as Gro wRo om Pag e Sev en BioE nerg etic Agric ultur e Pag e Nin e Sup er See ding Pag e Ten Lea rnin g to Com pare Pag e Twel ve Vert ical Hyd ro for rea l Pag e Sixt een Pick ing See ds Out Pag e Seve ntee n
Life For ce II Env iron men tal Fee ding Dail y Ligh ting Inte rval s Hyd ro Scr ipts Exp ert Hyd ro Revi ews
scott@ezclone.com
Growing with a love of nature, and curious mind, I was always asking why and how. After high school I worked for a few years. But wanting to itch my inquisitive mind I enrolled in the millwright program at the local college to learn how machines work and how to build, and repair them. I graduated with honors, but I graduated into a recession and a none existent job market. So I decided to ride out the recession by re-enrolling in the horticulture program at the local college, to turn my past time into a career. I enjoyed learning the science and technology behind growing, I’m a bit of a science geek when it comes to growing. I would welcome a job in the hydroponics industry, weather its in sales or in technical support. Anyone looking for a hard working, healthy minded person can contact me at
bpillon01@yahoo.ca
Evan Folds: Casey Jones Fraser is an obsessed gardener. He grows veggies, herbs, and flowers with both traditional and hydroponic methods. His years of botanical experiences have taken him everywhere from Jamaica to Northern California on a quest for more knowledge. You can read his articles in various hydroponics magazines, or visit his retail shop: Garden Grove Organics in the Northern Kentucky region of Greater Cincinnati. www.gardengroveorganics.com
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contributors
Table of Contents
Scott Thompson-Montague
Evan Folds has a BS in Biology and a minor in Religion from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He is the founder and president of Progressive Gardens (www.ProgressiveGardens.com), a retail gardening store specializing in hydroponic and organic gardening techniques. And Progress Earth (www.ProgressEarth.com), the global distributor of the Vortex Brewer® compost tea system, whose focus is growing healthy people, plants & planet! Evan is a contributing writer for reputable international publications, including Maximum Yield, Garden Culture, Urban Farm and many more. He resides with his wife and two children in Wilmington, NC.
Jeff Edwards has been a fixture in the hobby hydroponic industry since 1988. Prior to joining, he was the Assistant Director at NORML. Jeff went on to found and operate Home Harvest Garden Supply as a retail and ecommerce concern for the next 24 years. He is a founding and current board member of the Progressive Gardening Trade Association, formerly known as the Hydroponic Merchants Association. More recently, he has been offering marketing, advertising, and web development services to manufacturers, distributor and retail hydroponic businesses. He also hates typos.
jeff@gardeningadvantage.com
self now he focuses just on making gardens as fruitful as is scientifically possible. He spends a lot of his time optimizing grow spaces to is one of those people that always tries to figure out how or why things work the way they make the most of the resources available, and also strongly advocates quality automation do. To that end he earned a BS in mechanical systems. He would since he co-owns a company engineering, but shortly after graduating he realized his time spent in school created more that designs and sells their own automation equipment, but despite the conflict of interest questions about everything around him than he actually does provide excellent insight into answers. the “how” and “why” of gardening. If you want to In an effort to prevent from overwhelming him- reach him: www.grohaus-automation.com
Jordan Gartenhaus
lb -Jeff EdwardsContent Advisory & Edits
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is a hard working member of the hydroponics industry that likes to share his knowledge-and ability for achieving extraordinairy yields with his fellow megawattage minded horticulturalists. He’s always working on improving crops, or if your prefer: taking clones 2 zones! lbezzy365@icloud.com
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From the Editor Wow, so long 2013 and Hellllooooo 2014! We all made it-that’s good news...so when’s another End Of The World scheduled for next? Very excited to be where we are at Grozine. Expect 2014 to be a year of huge changes for the hydroponics industry. And this isn’t just the latest in ducting technologies, no sirs and madames. Hydroponics is gaining wider and wider acceptance in the main stream of the Americas. Not only are people learning about how they can grow their food indoors or even the backyard or patio easier than ever before-they are learning the WHY they should. A lot of the produce, or at least the affordable stuff, you’ll find at your local supermarket is dicey at best. Whether for concerns in transgenics in the DNA itself, how it was fed, what it was treated with, how much fossil fuel it took to do it and whose toes did we step on or number of basic rights did we negate to load it into the trunk of our vehicles to take home. there are more reasons than ever before to grow it yourself. Whether it’s gonna happen on a balcony, backyard, greenhouse, basement or spare closet there are scores of people still waiting to get turned onto growing. What we eat is the first and most basic act of control that we can take in our lives-and our buying habits have a huge influence on the economic power structure that many of us help to support. The more people learn about healthy living and eating the better we all are going to be. The thing of it is, it should be FUN as well as informative. Food isn’t just about protein, carbs and minerals either.
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Almost every cure we need can be found in the plant kingdom. Make no mistake, a lot of pharmaceutical treatments and medicines originate from plant sources. However, there’s no money in that. In order to make things fit with current lines of popular thinking, after the beneficial plant or substance is identified it is further researched until which “nuts and bolts” in the chemical mix are needed and in what ratios to work as a treatment. From there it can be synthesized and patented....all the while existing in a pure and natural state-sometimes literally sticking out of the ground. More people in an aging population will eventually catch onto this: unlocking the natural pharmacy that’s already growing under our noses. This is something we intend to explore more of in the times to come. We are also going to be exploring labelling issues further, in terms of how home gardening products are labelled and some of the archaic practices still in play that seemingly serve big business and bureaucrats above all else. However, we also honor our roots, and that’s straight up hardcore growing information and eye popping hydro inspired art-we aren’t going to be diluting anything! Pure Hydro, Served Straight Up:)
good
bye 2
013
Hi g hest Regards , Eri k Bi ksa cli c k to emai l
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Almost everyone knows the feeling: when you realize what was once a crown jewel in your growing experience, while functional, could be improved upon due to advancements in growing technologies. Keeping up with the latest gear and technology could be considered a hobby in itself-but it doesn’t mean things have to be come a waste of money EB Note-even if you cropped out successfully ten times with it already! As newer, better and improved equipment becomes available the question is posed. What do I do with my old gear? While selling it may not be ideal or easy, it is one way to continue that particular products life. Another way is to repurpose it . EB NoteHey, the Fourth “R”—nice!
With the launch of the new EZ-CLONE Classic and it’s 75 plus improvements to it’s predecessor it may be time for an upgrade. But once you’ve upgraded, what do you do with your old system? Turn it into an aeroponic EZ-Seed starter! Recycling and repurposing older equipment is not only beneficial for the environment, but also can save you a great deal of time and money. By simply removing the inner lip of the recessed cloning collar pocket one can easily slide a 2” net pot into the cloning collar pocket. From there a variety of mediums can be used to house your seeds during the germination process. Depending on your preference
OR EST MEDIUM F B E H T T A H W WANT TO KNOW
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and the eventual destination for your seedling you can tailor the germination process to best suite your needs. Growing from seed can be extremely beneficial. When a seed is germinated its like playing the lotto, you have no idea if it’s a winner or not. By starting multiple seeds aeroponicly you reduce the amount of time you must handle and baby that seed before it germinates. EB Note-as well as supercharging it with oxygen, hitting the plant internal signals to “go for it”. Once you’ve selected the most appropriate medium for your method, all you have to do is simply place that seed in the medium and insert it into it’s designated net pot. I used a cycle timer and ran the system from 1 minute every 8 hours. Remember you don’t need to keep your medium completely saturated at
IS SET-UP? H T N I S A W G GERMINATIN
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all times and depending on the medium you choose you may want to alter your cycle times as various mediums dry out at different rates. After you’ve set it, you can forget it. EB NoteAh, the beauty of automation! If you are out to find your next super star or MILC (Mother you’d/i’d Like to Clone) you can start half the system with seeds. As the seeds begin to sprout you can easily monitor them. Once they are big enough to take a suitable cutting you can take a cutting directly from them while they are still being housed in your EZ-CLONE system. Since you only filled half your system with seeds you can take one cutting per seed and propagate it in the same system. Once you have a rooted cutting and a rooted seed from the same gene
pool you can remove one and for full term growth testing to see it this particular combination of genes are what you are looking for. If you find what you are looking , great you have the genetics preserved and ready to replicate. If not, hopefully it’s not a worry since you start more than one seed. This method saves time and increases plant health-take advantage of these powerful tools when you set your sights on identifying and replicating the ultimate strain for your personal growing endevors. Afterall, sometimes easy can also be more rewarding. Keep it green,
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BY BRANDON PILLON
r o LED ? S P H
N I Y D U T S E S A CA O W T G N I R A P P CO M O R C T N E R S M DIFFE E T S Y S G IL G H T I N
One Man’s Decision an d How He Arrived There.
OVERVIEW OF ALTERNATIVES
INTRODUCTION I have recommended a horticultural lighting system for purchase by a greenhouse grower setting up a new greenhouse operation. The lighting system will be used to supplement light during the winter months and on overcast days. It may be used to increase growth rates in flowers and vegetables. When lights are running they may also reduce heating costs. After an extensive research process, I selected the SG 602 High Output Quad band LED lighting system and SUNMASTER 600watt high pressure sodium lighting system. The pros and cons of each system considered when making the recommendations were safety, cost, power consumption, spectrum output, reliability. Data was collected from manufacturers’ websites, a personal library of information, and emails with Erik Biksa a master grower and respected writer on the subject and links to websites he recommended.
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The two horticultural lighting systems that I considered were the SG High Output Quad band LED lighting system and the SUNMASTER 600watt HPS lighting system using a Super High Output HPS Deluxe bulb. SG 602 High Output Quad Band LED Lighting System This is the newest generation of LED technology being used and marketed in North America and has the same light output of a 600watt HPS while using 327watts. This type of light gives the plants only the spectrum colours of light used for photosynthesis. With LEDs there are no bulbs to replace and an average life span of 50,000hrs to 100,000hrs for the system.
SUNMASTER 600watt High Pressure Sodium Lighting System using a SUNMASTER Super High Output HPS Deluxe bulb. Sun Master has been a trusted name in horticultural lighting systems for 20 plus years; this system has a proven history of success in greenhouse environments. The new digital ballast draws 10% less energy than magnetic coil models, but interfere with cellphone reception so the magnetic coil model will be reviewed. Bulbs can be changed out for other bulbs with ease and have a life span of 6 months. For cut
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flowers the Super High Output HPS Deluxe bulb will be discussed. ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVES The two horticultural lighting systems were analysed for five criteria that I consider to be essential for a greenhouse lighting system: -Safety rating of the light system, and fire hazards -Power consumption of lighting system, and cooling costs -Spectrum output and availability of usable light -Cost per light and maintenance of system -Reliability and customer support after sale -Safety Safety is the number one question to be answered; the first Q- is if the company selling the lighting system uses CSA listed components? Also a responsible company will list potential hazards and remedies to resolve the issue. A horticultural lighting system should always be installed by a licensed electrician, and operated in the manner it was made for. Fire hazards are more of an issue with HPS lighting which generates a good amount of heat and use higher wattages, also bulb cracking when water is splashed on the bulb when hot can cause plasma arcing and send extremely hot glass flying through the air that can stick and melt a hole in the wall of the
greenhouse. SG 602 High Output Quad Band LED Lighting System The SG 602 is quality made in North America in accordance with CE, UL, and FCC testing standards and uses a low wattage to deliver the same amount of PAR (photosynthetic active radiation) as a 600watt HPS while only using 327watts per hour, reducing the chance of electrical fires due to high energy draw on overloaded circuits. This LED light system runs cool to the touch -a hand can be placed on the LEDs with no discomfort. SUNMASTER 600watt High Pressure Sodium Lighting System using a SUNMASTER Super High Output HPS Deluxe bulb Sunmaster has been a trusted name in horticultural lighting for over 20 years and use only CSA certified components. High pressure sodium lights were developed in the 1970’s and are standard in the greenhouse industry. When installed and operated correctly they pose no more threat of fire then a clothing drier. Care must be taken to not overload circuits and a glass shield should be used to protect the bulb from water. Skin protection should be used to avoid sunburn when working under lights for prolonged time periods.>>>
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CONT’D
power use is becoming an increasingly sensitive issu e with the gro Power Consumption ing system, and the reduced wing size of Power consumption is a very indoor cultiv amount of energy used to cool ation facilitie important issue to consider Spectrum Output the crops compared in whe s
n as energy costs are rising and HPS lights are used is sizable. resources are becoming more limited. It is also an important SUNMA STER 600watt High social and environmental issue Pressure Sodium Lighting that faces many greenhouse System using a SUNMASTER growers in today’s marketSuper High Output HPS Deplace. luxe bulb The Department of Energy estimates LED lighting should reduce U.S. energy consumption for lighting by 29% by the year 2025. SG 602 High Output Quad Band LED Lighting System LED lighting is the future of horticultural lighting originally developed by NASA to grow food in space in the early 1990’s. The SG 602 matches the output of a 600watt HPS while only using 327watts per hour dropping energy consumption in half just with the addition of the SG 602 light-
The Sunmaster ballasts are the best magnetic coil ballast on the market but still draws 695watts per hour to operate, the extra 95 watt draw in from the ballast itself. 600watt lamps are the most efficient wattage of HID (High Intensity Discharge) lights on the market out performing other wattage lamps by at least 7%. A cooling system would also have to be sized to match the area of the greenhouse and amount of lamps used, driving up the cost to operate a greenhouse.
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Below is a chart that expla S ins the spectrum nanom creased flowering to sup200-280nm UVC ultrav eter wavelength needed iolet range, which is high for pla nt gr owth: port performance claims. ly toxic and extremely ha 280-315nm Includes rmful to plants. SUNMASTER High Outharmful UVB ultraviolet light, which causes plant Cost 315-380nm Range of colors to fade. put HPS Lamps are High Th UVA ultraviolet light that e is sta ne rt-up cost and ither harmful nor benefic 380-400nm Start of vis ial to plant growth. Pressure Sodium lamps ible light spectrum. Proc safety of the lighting ess of chlorophyll absorp ally block out any light be tion begins. UV protected low this range. plastics ide- designed to deliver 10% system are two important 400-520nm This rang more light than standard iss e includes violet, blue, an d green bands. Peak abso ues to consider when influence on photosynth rption by chlorophyll occu HPS lamps. esis (promotes vegetative rs, an choosing a horticultural d a strong growth.) 520-610nm This rang e includes the green, yello lig hting system to fit your w, an d orange bands and has 610-720nm This is th less absorption by pigmen Th e red band. Large amou is ext rem ely en erg yneeds. ts. nts of absorption by chlor ence on photosynthesis (p ophyll occur, and most sig efficient plant grow lamp romotes budding and flo ni fic an wering.) t influ720-1000nm There is lit provides more energy tle absorption by chlorop Running parallel to those hy ll he end of the band is infrared re. Flowering and germ which is essential for ination is influenced. At , which is heat. issues in today’s greenthe high 1000+nm Totally infrared range. Al optimized photosynthetic ho l energy absorbed at this use industry the cost point is converted to heat. response. Sunmaster on the environment must concentrates on providbe consider when choosing high PAR values SG 602 High Output Quad Ba ing lighting and reducing nd at a particular wavelength tha t is focused on distinct areas LED Lighting System fied by their peak nm intensity ones carbon foot print specified by a number represent but of the spectrum. Ongoing sho ed may emit light of both higher uld weigh heavily in and in nanometers (nm). ind 2-watt and 3-watt Hi-power LE ep en den low t er tes fre tin qu g at en cie s. For example, if your decision. Also the D the University of Guelph chips are what give SG 602 lig a LED chip is rated at 660nm, ad hts ded costs of cooling These numbers are found in the it will ha their spectacular intensity. W s pro ven pe sig ak nifi at tha can t t intensity but will still the greenhouse must be hile photosynthetic active radiation plant response when usmost LED light companies use cov er wa vel en gth s ne con ar 640nm and the sidered.>>> (PAR) zone between 400nm an ing Sunmaster systems weaker and less expensive sin d 680nm. LED chips can be use gle 700nm (this is the viable light d to including higher yield, watt LED chip. LED bulbs em produce any wavelength of lig it light spectrum). LED bu ht. lbs are identigreater biomass, and in-
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CONT’D
Reliability and customer support If the lighting system malfunctions in any way, it provides peace of mind to know that the horticultural lighting system has a warranty and after-sale customer support to replace or repair their product. Also questions about the right spectrum for the crop can all be answered through email. SG 602 High Output Quad Band LED Lighting System All SG 602 LED light panels come with a full unconditional one year warranty covering all manufacturing defects and come with a money back guarantee if you are not pleased with the performance. Made in accordance with CE, UL, and FCC testing standards. LEDs life span averages between 50, 000 to 100,000 hours. LEDs are solid state construction built to last and require little maintenance over their lifetime and customer support is just an email away and questions are answered in a timely manner. SUNMASTER 600watt High Pressure Sodium Lighting System using a SUNMASTER Super High Output HPS Deluxe bulb Sunmaster ballasts are designed for reliable ignition and long, dependable service. Meeting all CSA and UL requirements, Sunmaster ballasts perform to ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standards which provide reference ballast characteristics for all HID lamps. Developed and produced by parent company Venture Lighting,
Sunmaster develops both ballast and lamp, insuring optimum output and reliable performance. HPS bulbs life span averages around 6 months. Venture ballast products are warrantied free from manufacturing and workmanship defects for a period of two years from the date of shipment. During this period, Venture will, at its option, repair or replace ballast products which prove to be defective or out of specification. Customer support is just an email away and questions are answered in a timely manner.
DISCUSSION To review, I have described the qualities of the horticultural lighting systems in question in order of importance when choosing a greenhouse lighting system for purchase. While the SG 602 High Output Quad Band LED lighting system is higher in price per unit, it has a far superior safety rating running cool to the touch using a lower wattage to operate. The LEDs produce light in the spectrums used only by the plant wasting no energy on light the plant cannot use. It is the latest in LED light technology representing the future of horticultural lighting and a money back guarantee if you are not satisfied with the system and customer service support can be reached by email. While the Sunmaster 600watt High Pressure Sodium Lighting System is lower in unit cost it is more of a safety hazard due to the higher wattage and
high temperature of the bulb while operating. Also it is important to bring up the fact that the purchase of extra cooling equipment and operating costs will increase the overall cost to produce crops of cut Roses over the life span of the system. Sunmaster does however offer a two year warranty on their ballasts and customer service support can be reached by email. What I Chose... Based on the analysis of the two horticultural lighting systems, I strongly recommend that a greenhouse growing cut roses and vegetables crops purchase the SG 602 High Output Quad Band LED lighting system to provide supplemental lighting during the winter months and overcast days.
OTE N E D A SI M THE FRO OR EDIT There are many different types and brands of crop lighting, including a growing segment of alternatives to common HPS and MH lighting. In making your choice, you will reap more rewards by comparing accurately in your decision to buy. This article is a very good example on how you can approach it like the professionals. We edited pricing, because it varies so much from place to place and from time to time.
For some more insights on comparing lighting, check While the SG 602 High Out- out Biksa’s Growroom, in put Quad Band LED lighting this Edition of Grozine. system is more expensive per unit, the cost in energy Asking around is usually savings and reduced coola good way too-but these ing equipment needed more days we recommend you than pays for itself. take any “friendly” advice from chat boards, etc with Also you can market your a grain of salt. Thinkbusiness as a niche market to ing for yourself is it’s own the ever increasing environ- reward too. mentally concerned public. LED and other alternative crop lighting sources may be the future of lighting for the horticultural industry. Finally after waiting many years the technology has caught up to the science with a service life of up to 100,000 hours, using half the energy of a comparable sized HPS system.
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economy of the day with the crash of the USA housing market. From there, things grew.
At Grozine, we always strive for higher thinking. And when we got wind of Veg-E Systems (Vertically Efficient Growing Environment Systems) through Inda-Gro crop lighting’s Facebook Page, we simply had to track down these guys for some insights after linking over and seeing some of what they appeared to be doing with hydroponics growing technologies. EB Note-As a Groziner, we naturally assume you love seeing the latest developments in cultivation and growing technologies-checking out Inda-Gro’s page is a virtual cornucopia of such delights. After speaking with Zak over at Veg-E systems, we were able to circle back and link up with Chief Founder: Dennis Riling. Now before we get down to business, we always like to know a little more about what inspires people who are working in the field of hydroponics. Dennis, as it turns out, got to growing food to help feed his family-his steel business was suffering in the
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It wasn’t long before Dennis realized the growing power hydroponics could yield over conventional growing methods. Besides offering faster growth rates and potentially bigger harvests, he saw that hydroponics methods conserved water and were potentially more sustainable in instances. However, one of the things that really stood out was the fact that people could grow food just about anywhere. And since having served in Fallujah, Iraq, he understood the value of being able to grow healthy food even in the most formidable of environments-for example a modern North American Urban Center. This isn’t a fluff piece about “Urban Vertical Farming” or “Micro Greens” that seem prevalent in current media of today. The difference here is that Veg-E Systems is serious about delivering modern agricultural solutions that are actually economically feasible. Believe it or not, a lot of the Urban Farms you read about are heavily subsidized or or a R&D arm of a much larger corporation or
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group of-they’ don’t always have to turn a real profit to stay around for a year or two. Seriously, if you crunch the numbers on these places with electricity, space, cost of seeds, etc you can see that they need an “X” factor to stay afloat. Dennis, and others like VP Tim Sulzer do a lot of research and case studies to see what may actually work for real world people in real world situations. Then they repeat their experiments-until they have concrete solid systems, numbers and management methods that can be transferred and deployed by others where a suitable market for the produce is available. Agriculture is often about Economic Thresholds, and that’s not something Veg-E Systems overlooks-in fact, it’s what they bank on. If hydroponics is really going to catch on, people need access to proven methodologies that are based in economics. Granted, with the changing face of food production and the rising cost of healthy food, there is an increasing pressure on both governments and citizens to embrace and utilize methods that at one time may not have been
as cost friendly, but due to societal and global factors the economics of what is perceived as “value” may be rapidly changing and evolving.
: g n i k n i h T kHigher uture hier F
A Healt r o f o r d y H f o Stacks
We salute Veg-E Systems and the work that they are doing in utilizing and documenting the efficacy of modern growing technologies and methodologies. For example, we were totally blown away by the work they have been doing with vertical hydroponics applications of alternative crop lighting sources like Induction Lighting and LEDswithout ignoring proven older lighting technologies like HPS, MH and T-5 HO Floros. With the addition of several new employees and an analytical lab under construction, we are expecting to see healthy and sustainable growth from Veg-E systems in days to come. These guys offer solid working models, consultative services, plus more and even sell what they grow-to the delight of taste and nutrition saavy local consumers who support their brand: Doylestown Fresh. A shining example of what it takes to help lead the charge for change.
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PhotoDesign PHOTO: Felix Inden
H a r ves t
If you plan on being successful this coming season, a lot of your success is going to come down to variety selection. Basically, you want to build your “dream team” to cover your growing expectations from your garden. Monoculture is Crap. You should avoid this kind of practice for several reasons. Here just a few of the reasons you should be growing more than just one variety: -Diseases and Insects that may be prevalent in one season or another will likely not be able to take-out all strains; variety provides resistance. -Having plants finishing at different times through the season allows you to keep harvesting all season long and potentially taking advantage of different market opportunities as they arise. If everyone harvests the same thing all at the same time...well, good luck with that if you are marketing your harvest. -Growing the same kind of plant, and especially the same strain, in the same spot(s) year after year invites trouble. Survival in nature is in part thanks to diversity; always keep ‘em, guessing. -It’s boring. Don’t expect to learn much or become a better
S IN DD O E H T K C A T S W TO O N K O T D E E M U O ASON E S S I WHAT Y H T T S E V R A THY H AL E H A R O F R O V YOUR FA
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grower doing the same thing the same way everytime you venture out to grow....now on the other hand, don’t bet more than you can afford to lose... Starting from seeds is great when you want variety-even if you are doing your seeding ahead of your planned crop to isolate proven performers that you want to clone. Remember having variety doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice performance or predictability...rather you increase your rates of it with controlled selections from seed to provide you with the diversity in genetics you need for continued cropping success. When making your selections for the upcoming season, you will keep yourself busier harvesting if you select some fast finishers, for example auto-flowering plants for early spring harvests, as well as a strong majority of early to mid season harvest plants (here’s where your yield is) and then finally some late-season and experimental plants-here’s where you hedge your bets with the connoisseur harvest versus the “market standard”. Overtime, you may develop your own branding-people come to expect a certain quality in a certain variety. Play your cards right, and you may have them lined up at your local farmer’s market in advance, eagerly anticipating your legendary produce, side stepping others that simply offer
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“standard fare”. If you are really, really serious about variety selection, you can grow out a large number of F2 Hybrid crosses-these are offspring from parents that should show a very wide variety of traits, seemingly even different from both original parents in some instances. Most of us will work with F1 Hybrids, because we get the seed vigour and are starting with trouble free plants (no insects or diseases in good seeds). F1 Hybrids are typically much more stable-here you will see some variation in plant to plant to select from, but not so huge a range that you have to start very large numbers of plants to select from. Whether discussing seedling or cuttings, have healthy transplants is a big part of your potential for success-and for planting outdoors, typically bigger is better. When plants are sickly to start with, especially when still relatively low to the ground, the are very prone to ravaging by insects, diseases and the elements. Here’s a few tips you can use to amp-up the health of the transplants you produce indoors or your greenhouse for planting out this season:
-Most plant varieties will make the best use of B-Vitamin supplements when they are young and in early development; dose them up to make them more resistant to shock and stresses early on in their life cycle. -Once established or after true leaves have developed (in the case of seedlings) take advantage of foliar feedings. It’s a quick and easy way to boost up plant performance and build more plant structure for a bigger and healthier transplant. -Watch for over watering at this stage; especially in moist and warm conditions. Pythium sets in at warmer and wet conditions and can linger for the duration of the crop, at best cutting into yields and at worst wiping you right out. -Don’t over apply Nitrogen and Harden Off your transplants-otherwise, your soft plants will be highly subject to insect and disease infestations. -It’s affordable and easy to add CO2 when plants are smaller. Carbon Dioxide will greatly potentiate growth rates and plant health. Healthy plants are the key to your success—we love the Green Pad Jrs for propagation domes—up to 1200 ppm for just a coupla bucks...
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! h T h is ? ? r n a l it W p U is ou So What e grow j im t l a e r j o in t T h is is a u t r ie n t s - G r o z in e N in a R o c k n. p r o d u c t io we a t io n s � t in m a r a Exspe yup, you “ , f r o u o p o n r I c in g o u t a w o r g o detert e , r t a in m r ts it .. S p e a k N u t r ie n c o R guessed f o e f f ic a c y m in e t h e R e s in a t o r
B es id es s ta c k in g up s om e re a ll y c oo l g ro w ph ot os yo u c a n c li c k a nd c he c k - ou t in th e pr oc es s , th er e a re s om e g oo d g ro w ti ps yo u m ig ht pi c k up a lo ng th e w a y. .. T hi s is a re a l c ro p, th a t ru ns in to th e s a m e k in ds of c ha ll en g es th a t yo ur s m a y to o. .s ee w ha t ha pp en s :)
G r o w T r ia ls
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Life Force & the Garden, Part 2 By Evan Folds
IN CASE YOU MISSED PART ONE SEE GROZINE EDITION 8
Life force is what allows a plant to grow up against gravity or what prevents a human from decomposing until we die. In order to fully express the idea of life force and its relevance to the garden we must investigate the organization of the higher energy bodies in plants. In 1924 the spiritual scientist Rudolf Steiner delivered lectures in response to a request by farmers who noticed degraded soil conditions and deterioration in the health and quality of crops and livestock resulting from the use of chemical fertilizers.
Steiner opens the lectures by speaking on how rhythms indicate the degree to which natural beings have emancipated from their relation to surrounding Nature. This emancipation from Nature is almost complete for human life and is expressed as free will. For the animal life it is less so, but plant life on the other hand, is still to a high degree immersed in the general life of Nature, including the outer earthly world. This is why the moon and other celestial bodies influence plant growth, as demonstrated in farmer’s almanacs with concepts such as “sow by the moon” and planting calendars such as the Stella Natura. The scope of this article is not sufficient to fully express these concepts, but suffice it to say that the organization of the higher energy bodies jives directly with how we experience Nature. Humans are unique in possessing an ego, or the ability to recognize ourselves in the mirror. Animals contain no ego, but they do retain an astral, or soul, body.
These eight lectures became known as The Agriculture Course, and are a must read for anyone who strives to understand plants and the natural world in its fullness.
The astral body is the bearer of pleasure and pain, cravings, desires and passions. It is the astral body that regulates instinct. It is also at work in the human dream state.
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acids are defined by nitrogen. It is the root of human consciousness, making up almost 80% of the air we breathe. This is why artificial nitrogen is not a good idea.
KALI, GODD ESS OF ECSTASY Plants, however, do not retain the influence of emotion. They do, however, retain an etheric body. This energy body can be explained as being responsible for fighting off decay. Throughout life, the etheric body resists decay by providing living substance a different setting, so to speak, than it would otherwise physically have by itself. This is why seeds can sprout in a compost pile. Even though decay is being encouraged, life can emerge. A closer look at the process tells us that life actually accomplishes the very act of decomposition itself via microorganisms. Organic matter does not just melt. When a plant dies and the physical body is removed from its association with the etheric body, only then does it begin to decompose. The same is true for all living organisms. In this context, individual elements have a broader character. For instance, nitrogen is an astral substance. It carries a cosmic imprint that enlivens and constructs plants. Amino
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Oxygen is an etheric substance. Like your etheric body, or your aura, oxygen needs to surround life in order to support biological functions The etheric environment envelopes and nurtures life into being by hovering right over the Earth. True health, in Steiner’s view, is only achieved when the higher energy bodies are working in conjunction with the physical body and one another. To put it another way, illness occurs in the plant or human physical body based on the imbalances of this working system. So how does this apply to the grow room? The short answer is in every way possible. We are bringing living systems into our living rooms and only considering the physical aspects of what we are growing. Simply put, there is more to life than what is physically here.
For instance, when growing plants indoors we generally only consider the wavelengths between the 400nm and 800nm range. But a common lab spectroscope can measure between 2nm and 2500nm. Do we imagine that plants are not affected by them? EB Note-That resonates heregiven what we’ve seen from more “exotic” artificial wavelengths created by alternative grow lighting to common HPS and MH. The electromagnetic spectrum (EMF) is defined by light waves and, in addition to the visible portion, is comprised of radio waves, infrared, x-rays, and gamma rays. Do we imagine that simply because these frequencies are outside of our visible spectrum that they have no influence on plants? It would be prudent to consider the potential benefits of these frequency spectrums to plants, but also the possible detriments if they are not naturally organized. Not only are we completely separating ourselves from any sort of natural environment in an indoor grow room, but we are also setting up myriad artificial energy fields with the ballasts, fans, timers, etc. being used. Standard magnetic ballasts operate at 60Hz, or cycles per second, which is the frequency of the AC voltage they run on. This means that each lamp
switches on and off 60 times per second, resulting in a barely perceptible flicker and a noticeable hum. Actually, about 25 per cent of the population is sensitive to ballast flicker and hum and can become physically ill with symptoms such as headaches, nausea, itching and burning eyes, tension or eye fatigue. Not only this, but these energies are artificial, with high levels of synthetic EMF, and devoid of the natural energies normally experienced by plants from the inner and outer universe in Nature. There are proven ways to harmonize the grow room, such as gridding with crystals, or vortexing and imploding water. Think Feng shui for the grow room. We have not conducted any controlled studies yet, but anecdotal evidence is strong that harmonizing the energies in your grow room can dramatically enhance plant growth. After all, life is defined and regulated by energy, or life force. This is the new frontier of indoor growing, we look forward to the qualitative results and higher yields to come! Bottom line, there is more to growing than meets the eye. When was the last time you considered the life force of your garden?
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l a t n e m n o r i v n E n A Diet for d n a l l a T The b l y B Lanky
Hello all and welcome to those joining us to the first edition of the year for Grozine. Throughout the year I have wrote in this journal about multiple aspects of indoor gardening. Dealing from light cycles, to custom plant nutrition. While nutrition and proper lighting are vital in maintaining a healthy plant, there are still many key factors that go unnoticed that severely effect yield and overall plant performance like Environment. We as growers seem to over look this aspect often, unaware that plant performance and environment directly correlate. Lets take dogs for example, the difference between dogs genetic variance is less than 2% meaning that 2% is responsible in effecting the dog to be either big or little, long haired, or short haired etc... Other than that there genetics are exactly the same. So that being said if you took a husky and a pit bull and dropped them off in the snow, the husky is going to have a much bet-
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ter advantage with adapting to the cold environment than the pitbull. So how is this relevant to plants? One of the key advantages to indoor growing is that you the grower are in control of your environment. The better your grow room is built the more control you have over humidity and temperature. In order to maximize plants genetic potential the grower needs to cater the environment specifically to there plant desired needs. This is going to be based off of where your plant genetics originate from. Being that most genetics are crosses from plants that are on two different sides of the globe this can sometimes be difficult. I usually breakdown the plants into three categories. Tall and lanky, short squat and Hybrid. I usually treat the tall lanky plants I grow like they originate from equilateral climates (warm day warm nights/high humidity) short squats I treat like they originate from mountain-
ous regions. I’ve notice short squats thrive better with hot days and cold nights/ lower humidity. Last but not least I treat hybrids some where in the middle ( moderate day/night temps w/ mid level humidity. I keep mentioning day/night temps because both are vital in maintaining a proper environment. Night temps and humidity are often over looked. During the light cycle the A/C is on handling the temperature and humidity level keeping everything in a perfect desired range but at night the temperature is usually cooler than the A/C set point so the air conditioner never goes on resulting in a humidity spike. This is where dehumidifiers come in or A/C are specially modified with day/ night temperature thermostats. This will help with maintaining a proper desired night temperature and humidity level. A simple digital Hygrometer is all a grower needs to tell if his/her room is going out of whack at night.>>>
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l y is essentia it id m u h d n erature a directly tal changes /night temp n y a e D m n e o th e ir g v ped over th Controllin tential. En lo o e p v e c d ti e e n v e I’ g t ing ch tha for the with unlock onse so mu ity schedule sp id re m t u n h la d p n nh a mperature stom enviro correlate wit u te c t a h ig re a /n y sh a om d nted to years a cust . Today i wa w ro g I s e ti rieties. rie le rocket va tt different va o B y m r I use fo ity ment chart 8 ---humid -7 5 7 s p m to 3 degrees -80/Night te 8 2 7 in s h p it m w te l a y E-Da erenti VEGETATIV y/night temperature diff p da h) 70% ( I kee rnodal stretc te in e c u d re in effort to
Notice from the chart that during the first 4 weeks my temps are moderately High with close temperature differentials from day to night. This is in effort to reduce internodal stretch and speed up the metabolism of the plant for a healthy flower onset. I also run higher humid-
ity during first four weeks of bloom to mimic late summer and reduce stress as the plants go into heavy flowering. I reduce temperature and humidity around week 5 as time progresses to mimic first signs of winter. These environmental changes give signals to the
plant that trigger hormonal responses that greatly effect the stage of growth the plant is in. Temperature drop, for example, towards the end of the bloom cycle will bring out certain desired characteristics like color change and oil production in certain varieties.
6 st r i f 00 2 1 o t 00 5 1 m ro f l ve e l o2 C Iweaelskso lofowe rb lotho me to a ro u n d 75 0 fo r la stn itwn og weproceeskss e p ri ce n a h n e o t rt o f f e n i of b lo o m This temperature and humidity chart should be used in conjunction with my custom feed schedule on Bottle Rocket varieties. This is not the proper temperature chart for short squats or Hybrids, I will have environmental charts for those varieties in next years editions, so you have something to look forward to. So
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CO2 EB NOTE: HYLIS AN ET BITOR, here is my last gift to you for 2013, maximizing the tall and lanky. ENE INHI MAKES ETHYLENE FRUITS Hope your able to use this chart with great success in your future grows for 2014. BUDS AND As always Turning clones to zones! -lb RIPEN
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l e d o M New
e s a e l e R
Model CFC1
The Crossfire MultiCO2 system uses Dual Wavelength NDIR CO2 sensor technology for precision CO2 measurements. Dual Wavelength technology minimizes calibration requirements. The CFC1 controller incorporates light and temperature sensors. The light sensor, if enabled, will shut off CO2 control when lights are off. CO2 control is also shut off if the temperature exceeds a user settable value. The controller has 2 5A fused relays with LEDs to control CO2 generators or valves.
Model CFC1 with remote CFS sensor The Crossfire CFS CO2 sensor with 25 feet of cable may be plugged into the CFC1 controller at any time without any further setup. The CFS CO2 sensor also includes a light and temperature sensor.
d ard n ta s s a m o o r e n o O p e rates l two o tr n co s r e w o r g r o s Wit h o p ti o n a l s e n h o ut t i w t n e d n e p e d n i y l r o o ms co mp lete u n it r e th o n a y u b o t g h av i n
Together, the CFC1 controller and CFS remote CO2 sensor provide an affordable dual zone CO2 monitoring and control system
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I had a customer stop by our office the other day and we got to some general chit-chatting. At one point he glanced over at our 4-bucket deep water culture system we have running and he noticed the fancy induction grow light hanging over our Carolina Reaper “super hot” peppers. To me, the underside of the light resembles something you might see in the the Roswell, New Mexico desert if you stared at the sky long enough. The combination of the soft diffuse glow of the induction bulb and the piercing, deep-red LEDs look downright extraterrestrial, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t work amazingly well. But when my customer asked me whether I thought the investment was worth while, at first I wasn’t sure how to answer the question as straightforward as it sounded. Before I answer that question here, I should preface my comments by saying that I’m a big proponent of induction lighting. I think the technology
is woefully under utilized, but I assumed in this case my customer’s angle in asking the question was more about saving money on electricity than it was a real desire to run induction lighting. And frankly, I wasn’t about to suggest that my customer just go out and replace all of his current lights with induction equivalents because the investment would be substantial, and there are likely less painful ways for him to save money that he should investigate first. In my experience, simply throwing money at problems is rarely an ideal solution.
D.L.I
R U O Y G N I H C T CA AL V R E T N I T H G DAILY LI
By Jord an Gartenh aus
So I asked him, “Do you know approximately what the optimum daily light integral is for your crop?” I think I may as well have asked the question in Romanian. But then I smiled to myself because I knew I was about to blow his mind.
PICTURED: THE BUSINESS END OF AN INDA-GROwPAR420 WITH 420 PFR PONTOO N
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Generally speaking, the photosynthetic rate of any plant increases proportionally with light intensity. That is, as light becomes more intense, the more photosynthetic activity there is, and hence more plant growth. However, it is possible to reach a point of diminishing returns, and in some plant species that point approaches abruptly. Eventually photosynthetic activity is going to be limited by some other factor, and the additional light is literally wasted energy (and money). So the idea here is to determine how much light your plant can actually utilize, and then turn the lights off once that threshold has been reached. This concept is widely used by greenhouses that incorporate supplemental lighting, and is referred to as the Daily Light Integral, or DLI. The first thing you need to do is train yourself to start thinking about light in terms of photosynthetic photon flux, and not watts, or hours of “on time”. Plants really don’t care about how many watts of power your lights consume, nor do they really care about how long the lights are “on” (within reason of course). What they do care about is how many photosynthetically active photons they’re receiving. The distinction is critical for two reasons.
Second, studies show that the length of the dark period (i.e. “lights off ” time) is what controls the photoperiodic response of plants, and not how long you keeps the lights on. In other words, you’re not going to wreak any havoc on photosensitive plants if you reduce the lights-on period, so long as they receive sufficient photosynthetically active raditation (PAR). And for that, we need a PAR meter.
First, all grow lights are not created equal, and some do a better job at converting available energy into photosynthetically active light than others do. So this notion of requiring a certain amount of wattage per area or something is simply imprecise. We don’t know if each watt consumed by the light produces one photosynthetically active photon, or one-million.
A PAR meter is going to measure photons that are between 400700nm because that’s the region of the electromagnetic spectrum that’s capable of fueling photosynthetic activity in plants. The meter expresses how many micro-moles (1 micro-mole = 6.022x1017) of photons are being emitted per square meter, per
You can use this formula to convert your meter readings into DLI units, but make sure you replace the number of seconds I’ve chosen in the example above with however long you’re leaving your light on (just multiply the number of hours your light is on by 3600). Again, we’re trying to determine the cumulative total number of photons the plants received while the lights were on. Once we have a single point we have a frame of reference, and we can start finding the ideal DLI for whatever crop it is you’re growing.
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My recommendation is to simply experiment through trial and error, but I should note that this process becomes infinitely less confusing if you have fine control over your garden and the variables within. People with automated systems (i.e. no human error) will have a much easier time making sense of the data thanks to tighter control of the conditions. Photosynthesis is also tied into things like temperature and CO2 levels, so if those are swinging all over the place throughout your grows then it’ll difficult to distinguish the signal from the noise.
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second (μmol·m-2·s-1). However, DLI is usually expressed in moles per square meter, per day (mol·m-2·day-1). To make the conversion, we need to divide our meter reading by 1,000,000, and then multiply by the number of seconds the light is on. Let’s do a quick example. Our PAR meter says that at any given time our light emits 50 μmol·m-2·s-1 and we’re leaving the light on for 12 hours (43,200 seconds) each day.
Convert 50 μmol·m-2·s-1 to units of mol·m-2·day-1 50μmol·m-2·s-1 ÷ 1,000,000 = 0.00005 mol·m-2·s-1 0.00005mol·m-2·s-1 x 43200 seconds = 2.16 mol·m-2·day-1
Whatever the case, if your garden’s environment is consistent between grows, what you’ll find is that as you increase your DLI you’ll get more branching, flower sites, and dry mass when you harvest. I’m sure no one will be surprised by that, but at some point increasing the DLI will not result in any additional growth. That should be your target DLI. Run your lights each day, and shut them off when all of the plants have achieved their DLI target.
you can optimize the DLI for each stage of growth. It’s entirely possible that you’re using too much light in early stages of growth, and not enough in later stages. If you balance it out you may be able to increase your yield without using any more energy at all. Or, maybe you’ll find that you’re meeting your DLI requirements before your lights shut off. In that case you can probably raise your lights to cover a larger area or turn them off earlier than you have been.
And if you really take this seriously
When you consider how much
energy some people use in running their lights, there really aren’t many arguments for not using the DLI concept. If you’re running a few thousand-watt lamps, and you find that you can reduce your lights-on time by 10%, that can still amount to a savings of a few hundred dollars a month. And all it costs you is a PAR meter and your time. With energy costs only going in one direction, how long can you afford to play fast and loose with your plant lighting?
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So a guy walks into a Hydro Store...
Preface -- Recently, a customer dropped off
several old ballasts that needed repairs. While I was knee deep in transformers and wire caps, another dude stopped in with a few questions. It went something like THIS:
Hydro-Scripts DIGI DO OR D IGI DON’T?
Fraser s e n o J y e s a C g in r tu a Fe
Customer: Man, those are some old ballasts. CJF: Well, you know these old magnetics. They break down, but you can usually fix them with a $20-$40 part. Customer: So you like them better than digital ballasts? CJF: Not exactly. It depends on the situation. If you are on a budget, magnetic ballasts cost significantly less. But with the higher price of a quality digital ballast, you also get slightly better performance with slightly less power consumption. Customer: What do you mean by better performance and less power?
Customer: That’s cool. I guess that explains what you said about the power savings. You are getting more light with the same wattage.
CJF: A digital ballast will crank out a bit more light than a magnetic. I've actually seen the proof when testing lights with a PAR meter*. The same bulb and reflector put out about 10% more usable light with a digital ballast, compared to a magnetic.
CJF: More light is only half the story. If you look at the power usage of a modern digital 1000 watt ballast, you might see a figure near 8.7 amps. Check out these magnetics. They are rated at 9.5 amps. That means they use nearly 10% more power. You only buy your ballast once, but you pay for it every month with the electric bill. The more lights you run, the more it adds up.
Customer: Why do they still make the magnetic ones? It sounds like digital is the way to go. CJF: Would you rather set up a garden with four lights or six? On a limited budget, that is the kind of consideration you have to make with ballast pricing. Customer: Well I’m getting a couple more lights in a month or so. I just need to know which ones I should buy?
CJF: Maybe you should go magnetic. Run the lights for a few months, then buy digitals when you can afford them. That way you can keep the magnetic ballasts as spares, in case you ever have a failure. But if you can afford the purchase price, I really do recommend the digis. More light means a higher yield and, and the power savings will eventually make up for the price difference.
Customer: I’ll probably go digital. I'll just have to think about it. Now, what can you tell me about LEDs.
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CJF: Don’t get me started... *PAR meters are the best way to test lights used for plant growth. PAR stands for Photosynthetically Active Radiation. You can think of it as Plant Available Radiation. Any other light measurement is inferior for testing grow lights.
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We Have Serious Issues That Everyone Can See. SEE OUR GROWTH Get Caught Up on ALL of our back Editions, 100% Free and Easy to Share. www.grozine.com/issues Our Universal Reader allows you to experience our interactive Editons from any platform and on any device. Desktop, Mac, Android, iPhone; doesn't matter, it's all good! Check it, yo.
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Can Filters Can Lite 1000
Gavita Pro 1000 DE
GH GMB
,,,,,
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Can you smell that....No? Well that’s the smell of victory! The Can-Lite by CanFilters is a value priced activated carbon air filter for all kinds of growing applications, available in a range of sizes. Because it’s cheaper to buy, it’s a little lighter than it’s big brother, the Regular Can Filter-meaning there is less carbon. While that makes it lighter to hang-up in your grow room (recommended; we hate seeing them standing upright on the floor-boo!) we also found it didn’t mean sacrificing performance. We give it our top rating because the one we tested performed for almost 2 years. Size it to the right fan and occasionally rotate it and shop-vac the pre-filter and make sure you don’t run humid air through it and you are likely to be as happy as us;)
MAS S o ck-t i l C -
H
Besides keeping your grow from being offensive to others (or worse), clean air in the grow room via “scrubbing” through your filter keeps contaminates like dust down for healthier plants-we found it even filtered out pollen! First class ride for economy fare.
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We hear a lot of “same old, same old” with HPS lighting-especially when it come to a single ballast kit. “Oh WOW, you have a Blue knob on it this time”.... However, we have a lot of grower friends. And every once in a while we will hear some kind of “ooohhh” or “aaahhh” about something or another.
We’ll admit it: this is the first professional hydroponic fertilizer we ever used-and we did allright with it...even 22 years ago when we first tried it out. Since however, we have found hydroponic nutrients that are either A) easier to use, for example One-Part or Two-Part concentrates, or that B) Are the exact same but cost less, or C) simply give better yields and quality.
We kept hearing praise, over and over from many different sources on this one over the least couple of years: and that’s Gavita’s Double Ended Digital Lighting Sys- Don’t get us wrong-this a good nute, and sets a stantem (uses Phillips new double ended 1KW HPS lamp). dard that most growers tend to measure other nutrients against. Allright, so it’s time to try. Admittedly, we didn’t have to run it for very long to be impressed; we scored one of However, we simply can’t give it a higher rating becathe North American units for our tests grow on Spear- cause it’s not complete. Huh? Yeah friend, why would mint. you buy extra Epsom Salts and Cal-Mag supplements and add them each time with the other Three-Parts The only reason we didn’t give it “5 outta 5” is because (Grow, Micro and Bloom) that are required-thats FIVE A) 240 V only, which isn’t for everyone, and B) they parts, and chances are, you usually add the same ratios recommend that you run it 100 hrs at 100% before us- of each. ing the dimmer. This is good info-others don’t tell. Definition of insanity: doing the same thing the same Good news is that we ran it at 60% right off the hop way and expecting different results. (against instructions) and we still love it. Seriously F%$#ing bright, high PAR-even after one year, and has Other than that, made with high quality ingredients an incredible light spread with no RF problems. Goes in a professionally operated facility-if you grow hydro, up right out of the box, no assembly. Yeah:) use 1/2 the micro you think you need to-people can be surprised by the Nitrogen load, especially as NH4.
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