Hydromag 014 hydroponics magazine by Hydro Magazine

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THE MAKING OF HYDROMAG... Editor Cosmo MacKenzie cos@hydromag.co.uk Assistant Editor Christian Mason christian@hydromag.co.uk .....

Pests come in all shapes and sizes, but unlike crusty trustifarians cluttering someone’s woodland, litigious lawyers sniffing around hospital wards, parking wardens splitting hairs and the dreaded RMT, our pests don’t really have any other options let alone something better to do with their time. Short of developing some form of psychic link with the insect world, it’s unlikely we’ll ever be able to explain to them that we’d appreciate it if they’d park their bike elsewhere. It is, quite simply, their nature. Of course there are all sorts of potions and lotions that you can use to ward off the hungry little buggers; you’ll find some of them advertised in our magazine and you’ll likely find them very effective. We’re not going to take a side on whether or not you should be using certain chemicals either; it would be entirely obtuse to suggest that we could live in the world today, in the numbers that we do, without putting science to good use, even if the good can come at sizable price. Ultimately, it’s up to you what you do with your own little patch of sod. What isn’t in question is that there’s room in the marketplace for alternatives. Neem oil is a firm favourite here in the office, but nature has all the more to offer. Putting even more creepy crawlies into your growroom may seem counter intuitive to some, but it’s important to remember that your growroom inevitably has a host of microorganisms in it, largely working harmoniously for the benefit of your crop. Instead of fighting nature, maybe it’s time you used it to your advantage. We’ve put our science buffs to work testing a host of available soils on the market, which seemed all too appropriate for this issue. For those of us who dig a little dirt under our fingernails, this issue should prove a treat. For the hydroponics purists who are probably struggling not to gag by now; don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten you. ‘How it Works’ returns with a belter; three all-in-one heat exchange units are laid bare by their creators. You can even win one and turn your growroom into a hermetically sealed, automated science lab- or near enough. What will you have left to moan about then, eh? If all this has felt a little too New Age for your tastes, our 100 films covers Road Movies to give you an idea of how you can go, if not where. Finally we should apologise for this issue being decidedly late; independent publishing isn’t an easy game and if it’s a choice between being on time or getting it right, the latter will always win out. Why not subscribe to HYDROMAG and help us employ more minions to stop it from happening again? Either way, enjoy and many thanks for sticking with us.

Cosmo Mackenzie

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 Megan Corless megan.c@paraltd.com Design Kim Tinker kim@hydromag.co.uk Design David Sugden david@hydromag.co.uk Accounts Claire Kennedy accounts@hydromag.co.uk Sales Administrator Megan Corless sales@hydromag.co.uk Sales & Feature Manager Nico Hill nico@hydromag.co.uk

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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. 014 05.2015

Featured In This Issue... 44 08

THE FEED Radio Controlled Insects

THE FEED Tesla Powerwall

THE KNOWLEDGE The Ethics of Pest Control

FAVOURITES: Horti-Shield Insect Traps and Predatory Mites

THE KNOWLEDGE The Life and Death of Growroom Pests

THE KNOWLEDGE: HOW IT WORKS Heat exchange Units

THE KNOWLEDGE Pimp my Soil

Get down and dirty with a host of soil amendments and tune your dirt up to eleven

Insects are very likely to outlive humanity. Now we’ve decided to turn them into our cyborg slaves. What could go wrong?

Energy storage has long been the chimera of renewable energy. Has the beast finally been slain?

It’s the debate that everyone has an opinion on, from super rich senators to snake oil homeopaths. We give you the facts with references and leave you to decide for yourselves.

Why battle with nature when you can just as easily bend her to your will? Well, borrow from her at least.

What they are, what they do, how to identify them and, more importantly, how to get rid of the blighters.

Three manufacturers walk you through the all-in-one units that are revolutionising growrooms across the country

FEATURE: GROW TEST The Soil Test

Partly to remind the whinging purists that the ‘HYDRO’ element of our name is a catch-all term, but mostly because we love soil.

DISTRACTIONS: 100 Films to Watch... Road Movies

BUY, BUY, BUY Grow Gear

COMPETITION TIME Win Some Stuﬀ!

Where are you going? Nowhere, it’s the journey that counts anyway, not the destination. So park your arse on the sofa and watch other people getting gone.

The very latest premium gear from across the market. Why doesn’t your local shopkeeper stock it yet? Because he hasn’t finished reading HYDROMAG yet, why else?

You’ve read about it in ‘How It Works’, now get your filthy mitts on your very own Optima Climate Control System, for free. You lucky, lucky bastard.

RADIO CONTROLLED INSECTS Hold your horses and let go of that door handle, eager parents on your way to buy the latest toy for your screaming brats! There’s a new gizmo in town. It’s not your plain old Furby or Power Ranger either – it’s UC Berkeley’s Real Live Flying Cyborg InsectTM! Made from genuine insect gizzard, blood and piss - bend this living creature to your will with a neat radio controller as though you were some kind of God! …In actual fact there’s a rather more serious use for this technology. Researchers at UC Berkeley and Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have a two-fold plan for their cyborg insect research and it doesn’t involve getting on a Hamley’s Must-Have-Toys-for-2015 list. Discovering more about insect biology and aiding search-and-rescue operations are higher on the agenda. HYDROMAG delves into the guts of this story like Luke Skywalker in a tauntaun. Associate professor Michel Maharbiz, from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at Berkeley, and Hirotaka Sato, assistant professor at NTU’s School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering – inspired by visions of remotely-controlled insects exploring disaster-hit zones too perilous for human sensitivities – have banged their egg-shaped heads together to come up with a major breakthrough in the field of cybernetic insect control. Their study, published mid-March in journal “Current Biology”, explains the research. To create their “living machines”, the team started with Mecynorrhina torquata (giant flower beetles). Averaging just over three inches in length and weighing about the same as a $1 coin, these insects were fitted with minute Microcontroller microcontrollers that included tiny wireless receivers and transmitters. With silver electrodes, one sixth of the width of a human hair, rigged up to the beetle’s flight power muscles and into the optic lobes of the brain, the device was ready to go (for the beetle-lovers out there, the researchers claim this operation made no difference to the species’ life span).

Maharbiz explains the process: “We were firing certain groups of neurons that turn on or off flight or control the speed of the beetle, or stimulate their muscles to turn left or right. Amazingly, we could bias the insect’s flight and even more amazingly we could turn the flight on and off in a very effective way.” In the course of these experiments the researchers have uncovered fascinating insights into the physiology of insect wings. Since the 19th Century biologists had assumed the coleopteran muscle had the sole function of folding and unfolding wings, but Sato and Maharbiz’ teams have made a ground breaking discovery. Their wireless system enabled them to analyse the beetles’ neuromuscular movements, so for the first time it has been conclusively shown that the coleopteran muscle plays a vital role in directional control during flight. Maharbiz explains the significance of this finding; “In our earlier work using beetles in remote-controlled flight, we showed excellent control of flight initiation and cessation, but relatively crude control of steering during free flight,” he continues, “Our findings about the flight muscle allowed us to demonstrate for the first time a higher level of control of free-flying beetles. It’s a great partnership between engineering and science.” The experiments have evolved quickly, trial and error paving the way for progress as they do. In the early days of their work the researchers discovered that despite being able to remotely stimulate the beetles’ flight muscles, there was a pause as the insects’ brains would reject the initial signal as an error. In a move that could have come out of a pick-up artist’s handbook, they realised they had to trick the beetles’ into thinking they wanted to move in a particular direction. Recognising that insects were particularly sensitive to light in determining their direction, Maharbiz built a miniscule helmet to go with the backpack. “It has little headgear that goes right in front of the insect with the smallest-size surface-mount LEDs on the market. What we do is trick the insect with giving it these light response changes,” he explained. Maharbiz and Sato now found they had a much higher degree of flight control than before.

“for the first time is has been conclusively shown that the coleopteran muscle plays a vital role in directional control during flight.” The success of this experiment has perhaps heralded the beginning of a new cyborg age. Putting the ethical questions about an animal’s free will aside, this research could be priceless for the search and rescue teams of the future. The remotely-controlled insect has an advantage over pure robotic technology, being able to rely on its instincts in situations where the human operator simply has to cede control (although the robot has the benefit of not being part of any food chain – good luck fishing your tiny backpack and helmet out of the stomach of an owl!). HYDROMAG has put a request in to lead researcher Michel Maharbiz to look at a device for remotely controlling and forcing your flatmate to go out into the night looking for a 24-hour shop selling cigarettes. We’ve yet to receive a reply but remain cautiously optimistic. Welcome to the future!

TESLA POWERWALL We live in exciting times if you’re a fan of renewable energy. HYDROMAG has been banging the drum with such tedious regularity that we shan’t bore you with the usual preamble about why the world needs to wean itself from carbon. Costs are tumbling, capacity is going through the roof, but there has remained one obvious stumbling block; storage. While a coal-fired plant can continuously generate power by simply having more coal chucked onto the flames, solar panels and wind turbines are at the mercy of some fairly capricious elements. Solar in particular has the major drawback of the sun inconveniently vanishing at the exact point the populace returns from work to watch Game of Thrones, fire up their microwave dinners, and retire to bed to masturbate over Internet pornography. Until this significant shortcoming is rectified, we’ll keep guzzling the carbon. “What about batteries?” we hear someone yell from the back. Good point, but even as recently as 2013 lithium-ion battery packs cost $1000 per kilowatt hour. Put into context; your bog-standard refrigerator alone consumes approximately 5 kilowatt hours a day. But is this all about to change? Tesla Motors, purveyors of premium electric vehicles, believe they’re about to revolutionise the energy industry. Elon Musk - not a bounty hunter from Mos Eisley, but CEO of Tesla Motors - has been chirping recently about a new product he feels will change the world as we know it. It’s not a hover car. It’s not a Star Trek-style teleporter. It’s a humble battery. Energy storage technology has been struggling to keep up with recent photovoltaic advances. Current batteries “suck” in the words of Musk: they’re expensive, ugly, unreliable, and there’s no one integrated place to buy them. Countless companies and individuals have spotted this glaring gap in the market, but Tesla have had the expertise and clout to swagger in and fill it. For a stunningly low fee of just $3500 you can now purchase the Tesla Powerwall. It’s wall mounted as the name suggests, compact, and looks a bit like a Power Ranger’s shield. It has thermal controls, a DC to AC converter, and works with all solar power systems. Plugged into the grid the Powerwall Tesla Powerwall

can kick in seamlessly during a power outage – perfect for areas around the world prone to power cuts. All homes can benefit from financial savings as the Powerwall will charge up “during low rate periods when demand for electricity is lower and [discharge] during more expensive rate periods when electricity demand is higher”. There are two basic models – one with a 10kWh weekly cycle and the other with 7kWh daily cycle. They’re guaranteed for ten years and are sufficient to power most homes during peak evening hours. The batteries can be stacked if your household churns up more energy than the average; up to a maximum of 90kWh for the 10kWh battery and 63kWh for the 7kWh version. But the really exciting development is Tesla’s new battery allows the consumer to go completely off-grid. The Powerwall could do for the energy industry what mobile phones did for telecommunications. A future without electricity powerlines strewn across the country is now within reach. And plugged into solar panels on the roof, the user could potentially become entirely energy-independent. But Musk has even bigger plans. As he told Bloomberg, “our goal here is to fundamentally change the way the world uses energy; we’re talking at the terawatt scale.” The ultimate aim is to end the electricity grid’s reliance on fossil fuels and move it towards renewable energy sources. Their batteries will enable us at last to rely on renewable energy sources for our power consumption –hitherto this has always proved problematic. And crucially, at $250 per kWh, the price is finally right. The consequence of this should get everyone excited. According to Tesla, straight away the top 50% of the dirtiest power generation resources could be given the heave-ho. “We would have a cleaner, smaller, and more resilient energy grid.” The Tesla Powerpack – the industrial version of the Powerwall - is designed to be scaled infinitely. 160 million Powerpacks could serve the entire of the US, while 900 million Powerpacks could transition the entire planet to renewable energy. Is construction on this scale possible? Musk thinks so. There are currently over one billion cars on the roads around the world so the factory capacity is there if there’s the demand and the will. So far within a week $800 million worth of battery orders have been made. The future is looking bright.

Tesla Powerpack

CLIMATE CONTROL

Match your desired microclimate to any habitable location on this planet Get to the target temperature - consumption on Ǯ ǯ θ ͙͛͘ • Day & night recognition • No water required • Plug & play - no engineer required • In-built (replaceable) germicidal lamp eradicates all Contaminant issues • ͖ ơ - introduce co2 at plant canopy height • Silent outdoor unit - This is the quietest unit on the market – by a huge margin! • Low current consumption - no ‘spike’ in electrical Consumption • Ǧ Ƥ Ǧ remove mould/contaminants from within the room • R h control feature - ‘dry’ operation mode • Rubber hose connection - option to copper pipe

Optima www.bergdorf.cc

FDP

European Distributor

UK Distributor

User Tutorial

UK Wholesale

DOES ETHICS HAVE A PLACE IN CROP PROTECTION? The eternal struggle with trying to protect our sacred crops. Just what sort of pickle have we got ourselves into developing ever more toxic chemicals as nature’s increasing resistance thwarts each successive formulation we try? Pests, bugs, fungal and bacterial infections and weeds. Any grower will tell you how God damn annoying these are, myself included. Particularly for farmers whose income depends on a pest/disease free crop to earn enough to feed their immediate family, or for an entire community who depend on a successful harvest to just keep them all fed throughout the year and avoid starvation. Basically whatever your motivation for growing, I’m sure we can all agree that we would rather be able to produce a thriving crop without these little Buzz Killingtons coming along and spoiling the party. So we have established we don’t like pests, diseases and weeds. Even though they form an integral part of the natural order of life, it would be much better if they took their natural order elsewhere. If they aren’t going to go elsewhere on their own accord (which they won’t), then human nature being as it is means that we will generally do whatever we can to get rid of them. The problem is, in our eagerness to create chemicals to poison and kill them off, we forgot that we may well actually be poisoning ourselves at the same time. Yeah, I know: Classic us.

A historical account of crop protection The accounts of pesticides/fungicides dates back to ancient Sumer in around 4500BC where elemental sulphur dusting was used as a control agent. Then in around 900AD, Chinese farmers began using arsenic sulphides to spray on their crops. Roughly around the 1500s mercury, lead and arsenic based formulations were being used around the world. Up to the late 1800s most plantations were using either lead, arsenic or nicotine sulphate (extracted from tobacco) to spray and control pests and diseases. In the late 19th Century Hydrogen Cyanide began to become a firm favourite of many, particularly among Californian Orange growers. Zee Germanz took this idea and twisted it slightly.

By using diatomaceous earth as a carrier, it was engineered into a name most of us will recognise: Zyklone B. So from pesticides to chemical weapons and back again, it was after World War 2 that pesticides really started to boom. From 1950 onwards crop spraying increased at an exponential rate, both in physical amounts sprayed over plantations and the variety of new agents being created as a result from the birth of the petro-chemical era. Unfortunately for all these chemicals, the main problem they have is Darwinian theory of Evolution. Time after time pests, diseases and weeds have built up a resistance to everything we have thrown at them. Trying to out-manoeuvre this resistance has got us to the point that we now have to genetically modify plants for them to even be able to survive being sprayed by some products such as Glyphosate (RoundUp). Glyphosate and other chemicals on the market nowadays, although (unsurprisingly) marketed as totally safe and all above board by their respective companies, are struggling to fend off vast swathes of mounting evidence that shows them to be highly damaging to human health. But hey, we’ve all got to make some money haven’t we? That’s the whole point of capitalism ain’t it guvnor?

What are some concoctions currently on the shelves then? So now now that you’ve had a little background it is time to look at what products are currently gracing our shelves, and what sort of implications you may come across when making use of them. There are many more than these ones here, but we will go through the most commonly found.

“The problem is, in our eagerness to create chemicals to poison and kill them oﬀ, we forgot that we may well actually be poisoning ourselves...”

ABAMECTIN

ACETAMIPRID (AND TRITICONAZOLE)

IN PRODUCTS SUCH AS:

Agrimec, Miticide, Killermite and Dynamec.

RoseClear Ultra, Bug Clear Ultra and Bug Clear Ultra Vine Weevil Killer

FOR CONTROL OF: Spidermite and Thrips

What is it and how does it work? Abamectin is a formulation consisting of a combination of Avermectins. Usually 80% Avermectin B1a and 20% Avermectin B1b. These are isolated from a fermentation of Streptmoyces Avermitilis, which is a naturally occurring soil Actinomycete. It acts by contact and stomach action, has limited systemic activity but more so exhibits trans laminar movement. It acts by stimulating the release of G-Aminobutyric acid which is an inhibitory neurotransmitter. Basically causing paralysis and then death in the targeted insects and pests. It degrades mainly through photolysis, so isn’t recommended for use throughout winter (when light levels and temperatures are particularly low) or anywhere near close to harvest.

What are the potential risks?

FOR CONTROL OF: Aphid, Whitefly, Scale Insects, Mealybugs, Thrips, Red Spidermite, Lily Beetle and Caterpillars. FORMULATIONS CONTAINING TRITICONAZOLE ALSO CONTROL: Mildew, rusts and Blackspot (on roses).

What is it and how does it work? Acetamiprid is a broad spectrum, odourless, neonicotinoid insecticide composed from a synthetic organic compound. It is a trans-laminar and it works by antagonising the nicotine acetylchloline receptors in the insect’s neural pathways. This basically interrupts the brain signals sent to the rest of the body. Within 30 minutes of application the little critters become overly excited, followed by a quick bout of paralysis and then graced with death, almost like what happens to a teenage girl at a Justin Bieber Concert. Triticonazole is a demethylation inhibiting fungicide that interferes with sterol synthesis. This leads to disruption of the cell membrane function, leakage of cytoplasmic contents and also causes hyphal death. Not great if you’re a fungus: Basically causes you to shit out your insides, and all your arms and legs to drop off.

What are the potential risks?

Personal Protection Equipment (PPE)

The main issue is that it has been classified as a highly toxic material, particularly by inhalation, so Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) is advised to be used whenever using this chemical. However, most formulations of these chemicals are of concentrations that present low risks to mammals. That being said, at high doses (particularly through inhalation) the mammalian blood-brain barrier can be penetrated, causing symptoms of CNS depression such as Inco-ordination, tremors, lethargy, excitation and pupil dilation. Very high doses have even caused death from respiratory failure (Ref: Hayes, W.J. and E.R. Laws (eds.). 1990. Handbook of Pesticide Toxicology, Classes of Pesticides, Vol. 3. Academic Press, Inc., NY.). The danger posed to bees is particularly high and should not be used where they may be actively foraging or where flowering weeds are present. (Ref: Wislocki, P.G., et al. Environmental Aspects of Abamectin Use in Crop Protection in W.C. Campbell (ed.). 1989. Ivermectin and Abamectin. Springer-Verlag, NY.)

Acetamiprid was said by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) that it may adversely affect the development of neurons and brain structures associated with functions such as learning and memory, particularly in developing brains of children and young adults from consumption. (Ref: EFSA Press release 17th December 2013). Other poisoning effects from inhalation range from nausea, abdominal pain dizziness and headaches to more severe symptoms such as seizures, respiratory failure, hypothermia, and in extreme cases death. (Ref: Rumack BH POISINDEX(R) Information System Micromedex, Inc., Englewood, CO, 2015; CCIS Volume 164). Triticonazole has shown to be possibly genotoxic, causing increased cell mutation and therefore possibly lead to cancer (Ref: California Environmental Protection Agency/Department of Pesticide Regulation; Toxicology Data Review Summary for Triticonazole (131983-72-7) p.5 (October 29, 2008))

GLYPHOSATE & 2,4-D

GLYPHOSATE IN PRODUCTS SUCH AS: Roundup, Bayer Garden Rootkill, Touchdown Total and Frontsweep 5 2,4-D IN PRODUCTS SUCH AS: Broadshot, Depitox, and Thrust GLYPHOSATE AND 2,4-D COMBINED IN PRODUCTS SUCH AS: Enlist Duo (Despite calls from every health organisation you can think of not to allow approval of this)

What are they and how do they work? Glyphosate is a synthetic compound which is a non-selective systemic herbicide, particularly effective against perennial weeds (except all the ones that have built up a resistance to it) engineered by Monsanto in 1970. It works by blocking metabolic pathways that are essential to plants’ growth. Therefore it can only be sprayed on crops that have been genetically modified to be able to withstand it. 2,4-D started its life as half of the formulation used for Agent Orange that was dropped over Vietnam by the good ol’ U.S of A. Although supporters of 2,4-D (usually employees, past or present of companies that make these products, like Steve Savage Ex-DuPont) like to claim that it wasn’t the dangerous half. It is an auxin-type herbicide that kills plants by causing the cells to divide and grow without stopping. (Sounds a tad like what Agent Orange did to people doesn’t it?)

What are the Potential Risks to Humans? Glyphosate and particularly when formulated in certain ways (as in Roundup) have been found to kill off human cells in a variety of ways (Ref: Glyphosate Commercial Formulation Causes Cytotoxicity, Oxidative Effects, and Apoptosis on Human Cells: Differences With its Active Ingredient. Chaufan G, Coalova I, Molina MD. International Journal of Toxicology). It has been fingered as the most important causal factor in the increase of Celiac disease and Gluten intolerance (Ref:

Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases II: Celiac sprue and gluten intolerance. Samsel & Seneff 2013). Seralini’s study in 2012 showed that this lovely chemical increased likelihood of liver necrosis and increased chances of chronic kidney deficiencies (Ref: Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize. Seralini et al 2012). As well as all of that it has just been rescheduled and declared ‘probably cancerous’ by the World Health Organisation, which essentially means ‘definitely cancerous’ but they were too scared of Monsanto’s potential reaction to actually say that. With 2,4-D, as well as acute toxicity through inhalation such as dizziness and temporary loss of muscle co-ordination (Ref: The Agrochemicals Handbook. 1991. Royal Society of Chemistry. Cambridge, England), evidence suggests that it will cause reproductive problems at moderate doses in animals (Ref:National Library of Medicine (1992). Hazardous Substances Databank. TOXNET, Medlars Management Section, Bethesda, MD). On top of the toxicity of both of these compounds directly on humans, flora and fauna they also have recently been shown that they can induce a multiple-antibiotic resistance phenotype in potential pathogens. Exposure to these pesticides/fungicides showed that it made pathogens stronger, and substantially increased their probability of mutation to higher levels of Antibiotic Resistance (Sublethal exposure to commercial formulations of Hebicides Dicamba, 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid and Glyphosate Cause Changes in Antibiotic Susceptibility in Escherichia coli and Salmonella Enterica serovar Typhimurium, Kurenbach et al. 2015. Oregon State University)

So is there a place in the world for all these? Personally I would tend to say no. I wouldn’t use any of them myself, but then I don’t grow on a large scale like farmers and don’t need to get the most out of my crop with as little effort as possible in order to pay my mortgage. I think that’s the point here as well. Large scale commercial farming is essentially a corporate venture. For those farmers who still live by traditional values, it can be almost impossible to compete with the corporations who view the world through figures and profit margins. However, this whole problem isn’t one that can be tackled on an individual basis. It needs a global consensus to stop pumping this shit over half the farm land worldwide and affecting the soil table, wildlife and obviously everyone’s health in the process. It’s a delicate balance of life we have on this planet, we can either choose to be part of the problem and hasten the end of life as we know it, or be part of the solution and encourage a little bit of harmony to be restored. I know that made me sound like a hippy, I am slightly ashamed.

HORTI-SHIELD INSECT TRAPS

You may be a strict Buddhist and believe killing them to be bad karma; you may, like Brechtian Punk Cabaret band The Tiger Lillies, want to make love to them; but as any serious grower will tell you, there’s no place for flies in the growroom. Aphids, Whitefly, Thrips or Leaf Miners – the effect is largely the same – previously healthy leaves will yellow, cup or become distorted. Your plants could develop interveinal chlorosis! Diseases will spread! Your plants might even die! Is THAT what you want to happen; you pacifist fools, you pig-headed NevilleChamberlains, waving your little pieces of paper as legions of Sciarid Fly plot to Blitzkrieg through your growroom’s defences? No, you’ve got to get all “George Dubbya” on their tiny asses. And one way to ensure your loved ones can sleep peacefully at night is with Horti-Shield’s Yellow Sticky Insect Traps – twice as effective as Hans Blix and ten times stickier!

INNOVATIONS

Canary in the coal mine. Hung in the growroom, these self-adhesive traps will act as a convenient early warning sign when an outbreak begins. The alluring, non-transferable glue acts as a siren call to your six-legged nemeses and lures them to their untimely deaths. Once stuck fast on your Horti-Shield Yellow Sticky Trap, you can whip out the old magnifying glass for a morbid closer examination. As Sun Tzu says: “Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.” Ease of use. Can be easily hung with the splendid supplied plastic hangers. HYDROMAG recommends hanging these attractively-lurid sticky traps slightly above crop level, near intake points and just above the rim of plant pots. Horti-Shield use a grid system on their strips to help you get an idea of numbers. Counting the dead per square over time will help the grower determine whether the pest population is increasing or decreasing. Cost. As you may imagine, without any moving parts or complex technology at play, Horti-Shield Yellow Sticky Traps are a steal at roughly four pounds for five sheets. And with traps needing changing every six to eight weeks you’ve got serious value for money. Would make a perfect Christmas stocking present. Harmless. Pesticide-free, environmentally-safe, and plant-friendly – these puppies couldn’t even offend a Diversity and Equity Officer at an Islington dinner party if they wanted to. So safe even your idiot brother Jimmy could try eating them without effect.

CONS

Unfortunately it’s our job here at HYDROMAG to scrutinise each product for cons. We have to do it – for our integrity and to show we’re in no-one’s pockets. So here goes... This product isn’t going to deal with your insect problem – it’s just going to show you that you have one. What you do next is between you and your conscience. While they look fabulous when first popped from the packet, after a few weeks of mass murder you’ll have unsightly Ed Gein-like hanging adornments to explain to your friends. Finally, the obvious con. These things are damn sticky – watch them like a hawk. Do not invite drunk people into your growroom at night if they have beautiful big hair. You may have to shave one side of your girlfriend’s head – a great anecdote one day perhaps for the grandchildren, providing the incident doesn’t lead to a fatal estrangement in the relationship. You have been warned.

PREDATORY MITES Apex predators we may be, but compared to planet Earth herself humanity is nowt but a parasite scratching around on the thin crust of her outer layer. Without a convenient air duct to crawl out of, it’s more than likely that good ol’ Gaia will tweak the environmental conditions within her own mighty growroom and wash us all away into oblivion. Of course, having the luxury of a decidedly long lifespan means that she can simply wait for any plants destroyed in the ensuing cataclysm to grow back. That’s not to say we can’t learn from the All-mother’s infinite wisdom and apply other aspects of her methodology to our own growroom. Ask yourself why anyone would want to kill noble old badgers with their fwuffy little pawsies and squidgy nosies? Let’s not get into a debate about TB; the simple fact is that, left unchecked, the slavering bastards will decimate any creatures that they can sink their teeth into. When they’re done with those, they’ll eat their own young then turn on each other. That’s nature folks. Hark, though, is that the sound of a penny dropping? Why can’t I apply that principle to my growroom I hear you say? Mail-order me some miniature badgers, toot sweet! Or whatever alternative there is to said genetically engineered monstrosity. Well, how does a predatory mite sound? PROS

Amblyseius californicus is a predatory mite that feeds on various forms of spider mites, though not exclusively; they’re also capable of feeding on a few other pests including thrip larvae. The female feeds and lays 1-4 eggs per day in spider mite colonies that mature within 5-10 days depending on the temperature. Amblyseius californicus breed at a relatively slower rate than some other predator mites (Phytoseiulus persimili, for example), but their ability to feed on other food sources, lower feeding rates and longer individual lifespan make them a much better tool for dealing with less dense spider mite infestations, especially in indoor growrooms. They’ve also been shown to be better at surviving in hot, dry conditions than other predatory mites. We recommend using slow release sachets that work over a period of 4-6 weeks. If they find a ready source of food, these predator mites are likely to hunker down in situ rather than venture out for food so generally you’ll want to use 6-8 sachets per metre squared, liberally spread out from one another. The best method is to use these as a preventative measure at the beginning of a crop cycle in order to keep pest numbers low to non-existent and prevent an all-out infestation.

CONS

Amblyseius californicus won’t be effective at fighting an all-out infestation, especially in their slow release form. Phytoseiulus persimili are more suited to that job, but we can’t promise they won’t drink all your beer and sleep with your women whilst you’re off in the trenches. It’s tempting to tear open the slow release sachets in an effort to release more of them. Don’t, this will likely kill off the eggs contained within. Similarly, keep the sachets out of direct light in a shady spot half way up your plant. The slow release and diminutive size of the predators can make it hard to determine how effective they are. You’re going to need to monitor the situation with some form of magnifying device. Finally, strictly speaking they aren’t native to the UK, so ideally avoid using them outside at all or you may get a visit from a DEFRA agent demanding money for a licence.

Illustrations by Kitt Dale

Summer is almost upon us. The time of year that indoor growers hate the most! Not only for extra heat getting in the way, but also for the myriad of pests that will try and gain access to your indoor garden of Eden.

If there is one thing that will make any indoor grower pull his hair out, it is an unnoticed infestation of pests in their garden. Whilst the little critters may not have the brazen criminal genius of Keyser Söze, what they lack in brain smarts they more than make up for in numbers and persistence, a bit like the kids in ‘City of God’. The best way to combat pests is to understand them, and know their typical signatures. Taking a leaf out of Sun Tzu’s Art of War, you need to know your enemy if you want any hope of defeating him/her. Fear not diligent reader, Hydromag is here to give you all you need to know about the main few little sods that you will encounter in your grow room, and how best to go about getting rid of them. The following pages will serve you well as a reference point to identify exactly what it is that has infiltrated your inner sanctum, and what steps you need to take to eradicate them.

THE LAW ENFORCEMENT TEAM

POLICE CONSTABLE PERSIMILIS “TAKING DOWN A MITE”

CAPTAIN CUCUMERIS “BRINGING THRIPS TO JUSTICE”

HIGH COMMANDER HYPOASPSIS “DETAINING FUNGUS GNAT LARVAE”

(Spider Mite Predator Phytoseiulus-persimilis)

(Thrips Predator Amblyseius Cucumeris)

(Fungus Gnat Predator Phytoseiulus Persimilis)

Suspect 1...

SPIDER MITES Vital Stats

Habitat: Underside of leaves Preferred Conditions: Hot and Dry â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 25-30C and <55% RH Egg hatch time (25C/55%RH): 4 Days Egg to Adult (25C/55%RH): 9.5 Days Total Eggs laid per female (25C): 130

2. Late leaf damage

1. Early leaf damage The early signs of spider mites can be spotted by the damage they cause when feeding on the underside of the leaf. The white dots that appear like pin pricks on a leaf is a sign they are setting up camp and planning an invasion.

As the mites feast away on the leaves the damage develops to cause significant yellowing and even necrotic patches.

4. Mites

3. Webs A mature colony of spider mites will start to spin webbing for use as rapid transport between leaf structures, and even between plants. You can see in the pics they will lay eggs on the webs too.

5. Eggs

When you spot the early symptoms and turn the leaf over, you will be able to see the tiny insects with the naked eye and even better with a magnifier. There are two main types of spider mite; the two spotted mite and the red mite. The two spotted is more common and when you look up close you can see its beige coloured body with two clear spots on its back. The red mite is more of an orange-red colour.

Control

If you have a keen eye you will also be able to see the eggs they lay, which are tiny round balls between 0.1-0.2mm in diameter. These start transparent in colour and turn an opaque milky colour before a yellow straw colour when ready to hatch

1 Hop Plant

2 Cucumber Leaf

SB Plant Invigorator

Spraying will combat mites well. Follow the labels carefully with chemical sprays. For contact spays that work by physical modes of action it is good to spray every 3-4 days in order to kill the young mites emerging from the newly hatched eggs. Being diligent with your sprays by coating both the top side and underside of the leaf as well as the whole plant is a must, particularly with contact sprays. Predators are successful where you spot the problem early and if you can keep temperatures down and humidity up. Spraying to get the upper hand, then introducing predators is a good approach.

Canna Cure

4 Top: Cucumber Leaf Bottom: Banana Web

Banana Mite

Top: Banana Web Bottom: Banana Mite

Suspect 2...

THRIPS Vital Stats

Habitat: Underside of leaves Preferred Conditions: Hot and Dry – 25-30C and <55% RH Egg hatch time (25C/55%RH): 3 Days Egg to Adult (25C/55%RH): 13.5 Days Total Eggs laid per female (25C): 135

1. Early leaf damage The feeding damage by thrips to the underside of the leaf causes small silvery patches to develop which can be seen on the top side. Many people say the early damage can appear like a tiny section of a shiny slug or snail trail. You can see from the pictures you have to have a keen eye to spot this damage. 2. Late leaf damage As the thrips feed from the leaf you may see leaf distortion as well as small patches of yellow and brown as the leaf cells die (A). At this point you will be able to see the thrips clearly when you turn the leaf over (B). As the thrips feed and the damage spreads large leaf areas may develop yellow/white patches. You will also be able to see tiny black dots among the feeding damage, this is the thrip’s poo.

3. Thrips

4. Eggs

These pests are fairly easy to spot, and have two distinct observable life stages; the larval stages and the adult. The larvae of thrips appear as tiny beige coloured maggots around 1mm in length, but when you look up close you can see their legs and antennae. They live mainly on the underside of the leaf’s and when disturbed they like to hide out at the leaf’s veins. thrips larvae will eventually pupate into an adult and the pupa can often fall onto the surface of the growing media.

Thrips lay their eggs inside plant tissue, and can be seen in some crops as tiny bumps on leaves, but are often very difficult to see at all. thrips will also crawl into flowers and buds, and lay eggs on soft tissue, flower petals and even soft parts of stalks.

Note: some growers see small insects jumping about on the surface of the growing media or on the surface of water in saucers or reservoirs and think they are thrips. These insects are actually springtails and are relatively harmless.

Spraying foliage regularly to kill both larvae and emerging eggs is recommended for sprays that work by contact. If you can spray every 3-4 days for 2 weeks you will gain control of the situation. Adults are diﬃcult to kill without chemical sprays, so disrupting their life cycle by killing the larval stages and eggs works well. The predatory mites Amblyseius cucumeris are great at controlling small populations as these mites eat the larvae and stop population explosions. Predatory mites generally need higher humidity and long day lengths to function well so establishing them in vegetative growth is a good approach.

Adult thrips are darker in colour and appear brown or black and get up to 1.4mm in length. The adults ﬂy and can move from plant to plant within a grow room very quickly. There are many species of thrips but the main culprits of indoor crops are the Western Flower thrips

2 B.

Control

3 D.

1 Sunflower Leaf

A: Chilli leaf 1 B: Chilli Leaf 2

C: Chilli Leaf 3 D: Chilli Leaf 4

Thrips

Suspect 3...

FUNGUS GNAT AKA SCIARID FLY Vital Stats

Habitat: Root Zone Preferred Conditions: Moderate and Moist Egg hatch time (25C): 5 Days Egg to Adult (25C): 21 Days Total Eggs laid per female (25C): 100-300

1. Early Signs

2. Fungus Gnat Larvae

With fungus gnats, you do not often see any plant symptoms early on. The most common first sign is seeing the tiny black flies buzzing about. They are slow and easy to squish in the air by clapping your hands. By using yellow sticky traps you can see quite quickly the extent of your problem. The flies like wet soil and coco, so leaving the traps on the tops of pots will catch some pretty quickly if they are about.

As you can see by the pictures, these are little 5-12mm long white-translucent maggots with a black head, and these are the main problem. The adults fly around rather annoyingly, and lay eggs on the growing media. The larvae hatch and feed on whatever organic matter is available, but they love roots. If you can see fungus gnats buzzing about and you look closely at your growing media surface, or on rockwool blocks, you will most likely find some larvae. With rockwool, they are attracted to algae that grow on the surface, and with soil and coco they are more attracted to pots that are constantly damp or wet. Fungus gnat larvae can do considerable damage to plants by destroying the root system, particularly young plants with relatively little root mass. A common indirect effect of the larvae eroding the root system is the spread of disease. The larvae are vectors for fungal pathogens, and when they munch on the roots they are opening up tissue ready for invasion.

3. Control The adult flies only survive for up to 7 days but the females can lay up to 300 eggs so it’s vital you do your best to catch or kill these. The easiest way is by using yellow sticky traps positioned near the pots. However, all the damage is being done in the root zone so this must be your target area. There are root drenches that can be used containing various ingredients that kill the larvae, use every 5 days to ensure you kill the newly hatched larvae. Predatory insects are excellent for fungus gnat control. The nematodes packs are very effective and last up to 6 weeks and the predatory mites hypoaspis mites are very efficient as a preventative as well as treatment.

SUMMARY

2 1: Fungus Gnats 2: Fungus Gnat Larvae 3: Nematodes

So there you have it, now you are armed with the necessary brain smarts to deal with pests in the correct manner, choose your method of attack wisely! The ultimate key to a pest free environment is preventative measures: Bug meshes on intakes, change your clothes when entering your room, clean your room thoroughly between grows and possibly most importantly scrutinise/quarantine any clones you are (un)fortunate enough to have received. Measures like this in keeping your room squeaky clean will help to ensure you’re not starting a fight on the back foot. Essentially you want to aim for a room that would make Howard Hughes proud.

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Bergdorf Optima

The Opticlimate

The Knowledge

HOW IT WORKS:

Heat Exchange Units Summer is upon us folks, that time of year for frolicking under your garden sprinkler and splashing about in your kids’ paddling pool. The sad thing is frivolities like these unfortunately do not extend to your grow room. You’re much more likely to have to abandon your plans for an indoor Garden of Eden as the extra heat from the beloved burning orb in the sky tends to raise temperatures to a point where plants don’t cope very well. Whilst this may give some of us the opportunity for a few months to make the most of the outside world, a few others choose to defy Mother Nature’s plans to shut down your indoor garden. Man has always sought to overcome Mother Nature and put her in her place through the advancement of technology. Holland blocking off the entire North Sea is a fairly good example of this: “We like what you did there God, but we have had a better idea. Thanks for your input though” An Indoor grow room is no stranger to this notion and there are now many options for you to pimp-slap nature into place, and thwart the seasonal temperature rises that we are all seeing. A consequential benefit of using technologies to control these conditions is that you are even going to be able to improve on environmental conditions nature has put in place for plants, such as CO2 supplementation. It’s not just controlling the environment inside your grow room however, unwanted consequences of hot and humid air outside your growroom such as black mould and windows dripping with water can also be adequately dealt with, whilst also heating your house and saving you precious energy on heating. Whatever your reason to tinker with the environmental factors in your grow room or house, there are options there for you to do so. Over the next few pages, a few of the manufacturers of said options will talk you through the solutions they have available for you, and why you should consider spending your hard earned pennies on their product. Without further ado, let’s see what they have to say, shall we?

Polypipe Silavent

The Opticlimate The Opticlimate is a full environmental control unit that has been purpose built for indoor and glass house grow rooms. The specific design process it has gone through means it offers unparalleled control in your garden.

How does it work? Cooling: The Opticlimate uses a water source directly from your mains water supply. The heat from your warm grow room air is simply transferred into the water running through the pipes as it passes through the unit. This hot water is then discarded off down the drain, or anywhere you would rather direct it to if you wanted to otherwise make use of its heating system. Therefore there is no issue with where you should be exhausting your hot air, a problem that all other growers struggle with. Heating: The inbuilt ceramic heaters will quickly raise the temperature of your grow room when it drops below the parameters you have set it to. Ceramic heaters work by passing electricity through high resistance heating wires embedded within ceramic plates. The air travelling over these plates is then subsequently heated to the desired levels. Arguably the most efficient method of heating a room in terms of energy used compared to heat output. De-Humidifying: An essential requirement for closed environment growrooms and one that the Opticlimate excels in its control of. In a nutshell, water is extracted from the humid air by condensing it onto the water pipes. Parameters of levels you require the humidity to be kept down to can easily be set and controlled by the unit to precise levels. The Opticlimate Pro4 does this function without utilizing heaters and water consumption. Air Circulation and Filtration The Opticlimate circulates air over the most critical point of your garden: the canopy. Controlling the climate at this level is key to ensuring maximum efficiency from plant growth. This is critical particularly when supplementing CO2 to ensure all parts of the plants are covered. Air is filtered from pathogens through the inbuilt active carbon filter within the unit.

Other Unique Functionality: Opticlimate will allow you to control the environment in two separate growrooms at once, it will preheat and post cool your grow room just before the lights turn on and turn off to ensure your plants arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t subject to large swings in temperatures, and in turn reduces the chances of moulds such as botrytis taking hold. It will log any of the alarms it is pre-programmed to register, such as water leakages or excessive temperatures. These are crucial to ensure the unit is working consistently and correctly. This can be set up to send you a text message when any of these alerts are raised for ultimate peace of mind. The new future data communication port allows you to monitor and control your grow room anywhere by using a PC and the internet.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;...there is no issue with where you should be exhausting your hot air, a problem that all other growers struggle with. â&#x20AC;? Easy to program, it operates entirely automatically making any headaches about controlling your environment a thing of the past. With models available that can accommodate practically any sized growroom: from 3 x 600w lights up to 24 x 600w lights, whether you grow on a smaller scale or more commercially orientated, it provides an ideal solution to your environmental control. Ideally suited for use with the Dimlux lighting range, the Maxi controller works in harmony with the Opticlimate to give you some of the most advanced grow room technology the industry has seen so far.

Bergdorf Optima Imagine having the ideal growing environment 365 days a year. Think about the number of days your plants have spent being subjected to poor environmental changes and the detrimental effect of these inadequate conditions. Advances in lighting, nutrients, water treatments and supplements have been made, but from there new challenges have appeared. If you introduce CO2 into your growroom, as carbon dioxide levels increase, temperature becomes the limiting factor. To benefit from the highest levels of CO2 optimisation you need to run your garden area warmer than normal (8085 degrees Fahrenheit) and on average plants will also require an extra 30 watts of light/Sq foot. Plants will also use extra water and nutrients under these conditions, so you need to make sure they are available. A sealed room should be just that – sealed (no air should leave the room) – if you get your CO2 levels right, control the climate to the optimum and combine germicidal light (so any contaminant issues are a thing of the past) you will find the ideal environment for your plants is achievable, every single day and the results will astound you! Night and day effects can be created to a degree by programming lights on a timer, but what isn’t taken into account is the temperature and humidity differentials during that day and night cycles; these differences can be as subtle as just three or four degrees, but they are fundamental. Conversely, whilst accepting that the temperature drops during the night - in the U.K. you may well find that the winter temperature is below zero, and during the summer (even at night) it’s in the twenties and up. The daytime heat in summer combined with 6 x 600w bulbs can turn the airiest of rooms into an oven. Inverter technology in air conditioning systems has improved their reliability and efficiency, but generally they’re not designed for full ‘Climate Control’. Besides which, copper pipe connectors can be problematic for those not used to handling pipe work and high pressure rubber hoses can be prohibitively expensive. Optima is the new addition to the Growmaster range – available as a portable unit for the hobbyist/tent grower, to a powerful 60K Btu/15Kw output fixed air handling unit (the latter being a split system). The fixed system starts at the popular 3600w output, the ideal size for a 6 x 600w set up and although the two components are referred to as ‘indoor/ outdoor’ units, the ‘outdoor’ unit can be sited indoors. Connections between the two units is made by copper pipe or ‘Fridge Flex’ is a compatible option for fully flexible rubber pipe – all pre -sealed, pre-charged as a ‘plug and play’ kit: No need for an engineer!

Optima is the new addition to the Growmaster range – available as a portable unit for the hobbyist/tent grower. Optima incorporates intelligent technology designed to differentiate between night and day. The brains in the unit compute and control temperature, humidity, carbon filtration, CO2 dispersal (at canopy height) and with the use of the latest DC Inverter technology the running costs are low along with a smooth silent operation. Optima gives you full Climate Control, not just Air Conditioning.

COMPETITION...

In our competition we’re giving you the chance to win your very own Bergdorf Optima Climate Control system. Just turn to page 66 to find out how!

30 -31 MAY 2015

STAND G33

Polypipe Silavent In an age of ever increasing efforts to conserve energy and protect the environment, technology has been evolving to meet the challenges we face with seemingly endless innovation. Homes are now as close to airtight as can be realistically expected, incredibly well insulated and have very low carbon emissions as well as being built from sustainable products. Whilst this is good for your household, an airtight property may not be the ideal environment for housing a growroom. The problem with airtight properties is that they can’t “breathe”. Traditionally, homes were built with air bricks, chimneys and window vents; this would ensure that the flow of air would always maintain a healthy atmosphere for the occupants. As soon as this element is removed you have a buildup of CO2 and moisture in the air which in turn leads to condensation dripping down over your windows and eventually black mould everywhere. This makes for very unhealthy living conditions in your new home; this is a particularly prominent issue where you have a growroom exhausting inside your house. Enter Heat Recovery systems; mechanical ventilation systems that not only provide a constant input of fresh air and extraction of stale, moist air but also manage to retain the heat in the process. This is achieved by using the heat from the outgoing air to warm the incoming air to a very similar temperature without the two airstreams ever coming into contact with each other. In turn cutting down your fuel bills by converting the problematic hot exhaust from your grow room into clean warm air to heat your house. At the heart of every Heat Recovery system is the Heat Exchanger. These usually consist of an interlaced series of plates that stack warm and cold airways alternately, warming the cold incoming air whilst simultaneously cooling the warm outgoing air and “exchanging” the heat. This air is, in turn, moved by the inbuilt fans and sent along four duct runs. The hot and humid air from the area/room surrounding your grow room is exchanged for cooler, dryer air. This is achieved by taking the cold intake air from the relevant area in your house and replacing it with the resultant heated dry air from the transfer process. The harvested waste water from the dehumidification process is connected to a suitable drain. This cycle is perpetual and the unit is never switched off, the only change is at times when the unit needs to be boosted due to high levels of humidity or occupancy and this can be done manually via a booster switch or automatically via sensors that detect relative humidity.

The Polypipe- Silavent HRX heat recovery unit is probably our best-selling unit, and an ideal solution to those struggling with hot and humid exhaust air and the associated condensation and mould problems it causes throughout your home. It manages to achieve this with the remarkably low S.F.P. (that is, the wattage output required to move one litre of air in one second, measured in Watts/litre/second) of .58w/l/s.

“This unit will give a large home and ample sized grow room a self-sustaining, heat recovering ventilation system for under £700...” This unit will give a large home and ample sized grow room a self-sustaining, heat recovering ventilation system for under £700, which makes it an affordable and viable option for anyone who takes ventilation heat recovery seriously. It is a massive step in the right direction for true energy efficiency, the environment and your pocket from the lower conventional heating bills you will see as a result. High efficiency, low noise, low running costs, reasonable initial out lay and ease of installation for anyone with basic D.I.Y. skills make heat recovery units the one stop solution to all the ventilation needs of any new build or renovated property, and provide an answer for a problem suffered by many an indoor grower.

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GROW TEST

GETTING FILTHY WITH A BUNCH OF DIRTBAGS This issue we cast the Hydromag eye over the current types of potting compost you will find gracing the shelves of all good grow stores, and even some of the not so good ones. Soil? Why the bloody hell is a hydroponics magazine looking at soil? That is what we’re looking at here, isn’t it? I mean, everyone calls it that don’t they? How many times have you heard “Ten bags of that there soil me ol’ china, that’ll do me”? Must be called that then, eh? I’m sure you can see where this is going. Strictly speaking, none of this is soil. Not unless your local growshop is quickly nipping out the back door and scooping some dirt out of the ground and into a bag to sell you, which wouldn’t surprise me. The word ‘Soil’ directly means the upper layer of earth in which plants grow made from a mixture of organic matter and rock type particles. Maybe loads of broken glass, too if you are really lucky like on me on my allotment. I can sense the questions brewing in your mind already. ”OK smartarse, what is it called then?” and perhaps “Why does that even matter?” from the more cynical of you. In answer to the first question, I like the term ‘dirtbags’ but I don’t think that will catch on. Commonly it is referred to as ‘compost mix’ or ‘potting compost’ but even that can be slightly misleading sometimes, as it rarely contain actual compost. The answer to the second question takes us to an even more important issue altogether. Where does the line between what is seen as conventional hydroponic media and these ‘compost mixes’ begin and/or end?

Hydroponics is essentially defined as growing without the presence of soil. Hydroponic growing mediums are all produced following the same basic processes. A natural substance is harvested out of the earth. It is processed and treated to get rid of undesirable elements, and charged by supplementing with ones we deem beneficial to the physical properties of the end result. It is then bagged and sold. These dirtbags we all buy, thinking we are being all lovely and organic, are subject to exactly the same principles: A material is harvested out of the earth: Peat. It is cleansed/treated and then supplemented with extras to make it plant suitable (worm castings, guano, etc or chemical fertiliser for nutrient content and usually some sort of lime for pH buffering). Then it is bagged and sold. Due to the manufactured nature of its creation and basic fundamental properties, it cannot be seen in any way as being soil. As already established, Hydroponics is the growing of plants without soil. It therefore follows that anyone buying and using these dirtbags is actually growing hydroponically. Boom/ Crack/Smash! Don’t mind that noise, that’s just the sound of your perception’s back doors being smashed in. A big sorry to all you ‘organic’ growers out there, things are never what they seem to be, eh? Speaking of things never being what they seem, lets crack straight on shall we?

SO WHAT ARE WE TESTING, AND HOW WAS IT ALL PERFORMED? Volume Testing: We once again made use of the BS EN 12580 volume measuring cylinder as used in the previous coir comparison. Three bags of each brand were tested in order to get a decent view of the batch. Unfortunately with the amount of brands we tested, it meant that I spent roughly two weeks hunched over in a dank warehouse unit, balls deep in all types of dirtbags.

Water Soluble Nutrients: Measured in accordance with BS EN 13040:2000 the extracted solution is filtered and then subject to a variety of analyses to gain each nutrients value. A combination of Ion Chromatography, Optical Emission Spectroscopy and Colorimetric Analysis is performed to gain insight into the levels of each individual element.

Total Nutrient Content: The sample is digested in an open vessel with concentrated Hydrochloric and Nitric acid using a temperature controlled digestion block. This forms a powerful oxidising agent that destroys all organic matter and breaks down the mineral matrix of the sample. The elements in the solution are analysed and determined with a combination of Optical Emission Spectroscopy and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry.

All the following tests were performed on samples sent to the leading horticultural laboratory in the country. We try not to do things by half, even if it does cost an arm and a leg.

Bulk Density: Measured in accordance to BS EN 13041:2000, the mass of the sample is determined after drying to a constant weight at 105Â°C and the volume is reduced to set parameters.

EC and pH: Measured in accordance to BS EN13037:2000, the test sample is extracted using water and the pH is then measured potentiometrically under strictly controlled conditions. Essentially the voltage of the solution is measured and compared to standardised voltages to determine its values.

In an ideal world we could have performed all of these ourselves. However the equipment and precise procedures involved are obviously way over our heads and not to mention budgets. Plus, particularly with the acid digestion test for total nutrients, I wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t like to imagine spilling the solution on my trousers and melting a hole through my scrotum. Even after having had my fill of offspring and now considering a vasectomy, I would not like to perform it accidentally on myself. We were also going to get bacterial and fungal counts done on the samples, but we decided to leave this for a future issue. We have enough on our plate here to be getting on with without having to explain the intricacies of the Soil Food Web.

VOLUME TESTING This is generally the sort of thing that you take for granted. You buy a 50 litre bag of media and you expect it to be 50 litres. You wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to buy a pint and only be given two thirds of a pint would you? Unfortunately it is a lot easier to determine if a pint is under, allowing you to swiftly throw it back in the bar-keeps face in protest and demand a full one. Bags of media are not as easy to determine with just your eyes, so we have to take the manufacturers good word that they have done their duty and filled it correctly and according to regulations.

-11.8 -7.3

The regulations being BS EN 12580:2000. This boring looking number is basically a process in which you go about correctly measuring and filling bags of media to the correct level. It was put in place to avoid problems with bags being vastly under what they state, after they have been transported over large distances and compacted down from all the movement. Within these regulations you are actually allowed a 10% variance to account for any excessive compaction and settling. Diligent manufacturers will however usually ensure that their products never reach this sort of level, making sure you do indeed get what you pay for and sometimes it seems, more. Like Tesco says â&#x20AC;&#x153;Every Little Helpsâ&#x20AC;?, especially when you have large numbers of the littles that results in a lot.

The Process: Three bags of each brand were tested to get a good overall average of the batch. The weight of each bag was then measured and recorded. Each bag was fluffed up nicely to ensure as much of the compaction from transport as possible was negated. It was fluffed to a point where it would easily fit through the riddle and fall nicely down into the standardised 20 litre EN measuring cylinder. Once filled it is then levelled off flush along the brim of the pot to get rid of the excess. We then weigh the filled measuring cylinder to give you the weight of a true twenty litres. Multiply this by 2.5 (or the relevant ratio depending on stated volume of the bag) to get the true weight of fifty litres. Compare this to the original weight of the bag to see what the variance is. Simples. The following tables are based on the averages of the raw data.

-5.8 -5.5 -4.5 -3.6 -3.4 -3 -2.3 -1.7 -1.2 -1 -0.7 0.9 1.7 1.9 1.9 2 3.2 7.6 7.7 9.6 10.8

Volume Overall

BULK DENSITY The dry bulk density of a soil gives you a great insight into the physical properties in a sample, particularly its compaction and porosity. A ‘heavy’ media that compacts easily and doesn’t allow for adequate aeration doesn’t take much explaining as to why it is less preferable to a freer draining one.

It is one of the fundamental reasons people choose to grow with typical hydroponic systems in the first place. Choosing a brand with a low bulk density can get you some way towards having this sort of advantage whilst still being smug in your choice to grow with something that is deemed to be more organic and natural.

How was it measured? A set mass of the sample is determined after first being completely dried by being heated to a temperature of 105°C until it is a constant weight. It is then compressed under set parameters and the resultant volume is measured. This measurement includes volume of all the particles of the soil and the volume of the pores of all of these particles of soil. A lower result for the bulk density means the higher ratio of the volume of open pores of the sample.

“More oxygen within the root zone will help to increase your plant’s nutrient uptake to result in faster plant growth. A low aerated and compacted media will result in very poor and slow root growth...”

Why is it important? The physical structure of a media is a fundamental indicator of how well your plants will grow in said media. More oxygen within the root zone will help to increase your plant’s nutrient uptake and result in faster plant growth. A low aerated and compacted media will result in very poor and slow root growth, sometimes to the point where it will retard completely. Also, particularly important to the organic growers amongst you, mixes that are of a higher aeration/lower bulk density will promote and encourage the proliferation of beneficial aerobic bacteria, and help stifle the less desirable anaerobic ones. KG/M3

EC AND PH These two variables should be easily understood by the majority of you reading this. The pH of a sample needs to be within a particular range in order for the nutritional elements in the solution to be available to the plant. The EC in turn needs to be of a suitable level for the size and type of plant you are planning on subjecting to it.

How was it measured? A test portion of each sample is extracted to a 1:1.5 ratio, in order to dissolve the electrolytes into a solution. The specific conductivity of each sampleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s solution is measured, which is essentially a result of the movement of the ions in the solution once subjected to an electrical field. Similarly with the pH it is also measured potentiometrically under the same strictly controlled conditions.

Why are these important? These two properties are used by growers far and wide to determine what they should be adding to their nutrient solution, in order to give the plant the correct dosage of nutrients; unless of course you are going down the more organic route by using organic mixes, and supplementing with various organic amendments. Either way though, the EC gives you an indication of the strength of the immediately available nutrients to the plants, and indicates to you what sort of levels you should be watering through your pot on the next application. Peat by its nature has an extremely low pH, and unless you are growing something like Blueberries, you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t particularly want an ericaceous soil. Lime (of varying types depending on brand) is added to the mix to ensure the pH is kept up to the correct levels (5.5-6.5) and negate the acidifying nature of the peat. Mixes with a low EC of around 1.0-1.2 and below will be more suitable for establishing younger plants and seedlings/cuttings in. For a nice big plant ready to enter its flowering stage you want to choose a mix with a relatively high EC, around the 1.8 and higher mark. Be careful though, as too high an EC can stifle growth for a period immediately after transplanting, so make sure your plant is suitably established before potting on.

The following are the results we obtained:

IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE NUTRIENTS So now you know the EC, what nutrients is this actually made up of, and at what sort of ratios? Well this is exactly what we are looking at here.

How was it measured? The same extraction was performed as for the EC and pH. It is then shaken at 250rpm for one hour at 22 degrees. The resultant extract is then filtered and measured using a variety of methods. Available nitrogen is determined though two separate methods of analysis. Strangely, nitrogen is the trickiest of all the elements to accurately capture. A combination of Ion chromatography and colorimetric analysis is used to get an accurate Nitrogen reading. A process called Inductively Coupled Plasma – Optical Emission Spectroscopy is used to gain insight into every other nutrient.

Why are these important? As each different type of plant will have a different type of nutritional requirement, knowing what your media is going to be releasing upon watering gives you a good idea of what type of plant you should be planting in it. This is going to involve you doing some interpretation for yourselves, depending on what you are growing. As a general rule though, fast growing flowering and fruiting plants such as tomatoes will want a high level of potassium when it comes to flowering, and leafier salad type crops will prefer a more nitrogen rich environment in which to thrive. Particularly important if you are planning to just use water for a while (so for the more nutrient rich and ‘organic’ based types) you will need to take the calcium and magnesium levels into account, and their ratios. Horticulturalists opinions on the exact ratios of what these should be, or even if there is an ideal ratio, are currently still up in the air. Some say 2:1, some say 4:1 and others say 6:1 or even higher, but no one can really agree. Annoying I know, it would be great to have something more concise to go on for you. At the very least though, as calcium deficiency is arguably the most common deficiency you will encounter as a grower, a nice high level of calcium here wouldn’t do anybody any harm.

88.6

899.2

14.7

143.1

31.2

591.9

114.9

522.9

BioBizz Allmix

224.7

520

46.6

80.9

29.9

74.3

137.7

977.4

2.7

DNA Mills Cork

258

475.7

62.7

51.8

18.8

108.2

853.5

2.8 2.2

Platinium Royal Mix

310.7

450.9

98.3

352.1

162.2

24.7

101.1

968.3

Verve John Innes No. 3

513.1

440.4

76.6

793.4

112.9

33.9

42.8

968.9

7.0

New Age AquaMix

229.8

362.8

92.6

46.4

73.4

114.5

58.3

442.7

0.6

Plagron Growmix

245.5

358.7

68.1

299.3

41.3

53.3

45.8

359

7.2

GT Alpha Mix

187.3

343.5

4.3

124.6

23.5

55.5

93.7

853.9

5.3

Verve John Innes No. 2

363.5

334.8

470.4

62.7

31.3

40.8

737.7

7.5

Plagron Royalmix

157.6

307.3

6.6

249.1

34.3

70.7

109.4

567

7.3 2.0

Atami Kilomix

210.2

280.2

42.4

280.1

140.1

20.8

56.4

832.3

Plagron Batmix

156

279.3

9.4

250.8

32.3

67.9

98.3

525.9

7.8

Guanokalong Complete Mix

291.2

271.4

30.7

497.6

35.8

59.9

729.4

8.6

H&G Bat Special

256.3

255.3

111.4

150.4

31.9

25.5

35.5

505.6

4.7

Canna Proffesional Plus

111.5

249.6

58.1

27.2

17.2

37.6

393.9

2.0

Atami Lightmix

159.3

205.7

76.6

33.2

15.2

218.8

2.3

Verve Multipurpose Compost

264.1

192.8

49.7

244.8

42.4

0.9

Atami Growmix

145.1

167

33.6

141.5

80.6

42.5

44.2

297

1.8

Ikon VitaMix

257.3

161.8

124.6

174.3

206.7

34.1

39.6

357.2

0.8

Canna Proffesional

126.3

155.6

65.7

36.8

20.1

20.5

198.7

1.8

Platinium GrowMix

146.7

141.8

72.7

177.4

87.8

11.2

18.8

327.1

2.0

Gold Label Special Mix

112.7

141.4

33.1

109.2

57.1

18.2

38.1

275.5

1.9

Biobizz Lightmix

154.5

141.3

63.5

99.3

53.4

17.1

328.8

1.9

Cellmax USM

185.1

129.1

93.5

74.1

26.7

12.3

25.2

451.5

2.8

Canna Bio Terra Plus

81.1

115.3

17.3

6.4

22.3

33.6

395.1

2.7

Plant Magic Soil Supreme

125.3

99.6

100.4

34.5

49.4

27.3

32.7

278.5

0.7

Platinium Light Mix

59.8

25.3

53.1

26.5

12.6

145.5

2.0

MG/LTR

4.6

Poundland Multipurpose Compost

TOTAL NUTRIENT CONTENT Particularly useful with mixes rich in organic matter, here we delve into what the total levels of nutrients are in each different mix. Also a vague indication of the pH buffering is given with the levels of calcium present, for those soils using a calcium based liming agent. Unless of course a magnesium based liming agent is used.

How was it measured? Each sample is dried at 105°C and then ground up to pass through a 1mm screen. The sample is then dissolved in a concentrated solution of Hydrochloric and Nitric acid in an open vessel, making sure the temperature remains at a constant level during this process. This forms powerful oxidising agents within the solution that destroy all organic matter and mineral matrixes of the sample. The elements in the resultant solution are analysed and the levels are determined with a combination of Optical Emission Spectroscopy and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry. Any silicates present in the sample are not solubilised and left as an insoluble residue in the digest.

If you are going to go down the organic route and attempt to stick to feeding with just water, you would want to choose a mix that has the sort of ratios that are going to be most suitable for your plants. Again, for a heavy feeding, fruiting and flowering crop, a decent level of potassium will be more suitable to you.

Why are these important? It is not just about what is immediately available to your plants when using a ‘soil’. This is due to a combination of the organic amendments that are added to the mix as fertilisers, and the beneficial biology present. Before organic based fertilisers can become available to your plants, they need to be mineralised by taking a journey through the soil food web. Beneficial bacteria and fungi that have formed beneficial associations with your plants actually lock this organic nutrient up within their biomass. Protozoa then come along and eat them up. Once the protozoa have digested the nutrient rich bacteria, they then shit out the remains in a mineralized form that is finally available to your plants. This process takes a fair bit of time as I’m sure you can appreciate, particularly if there is a low count of protozoa in your mix.

ORGANIC MATTER

YOUR PLANT

SF AN

R FE

IE NT

I TR

MG/KG

NUTRIENT TRANSFER BACTERIA & FUNGI

PROTOZOA

RESULT CHARTS

Volume PERCENTAGE VARIANCE

Canna Terra Pro Plus Plant Magic Soil Supreme Canna Bio Terra DNA Mills Cork Mix Plagron Royal Mix Canna Terra Proﬀesional Atami Bi Grow Mix Cellmax Universal Soil H&G Batmix Plagron Bat Mix Platinium Light Mix BioBizz Allmix New Age Aqua Mix Atami Kilomix Plagron Growmix GT Alpha Mix Platinium Royal Mix Platinium Growmix Atami Lightmix Ikon Vita-Mix Pro Gold Label Special Mix BioBizz Lightmix Guanokalong Complete Mix

-12

-9

-6

-3

Above you can see what sort of value for money you are getting out of each brand. A few litres here and there when purchasing one bag may not make much difference to you, but when buying in bulk you are likely to notice the variances in volume much more. Verve John Innes No. 2 Verve John Innes No. 3 Poundland Multipurpose Compost Growth Technology Alpha Mix Plagron Growmix H&G Bat Special Plagron Batmix Plagron Royalmix BioBizz Allmix Gold Label Special Mix Guanokalong Complete Mix Atami Kilomix BioBizz Lightmix Platinium Royal Mix Platinium Light Mix Canna Professional Cellmax USM Platinium GrowMix DNA Mills Cork Mix New Age AquaMix Ikon VitaMix Atami Lightmix Verve Multipurpose Compost Atami Growmix Plant Magic Soil Surpreme Canna Bio Terra Plus Canna Professional Plus

The Lower the better 3

KG/METER

150

250

350

450

550

650

750

800

A low bulk density implies a high porosity and a low level of compaction, meaning you will have a nice free draining and well aerated medium. The physical structure of a soil is often overlooked but critical to a successful harvest. Verve John Innes No. 3 Verve John Innes No. 2 Platinium Royal Mix Poundland Multipurpose Compost Guanokalong Complete Mix BioBizz Allmix DNA Mills Cork Atami Kilomix Plagron Growmix Ikon VitaMix H&G Bat Special GT Alpha Mix New Age AquaMix Plagron Royalmix Plagron Batmix Verve Multipurpose Compost Cellmax USM Platinium GrowMix Atami Growmix BioBizz Lightmix Atami Lightmix Canna Professional Plus Gold Label Special Mix Canna Proﬀesional Plant Magic Soil Supreme Canna Bio Terra Plus Platinium Light Mix

PH EC

This shows you the starting level in terms of strength of fertiliser and what pH you will be at. Ideally you want the pH to be between 5.5 and 6.5. The level of EC you should go for very much depends on how old, and how well established your plant is that is going to be potted into it.

More important for organic based mixes, and again you need to be choosing based on what type of nutrient demands your plant has. Nitrogen has been left off the graph as it is given in a percentage of total mass rather than the unit every other element is in. Calcium has also been left off as the level it gets to as a result of the liming process makes every other element look almost insignificant. High levels of magnesium can also be a result of the liming process, when a magnesium based liming agent is used. 8000

POTASSIUM

PHOSPHOROUS

MAGNESIUM

MG/KG

6000

4000

2000

Poundland Multipurpose Compost Biobizz Allmix DNA Mills Cork Platinium Royal Mix Verve John Innes No. 3 New Age AquaMix Plagron Growmix

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

SOLUBLE NUTRIENTS This graph shows you what sort of levels of each particular type of nutrient is present within your media. Obviously media with a lower EC will have lower looking levels on this graph. Choose your mix based on the ratios of nutrients that your chosen plant type demands.

GT Alpha Mix Verve John Innes No. 2 Plagron Royalmix

MG/LTR

Atami Kilomix

SOLUBLE N

POTASSIUM

PHOSPHORUS

CALCIUM

MAGNESIUM

Plagron Batmix Guanokalong Complete Mix H&G Bat Special Canna ProďŹ&#x20AC;esional Plus Atami Lightmix Verve Multipurpose Compost Atami Growmix Ikon VitaMix Canna Professional Platinium GrowMix Gold Label Special Mix Biobizz Lightmix Cellmax USM Canna Bio Terra Plus Plant Magic Soil Supreme Platinium Light Mix

FINALLY... So there you go. You should now be armed with almost all the information you need to choose the type of mix that is most suitable for you. As mentioned earlier, we are going to be looking at the bacteria and fungal counts of the mixes some time down the line, and delve deep into the mysteries of the soil food web. For now though, happy growing our HYRDOMAG chums.

Platinium Light Mix

Verve John Innes No. 2

Canna Professional

Verve John Innes No. 3

Ikon VitaMix

Plant Magic Soil Supreme

Cellmax USM

Verve Multipurpose Compost

Atami Growmix

BioBizz Lightmix

Platinium GrowMix

Atami Lightmix

Gold Label Special Mix

Guanokalong Complete Mix

Canna Bio Terra Plus

Bat Special

Plagron Batmix

New Age AquaMix

Plagron Royalmix

Plagron Growmix

Platinium Roayl Mix

Canna Professional Plus

Atmai Kilomix

GT Alpha Mix

BioBizz Allmix

Pondland Multipurpose Compost

DNA MillsCork

Believe it or not indoor growers, it’s not all about hydro and coco! There is another breed of growers that walks among us, they shun EC meters and laugh in the face of pH pens. These guys and gals are soil freaks! Funnily enough, most hydro shops cater extremely well for growers wanting to get dirty. You can buy a wide range of ready-to-use potting soil, as well as a whole bunch of stuff you can mix in to alter its properties. What are these fantastical amendments I hear you say... well this article is just for you! Why mix anything in? I can hear it already, “I’ve never mixed in fuck all, and my plants are banging!” Well, that’s because you’ve gone and got yourself a righteous potting soil mix that works for you, your plants and your growing environment. But unfortunately life’s a bitch, and what works for one grower may not work for another. So diving straight in, let’s first confront the amendments that change the potting soil structure, altering how much air and water the mix will hold.

PERLITE Often confused with cat litter, Perlite is actually a naturally occurring volcanic rock. When it’s superheated above 850°C it expands and puffs up to around 10 times its volume, a bit like popcorn. It’s unmistakably bright white, and its dusty nature can be a right pain in the arse, well mostly a pain in the facial area but you catch my drift. Perlite is already found in the majority of potting soil mixes, and is added to improve aeration and resist compaction. Perlite has a relative low water holding ability and so helps improve drainage and increase the overall air space within the mix. The perlite you can buy in a hydro shop typically has particle size of 1-5mm. You can add perlite to a potting soil between 5-50%, but 10-20% is the most common for hand watering or drip irrigation situations. The more perlite you add, the more it will lower the overall water holding ability producing a drier more aerated mix. Adding perlite helps in situations where you may be prone to the effects of overwatering, such as in the propagation stages where 20% is often useful, or in frequently irrigated systems such as Autopots where up to 50% can be used.

VERMICULITE This shiny corky looking stuff is a naturally occurring mineral that also expands when heated. It is easier to handle than perlite and is used in a similar way and for similar reasons. However, vermiculite holds onto much more water, and is also very good at retaining nutrients. It is not often mixed into potting soil by growers as perlite is superior, but vermiculite can be added at the rate of 5-25%. The vermiculite you can buy in a hydro shop typically has particle size of 2-4mm, but coarser types are also available. If you are looking to improve aeration perlite is widely accepted as a better option. Vermiculite is mostly used in propagation as a top dressing over pots or plugs to retain moisture and allow good seed germination. Some growers add vermiculite specifically for its nutrient retention properties, but this is not particularly common.

CLAY PEBBLES Clay Pebbles, Clay Balls, Orange Balls, Coco Balls, or lightweight expanded clay aggregate as they are technically called. These little beauties have a highly porous inner core with a hard outer shell, created by heating clay in a rotating kiln. The high kiln temperatures expand the clay, and as the kiln rotates it produces the substrates rounded shape. Most often, you will find hydro shops stock clay that is quite coarse is size, with an average particle size of 12mm. Clay is often used on its own in flood and drain systems, and typically holds up to half its volume with water (20L of Clay Pebs will hold 10L of water), which compared to perlite and vermiculite is relatively low. This means mixing clay pebbles with soil will lower the watering holding capacity and improve drainage. However, due to the overall large particle size of the clay pebbles mixing them with potting soil does not create a very even mix. Instead of creating a consistent water and air content throughout the mix, as you would achieve with perlite, mixing clay pebbles creates a mix with relatively dry pebbles surrounded by much wetter potting soil. For these reasons mixing clay pebbles in is not recommended unless it is in large quantities of 50% or higher to create a free draining mix suitable for frequent irrigation.

Clay pebbles do however work well as a top dressing to prevent surface evaporation and to encourage root growth right up to the surface of the potting soil. Clay pebbles can be used on the bottom of pots to act as an insulating layer, or to prevent soil from spilling out the holes, but contrary to popular belief a layer of pebbles at the bottom of the pot does not help improve drainage. Ok, now you are armed with the info on how to amend the physical structure of your soil, let’s get dirty and talk amendments that will add nutrients and that all important beneficial biology!

WORM CASTINGS When it comes to adding a huge dollop of nutritional and beneficial biological goodness into your soil mix, worm casts are indispensable. Worm casts, or worm castings, are literally worm poo, the result if worms munching away on decaying organic matter. Worm casts will bring poor soil back to ‘life’ by adding an army of beneficial microbes, particularly bacteria but also fungi, and plants respond extremely well to a high quality worm cast product. They are not hugely rich in nutrients, but are usually higher in nitrogen that other elements and what is added tend to last around 4 weeks. The only problem is that not all worm casts are created equal, and some products called worm castings are more of a worm worked compost or ‘vermicompost’. The term vermicompost is given to a product where not all of the material has passed through the worm, so will contain only a proportion of casts and will be of lower quality compared to high quality worm castings. However, some worm cast products come from worms that are reared on junk food! We are not talking Burgers and Fried Chicken here, worms love carbon rich food sources and soil dwelling ‘free range’ worms out in the real world love to chow down on autumn leaves. Worm farmers know this, and captive worms primarily reared for the fishing trade where worm casts are a harvested by-product are often fed large quantities of

recycled paper and card or paper pulp. This results in worm castings that are a greyish/brownish colour, instead of being a rich dark brown to black colour that you should expect from a high quality product. So in some circumstances, a good quality vermicompost can outperform a poor quality worm cast. When adding worm castings to your potting mix, add them at 5-25% by volume. Worm castings are safe to use in a mix for well rooted cuttings or seedlings. The high quality casts will need a lower application rate than vermicompost. You can re-apply more worm castings as a light top dressing every 2-4 weeks throughout vegetative growth and the early flowering weeks. The two most widely available worm cast products are Plagron’s Mega Worm and BioBizz Worm Humus.

BAT GUANO Bat guano, aka Bat poo, works very well as a soil amendment. It is a great organic source of phosphorus which will improve root growth but is often used more so for better results in flower production. Bat Guano also contains significant amounts calcium and magnesium, as well as lower but useful quantities of nitrogen, potassium and trace elements. The majority of the phosphorous rich bat guano in Europe comes from Indonesia, but there are other sources such as Mexican bat guano which is higher in nitrogen. Bat guano is often touted as a good organic supplement for introducing beneficial micro-organisms, but in Europe this is quite the opposite. This comes down to the EU regulations

INSECT FRASS The new kid on the block, ‘frass’ is the technical terms for poo from insects, and comes from the breeding and production of insects such as beetles, crickets and locusts. The most available insect frass product comes from beetle production, more specifically it is the poo from beetle larvae commonly called mealworms. This frass is dry and is a bit like sand in texture so when mixed through your potting soil it mixes up nice and evenly. Frass adds some basic nutrition, and is well balanced in its NPK, offering values around 3/2/3. It is very biologically

regarding its importation which enforces that bat guano must be heat treated at 70°C for 60 minutes to destroy potential pathogenic bacteria, and in this process the beneficial biology is also wiped out. COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 142/2011 Section 2 (b). Bat Guano is a good long lasting organic fertiliser as it is slow to break down, so when applying be sure not to add it too late in the plants life cycle as it could lead to over-fertilisation or significant amounts of nutrition will still be present in the growing media at the end of the cycle. It is well worth noting here that the ethics around the harvesting of bat guano is regarded by many as somewhat questionable. The mounds of guano that build up in bat caves are a mini ecosystem in themselves, and the mass harvesting of the guano from these caves not only disturbs the bats natural habitat, but also that of the guano dwelling insects and organisms. Many organic growers look to other sources of organic phosphorus for this reason. When using bat guano, follow the manufactures recommendations as they do vary quite significantly from between brands. Ensure you either mix it into the potting soil at the start, or top dress in the vegetative cycle or very early flowering. As bat guano is devoid of the microorganisms that are needed to break it down into available nutrients for the plant, it is a good idea to use a microbiologically active product with it too, such as worm castings and/or insect frass. The two market leaders for bat guano in the UK are Guanokalong and Plagron, both being very good quality products.

active, more so than good quality worms castings, and mainly contains bacteria rather than fungi. Frass also is good at stimulating growth as it contains chitin from insect fragments such as the skins of mealworms and beetle legs. Chitin when broken down by soil microorganisms generates a response in the plant that activates the immune system, initiating a process called ‘Systemic Acquired Resistance’ which causes faster growth rate and increased defence against disease. Quite clever for beetle poop! To use frass mix into the potting soil at the start at between 1-2% by volume, so use between 500ml and 1L of frass for one 50L bag of soil. It is fairly slow to break down, taking around 4 weeks, so after this you can top dress it by sprinkling lightly on the soil surface. Interestingly, it can also be made into a foliar spray by steeping it in water, spray the leaves with this frass ‘tea’ activates the plants immune response, and is a cost effective way of using it. There is a UK produced product called ‘Charge’ by Ecothrive and a product with limited availability called ‘Insect Frass’ by Organic Nutrients.

SUMMARY So there you go, now you just need to get your best Tim Westwood impressions on while you pimp your soil up with some of these amendments. Apparently they don’t work as well unless you talk like him while you’re adding them in.

100FILMS

TO WATCH BEFORE YOU SNUFF IT:

ROAD MOVIE Robert Louis Stevenson once pronounced that “to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive”, an astute observation but one that ignores the occasional experience of users of Malaysia Airlines (the “arrival” part is kind of important too). We can’t help trying to project some semblance of joy onto this world of endless disappointment, whether by glorifying the past or hoping for a better future. But scratch beneath the surface and your wistful childhood recollection of endless summers and ice cream will swiftly turn to ‘Nam-style, cold-sweat flashbacks of mummy and daddy screaming at each other; your head being flushed in the toilet by kill-the-pigchanting bullies; and inappropriate touching at choir practice. And the future? We all know the one thing the future ultimately holds in store for us. The Big Roulette Wheel in the sky turns without rest; the longer we survive the shorter the odds get that there’ll be no tomorrow. If we’re “lucky” we’ll get to watch our friends and family go first. On this voyage they call Life we start naked, screaming, covered in blood and slime and we’ll probably go out the same way. The journey is the most palatable bit, and perhaps “travelling hopefully” is the best we can ask for. In this issue of HYDROMAG we take a look at The Road Movie – a genre where the journey is king, and hope a central theme. This edition: Road Movie - where the hero’s journey is both metaphorical and literal (and often heavily features roadbased scenery).

Sideways

DIRECTOR: Alexander Payne (2004)

Alexander Payne is something of a road movie specialist – About Schmidt and Nebraska are both fantastic – but we already have two old-farts-on-the-road movies on the list so Sideways it is. The setup is simple but brilliant, with an “odd couple” conceit the focal point of the ﬁlm’s humour. Jack, a dumb, carefree actor and philanderer on the brink of marriage, is taken on a stag trip by his deeply depressed, recently divorced and pompous friend Miles. While Miles plans a civilised excursion to the great vineyards of California, Jack just wants to get his rocks off one last time. Their contradicting motivations produce some hilarious moments, not least when Miles pretentiously shows his friend how to taste wine with a list of far-fetched descriptors (“the faintest soupçon of like, uh, asparagus, and, there’s a, just a ﬂutter of, like a, like a nutty Edam cheese”) only to realise Jack has been chewing gum throughout. Mid-life crisis has rarely been more amusing.

The Straight Story

DIRECTOR: David Lynch (1999) Despite an Angelo Badalamenti score and a number of familiar Lynchian motifs, this ﬁlm undeniably stands out from the rest of Lynch’s catalogue as being uncharacteristically “straight”. Where usually Lynch recreates ‘50s-inspired American wholesomeness, hiding or threatened by unimaginable evil, here there is only light and goodness. People are benevolent, communities are strong and compassionate. The ever real, neardistant threat of mortality becomes the antagonist rather than any Frank Booth, Bob or Mystery Man. Richard Farnsworth, sadly in his ﬁnal role, beautifully plays Alvin Straight – a frail 73 year old determined to hit the road on his lawnmower to pay his ailing brother a last visit. Alvin is a tough old customer but stricken with bittersweet memories and regrets. The relentless kindness he encounters on his journey to put things right with his brother is guaranteed to give the viewer an emotional kick in the guts. Over and over.

“On this voyage they call Life we start naked, screaming, covered in blood and slime and we’ll probably go out the same way. The journey is the most palatable bit, and perhaps “travelling hopefully” is the best we can ask for. In this issue of HYDROMAG we take a look at The Road Movie – a genre where the journey is king, and hope a central theme.”

Wild Strawberries

DIRECTOR: Ingmar Bergman (1957) While the “the road” serves as a perfect metaphor for life ahead, in the case of Bergman’s Wild Strawberries it’s more a symbol of a journey into the subconscious and the past. Haunted by surreal (Buñuel-esque) dreams of his own death, 78 year old professor Isak Borg prepares to travel to his hometown to collect an honorary degree from his old university. This titular adulation is in marked contrast to his interactions with real people, who largely find his demeanour cold and off-putting. Despite a fractious relationship with his daughterin-law, pregnant with her first child, he agrees to travel with her by car. During the trip Isak visits his old family home, his mother, and picks up a number of young hitchhikers, having interactive hallucinations and reminiscences along the way. It’s perhaps telling of Bergman that despite being punctuated with a sense of time running out and impending doom; it’s also one of his warmest and most approachable films.

Badlands

DIRECTOR: Terrence Malick (1973) Badlands was Malick’s debut feature film, financed in part by doctors and dentists, and features his usual stylistic traits – wistful like narration, beautiful cinematography, and disorientating, dreamlike editing. The effect is hypnotic and transcendental – a trademark of all his films – and it eats away at the viewer on a subconscious level. Badlands follows two desensitized young lovers, in a post-Manson America, on the run from the law. Kit, a 25 year old refuse collector, afflicted with a kind of existential ennui, is smitten when he sees 15 year old Holly on his rounds. Their burgeoning love sets Kit free on a wild ride, involving mass murder and a brief brush with infamy. The 1970s was a great time for cinema, a rare window when the studios, unable to understand the cultural revolution, handed over the house keys to drugfuelled hippies before the money men returned to prominence. Badlands is one of the finest films of this era.

La Strada

DIRECTOR: Federico Fellini (1954)

La Strada is Italian for The Road and of all the movies on this list “the road” here is at its most obviously metaphorical. For our travellers there is no clear destination - the journey is without end, as two nomadic entertainers seek to make ends meet busking across poverty-stricken post-war Italy. Shot in Fellini’s distinct “Magic Neo-Realist” style – if such things can co-exist – it’s a story of redemption through emotional pain. Boorish, angry drunk Anthony Quinn “buys” a woman’s simple-minded daughter as an assistant for his one-trick feat-of-endurance show. Gelsomina, played by Fellini’s real-life wife Giulietta Masina, is a Chaplinesque naïf who views the world with a mix of wide-eyed pleasure and childlike apprehension. Despite numerous opportunities to escape Quinn’s brutality and emotional detachment, she loyally stays by his side with tragic consequences. Not unlike De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves the ﬁnal, heart-breaking scenes put the entire ﬁlm into an altogether different perspective.

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 BLACK ORCHID Hydrus Cool Tube The Black Orchid Hydrus Cool Tube reflector is ideal for extracting heat straight from the source. The Hydrus cool tube features detachable external reflectors for effective light distribution and a unique 4m tinned copper cable, which is proven to significantly reduce radio interference. Suitable for E40 fitting HPS and Metal Halide lamps. Available in 5” and 6”.

Manufacturer / Product Website: www.blackorchid.co.uk/products/reflectors-hoods/hydrus/

BMTEK Nanogen Range Erith Horticulture proudly presents the revolution in plant growth nutrients. Scientists have finally discovered the way to create the most perfectly uniformed product on the market today, achieved through the development of purpose built proprietary reactors to smash particles together at an elemental level. This creates nano particles; the machinery used to create these products is the horticultural equivalent of the big bang machine used to find the ‘Higgs Boson’ particle. The Nanogen range of products have been designed using state of the art Nano-technology equipment in collaboration with leading British University experts and scientists in the field. Nano technology helps promote growth in plants through the conservation of energy required to absorb nutrients.

Distribution by: Erith Horticulture

PLANT VITALITY LTD Killermite Erith Horticulture are the only approved distributor of the Plant Vitality range of products, users should beware of any spidermite killing product baring the name Plant Vitality that isn’t called KILLERMITE. It has been brought to the attention of the producers of the Plant Vitality range that other copycat products exist on the market that have unknown, unapproved and possibly HAZARDOUS and EXTREMELY TOXIC ingredients, some may even bear the name Plant Vitality in an attempt to ride on the back of this brand. Although some of these products may appear cheaper, their use may have long term and extremely costly detrimental health eﬀects, to be sure and safe, Killermite is the new name for Plant Vitality +

Manufacturer / Product Website: http://plantvitalityltd.co.uk Distribution by: Erith Horticulture

CANNA CANNA PK 13/14 If you want bigger fruits and ﬂowers, CANNA PK13/14 is the right product for you. CANNA PK13/14 is a high grade mixture of phosphorus and potassium that is added during the ﬂowering phase. CANNA has succeeded in combining pure phosphorus and potassium in very high concentrations. This makes PK13/14 available to the plant quickly and directly. Do you want the best results for your plants? Use CANNA PK13/14 for more information about this product please visit the website www.canna-uk.com.

Manufacturer / Product Website: http://www.canna-uk.com/pk_13_14 Distribution by: Highlight Horticulture/Hydrogarden

CANNA CANNA on Youtube Did you know CANNA has collected all its videos on one page for you? Now you can easily ﬁnd all the CANNA videos perfectly arranged together. All the videos in which CANNA gives you growing tips can be found on the CANNA YouTube channel. Simply go to YouTube and search for CANNA Oﬃcial.

Manufacturer / Product Website: https://www.youtube.com/user/CANNAOﬃcial

ETI Ltd Therma-Hygrometer with Max/Min & Alarm functions This therma-hygrometer simultaneously displays both the humidity and temperature in addition to indicating and recording the maximum and minimum readings, ideal for grow rooms. Utilising the internal sensor the instrument measures temperature over the range of 0 to 49.9 °C. The external remote probe with integrated three meter lead measures both temperature and humidity over the range of - 49.9 to 69.9 °C and 20 to 98 %rh with a ± 3 % accuracy. The unit features a temperature alert alarm that will sound when the external remote probe indicates the temperature is 0 °C or below. Priced at £15 each ex VAT, it is available from www.etiltd.com

Manufacturer / Product Website: www.etiltd.com

GROW GEAR GHE Flora Nova 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 and 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 and superb for hydroponics, soil-less and soil cultivation.

Manufacturer / Product Website: gb.eurohydro.com Distribution by: Growth Technology, Highlight Horticulture, Hydrogarden, Glasgrow

GHE FloraKleen FloraKleen is formulated to remove fertilizer residues that can accumulate over time; it is safe for use in all systems and media at any time throughout the plants life. It can also be used between crops to clean the systems of accumulated salts. Unlike other products on the market, it is not enzyme based and uses a completely different technology. During cultivation, FloraKleen dissolves accumulated mineral salts, reduces plant stress from excess and imbalanced nutrients, breaks nutrient bonds that attach fertilizer salts to growing media, also correcting nutrient lock-out and nourishes the microbial life in the substrate. FloraKleen is also an excellent final flush, terminating maturation and promoting sugaring. FloraKleen exists in 0,5 l, 1 l, 5 l, 10 l

Manufacturer / Product Website: gb.eurohydro.com Distribution by: Growth Technology, Highlight Horticulture, Hydrogarden, Glasgrow

ADJUSTA-WATT 400v e-lite 1000w Product 05961 There has been no better time to experience the benefits that a 400V lighting system can offer you. This uniquely designed; ultra-compact and fully adjustable 1000W digital ballast is set to put the known benefits of one of today’s highest performing light source into the hands of more growers, but without the need for a re-mortgage! With all the features you’d expect from an Adjusta-Watt Digital Ballast, the e-Lite will effectively power all types of 400volt E40 mogul based and Double Ended grow lamps, allowing you to scoop the potential benefits of faster growth rates and higher yields with a very short return on investment.

Product Website: www.soldigital.co.uk Distribution by: FDP Wholesale

GROW GEAR SHIELD Shield Spider Mite Repellent Shield Spider Mite repellent protects plants against Spider Mites, two spotted Spider Mites, Aphids, Mealy Bugs, Whitefly and Blackfly. In tests Shield has also been shown to repel powdery mildew. It yields immediate results and is organic, effective and safe to use from germination to harvest. Shield is made in the UK and contains no harmful chemicals or alcohol. It is completely non-toxic, meaning no need for protective gloves or a mask. Available in 500ml or 1ltr ready to use bottles or can be applied using our innovative diffusers to cover areas up to 60m2

Manufacturer / Product Website: www.shieldspidermiterepellent.com Distribution by: HID

NUTRIFIELD Nutrifield Coco Chip Mix Nutrifield’s Coco Premium Chips Blend 50/50 possesses a unique moisture retaining capacity while offering ultimate drainage and maximum air porosity. This is due to its open pore structure which aids in faster and more efficient nutrient uptake. Coco coir has long lasting physical properties as it is 45% cellulose which resists degrading. When combined with coco husk chips containing high levels of lignin, our ultimate media combination is born. Nutrifield’s Coco Premium Chips Blend 50/50 resist breaking down or compacting during use which ensures optimum conditions for your plants to thrive in.

Manufacturer / Product Website: www.nutriﬁeld.com.au Distribution by: HID

EXODUS Exodus ProFlow Hybrid System The Proflow Hybrid DWC System combines drip feeding with undercurrent technology in one great value package. Featuring many unique innovations such as; 27 litre dual layered pots to keep things cool in the root zone whilst also reflecting light back up at your plants, Separate control of undercurrent and dripper flow from a single pump, 42mm dual layer solid pipe and Iceline™ to help reduce nutrient temperature even further. Available with 65cm or 100cm plant spacing for maximum flexibility, the Exodus Proflow is hydroponics taken to the next level. Sizes available - 4 pot - 6 pot - 8 pot - 12 pot - 16 pot - 24 pot

Manufacturer / Product Website: www.exodushydroponicsystems.co.uk Distribution by: HID

“A highly anticipated book.” MAXIMUM YIELD

“How to become the perfect indoor gardener.” THE INDOOR GARDENER

“Outstanding drawings. I keep my reference copy close at hand.” JORGE CERVANTES

“A richly illustrated bible of hydroponic gardening.” HYDROPONEAST MAGAZINE

“William Texier is considered one of the most knowledgeable hydroponics experts worldwide.” SOILLESS GARDENING

THE WORLDWIDE REFERENCE

Available through GROWTH TECHNOLOGY , HIGHLIGHT HORTICULTURE , Hydrofarm, BWGS and major distributors worldwide. MAMAPUBLISHING.COM

GROW GEAR IKON INTERNATIONAL Red Scorpion Fans Red Scorpion fans are constructed from carbon steel and offer real quality and high pressure airflow. The super strong and quiet magnetic motor push unparalleled air flow rates compared to its competitors and comes complete ‘plug and play’ with 1.8m cable and UK plug.

Manufacturer / Product Website: www.ikon-international.com Distribution by: IKON

ADVANCED NUTRIENTS Golden Goddess Golden Goddess (Fulvic Acid) is a natural mineral that supports healthy plant growth. One property of Fulvic acid is its ability to attract minerals and nutrients and “carry” them into the plant. A single molecule of Fulvic Acid is capable of hosting 60 or more minerals directly into plant cells.

Manufacturer / Product Website: www.ikon-international.com Distribution by: IKON

SOLER & PALAU Double sealed spigots The TD-SILENT range from S&P comes with double sealed spigots on both the inlet and outlet of this high performance but ultra-low noise range of inline mixed ﬂow fans. There are several reasons why this is a great feature to have on your fan; Firstly, a good seal between the ducting and the fan ensures that any noise associated with the movement of air through the ducting is contained within the ducting. Secondly, the same applies for any unwanted heat, chemicals or odours from the grow room. Finally, any leakage from the duct actually wastes energy so a well-sealed duct helps to create a low energy ventilation system.

Manufacturer / Product Website: www.silentfans.co.uk Distribution by: Available from Hydro shops

SOLER & PALAU Larger Commercial sizes The TD-SILENT range from S&P has many imitators but none are prepared to make the same level of investment in the development of such a broad range of fan sizes and performances. For the more commercial set up S&P offers models that deliver 1300 and 2000m³/hr of airflow with a suitably rugged metal casing with washable painted finish. These models still incorporate the acoustic attenuation in the fan body to ensure the minimum of radiated noise. To combine ultra-low noise levels with low-energy use S&P have also now launched the TD-SILENT ECOWATT range.

Manufacturer / Product Website: www.silentfans.co.uk Distribution by: Available from Hydro shops

GROW GEAR DIMLUX CO2 Controller This set, consisting of the Maxi Controller and the Dual-Beam NDIR CO2 sensor, uses a photocell that makes it particularly easy to operate. The Separate CO2 sensor is connected to the Maxi Controller, which controls the CO2 generator or CO2 pressure reducing valve. The CO2 sensor utilises Dual Beam NDIR technology which delivers unprecedented calibration stability and accuracy. Single beam sensors 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 for only 5 minutes per month it does not age or drift.

Manufacturer: Dimlux Distribution by: Hydro Station LTD

DIMLUX Autopilot CO2 Generator The Autopilot CO2 generator works without a constant pilot light and instead utilises electronic ignition. This leads to the added benefit of lower gas consumption. The 4kW model is suitable for 16 to 30m2 spaces and the 8kW model for 32 to 60m2 spaces, depending on the extraction efficiencies. For larger spaces we recommend that several CO2 generators be positioned in different areas of the space. Models available: Autopilot CO2 Generator Natural gas (NG) 4KW Autopilot CO2 Generator Propane (LPG) 4KW Autopilot CO2 Generator Natural gas (NG) 8KW Autopilot CO2 Generator Propane (LPG) 8KW

Manufacturer: Dimlux Distribution by: Hydro Station LTD

PLAGRON Cocos Pebbles SUBSTRATE / NON FERTILISED. Easy hydroponic growing 50/50. Plagron Cocos Pebbles oﬀers the advantages of both Cocos Premium and Euro Pebbles. The cocos will keep the pH in the substrate stabile. The pebbles provide the substrate with excellent drainage and an adequate oxygen level. Cocos Pebbles is a 50/50 combination of high quality Cocos Premium and Euro Pebbles. Controlling the pH is easy, because this substrate is buﬀered for a stable pH throughout the entire cultivation period. The EC value of Cocos Pebbles is extremely low, therefore the grower has full control over the fertilisation. Plagron Cocos Pebbles is suitable for almost any hydroponics system, because of the excellent drainage that the pebbles supply.

Product Website: www.plagron.com

PLAGRON Growmix SUBSTRATE FERTILISED. Growing without problems on pre-fertilised soil. Plagron Growmix contains a lot of white peat, harvested from the top layer of the peat ﬁelds; the youngest layer. This peat is airy and drains extremely well. The mix of white peat, black peat and worm castings ensure a smooth growth phase. The use of nutrients during the growth phase of the plant is not required. The worm castings, and added mineral fertilizer ensures adequate nutrition for young plants. This low nutritional value makes this potting-soil perfectly suited for transplanting young cuttings and rooted seedlings. Plagron Growmix gives your plants a healthy & vigorous start with an excellent basis for rich ﬂowering and abundant harvest. Like all quality Plagron potting soil, Growmix is rich in oxygen and does not shrink.

Product Website: www.plagron.com

SOL-DIGITAL DE-Stealth Edition Relfectors Product 05972/73/74/75 Choose the right reflector to suit your growing area and compliment your new Doubled Ended lighting system with one of four great DE designs from Sol-Digital. Each DE-Stealth Reflector is made using the highest quality 97% reflective aluminium to fully maximise the increased light output of the Adjusta-Watt 400V e-Lite 1000w ballast. DE-Stealth Reflectors, when used with Adjusta -Watt 400v e-Lite 1000w digital ballasts, also guarantee to practically eliminate RF and broadband interference through their unique design and high quality materials.

Product Website: www.soldigital.co.uk Distribution by: FDP Wholesale

GROW GEAR HIGHLIGHT Bio Bav Bio Bav is a 100% organic problem solver designed to aid growers who are experiencing diﬃculties. Made a mistake? Got Yellow/Brown leaves? Weak Plants? Dried out Soil? Bio Bav can help. Containing high levels of organic minerals it helps to improve soil structure. Bio Bav also helps plants retain moisture during hot/dry conditions. Containing Humic and Fulvic acids that promote a healthy root structure and aid nutrient uptake, Suitable for use in soil, coco and hydro systems. When using as a preventative only three doses are required. Available in the UK from Highlight Horticulture.

Distribution by: Highlight Horticulture

HIGHLIGHT GEN200 Control The eﬀective ingredients of GEN200 consist of a patented bio mix of natural micro elements supplemented with orthosilicic acid (OSA). Silicon (Si) is one of the elements to be found most on earth. Silicon stimulates the defence mechanism of plants by means of activating their immune systems. Cell walls become stronger thus resulting in a decrease of susceptibility to various diseases and insect attack (spider mite etc.). Your plants will grow greener, healthier and stronger. Silicon also avoids dehydration of your plants. Therefore your plants will find it easier to stand stress factors such as heat and cold. GEN200 can be used on all kinds of soil and with all kinds of nutrition! Available in the UK from Highlight Horticulture.

Distribution by: Highlight Horticulture

GREEN QUBE Roof Qube Grow Tents Space a problem? Then Roof-Qube is your answer! The world’s only grow tent for attics, lofts and basements is now here – the Roof-Qube has landed! The Roof-Qube has been specifically designed and engineered for those people who are short on space. Its stands at only 1.8m high, so the Roof-Qube grow tent comfortably fits into spaces with a low ceiling height, including basements and attics. Plus the Roof-Qube has been designed with an angular roof so that it slots neatly into attic spaces – the only grow tent on the market to do this. Available in three sizes 120x120x180cm, 150x150x180cm and 120x240x180cm. Available in the UK from Highlight Horticulture.

Distribution by: Highlight Horticulture

GROW GEAR HIGHLIGHT Ventilation Products With the weather in the UK already heating up nicely (for a change!) it’s time to think about air movement. BLT has got this one sorted with a wide range of fans, from stand up pedestal, rotating box to many sizes of ﬂoor fans. Highlight have them all, in stock, now! Many fan suppliers run out during a hot summer and leave you struggling to ﬁnd quality fans, our suggestion don’t leave it too late to stock up. Available in the UK from Highlight Horticulture.

Distribution by: Highlight Horticulture

CLOSED LOOP Bergdorf Optima Closed loop growing has never been more straightforward than with the Optima range of horticultural air-conditioning from Bergdorf. With daytime cooling and night time heating modes, CO2 inputs, germicidal lamps and active carbon ﬁlters to scrub and purify air inside the grow room, these user friendly systems are fast to install and easy to operate. From 12’000 - 60’000 BTU of cooling The Optima covers rooms of all sizes.

Distribution by: FDP Wholesale

SOL-DIGITAL Super HPS 400v DE 1000w Product 05755 The Sol-Digital Super HPS 400V DE 1000w lamp is a bright and eﬃcient HPS lamps and has been developed especially for use with high frequency 400volt electronic ballasts such as the Adjusta –Watt 400v e-Lite 1000w. Delivering more light per consumed watt of electricity than its low voltage alternatives, it has faster warm up and re-strike times, improved lumen maintenance over the lamps life time and an astonishing PAR output of 2050umol/m2/second.

Product Website: www.soldigital.co.uk Distribution by: FDP Wholesale

COMPETITION... Well, well, well. Here we are again. It isn’t enough that we give our blood, sweat and tears to produce HYDROMAG every other month. No, you demand free stuff like some monstrous, 50ft tall Oliver Twist, standing there with your giant food bowl just as terrified HYDROMAG staff work themselves to within an inch of their lives in a steaming, filthy death trap of a kitchen behind the scenes. You want some more, huh? Well how about the superb Bergdorf Optima Climate Control system? Is that good enough? Or shall we also throw in the shirts off our backs? The Optima Climate Control system should have everyone, young and old, jizzing uncontrollably and everywhere. Create the perfect environment in your growroom (the horticultural equivalent to lighting candles and putting on Barry White), stand back in amazement as your growth levels swell; and bam! Come to Daddy, you sweet, sweet harvest… Thank you Bergdorf...

THIS MONTHS PRIZE...