Grozine Edition Nine

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-Jeff Edwards-Content Advisory

& Edits

Casey Jones Fraser

is an obsessed gardener. He grows veggies, herbs, and flowers with both traditional and hydroponic methods. His years of botanical experiences have taken him everywhere from Jamaica to Northern California on a quest for more knowledge. You can read his articles in various hydroponics maga-zines, or visit his retail shop: Garden Grove Or-ganics in the Northern Kentucky region of Great-er Cincinnati. www.gardengroveorganics.com

Evan Folds: Evan Folds has a BS in Biology and a minor in Religion from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He is the founder and president of Progres-sive Gardens (www.ProgressiveGardens.com), a retail gardening store specializing in hydro-ponic and organic gardening techniques. And Progress Earth (www.ProgressEarth.com), the global distributor of the Vortex Brewer® compost tea system, whose focus is growing healthy people, plants & planet!Evan is a contributing writer for reputable international publications, including Maximum Yield, Garden Culture, Urban Farm and many more. He resides with his wife and two children in Wilmington, NC.

Jordan Gartenhaus

is one of those people that always tries to figure out how or why things work the way they do. To that end he earned a BS in mechanical engineering, but shortly after graduating he realized his time spent in school created more questions about everything around him than answers.

In an effort to prevent from overwhelming him-

self now he focuses just on making gardens as fruitful as is scientifically possible. He spends a lot of his time optimizing grow spaces to make the most of the resources available, and also strongly advocates quality automation systems. He would since he co-owns a company that designs and sells their own automation equipment, but despite the conflict of interest he actually does provide excellent insight into the “how” and “why” of gardening. If you want to reach him:www.grohaus-automation.com

contributorsTable of Contents

F r o m t h e E d i t o r P a g e F i veB i k s a s G r ow Ro o m P a g e S eve nB i o E n e r g e t i c Ag r i c u l t u r e P a g e N i n eS u p e r S e e d i n g P a g e Te nL e a r n i n g to Co m p a r e P a g e Twe lveVe r t i c a l H yd r o f o r r e a l P a g e S i x te e nP i c k i n g S e e d s O u t P a g e S eve n te e nL i f e F o r ce I I P a g e Twe n ty E nv i r o n m e n t a l F e e d i n g P a g e Twe n ty O n eD a i l y L i g h t i n g I n te r v a l s P a g e Twe n ty F o u rH yd r o S c r i p t s P a g e Twe n ty S eve nE x p e r t H yd r o Rev i ew s P a g e T h i r t y

Jeff Edwards has been a fixture in the hobby hydroponic industry since 1988. Prior to joining, he was the Assistant Director at NORML. Jeff went on to found and operate Home Harvest Garden Supply as a retail and ecommerce concern for the next 24 years. He is a founding and current board member of the Progressive Gardening Trade Association, formerly known as the Hydroponic Merchants Association. More re-cently, he has been offering marketing, advertising, and web development services to manufacturers, distributor and retail hydroponic businesses. He also hates typos. [email protected]

lb

is a hard working member of the hydroponics industry that likes to share his knowledge-and ability for achieving extraordinairy yields with his fellow megawattage minded horticulturalists. He’s always working on improving crops, or if your prefer: taking clones 2 [email protected]

Brandon Pillon Growing with a love of nature, and curious mind, I was always asking why and how. Af-ter high school I worked for a few years. But wanting to itch my inquisitive mind I enrolled in the millwright program at the local college to learn how machines work and how to build, and repair them. I graduated with honors, but I graduated into a recession and a none exis-tent job market. So I decided to ride out the recession by re-enrolling in the horticulture program at the local college, to turn my past time into a career. I enjoyed learning the science and technology behind growing, I’m a bit of a science geek when it comes to grow-ing. I would welcome a job in the hydroponics industry, weather its in sales or in technical support. Anyone looking for a hard working, healthy minded person can contact me at

[email protected]

Scott Thompson-Montague

Deeply rooted in the growing industry I find myself constantly seeking out new and im-proved ways to constantly better my ever ex-panding life in the gardening community. Good food (home grown), friends, and adventures are what make my days complete. When I’m not cloning or gardening I can be found relaxing in nature with my dogs, trying a new recipe or pondering ways to enrich my life and the lives of those who I care about. Being able to contribute and help others are the nutrients my soul thrives on. Keep it green!

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From the Editor

good bye 2013

Wow, so long 2013 and Hellllooooo 2014!

We all made it-that’s good news...so when’s another End Of The World scheduled for next?

Very excited to be where we are at Grozine. Expect 2014 to be a year of huge changes for the hydro-ponics industry. And this isn’t just the latest in ducting technologies, no sirs and madames. Hydroponics is gaining wider and wider acceptance in the main stream of the Americas. Not only are people learning about how they can grow their food indoors or even the back-yard or patio easier than ever before-they are learning the WHY they should.

A lot of the produce, or at least the affordable stuff, you’ll find at your local supermarket is dicey at best. Whether for concerns in transgenics in the DNA itself, how it was fed, what it was treated with, how much fossil fuel it took to do it and whose toes did we step on or number of basic rights did we negate to load it into the trunk of our vehicles to take home. there are more reasons than ever before to grow it yourself.Whether it’s gonna happen on a balcony, backyard, greenhouse, basement or spare closet there are scores of people still waiting to get turned onto growing.

What we eat is the first and most basic act of control that we can take in our lives-and our buying habits have a huge influence on the economic power structure that many of us help to support. The more people learn about healthy living and eating the better we all are go-ing to be. The thing of it is, it should be FUN as well as informative.

Food isn’t just about protein, carbs and minerals either.

Almost every cure we need can be found in the plant kingdom. Make no mistake, a lot of pharmaceutical treatments and medicines originate from plant sources. However, there’s no money in that. In order to make things fit with current lines of popular thinking, af-ter the beneficial plant or substance is identified it is further researched until which “nuts and bolts” in the chemical mix are needed and in what ratios to work as a treatment. From there it can be synthesized and patented....all the while existing in a pure and natural state-sometimes literally sticking out of the ground.

More people in an aging population will eventually catch onto this: unlocking the natural pharmacy that’s already growing under our noses. This is something we intend to explore more of in the times to come.

We are also going to be exploring labelling issues further, in terms of how home gardening products are labelled and some of the archaic practices still in play that seemingly serve big business and bureaucrats above all else.

However, we also honor our roots, and that’s straight up hardcore growing information and eye popping hydro inspired art-we aren’t going to be diluting anything!

Pure Hydro, Served Straight Up:)

Highest Regards , Erik Biksa

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WaNNa KNOW MORE abOuT SOMETHING IN YOuR GROWING? dROp a lINE-GET aNSWEREd

IS p.a.R. REallY THE bEST

WaY TO bE MEaSuRING YOuR GROW

lIGHTING?

I’ve heard plenty of different discussions

where growers or sellers talk about different

kinds of crop lighting.I’ve heard why Lumens or Lux are bet-

ter units for measuring light intensity than

Footcandles-I’ve also heard that PAR is the

best reading because it’s not just taking into

account one light wavelength, and the whole

spectrum that plants need to grow.

Is that what I should be following when

comparing lamps and different types of grow

lights-should I always use PAR?

P.A.R. (Photosynthetically Active Radiation) is a good measurement to use for grow lighting, but it’s not nec-

essarily “perfect”-so it should be taken with a grain of salt when people talk about PAR readings in comparing

how crop lighting performs.Lumens or Lux measures the “brightness” of light in the green bandwidth of light-the one plants don’t actually

use much of-that’s about 555 Nanometers, technically speaking. Because HPS and MH lamps can only change

their “cake mix” so much inside with various percentages of metals, salts, etc that create the “color” of the

light, it’s not a bad measurement when comparing HPS to HPS or MH to MH-you just can’t use it to compare

say, a MH lamp to an HPS lamp. With a PAR reading you COULD compare a MH reading to an HPS reading, because PAR measures a wider

rainbow-and in what is present day knowledge of the ratios of colors of light , like red, blue, orange, etc that

plants need to grow.But it can still lie. PAR readings will tell you a MH will is producing more PAR lighting, while slightly less

intense when compared to on a Lux or Lumens Meter-so you move the MH light source closer.

So, by all accounts the MH lamp should yield more, right?

Truth is, it rarely does! Why? Because it’s silly to think that artificial light behaves like

natural light (color aside; behavior, folks) and it’s even sillier to think that all plants want

the same ratios of light at the same time all of the time too.

That’s not how it works in nature, so temper science with some practical working knowl-

edge is the advice here. Heres’ an Example:

a 400 watt metal halide lamp provides about

140 watts of PAR. A 400 watt HPS lamps

has less PAR, typically 120 to 128 watts

EMaIl [email protected]



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Almost everyone knows the feeling: when you realize what was once a crown jewel in your growing experience, while functional, could be improved upon due to advancements in grow-ing technologies.

Keeping up with the latest gear and technol-ogy could be considered a hobby in itself-but it doesn’t mean things have to be come a waste of money EB Note-even if you cropped out successfully ten times with it already!

As newer, better and improved equipment becomes available the question is posed. What do I do with my old gear?

While selling it may not be ideal or easy, it is one way to continue that particular products life. Another way is to repurpose it . EB Note-Hey, the Fourth “R”—nice!

With the launch of the new EZ-CLONE Clas-sic and it’s 75 plus improvements to it’s prede-cessor it may be time for an upgrade.

But once you’ve upgraded, what do you do with your old system?

Turn it into an aeroponic EZ-Seed starter! Recycling and repurposing older equipment is not only beneficial for the environment, but also can save you a great deal of time and money.

By simply removing the inner lip of the re-cessed cloning collar pocket one can eas-ily slide a 2” net pot into the cloning collar pocket. From there a variety of mediums can be used to house your seeds during the germi-nation process. Depending on your preference

and the eventual destination for your seedling you can tailor the germination process to best suite your needs.

Growing from seed can be extremely benefi-cial. When a seed is germinated its like playing the lotto, you have no idea if it’s a winner or not. By starting multiple seeds aeroponicly you reduce the amount of time you must handle and baby that seed before it germinates. EB Note-as well as supercharging it with oxygen, hitting the plant internal signals to “go for it”.

Once you’ve selected the most appropriate medium for your method, all you have to do is simply place that seed in the medium and insert it into it’s designated net pot. I used a cycle timer and ran the system from 1 minute every 8 hours. Remember you don’t need to keep your medium completely saturated at

all times and depending on the medium you choose you may want to alter your cycle times as various mediums dry out at different rates. After you’ve set it, you can forget it. EB Note-Ah, the beauty of automation!

If you are out to find your next super star or MILC (Mother you’d/i’d Like to Clone) you can start half the system with seeds.

As the seeds begin to sprout you can easily monitor them. Once they are big enough to take a suitable cutting you can take a cutting directly from them while they are still being housed in your EZ-CLONE system. Since you only filled half your system with seeds you can take one cutting per seed and propagate it in the same system. Once you have a rooted cutting and a rooted seed from the same gene

pool you can remove one and for full term growth testing to see it this particular combi-nation of genes are what you are looking for.

If you find what you are looking , great you have the genetics preserved and ready to rep-licate.

If not, hopefully it’s not a worry since you start more than one seed.

This method saves time and increases plant health-take advantage of these powerful tools when you set your sights on identifying and replicating the ultimate strain for your person-al growing endevors. Afterall, sometimes easy can also be more rewarding.

Keep it green,

WaNT TO KNOW WHaT THE bE

ST MEdIuM FOR GERMINaTIN

G WaS IN THIS SET-up? S

TaY TuNEd, THaT’S COMING

SOON FROM GROZINE



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A CASE S T UDY I N

COMPAR I N G T WO

D I F F E R E N T C ROP

L I GH T I N G SYS T E M S

INTRODUCTION

I have recommended a horticultural lighting system for purchase by a green-house grower setting up a new green-house operation. The lighting system will be used to supplement light during the winter months and on overcast days. It may be used to increase growth rates in flowers and vegetables. When lights are running they may also reduce heat-ing costs.

After an extensive research process, I selected the SG 602 High Output Quad band LED lighting system and SUN-MASTER 600watt high pressure sodium lighting system.

The pros and cons of each system considered when making the recom-mendations were safety, cost, power consumption, spectrum output, reli-ability. Data was collected from manu-facturers’ websites, a personal library of information, and emails with Erik Biksa a master grower and respected writer on the subject and links to websites he recommended.

OVERVIEW OF ALTERNATIVES

The two horticultural lighting systems that I considered were the SG High Output Quad band LED lighting system and the SUNMAS-TER 600watt HPS lighting system using a Super High Output HPS Deluxe bulb.

SG 602 High Output Quad Band LED Light-ing System

This is the newest generation of LED technol-ogy being used and marketed in North Amer-ica and has the same light output of a 600watt HPS while using 327watts. This type of light gives the plants only the spectrum colours of light used for photosynthesis. With LEDs there are no bulbs to replace and an average life span of 50,000hrs to 100,000hrs for the system.

SUNMASTER 600watt High Pressure So-dium Lighting System using a SUNMASTER Super High Output HPS Deluxe bulb.

Sun Master has been a trusted name in hor-ticultural lighting systems for 20 plus years; this system has a proven history of success in greenhouse environments. The new digital ballast draws 10% less energy than magnetic coil models, but interfere with cellphone reception so the magnetic coil model will be reviewed.Bulbs can be changed out for other bulbs with ease and have a life span of 6 months. For cut

flowers the Super High Output HPS Deluxe bulb will be discussed.

ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVES

The two horticultural lighting systems were analysed for five criteria that I consider to be essential for a greenhouse lighting system:

-Safety rating of the light system, and fire hazards-Power consumption of lighting system, and cooling costs-Spectrum output and availability of usable light-Cost per light and maintenance of system-Reliability and customer support after sale-Safety

Safety is the number one question to be an-swered; the first Q- is if the company selling the lighting system uses CSA listed compo-nents?

Also a responsible company will list potential hazards and remedies to resolve the issue. A horticultural lighting system should always be installed by a licensed electrician, and oper-ated in the manner it was made for.

Fire hazards are more of an issue with HPS lighting which generates a good amount of heat and use higher wattages, also bulb crack-ing when water is splashed on the bulb when hot can cause plasma arcing and send ex-tremely hot glass flying through the air that can stick and melt a hole in the wall of the

greenhouse.

SG 602 High Output Quad Band LED Light-ing System

The SG 602 is quality made in North America in accordance with CE, UL, and FCC testing standards and uses a low wattage to deliver the same amount of PAR (photosynthetic active radiation) as a 600watt HPS while only us-ing 327watts per hour, reducing the chance of electrical fires due to high energy draw on overloaded circuits.

This LED light system runs cool to the touch -a hand can be placed on the LEDs with no discomfort.

SUNMASTER 600watt High Pressure Sodium Lighting System using a SUNMASTER Super High Output HPS Deluxe bulbSunmaster has been a trusted name in horti-cultural lighting for over 20 years and use only CSA certified components.

High pressure sodium lights were developed in the 1970’s and are standard in the green-house industry. When installed and operated correctly they pose no more threat of fire then a clothing drier. Care must be taken to not overload circuits and a glass shield should be used to protect the bulb from water. Skin protection should be used to avoid sunburn when working under lights for prolonged time periods.>>>

One Man’s Decision and How He Arrived There.

LED or

HPS?

BY BRANDON PILLON




Power ConsumptionPower consumption is a very important issue to consider as energy costs are rising and resources are becoming more limited. It is also an important social and environmental issue that faces many greenhouse growers in today’s market-place.

The Department of Energy estimates LED lighting should reduce U.S. energy consump-tion for lighting by 29% by the year 2025.

SG 602 High Output Quad Band LED Lighting SystemLED lighting is the future of horticultural lighting origi-nally developed by NASA to grow food in space in the early 1990’s. The SG 602 matches the output of a 600watt HPS while only using 327watts per hour dropping energy con-sumption in half just with the addition of the SG 602 light-

ing system, and the reduced amount of energy used to cool the crops compared in when HPS lights are used is sizable.

SUNMASTER 600watt High Pressure Sodium Lighting System using a SUNMASTER Super High Output HPS De-luxe bulb

The Sunmaster ballasts are the best magnetic coil ballast on the market but still draws 695watts per hour to oper-ate, the extra 95 watt draw in from the ballast itself. 600watt lamps are the most efficient wattage of HID (High Inten-sity Discharge) lights on the market out performing other wattage lamps by at least 7%.

A cooling system would also have to be sized to match the area of the greenhouse and amount of lamps used, driving up the cost to operate a green-house.

Spectrum Output Below is a chart that explains the spectrum nanometer wavelength needed for plant growth:

200-280nm UVC ultraviolet range, which is highly toxic and extremely harmful to plants.280-315nm Includes harmful UVB ultraviolet light, which causes plant colors to fade.315-380nm Range of UVA ultraviolet light that is neither harmful nor beneficial to plant growth.380-400nm Start of visible light spectrum. Process of chlorophyll absorption begins. UV protected plastics ide-ally block out any light below this range.400-520nm This range includes violet, blue, and green bands. Peak absorption by chlorophyll occurs, and a strong influence on photosynthesis (promotes vegetative growth.)520-610nm This range includes the green, yellow, and orange bands and has less absorption by pigments.610-720nm This is the red band. Large amounts of absorption by chlorophyll occur, and most significant influ-ence on photosynthesis (promotes budding and flowering.)720-1000nm There is little absorption by chlorophyll here. Flowering and germination is influenced. At the high end of the band is infrared, which is heat.1000+nm Totally infrared range. All energy absorbed at this point is converted to heat.

S

SUNMASTER High Out-put HPS Lamps are High Pressure Sodium lamps designed to deliver 10% more light than standard HPS lamps.

This extremely energy-efficient plant grow lamp provides more energy which is essential for optimized photosynthetic response. Sunmaster concentrates on provid-ing high PAR values focused on distinct areas of the spectrum. Ongoing independent testing at the University of Guelph has proven significant plant response when us-ing Sunmaster systems including higher yield, greater biomass, and in-

creased flowering to sup-port performance claims.

CostThe start-up cost and safety of the lighting system are two important issues to consider when choosing a horticultural lighting system to fit your needs.

Running parallel to those issues in today’s green-house industry the cost on the environment must be consider when choos-ing lighting and reducing ones carbon foot print should weigh heavily in your decision. Also the added costs of cooling the greenhouse must be considered.>>>

SG 602 High Output Quad Band LED Lighting System

2-watt and 3-watt Hi-power LED chips are what give SG 602 lights their spectacular intensity. While most LED light companies use the weaker and less expensive single watt LED chip. LED bulbs emit light

at a particular wavelength that is specified by a number represented in nanometers (nm).

These numbers are found in the photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) zone between 400nm and 700nm (this is the viable light spectrum). LED bulbs are identi-

fied by their peak nm intensity but may emit light of both higher and lower frequencies. For example, if a LED chip is rated at 660nm, it will peak at that intensity but will still cover wavelengths near 640nm and 680nm. LED chips can be used to produce any wavelength of light.

CONT’d

power use is becoming an increasingly sensitive issue with the growing size of indoor cultivation facilities




Reliability and customer supportIf the lighting system mal-functions in any way, it provides peace of mind to know that the horticultural lighting system has a war-ranty and after-sale cus-tomer support to replace or repair their product. Also questions about the right spectrum for the crop can all be answered through email.

SG 602 High Output Quad Band LED Lighting SystemAll SG 602 LED light panels come with a full uncondi-tional one year warranty covering all manufactur-ing defects and come with a money back guarantee if you are not pleased with the performance. Made in ac-cordance with CE, UL, and FCC testing standards. LEDs life span averages between 50, 000 to 100,000 hours. LEDs are solid state con-struction built to last and re-quire little maintenance over their lifetime and customer support is just an email away and questions are answered in a timely manner.SUNMASTER 600watt High Pressure Sodium Lighting System using a SUNMAS-TER Super High Output HPS Deluxe bulbSunmaster ballasts are designed for reliable igni-tion and long, dependable service. Meeting all CSA and UL requirements, Sunmaster ballasts perform to ANSI (American National Stan-dards Institute) standards which provide reference ballast characteristics for all HID lamps. Developed and produced by parent company Venture Lighting,

Sunmaster develops both ballast and lamp, insuring optimum output and reliable performance. HPS bulbs life span averages around 6 months. Venture ballast products are warrantied free from manufacturing and workmanship defects for a period of two years from the date of shipment. During this period, Venture will, at its option, repair or replace ballast products which prove to be defective or out of specification. Customer support is just an email away and questions are answered in a timely manner.

DISCUSSIONTo review, I have described the qualities of the horti-cultural lighting systems in question in order of im-portance when choosing a greenhouse lighting system for purchase.While the SG 602 High Out-put Quad Band LED lighting system is higher in price per unit, it has a far superior safety rating running cool to the touch using a lower watt-age to operate. The LEDs produce light in the spec-trums used only by the plant wasting no energy on light the plant cannot use. It is the latest in LED light technol-ogy representing the future of horticultural lighting and a money back guarantee if you are not satisfied with the system and customer service support can be reached by email.While the Sunmaster 600watt High Pressure Sodium Lighting System is lower in unit cost it is more of a safety hazard due to the higher wattage and

high temperature of the bulb while operating. Also it is important to bring up the fact that the purchase of extra cooling equipment and operating costs will increase the overall cost to produce crops of cut Roses over the life span of the system. Sun-master does however offer a two year warranty on their ballasts and customer ser-vice support can be reached by email.

What I Chose...

Based on the analysis of the two horticultural lighting systems, I strongly recom-mend that a greenhouse growing cut roses and veg-etables crops purchase the SG 602 High Output Quad Band LED lighting system to provide supplemental lighting during the winter months and overcast days.

While the SG 602 High Out-put Quad Band LED lighting system is more expensive per unit, the cost in energy savings and reduced cool-ing equipment needed more than pays for itself.

Also you can market your business as a niche market to the ever increasing environ-mentally concerned public.

LED and other alternative crop lighting sources may be the future of lighting for the horticultural industry.

Finally after waiting many years the technology has caught up to the science with a service life of up to 100,000 hours, using half the energy of a comparable sized HPS system.

There are many different types and brands of crop lighting, including a grow-ing segment of alternatives to common HPS and MH lighting. In making your choice, you will reap more rewards by comparing ac-curately in your decision to buy.

This article is a very good example on how you can approach it like the profes-sionals. We edited pricing, because it varies so much from place to place and from time to time.

For some more insights on comparing lighting, check out Biksa’s Growroom, in this Edition of Grozine.

Asking around is usually a good way too-but these days we recommend you take any “friendly” advice from chat boards, etc with a grain of salt. Think-ing for yourself is it’s own reward too.

a SIdE N

OTE

FROM THE

EdITOR

CONT’d



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At Grozine, we always strive for higher thinking.

And when we got wind of Veg-E Systems (Verti-cally Efficient Growing Environment Systems) through Inda-Gro crop lighting’s Facebook Page, we simply had to track down these guys for some insights after linking over and seeing some of what they ap-peared to be doing with hydroponics growing technologies.

EB Note-As a Groziner, we naturally assume you love seeing the latest developments in cultivation and growing technologies-checking out Inda-Gro’s page is a virtual cornucopia of such delights.

After speaking with Zak over at Veg-E systems, we were able to circle back and link up with Chief Founder: Dennis Riling.

Now before we get down to business, we always like to know a little more about what inspires people who are working in the field of hydroponics. Dennis, as it turns out, got to grow-ing food to help feed his family-his steel busi-ness was suffering in the

economy of the day with the crash of the USA housing market. From there, things grew.

It wasn’t long before Dennis realized the growing power hydro-ponics could yield over conventional growing methods. Besides offer-ing faster growth rates and potentially bigger harvests, he saw that hydroponics methods conserved water and were potentially more sustainable in instances. However, one of the things that really stood out was the fact that people could grow food just about anywhere. And since having served in Fallujah, Iraq, he understood the value of being able to grow healthy food even in the most formidable of environments-for ex-ample a modern North American Urban Center.

This isn’t a fluff piece about “Urban Verti-cal Farming” or “Mi-cro Greens” that seem prevalent in current me-dia of today. The differ-ence here is that Veg-E Systems is serious about delivering modern ag-ricultural solutions that are actually economi-cally feasible. Believe it or not, a lot of the Urban Farms you read about are heavily subsidized or or a R&D arm of a much larger corporation or

group of-they’ don’t al-ways have to turn a real profit to stay around for a year or two. Seriously, if you crunch the num-bers on these places with electricity, space, cost of seeds, etc you can see that they need an “X” factor to stay afloat.

Dennis, and others like VP Tim Sulzer do a lot of research and case studies to see what may actually work for real world people in real world situations. Then they repeat their experiments-until they have concrete solid systems, numbers and management methods that can be transferred and deployed by others where a suitable mar-ket for the produce is available. Agriculture is often about Economic Thresholds, and that’s not something Veg-E Systems overlooks-in fact, it’s what they bank on.

If hydroponics is re-ally going to catch on, people need access to proven methodologies that are based in eco-nomics. Granted, with the changing face of food production and the rising cost of healthy food, there is an increas-ing pressure on both governments and citi-zens to embrace and uti-lize methods that at one time may not have been

as cost friendly, but due to societal and global factors the economics of what is perceived as “value” may be rapidly changing and evolving.

We salute Veg-E Sys-tems and the work that they are doing in utiliz-ing and documenting the efficacy of modern growing technologies and methodologies. For example, we were totally blown away by the work they have been doing with vertical hydro-ponics applications of alternative crop lighting sources like Induction Lighting and LEDs-without ignoring proven older lighting technolo-gies like HPS, MH and T-5 HO Floros.

With the addition of several new employees and an analytical lab un-der construction, we are expecting to see healthy and sustainable growth from Veg-E systems in days to come. These guys offer solid work-ing models, consulta-tive services, plus more and even sell what they grow-to the delight of taste and nutrition saavy local consumers who support their brand: Doylestown Fresh.

A shining example of what it takes to help lead the charge for change.

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If you plan on being successful this coming season, a lot of your success is going to come down to variety selection. Basically, you want to build your “dream team” to cover your growing expectations from your garden.

Monoculture is Crap.You should avoid this kind of practice for several reasons. Here just a few of the reasons you should be growing more than just one variety:

-Diseases and Insects that may be prevalent in one season or another will likely not be able to take-out all strains; variety provides resistance.

-Having plants finishing at different times through the season allows you to keep harvesting all season long and potentially taking advantage of different market opportunities as they arise. If everyone harvests the same thing all at the same time...well, good luck with that if you are marketing your harvest.

-Growing the same kind of plant, and especially the same strain, in the same spot(s) year after year invites trouble. Survival in nature is in part thanks to diversity; always keep ‘em, guessing.

-It’s boring. Don’t expect to learn much or become a better

grower doing the same thing the same way everytime you venture out to grow....now on the other hand, don’t bet more than you can afford to lose...

Starting from seeds is great when you want variety-even if you are doing your seeding ahead of your planned crop to isolate proven performers that you want to clone. Remem-ber having variety doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice per-formance or predictability...rather you increase your rates of it with controlled selections from seed to provide you with the diversity in genetics you need for continued cropping success.

When making your selections for the upcoming season, you will keep yourself busier harvesting if you select some fast finishers, for example auto-flowering plants for early spring harvests, as well as a strong majority of early to mid season harvest plants (here’s where your yield is) and then finally some late-season and experimental plants-here’s where you hedge your bets with the connoisseur harvest versus the “market standard”.

Overtime, you may develop your own branding-people come to expect a certain quality in a certain variety. Play your cards right, and you may have them lined up at your local farmer’s market in advance, eagerly anticipating your legendary produce, side stepping others that simply offer

“standard fare”.

If you are really, really serious about variety selection, you can grow out a large number of F2 Hybrid crosses-these are offspring from parents that should show a very wide variety of traits, seemingly even different from both original par-ents in some instances.

Most of us will work with F1 Hybrids, because we get the seed vigour and are starting with trouble free plants (no insects or diseases in good seeds). F1 Hybrids are typically much more stable-here you will see some variation in plant to plant to select from, but not so huge a range that you have to start very large numbers of plants to select from.

Whether discussing seedling or cuttings, have healthy transplants is a big part of your potential for success-and for planting outdoors, typically bigger is better. When plants are sickly to start with, especially when still relatively low to the ground, the are very prone to ravaging by insects, diseases and the elements.

Here’s a few tips you can use to amp-up the health of the transplants you produce indoors or your greenhouse for planting out this season:

-Most plant varieties will make the best use of B-Vitamin supplements when they are young and in early develop-ment; dose them up to make them more resistant to shock and stresses early on in their life cycle.

-Once established or after true leaves have developed (in the case of seedlings) take advantage of foliar feedings. It’s a quick and easy way to boost up plant performance and build more plant structure for a bigger and healthier trans-plant.

-Watch for over watering at this stage; especially in moist and warm conditions. Pythium sets in at warmer and wet conditions and can linger for the duration of the crop, at best cutting into yields and at worst wiping you right out.

-Don’t over apply Nitrogen and Harden Off your trans-plants-otherwise, your soft plants will be highly subject to insect and disease infestations.

-It’s affordable and easy to add CO2 when plants are smaller. Carbon Dioxide will greatly potentiate growth rates and plant health. Healthy plants are the key to your success—we love the Green Pad Jrs for propagation domes—up to 1200 ppm for just a coupla bucks...

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Life force is what allows a plant to grow up against gravity or what prevents a human from decomposing until we die.

In order to fully express the idea of life force and its rel-evance to the garden we must investigate the organization of the higher energy bodies in plants.

In 1924 the spiritual scientist Rudolf Steiner delivered lec-tures in response to a request by farmers who noticed de-graded soil conditions and deterioration in the health and quality of crops and livestock resulting from the use of chemical fertilizers.

These eight lectures became known as The Agriculture Course, and are a must read for anyone who strives to un-derstand plants and the natural world in its fullness.

Steiner opens the lectures by speaking on how rhythms indicate the degree to which natural beings have eman-cipated from their relation to surrounding Nature. This emancipation from Nature is almost complete for human life and is expressed as free will.

For the animal life it is less so, but plant life on the other hand, is still to a high degree immersed in the general life of Nature, including the outer earthly world. This is why the moon and other celestial bodies influence plant growth, as demonstrated in farmer’s al-manacs with concepts such as “sow by the moon” and plant-ing calendars such as the Stella Natura.

The scope of this article is not sufficient to fully express these concepts, but suffice it to say that the organization of the higher energy bodies jives di-rectly with how we experience Nature.

Humans are unique in pos-sessing an ego, or the ability to recognize ourselves in the mir-ror. Animals contain no ego, but they do retain an astral, or soul, body.

The astral body is the bearer of pleasure and pain, crav-ings, desires and passions. It is the astral body that regulates instinct. It is also at work in the human dream state.

Plants, however, do not retain the influence of emotion. They do, however, retain an etheric body.

This energy body can be ex-plained as being responsible for fighting off decay. Through-out life, the etheric body resists decay by providing living sub-stance a different setting, so to speak, than it would otherwise physically have by itself.

This is why seeds can sprout in a compost pile. Even though decay is being encouraged, life can emerge. A closer look at the process tells us that life actually accomplishes the very act of decomposition itself via microorganisms. Organic mat-ter does not just melt.

When a plant dies and the physical body is removed from its association with the etheric body, only then does it begin to decompose. The same is true for all living organisms.

In this context, individual ele-ments have a broader charac-ter. For instance, nitrogen is an astral substance. It carries a cosmic imprint that enlivens and constructs plants. Amino

acids are defined by nitrogen. It is the root of human con-sciousness, making up almost 80% of the air we breathe. This is why artificial nitrogen is not a good idea.

Oxygen is an etheric substance.

Like your etheric body, or your aura, oxygen needs to surround life in order to sup-port biological functions The etheric environment envelopes and nurtures life into being by hovering right over the Earth.

True health, in Steiner’s view, is only achieved when the higher energy bodies are working in conjunction with the physical body and one another.

To put it another way, illness occurs in the plant or human physical body based on the imbalances of this working system.

So how does this apply to the grow room? The short answer is in every way possible. We are bringing living systems into our living rooms and only con-sidering the physical aspects of what we are growing. Simply put, there is more to life than what is physically here.

For instance, when growing plants indoors we generally only consider the wavelengths between the 400nm and 800nm range. But a common lab spectroscope can measure between 2nm and 2500nm. Do we imagine that plants are not affected by them?

EB Note-That resonates here-given what we’ve seen from more “exotic” artificial wave-lengths created by alternative grow lighting to common HPS and MH.

The electromagnetic spec-trum (EMF) is defined by light waves and, in addition to the visible portion, is comprised of radio waves, infrared, x-rays, and gamma rays. Do we imag-ine that simply because these frequencies are outside of our visible spectrum that they have no influence on plants?

It would be prudent to con-sider the potential benefits of these frequency spectrums to plants, but also the pos-sible detriments if they are not naturally organized. Not only are we completely separat-ing ourselves from any sort of natural environment in an indoor grow room, but we are also setting up myriad artificial energy fields with the ballasts, fans, timers, etc. being used.

Standard magnetic ballasts operate at 60Hz, or cycles per second, which is the frequency of the AC voltage they run on. This means that each lamp

switches on and off 60 times per second, resulting in a barely perceptible flicker and a noticeable hum.

Actually, about 25 per cent of the population is sensitive to ballast flicker and hum and can become physically ill with symptoms such as headaches, nausea, itching and burning eyes, tension or eye fatigue.

Not only this, but these ener-gies are artificial, with high levels of synthetic EMF, and devoid of the natural ener-gies normally experienced by plants from the inner and outer universe in Nature.

There are proven ways to har-monize the grow room, such as gridding with crystals, or vortexing and imploding water.

Think Feng shui for the grow room. We have not conducted any controlled studies yet, but anecdotal evidence is strong that harmonizing the ener-gies in your grow room can dramatically enhance plant growth.

After all, life is defined and regulated by energy, or life force. This is the new frontier of indoor growing, we look forward to the qualitative results and higher yields to come!

Bottom line, there is more to growing than meets the eye. When was the last time you considered the life force of your garden?

KalI, GOddESS OF ECSTaSY

Life Force & the Garden, Part 2By Evan Folds

IN CaSE YOu MISSEd paRT ONE SEE GROZINE EdITION 8



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Hello all and wel-come to those join-ing us to the first edition of the year for Grozine.

Throughout the year I have wrote in this journal about multi-ple aspects of indoor gardening. Dealing from light cycles, to custom plant nutri-tion. While nutrition and proper lighting are vital in maintain-ing a healthy plant, there are still many key factors that go unnoticed that severely effect yield and overall plant performance like Environment.

We as growers seem to over look this aspect often, unaware that plant performance and environment directly correlate. Lets take dogs for example, the difference be-tween dogs genetic variance is less than 2% meaning that 2% is responsible in effecting the dog to be either big or little, long haired, or short haired etc...Other than that there genetics are exactly the same. So that being said if you took a husky and a pit bull and dropped them off in the snow, the husky is going to have a much bet-

ter advantage with adapting to the cold environment than the pitbull.

So how is this rel-evant to plants?

One of the key ad-vantages to indoor growing is that you the grower are in control of your envi-ronment. The better your grow room is built the more con-trol you have over humidity and tem-perature. In order to maximize plants genetic potential the grower needs to cater the environment specifically to there plant desired needs. This is going to be based off of where your plant genetics originate from.

Being that most genetics are crosses from plants that are on two different sides of the globe this can sometimes be difficult. I usu-ally breakdown the plants into three categories. Tall and lanky, short squat and Hybrid. I usually treat the tall lanky plants I grow like they originate from equilateral climates (warm day warm nights/high humid-ity) short squats I treat like they origi-nate from mountain-

ous regions.

I’ve notice short squats thrive better with hot days and cold nights/ lower humidity. Last but not least I treat hy-brids some where in the middle ( moder-ate day/night temps w/ mid level humid-ity. I keep mention-ing day/night temps because both are vital in maintaining a proper environment. Night temps and humidity are often over looked. During the light cycle the A/C is on handling the temperature and humidity level keep-ing everything in a perfect desired range but at night the tem-perature is usually cooler than the A/C set point so the air conditioner never goes on resulting in a humidity spike.

This is where dehu-midifiers come in or A/C are specially modified with day/night temperature thermostats. This will help with main-taining a proper desired night tem-perature and humid-ity level. A simple digital Hygrometer is all a grower needs to tell if his/her room is going out of whack at night.>>>

An Environmental

Diet for

The Tall and

Lanky By lb




Controlling the Day/night temperature and humidity is essential

with unlocking genetic potential. Environmental changes directly

correlate with plant response so much that I’ve developed over the

years a custom day/night temperature and humidity schedule for the

different varieties I grow. Today i wanted to share a custom environ-

ment chart I use for my Bottle rocket varieties.

VEGETATIVE-Day temps 78-80/Night temps 75-78 ---humidity

70% ( I keep day/night temperature differential within 2 to 3 degrees

in effort to reduce internodal stretch)

I a lso lower t he Co2 level from 15 0 0 to 1 20 0 f irst 6

weeks of blo om to around 75 0 fo r la st two weeks

of blo om in effo rt to enhance ripening process

Eb NOTE: CO2

IS aN ETHYl-

ENE INHIbITOR,

ETHYlENE MaKES

budS aNd FRuITS

RIpEN

Notice from the chart that during the first 4 weeks my temps are moderately High with close tempera-ture differentials from day to night. This is in effort to reduce internodal stretch and speed up the me-tabolism of the plant for a healthy flower onset.

I also run higher humid-

ity during first four weeks of bloom to mimic late summer and reduce stress as the plants go into heavy flowering. I reduce tem-perature and humidity around week 5 as time progresses to mimic first signs of winter.

These environmental changes give signals to the

plant that trigger hormon-al responses that greatly effect the stage of growth the plant is in.

Temperature drop, for example, towards the end of the bloom cycle will bring out certain desired characteristics like color change and oil production in certain varieties.

This temperature and humidity chart should be used in conjunction with my custom feed schedule on Bottle Rocket varieties. This is not the proper tempera-ture chart for short squats or Hybrids, I will have environmental charts for those varieties in next years editions, so you have something to look forward to. So

here is my last gift to you for 2013, maximizing the tall and lanky.

Hope your able to use this chart with great success in your future grows for 2014. As always Turning clones to zones! -lb




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I had a customer stop by our office the other day and we got to some general chit-chatting. At one point he glanced over at our 4-bucket deep water culture system we have running and he noticed the fancy induction grow light hanging over our Carolina Reaper “super hot” peppers.

To me, the underside of the light resembles something you might see in the the Roswell, New Mexico desert if you stared at the sky long enough. The combination of the soft diffuse glow of the induction bulb and the piercing, deep-red LEDs look downright extraterrestrial, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t work amazingly well.

But when my customer asked me whether I thought the investment was worth while, at first I wasn’t sure how to answer the question as straightforward as it sounded.

Before I answer that question here, I should pref-ace my comments by saying that I’m a big propo-nent of induction lighting. I think the technology

is woefully under utilized, but I assumed in this case my customer’s angle in asking the question was more about saving money on electricity than it was a real desire to run induction lighting.

And frankly, I wasn’t about to suggest that my customer just go out and replace all of his cur-rent lights with induction equivalents because the investment would be substantial, and there are likely less painful ways for him to save money that he should investigate first.

In my experience, simply throwing money at problems is rarely an ideal solution.

So I asked him, “Do you know approximately what the optimum daily light integral is for your crop?” I think I may as well have asked the ques-tion in Romanian. But then I smiled to myself because I knew I was about to blow his mind.

pICTuREd: THE buSINESS ENd OF aN INda-GROwpaR-420 WITH 420 pFR pONTOON

D.L.ICaTCHING YOuR

daIlY lIGHT INTERVal

By JordanGartenhaus




Generally speaking, the photosynthetic rate of any plant increases proportionally with light intensity.

That is, as light becomes more intense, the more photosynthetic activity there is, and hence more plant growth. However, it is possible to reach a point of diminishing re-turns, and in some plant species that point approaches abruptly. Eventually photo-synthetic activity is going to be limited by some other factor, and the additional light is literally wasted energy (and money). So the idea here is to determine how much light your plant can actually utilize, and then turn the lights off once that threshold has been reached. This concept is widely used by greenhouses that incorporate supplemental lighting, and is referred to as the Daily Light Integral, or DLI.

The first thing you need to do is train yourself to start think-ing about light in terms of photosynthetic photon flux, and not watts, or hours of “on time”. Plants really don’t care about how many watts of power your lights consume, nor do they really care about how long the lights are “on” (within reason of course). What they do care about is how many photosyntheti-cally active photons they’re receiving. The distinction is critical for two reasons.

First, all grow lights are not created equal, and some do a bet-ter job at converting available energy into photosynthetically active light than others do. So this notion of requiring a certain amount of wattage per area or something is simply imprecise. We don’t know if each watt consumed by the light produces one photosynthetically active photon, or one-million.

Second, studies show that the length of the dark period (i.e. “lights off ” time) is what controls the photoperiodic response of plants, and not how long you keeps the lights on. In other words, you’re not going to wreak any havoc on photosensitive plants if you reduce the lights-on period, so long as they receive sufficient photosynthetically active raditation (PAR). And for that, we need a PAR meter.

A PAR meter is going to measure photons that are between 400-700nm because that’s the region of the electromagnetic spec-trum that’s capable of fueling photosynthetic activity in plants. The meter expresses how many micro-moles (1 micro-mole = 6.022x1017) of photons are being emitted per square meter, per

second (μmol·m-2·s-1). However, DLI is usually expressed in moles per square meter, per day (mol·m-2·day-1).

To make the conversion, we need to divide our meter reading by 1,000,000, and then multiply by the number of seconds the light is on. Let’s do a quick example. Our PAR meter says that at any given time our light emits 50 μmol·m-2·s-1 and we’re leaving the light on for 12 hours (43,200 seconds) each day.

Convert 50 μmol·m-2·s-1 to units of mol·m-2·day-1

50μmol·m-2·s-1 ÷ 1,000,000 = 0.00005 mol·m-2·s-1

0.00005mol·m-2·s-1 x 43200 seconds = 2.16 mol·m-2·day-1

You can use this formula to con-vert your meter readings into DLI units, but make sure you replace the number of seconds I’ve chosen in the example above with however long you’re leaving your light on (just multiply the number of hours your light is on by 3600). Again, we’re try-ing to determine the cumulative total number of photons the plants re-ceived while the lights were on. Once we have a single point we have a frame of reference, and we can start finding the ideal DLI for whatever crop it is you’re growing.

My recommendation is to simply experiment through trial and error, but I should note that this process becomes infinitely less confusing if you have fine control over your gar-den and the variables within. People with automated systems (i.e. no hu-man error) will have a much easier time making sense of the data thanks to tighter control of the conditions. Photosynthesis is also tied into things like temperature and CO2 lev-els, so if those are swinging all over the place throughout your grows then it’ll difficult to distinguish the signal from the noise.

Whatever the case, if your garden’s environment is consistent between grows, what you’ll find is that as you increase your DLI you’ll get more branching, flower sites, and dry mass when you harvest. I’m sure no one will be surprised by that, but at some point increasing the DLI will not result in any additional growth. That should be your target DLI. Run your lights each day, and shut them off when all of the plants have achieved their DLI target.

And if you really take this seriously

you can optimize the DLI for each stage of growth. It’s entirely possible that you’re using too much light in early stages of growth, and not enough in later stages. If you balance it out you may be able to increase your yield without using any more energy at all. Or, maybe you’ll find that you’re meeting your DLI re-quirements before your lights shut off. In that case you can probably raise your lights to cover a larger area or turn them off earlier than you have been.

When you consider how much

energy some people use in run-ning their lights, there really aren’t many arguments for not using the DLI concept. If you’re running a few thousand-watt lamps, and you find that you can reduce your lights-on time by 10%, that can still amount to a savings of a few hundred dollars a month. And all it costs you is a PAR meter and your time. With energy costs only going in one direction, how long can you afford to play fast and loose with your plant lighting?






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Featuring Casey Jones FraserHydro-ScriptsPreface -- Recently, a customer dropped off

several old ballasts that needed repairs. While I was knee deep in transformers and wire caps, another dude stopped in with a few ques-tions. It went something like THIS:

Customer: Man, those are some old ballasts.

CJF: Well, you know these old magnetics. They break down, but you can usually fix them with a $20-$40 part.

Customer: So you like them better than digital ballasts?

CJF: Not exactly. It depends on the situation. If you are on a budget, magnetic ballasts cost significantly less. But with the higher price of a quality digital ballast, you also get slightly better performance with slightly less power consumption.

Customer: What do you mean by better performance and less pow-er? CJF: A digital ballast will crank out a bit more light than a magnetic. I've actually

seen the proof when testing lights with a PAR meter*. The same bulb and reflector put out about 10% more usable light with a digital ballast, compared to a magnetic.

Customer: That’s cool. I guess that explains what you said about the power savings. You are getting more light with the same wattage. CJF: More light is only half the story. If you look at the power usage of a modern dig-

ital 1000 watt ballast, you might see a figure near 8.7 amps. Check out these magnetics. They are rated at 9.5 amps. That means they use nearly 10% more power. You only buy your ballast once, but you pay for it every month with the electric bill. The more lights you run, the more it adds up.

Customer: Why do they still make the magnetic ones? It sounds like digital is the way to go.

CJF: Would you rather set up a garden with four lights or six? On a limited budget, that is the kind of consideration you have to make with ballast pricing.

CJF: Maybe you should go magnetic. Run the lights for a few months, then buy digi-tals when you can afford them. That way you can keep the magnetic ballasts as spares, in case you ever have a failure. But if you can afford the purchase price, I really do recommend the digis. More light means a higher yield and, and the power savings will eventually make up for the price difference.

So a guy walks into a

Hydro Store...

Customer: Well I’m getting a couple more lights in a month or so. I just need to know which ones I should buy?

dIGI dO OR dIGI dON’T?

Customer: I’ll probably go digital. I'll just have to think about it. Now, what can you tell me about LEDs.

CJF: Don’t get me started... *PAR meters are the best way to test lights used for plant growth. PAR stands for Photosynthetically Active Radiation. You can think of it as Plant Available Radiation. Any other light measure-ment is inferior for testing grow lights.





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Can Filters Can Lite 1000

Gavita Pro1000 DE

GHGMB

,,,,, ,,,, ,,,Can you smell that....No? Well that’s the smell of vic-tory!

The Can-Lite by CanFilters is a value priced activated carbon air filter for all kinds of growing applications, available in a range of sizes.

Because it’s cheaper to buy, it’s a little lighter than it’s big brother, the Regular Can Filter-meaning there is less carbon. While that makes it lighter to hang-up in your grow room (recommended; we hate seeing them standing upright on the floor-boo!) we also found it didn’t mean sacrificing performance.

We give it our top rating because the one we tested per-formed for almost 2 years. Size it to the right fan and occasionally rotate it and shop-vac the pre-filter and make sure you don’t run humid air through it and you are likely to be as happy as us;)

Besides keeping your grow from being offensive to oth-ers (or worse), clean air in the grow room via “scrub-bing” through your filter keeps contaminates like dust down for healthier plants-we found it even filtered out pollen!

First class ride for economy fare.

We hear a lot of “same old, same old” with HPS light-ing-especially when it come to a single ballast kit. “Oh WOW, you have a Blue knob on it this time”....However, we have a lot of grower friends. And every once in a while we will hear some kind of “ooohhh” or “aaahhh” about something or another.

We kept hearing praise, over and over from many dif-ferent sources on this one over the least couple of years: and that’s Gavita’s Double Ended Digital Lighting Sys-tem (uses Phillips new double ended 1KW HPS lamp).

Allright, so it’s time to try. Admittedly, we didn’t have to run it for very long to be impressed; we scored one of the North American units for our tests grow on Spear-mint.

The only reason we didn’t give it “5 outta 5” is because A) 240 V only, which isn’t for everyone, and B) they recommend that you run it 100 hrs at 100% before us-ing the dimmer. This is good info-others don’t tell.

Good news is that we ran it at 60% right off the hop (against instructions) and we still love it. Seriously F%$#ing bright, high PAR-even after one year, and has an incredible light spread with no RF problems. Goes up right out of the box, no assembly. Yeah:)

We’ll admit it: this is the first professional hydroponic fertilizer we ever used-and we did allright with it...even 22 years ago when we first tried it out.

Since however, we have found hydroponic nutrients that are either A) easier to use, for example One-Part or Two-Part concentrates, or that B) Are the exact same but cost less, or C) simply give better yields and quality.

Don’t get us wrong-this a good nute, and sets a stan-dard that most growers tend to measure other nutri-ents against.

However, we simply can’t give it a higher rating beca-cause it’s not complete. Huh? Yeah friend, why would you buy extra Epsom Salts and Cal-Mag supplements and add them each time with the other Three-Parts (Grow, Micro and Bloom) that are required-thats FIVE parts, and chances are, you usually add the same ratios of each.

Definition of insanity: doing the same thing the same way and expecting different results.

Other than that, made with high quality ingredients in a professionally operated facility-if you grow hydro, use 1/2 the micro you think you need to-people can be surprised by the Nitrogen load, especially as NH4.

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