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'Good from far, but far from good'
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in your growroom
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ADA EDITIO
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2015
GARDENCU LT U R E
USA - CANADA EDITION · ISSUE 5 · 2015
$5,95 US | $5.95 CANDisplay until 06-30-2015
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NET‘It is remarkable how closely the history
of the apple tree is connected with that of man’- Henry David Thoreau
PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT 10
CONTENTS I GARDEN CULTURE
IN THIS ISSUE OF GARDEN CULTURE:
WHO’S GROWING WHAT WHERE 49
70
SAGEGROW-YOUR-OWN
4256organic
VSSYNTHETICNUTRIENTS
60
HUNGER
34
GARDENCULTURE.NET 7
98PROS & CONS
BALLAST
lettucei grow
FOOD PATENTS
9 Foreword10 Product Spotlight17 Stay out18 GMO Controversy increases20 Making your own soil mix25 Fresh Food26 Freaky Tomatoes29 Five Cool Finds31 Organic music33 Dirt: good for what ails you34 Hunger – a growing need37 Grodan is going to Mars39 The Windows farm experiment42 Sage – Wisdom of the Ages
49 Who’s Growing What Where52 Teach ‘em young56 Organicvs.Syntheticnutrients60 The problem with Food Patents62 LEDspecifications64 What’s the best tomato?66 Seed Diversity70 IgrowLettuce76 The Govenment, farming food and you83 Four amazing plant facts85 Reusingyourpottingsoil90 SupplementalLighting98 Ballast – pros & cons103 StartingonaBudget
FOREWORD
If you are planning to star t your f irst indoor
garden, or are expanding/upgrading your current
one, chances are you will need to make some
purchases.
So you take a trip to your local hydroponics store. If you are new to this, being a bit overwhelmed by the selection is common, especially if you visit several stores. My advice is - do your homework, and question everything. Over the past 10 years this industry has exploded, and so has the number of products offered.
Beware of cheap imitations! Trying to save too much money will often cost you more in the end, especially when it comes to hardware like ballasts and bulbs. Unfortunately, anyone can go to China and buy whatever they want, dress it up pretty, and sell it as a premium product at a huge discount. You think you are getting a great deal, when all you are getting are problems.
Indoor gardening is an art. You are Mother Nature, and control everything. Like in so many systems the whole is as strong as its weakest link. Take time to learn what a plant needs, read books written by experts, and buy good equipment - then you will be better prepared to have a bountiful garden with few problems.
Parting with your hard-earned money can be painful, but the lowest price is rarely the best deal. As a wise man once told me, “ I am too poor to buy cheap.” 3
Eric
CREDITS
Garden Culture™ is a publication of 325 Media Inc.
E D I TO R SExecutive Editor:Eric CoulombeEmail - eric@gardenculture.netSenior Editor:Tammy ClaytonEmail - tammy@gardenculture.net
V P O P E R AT I O N S :Celia SayersEmail - celia@gardenculture.nett. 1-514-754-1539
D E S I G NJob HugenholtzEmail - job@gardenculture.net
Special thanks to:Tammy, Evan Folds, Theo Tekstra, Judd Stone, Stephen Brookes, Wendy Denney, Kyle L. Ladenburger, Amber Fields, Darryl Cotton, Brian Burk, Stephanie Whitley, Marisa Kay Richter, Greg Richter, Grubbycup, My beautiful wife and partner Celia, Maya and Kees, Job, Callie Coe, Agent Green and Monsanto for motivating me to fight back.
P U B L I S H E R325 Media44 Hyde Rd., Milles IslesQuébec, Canadat. +1-855-427-8254 w. www.gardenculture.net Email - info@gardenculture.net
A D V E R T I S I N GEric Coulombe Email - eric@gardenculture.net t. 1-514-233-1539
D I S T R I B U T I O N PA R T N E R S• Sunlight Supply• Hydrofarm• Rambridge• Biofloral
Website : www.GardenCulture.net facebook.com/GardenCulture twitter.com/GardenCulture© 325 MediaAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from 325 Media inc.
GARDENCULTURE.NET 9
FOREWORD & CREDITS I GARDEN CULTURE
?INVESTMENT
Current Culture’s (SCC®) Deep Water technology utilizes
negative water pressure to recirculate oxygenated nutrient
solution through the plant’s root zone. This continuous
fluid motion supercharges the nutrients with dissolved
oxygen, creating hyper-aerobic conditions perfect for
explosive plant growth. Constant 24/7 nutrient circulation
ensures pH and EC levels are uniform throughout the
entire system.
www.cch2o.com
Current
CultureDWC
product spotlight
Established for over 15 years, AutoPot provide growers of all abilities with a watering system that will far exceed their expectations. From commercial glasshouses to domestic greenhouses; growers worldwide choose AutoPot Watering Systems to automatically irrigate their plants without the need for pumps timers or electricity. Thanks to the patented AQUAvalve technology; AutoPot is the only watering system in the world where each individual plant controls their own irrigation, and receives fresh nutrient enriched water exactly when they need it - with zero water loss www.autopot.co.uk
Autopot
In this edition we will feature the products in my garden. I have spent over 10 years experimenting with indoor gardening,
and these are some of my favorites. Although not included in the product spotlight, I would like to give a nod to Can Fans
(I have had the same fan for 10 years), HM Digitals new HydroMaster meter, Opticfoliar Greener Cleaner (‘cause for the
first time with a huge garden I have no bugs), and Fulvic acid in general (I use Organic Rescue Mist, and Pure Gold from
Nutri Plus 29% Fulvic content and is certified organic).
Eric
Garden Gadgets
10
Eric’s
DWC
product spotlight Garden Gadgets
Nutriculture Gro-Tanks NFT
freshManufactured by the same people
who made the Ecosystem, the
Ecogrowwall is a modular vertical
garden. Simply click the panels
together in whatever configuration
you like and snap to support. All
plumbing hardware is included, easy
compression-pop fittings make
setting up the watering system a
breeze. Each chamber is designed to
support one 48”X6” rockwool slab. Set comes with 5 channels.
When space is a concern, turn your walls into a garden.
www.ecogrowwall.com
Our NFT Gro-Tanks give roots virtually unrestricted access to
oxygen. Yields are typically much bigger than if growing in pots of dirt.
The depth of the recirculating stream is very shallow, little more than
a film of water, hence the name ‘nutrient film’. This ensures that the
thick root mat, which develops in the bottom of the channel has
constant access to nutrients and air.
Nutrient solution is constantly pumped to the roots, there’s no timer
to program.
Because virtually no growing medium is used there’s nothing to
transport or throw away at the end of the season. Very clean, very
easy, and very impressive results.
Perfect for beginners or experts.
www.nutriculture.com
Nutriculture Gro-Tanks NFT
Ecogrow
wall
Sunlight Supply is pleased to announce the arrival of the LEC 315 light fixture. The LEC 315 utilizes cutting edge Light Emitting Ceramic™ technology, along with a specially engineered 98% reflective optical cavity. This fixture includes a highly efficient, agriculturally engineered Philips CDM-T Elite Agro Lamp. This lamp offers a greatly improved full color light spectrum, 3100K color temperature, 92 CRI, 33,000 initial lumens (105Lm/W)! Higher amounts of beneficial UV and far red spectrums increase the lamps growth power to the plants. The LEC drive incorporates built-in thermal protection, and the open rated lamp construction reduces radiant heat from the arc tube, and is suitable for open fixture use. www.sunlightsupply.com
Sun System
LEC 315
GARDENCULTURE.NET 13
GARDEN PRODUCTS I GARDEN CULTURE
14
product spotlight
The Adjust-A-Wings Enforcer reflector range have the same essential features as Hygro International’s world-famous Avenger models, save for the Super reflective “glass coated” finish, and the high end price tag. The finish on the Enforcer Wings is 85% reflective, and guaranteed for 3 years. Made by skilled workers, using carefully selected high quality materials and fittings. These reflectors throw a huge light footprint, run nice and cool, produce killer yields, and have gained the respect and admiration of all who use them!www.adjustawings.com
Adjust-A-Wings
Growing in indoor conditions without sunlight not only
requires a good climate, but also a good quality light.
Though one can grow successful under HPS alone, or
a combination of HPS and MH, it is still not the full
spectrum our sun delivers. The Gavita light Plasma
fixtures produce light with a spectrum similar to that
of the sun, making it the ideal supplement
to HPS for serious growers.
Plasma lights alone are perfect for
vegetative periods, or green plants.
www.gavita-holland.com
Following three-years of research and testing The MINIMAX 150 with microprocessor
has finally arrived. We now have CE registration and are ready to impress UK growers.
Running at less than 0.7amp we feel that this little unit will revolutionize indoor grow
lighting. No longer do growers have to compromise with low wattage alternatives that
just don’t do a great job. The MINIMAX 150 operates with either Metal Halide or High
Pressure Sodium bulbs.
• High lumen output (Sunmaster 150W
Dual Spectrum Lamp -17200 Lumens)
• Low bulb temperature
• Full RF filtration
Gavita Plasma
• No need for costly contact/relay controllers
• Comes with full three year guarantee
• Operates with either Metal Halide or High Pressure Sodium bulbs.
www.downtoearthkent.co.uk
The
Minimax 150
product spotlight
Gavita Plasma
I’m not sure what kind of
reception they thought they
would get, but it was nasty. I
went over myself to talk to the
30-something guy in the booth.
“So, is everyone blasting you for
being here?” I asked. He told me
he felt like a cat in a dog show.
I also told him that I despised
the company he worked for and if he had a soul he would
quit ASAP, then I left. I walked about 20 feet and watched,
a steady stream of people doing just what I did. It was a
reception that new surfers get when they are in the wrong
spot. I was polite, others were not, at least 10 people told
him to get the f**k out.
It was amazing to watch, a never-ending bombardment of
negative energy focused on this poor unsuspecting employee.
It took about 3 hours or so, and he packed up his stuff, called
his suit-wearing boss, and told him he was going home. I
didn’t give him a kick on the way out or anything, but
it did feel good. We all felt good. Somehow we just
kicked Monsanto out of a gardening trade show.
How did this happen? Who is this group of people
who are so against this company that they could
force the world’s biggest ag/chemical company to
flee with his proverbial tail between his legs. It
was you, and the companies you support. If you
own a small indoor garden shop, and are afraid
what will happen when, or if,
the big players like Wal-Mart,
Costco, and the like gets
involved... I think we just saw
the answer. Indoor gardeners
seem to have a general dislike
of companies like Monsanto
and Wal-Mart. It wasn’t
financial motivation that made
all those people turn on that sales guy at the Max Yield
show, it was an ethical action.
I found this event inspiring, and was very proud of the people
who stood up for their beliefs.
It still begs the question, why were they there, and how are
they going to weasel their way back in? I hope they got the
message, but if they didn’t I’m confident we will collectively
make them feel very unwelcome. Sorry Monsanto…wait, no
I’m not. 3
BY ERIC
How did this happen? Who is this group of people who are so against this company that they could force the world’s
biggest ag/chemical company to flee with his proverbial tail
between his legs.
Ira Bostic / Shutterstock.com
GARDENCULTURE.NET 17
MONSANTO I GARDEN CULTURE
STAYAnyone who knows me knows I despise Monsanto. As it turns out so does most of the indoor gardening
industry, and they let them know it.
Max Yield has been throwing the Indoor Garden Expos for over a decade. They have been an integral building
block for this industry’s development. These shows are an important part of any company’s marketing plan
when trying to enter this market. At least they used to be, until Monsanto showed up.
Monsanto at Max Yield!
18
Present... January 2015, Strassbourg
It appears that those consumer organizations have now
lost control of the legislative body. As of 20 January,
Europe officially ushered in a future favoring biotech giants
in passing a new controversial food law that transfers
the rights involved in allowing, or banning GMO crops to
individual countries. The argument on whether a nation’s
farmers can, or cannot grow Monsanto’s MON 810 maize
has shifted, and they’ve succeeded in getting 7 new GM
crops approved for further discretionary approval per
country.
It’s unlikely coincidental that this happened during the
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership talks for
securing multilateral growth through commerce between
the US and the EU. No doubt heavy lobbying has quietly
taken place in the months leading up to both this particular
European Parliament session and the TIFF convention - on
both sides of the Atlantic.
Baby StepsBiotech behemoths like Monsanto rose to their current
status in the US and other countries the same way - one
small measure at a time. Bypassing continental government
turns the tables to their favor, for now they can work on
each small entity individually.
No doubt GMO proponents were doing the happy dance
within moments of the highly criticized measure’s approval.
It’s two steps forward for GMO crops, a whole new
continent of possibilities and acquisitions.
Not that GMO crops have done anything to slow world
hunger. The third world still lacks the finances to buy said
food or seed, because that’s the real crux of the problem -
money. But GMOs do however, feed the hunger for wealth,
benefiting profit margins, and shareholders a great deal.
See, there’s that money thing again, but on the opposite
end of the ruler.
In a July fact-finding session on GMO food labeling, US Congressman Schrader asked the EU expert, “Why
does the EU still have their labeling if they’ve come to the same conclusions? Why have they not frankly
informed their consumers that there is no difference?”
The world renown, Dr. Calestous Juma responded, “The EU is not a homogenous body. You have the commission
with its scientific advice that conducted these studies. You have the legislative body that is influenced very much
by the consumer organizations that has not changed its position.”
BY CALLIE COE
“Europe officially ushered
in a future favoring
biotech giants”
Flashback... Summer 2014, Washington D.C.
GARDENCULTURE.NET 19
G.M.O. I GARDEN CULTURE
Divide & ConquerIf you suspect some déjà vu looms on the horizon, you
might very well be right. Turning the protected farmland of
a continent into a scattered patchwork of GMO producing
regions raises the odds of spreading pollen to traditional
and organic crops like we’ve already
seen happen in Canada, the US,
Mexico, Paraguay, and Brazil. The
breeze, and insects don’t stop at
lines drawn by man.
Groups like Greenpeace are well-
founded in their concerns over the possible environmental
damages this could cause. Roundup use will increase
phenomenally on every hectare planted with GM seed,
which does not disappear, but lingers in the soil, filters into
waterways, and clouds collect it with other agrichemicals
to release it elsewhere in a phenomenon known as acid
rain.
But It’s Safe to EatAt least, these 8 crops are in the eyes of the EFSA. The
new ruling allows individual EU countries to opt out of
growing approved GMOs deemed safe to consume by the
European Food Safety Authority. Feel like this is just the
beginning, that more will follow? That is how it has played
out elsewhere with this GMO thing.
Who are the current major EFSA players? Make a list.
Then make a list of all the top people at Monsanto’s UK
and European offices. Don’t overlook legal counsel. Going
forward, you will no doubt see movers and shakers from the
agri-giant’s team travel in and out of various positions within
the EFSA, and the appropriate legislative offices in each EU
member state. Better tally the same at Syngenta, Bayer, BASF,
Dow, and DuPont offices too, so you know who’s who as the
players begin moving around.
That’s how they’ve played the GMO/
pesticide approval game to date in the
US. It would be nice if this is not what
happens, but here’s that déjà vu stuff.
Grease a little palm, fund a study, train
the perfect expert for desirable governmental positions... buy
your way in. Like any trip, if you can pay the fare, you will get
where you want to go. Both science and political assignations
are for sale. The first group calls it funding, and the latter,
campaign or lobbying monies.
Damage Control UnderwayWith the ink barely dry on the new food law, the PR aimed
at unseating current consumer opinion and belief hit UK
mainstream media. On 22 January BBC published news
that ‘safer GMOs’ are being created by scientists in the US.
Synthetic biology aimed at controlling these crops from
spreading into the wild by adding synthetic food for it to live
on. The goal is that these alien bacteria will starve to death if
they leave the host plant, removing possible contamination.
Should we feel relieved, or see reason for heightened concern?
Firstly, there is no way they can remove all risk, and secondly
what will this stuff do to us and the Earth? More details on
this new development: bit.ly/safer-gmos. 3
“It’s two steps forward for GMO crops”
gmoGMO
GMOs feed wealth, not the hungry
Controversy Increases
20
THE FIRST THING TO THINK OF WHEN MAKING A SOIL MIX
IS MICROBES
S O I L C R E AT E S A N D S U S TA I N S A L L O F L I F E
Soil is like water. Both sustain life as we know it, yet
they are so omnipresent that we take them for granted.
And due to both their importance and complexity, the
limitations of language cannot do them justice.
The soil is under our feet at all times, and can also be
purchased in a bag at the hardware store. Soil is the
primary basis by which we grow food, and the same field
can also be subjected to the littering of our poisons. But
beyond it all, soil may very well be the most important
substance on Earth.
BY EVAN FOLDS
makingyour own
soilmix
GARDENCULTURE.NET 21
MAKING YOUR OWN SOIL MIX I GARDEN CULTURE
THE FIRST THING TO THINK OF WHEN MAKING A SOIL MIX
IS MICROBES
Soil creates and sustains all
of life. Soil allows farming,
the act of rebellion that
catalyzed human specialization
from hunting and gathering
to society at large, and that
started the human experiment
more than 10,000 years ago.
We’ve come a long way since
then, and with good reason, as
there are many more mouths to feed with human
population growing exponentially in modern times.
But we are using more topsoil than we are creating,
and we are collectively utilizing soil for all the
wrong reasons.
We must respect the soil, not use it as a sponge; even
certified organic practices can result in tremendous
damage, and pollution to the land. Modern farming
has become more a creature of synthetic profit,
than a source of nourishment for people. USDA
data shows food losing nutrient density, and we are
experiencing a global degenerative and autoimmune
epidemic. But the good news is that we can do
something about it.
The growing Food Movement is about creating
personal agriculture. This means eating with our
ideals, and growing at least one thing that we eat.
Modern property development obliterates the
landscape leaving very poor soil behind, so many
home gardeners turn to containers or raised beds.
Estimates say that it takes 1000 years to create
an inch of topsoil, but fortunately for modern
gardeners we don’t have to wait nearly that long.
The easy route is to buy potting soil. There is merit
to letting the experts do it for you, but it can get
expensive when your gardening habit gets serious.
Just a little under thirteen gallons of good organic
potting soil can cost $25.
Many who are looking to invest in serious quantities
of soil are making their own soil mixes. Not only
is it possible to calibrate a
custom soil mix to the crop
that you are growing, but given
sufficient scale buying the raw
ingredients, and formulating
the soil yourself costs much
less than buying the ready-
made version.
It’s actually not as hard as you
think, with some intention and
practice you can create, and
even reuse, your own soil capable of sustainably
supporting thriving gardens, and producing
increasingly substantial yields.
The first thing to think of when making a soil mix is
microbes. Microbes manufacture soil, no different
from construction workers on a job site. It is the
grower’s responsibility to bring the correct building
materials to the garden.
Any attempt at making or reusing soil without
prioritizing biological inoculation and diversity is
like trying to brew beer without adding the yeast,
or making kombucha or vinegar without a mother.
The microbes define the process.
So it is in the soil. Source a farm-based biological
inoculant, and consider brewing compost tea to
concentrate the process. Microbes from a natural
environment will always be stronger, and have
more life experience than lab-based, and you will
automatically get a greater diversity of microbes in
your mix. Any biological product that can name the
microbes in the product is a limitation, because we
are only aware of a small percentage of microbes
found in natural living systems.
In the end, diversity is king. Use compost from your
friend’s back yard, worm castings, scrape topsoil
from the forest, and buy some premium compost
from the garden store. Remember, microbes self-
organize, so you cannot mess it up.
Once you have your microbes lined up, it is time to
consider the soil mix itself. Popular base materials
soilmix
are peat moss and coir fiber, but it is often possible
to source local bulk mixes out of varying materials.
The popular bulk soil base in our area is pine bark
and turkey manure. Not the best, but it provides
cheap volume for the base of the mix that we are
going to value-add.
It’s not that making a soil mix is inherently difficult,
but that if you don’t do it right it simply may not
work the first time. Meaning, it is possible to
put together a soil mix that lacks total fertility,
like trying to use a budget Big Box fertilizer in
hydroponics, the plant cannot grow without at least
minimum essential nutrition.
This is generally accomplished through ensuring
the ingredients used are as diverse as possible.
This means don’t make a soil mix composed of peat
moss, rice hulls, and fish meal - and expect your
garden to produce.
Instead, make a soil mix of peat moss, rice hulls,
worm castings, bat guano, rock dust, farm-based
compost, fish meal, alfalfa meal, whey, yucca, kelp
meal, and as many other meals as you can muster
given the crop that you are cultivating. Use a little
bit of a lot of things, the more the merrier. There is
strength in diversity.
By providing diverse food sources for the microbes
you will inoculate into your mix will create a highly
fertile environment for roots to form and feed, but
take some time to consider the nutrient balance
of the ingredients you are using. For example, you
wouldn’t want to have a phosphorous-heavy mix
(bone meal, CalPhos, guano) for a crop of basil that
you are growing vegetatively, or use too much high
NPK ingredient (guano, fish) for light feeders like
lettuce. It will take some practice to calibrate your
fertility properly in your soil mix, but plants don’t
lie, they will give you constant feedback.
You will also want to investigate the relative
concentration of the mix you are creating. For
instance, if you evaluate the differing nutritional
requirements of lettuce versus tomatoes, you will
see that lettuce wants a fertilizer concentration
of around 600-800 ppm, while tomatoes desire
anywhere between 1700-3500 ppm. This is quite a
substantial difference.
SOIL MAY VERY WELL BE THE MOST IMPORTANT SUBSTANCE ON EARTH
MAKING YOUR OWN SOIL MIX I GARDEN CULTURE
A “ppm”, or “parts of ions per million of water”,
is the measurement for fertilizer concentration.
Imagine a granule of table salt being dissolved in
water into a Na+ and a Cl- ion. Each ion would be
a “part” in a ppm, and plants eat these ions created
either through solubility, or through biological
decomposition.
Osmosis is the phenomenon that sees water
travel from the lower concentration to the
higher concentration through a water permeable
membrane in order to equalize concentrations. The
root is an osmotic gradient, so this force is at play
in roots when it comes to fertilizer concentrations.
If a plant has more ions inside than it does outside
of its roots then healthy transpiration can occur.
But if there are too many ions outside relative to
inside the root water is then sucked out of the plant
resulting in the plant prioritizing, and the edges
“burning” and becoming necrotic.
Considering this, it becomes clear that all purchased
potting soils have to be calibrated to the lower
end of this fertilizer spectrum. In other words,
if a potting soil formulator created a recipe that
resulted in a fertilizer concentration of 2000 ppm
tomatoes would love it, but the lettuce would be
severely over fertilized resulting in dead plants if
not amended.
When taking this into account for your soil mix you
may want to keep the higher NPK items out of the
mix, and feed with them over time in the soil as
a fertilizer. Think of the organic fertilizers as the
building materials for your microbial construction
workers, and as a crutch for results and plant
nourishment until your soil food web is ready, and
can take over the fertilization responsibility.
The lack of focus on microbes is one of the major
problems with gardening techniques like square
foot gardening or lasagna gardening. They are
great templates for beginning gardeners, but they
do not focus on microbes, and people end up with
beautifully spaced gardens that cannot sustain
themselves over time, or immature soil where they
can read the copy on the front page of the newspaper
when they turn their soil over. Organic matter does
not just melt, it is biologically digested by a team
of micro-organisms that move micrometers in their
lifetime. If we don’t bring them to the party they
simply are not there!
In the forest, consider that microbes don’t eat the
leaves, they eat what the microbes make of them.
And trees grow to enormous size and strength
in the forest with zero fertilizer. The power of
microbes cannot be understated.
You will find that by focusing on biological strength
and diversity, the more the natural processes take
over, and the more mature your soil becomes, the
less responsible you will feel to feed the garden
with fertilizer.
This is particularly intriguing when it comes to
reusing soil. Next issue we will discuss the merits
and techniques of re-using your potting soil, so you
can take your personal agriculture to an entirely
new level. 3
GARDENCULTURE.NET 23
THE LACK OF FOCUS ON MICROBES IS ONE OF THE MAJOR PROBLEMS WITH
GARDENING TECHNIQUES
FORMULATING THE SOIL YOURSELF COSTS MUCH LESS THAN BUYING
THE READY-MADE VERSION
Biology research at Rice Uni-
versity uncovered this fact
while studying how the circa-
dian clock affects natural pest
fighting compounds to come
to a plant’s assistance. It start-
ed with cabbage leaves, and
investigating the plant’s ability to resist attack by cat-
erpillars that feed on its leaves in the field - the very
same enzymes believed to have cancer fighting benefits.
This crossover benefit thing isn’t unique to cabbage. A
lot of the different antioxidants and disease fighting ele-
ments in fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs are part of
their built-in pest, disease and stress resistance mecha-
nisms.
They tested average store produce that’s been picked,
shipped, and stored. The researchers discovered that
cabbage, lettuce, sweet potatoes, blueberries, and
more... all respond to light. Too many light or dark
hours reduces resistance production, as does constant
light, or constant dark. They found that late in the day
on a 12 hour light/12 hour dark schedule, resistance
was twice as strong.
You might want to stop shopping for fresh food at 24-
hour stores - there is no night cycle there. Maybe we
should add a light cycle to the produce drawer in the
refrigerator. The light is only on when you open the
door. 3
“YOU MIGHT WANT TO STOP SHOPPING
FOR FRESH FOOD AT 24-HOUR STORES”
An amazing new discovery reveals that fruits and
vegetables continue functioning after the harvest.
Fresh foods are still alive. They know what time
it is and perform certain behaviors, like increas-
ing beneficial compounds according to hours
of light received. Your food still follows day and
night cycles. It could be at its healthiest best right
before dusk in their current daylength cycle.
“Fresh foods are still alive”
your salad tracks time!
FRESH FOOD I GARDEN CULTURE
GARDENCULTURE.NET 25
Some say this micro tomato
forest thing is due to cold
storage. Others say it isn’t un-
common. Huh? Where did the
natural germina-
tion inhibitors go?
Stranger still, to-
matoes picked be-
fore perfect ripe-
ness don’t have
viable seeds. Mature tomato
seeds do not germinate with-
out fermenting. Most of these hyperactive tomato own-
ers state that the fruit wasn’t rotten. Some were freshly
purchased, and furthermore, store-bought tomatoes are
picked unripe.
Freaky Tomatoes
In almost every case, the tomatoes were store-bought.
One woman found the seeds inside a cherry tomato all
germinated. She planted one in a pot out of curiosity. The
thing grew 10 individual main stems!
I had this happen with homegrown tomatoes a couple of
years ago. There was no cold storage. The fresh picked
tomatoes got tossed within days. Others gardeners have
had this happen too, but not with heirloom varieties to my
knowledge.
Are they Frankenmatoes with fish or frog genes in them?
Nope. Sources report transgenic GE tomato varieties are
history. In fact, no new GE tomatoes have been released
since 2000 due to regulation difficulties, among other com-
plexities. It does have to do with genetics... and mutants.
A number of hybridized crops suffer from this precocious
What’s up with the fruit here? A tomato is not supposed to sprout plants. Totally abnormal, and not
some isolated oddity. The earliest report found of buying tomatoes filled with germinating seeds is 2003.
More and more people are talking about this, and sharing bizarre tomato images. Suspicions of genetically
modified organisms loom large.
“Are they Frankenmatoes?”
BY TAMMY CLAYTON©
Chr
is &
Chr
istin
a C
urri
e”
“That ain’t natural. It’s defective.”
26
27
germination, or ‘viviparous’ tendency. An occasional odd-
ball seed that defies the status quo sounds reasonable. But
a whole fruit full, or several tomatoes on a stem cluster, or
most of your harvest? That ain’t natural. It’s defective.
The cause is hormonal imbalance.
Low levels of ABA or abscisic acid,
a phytohormone that regulates seed
development. Some tomato variet-
ies are more prone to this vivipa-
rous activity. Which ones are they?
The pretty ones that stay edible
in your fridge for weeks after pur-
chase. Bred to stay ripe without aging - a.k.a. Long Shelf
Life.
Vivipary was very common with early processing tomatoes
bred for one-time destructive machine harvesting. Truss,
or cluster types, and cherry tomatoes you buy at the gro-
cery store out of season will all be long shelf life varieties.
Long shelf life tomatoes, if picked at the right stage and
gassed, can remain ‘fresh’ 3-4 months after harvest. Rip-
ened on the plant, they have one month of shelf life max.
While the skin and meat don’t age, the seed continues to
mature using the sugars available
inside the fruit. The most extreme
viviparous tendencies are seen in
rin mutant tomatoes that mature,
but don’t ripen or rot.
What’s a rin mutant? A salad ornament. It’s bright red and
looks good, but has crunch and no flavor. Sound familiar?
It has to do with a mutant gene. One that inhibits ripening.
Rin mutant hybrids ship better. The store has less loss.
The rin gene controls the ripening process. In 2002 Cor-
nell University located the gene in tomato DNA. Scientists
are working on building a juicy GE tomato. Garden fresh
tomato flavor that will ship thousands of miles, and store
for months. Fat chance. Juiciness, soft garden fresh texture,
and flavor is what makes a real tomato unshippable. 3
“Where did the natural germination
inhibitors go?”
“Mature tomato seeds do not germinate without fermenting.”
GARDENCULTURE.NET 27
FREAKY TOMATOES I GARDEN CULTURE
A D D S O M E G R E E N A N Y W H E R E
Air plants are a cinch to grow.
The perfect houseplant for space
challenged people on the go. Check
out these awesome handmade
planters we found designed just for
air plants. A stylish way to add some
greenery to just about any spot in
your home. This is just a peek at what
Cor Pottery has to offer. More info:
bit.ly/cor-pottery
cool finds
E A S Y S A LT WAT E R R E E FThe cost of equipment, and high
maintenance of a saltwater aquarium
got you doing without? This miniature reef system
is both affordable, and easy to take care of. Chose
a fully stocked system shipped live, or the basic
aquarium, and buy your coral locally. Learn more
@ pjreefs.com3
N U T R I M I L L G R A I N M I L L Tired of the sky-high prices on
specialty flours at the store? Leery of just what
went into growing the grains in flour? Bypass
the system, and make your own flour. Designed
to process all
grains and beans,
this impact mill
is affordable,
and highly rated.
More info:
bit.ly/nutri-mill
A F F O R D A B L E S O U S V I D EThe finest chefs in the world use
sous vide cooking. It cooks any food to perfection,
and holds it there. Dinner is ready when you are
with all the nutrition and flavor preserved. The
Sansaire is an immersion circulator for home sous
vide cooking. Compact, beautiful, and phone app
control! More info: Sansaire.com
1
2
3
4
5
E VA S O L O T O G O G R I L L Possibly the most beautiful portable
grill ever. Perfect for a picnic, the beach, or
small space grilling. Everything you need but
the charcoal and utensils, all neatly stacked up
and held in place by a rugged strap. More Info:
bit.ly/solo-grill
GREEN PRODUCTS I GARDEN CULTURE
GARDENCULTURE.NET 29
MUSIC I GARDEN CULTURE
The setup looks pretty simple from the outside. She places
pads on a few different types of plants, connects those
pads to wires, and the wires to a computer. The pads read
bio-electric energy put off by the plants when something
touches them. These signals get sent to an amplifier, which
converts these analog signals into digital code. This code
is then sent to her computer where a program, which she
wrote, reads the signals, and turns them into electronic
music. It’s a tale of plant and machine in a symbiotic
relationship, where they collide into a sonic landscape.
Naturally, this garnered some attention. Mileece recently
had a residency at Maker City LA. She performed, in 2013
at the Museum of Modern Art. Mileece also created a first
of its kind interactive classroom at the Lycee International
Francais in Los Angeles where she converted a school bus
into an interactive forest, and made a zero-emission Tre-
We-vrTM Pod for environmental education.
During her performances, she combines live music with
the sounds of her Tre-Wevr interface. She couples these
with sounds from her field recordings, like icebergs and
sounds from the Costa Rican jungle, to paint a beautiful
sonic picture. There is something real, and elegant to
the whole thing. The colorful plant leaves, the graceful
movements from the artist, and the sounds and visuals
coming together to showcase how nature is a living,
breathing, all-encompassing thing.
You can tell she is doing this for the plants, and for the people.
Mileece says the landscapes and designs that she makes are
there because she wants habitats to exist; for herself and
others. Also, she does not feel like a composer of the music,
more like a facilitator of the plants natural harmonies. That
is a true love for nature.
Nature is a beautiful thing, and so is music. Can we live in a
world without both? Plants are alive, they live and die, and they
do communicate. Mileece, has found a way to connect the
world to the actual voice of nature in a unique and harmonious
way. With a bit of time, and a respect for music and nature, she
has found a way to make the forest into a symphony. Maybe
we should try to listen to the plants in our garden, and in the
woods, meadows, and parks around us a bit more closely.
There’s a lot more going on there than green space. 3
Mileece Petre is 35, British, and makes
beautiful music with plants. That sounds
strange, but most brilliant ideas sound a bit
crazy at f irst.
BY BRIAN BURK
OrganicMusicC
redi
t: M
agda
Ols
zano
wsk
i
Cre
dit:
Tahi
tia H
icks
Cre
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Mak
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A
“IT’S A TALE OF PLANT AND MACHINE IN A
SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP
GARDENCULTURE.NET 31
• Good for • What Ails You
SOIL I GARDEN CULTURE
• More Info:• bit.ly/dirt-new-prozac
• bit.ly/soil-neuroscience
• bit.ly/urban-stress
Society’s current dissociation
with soil negatively affects us
mentally and physically. The
microbial life in good soil is
actually healing. At least the
microorganisms not voided
by farm and garden chemicals
or synthetic fertilizers are. It’s
not just the flowers, greens, or
fruit we need from plants, but also
assistance from things in the soil
food web around plants’ roots.
As I read about this, it reminded me of
my son as a toddler constantly eating dirt.
Perhaps it wasn’t just that kids at this stage
put everything in their mouth, maybe it was instinct telling
him he needed something from the soil. He does have
mild allergies, and these scientists have connected rising
allergy problems and recurring illnesses to daily life that
disconnects most people from the soil. They are proving
that people who live in sterile environments have more
such health problems than those that spend their lives
covered with dirt and pollen.
Is it really just the beauty that bring so many to become
so addicted to flower gardening, or does getting dirty have
some sway? Sure, the lovely colors and bloom shapes are
attractive, and do have an effect on a person’s mental health
and mood, but a backyard gardener for any outcome will
also get dirty. By the same token, people who live beyond
urban areas will likely have a flower garden, or a vegetable
garden, or both. Studies have shown that this portion of
the population also has a lot less mental health issues.
All Natural Mood Elevator
Depressed? Dealing with mood swings? Having a bad day?
Spend more time outdoors in the garden. Dance barefoot in
the dirt. Pull some weeds. Grow in real soil on the balcony
THE MICROBIAL LIFE IN GOOD
SOIL IS ACTUALLY HEALING…
MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY
with Smart Pots or GeoPots.
Feed your soil, because the
microbial life in organic
soil has healing properties
for humans on contact. It
will also give you better
vegetables, fruits, or flowers.
You came from the soil. You
are also sustained by the soil.
Human beings are microbial
too. Over 90% of the human
body is made of microbes, such
as ‘gut flora’. Each of us is our own
ecosystem that gets out of balance from
a lack of soil contact. Your microbes need soil
microbes for mental and physical health benefits.
Got no dirt because you’re an urbanite? At the very least, buy
a bag of organic topsoil, and indulge in a little mud pie fun. 3
Bee & Bug Bite EraserMud, or the wet soil we call mud, has the natural power
to cure bee stings. It’s amazing, like never being stung at
all. The mud actually draws out the toxins and absorbs
them. Just apply a thin layer, and let it dry. In just 10-15
minutes, wash it off, and you’re cured. They say it works
on insect bites as well. Gotta remember to try this
instead of scratching mosquito and fly bites for days,
because it’s like magic on a bee sting. No special kind of
soil needed, but sand might not work as well.
I always thought it was the lack of green space, and a relationship with nature that made
anger and crime so common in cities. All that noise, congestion, and asphalt can’t be good
for a person, especially when it’s your total environment. Science has discovered that it goes
deeper than that. Human psyche and health requires a relationship with dir t.
BY AMBER FIELDS
• bit.ly/nature-aids-immunity
• bit.ly/urban-rural-psych-disorders
GARDENCULTURE.NET 33
34
There is a compelling difference
between hunger and appetite. By
definition, hunger is the painful sensation
or compelling weakness caused by the overpowering need for
food. Appetite has a much more palatable and polite definition,
as a desire for food and drink. Many of us who live in more
developed countries are less likely to encounter true hunger in
our own lives, but not all of us, and the problem may be getting
worse right under our noses.
BY JUDD STONE
a growing need
Social programs are struggling to feed people in need
GARDENCULTURE.NET 35
You need to get involved
HUNGER I GARDEN CULTURE
plant a row in your own garden for your local
food bank
Demand at food banks in most communities in the
United States is at staggering levels. Since the decline of
the economy, there has been a sharp rise in people and
families that can no longer afford to feed themselves, not
even the basics, or keep a roof over their heads. Social
programs that supposedly are in place to help people
in their down times have had their resources taxed by
increased enrollment, and decreased political support,
reducing their ability to have a noticeable effect, causing
further system decline. The need for you, the reader,
to get involved as an individual has never been more
important statistically in our lives.
Many of you already take part in
food-raiser type events where you
bring a non-perishable item into
a public event for a discounted
admission. This is a great way
for the entire community to get
involved, because food banks are
at a disadvantage today. They lack
funds to create a diverse offering
as they always have, and lets face it,
people can’t live off of spaghetti-o’s
and corn flakes. Food banks need
helping hands. I’ve never been to a
food bank that doesn’t need help
with, well, everything.
They need people to sort goods,
and help get them on the shelf. They
need people to help hand out the food when they are
open, and extras during limited very busy hours. They
need you to donate baby food. They never have enough.
For those of you with children, I hope that speaks to
you. But most of all, and why I wanted to write this
article, they need you, yes you, the conscious, food savvy
gardener, and maybe some of your wares. Many food
banks throughout the country are now growing food.
In years past, food banks didn’t have sustained customers
like they do today, people got back on their feet quicker.
Offering fresh produce didn’t make sense… now it does.
I grew 60 heads of lettuce for a food bank, and I asked
them if they wanted me to offset the harvest, my heart
sank when they told me they could easily get rid of all
60 to families that needed it same day. My efforts could
never keep up alone. Again, this is my call to you.
Your local food bank may not have a garden; quite possibly
you could help them build one in your spare time. If they
already have one, I’m sure they would love for you to
take a day in the watering rotation. A little goes a long
way when it comes to a helping
hand. You will find a lot of warm
hearts at the food bank. But, at
the very least, if you’re left with
no additional time to do this, I ask
you to plant a row in your own
garden for your local food bank,
or rescue mission.
For many years, most food banks
could not, and would not accept
fresh produce for the simple
potential of getting people sick
from pesticide contamination, or
even if it was store-bought, the
very idea of it being perishable. The
lawmakers knew something had
to be done to allow food banks to
work with perishable food items.
It was the only way to get the best, most healthy selection
of food out to the people who desperately need it.
In 1996 Bill Clinton signed into law the Bill Emerson
Good Samaritan Food Donation Act. The law protects
donors, whether they be individual or corporate, and also
protects the food bank from any civil or criminal liability
stemming from any donation made in good faith. The law
does not protect from gross negligence. But if you grow
some healthy food, or help grow some food with your
food bank, I’m pretty confident that’s an effort in good
faith.
The passage of the act unified the nation in legalities when
it came to donating. Now corporations readily participate
in nationwide donation and volunteer programs that many
individual and community food banks benefit from. 3
MARS
GOING TO MARS I GARDEN CULTURE
THE FIRST MANNED
MISSION TO MARS WILL TAKE PLACE IN 2035
BY WENDY DENNEY
Is Going toGRODAN MARS
solution lies in growing their own
food. What that requires is a light,
and compact growth medium which
produces maximum results with the
use of minimal resources. GRODAN
stone wool substrates meet these
requirements, and are perfectly suitable for use in closed
cultivation systems where water is recirculated and reused.
These characteristics make the substrates ideal for use on
Mars and during the journey there.
They have used GRODAN stone wool in multiple space
research related projects since 1985, and this brand of
substrates has already ventured into outer space! For more
information about Grodan, visit www.grodan101.com 3
How do you grow food during space missions to places like Mars? That is the key question
in an exciting study into biological life support systems for space missions conducted in a
research center at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.
The GRODAN Group, a specialized
member of the Rockwool Group,
played a significant role in this high-
tech research project. The company
develops sustainable stone wool
based substrate solutions for the
horticultural industry. The plants being studied in
Canada are grown on these highly advanced GRODAN
substrates.
If everything goes according to plan, the first manned
mission to Mars will take place in 2035. The journey will
take the ‘martianauts’ about two and a half years. Taking
along food supplies for the entire journey is impossible
– that would amount to over 3300 lbs. per person. The
THE JOURNEY WILL TAKE ABOUT TWO AND A HALF YEARS
GARDENCULTURE.NET 37
WINDOW FARM I GARDEN CULTURE
experimentFARM
A company this large has a site that could hold a small city, and it’s techy employees have an
on-campus café not far from their off ice. So many cafés in fact, that they have a Dining and
Beverage Services department, who recently set up experimental indoor farms inside two
on-campus eateries, the largest being at Café 38.
Inspired by some growing towers he
saw at a restaurant trade show, Mark
Freeman, senior program manager
of Dining at Microsoft, saw the value
in bringing fresh hydroponically
grown vegetables to the Redmond,
Washington headquarters campus.
So, they researched their options
intent on high productivity in little space with a
goal of sustainably meeting people’s concern about
knowing what’s in their food, and where it comes
from.
While garden towers come in both aeroponic and
hydroponic systems, they went with Foody Garden
Towers for a number of reasons. The biggest deciding
factor says Joshua Scott, a Microsoft executive chef,
was system capacity. Café 38 has 756 plants growing
in 14 towers - almost twice as much crop capacity
than any other tower systems, without increasing
the height. Like in any already completed building,
the cafés have limitations on unit dimensions, and
needing a ladder to harvest removes fast and easy
from the operation.
Other important selling points with the Foody
12 Tower was its automated rotation option to
maximize the light economically to all plants in
each unit. Scott lists other key pluses that guided
WINDOWSM i c r o s o f t S u c c e e d s A t G r o w Y o u r O w n
the
GARDENCULTURE.NET 39
Co
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Co
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LC
their equipment purchasing decision as the towers’
aesthetic appeal, lower price, and the ease of adding
and removing individual plants. It was also hydroponic,
instead of aeroponic, guarding against instant plant
loss in a power outage.
They have 4 more towers at another café on the
Redmond campus, and all 18 units are pumping out
leafy salad greens and herbs at a delicious rate. Initially,
they installed halogens and LEDs as grow lighting, but
as the experiment evolved Dining looked at increasing
productivity and realized that the garden needed a
different fixture. Switching to iUNU plasma lights
upped their sustainability margin, because plasma is
up to 30% more efficient than LEDs in terms of plant
energy results.
Growing staff member, Jessica Shilke notes that the
change in grow lights brought out plant qualities she’s
756 plants growing in 14 towers plus
microgreens
natural color and better flavor under full spectrum plasma lights
GARDENCULTURE.NET 41
Courtesy of Feed Our Planet, LLC”
never seen before. The lettuce and herbs
now develop natural coloration, which
never happens under HIDs or LEDs. The
flavor is also much improved, proving just
how important the full spectrum of natural
sunlight is to indoor gardening.
The idea to swap lighting technology
came not from a progressive gardening
consultation, but from a surprising source.
Some techs in the Xbox division suggested
it would be an improvement, and they’re
grateful for the tip.
The visual difference from the grow light
improvement is highly noticeable. Photos taken last
fall when the iUNU lights were newly installed had
only spotty growth and pale plants residing in the
towers. Here we are a few months later, and Café
38’s grow space is luxuriously leafy, and rich green.
Definitely a big boost in nutrient value.
This isn’t all that the Microsoft farm is producing.
They’ve also got some large commercial Urban
Cultivator units raising microgreens. There is
one unit in the prep area behind the counter on
full display in Café 38. This one is more of a fresh
grocer holding unit though. They start and grow
the microgreens elsewhere on campus, and move
them here when they reach the harvest stage. This
makes perfect sense to keep kitchen space at its
productive and attractive best.
While they can’t grow all the fresh foods onsite
needed to provide the campus cafés in ingredients,
the greens and herbs are a great start. The rest of the
produce comes in from area organic farms, because
offering healthy foods, and being sustainable are
both hugely important to Dining manager, Michael
Freeman.
With technological innovation being such an organic
part of Microsoft, pairing it with sustainability to
Co
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WINDOW FARM I GARDEN CULTURE
produce food is an exciting opportunity
for Jessica Schilke. She notes that
developing a locally based food system
for a city is usually a thought exercise,
but on the sprawling Microsoft
campus they can actually make these
changes, and experiment.
People love having the plants where they can enjoy
them, and they’re excited to see where this can go.
The farming inside the café has inspired further ideas
from the tech heavy customer population. Schilke
get’s approached by people who want to develop
apps around the project, which is soon to expand.
They’re gearing up to grow 100% of the company’s
microgreens by July 2015. That’s 270 trays each
week, and before fall arrives they’re installing new
hydroponic towers in Building 83’s café too.
One café at a time, they hope to offer farmed here
freshness campus-wide. One app idea is a map of
where to find what variety of campus-grown produce
every day. Whenever you’re in Redmond, feel free to
locate one of these campus cafés. The food is always
fresh, gets rave reviews, and the prices are lower
than anywhere else in town. 3
BY TAMMY CLAYTON
SageM A N H A S J U ST
A LWAYS K N O W N T H AT
S A G E W A S S A V V Y
Wisdom of the Ages
42
Grow Your Own Series SAGE I GARDEN CULTURE
with good drainage, sage is very easy
to grow
H I S TO R Y & F O L K LO R EA word with two meanings, sage the noun refers to a herb
with culinary and medicinal uses, and sage the adjective
describes a wise and experienced person. Since one ben-
efit of the Salvia plant has long been said to sharpen one’s
mental prowess, sage being a synonym of wisdom cannot
be a coincidence.
The word salvia comes from ancient Greek that literally
means ‘to save’, or the Latin counterpart for ‘well being’.
Compared to other herbs, sage is a bit bland, not in flavor
or benefits, but it lacks wild myth, and folklore. Man has
just always known that sage was savvy. All cultures believed
it safe, beneficial, a source of improved intelligence, and the
key to a long life.
Don’t confuse it with the wide variety of ornamental Salvia
cultivars, herbal sage has been used for healing since the
days of ancient China. In Rome of old, it was also used to
infuse food and drink with flavor, and assisting meal diges-
tion. The Arabs believed that one could not die if sage was
prospering under your care. Charlemagne wanted it grown
everywhere. In Middle Age England, it was said to only grow
well where the wife was in charge, but was as must-have as
salt and pepper in Colonial America.
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY, ANTI-ALLERGIC, ANTI-FUNGAL,
AND ANTI-HEMORRHAGIC
N O M E N C L AT U R E There are over 900 Salvia species on Earth, but only 80 are
in cultivation, and very few have culinary or healing uses.
Store-bought dried or rubbed sage is stronger than garden
sage, both because it’s dehydrated, and because of the
cultivar, which is Greek Sage or Dalmatian Sage (S. triloba
syn. S. fruticosa).
Retailed dried sage’s intensity, and the common over-
seasoning of holiday stuffing gives a lot of people the idea
that this isn’t a herb for regular cooking. Learn how to use
it, and discover what you’ve been missing. The colorful
flowers are edible too.
Common Garden Sage (Salvia officinalis) - Much milder,
and more palatable than other culinary sages. Note that
all variants of S. officinalis are hardy to zone 5, and similar
tasting, though variegated selections are a bit milder. This
is the form most commonly used for healing throughout
Europe and Asia.
Golden Garden Sage (S. o. icterina) - Low growing with
green and gold variegated leaves.
Purple Garden Sage (S. o. purpurea) - Deep purple new
growth matures to soft green.
Tricolor Garden Sage (S. o. tricolor) - Marbled pink,
cream, and green variegation.
Berggarten Sage (S. o. Berggarten) - Large leaves perfect
for garnishing. It rarely blooms.
Dwarf Garden Sage (S. o. minum) - The best one for
container growing.
Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans) - Sweeter than the
rest. Best used in desserts, meat glazes and marinades,
with fruit, and in drinks. Larger red flowers that are
H E A LT H B E N E F I T SWhile of Mediterranean origin, traditional Chinese
medicine has used sage tea to soothe sore throats and
indigestion since 835 A.D. It is still used for digestive and
cough home remedies worldwide. Sage tincture can be
used to soothe gum pain and treat gingivitis.
The many powerful active constituents in sage give us
essential oils, minerals, along with disease preventing,
and health promoting vitamins. A natural antioxidant,
disinfectant, and deodorizer that is anti-inflammatory,
anti-allergic, anti-fungal, and anti-hemorrhagic.
It’s also been used for hundreds of years to lighten
menstrual flow, slow wound bleeding, treat menopausal
hot flashes, increase fertility, and dry up breast milk. This
isn’t folklore, they’ve discovered that sage contains natural
estrogens. Pregnant women should avoid sage tea and
essential oils, though it’s perfectly safe to eat as a seasoning.
Two recent UK studies found that a 1.7 oz. dosage of
essential oil significantly increased short-term memory in
young adults, proving its value for increasing mental acuity
is factual. Aside from preventing ‘senior moments’, sage
is also part of natural anti-aging beauty regimens. The
Gypsies swore by it for darkening graying hair - just one
more cosmetic benefit. GARDENCULTURE.NET 43
SAGE I GARDEN CULTURE
GARDENCULTURE.NET 45
G E R M I N AT I O NIt’s easily grown from seed, but stored seed offers only 50%
germination at best. Cuttings root reliably, and starting
new plants from cuttings is extremely common. Make
sure the mother plant is pest and disease-free. Quarantine
cuttings before moving into a grow room.
Start seeds with both the room and propagation mat at
70ºF. Expect seed germination in 7-10 days. You can use
rockwool cubes, or coarse seed starting mix.
Transplant seedlings at 2” tall to your finishing system
or containers after 4-5 weeks in winter, and 1-2 weeks
in summer. Humidity isn’t critical for this plant, though
excellent drainage is. Space them 15 cm apart in your
hydro system.
I N D O O R E N V I R O N M E N TFor rooting and vegetative growth you want day temps of
68-80ºF, and nights ranging from 60-78°F. You can grow
it in all types of hydro systems, in aquaponics, with drip
irrigation, and traditional hand-watered container culture.
When grown in potting mix, let the top inch of soil dry out
before watering.
G R O W T H M E D I AThe plants are natives of light, sandy soils, so wherever
you grow it be sure to give its roots a similar home. Use
a coarse potting soil with extra perlite. It does well in just
about any hydroponic medium.
L I G H T I N GIn the outdoor garden, this plant needs about 8 hours of
full sun. A sunny window is not enough light on its own.
You need supplemental lighting. Use a compact fluorescent
grow light. Keep in mind that an hour of direct outdoor sun
requires 2 hours of grow light exposure as an equivalent.
Inside a grow room, or in situations where there is little to
no sun at all, you need a minimum of 12 hours under lights.
Less light than that, and you’ll wonder if it’s growing at all.
For optimum growth and harvesting times provide 700
footcandles with 14 hour days. Less light equals slower
growth, and a less efficient crop. Don’t count on sage
flowers when growing indoors, unless you’re running
intense HIDs.
also edible. Native of Mexico. Hardy to zone 8. (syn.
S. rutilans)
Chia (Salvia hispanica) - Yes, of Chia Pet fame. Native
Americans, both Aztec and Apache, ate this while hunting
and traveling. Seed from this plant retails for $9 - $59 a
pound, because it’s very high in Omega-3 fatty acids, and
the richest vegetable source of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA).
Native of Mexico and Guatemala. Hardy to zone 9.
Grape-Scented Sage (Salvia melissodora) - The leaves
and seeds have been used for healing for thousands of
years. Native to Mexico, hardy to zone 9.
GROW NOTESWith good drainage, it’s very easy to grow this herb
outdoors, providing you have a spot in full sun. It’s also
easy to grow indoors, making winter fresh sage possible,
given ample light. While these types of salvia can reach
24-70 inches tall, depending on the species grown, you can
keep plants at 12-18 inches high with regular harvesting.
Most sage plants produce well for three years, and are
evergreen in the right climate. Growing indoors will allow
you to enjoy not just fresh winter herbs, but also the more
tender sages from South America.
Common insect problems are mites and whitefly, and like
many plants that prefer sharp drainage, sage can be prone
to fungal infections. While the infection can harm and
dwarf the plant, most of the time it does not kill sage. Give
it the conditions it thrives in for a more efficient harvest,
and trouble-free crop.
Tradit ional Chinese medic ine has used sage tea sinc e 835 A.D.
SAGE I GARDEN CULTURE
47
A NATURAL ANTIOXIDANT, DISINFECTANT,
AND DEODORIZER Lemon - Sage Butter Chicken Scallopine The trick to getting the coating to stick to your meat for these
kinds of dishes is not messing with the breading steps.
Ingredients
• 4 chicken breast halves, pounded thin
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
• Salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 stick butter
• 20 fresh sage leaves
• 1 lemon, juiced
Directions
Put a large skillet on medium-high heat,
and heat the oil.
Dip your chicken into the flour, then the egg. Now dip into bread
crumbs - pressing them slightly so they stick.
Gently lay the breaded meat into the hot oil. Cook until golden,
about 4 minutes per side. Remove and set aside.
Melt the butter to the skillet. Now add the sage and lemon juice.
Cook for about 1 minute until the sage leaves are slightly crispy.
Pour the butter sauce into a heatproof measuring cup. Set the
fried leaves aside.
Put one chicken scallopini on each plate, drizzle with the butter
sauce, scatter some of the crispy sage leaves on top.
Serve with potatoes or creamy pasta, and a crisp salad. A lovely
dinner in a jiffy using garden-fresh sage.
Serves 4. Recipe adopted from FramedCooks.com
1
2
3
4
5
6
N U T R I E N T SStandard vegetative nutrients or organic fertilizer is fine.
There are no special nutritional needs.
H A R V E S TGiven the conditions described above, expect the first
summer harvest after transplanting in 4-5 weeks, and 5-7
weeks in winter. You get multiple harvests if your plants
are robust, since sages are perennials and subshrubs.
Greenhouse yields in an NFT system are: 4 lbs. per 10
feet of trough in summer, and 1 lb. per 15 feet of trough in
winter. Under good grow lighting indoors you’ll get a little
heavier harvest in winter, and less in summer than the full
sun conditions in a greenhouse would produce.
By the way, this is a rather uncommon fresh-cut herb in
retail selections, at least in the United States, and may
present small growers with a great market crop, especially
during the winter holiday season.
C U L I N A R Y U S E SThere are a surprising number of ways to use fresh sage, so if
you thought this was all about poultry stuffing and sausages,
it’s time to expand your cuisine horizons. While the flavor of
just-cut sage leaves are milder than dried or frozen, the blue
flowers are subtler still. They make a lovely edible garnish
and salad ingredient, seasoned butter, simple syrup, and are
great with dried beans, corn, and mushrooms.
How much milder? A lot - substitute 5 ml of fresh for every
1 ml of dry sage any recipe calls for. It combines well with
bay, caraway, cutting celery, dried ginger, lovage, marjoram,
paprika, parsley, savory, and thyme.
Use your sage harvest for flavoring winter squash and
meats: veal, turkey, chicken, pork, and fish. It is good in
stews, stuffings, chowders and soups, marinades, casseroles,
sauces, and gravies. It can at times be a star ingredient, like
in Saltimbocca, where the fried leaves are both garnish and
seasoning. Once you’ve tried fried sage leaves, you might
find that they have uses that include snacking.
It pairs well with dairy, as in England’s traditional Sage
Derby cheese, where it’s also enjoyed with sautéed
onions. Germans use it to flavor beer, as well as sausages.
Italy uses it in lots of things besides Saltimbocca. Do some
culinary research online where you’ll find it combined with
a wide array of foods. You’ll soon be awash in new ways to
work sage into meals.3
WHAT’S GROWING ON I GARDEN CULTURE
GARDENCULTURE.NET 49
1) St. Louis, Missouri
Downtown Greens UpAfter 2 years of planning, fund gathering, and location
scouting, Urban Harvest STL has finally started
construction for their Downtown garden, the Food Roof
Farm. No strangers to urban farming, they have good
food projects elsewhere in the city, but the Downtown
neighborhood is sorely lacking in plots of ground - for
anything, let alone growing fruits and vegetables.
Hitting the roof gives them 10,000 sq. ft. of space, and the
parking garage owner is totally thrilled with the project,
which will include a CSA and a school, and above St. Louis’
hub. Entirely run by volunteers, neighborhood residents
can join and harvest their own at Food Roof Farm. The
newly installed grow beds and tower gardens will begin
blooming this spring.
High five to Urban Harvest STL!
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2) Montreal, Quebec
Ain’t Nothin’ New“Nothing about urban agriculture is really revolutionary. It’s
simply a recreation of something that is very, very old.” That’s
how Mohamed Hage opened his TEDx talk at the Universite
de Montreal a couple of years ago. But what his company,
Lufa Farms, is doing is newsworthy. They’re accomplishing
great things in reviving fresh, local food with their rooftop
farms, and making food a sustainable thing.
Lufa’s Ahuntsic Farm was the world’s first commercial
rooftop greenhouse, and their Laval Farm is revolutionizing
urban agriculture. To some, massive hydroponic greenhouses
perched atop buildings in a cold climate scream energy waste,
but half their heat comes from the building below. Cities have
high levels of CO2, and Hage is recycling that waste too.
An idea that became a dream several years ago now produces
hundreds of tons of fresh food each year sustainably, employs
50 people, and began construction on a new farm in Boston
in Summer 2014. That’s one to grow on.
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WHAT’S GROWING ON I GARDEN CULTURE
GARDENCULTURE.NET 51
4) Kelowna, British Columbia Laying Down the PickOnce a serious musician, the fresh lure of the soil inspired Curtis
Stone to trade his rock star aspirations in for a shovel and a hoe.
That was a few years ago, but thanks to a technique known as
SPIN farming, and a cycling trip through California where off-grid
and sustainable living grabbed his attention - Stone’s urban farm,
Green City Acres came to life. His evolution is a story in itself,
but his small plot intensive agriculture business has grown from
a personal passion to a sustainable business.
Like many urban farmers, large tracts of land are unfeasible. He’s
got greener things going on. Green City crops are grown on
portions of properties... the odd front yard or backyard available
for working through a rental agreement. Homeowners get
relieved of yard maintenance, and the added perks of enjoying
a share of their soil’s produce too. His harvests arrive at several
Kelowna restaurants, and the farmer’s market by pedal. In the
off-season, Stone spends his time as a SPIN farming consultant,
and keeps a busy speaking engagement calendar.
Curtis’ advice to other farmers? “If you’re not making money,
you’re doing it wrong.” He’s producing $50,000 on one-quarter
acre. Learn his secret @ SPINfarming.com3
3) Cleveland, Ohio
This Is ItThe place that grows local food, new jobs, and fresh
Americans organically and sustainably in a multi-faceted
program. Ohio City Farm on almost 7-acres of working
soil sits just a mile away from downtown Cleveland. From
breaking ground by horse-power in 2010, to ushering in a
neighborhood revival, and giving new hope to refugees -
there’s a lot of model urban farm to learn about here.
Across the river from bustling commerce downtown is
usually not the up and coming neighborhood in most cities,
but that urban decay is the only reason that Ohio City Farm
exists. It began small and spread, as did its focus. Growing
fresh food in a food desert gave birth to a ripe artisanal
area, and home to one of only 11 Refugee Empowerment
Agricultural Programs. They educate refugees with farming
backgrounds, guiding them into a brighter future in America
through their roots.
The largest US contiguous urban farm wasn’t born overnight.
Learn more @ j.mp/reap-farm & j.mp/OHC-farm
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it is our job to lead youths toward health and preservation
52
BY KYLE L. LADENBURGER
TEACH I NG YOUTH T O GARDE N I NSPI RE S
H EALTH Y F O OD CHOIC E S LATER ON
T E A C H ‘ E M YO U N G
GARDEN EDUCATION I GARDEN CULTURE
GARDENCULTURE.NET 53
These days it would seem
that the easiest thing for us
to do would be to blame our
parents for providing such
innutritious products to their
children. But I’m not sure if
that is actually the best, and
most noble course of action.
When my generation was
young there was little to no
evidence that processed food
was a hazard to our health.
Mix that with fast food and
processed foods being so
cheap and easy to prepare
- that hasn’t changed much.
And then compound that
with the fast food dollar menu
being born, which completely
solidified fast, cheap, and easy meals.
This all begs the inevitable question: what was a busy,
overworked parent to do? However, that was a long time
ago, and things have changed indeed. We are now truly
seeing the effects such a poor diet can have on one’s health,
especially when it comes to children. By now most of us likely
understand the fact that processed foods are unnatural, and
that our bodies need real whole food nutrition to stay strong
and healthy. So, I think it is time to realize that we have reached
an age where ignorance for the sake of saving time and money
should no longer be considered acceptable, especially when it
comes to the health and development of a growing child.
Now, as my generation enters into our 30’s, and many of
us begin to have children of our own, the negative health
consequences of a diet high in processed foods are becoming
even more evident. We live in a world fueled by information,
and every day we see new statistics that help drive us try to
make healthier choices for our own bodies. We can read the
fact that in 2012, 29.1 million
Americans or 9.3% of the
population had full on
diabetes (a disease that
is becoming prevalent in
developed countries), and
that this number consistently
rises on average 1% every two
years, and that nearly 25,000
children are newly diagnosed
each year, not including
those who go undiagnosed
(Source: National Diabetes
Statistics Report, 2014).
These numbers help keep
diabetes comfortably within
the top 10 causes of death in
our country each year.
After learning that, we may
stumble upon another website such as the one for the Center
for Disease Control (CDC) who reports that “childhood
obesity has more than doubled in children, and quadrupled in
adolescents over the past 30 years.” In 1980, 7% of children
6-11 years of age were obese, and that number jumped to
18% in 2012, and a similar increase in adolescents (12-19 years
old) where the number jumped from 5% in 1980 to 21% in
2012. Now they consider more than one-third of children
and adolescents as overweight or obese. There is also much
published data on childhood obesity being a leading cause of
a whole list of health problems as these children grow older.
It’s clearly evident that something needs to change. So, as a
generation, we read these numbers, and many of us get an
unsettled, almost sickening feeling as we think to ourselves -
how could anyone let this happen? Not only that, but what can
we do to change this trend?
The bottom line is that children who are obese are likely to
still be obese as adults, and will be more at risk to develop
littleny / Shutterstock.com
I was born in the summer of 1985, and the generation that I so emphatically belong to is one that in many respects
was the guinea pig test generation for modern food science. As children we had a first hand, participatory role
in the rise of the processed food market. For many of us, real nutritious foods, like fresh fruits and vegetables,
represented a small portion of our overall diet. The other part? Filled with fast food, low-grade microwave din-
ners, and countless other products designed in a lab by scientists blending food-like substances with chemicals to
create a “safe” to eat packaged meal that has a ridiculously long shelf life.
THE GUINEA PIG TEST GENERATION
FOR MODERN FOOD SCIENCE
every day we see new statistics that help drive us try to make healthier choices
GARDENCULTURE.NET 55
GARDEN EDUCATION I GARDEN CULTURE
health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, and many
types of cancer. A contributing factor to childhood obesity,
along with lack of physical exercise, is the heavy consumption
of processed foods. If ignorance is the villain that got us into
this mess, then information and knowledge shall be our first
weapons to fight against it.
It’s of utmost importance to teach children that making
health conscious nutritional and dietary choices will help to
keep them healthy and fit their entire lives. And I believe that
my generation will be the one that can truly make an impact
towards positive change. With my generation we have seen a
strong push towards locally sourced foods, organics, farmers
markets, less chemical additives, and the slow food movement
in general. If we stay true to these movements, and as we begin
to have our own children, we can have a positive influence on
the next generation, so they will hopefully grow up emulating
the same types of food choices that we make.
Naturally, as we begin to create more healthy diets for
ourselves, this in turn will impact the types of foods marketed
to us and sold in stores. Being consumers, our dollars help
shape the products we see in the market place. If we start
moving our money away from the processed foods over to
the more nutritious healthy foods the suppliers will notice and
they, in turn, will provide more products of a similar fashion to
satisfy demand.
One of the most encouraging aspects that I see when looking
at my generation is that we have created such an awesome
popularity surge in home gardening. If a certain food is not
available locally, or if we don’t completely trust the provider,
we know we have the best solution: to grow our own.
Gardening is a foolproof way for us to supply ourselves
and our families with healthy, nutritious food for the rest
of our lives, or at least until we can garden no more. With
a big enough garden, and a plentiful reserve of jars, we can
even preserve much of our harvest, and enjoy the bounty
year round.
A word that instantly comes to mind is self-sustainability.
Our love of gardening is also a perfect way to show
children, even at an early age, what real healthy foods
are, and how they grow. This, in turn, can help them to
develop a passion for not only eating fruits and vegetable,
but growing them as well.
When gardening with a child it is important to remember
to keep it simple, but also to have fun. Children easily lose
focus if an activity is too challenging, or just not any fun.
Some garden activities that are suitable for participation
by children include: planting seeds, watering plants,
harvesting fruits/veggies, and even some minor garden
maintenance like light weeding, and pruning of dead or
unwanted foliage. Letting them help in different aspects
in the garden will not only teach them how plants grow,
and the healthy hard work involved in growing them, it will
also make them feel a rightfully deserved sense of pride in
what they have done. As adults (parents or otherwise) it is
important that we show excitement and pride with these
gardening activities to encourage the child to continue
down the this path as both a gardener, and as an individual
that makes healthy food decisions more often than not.
I will be honest. I don’t always make the wisest decision
with every meal I eat, and I have those cravings for junk
food just like anyone else. But the important thing is that
I am more conscious of these choices, and I try to make
better ones in the future. If we continue to try and not
just give up, we can really get the momentum going in a
positive direction for the future. We may even help shift
the tides just a bit - away from the fast and easy processed
world, back to the natural, locally grown, real food side.
Back to how people ate for thousands of years, straight
from the earth.
This all starts with people supporting local farmers,
local farmers markets, and encouraging the growth of
more small farms in their area. We need to create an
environment in which eating and living healthy is not
only promoted, but where it is the norm. And as adults,
especially parents of young children, it is our job to work
at leading the youth in the direction toward health and
preservation so that, when they grow up, the choice to
eat healthy will be one of little thought, only action. 3
Plants need nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and other nutrients for healthy growth. These
are elements, and as such, there is no difference between the nitrogen (N) from an organic nutrient, or a
synthetic nutrient. Elemental nitrogen is the same exact thing, regardless of the source.
The most important (and most interesting) of these is
nitrogen (N). Unfortunately, plants can’t absorb pure
elemental nitrogen (N) directly. There isn’t a way to
feed plants a pile of single nitrogen (N) atoms. There
is plenty of nitrogen gas (N2) in air, but plants can’t
split the two nitrogen atoms apart, they are bound too
tightly together, and so nitrogen gas (N2) isn’t a good
nitrogen source for plants.
What garden plants most often use to allow them to take
up nitrogen (N) is a form known as nitrate (NO3), which
is a nitrogen (N) atom connected with three oxygen (O)
atoms. Nitrate (NO3) is easy for the plants to separate
the nitrogen (N) from the oxygen (O), and therefore
makes for a good source of nitrogen (N) (woody plants
like trees can also use ammonium (NH4)).
Plant material that has fallen to the ground, and animals
leaving waste material behind are two sources of nitrogen
(N) that are naturally occurring in untended wilderness.
To emulate this, we get organic nutrients from naturally
occurring materials with minimal processing. One
advantage to this is that the materials can often be
collected cheaply (i.e. leaves, lawn clippings, livestock
manure, etc.), and require little processing before use,
often just maturing or composting. Compost (3-1-2) is
very similar to what happens in nature when leaves, and
other plant material fall to the ground, and nobody is
around to rake it up. Blood meal (12-0-0) and alfalfa
meal (2-1-2) are two other organic fertilizers that are
based on things found to supply plants in a natural
setting with nutrition. It is as these things decompose
(or compost) that bacteria and fungi convert them into
ammonia (NH3), and ammonium (NH4), which break
down further into nitrites, and finally nitrates.
Another organic source of ammonia is the waste
products of animals, which contain nitrogen in the form
of urea (NH2)2(CO). The urea is converted to ammonia
(NH3) by bacteria using the enzyme ureasec. This
process takes time with spread out availability, because
the bacteria generate the ammonia as they get to it.
I like to compare organic nutrients to eating oatmeal for
breakfast, they’re bulky, and release their nutrients over
time. Some forms of organic fertilizers can continue to
release nutrients for more than one season, improving
the general long-term health of the soil. Because the
percentage of nutrient to total mass is usually lower,
the NPK values for organic nutrients are also generally
lower than with chemical-based solutions. Because they
ORGAN IC
C O M P A R E O R G A N I C N U T R I E N T S T O
E A T I N G O A T M E A L F O R B R E A K F A S T
BY GRUBBYCUP
56
VS.
are closer to a natural state, the NPK values for organic
products will also be less exact than chemical based
fertilizers, which allow you to make to exact recipes. This
is why organic nutrients are less prone to overfeeding,
the exception being high ammonia ‘hot’ manures. You
can use compost, worm casting, and fish excrement in
almost unlimited quantities without causing ‘nute burn’.
Since organic nutrients are less processed, they are also
more prone to clogging hydroponic systems that rely on
sprayers and pumps.
However, there is more than one way to make ammonia
(NH3) it can also be a manufactured chemical made
from nitrogen gas (N2) by applying heat, pressure, and
an iron catalyst. Ammonium sulfate ((NH4)2SO4), and
ammonium nitrate (NH4)(NO3) are other manufactured
forms of nitrogen that allow for later parts of the process
to be skipped over. Any of these allow for a short cut
in the process, and makes the nitrogen available a lot
faster, but does not last as long before giving up the
nitrogen it contains.
Chemical nutrients are more like having an energy drink
for breakfast, they release their nutrients quickly, and
then you need more to avoid a ‘crash’. Since chemical
nutrients are shortcuts to the natural process, they can
allow for a greater level of control of how much, and
when the nitrogen becomes available to the plants. This
can allow for a higher nutrient level, and resulting increase
in performance than is possible with organic nutrients.
With this level of control comes responsibility however,
as introducing an overabundance becomes a much more
likely temptation, which can result in ‘nute burn’, or
overloading and damaging natural systems with the
runoff. Adding a chemical nitrate (NO3) for example,
allows for skipping the entire nitrate (NO3) creation
process, and immediately supplies nitrogen (N) to the
plants, but it is also very water-soluble, and what isn’t
taken up by the plant will quickly wash downstream
(unless recirculated).
Overdosing plants with chemicals can imbalance a
natural system to the point that it becomes inhospitable
to the beneficial bacteria and fungi normally responsible
for the process. The ability to better fine tune the
available nutrients also allows for ease in imbalance
creation, and smaller margin for error. Because chemical
fertilizers are shortcuts to the process, using them to
treat nutrient deficiencies will tend to give faster results
than an organic solution, which is better suited for long-
term release. Depending on the exact chemical used,
there may also be “leftover” residue after plants take
up the ammonia or nitrate they need, which can build
up in the system over time. This is where the practice of
watering heavily without nutrients for a time (flushing)
comes from, to help wash away any leftover chemical
residue buildup.
Regardless of the source, in acidic conditions (pH less
than 7) the ammonia (NH3) picks up another hydrogen
(H) atom, and converts to ammonium (NH4). This is
part of why pH can have an effect on plant growth, if
CHEMICAL NUTRIENTS ARE MORE LIKE HAVING AN
ENERGY DRINK FOR BREAKFAST
ORGAN IC ORGANIC VS. SYNTHETIC I GARDEN CULTURE
GARDENCULTURE.NET 57
VS. SYNTHETICNUTRIENTS
The differences between chemical and organic nutrition
are not as absolute as they are often portrayed. They
both use the same process to supply the same elements
to the plants. The primary differences are in how many
shortcuts they offer, and what remains afterwards.
They are both tools you can use successfully when
done correctly. Although purists on both sides may
strongly disagree, I believe there is little reason not
to make use of the benefits of both in moderation.
Plants awaiting organic nutrients to become available
may benefit from a little chemical boost to tide them
over, and long-lasting organic materials can help create
a buffer for fast acting chemical nutrient gardens.
Sometimes a big hearty high fiber breakfast is what a
person needs to start the day, and sometimes you just
need a good strong cup of coffee to get your eyes to
open. As always, understanding why you are adding
something to your garden, and how it works, goes a
long way toward picking the one that’s right for you. 3
the pH is too high, this inhibits conversion. Beneficial
bacteria then convert the ammonium (NH4) to nitrate
(NO3) which can then be used by the garden plants.
Nitrogen from organic sources follows a path of several
steps to become the nitrate (NO3) that plants need.
Chemical nutrients allow skipping some (or all) of these
conversion steps, which starts the nitrogen (N) further
along the path, and closer to the finished nitrate (NO3).
Phosphorus is available naturally from organic composts,
rock phosphate, or bone meal - or it can come from
chemicals such as ammoniated superphosphate (5-
50-0), or ammonium phosphate (18-46-0). Overuse
of phosphorus is one of the sources of environmental
pollution.
Potassium is also obtainable from organic sources like
compost (3-1-2), kelp (1-0-4), or greensand (0-0-3),
or from a chemical such as potassium nitrate (13-0-
44).
ORGANIC NUTRIENTS
ARE LESS PRONE TOOVERFEEDING
ORGANIC VS. SYNTHETIC I GARDEN CULTURE
ORGANIC PRODUCTS WILL ALSO BE LESS EXACT
THAN CHEMICAL BASED FERTILIZERS
ORGAN IC
VS.SYNTHETIC
GARDENCULTURE.NET 59
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FOOD PATENTS I GARDEN CULTURE
You should have the wherewithal to see that their plan does
not support sustainability, it detracts from it. Even if you’re
not a farmer, surely you can understand the implications
behind owning the global food supply, of having control over
who can plant what crops.
Some Perspective
A single small tomato easily contains enough seed to
create 30-100 tomato plants. Those 30-100 plants will
each produce at least 30 tomatoes each. Those 30 new
plants each bearing 30 tomatoes apiece gives a harvest
of 900 tomatoes. Everyone of
those 900 tomatoes contains a
minimum of 30 seeds that will
successfully germinate, leading to
2,700 new tomato plants which
equals 81,000 tomatoes with just
30 fruits apiece. Pretty incredible, and we’re using super
conservative numbers.
All that food grown at no added cost from the “scraps” of
just one tomato, which most people casually throw away! They
don’t understand that they’re tossing so much into the garbage.
BUT this only works with open-pollinated, and heirloom
seeds, NOT with hybrid and GM seeds - which are possibly
sterile. Besides, it’s illegal to sow saved patented seeds
anyways, because it violates biotech patent rights. You must
always buy new seed, always pay for their permission.
The problem with
Before the GMO
Using the tomato example, being an heirloom instead of
a hybrid, local communities could take one tomato, and
propagate it into hundreds, even thousands of plants. All
without a monopolistic controlling coalition of biotech
companies profiting as they violate the age-old laws of nature,
farming, and food.
That’s what genetically modified crop supporters and
proponents just don’t understand. By design, GMOs with the
associated synthetic and chemical inputs are the complete
opposite of sustainability, the reverse of a solution to world
hunger. This actively funnels control of our global food
supply into the hands of a few, leaving the population
at their mercy. It goes against history lessons, science,
and morals to actually support GM crops, and say it’s
advanced agriculture, and increases sustainability.
Imagine the massive cash flow realized when every mammal
and fowl in captivity or domestication, along with every man,
woman, and child alive on Earth gets their daily bread from a
handful of big companies. Food isn’t a luxury. You need it just
to survive, along with water, and shelter. Now add the seed
you sell that goes into biofuels.
Seed patents made possible by genetic modifications is all
about the profits, it’s about ensuring continual coffer wealth
through domination. 3
When a chemical company announces: “We’re going to
solve the global food problem by patenting the food supply,
and force farmers to pay higher prices for seed that cannot
be saved. Sure, we realize humans have saved seed to grow
next year’s food since the beginning of agriculture. However,
you aren’t allowed to save seed according to your contract
with The Chemical Company. Instead, farmers must now
spend more money per seed, must buy new seed each year,
and use only our brands of inputs.”
their plan does not support sustainability, it detracts from it
Food Patents
BY AGENT GREEN
it goes against history lessons,
science, and morals
BY THEO TEKSTRA – MARKETING MANAGER GAVITA HOLLAND BV
There is sometimes so much legend, and so little science in this industry. It is time for some myth busting, to allow
a fresh breeze to move through the growing realm.
Did you see this Family Guy episode, “You Know What Grinds My Gears?” It’s one of my favorites, where
Peter goes medieval on television over issues bothering him. I’ll use a bit more science, and a little less gut
feeling, but these are issues that really get to me.
PPF versus PPFDLet’s look at the output
specifications first, forgetting
lumens, because we’re using grow
light. Lumens are for humans - not
plants. So, what defines the total
output of a fixture is the total
output of photons in the PAR
region (400-700 nm), measured in
micromoles per second (photons
per second). This is also called
the photosynthetic photon flux,
or PPF.
Light intensity on a surface in PAR spectrum is called
PPFD. Now there is only one “D” difference from
PPF, but that makes a big difference. PPFD is intensity,
measured in micromoles per second, per square meter
(μmol s-1 m-2)! So, remember: PPF is total output.
PPFD is intensity at a certain spot, and depends where
you measure it under the fixture.
If you have a lamp with a PPF of 1000 μmol s-1, and you
spread this light over two square meters, you would get
an average of 500 μmol s-1 m-2 intensity on that surface
(total light divided by surface). It’s like Lumen and lux,
but for PAR spectrum and measured in photons. Lumen
You know what
S O M E M A N U F A C T U R E R S
B O M B A R D U S W I T H R E A L L Y R I D I C U L O U S
C L A I M S
GRINDS my GEARS?
I sometimes feel like I am on
a crusade against ignorance.
It’s not that I’m the brightest
scientist (or a scientist at all for
that matter), but the claims that
some manufacturers bombard
us with are really ridiculous, and
sometimes even harm their own
industry. Let’s take a look at LED
fixture manufacturers.
Before we do though, here is my
personal opinion about LEDs. I
love LED lighting. Really! Yes, I
work for a horticultural lighting
company and yes, we do research in LED systems.
The reason why we don’t sell LED systems for HPS
replacement in horticulture yet is that we think they
are still too expensive. Another reason is that many
of our customers actually require the heat from HPS
systems.
So back to the LED fixture manufacturers. There are
two major things that grind my gears: The output
specification, and hollow phrases, such as “replaces
a 1000W HID lamp,” and “reduce 60% of the power
used.” Both are actually connected.
62
is the total output of a lamp, lux is the intensity at a
certain distance from that lamp, with the light spread
over a certain surface (lux is lumens per square meter).
Measuring total output of a lampTo measure the total output of a lamp or fixture, we
use an integrating sphere or a photogoniometer. These
(calibrated!) instruments integrate all the light, and give
you an accurate measurement of the total output of a
lamp or fixture. Measuring light under the fixture on
a grid, and integrating
the values is very
inaccurate, specifically
with a low number of
measurements on a
small surface.
Now let’s take a HPS
lamp as an example.
The double ended HPS lamp does let’s say 2000 μmol
out of the reflector in total. So spread over a 2 square
meter surface I would get about 1000 μmol per second,
per square meter intensity. Easy, right? But now I hold
a light meter about 40 cm from the lamp, and I measure
more than 4000 μmol s-1 m-2. How is that possible?
That’s twice the PPF of the lamp?
No, it isn’t. 2000 μmol
s-1 concentrated over
just half a square meter
gives you that intensity
(ppf/surface). So a
measurement under
a lamp at a certain
distance, specifically if
it is a deep lamp with a concentrated beam (as in lensed
LEDs) says nothing (at all!) about that light or fixture.
SPECIFICATIONSPPFD at 30 cmNow look at the (Chinese) LED specifications. Some
actually say PPFD of x at y cm from the fixture (which
you know now is absolutely rubbish information), but
some even go as far as to call this PPF (in a footnote
they say @ 30 cm from fixture).
So, with my 270W plasma light I measure 3000 μmol
s-1 m-2 close to the glass, so it replaces 1,5 1000W
HPS fixture, right? Wrong. You fell for the hype again.
How do I compare?You need about as much LED light as you
need HPS light to get the same yields.
As LED is not twice as efficient as HPS
(equal to, or at most a little better in a
limited spectrum) these fixtures do not
replace a 1000W HPS lamp at just 40%
of the power. When you want to replace
1000W HPS for LED fixtures, you need 1000W LED.
Then look at the difference in price.
LED fixture manufacturers that specify the output by
PPFD at a distance don’t know anything about lighting,
or do know, but want to fool you. Either way, you
shouldn’t trust them. A 400W LED fixture uses 60%
less energy than a 1000W HID lamp. So does a
400W CFL or a 400W incandescent lamp. 60% less
energy? Yes. 400W is only 40% of 1000W, but I
also promise you 60% less yield in a high intensity
lighting production room.
Don’t just go for the hype, keep thinking! 3
LED SPECIFICATIONS I GARDEN CULTURE
GRINDS my GEARS?
Y O U N E E D A B O U T A S M U C H L E D L I G H T A S
Y O U N E E D H P S L I G H T T O G E T T H E S A M E
Y I E L D S
4 0 0 W I S O N L Y 4 0 % O F 1 0 0 0 W ,
B U T I A L S O P R O M I S E Y O U
6 0 % L E S S Y I E L D
GARDENCULTURE.NET 63
64
THE BEST TOMATO I GARDEN CULTURE
There are three ways we use tomatoes. Slicing fruits,
salad enhancers, and canners. Naturally, slicers work
just as nicely in salads as cherry and grape types,
once you cut them up. Slicing tomatoes also can really
well, if you’re putting up tomato juice
and soups. Should you want salsa and
spaghetti sauce for the pantry that is
less watery, this calls for adding some
paste tomatoes with few seeds and a
meatier interior, like Romas, though
you will find some slicers listed in seed
catalogs as excellent for sauces too. The latter being
less juicy, and having thicker sidewall meat than slicers,
but juicier than a paste type.
So here you are with your selection of tomatoes growing
nicely, but you seem to have a problem. The plants gave
you an excellent pile of tomatoes and suddenly stopped
bearing fruit. What’s up with that? There are no more
fresh tomatoes for sandwiches and salads!
You picked a ‘determinate’ cultivar.
Some people like the idea of compact, bush-shaped
plants. These will sound best suited to the small indoor
garden too, where space is at a premium for a variety
of crops. Determinate tomatoes also don’t require
the trouble of pruning or trellising. The shorter ones
might not even need a cage. Nifty, yes, but they also are
best suited to canning, because they produce the bulk
of their fruits all at once. Then it’s over. So much for
summer-long fresh eating.
By the same token, if you’ve selected a variety of
indeterminate plants with dreams of a wide assortment
what’s the
of flavors in the salsas you’ll put up
with the different tasting fruits... you
might find that you’re not getting
enough tomatoes at one time for
canning. Yes, you can acquire quite a
pile picking a few every day and storing them in the
refrigerator until you have enough to brew up a batch.
But the longer you store fresh tomatoes, the flavors
begin disintegrating, and the odds are that the older
fruits will begin to develop bad spots. Especially piled in
a home refrigerator. The sheer weight of this mountain
will begin to bruise the fruit on the bottom, and cause
stems to poke through skins.
You can’t can with anything but perfect, unblemished
tomatoes. Bad spots, pressure cracks, and stem pokes
are a prime location for bacteria to move in. There are
other ways to preserve these less than perfect fruits,
such as chopping and freezing, or slow roasting and
freezing, but this likely is not what you wanted in the
first place.
There are those who have the idea that determinate
tomatoes are something created for the food system.
They weren’t. There are a good number of determinate
tomato cultivars found within the heirloom category.
That depends. What do you want from this plant? To-
matoes that have great flavor, you say? But there is more
to it than that. What is the plan for these delicious fruits?
“There are three ways we use tomatoes”
“Sweet tomatoes are not
candidates for canning”
They will have smaller
fruits. Some will be
on the paste to sauce
tomato end of the
scale, and others are
simply slicers that
top out at about 3 inches wide and 8 ounces in weight
that ripen early providing cold climate gardens with a
harvest. Big food did not invent the canning tomato.
People have been home canning tomatoes in jars since
canning jar invention in 1858.
By the way, if you’re growing tomatoes for canning, you
do not want the low-acid types. These will not have
good shelf life, and may present you with spoiled sauces
and salsas, no matter how careful you are at putting
up only perfect fruits. Any recipe that incorporates
high and low acid foods strikes a delicate balance, and
if your tomatoes are low-acid, it does away with part of
what preserves the stuff in the jar. Sweet tomatoes are
not candidates for canning, even if they do come from
a determinate plant, so beware of catalog descriptions
about super sweet flavor for this use.
So, what is the best tomato? It fits your needs. For most
people, a mix of plants is just right to give them the best
tomato for everything.3
& Food Sovereignty
BY AMBER FIELDS
66
No. words : 640
No. pages : 1.5
Written by : Eric Coulombe
Resources / Pictures :
Checked by : Tammy 2x
Approved by :
Headlines : “explore new ways of gardening”
“growing all types of food”
“a new type of gardening show”
The Homegrown Expo
are only 500, because that old stuff won’t turn big annual
profits. After being acquired by Monsanto, Seminis actually
removed some 2,000 heirloom plants from the market, all
quietly stored away in corporate seed banks where they
will turn to dust.
That’s a huge loss of seed diversity. They can’t patent and
control them. Your ability to save seed, and enjoy the same
crop year after year isn’t good for business. There’s no
money in that - not from the seed itself, or the special
plant pesticides the Big 6 makes to help you bring in a
harvest successfully.
Big Ag wants to monopolize home
garden plants?
Do the math - it’s an ever-growing market of some $36
billion dollars today, and expected to surpass $50 billion
by 2018. Since life itself depends on seeds, this foolproof
market spells big profit every year perpetually. Every
living thing on Earth needs to eat,
and food starts with a seed, or is
sustained by things that come from
seed. They’re after everything on
your plate that you grew too.
These corporations can destroy
you financially for ignoring their
patent rights. They hire people to track down anyone
growing their plants without permission. Propagating
patented plants from seeds or cuttings is theft. You have
to pay for the right to grow them.
This is a global problem.
Monsanto and Syngenta already own more than 50%
of seed varieties of tomato, paprika, and cauliflower
registered in the EU. In this arena Enza Zaden, and Bayer-
owned Nunhems are active on the scene of patenting
food plants, which abruptly quadrupled in recent years.
While many believe that patenting plants requires genetic
YOU’RE BEING RELIEVED OF
GREATER FOOD FREEDOMS
Concerned about pesticides, chemicals, and GMOs on your plate? Time to broaden your awareness
of what’s happening in the world of seed that produces food. While everyone focuses on genetically
modified crops and ingredients - food sovereignty and seed diversity is disappearing.
What does that mean?
You’re being relieved of greater food freedoms. Your right
to grow food without purchasing or seeking permission,
to save seeds from your garden, is in jeopardy. A dilemma
that stems from the patenting of ornamental plants and
steady profits.
“Few gardeners comprehend the true scope of their garden
heritage, or how much is in immediate danger of being lost
forever.”
~-- Kent Whealey, Seed Savers Exchange
Now it is one thing for the breeder of bushes and posies
to license his years of labor in arriving at new coloration
or growing trait that cannot be reproduced from the seed
said plant generates. But it’s totally different when the
patent office hands legal ownership of food propagation
over to a global corporation. But said ornamental plant
breeder wouldn’t likely hunt down, and sue, the average
gardener for dividing up a clump
that’s lost vigor, or outgrown its
space. If you propagate patented
ornamental plants, and start selling
them though, the plant police just
might arrive.
However, most plant patents,
whether edible or ornamental, are owned by the Big 6
- you know, that handful of transnational corporations:
Monsanto, Dow, Syngenta, DuPont, Mitsui, and Aventis.
These companies control 98% of the seeds worldwide,
not just farm seeds, but home garden seeds too - fruits,
vegetables, flowers, shrubs, etc. These entities go out of
their way to find anyone infringing on their rights and their
profits.
Non-patentable plants evicted.
In the early 1980s there were 5,000 different cultivars of
fruits and vegetable listed in seed catalogs. Today there
SEED DIVERSITY I GARDEN CULTURE
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SEED DIVERSITY I GARDEN CULTURE
GARDENCULTURE.NET 69
modification, late 2013 - early 2014 saw the EPO granting
patents on conventional hybrids, which is possible in the
US and Canada too. Monsanto tried to get an EU patent on
a regular garden cultivar in 2014 too, but they tossed out
the application for presenting fraudulent evidence.
It’s not just mega companies either.
Burpee Seeds’ owner, George Ball, is upset over his century-
old company being labeled as unsafe to purchase from, yet
he refuses to sign the Safe Seed Pledge. Not because he has
lost control to Monsanto’s subsidiary Seminis (the world’s
largest developer of all fruit and vegetable plants), but
because he doesn’t ‘know’ the people behind the pledge.
A typical Ball point of view, the Center for Responsible
Genetics didn’t spring from his plantsmen realm.
But you really have to take the
Safe Seed List with a grain of salt,
because it includes Seeds of Change
- a company owned by candy giant,
Mars, Inc. Surprised? Don’t be, it’s
a subsidiary acquired for mapping
the cacao tree genome. They say it’s to make the crop
sustainable, but some entity will modify that genome,
patent their improved version, and control the cacao bean
industry. It’s the obvious outcome in today’s world.
Smaller whales join the club.
Buying seed from Gurneys, Henry Fields, or Thompson
Morgan US? Ordering organic inputs from Gardens Alive?
These are all owned by catalog monopoly king, Niles Kinek
under the Scarlet Tanager and IGP Acquisitions umbrellas.
Amassing a dozen well-established plant businesses gives
you incredible knowledge and breeding talent, so it’s no
surprise that this conglomerate dove into the patented
food plant pool with a 2014 application to the U.S. Patent
Office for a new variety of grapes crossed with muscadines.
Seed industry consolidation has many layers and purposes.
You cannot be overly selective when choosing where to
buy seeds. Monsanto’s purchase of Seminis in 2005 made
ensuring your seed order doesn’t support their interests
harder to track. The Safe
Seed list includes companies
who do sell seed from
Seminis, but as J.W. Jung
states on their website, the
named varieties procured
through Seminis they offer are not GMOs, but well-known
old varieties in big demand. Seminis has been around a long
time, and is responsible for many beloved garden fruits
and vegetables, some since the 1950s when it was known
as Petoseeds.
Sticking strictly to heirlooms?
This isn’t the answer to preserving seed diversity. Thanks to
trademarks, we have plants known by several names. One
seed company with a trademark
on a certain heirloom plant name
can market the plant as such, while
the rest of the garden catalogs
must list it under a different name.
Talk about confusion. How would
anyone know the real identity of the plants we’re growing?
You think they’ve preserved several similar things, when
they are really all the same, so we actually have less
diversity than it seems.
It isn’t totally hopeless.
Some concerned plant breeders recognize the dangers.
They’re working to preserve your food sovereignty and
seed diversity. Their plan launched in April 2014 with the
Save The Seed campaign held at the Wisconsin College of
Agriculture introducing the Open Source Seed Initiative.
Getting seed here requires signing a pledge that you will
only grow food with it,
and that no portion of said
plants, or their seed, will
be modified - genetically,
or otherwise. You also have
the right to save the seeds
from your garden. 3
Learn more:• bit.ly/seed-house-tangle
• bit.ly/grape-patent
• bit.ly/seminis-home-seeds
• bit.ly/seeds-of-change-indeed
• bit.ly/open-source-seed
THEY CONTROL 98% OF THE SEEDS
WORLDWIDE
YOU REALLY HAVE TO TAKE THE SAFE SEED
LIST WITH A GRAIN OF SALT
It wasn’t until I was about 13 or 14 that I actually started
gardening. I asked my mother if I could tend her garden, and
dig another plot in our lawn where I could grow more stuff,
in a sunnier spot. I tended that garden for almost a decade,
throughout all my high school and my college years. When I
finally moved out with my girlfriend, now wife and partner,
we lived in the city, and never had room for a real garden.
It wasn’t long before I discovered that you couldn’t grow
food in windows. Well, not in Montreal anyway. I was really
stuck - no space, no sun, and no more garden.
In 1994 indoor gardening was completely unknown to me,
as it is to most people today. So, I played around with a
bunch of inexpensive grow lights to aid my plants through
the bleak winter months. It was about that time I visited my
first hydroponics store too. My initial results were poor,
but the potential was obvious.
In 2002 I was self-employed, my wife was pregnant, and
a customer and friend of mine Dave H. from Brite-Lite
(Canada’s oldest hydroponics company) in Quebec made
me an offer to join the team. He wanted me as their
sales guy. I loved it, and spent four years working all over
Canada and the US selling indoor gardening fertilizers
and equipment. My old love for growing was evident as
I blossomed in this industry. I didn’t want to sell things I
have never used so I built a grow room, or grow tent in
every apartment and house we rented. I grew, using every
hydroponic method I could think of, I even invented a few.
I spent the next 10 years as a hydro rep, working for 3
companies, selling countless different products in countries
all around the world. In the process I learned everything I
could about hydroponics, and organic gardening techniques.
I was totally hooked, and knew that indoor gardening was
going to become a big part of my future.
I have always loved plants. Some of my earliest memories are of my grandmother’s small urban Montreal
apartment on Clark Blvd. Where a plant could grow, she would have one there, and they always looked great.
She told us her secret was foliar spraying whole unpasteurized milk. A trick I have never tried myself. It was
definitely her who passed on to me the love of plants.
Give a man a salad, and he will be hungry in an hour.Teach him to garden, and he can feed the world.
70
Eight years ago when I decided to build my own home,
an indoor garden was optional. Because we designed the
home ourselves I could get creative. So I built a small garden
in the back corner of the basement over a protruding cap
rock, basically the only space my wife would let me use.
It has been a work in progress ever since. I used it more
to test products when I was sales rep, constantly changing
systems or products. But since starting with the magazine
it has become something I spend more thought, time, and
effort on. I reflected on all the ways I have grown things
over the years, the projects I have consulted on, and tried
to come up with not only the best garden for me, but a
great garden, and easy for anyone.
During the past 3 years I’ve had some amazing gardens.
My homemade aquaponics, the wall mounted NFT, and
the Ecogrow Wall (vertical garden) have been
my favorites. They have been the easiest
to manage, and gave me the largest
harvests.
Recently I decided to give my room a makeover. This time I was
going to do it right. First, I needed to clean the place up. Bugs had
always been a problem, I knew that the cleaner the room, the less
chance bugs could survive. So, I redid my floor in white high gloss
ceramic tiles. I also tiled the entrance room.
I also had to choose how I was going to garden, what systems
I would use. I choose my favorites, but with the family in mind.
We are very busy people with 2 kids (aged 5 and 11), a dog,
two cats, and we both work 40+ hour weeks. I also travel a
lot, and this garden had to run itself when I was gone. With
this is mind I designed our indoor family micro farm.
GARDENCULTURE.NET 71
ERIC’S GARDEN I GARDEN CULTURE
71
BY ERIC COULOMBE
I discovered that you couldn’t
grow food in windows
LightsI like all lights really, or my plants do. Some seem a little
better or brighter, but this is not a commercial crop, and
everything seems to do great regardless of what lights I
have. With that said, there are a couple of notable products:
Gavita Plasma
I have used this light for a little over a year. It has visited
a couple of gardens, both as primary and supplemental
lighting. My tester had a very positive report, when used as
supplemental. I recently moved it into my garden, and the
Kale in the NFT are going crazy. Crazy good, I have never
seen Kale grow so fast. Love it.
Sunlight Supply’s LEC 315
Sent to me less than a year ago, this product hangs over the
DWC system, and the plants are doing great. Maybe too
good - the tomato is huge! I’m afraid it might takeover if I
don’t give it a haircut.
1000 HPS (Adjust-a-Wing)
Because I have 40 square feet of vertical growing space
I need light on the walls. This type of reflector is great
for the vertical garden. My bulb and ballast is not worth
mentioning, but I am planning to change it soon. It is a
digital ballast, I like the dimming feature when it gets hot.
MiniMax 150
My newest edition is the Minimax 150W, this small but
powerful light packs a huge punch. I was looking for a low
wattage system to install over my vertical walls. Down to
Earth Kent kindly sent two across the pond for me to try.
I absolutely love them. You wouldn’t believe it was only
150W.
ERIC’S GARDEN I GARDEN CULTURE
The Systems I Chose
NFT, 39 x 73 inches,
made by Nutriculture in the UK.
There was never a question about NFT, but what
configuration remained undetermined. I have built several
homemade NFT gardens, and installed a commercial
system in the Korn garden. Nutriculture designed this one
for the hobby gardener, they come in several sizes, and
literally take 5 minutes to set up.
Vertical Wall, made by EcoGrowWall in Quebec
with 48 x 120 inches rock wool slabs.
I have grown with this system for the past 8 years. I love
vertical gardening. It is an amazing use of space, allowing my
not-so-big room almost 40 square feet of extra space. My
largest basil plant ever was grown in this system.
Deep Water Culture (DWC), 6-bucket system
from Current Culture.
DWC is great for growing BIG plants; I have tomato,
cucumber, sweet pepper, sweet pea, coriander, lettuce,
basil and a strawberry. The new lids allow me to have 1, 2
or 4 plants per container. Most things are doing amazing,
but not the sweet pea and coriander. Not sure why, maybe
they don’t enjoy the constant supply of water. I trimmed
the roots above the waterline, they are starting to look
better. The sweet pea didn’t make it, my first casualty. I
don’t blame myself, peas don’t like DWC apparently,
neither do the cucumbers.
Autopots
My first experience with this type of water system was
about 8 years ago. I loved it then, and I think I can appreciate
it more now. For simplicity of use and set-up the Autopot
system is hard to beat. It is a perfect system for a new
gardener.
GARDENCULTURE.NET 73
ERIC’S GARDEN I GARDEN CULTURE
GARDENCULTURE.NET 75
PlantsNFT 6 Kale, 1 Basil, 1 Cucumber,
1 Tomato, 2 Lettuce
Vertical Garden 3 Kale, 1 Basil, 1 Rosemary,
2 Parsley, 1 Sweet Pepper
DWC 1 Kale, 1 Basil, 1 Cilantro,
1 Strawberry, 4 Lettuce,
1 Sweet Pepper, 1 Tomato
Autopots 2 Cucumber, 8 Carrots,
3 Sweet Pea, and lots
more Strawberries.
I am writing this in a plane on my way to Santa Rosa,
knowing that everything is growing and happy. My kids
will sneak in to eat my lettuce and basil when I’m gone,
and that gives me the biggest smile. I honestly love my
garden, and can’t imagine life without it. If you think
this is weird, it’s because you have never had a farm in
your spare room, or harvested supper in your basement
when it is -4ºF outside. Gardening is the best therapy,
and eating fresh food that I grew is priceless. The word
is spreading about food issues and our collective health,
be part of the growing revolution, and grow your own
too. 3
I honestly love my garden, and can’t imagine
life without it
76
BY MARISA KAY RICHTER
everyday, three times a day, you need a farmer
The Government,
I recently ran across this quote, and I found it very
thought-provoking.
“My grandfather used to say that once in your life you
need a doctor, a lawyer, a politician, and a preacher,
but everyday, three times a day, you need a farmer.”
-- Brenda Schoepp
Now I’ve certainly needed a doctor and a lawyer on
more than one occasion in my life, but true enough,
only once did I ever require assistance from a
preacher after vacationing in the darker parts of New
Orleans, where upon curiosity had gotten the better
of me, and I consequently required an exorcism. Hey,
it could happen to anybody right?
GARDENCULTURE.NET 77
When did we stop caring where our food comes from?
FOOD POLITICS I GARDEN CULTURE
small family farms sink
beneath the waves of new
legislation
It was that farmer that really got me thinking. When did we
have the paradigm shift from relying on small local farms and
ourselves to feed the community to depending upon brands
like Kellogg’s and Chef Boyardee to fulfill our nutritional
needs? When did we stop caring where our food comes from,
or what’s in it, and start trusting organizations like the FDA,
CFIA, and the HPFB implicitly with our health and safety?
The long-standing North American tradition of family farms is
rapidly disappearing. Food prices have sharply risen, but sadly
farmers’ salaries have only shrunk in recent years, and this is
partly because the government sometimes sets what price the
farmers fetch for their products. Taxes
and cost to produce are now so high
that small-scale farmers say they just
aren’t able to turn a reasonable profit
anymore. Most urge their children to
do something else with their lives in the
pursuit of a brighter future.
As these small family farms sink
beneath the waves of new legislation,
the government stands to take advantage of the newly created
investment opportunity in distressed farm real estate. Similar
scenarios are playing out in South Africa with some referring
to it all as an epic land grab.
The U.N.’s Agenda 21 policies signed by George H.W.
Bush in the 1970s became official in 1992 at the Earth
Summit conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ‘Sustainable
Development’ only sounds like a positive thing, until you start
looking at the companies pushing it, and actually take the time
to READ it. The major backers and contributors credits is a
Who’s Who list of international mega corporations; Deutsche
Bank, DuPont, Monsanto, Coca-Cola, Shell, Dow Chemical,
PepsiCo, and a host of other companies.
Agenda 21 outlines the control of all land, water, minerals,
construction, plants, animals, energy, information, and
production delivering it into the hands of an elite group of
people who have a far better understanding of how to manage
such projects than you, me, or the current owners of those
things. What could go wrong?
Bush later retracted his signature, relieving the US of the
obligations, but the bill was continued by Clinton, and it’s
referred to as “soft law” - meaning it wasn’t voted on by
Congress. More international law than domestic, the agenda’s
status is rapidly changing. ICLET, an agency that few have even
heard of, handled implementation of Agenda 21.
Some of these current soft-laws-gone-hard are making it very
difficult for small farms. New child labor laws proposed by
the Department Of Labor make it
harder for families to compete with
factory farms backed by the biotech
industry. Many farming communities
claim that this is intentional.
In the past, family farming was well, a
family affair from young to old. Now
children growing up on the farm
are greatly restricted on how many
hours they can work, as well as what jobs they can perform,
including driving a tractor or running equipment - all of which
farm kids have used for generations.
The DOT has also recently made a move to turn all farming
equipment into commercial motor vehicles, which require a
$124 commercial operator’s license equivalent to the driver of
a Mack truck. Additionally, they will need to invest thousands
of dollars in safety courses - just to drive a tractor on your own
land! Naturally, stricter regulations equal more limitations on
earning power, and adds new taxation. The barrier to entry
continues to grow.
Shortly after the arrival of Agenda 21, new bills surfaced
threatening the old ways of family farming, while solidifying
the new policies and ways of factory farming. Most of them
introduced under the guise of safety, because it’s hard to argue
that safety is not a good thing.
The Government,
Acronym IdentificationFDA: US Food & Drug AdministrationCFIA: Canadian Food Inspection AgencyHPFB: Canada Health Products & Food BranchICLET: International Council of Local Environmental InitiativesDOT: US Department of TransportationFSMA: US FDA Food Safety Modernization ActHFCS: High Fructose Corn Syrup
GARDENCULTURE.NET 79
FOOD POLITICS I GARDEN CULTURE
Stop helping them succeed
More overtly sinister is the Farmer Assurance Provision,
section 375, of the U.S. HR 933 Bill passed in 2013 (a.k.a.
The Monsanto Protection Act). It was controversial and
widely unpopular running for only a short 6 months against
strong opposition from numerous food activist groups. But
it provided some much-needed coverage to companies
like Monsanto that were getting pounded with lawsuits for
releasing GMOs without proper research of long-term effects
on the environment and human health, allowing them to
continue developing, selling, and planting their creations.
Next, Senate Bill S510 was so
controversial that despite it passing
unanimously, was rapidly dismantled
after the fact for various reasons.
Eventually it was re-written as the
Food Safety Modernization Act, and
passed into law by President Obama
in 2012. It will be the final piece
needed to complete the goals of
Agenda 21, and it’s already starting to
go into effect. It gives more power to
the FDA, Department of Homeland
Security, and factory farms - while it
buries small non-corporate farms in
new taxes, penalties, and regulations.
Some of the more scary bits included in S510, which have
transferred over to the FSMA , is the slaughter of livestock
without proof of disease. As in senseless herd destruction.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet much of the current
civil unrest revolves around rice in Thailand. In the past, the
Thais set the standard for high quality rice as the leading
exporters in the world. Thai Jasmine rice, once coveted as
the best one could buy for its aromatic flavor, has now been
downgraded to buyer beware status. So what happened?
The government came up with the strategy to buy all rice
from the farmers, keeping them out of the merchant end
of the business, thus allowing farmers to focus on growing
the worlds finest rice. Sound good? It always does, or they
wouldn’t get away with it, but it’s known as “The Rice Buying
Scheme” now. They stockpiled the rice in warehouses where
most of it still sits rotting today. Why? The price wasn’t high
enough. Farmers haven’t been paid, and the situation may yet
lead to open revolution.
Whenever the government gets involved in picking winners
and losers in the marketplace, the market collapses, time and
time again.
With so much government intervention and new safety rules,
shouldn’t our food be getting better, be healthier, and the jobs
of farmers easier, and more productive? It certainly seems like
we would see this result, but unfortunately things are quite
the opposite.
So how do we fight back? First and foremost, grow as much
of your own food as you can. Secondly,
change your buying habits.
Your money and buying patterns are
powerful, never forget that. You can
starve the beast. Whenever possible
support local farms and farmers
markets, but more importantly, stop
supporting the mega corporations
known for synthetic food pedaling.
Forget about fat, calories, and sugar.
Focus on eliminating GMOs, HFCS,
synthetic sweeteners, synthetic
hormones, and pesticides from your diet.
These possibly pose a far larger threat to
human health than just being overweight.
Stop counting calories, and start counting chemicals.
Don’t be fooled by food labeled “All Natural” - you still need
to inspect the ingredients. GMO’s can still be in there. The
FDA considers them as being all natural.
Remember that mega corporations like McDonald’s and
Monsanto use prison labor, and receive government subsidies
and bailouts. So no matter how big a hurry you are in, no
matter how hungry you are, don’t buy it! Learn which
companies donated millions to fight against your right to know
what’s in your food through new labeling laws in America.
Some seem to think that organic is a new concept, it’s not.
Everyone ate organic before the end of World War II.
Organic isn’t about getting something more, it’s about getting
something less. Less synthetics and chemicals. Less newfangled
farming technologies that the multinational biotech industry
has to offer you.
Stop helping them succeed. Help yourself to real food instead. 3
grow as much of your own food as you can
2 T h i n g s M o n e y C a n ’ t B u y1) True Love
2) Homegrown Tomatoes
Green SauceNot just for enchiladas! A variety of cuisines around the
world have a traditional Green Sauce, but only Mexico’s
Salsa Verde doesn’t contain parsley, and is based on a
fruit. Everywhere else the condiment focuses on herbs
with parsley playing a starring role.
In Italy green sauce is also called Salsa Verde, in France
they call it Sauce Verde, in Germany it’s Grube Soße or
Grie Soß, and in Argentina they refer to it as Chimicurri.
Brain FoodYour brain requires about 20% of the oxygen you take in,
and the calories you consume to function, yet it makes up
only 2% of your entire body.
Best foods to boost brain power like function and memory?
Blueberries, pomegranate, avocados,
freshly brewed tea, wild fish,
nuts and seeds, beans,
whole grains, and dark
chocolate.
SHORTIES I GARDEN CULTURE
The worst thing to do to fresh fruits and vegetables is
boiling them in water. You might as well eat the canned
version from the store, because you’ve lost all the
good stuff - including flavor.
They say that stir-frying preserves phytochemicals and
nutrients, but unless you’re using peanut oil you are
still destroying most of the important vitamins and
phytos. Steaming is the only way to cook fresh pro-
duce, and preserve as much of these vital healthy as-
pects as possible.
What about the microwave? That depends. Are you
boiling the food or steaming it? The same thing hap-
pens here as on the stove. The studies that report
that microwave cooking destroys all the phytonutri-
ents and vitamins are actually boiling the food in a
lot of water. This isn’t necessary. Anything that con-
tains moisture and covered tightly in the microwave
steams. Don’t use plastic wrap. Don’t use anything
vented as a ‘lid’. Cover the bowl with wax paper held
in place with a rubber band, or buy a glass or hard
plastic dome. Add a little butter or 1-2 teaspoons of
water to keep moisture levels good during cooking.
You could also invest in a microwave steamer. (web-
md.com/food-recipes/features/get-your-microwave-
cooking)
Naturally, sous vide cooking beats all of the above in
preserving phytos and all other water-soluble nutri-
ents. If you don’t have one, use the best options from
above.
PH-80 COM-80
B e s t F r e s h C o o k i n g M e t h o d ?
D
u
h
!
E
=
M
C
2
Plants Are Math ExpertsNot simple stuff like addition
and subtraction. We’re talking complicated
equations - tricky formulas they can adjust at
a moment’s notice. Plants use stored starches
from daylight hours throughout the night to
grow. However, they never run short and until very re-
cently it was unknown how they made this happen.
Plants can measure the amount of stored food in their cells
and actually ration it out over the hours between sunset and
dawn. They figure out the rate of consuming the rations by
complex division. Every morning at dawn only about 5% of
stored starches remain unconsumed.
Researchers have studied this. They made nights longer and
shorter trying to trip them up. The plants still made sure they
didn’t run out. Lights were even turned on in the middle of the
night. Plants just adjust their rate of processing stored food
instantly to match the new situation.
Plants Are SocialThis isn’t some far out fringe idea. Plants have a secret
social life. Research not only shows that plants com-
municate with each other, but they have a high vocabulary of
various signals. They respond to
the messages and meet the situ-
ation by changing their behavior
to fit whatever is going on.
What are they telling each oth-
er? They send out alerts about
bad bugs or disease moving in,
changes in the environment, and
more. They report discomfort
and pain, communicate condi-
tions both above and below
ground, and combat competing neighbors in a unified effort.
How do they talk among themselves? Chemicals, physical
contact, and light emissions, or altered wavelength reflection.
Makes you wonder if there are concerns about the noise level
in a meadow, and if plants have a sense of humor.
sources:www.bit.ly/plant-math www.bit.ly/plants-talkwww.bit.ly/plant-convoswww.bit.ly/weather-controls
No Plant Is An Island They prefer company. Plants perform better in
groups than alone. They also recognize family. Some,
like strawberries, maintain really
close ties being connected to each
other with shared roots or runners.
They have found that this family thing
extends to more distant relations
like cousins. It’s all about survival.
Plants share food and water resourc-
es. They help each other deal with
enemies,and other dangers.
Amazing Plant Facts
4
Hey,
you
look
sw
eeeet!
1
2
4
3W
an
na
ha
ng
ou
t?
Grrr... gimme some space!!!
The War on WeedsWhy do weeds work over-
time to choke out your garden? Your imported
interlopers are hogging the
natural resources. Plant
families don’t mind sharing
with siblings and cousins,
but your tomatoes and
begonias? They’re illegal
immigrants. The natives
are in hostile mode. It’s
war alright, and you
started it. 3
PLANT FACTS I GARDEN CULTURE
GARDENCULTURE.NET 83
POTTING SOIL I GARDEN CULTURE
human influence, not bad luck. I would argue that much of the
art of gardening is discovering how to employ humanity as an
integral part of the growing process, and at the same time get
us out-of-the-way. This is the art of making soil.
The soil has physical, mineral, biological, and energetic
capacities that need balance. Physical balance tends to come
with attention to the other three, but is generally addressed in
potting soils by using amendments like perlite or rice hulls for
drainage, and peat moss or coir fiber
for water retention. You may need
to add these materials back to soil
mixes over time due to loss.
The merits of inoculating as much
microbial diversity as you can muster accounts for biological
balance. In other words, as long as you are introducing proper
diversity, microbes self-organize. Seek out a mother of as many
natural or farm-based sources as possible for your mix and
deliver them consistently to your soil over time. Like workers
on a construction site, they need fresh materials to continue
building. The consistency is much more important than the
concentration.
Energy defines life. May sound hokey, but it is 100% true. The
While there are good arguments for using fresh soil, the
purpose of this article is to communicate some ideas and
methods for reusing your potting soil. Growers do it all the
time, and with great success.
Look at it this way…Mother Nature doesn’t start over, why
should you?
What it takes to properly reuse potting soil is good physical
structure, proper biological diversity, mineral balance through
soil testing, and consistent methods.
We have been helping people reuse
their potting soil for years, and while
it is not as simple as removing the
roots and replanting, it is well worth
the time, and money saved. You also get the satisfaction gained
from using your resources more sustainably.
There is a sweet spot in the soil where life thrives. The
forest grows trees with no fertilizer, because the soil in the
forest is naturally balanced, mature, and organized. I’m not
suggesting that we expect to grow trees in our gardens, but
I am suggesting we consider how to perceive the metrics, and
harness the abilities of the life forms that allow this to happen.
Much of what we experience as failure in the garden is due to
If you are a serious grower, you have easily invested thousands of dollars in potting soils over the years. Even
worse, you have probably thrown thousands of dollars of potting soil in the garbage.
On its face, throwing soil away after one use doesn’t make much sense. But to a grower focused on expediency, and
not wanting to put determined effort into a garden only to end up with hidden issues, or potential contamination
from a previous grow, using new soil is a powerful convenience.
BY EVAN FOLDS
T H E R E A R E G O O D A R G U M E N T S F O R
U S I N G F R E S H S O I L
REUSINGYOUR
POTTING SOIL
GARDENCULTURE.NET 85
POTTING SOIL I GARDEN CULTURE
M O T H E R N A T U R E D O E S N ’ T S T A R T
O V E R , W H Y S H O U L D YO U ? ”
T H R O W I N G S O I L A W AY A F T E R O N E
U S E D O E S N ’ T M A K E M U C H S E N S E
SATISFACTION GAINED FROM USING YOUR RESOURCES
MORE SUSTAINABLY
GARDENCULTURE.NET 87
more intention we pay towards this reality, the greater the
result. The living system’s capacity to produce and thrive off
of subtle energies is innate in the life force itself, but can also
be encouraged through concepts
such as potentization and resonance
using techniques like vortexing,
paramagnetism, frequency farming,
implosion, and others.
We can expand upon energetic
balance in future articles, but mineral balance takes center
stage when a grower is considering reusing their potting soil.
First, I use the term mineral loosely, as a way of capturing all
the possible forms of elemental nutrition. Materials such as
seawater, clay, rock dust, etc. have value beyond recognition
of essential nutrition, because they contain broad spectrum
minerals, and they are also balanced.
Life can simply receive the elements it needs in order to thrive
when all elements are present in the first place, and when
they are in balance. Even when elements are not identified as
essential for plants to grow, they could be vital for microbial
process, or in order to make the elements required by plants
more available.
Why would Mother Nature create an element not needed in
the garden?
So the strength of the system, and your success in re-using
your potting soil, is reliant on the diversity and balance of
microbes and minerals. For the sake of agriculture it is not
possible to measure all Earth-bound elements, any more than
it is feasible to measure all soil microbes, so soil testing as a lab-
based process is typically limited to essential elements.
My company performs custom
soil testing for growers, farmers,
and landscapers all over the US.
We have developed a system of
soil testing that not only generates
complete raw data for all essential
agricultural elements, but that provides custom instructions on
what materials and products to add in order to account for
deficiencies.
We’ve done testing on many premium bagged organic potting
soils, and most stack up nicely in regards to proper mineral
balance. What we also know is that if we try to grow in this soil
over and over without using diverse microbes and refortifying
mineral balance things fall apart.
No matter who you end up working with for your soil testing,
it is essential that you seek out a private lab, or some outlet
other than what you find at most State Extension services.
Here’s why.
The pioneer of mineral balance and the sweet spot of soil
was Dr. William Albrecht. He believed that animals, including
humans, provide biochemical photographs of the soils in which
their foods are grown.
Dr. Albrecht geared his research towards documenting the
connection between empty soils and empty people, and he
POTTING SOIL I GARDEN CULTURE
There is a sweet spot in
the soil where life thrives
T H E C E C N U M B E R R E P R E S E N T S T H E
P OT E N T I A L R E S E R V O I R O F T H E S O I L TO R E TA I N C AT I O N
N U T R I T I O N
investigated and defined a specific range of positively
charged elements, or cations, that soil can hold that has
become known as the cation exchange capacity, or CEC.
Overall, soil is negatively charged, the more complex and
biologically active the soil, the greater number of negative
binding sites are available to hold positively
charged elements. And opposites
attract.
The CEC number represents
the potential reservoir of
the soil to retain cation
nutrition for growing
plants. A low CEC is the
basis for fertilizing and
irrigating, because if it was
high enough the soil would
be able to hold everything
that it needs to eat and
drink within natural
conditions.
Most soil tests we take in
residential landscapes will
have 1-2% organic matter
with a CEC of 5-15. This is
a sign of extremely immature
soil. Bagged organic potting
soil typically shows an organic matter content of 15-20%
with a CEC of 15-20. The CEC is lower even in bagged
potting soils due to a lack of biological activity and diversity,
which you can increase using compost and compost
tea, along with humic material such as worm castings or
concentrated humic acids.
The following data comes from Dr. Albrecht’s work, and
our observations over the last decade of testing soil and
documenting results. This is not a complete list of essential
elements, it represents the cations that are held within the
soil’s CEC. The information presented here is what we
consider as ideal:
• Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) = 25-30
• pH = 6.1 – 6.5
• Organic Matter = < 4%
• Calcium (Ca+) = 60-70%
• Magnesium (Mg+) = 10-20%
• Potassium (K+) = 2-5%
• Sodium (Na+) = 0.5-3%
• Hydrogen (H+) = 10-15%
• Other Bases = Variable
This data is presented in ranges, because it is never a
matter of hitting a mark when testing soil. Soil is a dynamic
substance that will never be the same. All we can do is use
the data while observing local conditions, and the results of
plants to establish where within this acceptable
range is better. Growing plants can always
get better.
The State Extension service is going to
look for some of this data, but not all of
it. They’re approach is very pH driven, as
conventional agriculture is not motivated
by mineral balance. They put too much
focus on the amount of lime needed to
raise the pH on paper, for instance, as
opposed to investigating the deficiencies
of elements, and accounting for them
through observing crop growth.
Positively charged hydrogen ions (H+)
being present defines the pH of a
substance. The reason soil becomes
acidic is because it is demineralized and
all the other positive elements are no
longer present, not because someone
poured acid on it. We tend to think of
pH in terms of some concrete thing, instead of a metric of
the energetic representation of available elements.
For example, lime is calcium. Calcium is a cation, so when
used in the soil it replaces hydrogen in the CEC, which
makes the pH go up. What happens if you have a potassium
deficiency?
As Dr. Albrecht identified, “plants are not sensitive to, or
limited by, a particular pH value of the soil.” In other words,
it is possible to have a perfect pH, and have your minerals
entirely out of balance and, therefore, not be addressing
your deficiencies.
The pH should really be an afterthought to the soil health
conversation, a value that communicates the success
of balancing the minerals in your soil, not the other way
around. The takeaway is that if you have all of your minerals
balanced properly the pH is always within range.
The name of the game when reusing your potting soil is
to trust in the microbes’ ability to construct a dynamic
neighborhood for growing plants, but verify that you are
bringing the right building materials to the job site through
soil testing. Then listening to your plants to get it right. 3 88
90
BY THEO TEKSTRA – MARKETING MANAGER GAVITA HOLLAND BV
HPS: THE MOST EFFICIENT HIGH OUTPUT SOURCE OF PHOTONS AVAILABLE
SUPPLEMENTAL LIGHTING:
SUPPLEMENTAL LIGHTING:
WHAT EVERY GROWER SHOULD KNOW
Urban legends don’t grow a good crop. It is the skills of the cultivator, using the best
possible technology. Now, I cannot teach you growing skills in a short article, but I
can surely bring you up to speed about the latest in lighting technology.
SUPPLEMENTAL LIGHTING I GARDEN CULTURE
GARDENCULTURE.NET 91
A greenhouse with supplemental lighting
In a greenhouse the primary source of light is the sun. It
provides the right light quality for a healthy crop. When
the light levels drop, we supplement the light. This takes
a lot of energy, so greenhouse growers use the most
efficient lighting available to add this. As the sun provides
already more than enough quality light, the question is:
what light spectrum should we add?
This is where High Pressure Sodium lamps come in.
It is the most efficient high output source of photons
available. It is not the same spectrum as sunlight though,
but there is more than enough of that in a greenhouse
to not negatively influence the plant quality. In the near
future we will see other technologies, such as LED,
become more popular in the greenhouses, but for now
this technology is mostly used on vegetative greens like
lettuce or microgreens, or by combining them with HPS.
LED is still 6-8 times more expensive for the same light
levels as HPS.
HPS spectrum
PhotosynthesisFor the sake of a short article I will keep this very simple:
Plants need light for photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis is what makes plants grow. Plants have
developed under sunlight for millions of years, and are
optimally equipped to use every aspect of that light to
their advantage. That is part of the natural evolution
process. So, obviously plants do well under sunlight.
Photosynthesis is driven by photons, and specifically
all the photons that are in the spectrum between
deep blue and far red. This is what we call PAR light
(Photosynthetic Active Radiation). It is all the colors
between 400 and 700 nm in the light spectrum (and a bit
beyond that even). But there are many more processes
in a plant that require different colors of light: Many also
influence the shape of the plant and the efficiency of the
plant so all colors are in some way important to grow a
healthy plant.
The solar spectrum. PAR light between 400 and 700 nm
Quality and QuantityNature is often really hard on plants: storms, rain,
insects, fungi, and diseases are always threats for plants.
So bringing plants into a safe environment, such as a
greenhouse, can optimize the growing circumstances
for a plant as in climate, light, and external influences.
Even when the sun is blocked by the clouds, or when
the temperature is low and the sun is weak in the winter,
we can make sure that plants get everything they need
for healthy development. This is how we can produce all
year round.
YOU CANNOT GROW EVERY PLANT SUCCESSFULLY JUST UNDER HPS
the HPS. For a quality plant though you will need to add a
better spectrum. This is where supplemental light sources
come in. Adding more blue (and other colors) to the HPS
can really enhance the shape and quality of your plants.
Even adding 5-10% of blue to the reddish spectrum of HPS
makes your plant much more efficient, and enhances its
health and quality.
Supplemental Light Sources
There are many sources of blue light, for example blue
LED, Metal Halide lamps, and Plasma lights. Now we have
seen that there is more than just blue and red light needed
for a healthy plant, so we also need to look at the spectrum
added by different light sources.
These are the pros and cons of the different supplemental
light sources:
Metal HalidePros:
• Lots of blue light in many types.
• Better spectrum for plant growth than HPS, a far
broader spectrum.
Cons:
• Not as efficient producing photons as HPS (40-60%
less efficient).
• Very fast depreciation, so you will need to change
them very often (more than 25-30% depreciation per
year, against only 4% for HPS).
• Bad color stability (the spectrum changes over time).
• 99% is only suitable for closed, protected reflectors
with a glass shield (MH lamps that break emit very
high, and very dangerous amounts of UVC).
Metal Halide spectrum (source: Philips)
So for quality, greenhouse growers use the sun. For extra
quantity (yield) they use HPS light (and in some cases LED
light but that is worthy of an entire new article). This is to
produce more photons to maintain photosynthesis.
In a climate room things are different: we have no sunlight, and have to produce all the light ourselves.
HPS is in many ways a great solution:
• Horticultural HPS lamps are the most efficient light
source for their spectrum.
• They are available in very high wattage, so you need
few of them.
• They are a very concentrated light source, so you can
spread it evenly using reflectors and bring it deep into
the crop.
• HPS is at the peak of its development cycle, so
extremely efficient and relatively cheap.
But there are also disadvantages to HPS:
• The spectrum is limited. There are very high levels
of yellow, orange and red, but it lacks specifically the
blue and the green. Yes, green is also an important
color!
• They produce a lot of infrared radiation
As for the spectrum... You cannot grow every plant
successfully just under HPS, but some plants actually do
very well under HPS. It is not ideal, but over the last decade
you have seen that growers are very successful using HPS
in production rooms. Now, heat is a different discussion.
The sun also produces about 50% of infrared, and in plants
it causes transpiration, and keeps the “juices” flowing
from the roots to the leaves, which enables a healthy sap
stream in the plant. Plants do need that heat as well, so in
some way it is a blessing. Even the UVA and UVB in sunlight
have a great effect on plants. It promotes flavonoids,
terpenes, and trichomes in many crops.
Now let’s look at an indoor facility. You lack the quality light
of the sun completely, having only the limited spectrum of
FOR A QUALITY PLANT THOUGH YOU WILL NEED TO ADD A BETTER SPECTRUM
92
Plasma spectrum (full spectrum version)
The ideal supplemental light should add all the colors that
HPS lacks in sufficient quantity, including UVA and UVB.
I should note though that adding quality light at lower
intensities than HPS creates dramatic quality improvement.
It should not add any more heat to the crop, HPS already
takes care of that. It should have a long life, and need no,
or very few expensive lamp changes.
Plasma lamp with supplemental spectrum for HPS (all the
colors that HPS lacks)
So if you look at all the pros and cons, and if you want to add
quality light to HPS in indoor facilities, you automatically
come to LED and plasma lights as the best choices. The only
question you now need to answer is: which one will give
you the best quality, and the best return on investment?
LED is cheaper than plasma, and has a better efficiency.
However, LED lacks UVA and UVB in its spectrum, and it
is hard to create an efficient, full continuous supplemental
spectrum. Producing green light with LED is not efficient.
LEDS ONLY EMIT LIGHT IN A VERY NARROW BANDWIDTH
LEDPros:
• Blue LEDs are relatively efficient compared to MH
and have a good light maintenance
• LEDs do not emit a lot of heat to the plant (but in
total they do add the same amount of heat to a room).
• Very long life.
Cons:
• LEDS only emit light in a very narrow bandwidth.
To create a good spectrum you need many different
colors, or white LEDs which are not as efficient.
Green LEDs are the worst in efficiency, but you do
need green light too.
• LEDs are expensive compared to HPS and MH (up to
10 times the price).
• LEDs are not good in generating UV. UV LEDs exist,
but are very expensive, and/or have a short life.
Many manufacturers refer to 380 nm LEDs as UV,
specifically in aquatics applications, but that is just
limited long wave UVA and visible light.
Typical LED red/blue spectrum for supplemental greenhouse
lighting (Source: Illumitex)
Plasma LightPros:
• Very high quality spectrum, including UVA and UVB
• Good color stability over time.
• Available as a full supplemental spectrum to HPS (so
mostly all the colors that HPS lacks).
• Very long life (30,000 – 50,000 hours, depending on
used spectrum 6-10 years flowering!)
• Very low infrared heat emitted to the plants, though
the electronics and emitter add heat to the room.
Cons:
• Relatively inefficient (about the same as Metal Halide).
• Higher investment cost (though relatively cheap over time
compared to MH as you never have to change the lamp).
• More expensive than LED.
SUPPLEMENTAL LIGHTING I GARDEN CULTURE
GARDENCULTURE.NET 93
SUPPLEMENTAL LIGHTING I GARDEN CULTURE
SUPPLEMENTAL LIGHTING I GARDEN CULTURE
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Commercial Plasma light fixture (Gavita Pro 270e LEP)
Plasma light is more expensive than LED and is less efficient
in producing light. However, the spectrum is far superior
over LED, it is much more intense than LED, providing
extremely good penetration into the crop. It is also much
easier to spread over the crop.
Many growers have reported that the action spectrum of
medical plants grown with supplemental plasma light is
far better than when only grown under HPS. The plant
quality and health is a lot better, which makes it less prone
to diseases and fungi, such as powdery mildew. The full
spectrum of the light in a vegetative stage influences the
shape of the plant, creating more branches, bringing it into
a much better shape for faster, improved flowering, as well
as reducing the vegetative period. Even the rooting under
plasma light is much faster.
Now when you grow tomatoes at 50 cents per kilo it
will take a long time to get return on investment for less
efficient light that improves the crop quality. But when you
grow a high value medical crop the lamp pays for itself
in less than two 9 week crop cycles - even only based
on the yield of the less efficient light, not taking quality
enhancements into account.
So there you have it in a nutshell. Using the most efficient
horticultural HPS technology combined with the best
supplemental lighting will give you the best quality, and a lot
fewer headaches over diseases and fungal infestations. LED
and Plasma lights are not cheap, but they are an investment
in quality. Combining of the relatively inexpensive HPS
technology for quantity, combined with a more expensive
supplemental light, will give you the best of both worlds.3
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Highest Population On The PlanetWhere is this, you might wonder. What over-crowd-
ed urban location? Not even. It’s about population,
not space per capita. There are more chickens on
Earth than there are people, and most of them live
in quarters far more cramped than the most spatially
challenged home. Living in the tiniest mud hut would
be considered plenty of elbow room to the average
21st century chick.
FARMAGGEDON: The True Cost of Cheap MeatIf you eat, this matters. It’s not about going
vegetarian, or even organic. It’s not just the
US mega farm issues. It’s not just about the
horse meat scandal in the UK. This is about
global farming, and a shocking look at just
what a mess the world’s food supply system has become.
“IT’S TIME TO UNSCREW OUR FOOD... If we don’t, we face
Farmaggedon. “
Written by Philip Lymbery, who having become steadily horrified at
modern factory farming as it evolved, has traveled the world looking
into just what goes on in commercial farming everywhere. What he has
found is a real eye opener, and while it’s destroying the environment,
factory farming is causing suffering for both humans and animals, and
increasing poverty and disease.
A good read that’s getting great reviews everywhere. Available from
Amazon.
H o t O f f T h e P r e s s
SHORTIES I GARDEN CULTURE
BALLAST
“IT’S THE BALLAST’S JOB TO MAINTAIN A STABLE OPERATING POINT”
MAGNETIC VS. ELECTRONIC PROS&CONS
Almost every grow room has a pile of ballasts driving a bunch of lights.
There’s a lot of confusion among growers about ballasts. How do they
work? What are they for? What kind is best? Let’s take a look...
98
BY GREG RICHTER
Magnetic ballasts use a capacitor to move the current and
voltage closer to being in-phase, but the net result is that with
the power factor being quite a bit less than 1. The resistance
of all that wire and the magnetic losses in the core, a mag-
netic ballast’s efficiency is going to be around 85% or so. That
means it’ll take 1170 Watts of power to light a 1000W bulb,
with the extra 170 Watts just heating up the room. Not ex-
actly what we want, but easy to build and inexpensive to buy.
The good news is the only thing that ever really goes
bad on a magnetic ballast is the capacitor, which can
usually be fixed at the store where you bought it.
Electronic BallastsElectronic ballasts have four big advantages over core and
coil ballasts:
1. Variable operating point – Elec-
tronic ballasts can compensate for aging
bulbs so that you get the same light output
even as the lamps age.
2. Efficiency – Core and coil
ballasts gobble up 1100-1200 Watts to run
a 1000 Watt bulb where a good quality
electronic ballast will only need 1050-1100
Watts.
3. Bulbs live longer – Electronic ballasts can adaptive-
ly maintain output power levels to keep bulbs brighter
for a longer period of time. You change bulbs less often.
4. Dimming – Electronic ballasts can be dimmed, and
some advanced designs can also drive multiple bulb
types and power ratings (400 / 600 / 1000).
Electronic ballasts are also:
• Smaller and lighter
• Able to restrike a hot bulb sooner
• Lower in perceived lamp flicker
• Can be quieter and produce less acoustic noise
As prices on power semiconductors came down in the 1990s,
engineers started pushing forward with Switched Mode Pow-
er Supplies (SMPS) since a switching supply running at high
frequency requires smaller transformers and inductors (the
expensive parts) than an SMPS running at a lower frequency.
Designs for HID ballasts have steadily improved and elec-
tronic ballasts are now a practical and accepted solution for
running HID lights. A good electronic ballast has a Power
Factor > 0.98, almost perfect, and runs at better than 90%
What IS a Ballast?Grow lights are usually High Intensity Discharge (HID)
bulbs which take a little work to get running. Whether the
bulb is a metal halide used for vegetative growth or an HPS
(High Pressure Sodium) bulb used for flowering, they all re-
quire a very high voltage to ionize the material in the bulb to
get it glowing and conducting electricity. This Strike Voltage
can run as high as 4000 volts, and is only on for a few sec-
onds or tens of seconds, just enough to get the gasses in the
bulb glowing and conductive enough for the bulb to light.
Once the arc strikes, the bulb needs to be current-limited
as it warms up, and finally held at a stable operating point
when it’s good and hot. It’s the ballast’s job to strike the
arc, limit current during warm-up, and maintain a stable
operating point once we’re up and running. Kind of like a
tightrope walker with a balance pole – it’s
the ballast’s job to maintain a stable oper-
ating point for a naturally unstable arc light.
Core & CoilIron core inductors are a simple and cheap
way to make some of these things happen. If
you wire an inductor in series with your HID
bulb two things happen: First, the inductor
charges up when current flows through it, and dumps all
that energy when the current stops. You can get a pretty
good-sized spark this way, and it’s the same technique we
use to fire spark plugs in a car. Since the AC power line cy-
cles 50-60 times per second, the inductor can provide us the
needed high voltage for starting the arc.
Since an inductor resists changes in cur-
rent, it can also act as a current limiter
and, if you choose your parts wisely, it
can set the final operating point of the
bulb. Not bad for a steel core wound with a mile of wire!
The bad news is that current and voltage move close to
90 degrees out of phase with each other across an induc-
tor. Power is voltage multiplied by current, and if they are
out of phase you don’t get the use of all that power you’re
paying for at the meter. Electrical engineers report this out-
of-phase condition as Power Factor, with 1.0 being perfect.
You can think of Power Factor as the percentage of power
you pay for that doesn’t get used by the light – a PF of 0.85
means 15% of the power you buy doesn’t do any work.
“A MAGNETIC BALLAST’S
EFFICIENCY IS GOING TO BE AROUND
85%...”
BALLAST I GARDEN CULTURE
GARDENCULTURE.NET 99
101 gardenculture.net
efficiency. Some advanced designs are now pushing 97% effi-
ciency, at power factors approaching 0.995! There’s a world of
difference between magnetic and electronic ballasts, and quite
a difference between brands of electronic ballasts as well.
FansOne question I see a lot on the forums and hear in hydro
stores is about fans. Is it better to have a fan on the ballast or
not? Heat is the ending of all electronic devices and you can
count on halving the life of a given device for every 18°F rise in
temperature. So, a fan is good, right? Well, sometimes... Fans
on electronics are like turbochargers on cars – if you can run
without it, the machine will live longer.
If the ballast runs cool without the fan, a little forced-air cool-
ing will make it live longer. If a ballast NEEDS a fan to keep
from melting, that’s not so good. Fans suck in dirt as well as
air, and dirt makes things break. Put your hand on the ballast at
full power. If it is warm to the touch and has a small fan, that’s
fine. If it’s hot to the touch, or has big fans and is still hot, that’s
not what we want. If it needs a fan to stay alive, it’ll die when
the fan does.
Cooler is always better for the life of the equipment, and
for your power bill. Remember, you’re paying TWICE for
all that heat: once to heat up the ballast, and again to have
your air conditioning remove the heat from the room.
Electrical NoiseAcoustic noise is easy to check just by listening, but electrical
noise is the kind that makes pH and TDS meters read wrong.
It also alerts anyone with a radio that there’s a room full of
lights and ballasts next door. When the local WiFi has prob-
lems precisely 12 hours on and 12 hours off, it doesn’t take an
electronic engineer to sniff out the cause!
“ELECTRONIC BALLASTS CAN BE DIMMED...”
A simple and easy test is to take a hand-held AM radio and
tune it between stations so you just hear static. Turn the
lights on and tune up and down the band – do you hear
your ballasts blasting away? Most of them do, and it’s an
easy check to make before purchasing a ballast. Quieter is
better because if your ballast doesn’t interfere with your
neighbor’s radio, cellphone or computer he’s less likely to
give you a hard time about your garden.
Electromagnetic interference (EMI) can come from ballast
itself as radiation, from the lamp cord or from the power
wiring. Every wire is an antenna at some frequency, and
the longer your lamp wiring is, the more likely you’re go-
ing to hit the antenna jackpot. For lamp wiring, shorter
is better.
Conducted EMI coming down the power line is more likely
to cause problems with computers than radios, but there’s
not much a grower can do about it without redesigning
the ballast. In our own EMI testing we found that all the
electronic ballasts were noisy on the lamp wiring but the
worst offenders were the ones that had conducted EMI
(power line) issues.
NotesMagnetic ballasts are heavy, inexpensive and less efficient
than electronic ballasts. Electronic ballasts beat magnetics
in all areas of performance, but poorly designed units can
make enough electrical (RF) noise to cause instrumenta-
tion issues for the grower and radio interference issues for
his neighbors. A quick radio check can save a lot of trouble
in telling a good one from a bad one, as can simply putting
your hand on the ballast to see how cool it runs. You don’t
need expensive instruments to check your ballast – just a
cheap radio and your five senses. 3
“ELECTRONIC BALLASTS CAN COMPENSATE FOR AGING BULBS...”
“CORE AND COIL BALLASTS
GOBBLE... WATTS”
“IF A BALLAST NEEDS
A FAN TO KEEP
FROM MELTING, THAT’S
NOT SO GOOD.”
“A GOOD ELECTRONIC BALLAST HAS A POWER FACTOR > 0.98...”
BALLAST I GARDEN CULTURE
GARDENCULTURE.NET 101
As long as you have the right tools and supplies...
On A Budget
BY KYLE L. LADENBURGER
GARDENCULTURE.NET 103
BUDGET GARDENING I GARDEN CULTURE
FOOD WE GROW FOR OURSELVES IS FRESHER
As gardeners, we grow our own food at home for multiple reasons. It gives us a certain piece of
mind knowing exactly what inputs go into cultivating your food crops, and the bottom line is that
the food we grow for ourselves is fresher, and likely more delicious than the grocery store equi-
valent. But, there are often other reasons that one decides to venture into the realm of at home
cultivation. A large source of encouragement for the modern gardener is the increasingly high price
of fresh foods, and the strain it can have on the normal family budget.
Starting
When executed properly, the act
of gardening lets us take personal
nutrition into our own hands in a
budget-friendly way, and one of the
things we can do to save even more money is to start our
own garden plants from seed before the season begins.
This is a relatively easy thing to accomplish, as long as you
have the right tools and supplies. The trick, however, is
doing so in a budget-friendly way.
Let’s start with the seed starting containers. The first thing
you will need is a starter or propagation tray with a plastic
dome lid. The standard tray is 2’ long by 1’ wide, and is
capable of housing over 100 seedlings.
You can start seeds by simply filling the tray with growing
medium and planting the seeds but this may require
transplanting some of the seedlings
into individual containers in order
for the seedlings to grow big
enough to eventually be
planted in an outdoor garden.
You can use plastic cups with
holes punched in the bottom
to allow for adequate water
drainage, or individual plastic seed
starting cells that fit comfortably
into the propagation tray. These
allow the grower to have one plant
in each cell, and to grow it until they
reach the desired size. The tray, individual planting cells,
and the humidity dome can usually all be purchased for
about $10.
Adequate lighting is a must for raising healthy seedling
indoors. A two foot, four bulb T5 fluorescent light fixture
is easy to mount, low in energy usage, and
provides excellent light coverage for
one standard propagation tray. It will
also help supply the heat that seeds
need to germinate. Proper lighting
is important for seedlings as they
begin the process of photosynthesis,
and developing both vegetative and
root growth.
Raising seedlings in a sunny window
will result in plants that are “leggy” from
stretching to receive light, and have only
modest root growth. The light fixture and bulbs
will be the most cost intensive part of this project, but
Adequate lighting is a must for raising healthy seedling indoors
GARDENCULTURE.NET 105
BUDGET GARDENING I GARDEN CULTURE
SEEDS WILL OFTEN LAST MORE THAN
ONE SEASON
it is an invaluable asset when
starting seeds indoors.
Depending of the brand, a
decent light will cost around
$100 - $150. Remember to
look in the clearance section
at your local indoor grow
shop first for the best deals.
Next you need a seed starting
medium. There are many mediums to
choose from for germinating seeds, but the most
cost-effective and reliable is likely an organic soil-less
growing mix. There are many kinds of mixes intended
for seed starting on the market today, and the prices will
vary, but generally a 2 cu. ft. bag will
cost less than $20.
Of course, you will also need some
seeds. Most growers receive several
seed catalogs every year, and most
of us have a favorite. When ordering
seeds it’s a good idea to purchase them all from the
same company with the hopes of receiving free shipping
on the order. Seeds are also widely
available at garden centers
or grow shops, and you
can purchase them in
bulk or in smaller
packages. Depending
on the variety, seeds
are usually very
reasonably priced,
and the amount per
packet will often last
more than one season -
when properly stored.
On average, purchasing these
much-needed tools for success will
typically set you back about $200 - but that is an initial
investment, and you should look at the cost with some
perspective. Buying enough plants from a nursery or
greenhouse to fill a large garden can easily cost a grower
upwards of a hundred dollars, and the quality of plant
seedlings is not assured to be the
highest, and the larger the garden,
the higher the price.
Another important point to keep
in mind is that this really is an
initial investment. Most of these
things are reusable in the following years. The planting
tray, any leftover growing medium, and properly stored
seeds will still be good to use. This is especially true of
the light, which should last several years
before it even needs to have any
bulbs replaced.
So the initial investment
of around $200 can
actually become
an avenue for a
grower to save even
more money in
consecutive years.
It can also give you
the peace of mind that
comes with knowing
exactly where your food
came from, all the way back
to the seed. 3
GARDENING LETS US TAKE PERSONAL
NUTRITION INTO OUR OWN
HANDS
Food Politics Is Ancient Purple carrots aren’t an oddity - that’s the original color. Until
the 17th century, all carrots were purple, though an occasional
mutant root came out white or yellow.
In the late 1500s the Dutch bred a carrot that pro-
duced orange roots, which was such a novelty that
the familiar purple carrot was soon left in the dust.
Given the universal human trait of resisting change,
one might wonder why they would try to create a
weird vegetable, and what caused so much excitement
over it in the first place.
Orange carrots were a political thing. Eating them was showed
your support of the House of Orange, and from there they
spread all over Europe, and the rest of the world.
We think that touch screen technology is quite an
accomplishment. It’s really pretty small potatoes -
the natural world is far more savvy.
Plants increase their
disease resistance
when they sense
being touched.
More Info:
www.bit.ly/
touch-wellness
Life Without Onions?Certain to be a diet so boring it would make you cry. It’s
been that way forever too. Tired of foraging for them in
the wild, serious cultivation of onions dates back more
than 5,000 years.
Immunity at a
SHORTIES I GARDEN CULTURE
A seed must absorb 50% of its weight in water
in order to germinate.
Did You Know?
106
Immunity at a
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