Keep Your Growing Room Warm Keep Your Growing Room Warm So to keep in line with my last post then here is a few ideas to keep your growing room warm for your plants this winter. Many grow rooms are situated in modern homes with central heating. So, the simple way would be to keep the central heating on 24/7. The problem with this is it would probably too warm for us humans to tolerate. Individual radiator thermostats are a great idea as you can control each radiator. Including the one in the growing room. If the radiator is set at a certain temperature then it will adjust the heat supplied acc ..read more

Hydroponics Winter Basics Hydroponics Winter Basics Winter is now upon us in the northern hemisphere. Here in West Yorkshire we have already experienced several frosts and a snow storm. Thus making it impossible to do any outdoor gardening. Most plants that are hardy have already closed down for their winter break. Leaves have fallen from the deciduous trees, with only conifers having a covering of green foliage. In my case my lemon and other citrus fruit are sitting happily in their cosy greenhouse together with LED lighting to lengthen our dark winter days. So, indoor hydroponic growers can ..read more

Hydroponics and the Environment Hydroponics and the Environment So as my readers will know that I am relatively new to hydroponics gardening. I have since learned that hydroponics has it advantages over growing in soil. Plants grown by using the hydroponics method will probably grow around 50% faster than their soil grown counterparts. Of course this will usually end up as a better crop production, including the extra supply of oxygen to the roots when using hydroponics growing medium. Better root systems will encourage more oxygen to the plants helping to absorb the nutrients faster. Because ..read more

Growing on your roofs Growing on your roofs I must confess right now that I have never been a city dweller. Because of this then I have picked up ideas from other people who know about this subject. However I have seen many great gardening ideas in built up areas and city centres in many countries on my travels. Even in huge cities like New York then things can be seen growing from the roof tops of the lower buildings. My own capitol city of London has splendid roof gardens. Growing many things in the micro climate created by the heat and shelter coming from the many buildings. City dwellers d ..read more

Effective Germination Effective Germination Of course there are two main ways of producing new plants with differing variations. We can use the seed germination method or indeed take cuttings. Taking cuttings ensures that the mother plant is correctly cloned. Importantly, though the key part of any germination method is having the correct conditions for either propagation or germination. Of course to produce new and healthy plants. The “radicle” is the first part of seed germination to develop. So, it is the embryonic root that will grow downwards. This is the first thing that I can see when g ..read more

Poultry Food from Hydroponics Poultry Food from Hydroponics So I first read about this idea in a well known Indian hydroponics blog! As a keeper of poultry then I found the story very interesting. Firstly, then I am lucky enough to have a large lawn. This of course suffices for the amount of greens that my chickens can eat. When they eat the grass and clover then I simply move the coop to a fresh and green area. I am fortunate enough to use the “Eglu” chicken coops. However many chicken keepers only have the same run for their birds. So, this is soon eaten away and the birds are usually scratc ..read more

Home Lumatek Zeus Pro Lighting Lumatek Zeus Pro Lighting Why use LED lighting Well in my opinion then the cost of running your lighting has got to up there amongst the main reason for updating your equipment. So as time goes by there are thousands of inventors looking for new way to improve things. In my opinion this is the next step forward in growers lighting. Indeed there are many reports from manufacturers that say the LED lights can save as much as 40%. Compared to the energy used by the old style lighting equipment that many still use. Also the growing area that is lit up using LED will ..read more

Home Iron Deficiency in Plants Iron Deficiency in Plants Of course iron deficiency can effect many types of plants. In the past it has been common in my tomato plants. So, the most helpful sign of this condition is called “leaf chlorosis”. This is easy to spot as the leaves will turn yellow and the leaves veins will remain green. Starting on the new leaves that emerge the symptoms then start to spread to the older leaves and they begin to turn a yellow colour. This can then turn to the leaves dropping off all together. Coupled with poor growth of the plant. Strangely the condition is not cause ..read more

Home August Heat Wave Expected August Heat Wave Expected So, I am sure that most people including growers and regular gardeners look forward to long sunny summer days. Of course its time to relax in the garden with your friends and family over a glass of beer or two. Possibly just doing some watering chores and making sure the greenhouse is well ventilated. However according to the weather forecast things are going to hot up in the August of 2021 here in the UK. So, we have recently witnessed a good week of hot weather and we all know how uncomfortable it can be for us mere mortals. Spare a th ..read more

Home Hot weather Hot weather I am writing this post because I am not sure that the large population of immigrant growers understand that the UK can be a very hot place. So this July (2012) is proving a point. Hot weather can be a disaster to all kind of plants. Especially if you are using some kind of back up heating for some hot weather plants. People growing inside their homes will be having particular problems in trying to keep the temperature down so the plants can grow and produce a good crop of flowers or fruit. My citrus trees are lucky because in summer I place them out onto a pebbled ..read more