Plant Indoors under Grow Lights

In tough times of the past, people have looked to ways to provide for their families. One of those ways was through growing their own vegetables, fruits and herbs. The "Victory Garden" came into being during World War II and times of food rationing. Today, many people are looking for easy ways to grow delicious, wholesome food and this can be done through indoor gardening.

A very successful gardening method is hydroponics, requiring no soil at all in order to grow wonderful foods. With this type of indoor gardening systems, you will need appropriate grow lights in order for the plants to thrive.

Plants need light in order to perform photosynthesis, whereby the plant converts light to energy. This energy is what makes the plant to grow, mature and reproduce. The key to good photosynthesis in indoor gardening situations is having ample light available to all plants. Without enough lighting, the growing plants will struggle to reach the available light and will become spindly and weak.

Automated Hydroponics Systems

Quite a few gardeners are now adapting automated hydroponics systems to their indoor gardens. These automated hydroponics systems are capable of monitoring and adjusting your water levels automatically. This means your plants will never run out of water.

At the same time the pH levels are also monitored. When the pH levels are skewed, a pump is activated to automatically adjust levels up and down. This results in your plants always having the optimum amount of water and nutrients at the proper pH level. This will keep the plants growing at their peak performance. Automated hydroponics gardening is changing the way indoor growers produce their organic vegetables and fruits.

Grow your own Vegetables and Fruit

Have you ever been disgusted by the quality and the prices of the vegetables offered at the local supermarket? Has the thought of growing your own vegetables has entered your mind? Even if you have a good range of vegetables at reasonable prices at your local store,the ever increasing concern over the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers gives can give one pause to consider opting for growing their own vegetables.

Growing your own vegetables indoors does not involve a tremendous amount of effort and in addition to enjoying a supply of fresh produce, you also discover a relaxing hobby. Even if you happen to live on an upper floor of an apartment building you can still grow a range of vegetables and fruits in hydroponics on your balcony or patio. This is a hobby everyone can enjoy.

Simple Hydroponics

What if hydroponic gardening was as simple as a bucket of sand with a single plant in it? This can be what it is, right up to a hydroponic system using measuring instruments to control water cycles, nutrient strengths and lighting times.

A system usually consists of these basic parts: a growing tray, a tank or reservoir, a timed submersible pump to irrigate the plants and an air stone and pump to oxygenate the nutrient solution. Light will of course be required and that can be natural or artificial. There are many different types lights to choose from, from fluorescent to LED to complete lighting kits.

Which type of Rock Wool to choose

There are several types of Rock Wool designed for the propagation of seeds and cuttings. The best for hydroponic hobbyists is considered to be the Single Block System known as SBS. This system consists of small individual cubes or mini blocks of Rock Wool on a small plastic tray. This makes the plants easy to handle and are ideal for selling or giving away.

Be certain to pre-treat the rock wool for 24 hours before use. Use a product that will
reduce the alkaline nature of the media until it balances out at between 5.8 and 6.3. One advantage of Rock Wool is its ability to hold enough water to last through the average period of time required for the cuttings to root. However, you will need to use a humidity dome.

Mini Caddy Hydroponics System

Do you have a spare closet? Introducing the "Mini Caddy", the ultimate compact home hydroponics system. Terrific for confined spaces.

The Mini Caddy is small enough to fit in any closet and is ideal when space is a concern. The inline cooling system keeps the inside of the cab always under 5ºF above room temperature. With this cabinet your growing will be easy, high yielding and above all, safe. The Mini Caddy arrives pre-assembled and requires less than 15 minutes of setup time to start growing. This affordable hydroponics system is perfect for experts and beginners alike.

When to water... more or less

When to water and how much has always been something of a guess. Generally speaking, plants begin gradually using more water at the start of their flowering cycle. Peak water consumption comes just after mid-flowering. After that, water needs taper off.

During the ripening phase, water use is lessened even though the plants are at their largest mass. It's easy to over-water during this phase so be careful not to drown the
roots.

Most self-help studies stress the need to create a perfect environment to be able to live a "successful" life. From the most famous celebrities to the most celebrated politicians and all of us mere mortals in between. To be truly happy, therefore, one needs to be fulfilled and so our environment is crucial for us to be are able to share and give to our fellow humans.

Whether it's a city street, a rural farm or a Hollywood stage, finding the environment that suits your character can be a lifelong search, so the journey must be enjoyed.

Get in touch with nature and re-assure yourself that the natural world will carry on no matter what. Draw from the creativity of a flower growing, a vegetable being formed, insects oblivious to what's on TV tonight, and water flowing over naturally formed rocks.

Try an experiment... spend a full half hour or more alone in a forest or next to the sea or, failing that, a park where you won't be disturbed. Make sure you feel safe from wild animals and humans and just let your mind wander, allow your thoughts to flow freely. Call it meditation time if you need an excuse to spend some time on your own. Just enjoy and allow your thoughts to wander free and your imagination to leap into fantasies.

Benefits of a Grow Chamber

Technically, grow chambers are not classified as a hydroponics growing technique. It's actually a housing or a container for the hydroponics system, accessories and lighting fixture.

Grow chambers are perfect for the home grower because the system is enclosed, putting everything in one container and out of view. Of course, keeping your grow space nice and neat is only one of the many benefits a grow chamber offers.

Some systems are approximately the size of a refrigerator allowing you to grow your plants in one side of the chamber and mother plant with clones in the other. Grow chambers varies in size.

Most systems are built with a reflective interior to efficiently distribute light and increase the amount of lumens reaching the plants, resulting in a higher yield.

Not enough Soil for a Garden?

Hydroponics gardening is a great idea for anyone who wants a garden but doesn't have enough land or soil. Hydroponics gardening is, essentially, a way to cultivate plants using a nutrient solution instead of soil. With hydroponics gardening, it's easy to grow lovely flowers and succulent vegetables virtually anywhere you want! It's true that hydroponics gardening needs much less time than an ordinary garden. In fact, you might spend only five minutes a day maintaining you're hydroponics garden. Once a month the nutrient solution will have to be changed but this will only take a few minutes.

While hydroponics gardening can be a little confusing sometimes when starting out, you'll soon get the jist of it. The same as you need gardening supplies for a ordinary garden, you'll need hydroponics supplies for your hydroponics garden. The most popular system is the passive system. This is where the plants sit directly in the nutrient solution. All passive air systems use an aquarium air bubbler otherwise the solution can become deoxygenated and could rot the plants. If you can find the right system for you, hydroponics gardening will provide you with all the flowers and vegetables you could possibly want.

A Summertime Warning

If the roots of your container plants are sitting in warm water, they may become
susceptible to contracting pathogens that lead to root rot. How do you prevent this?
Here are several suggestions:

First make certain that your containers are well drained.

Next, add an enzyme product to your nutrient mix. Buy quality. You want plenty of live enzyme action that will quickly break down older decaying roots, turning them into valuable food sources. Too many inexpensive enzyme products contain only dead
enzymes or the shelf life is so short that by the time you buy the product the enzymes are all but useless.

Remember, root decay is a normal part of the root growth cycle. You can't avoid it. But you can make certain that the decayed materials are turned into a valuable food source through enzyme action.

Clones from Clones?

There are two things to consider when cloning plants, particularly if you want to preserve the genetic characteristics for future crops. These are genotype and phenotype.

Genotype is the genetic make-up (DNA) of the plant, which is quite stable. Only in rare instances will genes tend to mutate, thus creating a slight variation.

The phenotype is the physical expression of a plant's DNA and may change under
different environmental influences. For example, the same genes grown in two different rooms may be similar but could appear slightly different in the finished product.

As long as you maintain a consistent environment and avoid a prolonged stress on a
mother plant or clone, a clone from a clone should remain very much like the original. However, it's often a good idea to start new mother plants from seed every few years. This helps maintain higher levels of vigor. Stuff can happen to plants after being grown for several years.

When NOT to use organic teas

If you are using a purely water based media, such as deep water culture, it's best to avoid organic teas. A salt based fertilizer is generally preferred because it is absorbed directly into the roots.

However, organic teas are an ideal companion for growing in media such as rockwool, coco coir or Sure to Grow. It will provide a harmonious and fertile environment for the roots of your crop.

Exceptional Lighting Kit

These “Power Plant Kits” are custom designed lighting systems with all of the latest horticulture technology. Rather than try to mix and match a variety of different ballasts, bulbs, and reflector from different manufacturers, they've put the best of everything into one offering.

Each kit includes a digital ballast, 6" air cooled reflector, 2 bulbs (one MH and one HPS), a timer, 2 light mover pulleys and a video grow guide. It works on 120 volts.

I suggest you shop around and realize what an incredible deal this kit is.

Hydroponic Technology

Hydroponics is a technology for growing plants in nutrient solutions (water and fertilizers) with or without the use of artificial medium (e.g., sand, gravel, vermiculite, rockwool, peat, coir, sawdust) to provide mechanical support. Liquid hydroponic systems have no other supporting medium for the plant roots: aggregate systems have a solid medium of support.

Hydroponic systems are further categorized as open, where after the nutrient solution has been delivered to the plant roots, it is not reused; or closed where surplus solution is recovered, replenished, and recycled. The definition of hydroponics has been confined to liquid systems only, which blurs statistical data and leads to underestimation of the extent of the technology and its economic implications. All hydroponic systems in temperate regions of the world are enclosed in greenhouse-type structures to provide temperature control, reduce evaporative water loss, and to reduce disease and pest infestations.

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Growing in Hut or Tent

Some hydroponic gardeners have a preference to keep what they’re growing in a definitive enclosed environment. If you don’t have the money to buy a hydroponic tent, you can always use an empty cupboard but you will need to make it light proof, feed in a light supply and ensure circulation of air. You may have the problem that while your plants start off fitting inside the cupboard, they might out grow it, so you will have the added complication of re-housing your plants.

Hydroponic tents come in various sizes. They are totally light proof so you know that you won’t have a problem with light spillage from inside the tent and outside light will not intrude during necessary dark periods. Hydroponic tents can be quite expensive due to the light containing material they’re created from.

Grow your own Mushrooms

Growing your own edible mushrooms has never been easier. The FUNgus Factory comes complete with everything you need to grow your own edible mushrooms indoors in any dark corner of your house.

Each kit comes standard with enough mushroom food and supplies to grow over ONE POUND of your favorite fungus. When your kit runs dry simply order Spawn Sac replacement for unlimited growth potential.

Don’t waste your time fighting off molds and mildews. This kit will help you see serious results in just a few short weeks.

More Advanced Nutrients

If you want amazing yields and high-quality crops, use Connoisseur Part A. Through its special blend of highest quality ingredients, Connoisseur Part A gives you control over a wide variety of plant mechanisms. When used in conjunction with Connoisseur Part B, this two-part formula can be varied according to your particular needs and the individual conditions involved.

• Increased number and quality of flowers and fruit
• Contains specific classes of poly amino alcohols
• Earlier flowering and maturation
• Enhanced potency, taste, and aroma
• Enhanced market value of harvests

Start using Connoisseur Part A one week after flowering has been triggered, mixing it directly into the reservoirs. An initial dose of 2.0 ml Part A and 2.0 ml Part B per each litre of nutrient solution is recommended, to be followed by applications at rates falling between 1.5 to 5.0 ml of fertilizer per liter of water. Connoisseur Part A should not be used on its own, but together with Connoisseur Part B. Floral growth should be carefully monitored before exceeding the recommended 2.0/2.0 ml per litre dosage.

B-52 Nutrient Booster

Designed to boost the metabolism of the plant with vital B vitamins and crucial amino acids that are essential for optimum growth. B-52 increases plant metabolism, strengthens its immune system making it able to grow more vigorously.

B-52 also contains several naturally occurring hormones. You can use B-52 as a foliar spray and a drench to soak cuttings/seedlings for a healthy start. If stretching is not desired then it will help keep the plant shorter. B-52 also increases the lateral growth of the plant.

A Garden for the People

The Volksgarden® brings simple, clean, and amazingly effective hydroponics gardening to the comforts of your own home. Grow what you want, when you want! The Volksgarden® unit allows you to grow up to 80 plants at once. Herbs, Vegetables, Fruits, and Grains can be harvested easily and continuously by even beginner gardeners.

The Volksgarden® utilizes a rotating cylinder housing the plants arranged around the light at the center. The result is highly effective use of lumens, water, and nutrients. Ultimately, you'll have a garden that grows fast, strong, and healthy through each season of the year. The Volksgarden® is truly a garden for the people!