Natural rooting sponges

These sponges are the best thing I have ever used for cuttings and seedlings, I went from cuttings taking at least two weeks to fully root out of rock wool cubes to them taking a week in these sponges. Not only that the cuttings grew better and healthier too.
Benefits include:
They have much improved absorption of nutrients and maintains an ideal water to air ratio.
Environmentally friendly-biodegradable .
Improve water retention compared to other products.
They insulate your plants fragile new root system against cold.
Contain beneficial bacteria and microbes to really get those roots going.
They typically cost around £9 for fifty sponges in a resealable pouch and this is a bit more expensive than alternatives such as jiffy pellets or rock wool cubes but they do the job so much faster that they are worth every penny, not only that but success rate is also improved making you more productive saving wasted plugs and plants.

Mapito growing media

Mapito is a rock wool media that plants roots simply thrive in. It gives the plants a great air to water ration and is becoming very popular with indoor growers. This substrate is really well suited to hydroponics systems such as Wilma systems and aqua farms.

 It is worth noting that many growers who are experienced with using Mapito often rinse out the media in order to lower the EC value.

This media should cost around twenty five pounds per 60 litre bag

Perlite and its uses

The advantages of using perlite are faster germination and rooting of cuttings due to better air to water ratio. Faster growth due to increased nutrient uptake,better drainage and aeration. Perlite is completely sterile, neutral ph at around 7 and is from a natural source.

For propagation from cuttings

 Mix equal parts of perlite and compost and place in your pot then firmly place in your cutting and keep well watered with a weak feed solution, once the cutting has rooted you can give it its first feed.

For propagation from seed

Mix one part vermiculite to nine parts perlite, this will give you a nice lightweight mixture. Put the mixture in your seed tray and sow your seed then cover with the same mixture. Water and then place on window sill once seeds have germinated give them their first feed.

Container planting

Use perlite instead of sand or gravel in your medium for the drainage and aeration. Just add a few handfuls of perlite to help with root growth, help protect against bad weather  and help with re-wetting.

For cut flowers

It supports the stems, offers aeration when water is added and looks good too because you can change the colour by just adding food colouring.

Hydroponic growing

Perlite can be used for all your planting requirements from seeds to cuttings and is widely used in hydroponics. If you are wanting to use it for irrigation use at least three centimetres of perlite in the bottom of your tray taking the place of gravel or sand. If you are using a dripper system you should completely fill your pots with perlite remembering to use to cover base of pots with horticultural fabric, stopping particles blocking up your drip lines.If using beneficial microbes it is best to run the system for about twenty four hours to allow the microbes to colonise reducing the stress on the plants when they are added. When mixing perlite with a medium such as soil or coco fibre I would say to use a fifty fifty mix  breaking up the density of the medium.

    I would say that because of the many different uses perlite has, it has to be the best thing to add to your soil, the  benefits for your roots are better drainage and aeration, its no wonder plants that have been grown with perlite are much stronger and healthier than ones without. Using perlite will transform the way your garden grows and make sure that you get the very best out of your plants.

Article source @ http://knol.google.com/k/dean-wright/perlite-and-its-uses/wdrig96hig2m/1

The Atami Wilma hydroponics system

The Atami Wilma system is an active hydroponics version of the drip irrigation system. Plants grown in a Wilma system benefit from all the positives of hydroponics coupled together with the flexibility growing in pots brings.

 In the Wilma system plant pots are placed on a tray that sits on top of a nutrient tank, simply fill these pots with your chosen media be it coco, clay pebbles, rockwool, soil or even a mixture and your plants. In the nutrient tank sits a pump that pumps your solution to a dripper for each pot to feed your plants, the timing and frequency of watering can be changed by use of segmental timers to automatically feed your plants.

 The solution will work its way through your chosen media and over your plants roots before draining through the pot on to the tray and then back in to your nutrient tank pulling vital oxygen with it all over the root zone.

 The Wilma system can be used as a simple auto watering irrigation system of a proper re circulating hydroponics system giving this dynamic system multiple uses.

The big positives to the Wilma are obvious but i will list them for you anyway:

Plants take up more water and nutrient than simple hand watering methods resulting in bigger healthier plants.

The Wilma comes in many different sizes making it suitable for growers with all size growing areas.

The Wilma takes far less maintenance than a hand watered garden sometimes making it possible to go for a week without having to fill up your nutrient tank.

The Wilma is a flexible system with it been in pots, plants can be moved around under lights for example unlike some other systems.

Tips

Always use the correct dripper for the growing media you have chosen, For instance when growing in clay pebbles you would use the flood dripper as the clay does not hold a great deal of water. For more capillary media such as soil or coco you would want to use the arrow drippers.

If using your Wilma with a media such as coco you would treat it as a basic irrigation system .

If using clay pebbles you would run your system as a re circulating hydroponics system and run your pump twenty four hours a day.

In my opinion the Wilma works much better when using just clay pebbles with roots receiving much more oxygen making plants healthier thus equals bigger yields.

Article source: http://neilstuart1978.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/the-atami-wilma-system/

The joy of gardening

There is nothing better in the glorious English summer time than going out in your garden and mowing the lawn or tend to your plants. Everybody does it, first sight of sunshine and all the neighbours come out in their shorts mowing the grass ha.

I spend hours in my garden so i like it to look as nice as possible but with as little work as possible to be honest. I like to get the kids involved which they love and is far more constructive than video games!! My little girl would spend all day playing in the mud and digging weeds out our garden. My garden is a busy one with lots of children toys all over the place,paddling pools and sand pits as far as the eye can see but that is what your garden is for at the end of the day.

I grow lots of strawberry in my garden, one plant a friend gave to me two years ago has turned into a giant strawberry bush which produces enough strawberry for the whole street! Next season i will have that many i will have to start selling them to Tesco ! There are lots of different things that are so easy to grow in your garden you really would be missing out if you did not just give it a go. I have tried lots of different types of gardening methods and at the

 I have used an auto pot hydroponics auto feeder to grow a couple of  pepper plants in my green house and I have to say that the results I gained from growing this way have been amazing and cant wait to try this method on other crops I intend to grow this next summer. I have a water collection system in place from the gutters of my garage that I use for watering my plants as this is healthier for the plant and does not contain any heavy metals or man made elements that can be harmful.

Next thing I will be landscaping my garden with is a hot tub and I do not care how many plants I have to cut down to fit it in! I do love my plants and greenery but come on if it is a choice then hot tub will win every time.

The winter garden and indoor growing

After summer has passed and the weather changes we notice a big difference in our garden. The flowers have died off for another year and trees loose their leaves but there are ways to carry on growing through these times, indoor gardening!

I have grown plants indoors for several years and it really is quite easy, all we need is sunshine. You may think this impossible during the winter but you can buy sun in a box today in the form of grow lights. Grow lights are lights designed with the correct colour spectrum in them to grow plants coming in different forms for each stage of your plants growth. High pressure sodium vapour (like flood lights) are an ideal light to flower plants under. I have a few different types that I use, I start with a 250w  blue CFL to grow my cutting or seedlings this is an ideal veg lamp that gives off very little heat so is ideal for fragile young plants. After roots have taken hold I switch light to a 400w metal halide which again has a blue spectrum ideal for veg but gives me more watts of power to really get my plants into overdrive. Once I am happy with the size and structure of my plants I switch lighting again to a 600w high pressure sodium grow light which is full of red spectrum light exactly what your plants love in the flowering phase of their growth.

Most indoor growers tend to just use the high pressure sodium from start to finish and this is a viable option, all I would say to that is that yes your plants will grow this way but no where near as well as plants grown with the different lighting spectrums.

As well as a light you will need an extraction system in place in order to cool down your grow room as grow lights give off heat as well as light and this can be harmful to your plants.

If  you are going to try and grow through winter be sure to do your research and be sure to only buy equipment from reputable shops who know what they are talking about so you know what you are buying is going to work for your situation.

what hydroponic system i choose

 Growing plants to most of us is a complete mistery the last time i grow any thing was at school when i grew water cress in tissues, now i want to give growing 

things again. I was going to go out and dig up my garden to have my own growing area but before i went ahead i had a look on the internet for some ideas and was 

amazed to learn that you can grow pretty much what ever you like in the comfort of your own home. I found a blog that was on about this guy who transformed 

his celler into an alotment by useing grow tents and grow lights. 

 Now i have been out and looked at the many different ways you can grow indoors and this is what i have come up with, by far the easiest way is to fill up some plant

pots with soil and use miracle grow or some thing like that, if you want to grow something to its full potential hydroponics is the way. Hydroponics is a lot more 

advanced technique than soil growing as it uses water tanks and pumps to feed the plants and no soil is used. With growing times reduced dramaticley when using 

hydroponics it makes it a very good choice for me as i can get more growing done but the trouble is there is alot of different hydroponic systems you can choose.

  The first hydroponic system i have looked at was the NFT which looks like a good system but your plants dont get much room grow in the smaller tanks that i was

looking at. I also read that if the pump stops working it doesnt take long before the plants suffer and die very quickly so i ruled out the NFT.

I briefly loooked at the IWS but that was too big for what i was planning on i only wanted to use a 1.2m tent so i looked at the wilma hydroponic system.

The wilma system looked like the one for me as they have a good range that will fit into the tent i wanted the one i went for is the big nine which will fit the 

tent perfect. The good thing about this system for me is that you can use a medium so if the pump stops working some moisture is retained in the medium giving

you more time to sort out the problem with out plants dieing. The wilma big nine hydroponics system is a dripper system meaning your feed solution is 

being dripped over your growing medium constantly so is being filled with oxygen which is good for your plants.

Hydroponics what is it all about?

Hydroponics is the method of growing plants without the use of soil, there are many different systems and methods 

of hydroponics that are becoming ever more popular in recent years.How can you grow plants without soil? I hear you,

all ask, well its alot easier than you think. When growing plants in hydroponics your plants get fed directley from 

the nutrient rich water that passes over the roots of your plant. This is not a new concept and plants have been 

grown this way for a very long time. Plants grown by hydroponics tent to grow alot faster and stronger than their

 soil grown counter partsand in addition are much less affected by heat,pest and all other stress factors that could 

influence growth.

Today there are many types of system from the auto pot to the IWS system each having their positives and negatives

 ranging fron cost, ease of use and ease of setting up. The systems can be expensive to buy going right up to

over a thousand pounds, but once you have bought it there are very few running costs e.g. no media to buy every time.

Most are easy to use as they are typically automated syatems, just fill them up with feed and nutrient switch it on, 

set your timers and your away. Setting hydroponics systems up is usualyy very easy aswell. Take the NFT system for

example, a tank with a tray that sits in the topand a pump connecting the two easy job.

Hydroponics is big business today with major wholesalers in the uk having a turn over in excess of fourteen

million pounds a year! In any bodies eyes this is a great deal of money and only goes to show the extent

of the industry, and with over one hundred new hydroponics retailers opening their doors for business last year alone

you know that it is here to stay for a long time to come.

We often hear of tales on the news about chinese gangs using hydroponics in the cultivation of illegal cannabis crops

and to some degree this has got to give the industry a bad name and reputation, but it is not the only face of hydroponics users at all.

Many Uk strawberry farmers use NFT gulley systems to give them bigger stronger plants and in turn bigger yeilds and bigger profits.

I have a friend who actually owns and runs a successful hydroponics shop and he says most of his customers are old men and women

with just a few skin heads to make up the numbers. When i go on holiday i notice hydroponics everywhere for feeding plants in public areas

to save time and money paying a man with a long spray gun.

If you are a serious gardener who has never grown with hydroponics  you really should give it a go, try growing half in soil and half in a system

and see which plants end up producing the most fruit. The results from this test would no doubt speak for themselves. 

Horti Hut grow tent review

   I was given a horti hut to road test about fifteen weeks ago now and this is just to let you know all about it and how i got on. First of all let
me tell you about the tent its self the quality of the horti hut is second to none and superior to all of the other grow tents i have used in the past. This
is the first time i have used a grow tent made from the thicker material already i felt better about it a bit more secure. Let me tell you how it looks
from all angels to the front is the door and a viewing window which is none toxic so you can take a look at your plants with out opening the door which
in my opinion is a good idea. Both sides have three outlets and a passive air intake flap at the bottom and two access openings, the back has two outlets
and passvie air intake flap and theres a outlet through the roof of the tent.
    Hanging the lights, fan and filter was easy too with more than enough outlets for ducting and cables and even better they are double socked one for
inside the tent and one for the outside very good idea even more protection against any odour leakage which is a big thing when your growing indoors.
    Working with tent is easy too because you have good access at both sides so you can get to the plants at the back of the tent alot easier for
hand watering and other things that need to be carried out while your plants are growing.

       The horti hut gave me an excellent place to carry out my indoor growing and allowed me to tend to my plants through out thier growth cycles the ease of access
is truely amazing. There was no odour leakage what so ever from the double coughed outlets, they did an amazing job i would never go back to using a tent that
was not double coughed. The results i achieved were better with the hotri hut than any other grow tent i have used i put this down to being able to get
to all my plants and do the work i coundnt do with the other tents.
     
         To any one who is thinking about a grow tent i would track down a horti hut because of the high quality of build materials
and the number of features it has to offer and with no comprimise. Value for money yes i think so because mine didnt cost
any thing but i know when they hit the shops they are going to priced to out sell any other quality grow tents on the market. The horti hut should
hit uk shops later this year so if your looking for a hydroponics grow tent  i would wait and get what i think is going to be the only grow tent worth having
and i have used most top names over the years i have been growing.

What is a hydroponics grow tent kit?

When choosing to become an indoor gardener you have many choices to make regarding how you are going to do this.
A good idea is to buy a ready made kit supplied by hydroponics shops. These kits include everything you
need to grow your plants from the grow room to grow lights and fans. This is a good idea for those of you out there who have
no idea as to what equipment they need and how to set it up. Your typical grow tent kits will include a light obviousley to grow
your plants with, They will come with a fan and filter to pull hot harmfull air away from your plants and clean this removed air,
easy rollers or chain to support lights and fan,timer to turn lighting on and off in a safe manner and last but by no means least
 the all important grow tent.
Some people like to try building their own grow room which can need a bit of skill and money while others dont have the time
or energy to do this and so use a ready made purpose built grow tent. A purpose built tent is in my opinion the best way to go,
 being light tight and holding in all those nasty smells aswell as creating a really good reflective environment for you crop.
There are many places out there to buy a ready made grow tent kits with prices fluctuating
greatly between kits. It is possible to find a good quality grow kit for around four plantsthat will work well for around
£250 but beware all kits out there are not equal.
 A massive thing to look out for is a mylar lined tent for most reflectivity and non toxic aswell as what kind of fan is included as
it has to be powerful to extract all the heat created by your grow lights. You do see alot of kits out there including fans
that are not upto the job so make sure you get a high powered in line duct fan.
In my opinion buying a complete grow tent kit is a very good idea. If you buy the right one the fan will be matched to your
lighting to ensure cool running as well as choosing the right grow lights for area size and number of potential plants.
 In most cases the hydroponics grow tent kit should be your best route to green fingered success as it should have been put together by somebody with a good knowledge of
what a plant likes and needs.

The Horti Hut grow tent

The horti hut is a brand new range of grow tent coming to the UK packed with amazing features and made from the best quality 600d mylar lined oxford cloth. This
cloth is the only material to make grow tents out of, it is very strong and wears very well evan after many repeated erections. Please check when buying any grow tent
that it is made from this material as 190d and 210d simply are not good enough and do not stand up to average plant growing conditions aswell as the 600d.
Everything has been thought about when designing these tents with the indoor grower in mind, There are alot of tents on the market today with insufficient ducting outlets
giving you fewer options as to where to place the tent and as to the size of fan you can use.
 The Horti Hut grow tent has three viewing windows positioned around it making access to those hard to reach places so easy, because we all know how difficult it can be getting the back of your plants to trim
them when they are a couple of months old. The horti hut has nine inlet/outlet ports ranging from small to large for ducting and cabling needs making it simple for positioning fans and
filters for ducting runs and for positioning the tent in your room. The outlets are fitted with double cuffs, one for the inside and one for outside of the tent both having elasticated pull cords to clamp securely
around ducting making them ultra light tight and smell proof. Everything about this tent screams quality, the frame work is powder coated steel to ensure no rusting occures secured with high quality
impact plactic corners and sufficient hanging bars for lights and fans. The zips are extra strength military grade and have been proven over the years to stand the test of time in other tents.
A waterproof catchment tray is provided to catch any spills and run off you may have while watering your plants to further protect your tent.
Obviously the horti hut is made from totally non toxic materials and will not gas or harm plants in any way, they simply create the perfect environment and indoor growing arena
giving you total control over the light and ventilation in your grow area.
 These tents have more features than any other on the market today but also with the quality thick materials you need as a serious indoor hydroponics gardener.
They come in all popular sizes to suit every size of growing space and at prices to suit every wallet and budget that will blow your mind and the competition out of the water
I have used all the main brands of grow tent over the past ten years and i have to say that these are simply the best!

Hydroponics grow lights

High Intensity Discharge, or HID grow lights, are a superd method to get the most growth and yeild out of your plants and have the longest life span and highest efficiency of any type of indoor lighting. When we talk about HID grow lights, we are referring to Metal Halide grow lights (MH), High Pressure Sodium grow
lights (HPS), as well as conversion grow lights. MH grow lights emmit light in the blue spectrum and are best used for the cloning and vegetative growth stages. HPS grow lights emit light in the red spectrum and are best used for
 the flowering growth stage. Conversion lights are pretty much a combination of HPS and MH grow lights, and emit light in both the red and blue spectrums
Fluorescent lights are adequate for plants that do not need much sunlight, but will not help produce anything other than greenery.
Using HID lights extends the growing season in the autumn and allows a head start in the spring, but don’t get too carried away!   Extending the light beyond 18 hours a day will wear your plants out and cause an untimely demise
A 600 Watt HPS grow light is a great selection, not only for flowering plants, but for very nearly any type of indoor garden a person is wishing to grow. A unit of this size and nature is a type of HID or high-intensity discharge, light.
 Most indoor gardeners have always understood that these particular types of lights are about as close as a person can get to copying the beneficial rays of the sun. That is not to say, however, that a 600 Watt HPS grow light is not without its fair share of disadvantages
keep in mind is that a 600 Watt HPS grow light gives off a large amount of heat. If this light is placed too close to the plant canopy, they can burn, dry out, or even die completley. This is why many experts recommend that a person
 put a thermometer and an extract fan in the area where their garden is growing in order to more effectively regulate the temperature and remove heat. A hygrometer is also a great tool to measure humidity and temperature. This is especially important
 if the grow light is being used in a more confined area. This particular type of light may be the perfect choice if a person is trying to compensate for the cooler temperatures and heat up a room.
High performance lamps take indoor horticulture to the next stage By using colour enhancement technologies. You can now get bulbs that come very close to immitating normal sunshine.
All types of indoor grow light make use of what is known as a ballast . With MH and HPS lights, these are remote, meaning that an external box is required in order to house an electronic pre-heating system, which in turn runs the lamp itself
The remote idea is a good one making it possible to place the ballast away from your grow.

Budget grow tent versus so called brand names

There are many different makes of grow tent on the market ranging from quite expensive brand names to cheaper no name models. To a certain degree i think you do get what you you pay for, but from my experience in dealing with all these makes i find the cheaper grow tents tend to be just as well made if not better with thicker material. The only upside if you would call it that to alot of the brand names is the fact that they often come with alot of ducting outlets for heat and air extraction. This is not always a good thing though because more openings means more space for smells to escape, all in all in most cases i have found budget grow tents to offer much higher value for money because of a much cheaper price and of similar if not better quality.

The best way to set up a grow tent kit

When your grow tent kit arrives and it comes to setting up first thing you should do is make sure that you set up some where close to were you can duct your hot out of and have enough room, as when you unpack there is
a lot of equipment and it does take up a lot of floor space.The fist thing you need to do is set up your tent so leave every thing else in its packaging doing this will help you keep track of all the equipment you have recieved
with your kit. Once you have followed the instructions with your tent and got that set up correctly you can move on with installing the rest of your equipment.

Now you can move on and i would say to set up your fan and filter i would this next because if you set up your light first it could get in the way when installing your fan and filter.
To set up yuor fan and filter correctly i would suggest that you first wire your fan as most do not come pre-wired, now short out your ducting run from your fan to were you will be ducting out of as this is the longest piece of ducting and you dont want
to leave your self short. Now sort out the ducting that will go from your fan to your filter about a meter should do this job. Remember to set up your fan and filter so you pull air through the filter not the other way around,
if you do push air through the filter it will not do the as good a job and will shorten the life of the filter.

The next thing you should put into your tent is the light remember dont put the ballast in the tent place it outside your growing area as they do create a lot of heat and could cause you problems if you dont,
and keep them off any carpets with a board or something similar and give them room to breath do not cover!!!.When you hang your light you should hang it up out of the way until your plants have been added then you can adjust
the light hieght to your requirements. When you have got your light to the required hiehgt lower your filter to a hieght similar to that of the light, by donig this you pulling away the heat given off by the lamp and extract it straight out of your grow room.

Some thing you should take into consideration when hanging all your equipment is what you are going to use many people use string if nothing has been provided with the kit. I dont think that string is a very good idea when it comes to hanging equipment in your grow tent as it
can be very unreliable and if your light falls on your crop believe me it will cause some damage. If your kit comes with light hangers make sure that you have locked them into place before you leave as they have also been known to fail and allow lights
to fall onto plants. THe best solution to hanging all equipment is jack chain as its strong and will last a lifetime and has never let me down in all the years i used it.

Grow tent kits are the easiest way to go when comes to indoor growing and when set up correctly will deliver great indoor harvests all year round giving you the chance to have fresh produce grown in any room you choose.
Follow these few simple steps and you should have no problems and one of the best things about a grow tent kit is that when you have finished your growing it can be taken down in just minutes and stored away till next
leaving no trace behind what so ever

Indoor growers tips

How often should i water my plants?This is a question i get asked all the time and one of the hardest to answer. In my opinion the grower needs to maintain an "eyes on" approach, In my experience you should not be watering your plants everyday as it is beneficial to plants roots to have a slight drying off period where they have to go out in search of water. Alot will depend on your chosen media and the size of pots e.t.c. as to how long you wait between watering. I could easily go 2-3 days without needing to water my plants grown in a coco, clay pebbles mix in 20 ltr pots but this would be different if i was growing in soil in 10 ltr pots. I would say every situation is different and this is something you really need to work out yourself  "if it is already damp or wet it does not need to be watered" thats what i think  any way.

Indoor growers tips

When using HID grow lights you need a ballast to ignite the lamp, the ballast sould be kept out of your grow room as they generate alot of heat and this could effect the final results that you achieve.They should also be kept off of any floor coverings because this may be a fire hazzard, this is especially important if you are using one of the many compact ballast on the market. I would advise anyone to mount all lighting ballasts off the ground so that air can get all around the ballast to help keep them running cooler. By doing this you help reduce the risk of fire and over heating of the ballsts components and there for prolong the life of your equipment. Something that could also help keep your ballasts running that bit cooler its to place an osalating fan that will push air around the ballast.
   Make sure you keep an eye on all grow lighting equipment because if it goes wrong you could end up loosing all of your hard work you have put in killing your crop with your lights failing due to over heating.

LED grow lights

The technology in grow lights is changing as even HID ballasts are even going digital and LED grow lights are gaining a lot more attention from the indoor grower.Why is this ?  because of the recent advancements with LED lighting they are now brighter,longer lasting and a lot cheaper than they used to be. LED lighting allows you to place the light much   closer to your canopy as they do not produce any where near as much heat off the lamp as HID grow lighting.Now dont think you can get away with out using a fan and filter  as heat is still produced and could affect your end results if sufficient extraction is not in place

  As with hid lighting there are different colours in LED lighting that should be used at the right stages of your plants growth cycle. more blue should be used  when your plants are in their growth cycle and red, orange in the flowering cycle.     Early LED grow lights used hundreds of fractional-watt LEDs and these were often not bright enough or efficient enough to even begin to be thought as effective replacements for HID lights.  Now the newer  LED grow lights on the market use high-brightness multiple-watt LEDs that are increasing the power consumption resulting in increased effectiveness of the technology   leading to similar growing results to HID lights.

  LED still cost more to buy than HID grow lighting but do cost that bit less when it comes to the running of the light.With that bit of money saving over the life   time of the light makes them a sound choice that is why more and more people are giving LED lighting a chance to bring down running costs without  losing quality or yields, using LED grow lights could be what we all end up using to grow indoors as the technology gets even better.

    LEDs for me look pretty good when they are on because of all the nice brightly coloured lights but most of the people i have spoken to that have used them never said  that they were getting the same quality or similar yields to that of HID grow lights. I think that grow lights still need to be improved on a bit before i would stop using  my trusty HID lighting.

HID grow lights

If your growing plants indoors one thing you are definatley going to need is a grow light and HID grow lights are the way to go at the moment because in my opinion other lighting technologies
will not get you the results of HID lighting. Hid grow lights offer much higher light intensity in both blue and red spectrums giving you total control of each
growth stage of your plants life cycle. The best way to achieve this is by using two different types of lamp the first being matel halide for your vegetative
growth stage and high pressure sodium for your flowering stage both of which are available in 250 watt upto 1000 watt.

 Metal halide lamps are the best lamps for the vegetative stage of your plants life as there is alot of blue in the specteral output these lamps should be
used throughout the veg cycle when lighting is 18 on and 6 off. Doing this will encourage strong growth in your plants leading to more flowering sites and
increased plant health. Once you are happy with your plants growth and are ready to turn your plants to the  flowering cycle when lighting is 12 on 12 off,
you should stay with your matel halide lamps for a week as this will stop them streching out too much. Now i would advise to swop over from your matel halide
lamps for the high pressure sodium lamps.
  
 High pressure sodium lamps are your best choice for the flowering stage of your plants cycle. The light output from these lamps contains alot of red in the
spectural output which a flowering plant can not get enough of. The hps lamp can be used from start to finish though, and there are alot of dual spectrum
hps lamps on the market with enough blue and red in them to give you a great harvest
 The cost of buying hid grow lights can vary greatly depending on the wattage and make e.t.c. In my opinion and experience you should look for quality lighting products as
grow lights have been known to cause fires, I would go for a ballast that has metal casing/housing rather than the plastic compact style models. The compact
style ballast does get very hot to the touch because the plastic is used as a heat sink from the control gear inside wich i think is a bit silly. In metal cased ballasts
the control gear is kept seperate to the housing allowing air to flow around all components leading to longer product life.
 The cost of running hid grow lights tends to be more than the other plant grow light options available such as the cfl. This is because they are a higher watt rating
to these other options and electricity is charged  by the kilowatt hour. Do not let this put you off! yoe get what you pay for in life
and i think the trade off is well worth it.
 I would recommend using a strong jack chain or a specific light hanging product to hang hid grow lights as the reflectors do get very hot and you woundnt want one falling down believe me so no string!!

The art of hydroponics

  Hydroponics is the art of growing plants without the use of soil. hydroponics has been around for hundreds if not thousands of years with the hanging gardens of babylon said to be the first hydroponic garden on record. Hydroponics has many uses in the horticultural world and is very valuable in countrys where soil quality is poor and water is scarce.

 Many farmers are opening their minds to hydroponics because of the rapid plant growth and increased yeilds compared to standard soil growing.  When plants are placed in their natural conditions (in soil) the soil acts as the nutrient reservoir, so when watered the nutrients in the soil can be taken up by the plants roots. On the other hand when using hydroponics you are adding the nutrient to the plants water supply which is passed directly over  the plants roots so you  remove the need for soil, this saves the roots searching for available nutrients saving energy and time for your plants. Because of high oxgen content in the solution it makes the plants you are growing more resistant to stress factors cuch as heat and disease. 

 Indoor growers have taken to hydroponics methods in a big way and i think the ease of use has contributed to this greatly making it possible for evan the novice gardener to produce high quality crops. Hydroponics takes away any doubt as to when to water your plants and makes  nutrients readily available making it ideal for beginner and expert alike.

The sharp rise in food prices should encourage all of us to try and grow our own, not only are you saving money you will also get better quality produce and as fresh as you like. The whole family can get involved in this activity giving it another angle.

  Hydroponics is in my opinion the best way to grow any type of plant reducing disease and saving water and nutrient, but can be expensive to set up. The positives far out way the negatives on this and i encourage all to try it, get the kids involved in growing their own food they will love you for it.

Growers tips

When it comes to growing indoors or outdoors the old adage "cleanliness is next to godliness"
could not be more true. Simple things like removing any dead leaf matter that falls onto the floor,pots system are critical. Botrytis spores from a decomposing dead leaf are just as active as those from a live leaf. Insects like thrips will descend from the plant in the early afternoon and spend most of their time among the debris below the plants. Old soil and soiless medium left in a pot that is goin to be re used can be a great habitat for any number of fungal and viral diseases, aswell as certain insects. So make sure you clean all your equipment between grows including pots, trays everything and steralise with a 10% bleach solution or a room clean product specially formulated to be non harmful to your plants. These simple sanitation methods will reduce the number of problems in your grow room, and make the occasional problem that does arise easier to handle and as we all know prevention is easier than a cure.

Which grow lights are the best for growing plants indoors?

Which is the best grow light?

So you have decided to grow plants indoors and one of the most obvious things you will think

of buying is a grow light,but which one?The most widely used grow light on the market today

is the high intensity discharge (HID),the hid light is probably the best all round lighting kit

on the market with control gear (ballast) that will control either a high pressure sodium or a

metal halide lamp. Proven to be reliable year in year out with some magnetic ballasts carrying

a manufactures warranty of up to twenty-five years.

Whats the difference between a high pressure sodium and a metal halide lamp?

The difference is a metal halide lamp gives off a light with a lot of blue in the spectral output ideal for the vegetative stage of any plant growth,the high pressure sodium lamp on the other hand gives off a light with a lot of red in the spectral output ideal for the flowering phase of any plant.

HID lighting does however have its down sides such as heat generation,MH and HPS lamps create

a lot of undesirable heat that is essential to remove from your growing area or run the risk of harming your plants,this can be done by use of extract fans,air cooled lighting and air conditioning

e.t.c. And is in my opinion well worth the effort.

There are other lighting options available when it comes to plant lighting such as CFL and LED

grow lights which are becoming more popular due to low energy usage and low heat output

These lights do work but are a relatively new technology for plant lighting and would be more suited to supplementing existing HID lighting helping to cut costs and temperatures.

Other factors to take into account are reflectors,these spread the light from your lamp over your plant canopy and come in many shapes and sizes. Reflectors start with the basic euro wing or

dutch barn these come with most standard grow light kits on the market and are great for the beginner,ranging to reflectors such as the flexi wing which gives a much larger more even spread

of light increasing harvest size and quality.

In my opinion the best grow lights to use would be HID grow lights using the MH lamp for your vegetative phase and switching to the HPS lamp upon flower induction using blue and red CFL

grow lights to supplement and add light avoiding dark patches in your canopy. In my opinion for

the time being at least HID grow lights represent the value grow light per watt on the market.

Advantages of useing a grow tent

Now you have made the decision to become an urban gardener,theirs your grow room to think about and what is the best way to build one. Many people go to great expense building out of wood and boards when there is a much easier and quicker way to the perfect indoor grow room. The grow tent is the ideal solution to your problem giving you a self contained growing environment capable of producing high quality fruit and vegetables in any room in your house all year round and make maintaining the ideal environment for your plants simple.

Grow tents come with many features including ducting outlets to allow for hot air extraction and all your cabling needs,hanging bars are provided for hanging lights, fans and filters. Most modern grow tents are lined with non toxic Mylar with 95% reflectivity rather than some older grow tents which have a white PVC lining known to give off gases harmful to plants. The best material grow tents can be manufactured from is oxford cloth which is incredible y strong and does not crack or wear due to the high temperatures.

There are lots of different brands of grow tent available on the market today ranging from tiny clone stations up to marque sized monsters. One of the most important things is to choose the correct

size tent for the number of plants you wish to grow,plants need space to reach their full potential and over populating your grow area will only hinder your plants growth and yield. There is a size of grow tent to suit every possible space you might want to use for your grow room weather its an attic,cellar or Evan a corner of your own bedroom.

I feel the best solution to create an indoor grow room is by the use of a grow tent,They can be put up and taken down in only minutes leaving no trace behind. They contain 100% of the light and odor given off by your indoor garden. A grow tent costs a fraction of the price it would take to build a grow room out of other materials and is a lot less work. They are a must buy item for beginner growers who have to move with the times in modern urban horticulture or run the risk of being left behind with sub standard crops and yields.