Hydromag-012 Hydroponics-Magazine by Hydro Magazine

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THE MAKING OF HYDROMAG... Editor Cosmo MacKenzie cos@hydromag.co.uk Technical Assistant Editor Bill Sutherland bill@hydromag.co.uk We take the UK’s Carbon Filters for a ride... See page 24.

Just over a year ago here at HYDROMAG we set about enacting a plan that we had even before we put pen to paper. It took the hard work and shared vision of everyone involved to foster that single seed of an idea into what it is today: our definitive series of rigorous in-house product tests. More than anything it took the infallible dedication of our features manager and resident testing supremo, Nico, who I’m sure you’ll join us in raising a glass of Christmas grog to. Cheers! Credit should also go to those companies who have agreed to have their products tested in the full and certain knowledge that we wouldn’t pull any punches. Their participation shows a level of professionalism (and plain balls) that we would all do well to emulate and celebrate. At times it’s all too easy to sit back, scorn the world at large and rely on the conventions of yesteryear; but that way only leads to insularity, it’s the opposite of progress. Nobody said it would be easy and nobody said it would work the ﬁrst time around, but unless we all work together to build this industry, nothing will change. Near enough everybody in this country eats hydroponically grown food and it’s long overdue time that they knew and appreciated that. Until they do, our job isn’t done.

Lifestyle Christian Mason christian@hydromag.co.uk Lifestyle Buddy Mason buddy@hydromag.co.uk Managing Director Pete Turner sales@hydromag.co.uk Art Director Emma Godley emma@hydromag.co.uk Project Manager Lydia Bennett lydia@hydromag.co.uk Design Kim Tinker kim@hydromag.co.uk Design David Sugden david@hydromag.co.uk

Well, if you can’t preach at Christmas, when can you?

Accounts Claire Kennedy accounts@hydromag.co.uk

Next year promises to be a biggun’ for us; you’ll be able to see our continued testing on the big screen as HYDROSHOW.tv returns. We’ll also be introducing a new and updated website that we hope will become a regular home for all your Hydroponics needs, and beyond; more on that in the next issue.

Sales Administrator Megan Corless sales@hydromag.co.uk

For now, we’ll leave you over the Christmas break with this - our Special on Filters and Airﬂow. You should ﬁnd everything that you’ve come to expect from HYDROMAG over the following pages, including the fan favourite Competition on the last page. If we’ve forgotten anything or you’re just in a chatty mood, please do drop us a line. Merry Christmas folks; may your gravy prove thick and your spuds crispy.

Sales & Feature Manager Nico Hill nico@hydromag.co.uk

HYDRO PUBLISHING LTD 5, The Old Bakery, 90 Acre Street, Lindley, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire HD3 3EL

See you in the New Year!

Cosmo Mackenzie

T: +44 (0) 203 384 8940 E: info@hydromag.co.uk W: www.hydromag.co.uk PRINTED IN THE UK

Thank you to our distributors: HYDROMAG is designed in partnership with PARA www.paraltd.com

All editorial is copyright. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or be stored in any retrieval system in any form without the prior permission of the Publisher. Whilst every effort is made to ensure accuracy no responsibility will be accepted for inaccuracies however caused. Contributed material does not necessarily reﬂect the opinion of the Publisher. The Publisher cannot accept responsibility for any unsolicited materials. It is assumed that any images taken from sources that are widely distributed such as the Internet, are in the public domain. However, since such images are passed between sources such as websites, the original source is not always possible to trace. The editorial policy and general layout of the publication is at the sole discretion of the Publisher and no debate will be entered into. No responsibility will be accepted for illustrations, artwork or photographs while in transmission with the Publisher or their agents unless such commitment is made in writing prior to receipt of such items.

ISSUE NO. 012 12.2014

Featured In This Issue... 42 08

THE FEED 3D Printed Gardens

THE FEED Vermiponics

THE KNOWLEDGE How to- Controlling Airﬂow

THE KNOWLEDGE Tinkering with Transpiration

FEATURE Filter Test Special

DISTRACTIONS: A-Z of Music… Jazz

From its birth in a Louisiana Bordello to its ‘current’ incarnation as Death Jazz, Buddy Mason walks us through the genre that makes Dubstep sound positively approachable.

Visionary designer Yuichiro Takeuchi turns his welcome attention towards encouraging urban gardening.

Ready the washing up liquid and the square metre ruler; it’s time to redo the biology double you previously spent smoking behind the bike shed.

The most comprehensive guide to mustering fortune from the winds since Ioan Gruffudd donned stockings and a fetching bicorn hat.

Gareth Hopcroft breaks down vapour pressure deﬁcits; half of us quietly sneak off to our growrooms to take readings and gently sob.

We round off a revolutionary year of in-house testing with a scientiﬁcally sound analysis of the market’s leading ﬁlters.

Image To Insert when Article Finished

EXPERT OPINIONS Enzymes

Industry experts walk you through the science behind the products that let nature do the hard work.

DISTRACTIONS: 100 Films to Watch... Musicals

GROW GEAR Grow Gear

COMPETITION TIME Win Some Stuﬀ!

Admit it already; there’s at least one musical that you secretly love- don’t make me hum ‘Bad Guys’ at you. All together now! “We coulda bin anything that we wanted ta be…”

A selection of the very best products available on the market today, and a couple of classics to boot.

This issue; turn your growroom into an airtight bunker for the impending Ebola apocalypse (not guaranteed), with this unparalleled selection of high quality ventilation equipment.

3D PRINTED GARDENS The City. Cold, grey and unforgiving. Chewing up the lonely and dispossessed with all the indifference of a blue whale hoovering up krill. Stark, cathedrals of concrete loom high over the skyline...

The separation of the citizen from nature and perhaps humanity itself seemingly continues unabated. Can nothing be done to improve the quality of life in these joyless asphalt jungles? A Harvard-educated Canadian/Japanese designer and computer scientist based in Tokyo believes he has a solution. And it involves printing hydroponic gardens. No, not scanning images from RHS’ The Garden magazine (or indeed HYDROMAG) using the copier in the office. We mean actually printing live gardens. As bizarre as it may sound, Yuichiro Takeuchi, award-winning researcher for Sony Computer Science Laboratories, has built a prototype 3D-printer with a view to printing live gardens. Takeuchi’s work is inspired by his self-confessed obsession with “visions of future cities”, and his desire to fuse the urban environment with digital technology. One look at Takeuchi’s back catalogue shows a man on a mission to improve urban living, to make the experience more human, more emotionally open – from his kinetic street furniture that gently steers people to sit facing their nearest neighbour, to his giant “MIMMI” installation in Minneapolis that changes colour according to the pervading mood of the city (based on mining buzzwords on Twitter). His latest quest is to encourage a proliferation of vertical or rooftop gardens across the world’s major conurbations. On a selfish note, he’s also hoping a botanical explosion over the Tokyo skyline might encourage the return of fireflies (of some cultural significance to the Japanese). And 3D printing is the key to this dream. Since the first man picked up a stick to beat his neighbour over the head rather than use his precious fists, our species has been on a ceaseless quest to reduce hassle and make life easier.

Takeuchi’s contribution to this noble cause is in making garden design as simple and stress-free to execute as possible. Using Takeuchi’s custom modelling software, it’s possible to design a garden on your computer to the minutest detail. The 3D shapes and overall layout, once conceived and programmed in to the software, can then dovetail with the printing hardware and start pumping out your tiny plantation, hot off the press. Your garden shape is limited only by your imagination – circles, polygons, teddy bears, giant phalluses – the choice is yours.

‘Your garden shape is limited only by your imagination circles, polygons, teddy bears...’ Gardens can be printed to fit any space, saving garden designers plenty of head scratching and laborious trial and error. The digital CAD (Computer Aided Design) file containing the garden architecture instructs the printer to build layer upon layer of material until the 3D shape is realised. In Takeuchi’s case, this material is a specially chosen nutrient-infused yarn. A seed dispenser then deposits plant seeds of the designer’s choice directly into the fabric. The yarn is then watered using a hydroponic system and within weeks the garden should be sprouting furiously. In early trials watercress, arugula and basil have been successfully grown using the system. At the moment Takeuchi’s prototype is only capable of small-scale undertakings. Think more desktop shrubbery than sweeping plantations, with printing speed the main inhibiting factor stalling his progress. Takeuchi is however currently working on a faster printer to start growing larger fare such as fruit trees and vegetable plants. In the near future vertical gardens such as those made popular by French designer Patrick Blanc, could be planned and then easily installed while in their lightweight yarn stage, saving countless man hours (and a few backs) and cutting costs. The hope is that this facilitating process will encourage the installation of many more vertical gardens around the world’s cityscapes. A rich biodiversity in built up areas is crucial to citizens’ wellbeing, both in mind and body. This is well documented, with a United Nations report in 2012 calling for more greenery in cities. Its findings concluded that green spaces in urban areas significantly reduce levels of airborne pollution and dust, limit the heat-trapping effects of local carbon dioxide emissions, and even reduce asthma and allergies. It remains to be seen how big a role 3D printing has to play in all this, but the name Yuichiro Takeuchi will be one to watch.

The below shows the specially chosen nutrient-infused yarn.

A yarn-grown Basil plant.

VERMIPONICS GLOBAL WORMING!

Earthworms. The pink, slimy little hermaphrodites one finds occasionally in the garden after a rainstorm are not everyone’s cup of tea. Perhaps it’s their loathsome, intestinal appearance, but apart from gardeners and a few hungry starlings and moles, they’re largely friendless amongst the ill-educated laypeople of this world... Which is why, despite a recent report claiming that one fifth of the world’s invertebrates are at possible risk of extinction, people are going weak at the knees for bees, but remaining decidedly lukewarm for worms. But a small, growing number of earthworm enthusiasts are bucking the trend and nurturing whole colonies of the neglected nematodes. Vermiculture, as the name suggests, is the practice of cultivating earthworms. And what exactly is vermiponics? Well, that’s why we’re here. Sit back and let HYDROMAG do the maths. In China they call earthworms “Angels of the earth”, and it’s easy to see why. While not necessarily endowed with halos, robes and wings, nor being particularly celestial, they do have a wondrous, restorative effect on the planet’s soil. Next time you crunch into a delicious mouthful of crispy cos lettuce, remember to inwardly say a prayer of thanks to these “Angels”. Their excreta and tireless wriggling may have helped put that tasty morsel on your plate. Feasting on dead matter, fungi and bacteria, earthworms ejaculate faeces (called castings) rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium and carbon – redistributing beneficial organic material deep into the earth. And as earthworms channel their way underground, their burrowing also aerates compacted soil, allowing air and water to reach the roots of plants. The mucus that lines earthworms’ burrows also helps mineralise and neutralise the pH of the earth. In short, their function is absolutely vital to life on this planet. So it is with some alarm that we should read ‘Spineless’, a recently published report by the Zoological Society of

London (ZSL) and the IUCN Species Survival Commission, who claim a fifth of the world’s invertebrates may be threatened with extinction. On the ZSL website they warn: “Digging up earthworms, chasing butterflies and collecting clam shells could become a thing of the past if enough isn’t done to protect invertebrates. And if they disappear, humans could soon follow.” Worms have been bred for the fishing industry for a number of years, but with an interest in protecting the environment now being a mainstream concern - no longer merely considered as the domain of hippies and crackpots - vermiculture has expanded to a multi-million dollar industry. It is essentially the practice of breeding earthworms for sustainable waste management and for use in organic farming. Vermicomposting is the method involved in cultivating and collecting worm castings (also known as vermicastings or “worm shit” in street language) for use in agriculture. It was only a matter of time before this practice would be utilised in the field of hydroponics. Tentatively known in certain circles as vermiponics, the practice is gaining fans worldwide, and revolves around the use of vermicompost as an additional organic nutrient source for your reservoir. The principles behind vermiponics are not dissimilar to those behind aquaponics – namely that the plants and worms in your system are designed to mutually benefit each other, in the same way as plants and fish symbiotically thrive in an aquaponics set-up. Replacing the fish in this equation with worms has a few major advantages – chief amongst them are lower levels of maintenance and a considerably lower water bill. On top of that: less pumping is required as low dissolved oxygen levels becomes a less insurmountable issue; there’s hardly any ammonia production (a problem tilapia and other fish breeders will be all too familiar with), and there’s no need for any additional bio-filtration kit. Worms and plants also, on balance, enjoy the same temperatures simplifying your environmental control measures. Once you’ve got your worms housed you can more or less put your feet up and brew a cup of tea, because they don’t need round the clock attention. And for the entrepreneurs amongst you – worms reproduce like teenagers in a Birmingham housing estate, grow significantly faster than fish, and are worth a lot more bucks pound for pound. When worms are sexually mature they develop a red band around the torso, and when it’s mating season, just like in Birmingham, you’ll find them congregating in a giant writhing ball at

the bottom of your bins. Tennessee gardener Jim Joyner has been paving the way for an aqua-vermiculture system which he hopes will take root in the hydroponics community. Joyner has created a series of 4 foot by 8 foot by 6 inch beds filled with red worms, fed on a mixture of rabbit food and soy. The worms devour roughly half their weight in feed each day. So a pound of worms (approximately 1000 of the creatures) will consume and recycle half a pound of waste, converting it into high quality fertilizer for your plants. In the United States a pound of worms costs on average $15. Red Wigglers are a popular breed for vermicomposting as they naturally prefer living in highly populated conditions and are known for not burrowing (they’re agoraphobic homebodies, making them ideal tenants for your worm bin). Joyner believes that with worms it’s possible to produce the same nutrient load as with aquaponics, using 30% less feed than with their aquatic, finny cousins. Another great benefit is that the worm farmer can feed their charges organic household waste (although not meat-based produce as this is a green flag for rodents and flies to gate crash your party). Worms are voracious defecators, and it’s this earthworm effluvia that Ron Greenwood of Unco Industries, a vermiculture company in Mount Pleasant, has described as “almost the perfect plant food” and insists that it’s a major boost for improving the root structure of plants. There are several types of worm bin, all available to buy online, with perhaps the most efficient design being that comprised of a series of stacked trays one on top of the other. The bottom tray should have a wire base with bedding comprised of shredded paper, topsoil, cellulose and organic waste. This is where the worms will start their journey. It’s imperative that there’s sufficient damp in all trays that the worms receive their moisture from the bedding, rather than the bedding absorbing moisture from the worms. The trays above should be identically prepared, and as the worms digest and compost the waste in the bottom tray, they’ll

naturally gravitate to the tray above for their next feed. The worm farmer can then lift the upper levels off the bottom tray, removing the enriched humus and using it with his or her plants. Anyone getting jittery about the prospect of returning home to find legions of worms crawling around their apartment need not fear – worms are non-migratory, hate light, and tend to stay put. As long as you haven’t made a ghastly faux pas with your worms’ living arrangements, or completely forget to feed them, you’re unlikely to find them sprawled across the kitchen floor or down the cracks of your sofa. There are scores of websites out there offering kit, tips and forums for the worm lovers of this world to come together like one of those giant, squirming pink balls to share their ideas and dreams. Knock yourself out on Google. But not many have successfully integrated their worms automatically into their hydroponics setup. Some users have been adopting the method of placing a worm bin directly between their grow beds and reservoir, with the humuslike worm castings dropping directly into their nutrient solution (see illustration). HYDROMAG, good Fallibilists as we are, remain sceptical of this particular practice however. In summary, we dig worms, we really do. But the practice of utilising vermiponics in hydroponics systems is very much in its infancy. Although proponents of the method have been singing its praises, the movement has yet to reach a critical mass stage where the volume of users demands in-depth, scientific testing. At HYDROMAG we can see the uses of vermicompost as a good addition for potting soil or perhaps even with coco. One way of making its use in true hydro systems achievable could be by making aerated teas but the inclusion of new soil biology will have implications for the maintenance of said system. The gardener will find it harder to control the nutrient quantities in his or her reservoir. Unmeasured verminutrients seeping into your nutrient solution has the potential to cause pH unbalance so extra vigilance would be required. At this delicate, almost adolescent phase in its development, HYDROMAG can’t fully recommend vermiponics, but can give a warm thumbs up for the use of vermiculture in recycling household waste and maybe also to convert grow room plant waste into high quality vermicompost. You may even fancy growing worms for cash, but we’re reluctant at this point to advise integrating your worm bin with your growroom.

HOW TO:

CONTROL YOUR ENVIRONMENT In Issue Nine, we walked you through how to choose the best fans for your growroom in order to have the correct volume of air feeding through your growing space. In this issue, we’re going to expand on that article and walk you through managing that air once it’s in there, or controlling the airflow within your growroom.

for throughout your plants’ life cycle, flip over to page 16 for an in depth and precise interpretation of various figures and their implications. Here, we’re going to concentrate on how to actually go about controlling these parameters.

PLACEMENT OF INTAKE / EXHAUST First things first; you’re going to need to decide where you’re going to place your intake and exhaust equipment. What you’re aiming for is as even a draw over as much of the area of your grow room as possible. Use circulating room fans to increase and optimise airflow throughout the room as a whole, ensuring there are no dead spots harbouring stale air. This is a fairly basic principle but needs careful consideration when you’re designing a room.

EXAMPLES:

IMPORTANCE OF TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY Problems with plants are, more often than not, a consequence of improper conditions within the environment. Many growers see yellowing leaves and make the mistake of assuming it’s because of a nutrient deficiency. No amount of added nutrients or magic potions is going to fix the problem though. Yellowing/deficiencies are usually symptoms of imbalanced environmental conditions affecting the plant’s ability to physically uptake nutrients. Calcium is a key example of this; not enough transpiration (humidity too high or no air movement) and it won’t be mobile through your plant. Adding calcium to your reservoir won’t help you, until you sort out the problem at the source. Temperature and humidity are intrinsically linked, annoyingly, in an inverse manner. Warm air holds more moisture than cold air, so as the temperature of the air rises, growers will typically see the relative humidity decrease at a proportional rate. In practical terms for your growroom, this means any changes you make to your ambient temperature will have an opposite impact on your relative humidity levels (and vice-versa). Fine control of both these variables will involve a few different bits of kit and a fair bit of tinkering. The goal with a growing space is to achieve consistency and balance between temperature and humidity for your plants. For the exact temperature/humidity levels you want to aim

Passive vents: Filter placed at an even distance and centrally to all passive vent points.

Single point intake: Intake and exhaust placed diagonally at opposite ends of room. Fresh air dragged across entire room before being exhausted

DIAGRAM KEY: PLACEMENT OF FLOOR / OSCILLATING FAN DUCTING RUN

CONTROLLING TEMPERATURE DECREASING:

Air Sock: Filter just off centre of room dependant on sock layout.

When your lights are blazing, you will no doubt need to adjust your fan speed to cope with the increasing temperatures. There are a variety of fan speed controllers available. Manual fan speed controllers are a starting point, but usually require constant amendments to the speed. They won’t give as consistent a temperature in your grow room because they don’t react to a fluctuating environment. Automatic controllers with temperature probes gradually adjust to changes in temperatures with either a step up, or a gradual increase in speed, dependant on make and model. Other than CAN’s promising new controller, digital fan speed controllers tend to make fans hum slightly as they distort the signal being delivered to the fan. A magnetic controller such as the SMS will create no excess noise from the fan at all, but may not have hysteresis control features to compensate fan speeds and maintain negative pressure in your room. Choose wisely.

INCREASING:

Looped and Pierced ducting with T: Holes pierced in ducting need to be evenly distributed and same size for even airflow. Start with small holes and increase size according to fan’s capacity. Filter placed centrally and equidistant to ducting ring.

Mostly an issue when your lights turn off. Even with fan speed controllers going to their lowest setting you will likely need to heat up the air temperature at ‘night’. Oil filled radiators may well lure you with claims of using less electricity, but they don’t compare to the effectiveness of a decent fan heater. A great example is the Bio-Green Tropic Heater, whose heating elements will only turn on when the temperature drops below the set parameters, thereby doubling as a circulatory fan for the day cycle as well.

TOP TIPS: Raising your relative humidity will lower the ambient temperature. This can be a saviour when operating on the brink of your extraction fan’s limits.

TIPS INTAKE TIPS: If the incoming air is very cold, avoid blowing directly onto plants. Particularly in winter, this chill factor could hamper growth. Use intake filter or mesh fabric (a pair of tights) over vent to filter unwanted pests from outdoors.

SMS Hybrid Controller

QUICK TIP WHEN INSTALLING YOUR FILTER: Ensure all ducting is securely connected to avoid any air leaks and un-filtered air entering the exhaust system. Check by running a lit splint along run and near connections and see if any smoke is sucked in.

BioGreen Tropic Heater

CONTROLLING HUMIDITY DECREASING: For lights out, you may well be able to lower your humidity to acceptable levels with simply the use of a decent fan heater. For late flowering periods during your daytime cycle, you may find yourself requiring a de-humidifier. They come in desiccant and compressive versions. Air compressor based versions may promise larger levels of extraction, but tend to vary their effectiveness with fluctuating temperatures. They also tend to be louder than their desiccant cousins, whose output remains consistent over a wide temperature range. Anything from 16L to 22L per day is usually sufficient for the average growroom.

MEASURING TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY A good Thermo-Hygrometer will record the extremes of both measurements (Max and Min) usually from two points: the unit itself and an external probe. Your other equipment, like fan speed and humidity controllers, will also come with their own measuring equipment and in turn their own probes as well.

ETI Hygrometer

INCREASING: Choices for increasing humidity currently range from smaller ultra-sonic ceramic disc mist makers to centrifugal based units. The ultra-sonic versions (ideal for relatively small rooms) create a mist with a much finer particle size, which evaporates and raises the relative humidity a lot quicker than the centrifugal versions. Suitable for larger growing areas, these spin water through a grate at high speed and smash it into a spray; these larger spray particles taking slightly longer to evaporate. High pressure nozzle types may shortly be hitting the scene which promise to be a great bit of kit. Watch this space. Most de-humidifiers come with inbuilt settings allowing you to change the humidity parameters from the unit itself; humidifiers usually require extra equipment for fine control of your environment. For example, the highly accurate Faran Humidistat HR-DHTC we used in this issue’s filter tests.

TOP TIPS: Don’t place your humidifier directly under your filter! Use a warm water supply where possible, this will evaporate quicker from the mist and raise the relative humidity faster. Use an RO machine for the water supply to your humidifiers. The cleaner the water the better it is for the longevity and performance of all the equipment within your grow space, but particularly reflectors and filters.

Dessicant Dehumidifier Humidity Controller

Where you position your measuring equipment and various probes plays a major part in how effectively your equipment will operate, and is often under looked. You need the measuring probes to work from readings that will reflect the majority of the main section of your growroom that you’re concerned about: fairly central in the space as a whole, and just beneath the top of your plant canopy. Ideally, have a few units measuring from multiple areas to get a greater idea of the overall average.

TOP TIPS: Don’t position your measuring equipment in the direct glare of your lights, or somewhere that they might get wet. Choose a shady spot, level or within the plant canopy. Have a fan blowing over your probes. Stationary air around the probe will give you unrealistic readings of the room as a whole. If you’re using a simple max/min unit, one set of measurement a day is just about enough to cut it. Ideally though you need to build up a map of temperature changes throughout the day, over a number of days. Data logging temp/humidity monitors are becoming very cheap nowadays and can provide a much greater insight than your standard max/min unit ever can. Once you’ve uploaded all the stored data, you should have a clear idea of the extent of regular temperature changes throughout the day and night. From there you can really begin to tweak the operating parameters of your other environmental control equipment. Or if your equipment is hooked up to timers, you can then set up a more appropriate routine.

IN A NUTSHELL

HR-15 Humidifier

No two setups are the same, so trial and error is the only way you’ll achieve a happy medium for your own growroom. Remember; no matter what some brightly labelled packaging might tell you, you can’t force your plants to do anything, all you can do is try to provide them with the best environment in which to work their magic, so don’t be too hard on yourself when you don’t get there straight away.

Tinkering with Transpiration It is often said that environmental factors are the most important to get right when growing indoors, these are very wise words. Having good control over the temperature, relative humidity and air movement within the growing area is needed to optimise plant productivity. Why do you think commercial growers spend hundreds of thousands of pounds building greenhouses? To allow plants that wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do so well in the native environmental conditions to thrive in an optimised environment. One particular aspect of optimising plant growth is being able to have some degree of control over the plants water use. Plants take up water at their roots and loose it through their leaves in a process called transpiration. Plants have limited control over transpiration as it is largely influenced by the environmental conditions immediately around the plant; mainly temperature, humidity and air movement. Transpiration needs to occur for many reasons but the most critical being; Satisfying plant growth process that need water; photosynthesis. To regulate plant temperature and keep the leaf surfaces cool. To facilitate uptake of dissolved mineral nutrients. To keeping the plant upright and turgid (full of water) As you can see, these are critical aspects pf plant growth, so when transpiration is too high or too low it can have some serious consequences.

High Transpiration If the environmental conditions in your grow room are hot and dry (e.g. above 30C and below 50% RH), transpiration will be occurring at a very high rate. This means the plant will be rapidly taking up water and losing it through its leaves to the air in an effort to keep cool. Plants can cope with high transpiration rates for short periods of time, but if these conditions are persistent plants will really struggle. With so much emphasis on transpiration in this situation, plants go into â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;survival modeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, growth processes will be side-lined, fruits and flowers will be of poor quality and ultimately your yields will suffer. In extreme

conditions where the plant cannot transpire quickly enough, it will start to wilt. If your plants are suffering from continued high transpiration, it will show in a few ways: Leaves will curl in from the edges, rolling to form a canoe shape or in extreme cases tubes. This is an effort to reduce water loss from the leaves by reducing their surface area. The plants will use a lot of water, and their nutrient demand will be reduced. In a hydroponic system this will mean a rapidly increasing nutrient solution strength, measured using a conductivity meter. When growing in pots checking the run-off conductivity will also give you the same indication of water use and nutrient accumulation. Nutrient accumulation in the growing media or nutrient solution if left unmanaged will lead to over-fertilisation, which can manifest as the leaves clawing down and burning at the tips, eventually leading to the leaves will becoming dry and brittle.

Low Transpiration If the environmental conditions are cool and humid (e.g. below 20C and above 80% RH) transpiration will be very slow, or non-existent. This means growth will be very slow. It is rare we enter into these conditions for long periods of time when growing indoors, but it can happen for short periods during the winter months, and in doing so we can slow our plants growth rate down significantly. However, sometimes this is what we want, particularly during very early propagation when you may be taking cuttings or germinating seedlings. The high humidity and lower temperature enables the plant to put resources into growing a healthy root system without an excessive environmental demand. If your plants are suffering from continued low transpiration, it will cause: Slow growth and even stunting. Soft leaves prone to infections. Low water uptake will mean the root zone stays wetter for longer, particularly if growing in pots with soil or coco. A prolonged wet root zone can lead to stagnation which favours the onset of plant pathogens.

Low nutrient uptake, due to the low water uptake. Water can enter the plants roots via osmosis even during periods of very low transpiration. If the plants water loss from the leaves is lower than uptake by the roots it can lead to a very high internal plant pressure. Eventually this high pressure can cause oedema (when leaf cells burst or rupture) or guttation (when water is forced out of modified stomata called hydathodes at the leaves edges).

Transpiration and Grow Room Environment VPD So this may leave you thinking; it’s all well and good talking about high and low transpiration, but how do I measure it and how can I have an influence or control over it? Well, it is clear that both temperature and relative humidity are the driving forces for transpiration, but their relationship is not as simple as some growers think. Environmental guidelines such as “in flower the relative humidity should be 50%” or “in veg 60% RH is best” are missing one HUGE piece of vital info: Temperature! From a plants perspective, 60% RH at 25C is significantly different to 60% RH at 27C, just a 2C increase in temperature while the RH remains constant at 60% can cause an average increase in transpiration by 15-20%! So you can see we need to consider both temperature and RH together to get an accurate idea of how it effects transpiration and growth. Luckily, there is a unit of measure that is used for just this purpose; Vapour Pressure Deficit (VPD). Sounds complicated?!? Let me explain…

“...we need to consider both temperature and RH together to get an accurate idea of how it effects transpiration and growth.

”

air. This difference between the vapour pressure of the grow room environment and the vapour pressure inside the leaf is termed Vapour Pressure Deficit, and is a great indication of the rate of transpiration, or more accurately the potential for transpiration.

So how do you measure VPD? VPD is a measurement of the pressure differential and so the unit of measure is commonly millibars (mb) or kilopascals (kPa). To obtain this we need the following information: Grow Room Air Temperature Grow Room Relative Humidity Leaf Temperature Most of you will be using one or more digital thermometers with built in hygrometers, so getting the average air temperature and relative humidity will be the easy bit. Once you have these you will need to cross reference with Table 1 to obtain the vapour pressure, all you do is see where the RH and temperature intersect. To measure leaf temperature you can use a hand held infrared thermometer. The relative humidity inside the plant, or of the air leaving the plant is always 100%, so you look up the leaf temperature at 100% RH to get the vapour pressure of the leaf. Now you have the two vapour pressure figures subtract one from the other to obtain your vapour pressure deficit. Example: 1. Air temperature = 27C 2. Relative humidity = 65% 3. Leaf temperature = 25C 4. Air Vapour Pressure = 2.32kPa 5. Leaf Vapour pressure = 3.17kPa 6. Vapour Pressure Deficit = 0.85kPa Vapour pressure of water in kilopascals at different temperatures and RH.

Transpiration and VPD VPD is defined as the difference between the amount of moisture in the air and how much moisture the air can hold when it is saturated, but from a plants perspective it is essentially the potential for the air to draw water vapour from its leaves. To break it down further; when there is a high relative humidity there is basically lots of water vapour in the air, which creates an environmental pressure exerted on the plants called vapour pressure. Internally, plants are pumped full of water so are also under pressure. If the air has a low or moderate relative humidity and therefore a lower vapour pressure than inside the plants leaves, then there is potential for transpiration – i.e. water vapour can move from the leaf to the

Relative Humidity % Temp C

100

1.7

1.62

1.53

1.45

1.36

1.28

1.19

1.11

1.02

0.94

0.85

1.82

1.73

1.64

1.54

1.45

1.36

1.27

1.18

1.09

0.91

1.94

1.84

1.74

1.65

1.55

1.45

1.36

1.26

1.16

1.06

0.97

2.06

1.96

1.86

1.75

1.65

1.55

1.44

1.34

1.24

1.13

1.03

2.2

2.09

1.98

1.87

1.76

1.65

1.54

1.43

1.32

1.21

1.1

2.34

2.22

2.1

1.99

1.87

1.75

1.64

1.52

1.4

1.28

1.17

2.48

2.36

2.24

2.21

1.99

1.86

1.74

1.62

1.49

1.37

1.24

2.64

2.51

2.25

2.11

1.98

1.85

1.72

1.59

1.45

1.32

2.81

2.67

2.53

2.39

2.25

2.11

1.96

1.82

1.68

1.54

1.4

2.98

2.83

2.68

2.53

2.39

2.24

2.09

1.94

1.79

1.64

1.49

3.17

3.01

2.85

2.69

2.53

2.37

2.22

2.06

1.9

1.74

1.58

3.36

3.19

3.02

2.85

2.69

2.52

2.35

2.18

2.02

1.85

1.68

3.56

3.38

3.21

3.03

2.85

2.67

2.49

2.32

2.14

1.96

1.78

3.78

3.59

3.4

3.21

3.02

2.83

2.64

2.45

2.27

2.08

1.89

3.8

3.6

3.4

3.2

2.8

2.6

2.4

2.2

4.24

4.03

3.82

3.6

3.39

3.18

2.97

2.76

2.54

2.33

2.12

What is the Ideal VPD?

Controlling VPD

It is generally accepted that for a healthy rate of transpiration during vegetative growth and the early stages of flower or fruit production we should aim for a VPD of around 0.85kPa. If the aim is to reduce transpiration during the propagation phase of cuttings or seedlings the target should be to maintain VPD between 0.1kPa and 0.3kPa. This is ideal for newly rooted cuttings or germinating seedlings. If you are in the process of rooting cuttings then a VPD of 0kPa is require to restrict transpiration completely. There are times during a plants life cycle where you may want to encourage high transpiration. This may be during the final stages of flower development. This can only be done when the plants have an extensive healthy root system to support the foliage above in order to keep up with the high VPD and increased transpiration rate. VPD should rarely go higher than 1.4kPa in these instances to avoid problems and an ideal elevated transpiration can be achieved at 1.25kPa.

So, now you know what VPD is and how vital it can be in influencing the plants transpiration rates, what can you do to control it?

Temperature The most obvious solution is to have good control over temperature. You can see from Table 2, VPD varies significantly with changing temperature at a fixed RH, with the basic rule; the warmer the temperature the higher the RH should be. This presents some difficultly in grow rooms as we need to avoid high humidity to reduce the risk of fungal infections and to ensure the carbon filter works at its best. For these reasons its best to try and reduce the temperature to avoid needing to have to raise the RH excessively. We know that most carbon filters stop working optimally past 75% RH, so if you reference table 2 you can see that in order to avoid plant stress and keep transpiration optimal, while keeping below 70% RH, the temperature should not be going higher than 27C.

Table 2 below shows typical VPD values according to temperature and relative humidity, assuming the plant temperature is 1°C below the air temperature due to adequate transpiration.

Relative Humidity

Relative Humidity % Temp C

100

0.0

0.06

0.16

0.25

0.34

0.43

0.52

0.61

0.70

0.79

0.88

0.99

0.0

0.08

0.17

0.27

0.37

0.46

0.65

0.66

0.76

0.85

0.95

1.06

0.0

0.08

0.19

0.29

0.39

0.50

0.60

0.70

0.81

0.91

1.02

1.14

0.0

0.08

0.19

0.3

0.41

0.52

0.63

0.74

0.85

0.96

1.07

1.20

0.0

0.1

0.21

0.33

0.45

0.56

0.68

0.8

0.92

1.03

1.15

1.29

0.0

0.1

0.13

0.35

0.48

0.6

0.72

0.85

0.97

1.1

1.23

1.37

0.0

0.1

0.23

0.37

0.5

0.63

0.76

0.89

1.03

1.16

1.30

1.45

0.0

0.11

0.25

0.39

0.53

0.68

0.82

0.96

1.1

1.24

1.39

1.55

0.0

0.13

0.28

0.42

0.57

0.72

0.87

1.02

1.17

1.32

1.48

1.65

0.0

0.13

0.29

0.45

0.61

0.76

0.92

1.08

1.24

1.4

1.57

1.75

0.0

0.15

0.32

0.48

0.65

0.82

0.99

1.15

1.32

1.49

1.67

1.86

0.0

0.15

0.35

0.51

0.69

0.87

1.04

1.22

1.4

1.58

1.77

1.97

0.0

0.16

0.35

0.54

0.73

0.90

1.11

1.29

1.48

1.67

1.87

2.09

0.0

0.18

0.38

0.58

0.78

0.98

1.18

1.38

1.58

1.78

1.99

2.22

0.0

0.18

0.4

0.61

0.82

1.03

1.24

1.46

1.67

1.88

2.10

2.35

“There are times during a plants life cycle where you

may want to encourage high transpiration. This may be during the final stages of flower development. This can only be done when the plants have an extensive healthy root system to support the foliage above...

”

Most growers will need to increase RH in the propagation and vegetative stages of plant growth. For propagation it’s fairly simple; use a propagator! The lid will keep humidity high and the vents can be used to tweak the RH. If you are struggling to keep humidity high in the propagator, use a layer of perlite in the base and damp it down. Once the plants are too large for the propagator, and you need to move them into the grow room, the likelihood is that you will need to increase the RH of the growing environment. This can be done with a humidifier. A good humidifier will produce very small water droplets that can be evaporated into the air very quickly to become water vapour. If the humidifier is creating wet leaves or wet patches around it in the grow room, the droplets in the air are not being evaporated quickly enough. This can happen for a few reasons; the humidifier is producing water droplets that are too large, the air temperature is too cold, the water temperature supplying the humidifier is too cold. The humidifier should always be controlled using a good quality humidistat, simply set the desired RH and it will turn off and on automatically.

A good humidifier makes such a difference in improving plant establishment. Once the plants are up to size having grown lots of leaves you will find the humidifier will come on less and less, this is because the plants are adding water vapour to the air via transpiration. If you run a closed grow room with no extractor fan, or have a very low extraction rate, then you will no-doubt need a de-humidifier to reduce the RH and keep the VPD high enough to enable healthy transpiration. The main types of commercially available de-humidifiers are compressive or desiccant. They both work well but the desiccant de-humidifiers are more efficient and work better than compressive types at lower air temperatures.

Air Movement Circulating air in your grow room to keep it well mixed is essential. This can be done with fixed circulation fans or with oscillating fans. As the air is moved past the leaf, and you can see the leaf moving, it will be removing the water vapour being released from the leaves upper and under side. Ideally, we only want the leaves to be moving very gently, and this is usually achieved by pointing circulation fans away from the plants and towards the walls or walkways, or having the fans set at a low speed mounted at the right distance. If the plants are blown excessively by circulation fans then too much water will be stripped from the leaves surface and can cause ‘wind burn’, where the leaves dry, appear burnt at the edges and go crispy. By simply optimising the movement or air within our grow room, we can improve transpiration significantly.

“If the plants are blown excessively by circulation

fans then too much water will be stripped from the leaves surface and can cause ‘wind burn’, where the leaves dry, appear burnt at the edges and go crispy.

”

Lighting The amount of light the crop receives is also a driving force for transpiration. It is not only the light itself, but also the heat generated by the lights in a grow room. If the humidity is as high as you can get it, and the temperature is as low as is achievable yet the VPD is still too high, then you could reduce the output of the grow lights. This is easily achievable with modern dimmable digital HID grow lights, and some swanky new digital lights have optional controllers that will automatically dim the lights! The system with the most functionality is the Maxi Controller by Dimulx, this has a plant camera as well as an air temperature sensor to calculate VPD. If the plant temperature starts to increase yet the air temperature stays the same and therefore the VPD increases, you can set the Maxi Controller to start to dim the Dimlux Expert lights in order to keep the plants transpiring and growing. Instances like this can arise if the root zone starts to dry, or the humidifier runs out of water.

Summary In summary, although calculating VPD accurately, and religiously sticking to different ranges throughout the plants life cycle will vastly improve plant performance, just understanding that temperature and relative humidity should be considered together, and not as two separate growth factors, will also give you an extra degree of control over your grow room environment.

BUDBOX AIRSOCK Mankind’s obsession with complex all-singing, all-dancing gadgets sometimes results in his overlooking the beauty of simplicity. For example, the most elaborate sexbot of the future, complete with fully functioning brain and other vital organs, still needs to wear a wig. And that wig, however simple to make, however easy to install, is as essential a component as that intricate synthetic heart. You wouldn’t want to bone a bald robot, now would you? The humble sock is another such example. Socks in all their forms are an essential utility item, whether for warming one’s feet, making an impromptu puppet, or for mopping up a nocturnal emission. Simple. Beautiful. Occasionally smelly, but always useful. And now there’s a job for the humble sock in the growroom! In this issue we have a thorough sniff of the Budbox AirSock, designed to be used in conjunction with the Budbox Grow Tent, or any other tent for that matter!

INNOVATIONS

Filtration. Budbox AirSocks are constructed using a scientifically developed, state of the art fabric. This material is an open mesh structure which consists of literally millions of micropores no larger than six microns in size (i.e. they’re extremely small). As one can imagine, all those pests loitering around the mouth of your intake fan will be given short shrift if they attempt an entrance. Insects, dust particles, spores – you name it – none shall pass. The material is so dense, its filtration properties so complete, that it will even prevent light leaking in and reduce the noise of your fan. AirSocks will not, however, absorb moisture. Homogenisation. The second vital string to the AirSock’s bow. Attaching the AirSock to your intake fan will result in a more even distribution of air throughout the grow area. Passing through your AirSock, a homogenised flow of air, across all sizes of grow room, will eliminate cold spots. Kiss goodbye to cold shock and say hello to uniform environmental conditions! Your intake fan will no longer blast icy air over those unfortunate plants directly underneath. Ease of use. The AirSock is easy to remove and replace when working in the grow tent and easy to keep clean. BudBox tents are designed with the lower air vent positioned around the middle of the tent for ease of access. The AirSock can be easily slipped on or off, without ever coming loose on its own. Like all socks, it will ultimately fill up with all manner of disturbing filth. But don’t sweat it, simply bung it in the washing machine (cold wash) or hand wash it. Bingo – as good as new! Elasticity. As you might expect from a sock-like product, all intake fan sizes are more or less covered. The AirSock is available in the following sizes: 75 x 75cm, 100 x 100cm, 120 x 120cm and 240 x 120cm. Cost. It may be fancy, but it’s still a humble, mild-mannered sock – so it’s pretty cheap. The perfect Christmas gift for the tight-fisted!

CONS

You can hear a pin drop in the HYDROMAG office when we have to identify flaws in a product. The atmosphere becomes funereal, the writer needs to be left alone for a few days, and the rest of us drink gin and weep at our desks. So, here’s what we found: The additional drag will cause a marginal pressure drop on your intake fan. It’s yet another sock to potentially go missing in the wash. Easily countered by checking it’s not stuck behind the rim of the washing machine door before leaving the launderette, or failing that look in your thieving flatmate’s sock drawer.

For more infomation visit: www.global-hydro.net

RAPID AIR MOVEMENT (RAM) FILTER STANDS

Stress is the number one limiting factor to our health, happiness and well being and lets face it, we all know this, but our greedy, bored present selves are far too selfish to care about our future selves to do anything about it. We know we have too many late nights followed by early starts and then self prescribe too much coffee to helps us cope with these torturous mornings. Our evenings and weekends come along and we are no better, often going out and indulging too heavily in different sorts of vices and even on relaxing nights in, we will wile away more potentially valuable hours of tranquility with the new Call Of Duty being out smashing up Team Deathmatch, frothing at the mouth, our blood pressure at levels that come with a risk of stroke, screaming lurid curse words and swearing blind that you hit the guy that killed you first as you hurl the controller across the room… Seeing as we are generally terrible at removing ourselves from stress, when we see opportunities to eradicate potentially stressful situations, we should probably try and take them. It is the secret to a happy life and lets face it hydroponics can get fiddly. Any product that comes along that can make our hobby easier and makes us more effective at what we’re trying to do, is well worth the money. Having tried and tested every type of grow gear under the grow lights, we love introducing our readers to kit that we feel can make a big difference to your growing experience and in this edition of Faves, we are pleased to present you with the Rapid Air Movement Filter Stand. We know that happy growers lead to happy plants and RAM Filter Stands make us happy. Put yourself in the scenario; you’ve set your tent up, you’ve put the pots in, arranged the lights, which is all fairly straightforward, all that’s left is to hang the filters. Those of you that have large filtration systems, will be using pretty heavy fans for this too and in tents and rooms, incorrect hanging can prove disastrous and unless your DIY skills are up to scratch, it’s an area where you could run into some problems. Given that you want to place your filtration system as high up as possible, banging in nails and hanging equipment up with chains from a ladder can prove a right ball ache (or a left ball depending on how you fall) and even in tents, if the floor is uneven, or if a nut or screw is out of place, they can come down. No one wants to come home to find their filter has pulled the tent down or fallen off the ceiling, ripping a hole in it and in the process crushing half Inner profile to produce your crop. Even developed more serious you could be hanging with your greens a homogeneous reflection in a square surfacepenalty decision at bros, when it happens, talking about that shocking theAweekend, whenof it all downaton your head. Putting your head 35% increase thecomes reflection the corners to one side though, you don’t want to be breaking an expensive filtration 60 x 60 x 16cm dimension system either, so fiin lter stands are a fantastic and convenient way of getting rid of these stresses and bulbs a really handy addition to your grow Suitable for 400w and 600w room, giving you peace of mind and assurance on the security of all your kit.Illumination area of 1.5m x 1.5m (2.25m2) RAM Filter Stands all come with fully adjustable height and width settings, to cater for all shapes and sizes of grow room and being

placed on a pedestal means they can be moved really easily, a lot more easily than standing on a ladder removing screws, with a big filter in your face, possibly putting more and more holes in the ceiling as you have to keep re-adjusting the position of the filter. If you have to rearrange your grow tent too, you can move around freely by just removing the filter stand, avoiding multiple encounters between your face and the sharp edges of your fan. This is a great feature if for any reason you want to set up a temporary grow room, like say if you’re house sitting for your mum for the summer and you want to grow some party vegetables for the barbeque. Hammering in nails will cause aesthetic damage to the walls and ceilings, but with RAM’s Filter Stands you can set up and remove your tent without trace. If you’re packing a smallish filter system, then a filter stand might be unnecessary, but anything above a meaty 8” and you’ll be thanking us for making you aware of this simple, but effective and useful product.

For more infomation visit: www.rapidairmovement.co.uk

GROW TEST

FILTER COMPARISON: THROUGH THE FLANGE HOLE The jewel in the crown that is the hydroponic grow room: Carbon Filters. Whether you use these puppies to scrub and clean air in a closed loop environment, or in the more conventional manner of a one pass and out style, you’re going to want to have the peace of mind that they are actually doing the job that they’re intended for. Queue the HYDROMAG eye of scrutiny. This issue we cast our beady eye over the main factors you will need to understand when it comes to air cleanliness. What exactly are the qualities to look out for when purchasing a carbon filter? Manufacturers are (almost) all using different grades of carbon, have different size carbon beds and use different materials for the housing cages as well as many other physical differences. Whilst all these things no doubt contribute to how well the filter performs overall, we’re more concerned with how it’s actually doing its job and also how it is affecting our overall airflow.

So how exactly can we go about comparing filters? The problem with filters is that there is currently no set standard way in which they are measured directly for the application that they are used for: namely clearing airborne volatiles. There are standard procedures that assess carbon for a fair few of its physical properties: hardness, ash content, grade, moisture and apparent density. These attributes give an indication of the overall quality of the carbon, but not necessarily how it performs filtering air. The other two things that most manufacturers currently state as performance measures are adsorption rates of carbon and pressure drop curves. Pressure drop curves tell you the effect on the overall air flow you can expect when attaching a carbon filter. The adsorption rates come from liquid phase iodine, butane or CTC (Carbon Tetrachloride) tests. As a generalisation, these give you an approximation of the surface area and pore size of the carbon used, and therefore an indication of how many and what type of volatiles it can adsorb, but still not exactly how it performs clearing volatiles from an air source.

Er… You what? Tell me about it mate. This is where it all becomes a bit murky; airborne volatile organic compounds (VOCs) operate entirely differently to liquid ones, so the iodine, butane and CTC tests can only really be looked at as an indication of performance. It’s a bit like trying to compare apples using oranges as a unit of measure. You would have thought that with this global industry being the size that it is there would already be in place a standard airborne VOC test. Peculiarly there is no such standard test method in place, at least not that we could find. So after a lot of back and forth with a few filter nerds, we’ve come up with one that so far everyone has agreed would be a good way to at least start the ball rolling.

Break it all down for me please, I’m a bit special. Okay, so as well as listing the physical aspects (specifically for 8” filters across each brand) this comparison will be a focus on testing the following aspects of filters: 1. PRESSURE DROPS: How does simply attaching different filters to the same fan effect the drop in airflow. 2. ADSORPTION LEVELS: Is currently accepted as industry standard way to look at the total adsorption of the specific carbon type used. 3. AIRBORNE VOC CONTROL: How well the filter actually clears airborne volatiles.

Looking at and testing these aspects in particular will give you an unprecedented insight into the performance of each filter; how they will affect your airflow, comparative adsorption levels under current testing standards and how they actually work with airborne particles in a real life situation.

TESTO 417 ANEMOMTER

PRESSURE DROPS The main physical characteristics of carbon filters that will have an impact on the reduction of your air flow are: FORM OF CARBON Pelletized, granular, flaked or powdered. The smaller the form of carbon the larger the total surface area. So in theory they should be more effective at clearing volatiles, but are likely to cause an increase in pressure drop for the fan. SIZE OF FILTER/ DEPTH OF BED The combination of the length of the filter and the depth of the carbon bed will indicate impact on airflow, but also contact time with volatiles.

A BUNCH OF FILTERS

An RVK 8” A1 fan was hung up in the normal fashion to a tent frame. Space was left next to this free to position and clamp each brand of filter to in sequence. Each filter was hung and levelled using rope ratchets, and then connected to the fan with a small collar of ducting and clamps to ensure an airtight seal. We took a baseline reading with the Testo 417 before each filter was attached. Then it was simply a case of taking a reading with each filter connected.

METAL MESH HOUSING/CASING The size of the holes in the metal housing or features like vortex cones will all impact on the reduction to the airflow.

The wise ones among you, who have read the previous fan comparison issue, will know full well about pressure curves of fans and filters and their implications. We could go into detail about each brand’s various designs and show how their pressure curves differ from one another, but that’s all theoretical jibberyjoo. We want to show you in as practical a manner as possible exactly how much each filter muffles your fan. Fortunately for us we convinced Solar and Palau at the London Grow Show to help out once again, and they very kindly sent us out their anemometer. INSIDE THE PLANT ROOM

How we set it up : EQUIPMENT: 1.2m x 1.2m Tent Frame RVK 200A1 Delux clamps and quick release 20cm of 8 inch Ducting Testo 417 Anemometer A whole bunch of filters

GOOD OLE’ RVK TO THE RESCUE

AIRFLOW TEST METHOD 1) Measure average airflow without filter. 2) Measure average airflow with filter. 3) Compare the results.

Because of the nature of the unit, the figures that we get are never going to be precisely what is being blown out, but what they do tell us very well is how much it drops as a percentage from its initial amount, whatever that may well be. Later in this article there is a lovely chart showing you the exact figures we recorded, but more importantly, how much as a percentage each filter has reduced the airflow.

ADSORPTION LEVELS What’s with the D? Adsorption is when atoms, ions or molecules from a substance ‘stick’ to the adsorptive surface. Not the same as the absorption, which is when they basically become one with the other substance. I.E. Sugar dissolving into water is absorbed, whereas when an aroma compound gets stuck to the surface of carbon, it is adsorbed.

How is it measured? It is measured with a few different test processes: Iodine test, Butane test and Carbon TetraChloride(CTC). The Iodine test is a method to determine the relative activated level of activated carbon by adsorption of iodine from an aqueous solution. Butane activity is defined as the ratio (in percent) of the mass of butane adsorbed by an activated carbon sample when the carbon is saturated with butane. There is a direct correlative relationship between these two tests so carbon that scores a particular iodine value will return an equivalent butane result.

What does this actually tell you? Both of these values can be looked at as a representation of the total surface area of the carbon sample that is being tested, and therefore how much potential it has to adsorb molecules. In a (burnt) nutshell: The higher the Iodine/Butane value, the higher the total surface area, so the higher the potential for the carbon to adsorb molecules.

What doesn’t it tell you? Even though it’s currently the most used method to convey carbons effectiveness, as it is a liquid based test, it doesn’t tell you how well it’s actually going to do the job you bought it for; filtering air. It doesn’t take a Rocket Surgeon to realise that VOCs in the air tend to have completely different physical properties than liquid ones. Whether it is down to the electrical charge of the incoming volatile, or simply its size, many factors affect performance that this test doesn’t take into account.

So why do it? It’s generally the most quoted figure you will see when looking at a filter’s specifications as a gauge of its performance. However, to get a complete picture of performance you need to look at it alongside all other aspects of the carbon. Even so it’s the one figure that will give you most of an idea of performance out of all those available.

How did we test it? Er…We didn’t. Samples from each of the filters were sent off to one the UK’s biggest carbon technologies company for some nice and precise testing. Each one packaged in plain bags with only a code to identify it. Then we waited for the results with baited breath, and they didn’t get back to us in time before print. Standard face/palm scenario, but we will be announcing accordingly when the results come in.

“We waited for the results with baited breath, and they didn’t get back to us in time before print. Standard face/palm scenario, but we will be announcing accordingly when the results come in.”

VOC CLEARANCE So Whats All This About Then?

Which ones are we looking at?

So after speaking to many people about the way in which carbon types are tested and represented, everyone said the same thing generally. Along the lines of: “Well the thing about the butane or Iodine tests is that although most people use them, they are liquid tests, and people are using filters for air”. Indeed they are quite right to say this, but this doesn’t bode well for us using it to base a comparison on. After bouncing ideas off of a few carbon geeks and some air science nerds, we came up with a method that seemed an agreeable way to measure filters in the way that people actually use them: measuring VOCs.

Well, I thought we’d steer well clear of the deadly ones. I didn’t particularly fancy passing out and bleeding from all my orifices. I went for ones that are all in all much nicer to deal with: Aroma compounds. There isn’t a specific compound any particular plant emits, there are various compounds and all plants will emit varying amounts of them dependant on their genetic make-up. So I gathered a variety of plants to get as broad a range of VOCs as possible, details of which are as follows:

And just what are VOCs Volatile Organic Compounds; Air borne compounds emitted by natural organisms or man-made processes that display a variety of characteristics; Scents and odours plants emit are VOCs, and indeed those same VOCs have shown to play a large part in communications between plants in response to a variety of environmental situations. Other VOCs plants emit can be incredibly dangerous to your health. Many plants emit toxic compounds in order to increase their chances of survival, literally by killing off their local competitors. The Poisonous Gardens in Alnwick Castle are such an example of a place where you could literally die from the VOCs the plants they have emit.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Compound

Plant Type

Geraniol Linalool Linalool Linalool Nerolidol Menthol Ethylene Thymol

Geranium Corriander Sweet Basil Lavender Jasmine Mint Tomatoes Thyme

How did we measure them? After many a Googlation, I came across a company that specialised in equipment relating to measuring VOCs. It soon became obvious that the unit we needed was the Tiger PID; capable of measuring over four hundred VOCs within the parts per billion range. Just the sort of detection capabilities we were looking for.

WARNING GATE AT ALNWICK GARDENS

TIGER PID UNIT

So after being schooled on its functionality, we were let loose to see just how well each filter would work. The following page shows a nice visual representation of the methodology we put in place for the purposes of this comparison.

METHODOLOGY TEST

TEST ROOM - BIRD’S EYE VIEW

TENT 2 - PLANT TENT

TENT 1 - LUNG ROOM

TENT 2 - INSULATING TENT

TIGER VOC READING POINT

EQUIPMENT: 1x 2.4m square Secret Jardin Tent 1x 2.4x2.4mx2.4m Gorilla Tent 1x 1.5m square Secret Jardin Tent 2x Oscilating Fans 1x 6” Solar & Palau fan and 5m ducting 2x8” fan and 10m ducting (1x RVK and 1x Isomax) 1x Plant tray and stand 3x desk clip fans 1x De-Humidifier 1x Centrifugal Humidifer (HR-50) 1x 5 Disc Mist Maker 1x Humidity Control Unit 1x Tiger PID VOC Analyser Loads of filters

METHOD: 1) Turn on all fans / equipment - no filter attached 2) Wait for humidity /temp to stabilise to 50% Humidity and 20 Degrees C 3) Attach Filter 4) Wait 30 Mins to run in filter 5) Take 10 second average from exhaust 6) Repeat 10 second average every minute for 5 mins 7) Detach Filter 8) Wait for humidity /temp to quickly stabilise back to 50% Humidity and 20 Degrees C 9) Take 10 second average from exhaust 10) Repeat 10 second average every minute for 5 mins 11) Replace Filter 12) Repeat

The lung Room tured out to be crucial to keeping the environmental conditions stable. Relative humidity was kept to between 58%-64%, and the temperature to a constant 20 degrees C the entire time. WHAT READINGS WE WILL BE OBTAINING IN THIS TEST: 1) Total VOC levels in parts per billion without the filter 2) Total VOC levels in parts per billion with the filter attached 3) Most crucially, the difference between these two

THE RESULTS >>>

SUMMARY Base Stats The following table is a chart displaying the data from each brand of filter as stated by the manufacturer. This chart just focuses on 8” short filters used in this comparison. We have also added average prices we found at the time of print. Aren’t we good?

Make / Model Phresh Standard Phresh Inline Prima Klima Eco Prima Klima Industry Red Scorpion Rhino Hobby Rhino Proffesional CanFilters Lite CanFilters Original Bulldog B/O Buddy B/O Even Flow Ram

Carbon Type

Adsorption

RC 4/8 RC 4/8

1050mg/L 1050mg/L PK44/CTC70 1050mg/L PK44/CTC70 1050mg/L RC412 n/a RC412 1050mg/L RC412 1050mg/L CKV-4 1050mg/L CKV-4 1050mg/L n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a RC412 1050mg/L

Bed Depth

Weight

Length (mm)

Max Airflow m3/h

Avg Price £

46mm 46mm n/a n/a 38mm 30mm n/a 50mm 50mm n/a 25mm 50mm 38mm

n/a n/a 9.4kg 9.2kg n/a n/a n/a 11Kg n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

600 600 500 500 600 400 400 330 750 220 600 600 600

1000 1000 1000 1090 850 900 800 1000 700 710 1000 1175 850

146.99 179.99 95.99 126.99 88.66 100.29 143.95 100.24 135.99 139.99 94.99 152.99 87.76

For the scope of this comparison, we looked at one size of filter on one type of fan. Other size filters on other brands of fans will give differing performances, particularly when it comes to airflow. You can view this data as a broad representation of how a brand will perform, but it only specifically shows you how this size performs on this fan.

Airflow Results Make / Model

Diff ’ %age

740 740 740 740 740 740 740 740 740 740 740 740 740

494 464.2 451 447.3 424 420.1 398.2 389.9 372.5 359.2 319.8 306.3 253.1

33.2 37.3 39.1 39.6 42.7 43.2 46.2 47.3 49.7 51.5 56.8 58.6 65.8

0.0 4.0 5.8 6.3 9.5 10.0 12.9 14.1 16.4 18.2 23.5 25.4 32.6

0.0 12.1 17.5 19.0 28.5 30.0 38.9 42.3 49.4 54.8 70.8 76.3 97.9

Bulldog

CanFilters Lite

Rhino Professional

Rhino Hobby

Phresh Inline

Black Orchid Black

Black Orchid White

Prima Klima Industry

Difference

Prima Klima Eco

“ Significantly smaller physical sizes obviously result in greater drop in airflow.”

Drop as a %age

PERCENTAGE OF DROP IN AIRFLOW

Red Scorpion

Rhino Hobby, downwards:

With filter (m3/h)

70 60 50 40 30 Phresh Normal

“ Physically being the largest filter gives instant advantage over others.”

CanFilters Original RAM Phresh Normal Red Scorpion Prima Klima Eco Black Orchid Buddy Black Orchid Even Flow Phresh Inline Prima Klima Industry Rhino Hobby Rhino Professional CanFilters Lite Bulldog

RAM

CanFilters Original:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

CanFilters Original

CAN’s Original filter topped the charts here, but then it is by far the largest (and heaviest) so you would expect that to be the case. From the RAM to the Prima Klima Industry point, the filters were of a similar size so differences between their airflow drops are more telling. From the Rhino point down, even though the stated airflows are comparable to the rest, their performances all seemed to suffer from simply being too small in length for the job.

No Filter (m3/h)

VOC Results All the filters (I say all filters, the Bulldog was pretty borderline), cleared at least the amount of volatiles generated from in the tent. Background levels floated around the 300ppb range ( +/5%), the exhaust from the tent would usually fluctuate between 30-80ppb higher than this. All the filters cleared the plant’s volatiles and then a considerable amount of the entire background ones as well. So to massively generalise things for a second: All of these filters work, but some clearly work better than others.

Make / Model 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Phresh Inline Phresh Normal Black Orchid Buddy Prima Klima Industry Ram Black Orchid Even Flow Rhino Professional Red Scorpion CanFilters Lite Prima Klima Eco CanFilters Original Rhino Hobby Bulldog

Without Filter (ppb)

With Filter (ppb)

Clearance Rate (%)

Difference

Diff ’ %age

322.7 338.7 368.3 386.7 336.7 374 317 374 360.7 349 347 360.7 346.2

165.3 177.7 205.3 218 195.3 231.7 196.7 233.3 231.3 225.3 233 251.3 301.5

48.8 47.5 44.3 43.6 42.0 38.0 37.9 37.6 35.9 35.4 32.9 30.3 12.9

0.0 1.2 4.5 5.2 6.8 10.7 10.8 11.2 12.9 13.3 15.9 18.4 35.9

0.0 2.5 9.3 10.6 13.9 22.0 22.2 22.9 26.5 27.3 32.6 37.8 73.5

PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL VOC CLEARANCE RATE

Overall Results The keen eyed among you will have notice a couple of columns on each of the previous tables showing the data as a difference in percent from the top performer within that category. Averaging these percentage changes in performance gives us a good implication of performance as a whole: taking into account the results from all the tests and combining them to show an overall performance.

Make / Model

Performance Percentiles Air Flow Centiles VOC Centiles Average

Overall Score out off 100

Phresh Normal RAM Can Original BO Buddy Red Scorpion Phresh Inline PK Eco PK Industry BO Even Flow Rhino Hobby Rhino Pro Can Lite Bulldog

17.5 12.1 0 30 19 42.3 28.5 49.4 38.9 54.8 70.8 76.3 97.9

90 87 84 80 79 79 72 70 70 54 54 49 14

2.5 13.9 32.6 9.3 22.9 0 27.3 10.8 22 37.8 22.2 26.5 73.5

10.0 13.0 16.3 19.7 21.0 21.2 27.9 30.1 30.5 46.3 46.5 51.4 85.7

Bulldog

Rhino Hobby

CanFilters Original

Prima Klima Eco

CanFilters Lite

Red Scorpion

Rhino Professional

Black Orchid Black

Ram

Prima Klima Industry

20 Black Orchid White

“ Low as a result of carbon block not sealed to flange. Rush of air at the flange end bypassing the carbon bed.”

Phresh Normal

Bulldog Filter:

Phresh Inline

“ A high carbon quality doesn’t always mean better performance. The entire build quality of each filter reflects how well it performs here.”

Expert Opinions:

ENZYMES These types of nutrient additives provide the key to unlocking and enhancing many a reaction that happens with your rootzone. Enzymes perform critical roles in all sorts of functions. A popular application is for when growers re-use media, and require old root material to be broken down quicker. Enzymes help out massively in this process, and many other to boot. Like most additives, your plants will probably be okay without them, but it’s almost like trying to have a late 80’s rave without glowsticks, or a hippy jam-fest without a drum circle. Things are likely to still work well, but be lacking the certain je ne sais quoi required to take things to the next level. So what makes for a good Enzyme product? Hygrozyme all but cornered the market a few years back, and quite rightly so from all the great feedback and positive reports it received from growers worldwide. Nowadays these products are available from pretty much every brand of nutrient out there, so is there really much difference between them all? My instinct is yes. As with most things you usually get what you pay for, so once again we have invited a few manufacturers to harp on about what makes theirs special. Over the following few pages we probe three of our favourite chums from the nutrient world to divulge some more info behind their brand of product than you would normally be privy to. What makes theirs different? Why should you really choose brand ‘x’ over brand ‘y’? Hopefully you will have more in the way of answers to those questions, especially once we have filtered and heavily cut all the marketing jive out.

EXPERT OPINIONS | BIO GREEN

Enzymes In horticulture, enzymes carry out important work. Many fungi and bacteria survive on dead plant materials; by converting this dead or residual plant material, these pathogenic bacteria and fungi are starved out. The nutrient salts released by the decomposition of dead cells via catalyzation exist in a form that can be directly absorbed by plants. The other released substances, including sugars, are in turn an ideal nutrition for rhizobacteria. Enzymes are highly specialised protein molecule clusters that are formed from amino acids, with a very specific effect. Enzymes are produced by ALL living organisms. Enzymes are not so-called living organisms. They act as a catalyst in numerous biochemical processes. Some well-known enzyme processes include; fermentation of sugar into carbon dioxide and alcohol (beer), preparation of cheese or yeast processes of bread, and people also use enzymes in their digestive system to digest food. These enzymes are, for example, present in our saliva. A striking and pleasant feature is that the effect of enzymes is always 100%, i.e. for each amount of cleared/used substrate an equal amount of the converted product is obtained, without the formation of any waste or by-products. An enzymatic reaction is as follows: In a fast chemical reaction, the substrate binds itself to the active centre of the enzyme. The result is an enzyme-substrate complex that is converted into an enzyme-product complex. The latter complex decomposes in a rapid reaction into a free enzyme and a product. Under normal conditions, this process can be repeated by each enzyme approximately 40,000 to 60,000 times before the enzyme itself decomposes. The effect of enzymes is enhanced by so-called coenzymes. Co-enzymes can include vitamins or minerals such as iron, copper and similar materials.

Bio Green Available in 250 & 500 ml, 1, 5 & 10 litres

Co-enzymes Minerals and trace elements that enhance the action of enzymes and optimise their action. Iron, zinc, copper and some other minerals significantly support the action of enzymes. Vitamins Vitamins can be produced and used in different kinds of places. This can even be in the same cell, but also in entirely different places. Therefore vitamins can also serve as a signaling molecule. Most of the vitamins are absorbed by the cell, to perform their work only there. The response to the production of vitamins therefore takes much longer than in the case of hormones. By adding vitamins to the plant through nutrition, processes can be controlled. An excess of vitamins is highly unlikely as vitamins are rapidly degraded by the plants. The risk of adding too much is therefore non-existent. One of the vitamins added in some of our products vitamins is niacin. Under normal conditions, the plant will not find it necessary to go grow a lot of roots. A natural blockage is raised to counteract root formation. Niacin is able to lift this blockage so root formation can take place. Therefore Niacin has an indirect effect on root development.

Bio Green Biozym Biocatalyst is an extremely important biocatalyst for plant waste. It’s a high-quality biotechnological product consisting of 24 important enzyme complexes, and a number of important coenzymes that allow the enzyme activity to function more eﬃciently. It’s also been enriched with a number of vitamins and minerals that play a role in the transport of released nutritional elements, and strengthen the cell walls. Bio Green Biozym promotes microbial life, restores soil structures, promotes root growth and increases mineral absorption. It’s suitable for use with all types of growth media and it can easily be distributed together with regular plant nutrition. Most cellulases work optimally between 20°C and 35°C. However, because soil/substrate temperatures are generally lower we’ve developed our enzyme preparation with a lower optimum temperature; between 15°C and 30°C. Bio Green Biozym is non-toxic and environmentally friendly. Our enzymes are produced naturally, and contain absolutely no chlorine. Enzymes are made by bacteria and fungi and the trick is to use the right bacterial or fungal cultures to produce enzymes. We make use of fungal cultures that produce enzymes at lower temperatures, which enables them to optimally perform their work under lower temperatures as well.

EXPERT OPINIONS | PLAGRON

soil organic and mineral components. Enzymes When plant remains are returned to the soil, the breakdown of organic compounds starts. Decomposition of old leaves, roots, flowers and fruits leads to the transformation of complex molecules into simpler ones. Small lifeforms like bacteria and fungi are responsible for this process. If the temperature, humidity and other external conditions are favourable, microorganisms digest the particles of dead organic material. Microbial produced enzymes break down organic waste into smaller bits. A very diverse combination of microbes is necessary for completely breaking down organic matter. With that theory in mind it can be established that soils and substrates are not just growing media, but living, dynamic and ever changing environments. Soils provide a full range of functions (especially nutrient, carbon, and water cycling) to sustain plant productivity and maintain plant health. A unique balance of chemical, physical, and biological (including microbial especially enzyme activities) components contribute to maintaining soil health. Microorganisms Despite of their small volume in soil and substrates, microorganisms are key players in the cycling of nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorus, and the decomposition of organic residues. In addition to the effect on nutrient cycling, microorganisms affect the physical properties of the soil. Production of extra-cellular polysaccharides and other cellular debris by microorganisms help in maintaining soil structure as well as soil health. Thereby, microorganisms also affect for example water holding capacity, infiltration rate and susceptibility to compaction. The enzymatic activity in the soil is mainly of microbial origin In practice, the biochemical reactions of microorganisms are brought about largely through the catalytic contribution of enzymes. Enzymes are the vital activators in life processes. In the soil, they are the direct mediators for biological breakdown of

Plagron Pure Zym Available in 100, 250 & 500 ml, 1 & 5 litres

Soil enzymes Soil enzymes are a group of enzymes who are usual inhabitants of the soil and are continuously playing an important role in maintaining soil ecology, physical and chemical properties, fertility, and soil health. These enzymes play key biochemical functions in the overall process of organic matter decomposition in the soil system. They are important in catalysing several vital reactions necessary for the life processes of microorganisms, the stabilization of soil structure, the decomposition of organic wastes, organic matter formation, and nutrient cycling. Enzyme activity in soil fluctuates with environment Enzyme levels in soil systems vary in amounts primarily due to the fact that each soil type has different amounts of organic matter and content, composition, and activity of its living organisms and intensity of biological processes. Studies have shown that activities of enzyme producing microorganisms substrates are affected by several factors. These include temperature, soil pH, water and oxygen contents, the quality and chemical structure of organic matter/plant debris and the amounts of mineral elements. As a solution, enzymes can be applied externally to make sure you have all the benefits associated with a healthy biologically active soil, without worries about the biological activity.

Contains a range of natural compounds that elicit a stimulation in plant growth rate and final yield. Pure Zym is a soil improver based on natural enzymes. It promotes the accelerated breakdown of dead plant parts so additional nutrients that stimulate soil life are released. Pure Zym also increases the ability to absorb oxygen and protects the plant against diseases. Advantages of Pure Zym: • Fast nutrient uptake for abundant growth and bloom • Protects against high salt levels • Increases oxygen uptake capacity • Reduces pests and disease risk • Highly concentrated, therefore advantageous in use Distributed by • Dutch Garden supply • Growth Technology • Nutriculture • GroTech Distribution • Erith horticulture Do you have any questions? Please contact servicedesk@plagron.com

EXPERT OPINIONS | GREEN PLANET

Delivering New Life to Dead Plant Growth There are legends about bringing the dead back to life, but in the case with using enzymes in your garden it is not simply a tall tale, but a beneficial truth! Enzymes are produced naturally in your garden’s soil bed over time. When you add enzymes to your hydroponic system you are giving your garden the ability to convert organic material into sustainable nutrients, triggering positive reactions giving you optimal growing conditions. We all know that compost can be of benefit to the future growth of any garden, but adding the beneficial enzymes to any organic matter, can actually bring additional benefits to your garden and plant life as a whole. You should use a comprehensive blend of cell wall degrading enzymes and biocatalysts, only available in dry formulations. Understanding the Difference Between Solid vs. Liquid Enzymes Liquid enzymes may cause concentration levels to breakdown immediately, dissolving and minimizing the enzymes before they have even been delivered to the plant. Since you don’t know how long it has been on the shelf before you purchased it you really don’t know how many enzymes are already rendered useless. On the contrary, a dry capsule formula maintains its potency until it is actually used, effectively delivering all the enzymes to your plants.

necessary to degrade and convert dead plant material you will get potent, usable, nutrient-rich sources of growth for your garden. By utilizing a dry formula, you will witness a much more effective result with no risk of waste. Dry formulas will typically see a ﬁve year shelf life, maintaining full potency and life-giving enzymes whenever you are ready for it. Allowing one purchase to renew and restore plant and soil life season after season.

“There are legends about bringing the dead back to life, but in the case with using enzymes in your garden it is not simply a tall tale, but a beneficial truth!”

Understanding The Range of Restorative Powers Having a wide range of comprehensive blend of enzymes packs an additional punch. Because each enzyme has a function, the more enzymes you have that serve a purpose, the more your plant life will beneﬁt. Enzymes are amino acids and proteins. So when you provide the full-spectrum

Zyme Available in 10, 25, 100 & 250 caps

Zyme is a comprehensive blend of cell wall degrading enzymes and biocatalysts, offered in a highly beneficial dry encapsulated formulation. The enzymes in Zyme have the ability to degrade and convert dead plant material - such as discarded roots and other organic matter - into usable and readily available nutrients, regenerating dead plant growth into a renewed and nutrient-rich life source. Not only does Zyme deliver optimal results at the fraction of the cost, but it also provides your plants with the superior nutrients that they need for bountiful growth. Why deliver a less concentrated liquid version of enzymes and reduce the effectiveness of your products intent? Instead, utilize the powder form in which Zyme is contained in, and deliver effective results for optimal plant growth and crop yield season after season! This product is created by Green Planet Nutrients. A trusted company who’s mission is to reduce the amount of products the consumer has to use to achieve an optimal outcome, while prompting the highest yielding crops possible. Product Info: 10 caps - £17.50 | 25 caps £35.00 | 100 caps £100.00 250 caps £200.00 Distribution via HID

Enzymes

A selection of other Enzymes currently available on the market...

CANNA CANNAZYM

GROTEK HYDROZYME

VAALSERBERG GARDEN ELEMENT 5

GHE BIO ROOT PLUS

ADVANCED NUTRIENTS SENSIZYM

GROWELL HYGROZYME

UK HOUSE AND GARDEN MULTI ZYME

ATAMI ATAZYME

HUMBOLDT NUTRIENTS PROZYME

HESI POWER ZYME

DUTCH PRO MULTI TOTAL

BIO NOVA BN-ZYME

Why is the SunSystem AC/DE HPY JVVSLK YLĂ&#x2026;LJ[VY IL[[LY [OHU [OL YLZ[& Scan here to watch the video or visit maxigrow.com

JAZZ

It is rumoured that the term ‘Jazz’ originated from certain bordellos (whore houses) in Louisiana, in the early part of the 20th century. The goal in these places was to get men in and out as quickly as possible and displaying business acumen Lord Sugar would be proud of, the matron’s signal to the girls to hurry things up and to help coax clients into a state of shall we say more frenzied pumping, they would get the house band to speed up the tempo of the music they were playing in the bar. ‘Jazz it up boys!’, she’d say and as the music gained in intensity, so would the sweaty, Southern, bourbon infused love making, bringing both the sex and the increasingly raucous music, to their conclusion of messy, ‘beautiful agony’, clearing the decks ready for the next licentious degenerate. Jazz took off in the era known as the ‘Roaring Twenties’. It was a period of drastic, cultural renaissance, also known as the ‘Jazz Age’, Jazz being the soundtrack to this wildly exciting and progressive era. The essence of Jazz music embodied the emergent, expressive, very liberal feeling of the time. At the end of WW1, optimism was in the air. Financial prosperity had returned to America and Western Europe and emboldened after all that death and with a widening lack of conviction in the church, there was a global push to make our one life on earth as colourful and engaging as possible and it shaped our interest in everything as we know it today. The Twenties were ‘a moveable feast’, an extraordinary cultural Catherine wheel. It was the dawn of authors such as Fitzgerald, Steinbeck and Hemingway, artists like Dali, Picasso and Andre Breton’s Surrealist manifesto. There was the ‘Weimar’ cultural movement, with the likes of Albert Einstein and Werner Heisenberg revolutionising the world of science, Heidegger Philosophy and the

‘Boxing is like Jazz. The better it is, the less people appreciate it’ - George Foreman

futuristic dystopian classic ‘Metropolis’ in the world of film. In Vienna, Freud and Jung were developing psychotherapy and tackling mental illness, women had won the right to vote and achieved political equality for the first time. Young women also started wearing cosmetics and having an interest in fashions from all over the world, sex prior to marriage became more acceptable, box office cinema stars were born like Chaplin and Keaton, domestic sports baseball, football and basketball became full on national obsessions across the States and of course, arguably America’s greatest export, Jazz music was born. More than just a musical genre, Jazz is credited with playing a significant role in the Civil Rights Movement. Jazz was the first major cultural cross over, with dances like ‘the Lindy Hop’ sweeping the nation and quite simply, white bands weren’t swinging enough to play the music right! It was the first time music created from the African American community became eminently popular with white audiences everywhere. Jacob Teichroew writes; “The music, which appealed to whites and blacks alike, provided a culture in which the collective and the individual were inextricable, and in which one was judged by his ability alone, and not by race or any other irrelevant factors.” “Jazz predicted the civil rights movement more than any other art in America.” - Stanley Crouch There was an implicit and at times a very explicit racial bias at that time in America and what better way to shatter bigoted, ignorant, malevolent prejudice, than to have musicians with NO formal education learn a skill and a language, that is as difficult to master and understand as nuclear physics. To have the capability to learn and perform complex, technically and emotionally sophisticated and awe-inspiring symphonic music is a pretty clear indication, even to dumb racists that racial bias is not just morally repugnant, but simply erroneous.

Jazz evolved from being big band dance music into music for musicians. The ever increasing levels of musical sophistication, the blurring of styles and lengthy solo’s gave it a competitive edge, which made it impenetrable for some and further excited others. There is an intellectual snobbery to Jazz, that is part of the attraction, as it probably makes some people feel a bit clever for liking it, but the real joy to be found in Jazz comes from its trust in the transcendent, benevolent nature of the creative impulse. In life we tend to give up part of what makes us human to become more functional at what we need to do. We tend to become machine like to become productive rather than creative. In Improv Jazz, you can’t choose how to appear, you can’t be a machine, you are making it happen spontaneously. There is a synergy between the musicians in a Jazz band, that potentially exposes the root of what makes us human. What is the biological relevance of nostalgia, of wistfulness, of art? What is this indefinable element of consciousness, that elevates life beyond rudimentary survival and fucking? Maybe art’s significance is just an illusion, an evolutionary trick to keep us entertained, to keep us from boredom and suicide? Whatever art is, Jazz is a spectacular medium for it…

MILES DAVIS GET UP WITH IT (1974)

‘The thing to judge any Jazz artist by, is does the man project? Does he have ideas?’ - Miles Davis. MILES DAVIS A KIND OF BLUE (1959) 4 x platinum, A Kind Of Blue is the biggest selling Jazz album of all time and is considered by many to also be the greatest ever recorded. There is a form of Japanese painting, that is done on a stretched rice paper canvas. The artist has to move quickly and can’t correct mistakes, as the paper canvas is so thin that if the brush touches the same area twice, or if it is held in one place for too long, the canvas disintegrates. Miles dug this and sort to make an album the same way. He put together the best band possible, gave them very rough modal cuts to rehearse and with some basic melodic ideas they then recorded the album straight, through improvisation. Words are a terrible medium to describe the result that is so far beyond the prosaic. When you know that the band performing are hearing what you’re listening to for the first time, when you really listen you can feel the sparks between the notes. There is a supernatural electricity to it that evokes paralysing rapture. How they were quite so together out of improvisation, feels like divine intervention. Keep your Bible, your Upanishads and Koran. A Kind Of Blue is greater evidence for the existence of God…

After the ambient modal improv on Kind Of Blue, under the influence of the psychedelic 60s and wild cat wife Betty Mabry, who made Madonna seem like Tipper Gore, his musical approach changed and led to the creation of many psychedelic fusion albums. The standout track at 32 minutes long, is ‘He Loved Him Madly’, Miles’s tribute to the recently deceased Duke Ellington. Brian Eno claims it influenced his work heavily and it’s easy to hear. Reportedly a lethal hurricane was coming to Miami and with government warnings to leave the city, photographer Stephen Brook, decided he would ward off the storm by listening to ‘He Loved Him Madly’ repeatedly. The hurricane destroyed everything around him, but his apartment was untouched and he believes to this day that Miles as a force of nature matched the storm and saved him. Who could disbelieve it?

JOHN COLTRANE A LOVE SUPREME (1965)

‘Jazz isn’t dead, it just smells funny’ Frank Zappa said decades ago and an act that might actually save it are the Soil and Pimp Sessions, an extremely talented swinging group from Tokyo, who have coined the term ‘Death Jazz’ to describe their energetic take on the genre. Awesome 70s clothes, crazy hair and frenetic music that is impossibly infectious and difficult to ignore, this is a Jazz party band with style and substance for the 21st century, Jazz 2.0 if you like. Their live performances have garnered praise all over the world and are well worth checking out.

John Coltrane is considered by many to be one of the true greats of Jazz. His musicianship is staggering. He could rip out modal solos and play 100 notes a second, being described as ‘sheets of sound’. His knowledge of chord progressions and harmony was as sophisticated as it gets too, with ‘Giant Steps’ being one of the most complicated pieces ever recorded. A Love Supreme is considered one of the great Jazz albums. On it Coltrane had reached a period in his career where he felt that his ability was in fact god given and felt guilty that after heroin abuse, perhaps attaching more ego than he would have liked to his talent, he wanted to show gratitude for his music and declare his intention of devotion to it. The opening track is called ‘Acknowledgement’. It is an album full of joy, devotion and introverted musical purity.

Duke Ellington was famous for being a great band leader, gaining notoriety first with a residency at The Cotton Club, Harlem, where he was tasked with leading a band playing exclusively to white, wealthy audiences in prohibition era America. They involved, burlesque shows, comedy, illegal alcohol and of course seriously swinging tunes. Duke knew as a band leader exactly how to put on a show, but he was a music man first and it was the quality of the Jazz that garnered him an international reputation. During WW2, a combination of travel becoming difficult, personnel being sent off to fight and big band’s being expensive

to pay, caused Duke to lose influence on the circuit, but in 1956 ‘Live at Newport’ reintroduced him to a new audience who were absolutely blown away, especially by tenor sax Paul Gonslaves’s 27 chorus ‘Diminuendo In Blue’, that got audiences so riled up that organisers asked him to stop because they though it was about to start a riot. The Duke realised the opposite, if they stopped it would have caused a riot! It made international headlines the next day and catapulted him back into the spotlight. A wonderful album and a supremely respected, talented gentleman whose music and personality played an enormous role in the country’s quest for civil rights.

SOIL AND PIMP SESSIONS PLANET PIMP (2008)

DUKE ELLINGTON LIVE AT NEWPORT (1956)

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100FILMS

TO WATCH BEFORE YOU SNUFF IT:

MUSICAL05 According to Dr Joel Funk, a professor of psychology at Plymouth State College in New Hampshire, about 50% of people reporting a near-death experience claim to hear music during their NDE; particularly appropriate as we turn our attention this issue to the Musical movie; a genre that has inspired many a “near-death” experience amongst bored audience members.

It pains us at HYDROMAG to confess that, despite being rigorously committed to the journalistic principle of objectivity, the Musical is the one film type that we might consider cannibalising were we to be marooned with all the genres following a plane crash in the Andes. Whether it’s Hugh Jackman’s efforts to make us weep with his wobbly baritone proclaiming “I stole a loaf of bread” in Les Miserables or Pierce Brosnan’s prostrate-examinationcaterwauling in Mama Mia; the Musical provides us with a slew of moments where suspense of disbelief – so crucial a covenant between filmmaker and filmgoer – becomes nigh on impossible. However, the Comedy Musical is a different kettle of fish, recognising as it does its inherent ridiculousness. The Comedy Musical we can have a beer with. And so it is that most of our choices in this issue of HYDROMAG veer towards the humorous… P.S. Apologies to Gene Kelly. This edition: Musicals. Films focussing on fear and terror… (Editor’s note - That was last issue). Oops. Start again. A film in which characters inexplicably break into song throughout the narrative.

Southpark: Bigger, Longer & Uncut DIRECTOR: Trey Parker (1999)

Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s genius for parody and satire is perhaps overlooked sometimes amidst the scatology, subversion and no-holds-barred offense. Yet here they created one of the finest musicals of the modern era. They haven’t just shown they understood the conventions but ended up writing songs of some brilliance, both lyrically and technically (Satan’s “Up There”, “It’s Easy, MMMKay”, “Blame Canada”, and finally “Uncle Fucka” by Terrance and Phillip stand out). They parody Disney and Broadway to such effect that one could argue the quality of their compositions surpasses the songs they’re making fun of. The self-referential plot also satirises the moral hysteria surrounding bad language in cartoons, taking said hysteria to its logical conclusion – war with Canada and Satan’s emergence from Hell to rule Earth. There aren’t many filmmakers with the chutzpah and imagination to show Saddam Hussein trying to entice Satan with a giant cock. They must be applauded.

The Blues Brothers Director: John Landis (1980) Saturday Night Live has been a fertile breeding ground for a number of spin-off ﬁlms of variable quality. The Blues Brothers was the ﬁrst and remains one of the best of this ilk. Featuring guest appearances from a number of legendary blues, R&B and soul singers, the plot follows brothers Jake and Elwood “on a mission from God” to save the orphanage they grew up in by reuniting the band. Along the way they manage to infuriate nuns, neo-Nazis, rednecks and various police forces. At the heart of all the chaos and anarchy Landis throws at us is a great double act in John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd, dusting themselves off after each explosion with a pithy, monotone quip. If you enjoy the music of Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and James Brown, like proper old-fashioned (non-CGI) car chases, and you’re a fan of John Belushi – then you’ve almost certainly already seen The Blues Brothers. And if not, why not?

A Hard Day’s Night Director: Richard Lester (1964) Here The Beatles play themselves, parodying their life on the road as they run from screaming fans, play a concert in London, and move between “a train and a room, and a car and a room, and a room and a room,” (echoing the sometimes tedious aspects of stardom). Richard Lester shot the film in a revolutionary (for the time) documentary style, using hand-held camerawork, quick cuts and a blurring of the lines between reality and fiction. The plot-as-an-afterthought approach is very much in keeping with the convention-breaking, nose-thumbing at authority that became such a prominent feature of the counterculture movement in the 1960s. If you insisted, the plot could loosely be summed up as a road trip involving McCartney’s troublemaking grandfather (played by Steptoe & Sons’ Wilfrid Brambell), and Ringo developing an inferiority complex. It must be watched, not least as a showcase for some of The Beatles’ finest early work, but for the exquisite quick-fire dialogue and charisma of the “Fab Four”.

Bugsy Malone DIRECTOR: Alan Parker (1976) Alan Parker must have been insane, ignoring completely the old filmmaking adage of never working with children or animals. To make life even harder he insisted on casting most of the actors straight out of junior school, with little or no acting experience. Jodie Foster, at 13 years of age, is the seasoned pro in what Jon Fortang of Channel 4 described as “the best children–dressed–as–gangsters–while–killing– each–other–with–custard film ever made;” and he makes a good point. Bugsy Malone follows a washed-up boxing promoter getting dragged into an ugly turf war in 1920s Chicago, dodging custard and finding love along the way. The sets and costumes are sublime, and the songs punchy and memorable. There’s not a single adult in front of the camera, but you quickly become so immersed in this excellent slice of 1970s madness that you stop noticing.

The Wizard of Oz DIRECTOR: Victor Fleming (1939)

Surprisingly this film performed relatively poorly in the Box Office upon release, earning MGM a paltry $240,000 profit. It’s since gone on to become one of the most viewed, and beloved, films of all time. Shot in sepia for the scenes set in “reality” and in glorious Technicolor for the world of Oz, it’s incredible to think that this film was released in the year Hitler invaded Poland, as the visual effects remain astonishingly timeless. The plot follows young Dorothy as a cyclone transports her to the wonderfully surreal world of Oz. On her travels to return home to Kansas she encounters a scarecrow without a brain, a tinman without a heart and a lion bereft of bravery. Together they determine to find the eponymous wizard who they believe will solve all their problems. As with all great fairy tales, scratch beneath the surface of the story and the psychology becomes apparent. This is a journey of self-discovery, belonging and friendship, set against a backdrop of those mind-bending visuals. If you haven’t seen it recently, watch it again. And again. Like a fine wine it keeps getting better. See the official trailers for these movies. HYDROMAG YouTube channel will be full of playlists to supplement our articles. You can also see sponsored playlists from our advertisers. Visit: www.youtube.com/user/hydromagazine

GROW GEAR Grow Gear gives you a taste of our advertiser’s premier products, from popular classics to new-fangled curiosities. We can’t guarantee that they’re right for you, but we can tell you that we wouldn’t have them in HYDROMAG if we didn’t respect their work. Even if you aren’t in the market for something new, Grow Gear is well worth a read.

TESTING UPDATES: Ballasts

DIGITAL BALLASTS

Last issue you will no doubt remember we looked at power consumed and delivered by almost every ballast on the market. The keen eyed among you will no doubt have noticed that there was one rather obvious company missing: Gavita. Unfortunately we were unable to get their Digistar ballast in time before the issue went to print to have it tested. Thankfully we now have said ballasts and the subsequent data to now ready to drop in alongside every other one we collected.

600w

Make / Model Gavita Digistar E Series

Overdrive

First Dim

700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 Gavita Digistar E Series

STATED OUTPUT RECORDED OUTPUT

Second Dim

W Stated

W Drawn W Delivered W Stated

W Drawn W Delivered

600

648

710

476

433

606

660

666

440

439.5

400

398

Power Factor

Frequency @600W

0.99

76993

pH meters

for easy & accurate pH testing

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Correct pH levels in growing mediums & nutrient solutions is essentialâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

www.etiltd.com

GROW GEAR BLACK ORCHID Proto-Star Reflector The Black Orchid Proto-Star reﬂector is a highly versatile and unique lighting reﬂector. Made with pure crystallised glass the Proto-Star reflector provides a proven increase in light penetration to your indoor garden. The Proto-Star also features a removable glass plate for versatility. Available in 5” and 6”air cooled duct connections. Lower radio interference with RFI complaint cable and connectors. Fitted with pure Crystal-proTM glass. For further information on any of our products visit: www.blackorchid.co.uk

Product Website: http://tinyurl.com/pma6bsw

ETI LTD Max / Min Thermometer with Internal Temperature Sensor This max/min thermometer simultaneously displays the actual temperature whilst displaying the max and min temperatures on a digital LCD bar graph. The thermometer measures temperature over the range of -40 to 40°C with a resolution of 0.1 °C/°F and an accuracy of ±1°C. To switch the current reading between °C and °F, simply press the button on the side of the unit. To reset the recorded max and min temperatures, simply press the red ‘clear’ button on the front of the thermometer. Priced at £10 each ex VAT, it is available from www.etiltd.com

Product Website: www.etiltd.com

SECRET JARDIN Spare Parts & Accessories This premium quality tent manufacturer is now oﬀering its end users readily available spare parts. Re-enforced metal poles and newly engineered plastic corners are now available for all Secret Jardin tents (Darkroom, Darkstreet, Intense) from most shops selling the Revision 2.50 range. Upgraded accessories to suit many growing demands are also available now. Such as: The new white webbing nets (full range of WebIT sizes). The new 2 metre high vertical support poles (SupportIT), and the new PocketIT for ultimate convenience when neatly storing away your various growroom instruments. For more info, visit http://secretjardin.com

UK Distribution by: Maxigrow IRELAND Distribution by: Dublin Indoor Gardening

GROW GEAR CANNA Cannaboost CANNABOOST strong till the end. The quantity of nutrients that your plants take up depends on their health and metabolism rate. CANNABOOST, boosts the metabolism of your plants, stimulating the development of new ﬂowers and ensuring powerful ripening. It also improves the taste. Want to know more about CANNABOOST please visit the CANNA website www.canna-uk.com.

Product Website: www.canna-uk.com Distribution by: Highlight Horticulture / Hydrogarden

CANNA Your last chance to win a FREE CANNA additive Your last chance to win a FREE CANNA additive. CANNA gives away a free CANNA additive every day until the 31st of December 2014. Don’t hesitate any longer and like our facebook page www.facebook.com/addcanna! Once you like the page follow the steps at https://addcanna.canna-uk.com and you can give a free additive to one of your friends and/or family. For more information about this promotion please go to www.canna-uk.com.

Product Website: www.canna-uk.com

BOTANICARE Botanicare Kind Formulated for any water condition; hard or soft water. Formulated for all grow media- including hydro, coco or soil. No supplements required. The key is KIND’s Base formula which contains Nitrogen, Calcium and added bio stimulants. Intentionally absent are the trace minerals and Magnesium found in other formulas. We’ve moved the trace minerals and Magnesium to the Grow and Bloom formulas. This innovative approach allows you to adjust the amount of Base, without aﬀecting the balance of trace minerals, to manage your plant’s requirements depending on growth stage, media or water speciﬁcs. KIND® is hand crafted in small batches, dye free, and runs clean with minimal salt build up.

Product Website: http://tinyurl.com/nm7mb5c

GRO-X Gro-X Pioneer The Gro-X Pioneer range boasts features that make it stand out from the competition. Its unique four handle design allows the unit to be raised off the floor, wall mounted or even suspended. The handles eliminate the need to pick up the unit with the cables and also protect the all-important Grasslin timer. Unique timer override sockets supply power independently of the timer depending on your needs; giving the option of constant power, timed power or none. Gro-X contactors are made in the UK and finished to a high standard.

Available sizes – 2 way, 4 way, 6 way & 8 way Distribution by: Hydro Industry Direct

UBER Uber F-D-S The world’s first active transport delivery agent, UBER F-D-S will supercharge any foliar application. F-D-S temporarily alters the permeability of a leaf’s waxy layer without damaging the cuticle, meaning that any combined foliar products arrive directly at the plasma membrane. Next, F-D-S utilises next generation Active Transport Technology that literally pushes and pulls your foliar applied elements through the plasma membrane and delivers them directly to the chloroplasts of your leaves. Using F-D-S can make your foliar applied products up to 6 times more eﬀective! Available sizes – 1 Litre, 4 Litre & 10 Litre

Product Website: http://tinyurl.com/kg6ttx2 Distribution by: Hydro Industry Direct

NUTRIFIELD Nutrifield Coco Mixes Brand-new to the UK, Nutrifield’s Coco Premium Perlite Blend 70/30 contains a blend of 70% coco coir and 30% perlite which presents many advantages for the modern gardener. As drainage and air flow are improved, more aggressive feeding programs can be implemented without fear of overwatering. Drainage capacity is optimised, so fear of overwatering will be a thing of the past. Plants get constant supply of fresh, cool air and as much nutrients as the coco coir can hold while the excess flows through. The increased air flow within the medium allows for greater root transpiration, respiration, and feeding which accelerates growth. Available sizes – 50 Litres

Product Website: http://nutrifield.com.au/ Distribution by: Hydro Industry Direct

GROW GEAR PLANT VITALITY End of Days Plant Vitality bring to the market an all new intensive flushing solution exclusively distributed by Erith Horticulture, End of Days contains the actual ingredients fed to humans after severe poisoning and when used as a flushing agent to plants will dramatically improve the taste of your harvest following flowering by removing all toxins in a hurry. End of Days can be also used after vegetative nutrient feeding prior to changing into flowering phase as this speeds adaptation to new levels of NPK feed and increases potential for faster, larger growing plants, can further be used if over fertilized to help restore balance.

Distribution by: Erith Horticulture

PLANT VITALITY Killermite What feels like a lifetime ago we launched many great working products; sadly many of these werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t well marketed or advertised. One product that people will know is plant vitality + Well thankfully now Plant Vitality is back, fully licensed products, fully approved, fully regulated, professional products for you serious professional growers of varying crops. First to market from our new range is Plant Vitality Killermite, a professional product aimed at serious professional users. A working product to combat the dreaded Borg, spidermite, both red and black. So finally folks Plant Vitality is back and the battle of the borg is won.

Product Website: http://plantvitalityltd.co.uk/

POTZSYSTEMS Pro Flo deep water culture system Pro Flo deep water culture systems re-circulate the nutrient solution through 42mm internal diameter pipe and fittings, whilst a flow of bubbles enriches the oxygen levels in each 30 litre Potz. The design of the mesh basket dramatically increases the bubbles that flow around the main root zone of the plants, increasing the growth rate and yield from your crop. Pro Flo systems are available with or without a Flexi Tank. You have the option of choosing from a 100litre, 225litre or 400litre Flexi Tank and float top up set, as any size tank can fit any size system.

Available in 4, 6, 8, 12, 16 & 24 Potz Product Website: http://tinyurl.com/ngsu6vw Distribution by: Hydrogarden

the grower’s choice Compaction Foam: Polyester polyurethane foam

Top Flange Plate: 1.5mm-1.9mm Spun Aluminium

RC412 Australian Carbon Elasticated Pre-Filter

38mm Carbon Bed

Side Mesh Plate: Zintec with 1.1mm hole pitch. Hole diameter 4mm

Base: 1.5mm-1.9mm Spun Aluminium Carbon Retention Netting: 20D vortex weave

RAM® Pro Active carbon filters are a professional range of filters designed with the grower in mind. Double certified for peace of mind, RAM® filters are easy-to-use, value for money and flexible to suit your needs.

Guaranteed to do the job, RAM® Filters are not full of hollow claims

A variety of sizes for you: Filter Size

Maxiumum recommended fan flow rate

100 x 200

170 m³/hr

125 x 475

350 m³/hr

150 x 475

500 m³/hr

150 x 600

700 m³/hr

200 x 600

850 m³/hr

250 x 600

1080 m³/hr

315 x 800

1350 m³/hr

315 x 1250

2400 m³/hr

PLAGRON Plagron Cocos Pebbles SUBSTRATE / NON FERTILISED. Easy hydroponic growing 50/50 Plagron Cocos Pebbles is a 50/50 combination of high quality Cocos Premium and Euro Pebbles, known as ‘the cleanest pebbles out there’. Controlling the pH is easy; this substrate is buﬀered for a stable pH throughout the entire cultivation period. The EC value is extremely low; giving growers full control over the fertilisation. Plagron Cocos Pebbles is suitable for almost any hydroponics system, because of the excellent drainage that the pebbles supply.

Advantages of Cocos Pebbles: Completely buﬀered substrate with a stabile pH Excellent drainage High oxygen level Guaranteed low EC value Combine Cocos Pebbles with Cocos A & Cocos B for the best results. Do you have any questions? servicedesk@plagron.com For additional information about Euro Pebbles and other products check www.plagron.com

PLAGRON Plagron Euro Pebbles SUBSTRATE / NON FERTILISED. Hydroponic growth for the highest yield Plagron Euro Pebbles is a high-quality inert hydrological substrate, known as ‘The cleanest pebble out there’. They are made from pure, saltfree clays that are baked in an open oven to produce the characteristic irregular granules. The ﬁne pores are capable of absorbing large amounts of moisture and nutrients, before gradually releasing them to the plant. When the Euro Pebbles are carefully washed after each cultivation and then soaked in Plagron Hydro A & B and Plagron Pure Zym for 24 hours, they are indeﬁnitely reusable. Euro Pebbles can also be mixed with other substrates to improve drainage.

Advantages of Euro Pebbles: High water and oxygen holding capacity Suitable for recirculating systems Do you have any questions? servicedesk@plagron.com For additional information about Euro Pebbles and other products check www.plagron.com

MAXIBRIGHT Sunlight AC/DE – 8” Double Ended Air-Cooled Reflector The AC/DE is designed and manufactured specifically for use with double ended 1000W High Pressure Sodium Lamps (Sold Separately). The unique double ended construction allows maximum optical efficiency and uniformity. The AC/DE’s design allows removal of heat generated by the lamp without cooling the lamp below its optimum operating temperature. Using 95% reflective textured German aluminium with 98% reflective “Silver” corner inserts in the reflectors construction offers excellent uniformity, output and diffusion of light. Its galvanised steel housing with durable powder coated finish is manufactured to exacting standards and incorporates a double neoprene gasket to ensure an air tight seal. The lamp can be easily cleaned or replaced due to the hinged glass of the reflector.

For your nearest retailer visit www.maxibright.com/where-to-buy. Scan the QR Code to see the Unique AC/DE reﬂector in action!

MAXIBRIGHT Maxibright DigiLight Pro® Max 600W and 1000W Digital Ballast The Pro® Max digital ballast is now available in 600W or 1000W versions. Using the latest in digital ballast technology it provides a 10% higher PAR output per watt. It powers a variety of lamps manufactured by well-known brands such as Philips, Venture and Sylvania, ensuring optimum performance and greater flexibility from both ballast and lamp. One of its key features is flexible power modes that provide greater flexibility and efficiency during the growing cycle:

600W Pro® Max Power Modes: 400W, 500W, 600W and 660W ‘Super’ 1000W Pro® Max Power Modes: 600W, 800W, 1000W and 1100W ‘Super’ Featurung Surge Control® software, reducing the risk of electrical surges. the Pro® Max includes a built-in diagnostic LED for fault ﬁnding. Check out your nearest Maxibright stockist: www.maxibright.com/where-to-buy.

GHE FloraNova FloraNova represents a breakthrough in fertilizer technology, as it gives users both the strength of a dry concentrate and the ease of a liquid.

The marriage of hydroponic and organic gardening methods High performance for all types of plants Adapted to all types of waters; hard and soft Super concentrated and pH stabilized Optimum nutrient absorption is aided by natural humic extracts Extremely easy to use Superb for hydroponics, soil-less and soil cultivation Information: www.eurohydro.com Product Website: http://gb.eurohydro.com/floranova.html Distribution by: Growth Technology, Highlight Horticulture, Hydrogarden, Glasgrow

GROW GEAR GROTEK Pro-Silicate Pro-Silicate™ provides additional silicon and potash. Silicon enhancement has been shown to improve plant growth and tolerance to environmental stress, such as heat or drought, and improve plant structure while potassium gives extra benefit to flower and fruit development. Pro-Silicate™ is particularly effective when used on plants in soilless media that do not have access to natural sources of silica in the soil. Pro-Silicate™ can also be used to increase pH levels.

Product Website: http://tinyurl.com/klﬀx7o Distribution by: Erith Horticulture

GROTEK Cal-Max Cal-Max™ is designed to help protect against some common deficiencies all gardeners encounter from time to time. Cal-Max™ was developed to provide the additional calcium, magnesium and iron needed to support peak production. During periods of high temperatures and accelerated growth plants can develop preventable nutrient deficiencies. Cal-Max™ can be used when problems surface as a way to treat them but it can also be used as a preventative supplement to your nutrient program to avoid deficiencies such as tip burn in lettuce and blossom end rot in tomatoes.

Product Website: http://tinyurl.com/oqov7j3 Distribution by: Erith Horticulture

GROWING EDGE TECHNOLOGIES Power Thrive Guess what? Power Thrive is celebrating its 29 years of production and is getting a new look. G.E.T. has one of the greatest products that any gardener can use “Power Thrive”, it works with any nutrient lines to date and improves their overall growth rates. Satisfaction Guaranteed for 29 years and after all these years not a single bottle has been brought back with a complaint of it did not work! Pick some up today; you will not lose but have everything to GAIN!

Product Website: www.growingedgetechnologies.ca/ Distribution by: Erith Horticulture

VAALSERBERG GARDEN Sugar Babe Brand new to the UK market, and part of a wide range of premium nutrients from Vaalserberg Garden, comes a true gem of a nutrient additive. Sugar babe is an additive for use during your flowering cycle. At a high concentration of 2ml/litre not only does Sugar babe prove a cost effective choice, but also one that will see your plants increase its: sugar content/brix levels, essential oil production and also of course, final yield from the readily available micro and macro nutrient content. Suitable for use in all media and across all growing styles, Sugar Babe is available throughout all reputable Hydroponic Stores.

Manufacturer/Product Website: www.vaalserberg-garden.com Distributed via: LetsGrowHydro l

AN INCREASE IN ROOT GROWTH WILL INCREASE THE AMOUNT OF ROOT HAIRS ON YOUR PLANT

A HIGHER QUANTITY OF ROOT HAIRS ALLOWS FOR MORE ABSORPTION OF WATER AND NUTRIENTS.

Cyco XL used in the early stages of growth of a plantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s growth stage will help with the uptake of elements and increase root growth more rapidly (not recommended before week 3). Any increase in root growth will increase the amount of root hairs on your plant allowing for more absorption of water and nutrients.

DISTRIBUTED BY Contact: sales@ikon-international.com | Tel: 01925 822 503 (Trade Only)

GROW GEAR ZIP-ZAG BRAND BAGS Zip-Zag Brand Bags Purpose made re-sealable storage bags that work at a molecular level to guarantee that goods stay fresh and aromas stay safely locked inside. Manufactured in Canada using a specialized plastic and patented ‘Dual Lock’ zipper system, Zip-Zag Brand Bags are tough, re-sealable and with an oxygen transfer rate 400 times lower than conventional zip lock bags, are a 100% reliable storage bag. Available at all good grow stores now. Distributed by FDP Wholesale.

Distribution by: FDP Wholesale

SMSCOM The new Twin Controller Mk2 New look Double Digital Fan Controllers from SMSCOM make controlling grow room temperatures a synch. Just plug in your fans, set the temperature and the Twin Controller takes care of the rest by automatically adjusting the fans speed over a series of 60 steps for the most precise temperature maintenance of any type of controller. At all good grow stores now.

Distribution by: FDP Wholesale

BERGDORF Growmaster Air-Conditioning. With more and more growers choosing to ditch their extractor fans and seal up their grow rooms from the perils of outside, Growmaster Air-Conditioning provides temperature control at the touch of a button. Easy to ﬁt, with no engineers required, the Growmaster is the ﬁrst step when going ‘Closed Loop’. For more great ‘Closed Loop Horticulture’ products visit www.fdpwholesale (Trade enquires only)

Distribution by: FDP Wholesale

SMSCOM Hybrid SwitchBox 4L All-in-One Control lights, fans, heaters and more with the latest product from SMSCOM. Now available in the Hybrid version for silent running extractors. Double Hybrid Fan Controller operates your ventilators, software controlled sequential lighting contactor with temperature protection that will switch lights oﬀ one at a time if temperatures run high, plus heater control for low night time temperatures all in one easy to use, plug and play unit.

Distribution by: FDP Wholesale

GROW GEAR ADVANCED STAR Advanced Star Duct Fan The Advanced Star duct fan is the perfect fan for small tents or used for the in-take fan in larger set-ups, available in 4” (150 m3/hr), 5” (210 m3/hr) or 6” (260 m3/hr) the Advanced Star duct fan is so versatile it’s a must for any grow room. Complete with 1.5mtr cable and a UK plug, the intake fan is ready to use and has a 1 year warranty for peace of mind.

Distribution by: IKON

GROW LUSH IKON Controller A new controller from Grow Lush, available exclusively from IKON International is available as a 2 way, 4 way, 6 way and 8 way. The Grow Lush timer box range is a professional heavy duty industrial lighting switch that oﬀers unrivalled quality and reliability. Complete with handy hanging brackets, universal sockets and a professional 24hr, 48 segment timer with 15 minute intervals.

Distribution by: IKON

OPTICLIMATE THREE-WAY VALVE FOR OPTICLIMATE The three-way valve is used with the Dual Room System. Using the Dual Room System, only one OptiClimate will be required to cool two rooms. To use the Dual Room System, you will need to order an additional temperature sensor. When used with the three-way valve, the night-time heating and dehumidifying function is cancelled.

250mm Three-way valve for OptiClimate 3500 and 6000 355 mm Three-way valve for OptiClimate 10000 and 15000 Distribution by: Hydrostation Ltd

DIMLUX CO2 SENSOR FOR MAXI CONTROLLER Separate CO2 sensor that can be connected to the Maxi Controller, and which also controls the CO2 generator or CO2 pressure reducing valve. The sensors use the Dual Beam NDIR technology which delivers unprecedented calibration stability and accuracy. Other CO2 sensors are single beam and need to be regularly calibrated. Dual Beam sensors are two sensors in one where the measuring sensor is periodically adjusted by the second sensor. Because the second sensor is active only 5 minutes per month, it does not age or drift.

Distribution by: Hydrostation Ltd

COMPETITION... Finally, we round off the year and, as ever, this issue with the behemoth that is the unparalleled HYDROMAG competition. In theme with the issue we’re offering you enough high quality kit to turn your grow room into an airtight Ebola treatment centre, the likes of which you might see in an episode of CSI, minus the ludicrous holographic imaging equipment and the washed up actors. Soler and Palau Ltd (S&P) create world class industrial, domestic and OEM ventilation parts and systems. They’ve been kind enough to offer you the chance to get your hands on two of their most popular silent fans. We’ve asked our friends in the industry to match that offer and once again they’ve come up trumps- our thanks to all of them. Listed below are all the components that you could win, including your choice of any one of the filters featured in this issue’s tests. Enjoy folks, and a very Merry Christmas from all of us here at HYDROMAG.

THIS MONTHS PRIZES...

Sponsored by Soler & Palau Ltd 1 x 8 inch S&P TD Silent 1 x 6 inch S&P TD Silent 1 x 10m Insulated 8 inch Ducting 1 x Your choice of ﬁlter 6 x Quick release jubilee clips

1 x Pro3 Ozone Generator 1 x 8 inch Intake Sock 1 x Fan Controller

Also up for grabs...

HOW TO ENTER...

As of HYDROMAG ISSUE 008, there is a new way to enter competitions. You must now go to www.hydroshow.tv/competitions and enter your phone number and email address in to the form. Your information will not be shared with third party companies. *Full terms can be found at www.hyrdoshow.tv/ competitions-terms

RAM AIR PRO fan controller The RAM AIR PRO is 4 amps per channel

Strong till the end

CANNABOOST; getting you to the top Uptake of nutrients depends greatly on the plant’s health and metabolism rate. CANNABOOST, boosts the metabolism of your plants. It stimulates the GHYHORSPHQW RI QHZ Á RZHUV DQG HQVXUHV SRZHUIXO ULSHQLQJ &$11$%2267 not only guarantees higher yields but also improves the taste. Do you want higher yield and an exceptional taste? Use CANNABOOST! For more information about this product visit the CANNA website. www.canna-uk.com