The Indoor Gardener Magazine Volume 1—Issue 3 (Reissue)

Volume 1 - Issue 3 www.tigmag.comISSN : 1715 - 0949 - Bimonthly

Organic, home-madegrowing beds:two methods

Root diseases

September / October 2005

Pets and plants: a tricky combination

Growing mediums:characteristics and recipesGrowing mediums:characteristics and recipes

Growing substratesand their use in hydroponicsGrowing substratesand their use in hydroponics

Organic, home-madegrowing beds:two methods

Root diseases

Hydroponic cultivation: Exact science or empirical activity

Hydroponic cultivation: Exact science or empirical activity Morels:

a Holy Grail for mycologists

Morels: a Holy Grail

for mycologists

Price: $3.95

04THE INDOOR GARDENER VOLUME 1 - ISSUE 3

CREDITS

THE INDOOR GARDENER MAGAZINEPostal Station Saint-MichelP.O. Box 183Montreal, QC, H2A 3L9, CANADATel.: (514) 728-8118Fax: (514) 728-1840www.tigmag.comISSN: 1715-0949

Volume 1 – Issue 3

Published by:Green Publications

Managing editor:Bruno Bredoux

Contributing editors:Helene Jutras, Jessy Caron, Fred Leduc

Art Dir-ektor:EktorZolerZoza

Editorial coordinator:Bruno Bredoux

Collaborators in this issue: Helene Jutras,Herb Gardner, Fred Leduc, R. LaBelle,Bruno Bredoux, Jean-Pierre Daimé, PierreBonnard, Richard Gruda, O. Richard Jr.,Rose Laforêt, Laura, J. R. Hannafin, JoshMorell, Marco Deux, Martha, Jessy Caron,J.-M. D., Paul Henderson, WilliamSutherland, Stan Daimon, Laura, C.Sheppard, Soma, Jeff, vieux bandit.

Sales & advertising: Stan [email protected] [email protected]

Translation:Helene Jutras

Cover design:EktorZolerZoza after a photo taken byFred Leduc in his own indoor garden inMontreal, Canada.

Illustrations:C. Sheppard & EktorZolerZoza

Administration: R. LaBelle

© 2005, Green Publications, Montreal,Qc, Canada

Articles, iconographic representationsand photographs contained in this maga-zine cannot be reproduced, in whole or inpart, without the written consent of thePublisher.

Legal deposit: Second Quarter 2005.National Library of Canada.Bibliothèque nationale du Québec.ISSN: 1715-0949

Printed in Canada.

Linear Measure (imperial to metric)1 inch 2.54 centimeters1 foot (=12 inches) 0.3048 meter1 yard (=3 feet) 0.9144 meter

Linear Measure (metric to imperial)Imperial 1 millimetre 0.0394 inch 1 centimetre (=10 mm) 0.3937 inch 1 metre (=100 cm) 1.0936 yards

Volume (imperial to metric)Metric 1 (imperial) fl. oz. (=1/20 imperial pint) 28.41 ml 1 (US liquid) fl. oz. (=1/16 US pint) 29.57 ml 1 (imperial) pint (=20 fl. imperial oz.) 568.26 ml 1 (US liquid) pint (=16 fl. US oz.) 473.18 ml 1 (imperial) gallon (=4 quarts) 4.546 litres 1 (US liquid) gallon (=4 quarts) 3.785 litres

Volume (metric to imperial)Imperial 1 millilitre 0.002 (imperial) pint, 0.176 pint 1 litre (=1000 ml) 1.76 pints

Mass (imperial to metric)1 ounce (=16 drams) 28.35 grams 1 pound (=16 ounces) 0.45359237 kilogram 1 stone (=14 pounds) 6.35 kilograms

Mass (metric to imperial)Imperial 1 milligram 0.015 grain 1 kilogram (=1000 g) 2.205 pounds

TemperatureTo convert Fahrenheit to Celsius, subtract 32 degrees anddivide by 1.8. To convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, multiply by 1.8 and add 32degrees.

Conversion Table

72

38

80

Photo: Jessy Caron

Photo: D.R.

On the cover: Photography by Fred Leduc

Photo: Marco Deux

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Volume 1 – Issue 3 / September – October 2005

7 EditorialExact Science or Empirical Activity?By Bruno Bredoux

8 IntroductionBuilding a greenhouse in the gardenThe advantages of sheltered productionBy Paul Henderson

12 Notes & News

18 Tips & Tricks: Organic, Home-made Growing BedsTwo methods:1 - Watertight plywood boxes2 - Aluminium-covered irrigation tableBy Soma

22 Germination Tips and TricksBy Jeff

24 Growing Substratesand Their Use in HydroponicsBy Jean-Pierre Daimé and Pierre Bonnard

32 Growing Mediums:Characteristics and RecipesBy William Sutherland

38 Home-made Substrate A D.I.Y. experienceBy Jessy Caron, ITA St-Hyacinthe

40 GalleryBy Marco Deux, Martha, vieux bandit and Bruno Bredoux

50 From soil to HydroponicsBy Richard Gruda

52 It’s That Time of Year Again!Bring your botanical friends back indoors for the winterBy Fred Leduc

56 Root DiseasesRoots are subject to numerous attacks from the growing environment, whether it be an overdose of nutritive solu-tion, over-watering or even diseases transmitted by the soil itself like pythium, fusarium or infestations by parasiteslike root lice and root scales.By O. Richard Jr.

60 Indoor Gardening and Fungus Disease By Paul Henderson

62 Botrytis Blight or Gray MoldBy Fred Leduc

64 Humic and Fulvic Acids Natural Organic BiostimulantsBy Bruno Bredoux

66 Bang! Possibly the best organic pesticide availableBy Josh Morell

68 Pets and Plants A tricky combinationBy Helene Jutras

70 Cooking Five secrets for a successful tianBy Bruno Bredoux

72 Morels, By Marco Deux

74 Juan Valdez: Your Papers!Investigation in the country of the most famous coffee harvesterBy Rose Laforêt

77 The Hydroponic World of North America

80 Shopping: Horticultural NoveltiesBy Jessy Caron, Laura and B.B.

84 Q & A Ask Fred 3: From burnt leaves to the control of temperature, By Fred Leduc

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Photos: vieux bandit, © Laurent Bessol - Éditions Hazan, Paris, 2001, © Biobest & D.R.

VOLUME 1 - ISSUE 3 THE INDOOR GARDENER07


EDITORIAL

Hydroponics is a recipe that can be accompanied by anysauce. It is also a recipe that, depending on the ingredients, their dosage, thepreparation and mixing conditions, will give as many different results as thereare cooks. Allow me to explain.

After reading our articles to date, many readers have reacted by telling us:"That's not how I do this" or " Somewhere else, I read this or that", etc. I there-fore repeat that hydroponics is a recipe for any sauce. In conditions X, with Ymaterials and Z plants, no indoor gardener can hope to reach exactly thesame results as his colleague. In a given area, the water will be more alkaline ormore acidic, the temperature variations will be more extreme, the humidity lev-els will be higher, the light will be more yellow or more white... The means youneed to set in order in each region will be as numerous as the conditions inthe growing environment. No indoor garden is 100% like any other indoor gar-den. No harvest will reach results that will be completely identical to another.

In old French cookbooks, written by the chefs and master cooks who invent-ed everything (Vatel, Brillat-Savarin, Escoffier, Gringoire, Saulnier, etc.), therewere no proportions given – just a list of ingredients. It was up to each cook,to each homemaker, to gain enough experience to find the perfect combina-tion to cook the dish successfully. It is much the same with hydroponics. Ourmission is to put you on the right track – it is up to you to find your own setupand find personal harmony. Good results stem from experience, not from theobedient application of divine methods dictated by a few infallible masters.

In this new issue of The Indoor Gardener, we suggest two methods to buildorganic growing beds by one of the greatest hydroponics expert living in theNetherlands. We are not giving you those methods because they are the onlyright ones or because they cannot be equalled. We are featuring them simplybecause they are two methods with which our collaborator, after many differ-ent experiments, has attained his best results. Empiricism is the basis of suc-cess. There are enough proverbs saying it to make it at least half true! Thesetwo growing bed methods are basic documents for indoor gardeners – fol-lowing the indications of our collaborator, they can then build growing bedsthat are adapted to their own environment and to its climate, lighting, humid-ity and space area. And if at first you do not succeed, keep trying!

You'll see that after many failed attempts, when you find the method that isright for you and are finally rewarded with a magnificent harvest, you will for-get the so-called masters. And you will let go of obedient mimicking tobecome creative.

Bruno BredouxThe Indoor GardenerSeptember 2005

Exact Science or Empirical Activity?


INTRODUCTION

Through the greenhouse, the sun fortifies the leaves of this strawberry plant.

Many gardeners ask mewhat advantages there areto gardening in an outdoorgreenhouse.

The main advantage is theability to control the climate,which allows one to startgrowth earlier and to har-vest later, for a more abun-dant production. You canalso grow plants that floweror mature over a longerperiod, which you couldnot bring to complete matu-rity outdoors. What's more,since the greenhouse canbe built close to yourhouse, it is easy to addelectrical components suchas water pumps and fans,thus greatly improving theplants' environment.

It is rather easy, with fewmaterials, to build a smallefficient greenhouse.Depending on the type ofculture planned, three typesof greenhouses are possi-ble: the elliptical green-house, the half-cylindergreenhouse and, moreinteresting for us, theGothic-shape greenhouse(triangular roof). This last one is simpler to build because itsframe has edges that greatly simplify the installation of a poly-ethylene cover (doubled, if possible), for more resistance. Itis preferable to build a longer rather than larger greenhouse,and to orient it on a north/south axis.

On sunny days, because of the well-known greenhouseeffect, heat will be stored in the greenhouse up to dangerouslevels: you will then have to install some ventilation.

Two Options are Possible:

Passive ventilation, by mak-ing openings in the green-house so it is ventilated nat-urally. It is a simple and effi-cient method, but it is notoften used in soft-covergreenhouses because it isnot easy to make closableand hermetic shutters withthis material. If you arehandy, make shutters allaround the greenhouse,high up, so that heat canescape.

The second option isdynamic ventilation, doneby introducing and extract-ing air to cool off the green-house. For this to work, fansmust be installed at bothends of the greenhouse.The south fan should bringair in, and the north fanshould extract it. Allow meto remind you that mostplants will slow down theirgrowth dramatically whenplaced in temperaturesabove 35°C. You thus needto be very efficient in con-trolling the greenhouse'stemperature.

Heat is one problem often encountered in a greenhouse;condensation is another. It is very likely for condensation toform on the interior surfaces of the greenhouse. It is normal,but problems will come of it if the condensation starts to drip:fungi and other pathogens would then have the perfect con-ditions to develop. In a 3.5m2 greenhouse, the soil and plantscan perspire up to 30 kg of water per day, so the bigger thegreenhouse, the harder it will be to get rid of condensation.


By Paul Henderson The Advantages of Sheltered Production

BUILDING A GREENHOUSE IN THE GARDEN

INTRODUCTION

A very professional greenhouse.

Photos: ©

S. Scapa, Canna & D.R.


INTRODUCTION

You will thenhave to focuson controllingthe drippage.There area n t i - d r i pp r o d u c t s(Sun Clear)you can use.If the prob-

lem is extensive, you can reduce the use of water to aminimum during waterings.

Contrary to indoor gardens, outdoor crops do not havea lighting limit, which allows the gardener to over-acti-vate the other parameters, like watering and fertilization.A continuous irrigation system such as a drip system,with a fertigation program (or continuous fertilization –the word comes from the contraction of fertilization andirrigation) will considerably increase the productionpotential of your plants.

To achieve this, use plastic pots or grow bags and fillthem with a sphagnum moss mix to which you will add10 to 15% of additional perlite to improve drainage.

With this type of mix, you can water the plants throughthe drip system without fear of over-watering: this typeof soil, even saturated with water, still contains 50% air!

The height of the greenhouse depends on the type ofculture you choose. If you use the tying method, you canreduce the greenhouse's height. If not, plan for a goodheight, because you might be surprised by the results!

I strongly advise you to use the tying technique, whichmeans tying the top of the plant to curve it little by littleuntil it forms an arch. This technique works particularlywell in a greenhouse.

Peace!

A home-made greenhouse.

Photos: ©

S. Scapa, Martha, Canna & D.R.

Annette and her tomatoes


NOTES & NEWS

Montreal: Green roofs fora green sea from above?In February 2005, in association with the MontrealUrban Ecology Center, the city of Montreallaunched a Green Roofs project in its most cement-filled neighborhood. Such programs already existin Toronto, New York, Chicago and some Europeancities. With a $40,000 grant and funds from the pri-vate sector, the project could lead to notableenergy savings while offering city dwellers animproved frame of life.

The experimental program will include the study oftwo adjacent buildings on Jeanne-Mance street.The first, a triplex, has a green roof where variousgrow operations have begun last spring, while theother has no such green topping. In the fall, thisshould allow researchers to analyze rain water

retention, airquality and airtemperaturevariations. Ofcourse, in real-ity, it is a criti-cal mass ofsuch greenroofs thatwould make areal differ-ence!

Helen Fotopulos, Montreal's representative incharge of green and blue spaces, parks and scien-tific institutions, said that green roofs were not a firstin Montreal: “There are people who have installedterraces on their roof, and on Henri-Julien there is agreen roof for agriculture.” She further explainedthat “People can already get started if their buildingcan support it. But be careful: they should not rushand improvise to get a green roof. It has to beinstalled by professionals.” What's more, a greenroof will cost the building's owner nearly threetimes as much as an asphalt roof (about $20 persquare foot). Finally, not all plants are suited to thiskind of urban agriculture.

– B.B. (Source: Transcontinental.ca)

Photos: D.R. & www.greenbuildingsbc.com

(courtesy of Hotson Bakker Architects

What music for myplants?

We have all heard at one time oranother that plants benefit fromus talking to them, or even fromhaving a little ambiant music. Lies?Not so fast! Every structure, eventhe tiniest, has a resonance fre-quency. Plant cells have theirs.Tests have shown that cell struc-tures can resonate under ade-

quate acoustic frequencies, which alter the cell'sfunctions, positively or negatively depending on thedose, frequency and intensity used.

Stomates, the minute openings in the epidermis ofhigher plants which are regulated by guard cells andthrough which gases and water vapor areexchanged between internal spaces and the exter-nal atmosphere, have an audible resonance frequen-cy. Using the proper frequency, we can increase theplant's absorption capacity for sprayed nutrients!

Music? The specific acoustic frequencies, also called"epigenetic acoustic sequences" are actually a suc-cession of calculated frequencies containing aninformation which resonates with the protein synthe-sis within the cells of a living organism. Researchershave been able to stimulate or inhibit protein synthe-sis, to influence growth and to increase resistance todisease. The proven sound sequences apparentlyresemble certain bird songs (logical, no?) and evensome shamanic chants and some folk melodies.

Curious? Tempted to make an experiment? Threedifferent CDs are offered at http://sonicbloom.com.

- H.J.

Ragweed: 2 billion $ lawsuit against the city of Montreal

A lawsuit that had been postponed since 1992 started again inSeptember 2005: a resident is suing the city regarding the removal of rag-weed on the territory of the old 23 municipalities on the island. 200,000persons who lived on the island of Montreal between 1991 and 1995 aresupporting the claims, and the amount requested could reach 2 billion $.The healthcare costs of ragweed in Québec reach 50 million $ annually, ofwhich 17 million is used on the island of Montreal alone. It is estimated that12% of the population is affected each year. The core problem remains:citizens cannot undertake themselves the clean up of infested municipallands; that mandate belongs to blue collar workers… who have been toldto ensure that the soil be well aerated and to add fertilizers… but not toremove weeds! - B.B. (Source: 24 H.)


NOTES & NEWS

Omnipresent GMOsBy R. LaBelle

GMOs (genetically modified organisms) are organisms modified in a laboratory to improve the characteristics andperformance which nature has attributed to plants, vegetables and fruits. For example, we can now reduce orremove a protein from a plant giving a certain fruit to delay its maturation or add components to existing plants toincrease their tolerance to certain herbicides. These days, with genetic engineering, it is possible to modify or trans-form animal organisms, vegetables or micro-organisms. Among other things, the process introduces in one organ-

ism a gene from another living organism's DNA, onethat possesses the sought-after quality. Introducedgenes can come from viruses, bacteria, fungi, yeast,plants or animals. Those genetically modified organ-isms are mainly found in the derivatives of corn, soyand canola. In truth, those raw materials are mostlyreserved for animal feed, and hence transformedinto a byproduct. They are nonetheless consumedin great quantities by humans. Assuredly, GMOs areno longer hard to find in the food chain.

Although GMOs have been consumed in Canada forover ten years, they are not really considered harm-ful to the health of consumers. Actually, however,their benign nature has never been proven. Thesetransgenesis (or plant biotechnologies) could be adanger for allergies. They could also cause a resist-ance to antibiotics and are a toxicity risk. Accordingto many specialists, there is a very real potential dan-ger with genetically modified organisms. This is dis-quieting, since Canada is the fourth largest consumerof GMOs. Note that in Europe, products containingGMOs must be identified so that the consumer isaware; this is not yet the case in Canada.

Professionals in theGMO industry tell us that genetically modified substances can be found in over 70%of transformed products on the market. In fact, new tests have been performed bytransgene specialists to detect traces of GMOs in our food. The method used, realtime PCR, is the most efficient to date. The results were decisive: GMOs are a part ofour diet. Actually, Jos Louis took the lead with 5% RRS (Roundup Ready Soybean),soy that has been genetically modified in the lab. Heinz is also on the list: eventhough it is in small quantities, there are traces of GMOs in their products. Their soyPablum for babies is targeted: the cereal contain 0.9% RRS and traces of Mon810, amodified strain of corn. Many other products are on the list, like Hunt tomato paste, Oasis juices, Labbatt beersand many other foods. This is surprising because Greenpeace had filed some of these products on its green list,meaning they were certified GMO-free. This is because corn, soy and canola are purified when they are destinedto be used for human consumption, and hence are difficult to detect in the finished product. That is why it is cru-cial to test the raw materials used by manufacturers. Even though experts are determined, their task is difficult,because the major modifications performed in the lab render the genetic code of living organisms almost totallyundetectable. That is how organisms that are not fit for consumption end up in commercialized products on ourgrocery shelves and end up, incognito, on our plate.

GMOs have the potential to create health risks. They present no advantage to the consumers' health and theirimpact, although not yet proven, could be significant. GMOs also risk destabilizing ecosystems. Nature is the resultof a slow progression. Although genetic modifications have shown considerable advantages for big companies,the issue is necessarily complex. Safety remains the best policy.

Photos: D.R.

"Bio", "Biological", "Ecological" and "Organic"Beware of confusion!

We often hear, these days, about "bio", "biological", "ecological" or "organic" products. Production means and prod-ucts are defined according to these titles, often with no distinction or no real consideration for the precise mean-ing of each term.

"Bio" or "biological" agriculture is a foodstuff production method, followingsome precise production rules:* respect of the animals' "well-being", as opposed to "industrial" agriculture;* restoration of biodiversity and of soil-borne life in the ecosystems des-tined for production ("ecological" approach);* use of "organic" products for fertilization, pest control and all aspects ofproduction;* "field to plate" production quality control;* guaranty that the ecological, human and economic "benefits" profit soci-ety as a whole, role-model for industrial agriculture and "modification" of itsmethods (in particular for composting and weeding, etc.); * account taken of the human factor in the areas where this type of agricul-ture is practiced;* account taken of regional characteristics;* fair wages ethic, at all levels of the production chain, regardless of tasks or position;

* respect of a perennial vision of the economical development engendered by this type of exploitation;* dialogue with consumers;* setup of alternative distribution systems, proximity commerce, anti-globalization; * development of the farmers' technical and economic autonomy;* quest for the food autonomy of all people and territories on the planet.

This list is far from complete, but has the merit of helping us understand the difference between "biological", "eco-logic" and "organic". As you can tell, "biological" agriculture is a global means of production that takes into account"ecological" factors in the implementation of useful means to an end. "Biological" agriculture calls upon "organic"products to reach results (products) which will be called "bio". Even if the agriculture is "biological", we can say thefarmers practising it are using "organic" fertilization on their land, in "ecological" conditions.

Essentially, "organic" refers to products or fertilization and soil enrichment methods made from stable organic mat-ter. Soil, mineral salts, plant waste, root exudate, harvest residue, animal manure, insects, animals and humans are all"organic" matter or entities. Microbes and micro-organisms are saprophyte organisms that develop on dead organ-ic matter. "Biological" agriculture is thus extremely dependant on available organic matter. And because of its use oforganic matter... it is ecological!

To conclude, it is an "ecological" work, using "organic" matter, thatallows one to practice "biological" agriculture, which in turn will resultin "bio" products.

– B.B. (Sources: INRA, www.europarl.eu.int and Fédération nationaled’agriculture biologique des régions de France)

NOTES & NEWS

THE INDOOR GARDENER VOLUME 1 - ISSUE 2

14

Definitions (from Merriam-Webster's):

Bio: From the Greek, life: living organisms or tissue.

Biological: Of or related to life and living processes.

Ecology: The totality or pattern of relationsbetween organisms and their environment.

Organic: Of, relating to, or derived from livingorganisms.

Farmer seeks wife by taking an ad… in his corn field

A divorced farmer from New York State took out anunusual ad to find a partner for himself and his two chil-dren. With corn stalks, he wrote a short ad in the mid-dle of his field. The ad received a lot of media cover-age and so generated over 700 responses from allover the world. Pieter DeHond, 41, now only has tomake the right choice! – B.B.

Before dormancy in the fall, use calcium mineral supplements

If you apply calcium mineral supplements to your pere-nials after their decline has already started, during dor-mancy in the fall, root growth is accelerated, making astronger, healthier plant in the spring.– B.B. (Source: www.calcium25.com)

Photos: Danone, Agronews & www.calcium25.com

Silent SpringThe origin of the fight against pesticides

In her book Silent Spring, published in 1962 in the United States, RachelCarson described and exposed for the first time the devastating effects ofpesticides. In her brilliant exposé, she reviewed pesticides such asorganophosphates, organochlorines (which include DDT and dieldrin) andshe mostly denounced their devastating action on ecosystems, animal pop-ulations and sensitive habitats, such as rivers, lakes and ponds.

She gave the particular example of California in the early 1960s, where DDTwas used against the midges that bothered fishermen on some lakes. Thelocal population of grebes was quickly decimated.

Around the treated lakes, the concentration found in carnivores was of2,500 ppm while the consumed water only contained 0.02 ppm of DDT andplancton living in that water reached concentrations of 5 ppm. In nature, aswe know, nothing is gained, nothing is lost... unfortunately for animals,plants... and humans!

* Silent Spring, 40th anniversary edition, Houghton Mifflin Co, 2003.

– B.B. (Source: L’Alimentation de Demain, by Colin Tudge, Focus SciencesCollection, Pearson Éducation France, Paris, 2003)

NOTES & NEWS

Photos: Danone, Agronews & www.calcium25.com

Photos: D.R.


NOTES & NEWS

Mauritius: A Reunionese presents anew hydroponic technique

Mid-August in Port-Louis, Mauritius, anew hydroponic technique wasunveiled by its creator, a Reunionesenamed Jean-Pierre Goertz. With itsultraviolet radiation water recyclingand purification system, this newtechnology allows for greater waterconservation, an essential factor incountries where water is a rare com-modity. The system designed by Mr.

Goertz was dubbed "culture canelle" and its patent is pend-ing. According to the inventor, this technique allows the cul-tivator to use salt water after the UV radiation treatmentwhich, he says, "allows one to exploit salt water's nutrientsand trace minerals."

Mr. Goertz says his invention greatly improves the yield andquality of products by combining the best of existing hydro-ponic systems. When he presented his project, he said: "Theinitial investment costs less than existing systems. It is advan-tageous because it lasts twenty years, versus only one yearfor substrate bags, which can be a source of disease."

The reduced energy consumption and lower maintenancecost mean that this system is much cheaper for the produc-er than conventional hydroponic techniques. Water essen-tially circulates with the power of gravity, which allows forvital water savings is drought areas. "Since all the water cir-cuits are closed, there is no polluting residue rejected in theenvironment", said the inventor. He also affirmed that plantdensity and yield will be superior to existing systems, whichwill allow cost-effective operations in small spaces such ashouse roofs.

The inventor would like Mauritius to become the base ofoperations to develop and spread this technology interna-tionally, and in particular to the tropical countries of Africaand Asia. In Mauritius, many farmers have used hydroponicsfor some time, and grow tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchiniand other vegetables which they sell to tourist hotels and tohypermarkets.

Mr. Goertz noted that this new technology answers theneeds of developing countries, particularly in the case ofsmall islands where agricultural space and water resourcesare limited, the ecosystem is fragile and the high populationdensity (in constant growth) creates a strong demand forfresh produce. Over one hundred local farmers andresearchers attended the new technology's presentation,held at the head office of the Mauritius Research Council, inRose-Hill, 20 km south of the capital.

- B.B. Source: Angola Press

Gadget: Dual Powerpocket weather station

Whether you garden indoors or out-doors, the weather is always an impor-tant variable. Here is what technologynow offers in this area: a cordless pock-et weather station. It allows you toinstantly know the temperature insideand outside (without setting a toe outthe door!). A cordless sensor transmit-ting data through a wireless frequencydisplays the temperature. The integrated

e l e c t r o n i cb a r o m e t e ruses four pre-programmedpictograms tolet you knowwhether it willbe sunny,o v e r c a s t ,cloudy orrainy. It willpermanentlyshow you theforecast forthe next eighthours.

The gadget can also measure the humid-ity rate of the room it is in, and its mem-ory can record the maximum and mini-mum temperatures in a room as well asits humidity rate, to allow for compar-isons later.

Powered by solar power, it is perfectlyenvironment-friendly. Natural and artifi-cial light suffice to keep it going duringthe day; at night, lithium batteries takeover.

It measures 11.8 x 7 x 1.5 cm and itssensor covers an area of 8.2 x 5.5 x 2cm. Finally, its compact size makes it anattractive alarm clock to leave on yourbedside table, with an alarm and a cal-endar. Beep, beep, beep, time to waterthe beauties!

– B.B. (Sources: VSD and www.lhommemoderne.com)

Photos: w

ww.lhom

memoderne.com

, D.R.

NOTES & NEWS

Reaction of a hydroponic store owner to a new BritishColombia bill on customers' identity and the creation ofpurchasing records.

"I have clients who grow orchids, do food production. Ihave one lady who's trying very diligently to grow strawber-ries hydroponically. […] I would imagine [pot growers] areshopping somewhere. […] Forcing small business ownersinto being the regulators and monitors isn't the way to solve[the] problem." – Xari Moffitt, owner of The Grow Room,Vancouver, to CTV News Vancouver


Another gadget:the "eternal" flashlight

Still on thee c o l o g ytopic, hereis an idealflashlight tomake sureeverythingis goingwell iny o u rindoor gar-den duringthe dark-

ness cycle. First, it works without those bat-teries we never know what to do with oncethey're depleted. Its autonomy is guaranteedwith no battery and no electric current. Thisflashlight transforms a repeated movementinto electric energy, using a magnet (follow-ing the Faraday principle). To get all the lightyou need, you only have to shake the flash-light for at least 30 seconds! The energy thusobtained will be stored in a rechargeableaccumulator.

This flashlight emits no heat: its bulb, a fila-ment-less diode, uses the latest technology.The bulb is expected to last ten years! Theflashlight itself is eternal, because its casing isultra-rugged. The translucent and attractivecovering is waterproof, shock-proof and isintended to resist extreme weather condi-tions. It measures 17 cm. Finally, the cold andwhite light emitted by the diode is visible toover one kilometer and will be harmless forthe plants in a garden in which you need towork briefly during the darkness cycle.

– B.B. (Source: www.lhommemoderne.com)

New Caledonia: Agricultural prize forthe Fong spouses

The Fongs, farmers originally fromChina who have lived in NewCaledonia for many years, havereceived the Agricultural MeritMedal, a prestigious decorationoffered by the French Republicto individuals or associations thathave made their mark in agricul-ture. The Fongs are the champi-ons of hydroponics in NewCaledonia. They had priorlyfocused on market gardening,developing techniques thatmany other farmers have not yetmanaged to master. This also

confirms the growth of hydroponics on the Pacific islands!

– B.B. (Source : www.info.lnc.nc)

Maldives: an artificial island to surviveglobal warming

According to the mostfear-inducing reports,the temperature on thesurface of the globecould increase by 1.4to 5.8°C before the endof the 21st century. Thiswould raise ocean lev-

els by nearly 88 centimeters. The government of Maldives,the overpopulated Pacific ocean archipelago that is notmuch higher than sea level, has found a solution, and hashad built an artificial island with dead, crushed and piledcorals. For the other islands, an embankment project isbeing studied.Hulhumale is an artificial island build on a 5,000 m2 lagoon(Faru lagoon), two meters above sea level, whose infra-structures can already accomodate 150,000 people.Larger apartments than in the capital Malé (the smallestcapital in the world with an area of 1.77 km2!), greenspaces, straight roads, luxuriant gardens: Hulhumale is aparadise. But for how long?Another solution would be to sign the Kyoto Protocol andhence to fight against this extreme situation!

– B.B. (Sources: TV5, www.planete.tm.fr and www.souvenirs-dun-gm.ne)

Photos: w

ww.lhom

memoderne.com

, D.R.


TIPS & TRICKS

Many indoor gardeners look for information about growing beds fabrication meth-ods. Here is how you can make and use one.

Fabrication

The first step is to order plywood panes, cut to your desired measures, from a profes-sional. This way, you will not have to cut the wood yourself.

Here is the list of required materials to make one growing bed, in addition to the ply-wood:• a water-resistant plastic sheet;• a stapler;• a PVC pipe, 70 mm in diameter;• a big bag of expanded clay pellets;• plastic-coated chicken wire;• felt root cloth;• screws;• 4 multi-directional wheels for each of the growing beds.

The first step is assembling the boxes. Each box is 1.2 meter long, 1.2 meter wide and35 centimeters deep. If you are not handy, you can ask a friend who knows what he orshe is doing for help. The multi-directional wheels are fixed under each box. The water-resistant plastic sheet is then carefully placed inside each box and stapled on the out-side of the growing bed so that it be as watertight as possible. The bag of expandedclay pellets must be dumped in the bottom of the box so that this bottom layer beabout 5 centimeters thick. The PVC pipe must be cut at 35 centimeters. It is placed ineach of the four corners, by gently pushing it through the humidification medium madeof clay pellets. The pellets are pushed towards the center.

The felt root cloth is then installed. It needs to be cut to cover the humidification medi-um as exactly as possible. You are now ready to fill the box with organic substrate. Youcan buy it in specialized store or make it yourself. You will need a layer of soil that isabout 25 centimeters deep. Always think to add perlite for the mixture to be as aerat-ed as possible, even when using pre-mixed soil. Guano is another essential element. Thebest NPK (nitrate, phosphorus, potassium, in order) formula found in guano is 2-15-2:the flowers it produces are beyond compare. Even if you use pre-mixed commercialsubstrate, guano is required.

Organic Culture Substrate Mix(For one growing bed)

• One 50-litre bag of worm castings or worm compost;• Three 50-litre bags of muck soil;• One 50-litre bag of top soil;• Three 50-litre bags of light mix soil;• Two kilos of 2-15-2 guano;• Two kilos of 7-6-12 organic fertilizer;• One third of a bag of perlite; • Two kilos of maerl (for neutral pH).

All these ingredients must be well mixed and placed inside the box, on top of the felt root cloth. Reserve one bag of light soilmix to use later as a top layer. It is best to use the soil mix with the lowest nutrient concentration on top to avoid burning the

Organic, Home-made Growing Beds– Method 1: Watertight Plywood Boxes By Soma

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TIPS & TRICKS

roots of small clones when the time has come totransplant them in the growing bed. The most con-centrated soil mix must be used in the lower layersof the substrate, because it helps developing roots.

Air circulation is an important factor that contributesto the efficiency of growing beds. The air layerformed around the clay pellets allows improved aircirculation around the plants' roots, while the PVCpipes ensure passive air circulation. The roots needoxygen and a lack of oxygenation at the root levelcan be deadly to the plants. If the substrate is toohumid or soaked, it can cause root rot. Consideringthis, growing beds are efficient as long as the water-ing is adequate.

You are now ready to transplant. You will be able to place about twenty vegetable or floweringplants in each of the beds, in four rows of five plants. This cultivation method also prevents rootsaturation because the space is not so restricted.

Since 7-6-12 organic fertilizer and 2-15-2 guano are very efficient nutrients, you will not need toadd a great quantity of nutrients for the first five or six weeks. You can add some, in water with apH of 6.0. The roots will be stimulated by vitamin B, which contributes to maintaining a good bal-ance in the plants' immune system. Once you have tried this organic home-made growing bedtechnique, you will no longer want to use pots.

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Photos Captions: 1 & 2: Various plywood materials. 3 & 5: The wheels are fixed to the plywood, and then the water-resistant plastic sheetis applied. 4: Felt root cloth. 6 & 7: The clay pellets and aeration tubes are put in, and it is closed with the felt root cloth. 8: The aerationtubes must reach the layer of expanded clay pellets.


TIPS & TRICKS

Here is an alternative to the plywood boxes cov-ered in plastic and felt root cloth presented onthe preceding pages. It consists in building tensmall irrigation units on a 3m2 table, fed followingthe "feed to waste" method, which means thenutritive solution is only used once. The nutrientsare only distributed once, as we do with indoorpotted plants. That which is not absorbed by theplant is simply eliminated.

FabricationYou will need the following material:

• A 200-litre reservoir to prepare the nutritive solution;• Pre-cut plywood planks to fit the available surface in your indoor garden;• Large aluminum sheets;• Black PVC pipes, 5 to 7 cm in diameter;• Ten smaller pipe fittings with their bindings;• Ten small diffusers (micro-diffusion injectors for the end of the pipes);• "Black & White" (Mylar) plastic to cover the room's walls and reflect the light;• An ordinary fountain pump;• A pipe with four fittings;• Two grow lamps, 600 W each (or between 400 and 1000 Watts);• Four 50 kg bags of expanded clay pellets;• Two fans;• A thermometer;• A pH-meter and some “pH Down”;• A conductimeter (EC meter); • A timer; • A measuring cup.

The room is about 2 meters by 1.5 meter. The container is made of wood,assembled from superior quality plywood, and is covered with a thick layerof aluminum sheeting to prevent water leaks. You can have the plywood cutin advance to ensure the container will match the available space in your gar-den. Apply "Black & White" on the top part of the walls around the table,white side towards the room, to reflect the light.

Pierce the black PVC pipe to create openings where the irrigation/nutritionpipes will be fitted. Then, install a diffuser at the end of each irrigation pipe.You will use 50 to 75 litres of water every time you feed the plants growingin this table, and you will be able to put in as many as 50 plants.

It is necessary to install a pump for the circulation of fresh nutrients. An ordi-nary fountain pump will do the trick. The nutritive solution will be pumpedfrom the reservoir with the four-fitting pipe. The pipe will then bring thewater back to the reservoir to facilitate the mixing of the solution. You willonly have to open the black pipe to feed your plants. The last pipe leads tothe sewer to allow you to get rid of the residual solution.

Organic, Home-made Growing Beds – Method 2: Aluminum-covered Irrigation Table By Soma

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Photos: Advanced Hydro of Holland & D.R.

VOLUME 1 - ISSUE 3 THE INDOOR GARDENER

TIPS & TRICKS To light a 3 m² area, two 600 watt lamps will do (on aver-age, but between 400 and 1000 watts in any case). Bothlamps are connected to the timer, to offer the plants 12hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. The water temper-ature must be kept between 20° and 23°C, or between22° and 25°C for younger plants.

Cultivation Methods

Even though we prefer the nutrient elimination methodrather than that of recycling and redistribution, here aretwo methods you could use on this type of table.

A – "Feed to waste" (single use of nutrients):

The nutrients fed to the plants are eliminated after use. The "feed to waste" method is efficientwhen using a growing medium that requires little daily nutrient input (once to twice a day, forexample with rock wool, coco fiber, cork pots, etc.)

You must, however, have a color chart or a digital pH-meter to measure the alkalinity or acid-ity of the irrigation solution. A conductimeter is optional, but would allow you to control thesolution's electro-conductivity. The higher the EC level, the more potent the solution is.

Beginners at indoor gardening who are not familiar with pH and EC readings will obtain betterresults using the "feed to waste" method. With the added use of nutrients, plants will grow torequire less immediate care and maintenance will be easier and safer. PH and EC rates will fluc-tuate less. Mind you, there is no reason to panic if the pH fluctuates out of its limits for a shortperiod (no more than two days).

B – Recycling method (non-absorbed nutrients are redistributed):

With this method, the nutrients are sent back to a central reservoir after their first use and arere-injected permanently. This method is very efficient when using a growing medium thatrequires many daily nutrient inputs (expanded shale, expanded moss, perlite/vermiculite,aeroponics, etc.) A large reservoir, at least 3 litres per plant, will be placed in one corner ofthe room. PH and EC rates will be more sensitive because of the successive passages of thenutrients in the irrigation system, and will therefore fluctuate.

You must maintain the level (by adding water) and adapt the nutrient input (by frequently test-ing the solution's pH and electro-conductivity – at least every two days). Every two weeks orso, you will need to empty and clean the reservoir and prepare a new nutrient solution.

Photos Captions

1 – The table is placed on a reservoir. The plants are put on the table and water can be evac-uated.2 – You can see the holes drilled on the right of the black pipe. The pipe is connected toitself. With this method, you can use pressure to spray the nutritive solutions out of the pipe.3 – "Feed to waste": the black pipe feeds the solution and the gray pipe evacuates it.4 – Pipes are placed in the drilled holes.5 – Aluminum prevents your plants from resting on a humid bottom; it is also good againstroot diseases.6 – Extremity of the diffuser.7 – Four pipe fittings with the pump under and to the right.8 – The lamp is on a chain so it can be adjusted according to the growth cycle.9 – The thermometer records the highest and lowest temperature of the day.10 – Substrate used: coco fiber.11 – The timer is set on 12 hours per day.12 – Air entry pipe placed at ground level in the garden.

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TIPS & TRICKS

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There are various possibilities for the process of germinating. These arethe two ways we recommend:

Method 1: Pre-soaking

Put some moist tissue on a plate. Put the seeds on top and cover the seeds again with moisttissue. Cover the plate with another upturned plate, so that the seeds are in darkness and theenvironment remains moist.

Put the covered seeds in a warm place (21°C). Check the seeds every day; spray the tissueswith water if necessary to keep them moist but not soaked. Very carefully transplant (prefer-ably with tweezers) the seeds to a planting medium as soon as they open and the tip of theroot becomes visible.

Method 2: Sowing in a planting medium

Place the seeds under the surface of the planting medium at approximately the depth of theseed. Regularly spray the planting medium with water, but make sure that the soil or rock wooldoes not become too wet. The seedling uses the spare food present in the seed for grow-ing, so nutrients are unnecessary at this stage. Air is very important for the seed’s metabolism.So make sure that the soil remains sufficiently airy. One of the characteristics of rock wool isthat it retains plenty of air. Make sure that the rock wool is not standing in water and that anyexcess water can drain away properly.

Properly used, rock wool is a fine germination environment for the seeds. Peat tablets are idealfor starting seeds that will grow in soil. Keep the seeds warm (21°C) and moist, i.e. in a prop-agator. Remove the cover as soon as the seedlings sprout above the medium.

Young seedlings

The young plants are still very delicate. Therefore you should not place them in direct sunlightor under a 400 W propagation lamp. This might cause burning. Provide young plants with nutri-ent water with a low EC value (1.2) and add a delicate booster to strengthen the root system.When the seedlings have grown 2 or 3 sets of separate leaves they are ready to transplant.

1. Put the seeds onmoist tissue.

2. Cover the platewith anotherupturned plate.

3. Put the coveredseeds in a warmplace and keepthem moist. Theseeds will openand the rootsbecome visible.

Tips & Tricks

1. Put the seed in a growth medium approx.2-3 mm (max. 5 mm) under the surface.

2. Keep the seeds warm and moist,in a propagator for example.

By Jeff Turcotte

G E R M I N A T I O N

Photo: D.R. - Illustrations: Hydrotimes


INDUSTRY

I – What is Hydroponics?

Hydroponics is the science of cultivating plants without soil. Plantsgrow on a mineral or vegetable neutral, amorphous and sterile sub-strate (medium). The plants prosper with a nutritive solution (waterand liquid nutrients). The medium (hydroponic substrate) only actsas a support to the plants and roots; it spreads air and wateraround them.

The advantages of hydroponics: 1) It is simple; 2) It is customizable; 3) It is flexible; 4) It works well; 5) It is clean and sterile; 6) It is easy to move; 7) It respects the environment; 8) It works for any budget.

Why Replace Soil Cultures with Hydroponics?

Soil is the plants' natural milieu. In nature, natural biological cyclesconstantly replenish the soil's microbial life and earth worms andother tiny inhabitants modify the soil's structure. The roots of theplants in soil find their water and nutrients through this constantrenewal.

In a pot, soil is confined and isolated from nature: it quickly losesits original quality. Soil gets compacted after waterings. Oxygen-loving roots get asphyxiated. Microbial life vanishes quickly and thenutrients in the soil no longer get transformed into basic chemicalelements available to the plants.

In fact, after a while, the soil becomes a rather inert growing medi-um with poor mechanical properties. Watered regularly, it com-pacts and if it dries out, it becomes harder to rehumidify.

For these reasons, a plant grown in soil in a pot will always havelimited growth and a tendency to develop problems. The benefitsof soilless culture are now available to hobby gardeners. This sci-ence is usually called hydroponics. For the indoor plant lover, itoffers a great alternative to soil. You can convince yourself using asimple container with a water reservoir, by replacing soil with hor-ticultural rock wool flakes or coco fiber. The plant put in this idealmedium will prosper with minimal care: light, water, nutrients. Earlyin the first attempts, the hobby gardener begins to realize he too

has a “green hand”!

Which Plants Can be Grown Hydroponically?

Most plants can be grown in hydroponic gardens. Here is a list ofplants known to do well in hydroponics: tomatoes, bell peppers,peppers, lettuce, spinach, cardoon, zucchini, cucumbers, brocoli,beans, fine herbs, all kinds of flowers and most indoor plants. Rootvegetables like carrots, beets and potatoes grow very well in tallcontainers filled with perlite or rock wool flakes.

Growing Substrates and Their Use in Hydroponics

By Jean-Pierre Daimé and Pierre Bonnard (www.cityplantes.com)

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_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _(1): Substrate: The base on which an organism lives (Merriam-Webster's). Ph

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INDUSTRY

Which Techniques to Use?

Among all known systems, we will voluntarily limit our advice tothose systems that are truly adapted for hobby gardeners. We arevoluntarily leaving those systems that require too important aninvolvement or drastic environmental conditions.

We suggest that beginners start by replacing soil with an adaptedsubstrate in usual pots. After obtaining results with the qualities ofthe substrate used, the beginner can invest in a small active system(such as Flo-Gro 500) or a small flood table.

1 – Passive System:• water reservoir pot (or hanging basket) with rock wool flakes;• traditional pot (or hanging basket) with rock wool flakes;• traditional pot (or hanging basket) with “Gardex” substrate.

The amateur gardener who meets success with potted plants canthen try the Flo-Gro system or a flood table (allowing you to leavefor the holidays with no fear).

For the most passionate, an active system with a horticultural lampand air renewal allows for superb results with most plants.

2 – Active system (with electrical water pump and water reservoir):a) Flood table (recycling of the nutritive solution: water + nutrients)with: • rock wool, one meter slab; • coco fiber, one meter slab; • pots with rock wool flakes, clay pellets, perlite, Gardex. b) Container for substrate in one meter slabs: • rock wool in wrapped one meter slab; • coco fiber in wrapped one meter slab. c) Water circulating system on clay pellets with water pump: FloGro 500 and 520 hydroponic gardens. • clay pellets.

II – Growing Without Soil?

What is Soil?

Dirt is the basic "substrate" on our planet. To be more precise, inagriculture we speak of soil. Soil, or arable soil, is the superficialearth layer suitable for plant growth.

Soil is, first of all, a support. Plant life is made possible by the differ-ent components of soil. With their roots, plants absorb the mineraland organic matter required for their development. Let's have aquick simple look at the composition of soil.

Soil Composition

Arable or cultivable soil is a mixture of mineral matter with variousdecomposing plant and animal substances. The composition of soilwith those various elements can be infinitely varied, and dependson the location and the era. This is what makes soil more or less fer-tile.

What determines the fertility of soil? For most plants, it is the pres-ence of these components in adequate quantities:• Water, first and foremost (a single tomato plant can need overtwo liters a day!)• Mineral salts. The main four ones are:

• Calcium • Nitrogen • Phosphorous • Potassium

• Trace minerals, such as: • Boron • Copper• Iron• Magnesium • Manganese • Molybdenum • Sulfur• Zinc • Silica • and dozens of others...

• Finally, and necessarily, oxygen! Roots require oxygen to surviveand to perform their nutritive functions.

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INDUSTRY

In soil, the roots' need for an aerated soil is filled by the multipleholes and galleries dug by insects and worms. In fields, farmers turnthe soil – it is also to aerate the roots.

What Becomes of Soil in a Confined Space (containers such as pots, hanging baskets, etc…)?

As we know, nature's biological cycle regenerates the soil. Humus,a very fertile soil, is mainly made up of decomposing plants andinsects that will provide roots with nutritive elements required fortheir development. The life within aerates the soil and allows theroots to get the oxygen they require to function properly.

You'll have understood already that none of that occurs in a pot ora hanging basket. In a big pot, in good soil, any plant will copious-

ly withdraw the nutrients from this food reserve, and sooner or laterit will meet the soil's limit. That is why, when you want to keep niceplants in pots, you need to add nutrients. Unfortunately, however,after many waterings, the soil gets compacted, becomes water-tight and will smother the roots that have developed in the potwhile the soil's nutrients were being used. The root tips will sufferfrom necrosis, endangering plant growth.

Soilless Culture: An Old Story

Humans did not all have the chance of settling on fertile land.Soilless cultural techniques have been known since antiquity: thehanging gardens of Babylon used them, and the Chinese still use tra-ditional techniques to grow on gravel.

"Modern" soilless culture was born in the 19th century in Germanyduring the course of university research that aimed to discoverwhat plants consumed. The required methodology forcedresearchers to develop culture processes on inert substrates, inwhich the roots are only fed mineral salts brought by water. It wasthe best way to study the effects of different compositions onplant development. That is how hydroponics was born; the wordwas build from the Greek roots "hydro" (water) and "ponos" (work)and can be loosely translated by "making water work".

Hydroponics today is practised on millions of acres across theworld. Many of the fresh vegetables we buy in winter are grown inhydroponic greenhouses. So are many of the cut flowers we buyfor our enjoyment.

Advantages of Soilless Culture

1 – Nicer plants

• The inert substrate remains aerated;• The nutritive element dosage can be optimized for the plantcultivated; • The risk of drought is lessened: substrate holds more water thansoil does (80% of its volume in the case of rock wool);• No risk of drowning the roots. Once saturated in water, thepermeable substrate allows the excess water to drain;• Soil insects do not colonize inert substrates;• Disease germs do not take hold or, at worse, they propagatebadly in the organically sterile environment.

Photo: D.R.

2 – Less work and maintenance are required • Substrates are lighter than soil; • Substrates contain no seeds or undesirable insects;• Substrates are easier to manipulatethan soil;• The "soil" is perfectly clean and opti-mized to receive roots;• Minimal surface constraints;• Less frequent waterings;• And of course, it is much cleaner thansoil.

Soilless Culture and Ecology

The urban dweller might be interested instarting a vegetable garden on her bal-cony, a fine herbs garden in his kitchen or a few tomato or straw-berry plants in the living room.

You might as well "eat organic", since this cultivation mode is nowaccessible to all. Hydroponic techniques facilitate the use of natu-ral fertilizers and additives as well as biological treatments againstany eventual harmful insects.

Soilless culture is perfect to cultivate in a hostile environment.Soilless culture is used to facilitate the access of poor populationsto food... but is also used in space station projects. Between thoseextremes, our urban plants live in a hostile environment, are badly

nourished by an impoverished soil that is sometimes burnt by anexcessive use of nutrients and that smothers them. For our plants,hydroponic methods, using no soil, are the ideal answer to theconstraints of urban life.

Plants and Soil

Natural soil offers to plants: • a support to anchor their roots; • food from the decomposition of plant matter; • water (through capillarity and trickling); • oxygen (an essential need for roots!).

Substrates used to replace soil in hydroponic cultures offer theroots an ideal environment, fulfilling the four needs listed above.The nutrients are distributed mixed in water, in a form that is direct-ly available to the roots.

III – Substrates

Substrates used in soilless culture are cho-sen by gardeners in function of their qual-ities and according to the system used.

One can wish for a substrate that will holdlittle water (expanded clay pellets) andwater many times a day to create impor-tant root aeration.

For more traditional uses (pots, hangingbaskets) and with no active technicalmeans (pump, hydroponic garden), rookwool flakes is an ideal choice. It retains

both water and air, but cannot be over-watered. It allows for lessfrequent care while giving superior results!

A Few Substrates:

Gardex

Gardex is a hydroponic substrate made of a mixture of mineral mat-ter: vermiculite, perlite, horticultural hydrophilic rock wool andwater retaining agent. Its water retention capacity is 60% of its vol-ume and it allows for extended periods between waterings with-out risking to burn the plants.

Gardex can be used with automatic watering systems withoutencurring the risk of over-watering. The excess nutritive solution iseliminated by gravity. Gardex is an ideal substrate for the rooting ofcuttings.

Advantages: • Maximum aeration of the root mass: 33% of the volume is air! • Water retention superior to soil. • neutral pH (7), ideal for most plants. • Accelerated growth. • Vibrant foliage. • More abundant and colorful flowering. • More assorted plants in the same container.• Reduction of the watering frequency and easy rehumidification. • Constant volume: no compacting. • Sterile: treated at 1000 degrees, so no undesirable diseases, insects or seeds.

Substrate Weight/litre Water retention Durability Use

Gardex 100 g 85% Many years Any plant. "Green hand" guarantee for the beginnerRock wool slabs 50 g 85% Many years Vegetables, flowers, shrubsRock wool flakes 50 g 85% Many years Any plant and root vegetable. By itself or mixed.Coco fibres 70 g 35 to 50% Many years Any plant and root vegetable. By itself or mixed.Pozzolan 0.3 to 1.3 kg 10 to 20% Unlimited Active hydro system (circulating water)Expanded clay pellets 0.9 kg 15% Unlimited Active hydro system (circulating water)Perlite 100 g 35 to 50% Up to 3 seasons Any plant and root vegetable. By itself or mixed.Vermiculite 120 g 50% Up to 3 seasons Any plant and root vegetable. By itself or mixed.

INDUSTRY

(% of volume)


Photo: www.cityplantes.com


INDUSTRY

The results are beyond compare to those of soil culture!

Agrilène Horticultural Rock Wool (2)

Description: Agrilène horticultural rock wool is a growing medium made fromvolcanic rock fibers obtained by fusion at 1500°C with centrifuga-tion.

Chemically and biologically stable, it does not interact with thenutritive elements distributed in the water. Its chemical compositionresembles that of an average soil but, contrary to soil, the constitu-tive elements of the product are not bioavailable to the plant.

Rock wool is sterile: contrary to soil, it contains no insects or dis-ease germs. It can be easily disinfected (if necessary) between twoculture cycles with a bleach solution followed by abundant rinsing.When dry, rock wool is light and easy to handle. A rock wool slabis made of 97% air and only 3% fibres. When watered, it retains80% of its volume in water, most of which (98%) is available to theplants.

Advantages of Agrilène horticultural rock wool:

Agrilène horticultural rock wool is made from chosen components,guaranteeing the product's regular density of fibres uncontaminat-ed by fusion residue. It is a quality product which answers theneeds of amateurs and professionals alike.

• The germination caps have a conical cavity on the surface tofacilitate the positioning of the seed. • The support tray's alveoles are shaped to facilitate the aerationat the base of the caps. The tray (in expanded polystyrene) caneasily be cut in many slabs for easier handling. • The cubes' base has grooves that improve root aeration andpropagation. • The slabs are made of vertical fibers, and so resist collapsing. Thevertical fibers also allow the roots to colonize the substrate better.

Applications: • Caps: They are used for seedlings (by putting the seeds in indi-vidually and covering them with a fine layer of vermiculite) or forcuttings (a slight pressure will allow one to insert the cutting in thecap). Their disposition in individual alveoles on the tray makestheir handling easy.

• Cubes: The top of the cubes receives thecaps containing the plantlets or root-ed cuttings. Their height of 75 or 100millimeters is calculated for maximalwater retention while keeping thecubes as short as possible, whichtranslates into savings of space inheight compared to traditional con-tainers (flower pots).

The cubes are used for the growth of seedlings or rooted cuttings,until they become young plants, 20 to 30 centimeters high. Thebottom of the cube, by that point, in completely colonized byroots.

• Slabs: The slabs receive the cubes containing the young plant, for theirdefinitive installation and they cultivation until maturity. Cut a cross-shaped opening in the plastic on top of the slab to insert the cubeand put the roots in contact with the slab. The slabs can be used

for many successivecultures if they aremeticulously rinsedafter each use.

• Flakes: They replace soil in tra-ditional containers(pots, hanging baskets)while offering the quali-ties of rock wool. Theyare also used incorpo-rated in garden soil toimprove its waterretention, drainage andaeration. Two qualitiesof rock wool are usedfor this application:hydrophilic and waterrepellent. The flakes arealso used in mixes invarious hydroponicsubstrates.

Coco Fibers (by B.B.)

See our article in issue 2 of The Indoor Gardener, pages 60 to 62.

Pozzolan (by B.B.)

Extracted in open-air quarries, pozzolan is a very light and veryporous volcanic rock. It is mainly found in ancient volcanic areas,such as Auvergne in France. Its color varies from gray to maroon. Itis usually sold calibrated and it very useful to drain and aerate yourgrowing substrate while retaining the peat. It has a few minerals, hasa dry density below 1, is porous, abrasive, resistant and insulating.

The environment from which poz-zolan was taken has its importance:always take note of its origin.Because of its porosity, it can con-tain many elements. Even wellcleaned, it will retain impurities;you should make sure it comesfrom acid environments, like theFrench Massif Central. Its composi-tion can vary, but because it is aninert substrate, it does not mattermuch.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _(2): Text, illustrations and pictures by Agrilène,published with their autorisation Ph

otos: Josh Morell & www.cityplantes.com

INDUSTRY

Expanded Clay Pellets (by B.B.)

Expanded clay pellets are the most common substrate in hydro-ponics. They offer an immense surface per volume, whichimproves water evaporation. The plants will thus permanently livein a humid atmosphere that will protect the most fragile. Expandedclay pellets offer excellent drainage and serve as an automaticwater feeding system in case of drought in a passive system if a fineplastic mesh is placed above them, creating constant condensationand permanent humidity. In an active system, the clay pelletsrequire more frequent waterings.

Clay pellets are commercialised in the shape of porous balls, 8 to16 mm in diameter. The thousands of microscopic pores trap air.The pellets are light, which allows for a good balance between airand water around the roots. They are washable and reusable (it isstrongly recommended to rinse them before the first use, toremove the sandy dust on their surface. This will prevent a muddylayer at the bottom of the container). Expanded clay pellets onlyappeared on the hydroponics market a few years ago; the materi-al was first designed by European engineers in the 1950s to light-en concrete for construction purposes.

Perlite

Perlite comes from volcanic rocks with the appearance of coarseglass. This rock is piled and blown at high temperature (a little likepopcorn), which gives it a porous, light texture that attracts water.Its excellent capillarity allows for constant water feeding, becauseperlite "inhales" the nutritive solution (water and nutrients) by regu-larly replacing that consumed by plants. The pots can even besoaking in one centimeter of nutritive solution and watering will getdone on its own, without risking to drown the roots, because per-lite offers many aerated spaces between its granules.

Pozzolan Characteristics (Table by Mr. Van Nerum for www.plantescarnivores.com)

% Porosity pH CEC Density % Water Retention Durability C/N % Void Ratio Asphyxia Air Chemical Action60 to70 6.5 to 7 0 0.8 to 0.13 19 to 20 Very good 0 1.9 to 2.3 low 46 0

Photo: Agri-nova


INDUSTRY

Professionals use it to cultivate vegetables and fruits (tomatoes,eggplant, fine herbs, strawberries...). Perlite is then placed inopaque plastic bags and watered continuously by drip irrigation.The results are as remarkable as those obtained with rock wool.

Perlite's lightness is very useful to plant root vegetables (carrots, black orwhite radishes...) in deep containers such as plastic buckets.

Advantages:

• Maximum aeration of the root system; • Water retention superior to that of soil; • Ideal support for cuttings; • Neutral pH (7), ideal for most plants; • Light, respects young roots; • Chemically stable and inert; • Reusable: can handle many flowerings and harvests.

Perlite is a good medium for seedlings and cuttings. Its lightness,thermic stability and its air/water balance offer an ideal rooting envi-ronment.

Vermiculite (by J.R.)

Like perlite, vermiculiteis a material commonlyused by gardeners tolighten a substrate andto improve its retentionof water and nutrients.Expanded vermiculite isa silicate of alumina andmagnesium. It is of natu-ral origin, but is pro-duced through temper-atures so high the mate-rial does not melt, butdilates. Vermiculite isloved by horticulturistsbecause of its root aer-ation and water andnutrient retentioncapacities. It can bemixed in equal partswith perlite to obtain asecond-tier substrate –such a substrate "ages"badly. Perlite drains thewater while vermiculiteabsorbs it. In the longerrun, however, the mix-ture becomes too com-pact to aerate and oxy-genate the roots prop-erly. Perlite and vermicu-lite can easily be foundin horticulture centersand department stores.

Maerl – Re-mineralizing Limestone Algae (by J.R.)

Maerl is not a substrate per se. It is a product from Atlantic oceanalgae, which is rich in calcium, magnesium, iron and various traceminerals. The limestone algae from which it comes have the prop-

erty of crystallizing the mineral elements contained in sea water.Magnesium (Mg) and calcium (Ca) are the most sought-aftermicronutrients for rapid growth plants. When mixed with a growing

substrate, it regenerates thesoil. Superior quality maerlcontains lithothamme. Maerl isoften used to neutralize thepH of acidic soils. Once thepH corrected with maerl,plants absorb the soil's nutri-ents in an optimal fashion.

Dosage:

• full soil: 5 to 10 kg per 100 m2

• potting soil: 250 to 500grams per 1000 litres,depending on the plant andon pH.

Happy Gardening!

Photos: Josh Morell & www.cityplantes.com


GEAR

In hydroponics, growing mediums areextremely varied. Here are a few examplesand a few words about how to use eachof them.

A) Rock Wool

Rock wool is a very effective growing medium. It can be usedin wicking, flood, drip, nutrient film technique or aeroponics. Itis one of the world’s most popular growing medium. When laidout on an ebb and flow tray, it will retain the right amount ofoxygen for the roots yet hold plenty of water with nutrients.Prepared in many shapes and sizes for cuttings, it is the perfectmedium to start new plants: you’ll find 2.5 cm cubes for cut-tings and 5, 7.6, 10 and 15-centimeter blocks for different sizesof plants. You can also find 10 x 15 cm or 20 x 91 cm slabs thataccomodate larger plants. On the picture (top left, page 37),you can see pepper plants in 10 x 10 cm cubes sitting on slabs.On the right, you have a picture of a cutting in rock wool; andon the left, roots grow through rock wool.

Rock wool is made by melting basalt or rhyolite rock and spinningit to give it the consistency of cotton candy. Then it is pouredonto a spinning disk that makes fine strands of rock wool andbinds them together with resins so that it holds its shape. Keepthe wrap on to block out light and to keep roots together. Youmay use a lower pH value in your water. This will lock up the

Growing Mediums: Characteristics and Recipes

By William S. – Photos: B & B Hydroponic Gardens and D.R.


GEAR

alkaline sites faster, but will begin to break down more of theresins.

My Recipe to Neutralize pH in a Rock Wool Medium

Rock wool has a high pH value that must be neutralizedbefore use. Once done properly the pH is very stable.1) Lay rock wool out on tray, with wrapping paper on.2) Fill tray or reservoir with pH 5.2 water.3) Flood tray or soak rock wool for three hours.4) Flood tray often.5) After three hours, drain and flood with pH 6.5 water.6) Make new pH 6.5 water and pour over rock wool.7) Let this water sit in rock wool for one hour.

8) Remove a little bit of water with a syringe and test the pHof the rock wool water.9) If the pH stays around 6.5, you are ready to plant. Preparea new nutrient solution and feed the plants.10) If the rock wool water's pH is above 6.5, repeat steps 1to 9. If the pH of the rock wool is below 6, repeat steps 6to 9.

Lay 7.6 or 10-cm rock wool cubes wall to wall in a growingtray. If you do not fill up the tray, you must block out the lightfrom getting at the roots. This is the sea of green method. Use2.5 cm starting or cutting rock wool cubes to fill the holes.Jiffy 7 cubes may also be used, but could lead to problemsbecause soil has different water holding abilities. Becauserock wool comes in so many different shapes and sizes, all

sorts of systems can be designed. Slabs of rock wool arelaid out in trays with cubes sitting on top. The nutrient solu-tion backs to the reservoir with fittings and tubing on thebottom of the tray. This unit is great for large plants such astomatoes, cucumbers and bell peppers. Make sure that youknow about “companion gardening”, as some plants areenemies of each other: their roots or water cannot toucheach other or your yield will be greatly reduced (pictureabove: side view).

In the picture on the right,there is no waste of rockwool material.

The loose rock wool can beshaped into any growingchamber or mixed with soil. Itis absorbent, repellent andcan be used in a 50/50 mix-ture.


GEAR

B) Lecca or Clay Pellets

Lecca (lightweight expanded volcanic clay aggregates) orclay pellets are often used in hydroponics and are an alter-native to rock wool. They can, however, be very expensive.When clay is used as part of the soil, it holds and stores nutri-ents. Mineral elements are then slowly released into the soilsolution. Lecca comes in large or mixed size pellets that canbe used in drip systems or aeroponic and hydroponic gar-dens. They can be used on ebb and flow gardens but arevery light and may float, dislodging roots.

C) Haydite or Herculite (Expanded Shale)

Expanded shale is a light-weight aggregate known asherculite or haydite. It is pro-duced by passing crushedshale through a rotary kiln atabout 1093°F. Gases withinthe shale expand, formingmillions of tiny air cells within

the mass. Haydite is a sterile heavy growing medium. Hayditeis great for aeroponics, drip irrigation, ebb and flow, nutrientfilm technique (NFT) or passive systems.

D) Coco Peat

Coco peat is a renewablegrowing medium. It is madefrom the waste of the coconutshell. One small compressedbrick will make about sevenliters of growing medium; a 5 kg

brick will make about 60 liters. Sometimes, you will findbricks that have been previously washed in a low salinewater. The ppm of your waste water should be around 250ppm, not 1000 ppm like some coco products. You do nothave to leach out the salts before use. Coco peat is availablein bricks or in Black & White-wrapped slabs.

My Recipe for Coco Peat

Soilless soil recipe for coco peat• 2 x 5 kg coco peat brick, • 4 kg vermiculite, • 2 kg perlite, • 750 ml fine lime.• Optional: bat guano, kelp, Gel Power.Mix all ingredients together dry, then wet with Power Thrivesaturated water.

E) ProMix BXSoilless Soil

This is the choice of profes-sionals. You just have to addlime, perlite and vermiculite.Soilless soil allows you tocontrol the nutrients that aredelivered to your garden.

My Recipe for ProMix Soilless Soil

Soilless soil recipe for Pro-Mix• 107 liters Pro-Mix,• 2 kg vermiculite,• 2 kg perlite, • 750 ml fine lime. • Optional: bat guano, kelp,Gel Power.

Mix all ingredients together dry,then wet with Power Thrivesaturated water.

GEAR

F) Vermiculite

Vermiculite is used to hold air andwater containing mineral elements.Cuttings like the high moisture and aircontent of vermiculite. Mix it withSoilless Soil to increase water or airholding power. No soil gardenshould go without vermiculite.

G) Perlite

Perlite also holds plenty of air andwater: it has many fissures thatholds both on its irregular surface.Again, no soil garden should gowithout perlite.

H) Worm Castings or Vermicompost

Worm castings are nature’s big secret. Worms dig tunnels through theground, devouring everything ediblein their path. By controlling what youfeed the worms, you can get a veryhigh quality casting. Worms canimprove the soil quality by over1000%.

I) Kelp PowderKelp powder is an all-natural plant food alternative. Islandfarmers have been going to the sea for hundreds of years togather kelp. Once the sea salt is washed out, the kelp is driedand spread out onto the fields. Gardeners and mainlanderscan take advantage of this attribute of the sea. Kelp is one ofthe fastest growing plants on the planet. Be assured that yourplants can use its potential. It works and it's cheap. Mix someinto your soil. Kelp contains over 50 known mineral elements.

Kelp powder is made up ofkelp ground into a very finepowder that will decomposequickly. Kelp powder releas-es many natural growth regu-lators and mineral elements.Once you have planted andyou want to add more kelppowder we introduce...

J) Sea Powder

Sea Powder is liquid kelp thatdissolves easily into water andwill be carried down into thesoil. It can also be used in hydro-ponics with great success.

K) Oasis CubesOasis Cubes is a water-absorbingfoam that has been cut into root-ing cubes. A 25 x 50 cm slabholds 104 plants. No pH adjusting is necessary; just soakwith Power Thrive and plant. It holds plenty of oxygen andwater.

L) Other Soil Products

• Jiffy 7When put into water, little pucks of Jiffy 7 will expand six toseven times their height. They are great for starting seedlingsor cuttings. Each Jiffy 7 puck is wrapped in a mesh bag thatwill retain the soilless soil and allows roots to grow through.Once roots are seen on the outside of the bag, transplantinto a larger container.

• Jiffy ContainersJiffy Containers are made from soilless soil. They must be keptwet so that roots can grow easily through them. If the soilbecomes dry, roots will not grow through the container.

• Grocery Power Grow BagsYou can also use 6 ml plastic growing chambers that look likepaper grocery bags. With a few flips and tucks they open upand lay flat on the bottom. They are sturdy enough for anyplant: some can contain as much as 60 liters and are largeenough for any indoor garden. Holes must be cut in the bot-tom and on the sides to allow air exchange within the rootmass.



GEAR

• Coco and Rubber PotsI have recently discovered a new type of pots made fromcoco and rubber. They allow roots to breathe more easilyand expand through the fibers. They are great for transplant-ing. Oh, and they will bounce like a rubber ball!

• Slabs of Tree Fern or Cork and Fir Bark NuggetsSome epiphytic orchids can be wired onto slabs of tree fernor cork. As a general rule, fir bark nuggets are the most pop-ular growing medium. An orchid growing medium must pro-vide good air circulation and allow water to drain very quick-ly. It must also give the roots something to cling to securely.Depending on the type of orchid, they can be happy grow-ing in fir bark, cork nuggets, dried fern roots, peat moss,sphagnum moss, rock wool, perlite, stones, coconut fiber,lava rock or a blend that combines several of these materials.

• Usual PlasticGrowing PotsYou can alsouse all types ofplastic growingpots from 5 cmto 26.5 litrepots.

• SaucersAll plant containers have holes to allow drainage of exces-sive water. But what protects the floor from the run off? Wellhow about these saucers, from 10 to 30 cm? One of themwill do the job! Do not leave plants sitting in water.

• The BlumatImagine never having to worry about watering your plantsagain. The Blumat, an automatic dripper, is the answer. EachBlumat has a built-in plunger that will pinch the water tubingto close it. When the soil becomes dry around the Blumat,the plunger releases water from a barrel connected by tub-ing until the water levels in the soil are replenished. Then theplunger pinches the tubing, stopping the flow of water. Eachplant is watered independently. Most hydroponics shopscarry all types of fittings, pressure reducers, and tubing forthe Blumat.

• Made-to-measure Greenhouse Watering MatThis is a commercial greenhouse watering mat built to savetime and money. It is made with a wicking material, a water-proof liner and woven material that passes water through itsmembrane to water plants. Some commercial greenhousesuse mats of this type that are over 60 meters long and 2.4meters wide. And all their plants are at the same height:every plant is getting the same amount of water. Most hydro-ponics shops have special units made that are 2.6 x 1.4meters in size. And they can have any size built for you!

The main soil amendment that can be added to your soil mix iscomposted manure: sheep manure, cow manure, shrimp com-post, marine compost, etc. Once mixed in, these composts willbe active for months, modifying the pH (bringing it closer to neu-trality) and fertilizing slowly and progressively. They will also add amicroflora that will speed up the decomposition of beneficial ele-ments in the soil, making them available faster and more easily forthe plants.

Adding sphagnum moss will preserve deep moisture in the sub-strate. Its acid pH can be adjusted with liming material: lime, calci-um, magnesium, wood ashes, etc. Sphagnum moss is rich in organ-ic matter, so it is a considerable ameliorant for the substrate. Thesubstrate will then decompose over years.


TECHNIQUES

Home-madeSubstrateBy Jessy Caron

When making a home-made substrate, manycombinations can be used, and one is as goodas the next. Normally, soil is made up of 5%organic matter, 45% mineral soil, 25% air and25% water.

The main components of soil are sand, silt andclay. These three substances are required for abasic soil in which to grow plants. The contentsof mineral soil varies from one region to thenext: that is why it is important to balance yourmixture properly, to create the perfect growingenvironment for your type of plant.

39

TECHNIQUES


Using mulch onthe surface canbe beneficial: itpreserves thesoil's humidityand enhancesambiant air witha cedar or hem-lock aroma.Mulch can alsoserve to protectthe topsoil (thezone cultivatedand reworkedby humans)from excessive

winds and rains, preventing the soil structurefrom degradation. It also creates a microclimateat ground level, which stim-ulates the soil's biologicalactivity.

To improve the soil's aera-tion and its water retention,perlite and vermiculite canbe added. You can replaceperlite with recuperatedstyrofoam: it is environmen-tally sound, since styro-foam, once manufactured,is no longer biodegrad-able. Just crumble it upand mix it in the substrate.

I am very rarely able to find leonardite (oxi-dized lignite), a rare specimen that should befound in your substrate. Leonardite is rich inhumic and fulvic acids, ready to decompose tomake humus. That is good food for your soil,which can then decompose with the help ofthe active underground system.

My favorite amendment is ACTI-SOL's henmanure 4-4-2. Such a fertilizer works not only

on the plant but on the soil, and that is crucial:we need a rich, mellow soil to invite plant rootcolonization. The poultry manure is active forsix weeks. It also liberates magnesium, calciumand organic matter while fertilizing with N-P-K.You will need no liming agent to adjust the opti-mal pH (around 6.5). The microflora is activat-ed by such a natural amendment. Microbial lifeincreases, which structures the soil instead ofimpoverishing it. Note that an autumn formula-tion is also available, with a higher phosphorousand potassium content.

A structured soil, rich in natural elements,increases and stimulates the earthworm popu-lation, an essential element of soil composition.A lot of work will be required to fix the soilwhen there are few earthworms or none.

Earthworms eat plantwaste, which getsmixed with the dirtin the worm'sstomach and istransformed intoworm castings thatare useful to plantroots, with waterand oxygen. Aworm casting con-centrate can be auseful tool toincrease the

enzyme and beneficial microbe popula-tions in poor soils or sterile substratessuch as rook wool.

There is no miracle recipe, but using manybeneficial elements and applying goodhorticultural methods will generally lead tosuccess. Respect proportions, don'texaggerate, and see the results for your-selves!

Happy horticulture!

Clay grains

Rockwool

Coco

Lightmix

Soil

Photo: Marco Deux

White Hibiscus

GALLERYOUR BEST SHOTS FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE

GALLERY

Photo: Bruno Bredoux

Dalhia purple cream

Annette’s neighbor’s zucchinis

Photo: Martha

GALLERY

Photo: vieux bandit

Wild rose

Photos: Bruno Bredoux

Odette’s kiwis in Brittany

GALLERY

Orange Hibiscus under artificial light

Photos: Fred Leduc

Hellebore – Photo: D.R.

Photo: D.R.

Tulip Young Bud

GALLERY

Daisies

Photo: D.R.

Photo: flow

erjpg.ru

White Amaryllis

GALLERY


TECHNIQUES

Indoor gardeners are often discouraged by the horror storiesthey hear about the problems that can occur when going fromsoil culture to hydroponics. Accumulation of mineral salts, pHvariations, nutritive saturation at root level, algae bloom,eutrophic1 disturbance: those are all factors that can under-mine the efforts of a caring gardener. Frustrated, the gardeneroften goes back to traditional culture in soil.

A Few Basic Principles that Apply to Most Hydroponic Systems

TemperatureTemperature is themain factor to consid-er because it governsthe plants' metabolicrate, the nutritive ele-ment absorption ratewhich directly influ-ences the growth rate.A temperature that istoo low is the mostcommon source ofabiotic stress in anindoor garden. Whenthe lamps are off, thetemperature decreas-es and the plants'metabolism slowsdown. Hydroponicsystems can optimizethis essential factor:the reservoirs' temper-ature can be con-trolled with an aquarium water heater. The heat emitted by thereservoir is absorbed by the plant and keeps the metabolicrate going.

Night/Day Variations Plant grown in a hydroponic system develop as rapidly duringthe night as during the day and, consequently, are usually big-ger than those grown in soil. Although photosynthesis doesnot occur during the darkness period, the metabolic rate

remains high. You can notice new shoots that have developedduring the night by examining the plants in the morning. Even ifthe plants develop at night, the foliage remains pale becauseof the decrease in the duration of the photosynthesis period.

OxygenOxygen is an important element for the plant's metabolism.Water and oxygen molecules combine when the temperatureis below 22°C. The plant absorbs the combined molecules asone, which increases its metabolic rate. A simple aquariumpump with a flowmeter and an air stone placed in the reser-

voir will improve thisprocess.

Alkalinity or acidityof the nutritivesolutionDuring the growth phase,also called anabolism,plants produce alkaliwhich increases the pH(more alkaline). Duringthis phase, we use acompound named "pHdown" which lowers thepH, to maintain its stabili-ty. During the floweringphase, catabolism causesa pH drop. We then use acompound called "pHup" to raise the pH. Thetwo products, "pH up"and "pH down" shouldnever be used simultane-ously, or they could

cause a eutrophic disturbance. You must add plain water tothe reservoir's water when using "pH down". You must alsoadd nutrients to lower the pH.

Salt AccumulationClogging due to a salt accumulation is caused by two factors:the concentration of nutrients due to evaporation of the reser-voir water and the use of nutrients added to the water insteadof plain water when filling the reservoir. In hydroponics, one

From Soil to Hydroponics

By Richard Gruda

TECHNIQUESmust alternate therinsing cycles andthe nutrient feed-ing. The rinsingcycle can beperformed aftereach feeding andby filling thereservoir withplain water dur-ing the week. Asthe concentra-tion of nutrientsdiminishes, youwill see positivechanges in yourplants' appear-ance, and the

receptor sites will show no more salt residue.

System MaintenanceRinsing cycles performed in a substrate such as soil are not asefficient because of the action of nutritive molecules on soilmolecules. Some consumers can detect an after-taste fromthese elements that are sometimes still in the product grown insoil. Some fertilizers are far from harmless and resist rinsing;they store themselves in the plant's fibers. The presence ofsuch elements in the plant can affect consumers with a weak-ened immune system. Inadequate maintenance of a hydropon-ic system can have dire consequences. Among others, roots

can block the drain.Make sure the drainremains accessibleso the roots can bemoved by hand. Itis important to trimthe harmful rootsregularly beforethey develop fully.When the roots aretrimmed when theyare small, the plantdoes not suffermuch.

Algae BloomAlgae proliferation in a hydroponic system can cause rootburns, clog drip irrigation systems and damage the entire sys-tem. Oxygen peroxide for plants is an essential tool to maintaincleanliness and to ensure the hydroponic system is functional.

These are the basic principles to allow you to succeed withhydroponics... if you abide them.

Enjoy your gardening!

(1) Eutrophic: characterized by the state resulting from eutrophication – theprocess by which a body of water becomes enriched in dissolved nutrients thatstimulate the growth of aquatic plant life, usually resulting in the depletion of dis-solved oxygen.

From Soil to Hydroponics


TECHNIQUES

It’s That Time of Year Again!

By Fred Leduc (text & pictures)

TECHNIQUES

After a wonderful summer it’s that time of year again, time to thinkabout bringing our botanical friends back indoors for the winter. Forsome of you it’s as simple as bringing a few hanging baskets fromthe patio to the living room and you aredone. Then there are people like me, whohave hundreds and hundreds of plants tobring back indoors for the winter. Usually Iwill start at the end of August, bringing thetender and fragile plants in first and continueuntil the middle of November when I finishwith the hardier plants.

When bringing plants into your home, thereis not much difference between a new plantand plants that have been outside in the gar-den all summer. There are two simple rulesor guidelines to follow when bringing plantsinto your home.

First: know your plants’ requirements. Can you providethe proper environment? Is there enough light, does itneed a southern exposure? Does the plant have arest period, or dormant phase? When will it flower?Does it even flower?

Because you are returning your botanical friends to theindoors, you probably know what they like. The mostimportant thing to know is the minimum temperaturethe plant can tolerate; add 5 to 10°. This is when mostplants should be brought indoors. I’ve added a list ofcommon house plants with their maximum and mini-mum temperature to help you decide when yourplants should come indoors.

The second thing is to inspect and clean all of your plants beforethey come into your home! If there are any pests, parasites orpathogens, they must be dealt with outside. You don’t want tobring any of those nasty pests in your house.

You can use a commercial insecticidal soap to clean your plants andpots. Don’t forget the underside of the pot. I have a home brewthat I use and it works very well. If you would like to try it, here isthe recipe:

• Ten cigarettes or a pinch of strong tobacco• 2 cups of boiling water• One ounce of gin• One ounce of antiseptic mouth wash• One cup lemon-scented dish soap

Make a tea with the tobacco and boilingwater. Let it steep until the water is cold, thenfilter out the tobacco. Now add all otheringredients to your tobacco tea. Mix it alltogether. Use the brew at 5 ml per litre. Usinga sprayer or a garden hose attachment, washyour plant and pot thoroughly. It is best towash your plants the same day that they arecoming indoors.

For the indoor gardener, this is the beginningof the season, not the end of summer!

do do do


Scientific name Common Name Maximum °C. Minimum °C.

Acalypha hispida Philippine Medusa, Red-Hot Cattail, Chenille Plant 26.6 15.5Acorus gramineus Grassy-Leaved Sweet Flag 23.8 4.4Aechmea fasciata Urn Plant 23.8 15.5Agave americana Century Plant 23.8 10Aloe brevifolia Short-Leaved Aloe 23.8 7.2Anthurium scherzeranum Flamingo Flower 21.1 12.7Aporocactus flagelliformis Rat’s Tail Cactus 23.8 7.2

Begonia semperflornes-cultorum Wax Begonia 23.8 12.7Billbergia nutans Queen’s Tears 23.8 7.2Bougainvillea glabra Paper Flower 23.8 10Browallia speciosa Major Sapphire Flower 18.3 12.7

Caladium hortulanum Elephant’s Ears 23.8 15.5Calathea makoyana Cathedral-Windows 21.1 15.5Calceolaria herbeohybrida Slipper Flower 21.1 10Callisia elegans Striped Inch Plant 23.8 10Campanula isophylla Star-Of-Bethlehem 21.1 4.4Capsicum annuum Christmas Pepper 23.8 12.7Catharanthus roseus Old-Maid 23.8 10Chamaerops humilis European Fan Palm 23.8 10Chlorophytum comosum Ribbon Plant 23.8 7.2Chrysanthemum morifolium Chrysanthemum 18.3 12.7Cleyera japonica Tricolor 23.8 10Coleus blumei Flame Nettle 23.8 15.5Columnea banksii Columnea 29.4 18.3Crinum powellii Spider Lily 23.8 10Crossandra infundibuliformis Firecracker Flower 26.6 18.3Cryptanthus bivittatus Earth Star 23.8 15.5Cuphea ignea Cigar Flower 23.8 10Cyperus alternifolius Umbrella Palm 23.8 10

Dichorisandra reginae Queen’s Spiderwort 26.6 15.5Dieffenbachia maculata Spotted Dumb-Cane 26.6 15.5Dracaena draco Dragon Tree 23.8 10

Echinocactus grusonii Golden Barrel 23.8 4.4Epiphyllum ackermannii Orchid Cactus 26.6 15.5Episcia cupreata Flame Violet 23.8 18.3Eucalyptus gunnii Gum Tree 26.6 7.2Euphorbia milii Crown Of Thorns 23.8 12.7Euphorbia pulcherrima Poinsettia 23.8 15.5Exacum affine German Violet 23.8 15.5

Ferns Ferns 23.8 10Fiscus elastica Rubber Plant 26.6 10Fittonia verschaffeltii Nerve Plant 21.1 12.7Fuchsia Lady’s Eardrops 18.3 12.7

Gardenia Gardenia 23.8 15.5Geogenanthus undatus Seersucker Plant 26.6 18.3Gesneriaceae Gesneriads 26.6 18.3Gynura sarmentosa Purple Passion Vine 23.8 12.7

Haworthia margaritifera Pearl Plant 23.8 4.4Hedera helix “Chicago” English Ivy 23.8 15.5Hibiscus rosa-sinensis Rose Of China 23.8 10Hoya carnosa Honey Plant 23.8 10Hyacinthus Dutch Hyacinth 21.1 7.2Hypoestes phyllostachya Baby’s Tears 23.8 14.4

Impatiens Impatiens 26.6 12.7Iresine herbstii Beefsteak Plant 23.8 15.5Jacobinia carnea Brazilian Plume 23.8 10

TECHNIQUESMaxiim

um and Minimum

Tem

peratures (°C) for Optimum

Plant Growth

Scientific name Common Name Maximum °C. Minimum °C.Jasminum officinale Common White Jasmine 15.5 7.2Kalanchoe beharensis Velvet-Leaf 23.8 10Kleinia articulata Hotdog Plant 21.1 15.5

Laelia Laelia 18.3 8.8Lantana camara Yellow Sage 23.8 7.2Lithops Living Stones 23.8 10Livistona shinensis Chinese Fan Palm 23.8 7.2Lophophora diffusa False Peyote 32.2 10

Maranta leuconeura erythroneura Prayer Plant 21.1 12.7Mimosa pudica Touch-Me-Not 23.8 15.5Monstera deliciosa Swiss Cheese Plant 23.8 15.5Myrtus communis Dwarf Myrtle 23.8 7.2

Narcissus Daffodil 5.5 4.4Neoregelia carolinae Blushing Bromeliad 23.8 10Nertera granadensis Bead Plant 18.3 7.2

Ophiopogon jaburan White Lily Turf 23.8 10Oplismenus hirtellus Ribbon Grass 23.8 12.7Opuntia microdasys Prickly Pear 23.8 7.2

Pachyphytum oviferum Moonstones 23.8 7.2Passiflora caerulea Passion Flower 23.8 7.2Pelargonium Geranium 23.8 7.2Pentas lanceolata Egyptian Star Cluster 26.6 10Peperomia obtusifolia Baby Rubber Plant 23.8 12.7Phalaenopsis Moth Orchid 21.1 20Philodendron Philodendron 23.8 12.7Phoenix canariensis Canary Date Palm 23.8 7.2Pilea cadierei Watermelon Plant 23.8 12.7Platycerium bifurcatum Elk’s Horn-Fern 23.8 12.7Pleomele reflexa Song Of India 23.8 12.7Plumbago auriculata Cape Leadwort 23.8 4.4Podocarpus macrophyllus Buddhist Pine 23.8 10Polystichum tsussimense Dwarf Holly Fern 23.8 12.7Primula malacoides Fairy Primrose 18.3 7.2

Rhapis excelsa Little Lady Palm 23.8 7.2Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri Easter Cactus 23.8 10Rhododendron Rhododendron 18.3 7.2

Saintpaulia African Violet 23.8 12.7Sansevieria trifasciata Mother-In-Law-Tongue 26.6 12.7Scindapsus aureus Golden Hunter’s Robe 23.8 10Sedum morganianum Donkey’s Tail 23.8 4.4Setcreasea purpurea Purple Heart 23.8 7.2Smithiantha zebrine Temple Bells 23.8 18.3Solanum capsicastrum False Jerusalem Cherry 23.8 10Stapelia variegata Toad Plant 23.8 15.5Strelitzia reginae Bird Of Paradise Flower 23.8 10Syngonium podophyllum Arrowhead Plant 23.8 12.7

Thunbergia alata Black-Eyed Susan 23.8 10Tradescantia fluminensis Wandering Jew 23.8 10Trichocereus spachiantus Golden Column 23.8 1.6Trichocereus pachanoi San Pedro 23.8 1.6Trichocereus peruvianus Peruvian Torch 26.6 1.6Trichocereus terscheckii Golden Saguaro 32.2+ 1.6

Vriesea splendens Flaming Sword 23.8 15.5Washingtonia filifera Desert Fan Palm 26.6 10Yucca aloifolia Spanish Bayonet 23.8 10Zantedeschia Calla Lily 21.1 10

TECHNIQUESMaxiim

um and M

inimum

Temperatures ( °C) for Optim

um Plant Grow

thBy Fred

Leduc


PLANTS’ HEALTH

Whether in hydroponics or in soil, as soon as theyoung plantlet is transplanted, roots are subject tonumerous attacks from the growing environment,whether it be an overdose of nutritive solution,over-watering or even diseases transmitted by thesoil itself like pythium, fusarium or infestations byparasites like root lice and root scales.

1 – Over-watering, Lack of Oxygen = RootPutrefaction

One of the major risks in hydroponic culture is over-watering or thenon-controlled feeding of nutritive solution. In hydroponics or insoil, plant roots will then present the same quickly recognizablesymptoms. Roots will rot quickly, until complete putrefaction andthe almost instantaneous death of the plantlet. Roots need oxygenat all times and as soon as the oxygen rate is insufficient at rootlevel, it brings about the major causes of almost all root diseases.

Unfortunately, gardeners who lack this knowledge rarely identifythe syndrome quickly enough. With root putrefaction, harvests aredisappointing in hydroponics, because the putrefaction agentspropagate through the system. Biological cultures in soil suffer thesame fate when they are over-watered.

The actual cause of those two problems is a lack of oxygen at rootlevel. In a hydroponics system, if oxygen is significantly lacking in thenutritive solution, it is because the liquid in the system circulates tooslowly or intermittently. If the circulation and(or) the aeration areinsufficient, either the system is obstructed by some particles, orthe reservoir temperature is too high. If the temperature is abovethe norm (above 20oC), it will clearly impede oxygen's naturalcapacity to dissolve in water. Ideally, the solution should be main-tained at a temperature between 16oC and 18oC (rather thanbetween 18 and 20oC, which is sometimes recommended).

A biological culture's soil is made of particles and is covered by athin protection film. This creates water pockets on the particles andspace between those particles. If the soil is over-watered, waterwill fill the pockets, spaces and gaps, leaving no air pocket andhence no oxygen. The roots will quickly use up the water's dis-solved oxygen. And if they are not able to absorb enough oxy-genated liquid to feed the above-soil part of the plant, they willstop functioning. The roots will then start to die within twenty-fourhours. In soil, since we do not have visual access to the roots likewe do in hydroponics, we can identify a plant with rotting roots bysome growth insufficiency symptoms: the foliage is too pale, newbranches appear very slowly, branching will be weak. In the end,

the plants will wilt, but it will be too late to react by then.

Healthy roots are white, perhaps with a slight yellowish tint, nomore. If they are brownish, if dead pieces come off them or if theycan be pulled easily, it is at best the beginning of trouble. If you cansmell something rotting or some putrefaction, chances are it isalready too late. When roots start to rot, they tend to look for theoxygen they need out of water, so they can come up towards theoutside in a hydroponics system that is saturated in nutritive solu-tion or, in soil, they can appear just under the surface. This tiresthem out, and decreases the remaining roots' capacity to feedthemselves, and it becomes a vicious circle. A low oxygen leveland high temperature encourage the development of anaerobicbacteria and mycetes. The plants can still be saved, but you willneed to work quickly.

2 – Soil Diseases Like Pytium, Fusarium andRoot Lice and Root Scales

• Pythium is a fungus in the oomycete category (production ofzoospores, non-septate hypha and cellulosic wall). Its action ispart of what we call fungus diseases and it develops following amycelial growth. In other words, pythium produces mobile spores(like all spore fungi) which move in the water that is in contact with

By O. Richard JrRoot Diseases

Photo: D.R.

PLANTS’ HEALTH


roots or between soil particles,in the air and oxygen gaps, andwill end up infecting the roots. Inthe case of young freshly plantedclones, it will burn the plantletswithout delay.

• Fusarium is a deuteromycetefungus and exists in two forms,anamorph (asexual form) andteleomorph (sexual form). Themost common is fusarium mono-liforme. According to the phyto-protection diagnostic laboratorystudies performed by Québec'sMinistry of agriculture (MAPAQ),the anamorph form of these phy-topathogenic fungi is more com-mon on plant tissue. It provokesscattered necrosis at the rootlevel, which soon leads to generalized root rot. Signs of anadvanced infestation include yellowing leaves and wilt. This fungusis the only one to colonize the roots' vascular system and, in itsfusarium oxysporum asparagi form, it causes asparagus dry rot. Thedisease is usually transmitted through pre-infested plants or soil,but high temperatures and too high a humidity rate also encouragefusarium infestations.

• Root lice and root scales are microscopic insects that can bedetected on infested plants when you see sticky cottony whitetraces on the roots or in the pot or substrate. Root scales shouldnot be confused with white scales which attack the top of theplant. Once again, the lack of air around the root mass is to blame.If you've put identification tags in your pots, the parasitic root liceand scales love to spend time between the tag and the plant, oron the tag, on the side away from watering. As soon as you bringan infested plant outside, these parasites vanish as if by magic. Rootscales love cacti and warm and confined atmospheres, but adraught can be fatal to them.

3 – Remedies

• Against Putrefaction, Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2)

Hydrogen peroxide prevents root rot. It must be used, however,before putrefaction sets in. When H2O2 is mixed in with water, itsaction is almost immediate. It decomposes and releases oxygen allaround the roots. The air pockets filled with water are regeneratedin oxygen and the roots return to their healthy rapid growth. Newcapillary excrescences appear on the roots and remain white. Thedevelopment of new capillary roots helps the plant to betterassimilate water and nutrients. A healthy plant begins with a healthyroot system.

Solutions with different concentrations of hydrogen peroxide areavailable on the market: 3%, 5%, 8% and 17.5%. The 17.5% H2O2is recommended, but beware: at this high dissolution rate, it can

injure skin and damage clothes. Usegloves and handle the container withcare, as you would when working withany other strong chemical.

What to do When the Roots are AlreadyAffected?

In Hydroponics:

The first step is to manually clean the gar-den by removing all infected, malformedroots, wilted plants and dead roots. Anyresidue could cause a new problem.Once the system is clean and free of anypathogen, add H2O2 to the nutritive solu-tion reservoir. Some horticulturists recom-mend adding a fungicide to destroy anyfungi remaining in the residual decom-posed tissues and prevent them from

proliferating. Increasing the water's aeration rate is more important– you can do it with an air pump. It is also important to decreasethe reservoir temperature: oxygen dissolves better in cold water,and it slows down the progression of diseases. Ideally, the tem-perature would remain between 16.6°C and 18.3°C. As soon asthe reservoir temperature reaches beyond 20°C, problems quick-ly occur. Used according to these recommendations, hydrogenperoxyde will stop the roots ricketsia process.

In Soil:

For plants grow-ing in soil, it isbetter to use per-oxided waterwith an anti-fun-gal (like benomyl)and a strongphosphorous fer-tilizer for rootgrowth. The rootfertilizer (anyother productwith rooting hor-mones will do) isuseful for rootr e g r o w t h .Adding Nutri-Boost can save awilting plant.Water heavily untilthe liquid comesout at the bottomof the pot.Contrary to what is commonly believed, a heavy watering will allowthe strongly oxygenated water to replace the water whose oxygenmolecules have been absorbed by the plant. Do not leave theplants submerged in the tray however, because the substrate

Photos: D.R.


PLANTS’ HEALTH

would absorb this water and remain too moist.Water only when the pot (in soil) is dry or when thesubstrate surface is dry at a depth of one to twocentimeters. The antiseptic and oxygenating quali-ties of H2O2 will improve your plants' growth andwill ensure you the best possible harvest whileguarding your plants against disease and root ricket-sia.

• Against Pythium and Fusarium

Contradictory opinions abound on this topic. Somerecommend fungicides. Other prefer the all organicroute. According to McGill University's Agriculturaldepartment web site (www.eap.mcgill.ca/agro-bio/ab320-05.htm), "Taiwanese researchers (Sunand Huang, 1985) have designed an organic andmineral amendment which, used at 1% per soilweight, can efficiently control many fusariumspecies. Their mixture – the S-H mix – contains:4.4% bagasse (sugar cane residue); 8.4% rice bran;4.25% oyster shells; 8.25% urea; 1.04% potassiumnitrate; 13.16% calcium superphosphate; 60.5%mineral ashes made of 31% silica dioxide, 4.4% cal-cium oxide, 1.7% magnesium oxide, 18% aluminumoxide and 1% ferrous oxide."

The best weapon remains prevention. You mustmake sure the following factors do not go past theirthreshold limit: the temperature must remain below20 degrees Celsius, nitrogen and calcium deficien-cies must be avoided in the substrate, the substratemust not be too acidic (raise the pH to around 6.4for perfect neutrality), in biological culture the soilmust not be too light, and there should be nomishap with the intensity of light or the duration oflight cycles. In the end, the most efficient way toeradicate fungi infestations is to improve the nutri-tional qualities of the growing medium.

The magazine Réussir Fruits et Légumes recom-mends the use of biofilms and biofilters to controlpathological infections in soilless culture.Biofiltration, however, will only be truly efficient if thegardener also follows the recommendations abouttemperature, acidity, fertilization and substrate main-tenance. It is not a means or a remedy in and ofitself: the plants need help not to find themselvesvulnerable.

• Against Scales and Lice

Again, opinions vary. The most efficient remedy remains using oily prod-ucts (white oil and malathion), which many garden-ers are hesitant to use. Oils, contrary to most prod-ucts that only act on larvae and adults, can even

destroy eggs. Professional gardeners use a mixtureof oil and parathion (Pacol) which is very toxic, butwhich eliminates all root scales in one application.

The most common traditional remedy is the appli-cation, with a brush, of a mixture of methanol andwater or of water and liquid soap, directly on theplants. It is not a practical solution if you have manyplants, but with patience it is relatively efficient.

A less radical treatment that is favored by some isthe use of non oily contact products such as diazi-non, bifenthrine, pyrethrum or rotenone naturalextracts, etc. These phytosanitary products, how-ever, will spare the eggs and destroy only larvaeand adults. For good results, the treatment must berepeated three times, every fifteen days.

Using systemic products which penetrate the plantis a more elaborate remedy which you can usefrom the beginning of the growth phase. You canuse imidacloprid (Confidor), thiometon (Laser) orformothion (Anthiofor). Plants absorb the activeingredients from these products and their sapbecomes toxic, killing the insects which feed offthe sap. These products truly work if used to pre-vent an infestation, or at the very beginning of one,because their shock treatment (by contact orinhalation) on scales is not 100% guaranteed.Mostly, though, it may take several weeks for theactive ingredients to reach the sap. All these prod-ucts are extremely toxic (contact, inhalation andingestion) and require some precautions. Finally,and your health is at stake here, you must allowthem time to disappear from the plant before theharvest. If not... you will reap tainted food! Theseproducts are best left to professionals.

Finally, there is a radical solution: bringing yourplants outside, if you can. Root lice and scales willnot resist. But make sure your plant can resist it first!

Sources: MAPAQ-Québec, Direction de l’innovation sci-entifique et technologique, Laboratoire de diagnostic enphytoprotection, Michel Lacroix (agronomist-plantpathologist), INRA-France, Canadian Journal of PlantPathology, Natural resources Canada,www.agrireseau.qc.ca, www.cactuspro.com,www.reussirfl.com, www.hydrobox.comand overgrow.com.

Root scale

Root louse

Fusarium

Pythium insidiosum

Infected roots Infected roots

Photos: ©

Biobest & D.R.


PLANTS’ HEALTH

Plants grown hydroponically are very vul-nerable to fungus disease, to parasites andto rot. They are actually more vulnerablethan plants grown in soil, because inhydroponics, the roots are less developedsince they can easily grab the nutrients.

What's more, in hydroponics,all plants share the samewater, so disease canspread very rapidly:action is requiredimmediately. Thisdoes not meanthat fungus dis-ease cannotdevelop in soil. Insoil, root fungus

disease is very hardto detect, since the

roots cannot be inspectedas easily. The soil gardener should be verycareful.

Fungus diseases are caused by a microscopicpathogen fungus which generally attacks rootsand/or leaves. Most of the time, the disease comesfrom the site itself, from an improper cleaning of thegrow room, from a once-humid room, from a con-taminated basement, a dirt floor, etc. Other times,the contamination is due to the introduction of anew plant in the garden, contact with organic mat-ter, etc. But did you know you can also be thesource if you work in more than one garden? If youdo, you are likely to carry disease and parasites onyou. The immediate environment can also be asource of contamination for your indoor garden.

Potato crops, for example, are prone to developdowny mildew, and tomato crops have suffered thesame fate in recent years. Other outside sources canalso become sources of contamination. For this rea-son, if you are desperate and have tried every othersolution, you might want to use a carbon filter on thegarden’s air entry to solve the problem.

Prevent!

Unfortunately, most plants affected with fungus dis-ease cannot be cured. Only a preventive treatmentcan save you from the problems caused by a futurepathogen fungus. The key to success, to prevent fun-gus disease, is to maintain strict hygiene, healthyplants and controlled temperature and humidity.Products containing mycorhiza and trichodermafungi (beneficial fungus) efficiently prevent root fun-gus disease. I suggest Piranha from Dr. Hornby, anexcellent biological prevention product. All fungi-cides can be used as preventionmeans. To prevent fungus dis-eases that usually attackleaves, you can use ab e n o m y l - b a s e dproduct.

Indoor Garden Environment

Keep your gardenspace clean. Washeverything, everything,everything, betweeneach harvest with bleach andVircon, which you will find inhydroponics stores. Change the nutritive solution asoften as possible, aerate your solution with pumps

Indoor Gardening and Fungus Disease

By Paul Henderson

Plants with attackedroots dry up progressively. Photo: D.R.

Botrytis blight Photo: D.R.

61

PLANTS’ HEALTH


and air stones to prevent a lackof oxygen. Most fungus dis-eases occur in growrooms with pro-nounced temperaturechanges betweenday and night.Investing in a tem-perature controlsystem is thus imper-ative to prevent rotand disease. A night-time temperature of 15

degrees with a day-timetemperature of 25 degrees

create perfect conditions forpathogen fungus, and a disease can

spread rapidly and kill all your plants in less than fourdays. You must also ensure adequate air circulation inthe room and increase the air exchanges as muchas possible, to eliminate stale air and replaceit with fresh oxygen.

Common Indoor GardenPathogens:

* Downy Mildew /Powdery Mildew• White and powderymold which attacksleaves.• Treatment: eliminate allaffected leaves. As in allcases of foliage rot,avoid spraying the leavesif you are at risk. Keep thegarden's humiditybetween 30 and 40%.Foliar application of beno-myl or sulfur (apply sulfur onlyif the temperature allows it,between 20 and 25 degrees).

* Botrytis / Gray Mold

• Gray mold which attacks leaves.• Treatment: same as against mildew.

* Pythium and Rhizoctonia

• They attack roots. Your plant rapidly wilts, and seemsparched even when she has water; the roots arebrown and viscous and they separate easily.• Treatment: there is no remedy against pythium andrhizoctonia, other than prevention by keeping theplants healthy. In the case of a root fungus disease, it isbetter to throw the plant away than to risk contaminat-ing all others, if it hasn't yet happened. Damage occursquickly and shows no mercy. Then you must cleanclean clean everything well before the next crop.

P.S.: Do not perform foliar spraying during the lightcycle: it could burn your plants and will not improvetheir condition.

Plants sufferingfrom fungus

disease. Photo: D.R.

Plants sufferingfrom fungus disease. Photo: D.R.


PLANTS’ HEALTH

You’ve worked all summer long and now your crop is almost ready. Now isthe most dangerous time for you and your plants. I am talking about botrytis,or gray mold.

Botrytis blight or gray mold is a fungal disease which affects a wide array ofannual and perennial plants. There are several species of the fungus botrytiswhich can cause blights; the most common is Botrytis cinerea. Botrytis infec-tions are favoured by cool, rainy, spring and late summer weather usuallyaround 15°C (60°F). Gray mold can be particularly damaging when rainy,drizzly weather lasts for several days.

Botrytis cinerea can infect asparagus, beans, beets, carrots, celery, chicory,cucumbers, eggplants, endives, grapes, lettuce, onions, peppers, potatoes,raspberries, rhubarb, shallots, strawberries, tomatoes, turnips, and others.Botrytis blight can affect leaves, stems, crowns, flowers, flower buds, seeds,seedlings, bulbs, and just about any other part of a plant, with the exceptionof the roots. Unfortunately, this fungus usually prefers certain plant parts oneach kind of plant it attacks. It attacks plants’ buds and turns them into mush!It will often start on damaged leaves and stems inside the bud. When remov-ing leaves, try to take the whole leaf and leaf stem from the plant. If you takethe leaf and not the leaf stem, it starts to decay then falls off the plant or getstrapped in the bud and molds.

The best way to manage this disease is by inspection and cleaning. Whileinspecting plants, carry a paper bag or something bigger for sanitation.Remove blighted leaves, blighted buds or entire plants infected at the baseand place them in the paper bag so that they may be discarded away fromyour garden. It is best not to do any cleaning when plants are wet with dewor rain since this could spread fungal spores. Likewise avoid overhead water-ing or misting plants especially if botrytis blight has been a problem in thepast. No fungicides are registered for use on plants. I do not recommend anyfungicide!

Then spray the infected area of the bud or plant with Dr. Hornby’s Piranha.It’s not a fungicide: it’s a beneficial fungus that simply takes over and leavesno room for gray mold to grow. At two grams per litre you can harvest with-in two days of spraying.

A friend recently told me about a new product from Dr Hornby, ScorpionJuice. He said it acts like a vaccination for the plant, triggering the plant’sdefence mechanism to respond faster to diseases, making the plants moredisease-resistant and increasing the flower or fruit production. Plants are alsomore frost resistant. If anyone has used Piranha or Scorpion Juice, let meknow how it worked for you.With continuous inspection and careful cleaning, gray mold can be effective-ly managed. Keep an eye out for the silvery-gray mold and/or tiny black spotswhich are sure signs of this disease.

Think and be safe.

Botrytis Blight or Gray Mold

By Fred Leduc

Photos: D.R.

WWW.ROTOGRO.COMTOLL FREE 1-877-ROTO-GRO

(1-877-768-6476)Roto-Gro Inc., Ontario, Canada


PLANTS’ HEALTH

Where do fulvic and humic acids come from?

Come, rather, to the Permian, 290 to 250 millions of yearsago, more precisely on a misshaped continent that will laterbecome North America, at the frontier between twoPermian sub-periods, the Leonardian and Guadalupian(between 260 and 258 million years ago). This chaotic erawas the set for a major extinction of species. According tothe scientific study of Leonardian and Guadalupian fossils,it is estimated that 95% of all living species (plants and ani-mals) became extinct. So what, you'll say, we survived!Well, no. Humans had not appeared yet. But in the 21stcentury, they can draw great benefits from this crucial peri-od between the Leonardian and the Guadalupian. Howcome? Because of leonardite, of course!

Plants and animals cadavers were buried in the geologicaltransformations that earth went through during the Triassic,Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The continents driftedand, thousands of meters deep, the organic remains ofextinct living beings were "mixed", only to be better

pushed back towardsthe surface during theTertiary ice age. Someof those organic poolsturned into carbon. Butunder what is nowNew Mexico, anextraordinary pool ofleonardite wasformed. It is nothing but a huge piece of land where formillennia, the soil composted the best natural organic mat-ter (residues of the 95% of species that became extinct).That pool is now exploited to extract humus.

Photos: http://nymphes.ifrance.com

& D.R.

Humic and Fulvic AcidsNatural Organic Biostimulants

By Bruno Bredoux

Forget Jurassic Park! It is not oldenough (202 to 141 millionyears ago) and only containsbig horrible beasts that offernothing good, only cheap thrills!


PLANTS’ HEALTH

Soluble humus, as it is then industrially transformed, containscomponents from the fulvic and humic acid groups, whichare very useful to enrich many nutritive solutions used in gar-dening. Humus also contains a multitude of other natural ele-ments and components, and they are particularly useful tostimulate the growth of our modern plants in a completelynatural fashion.

The General Hydroponics company was quick to show aninterest in the world's leonardite pools and its engineers andresearch teams have tested almost 300 such sites. With suchexperience, the company managed to obtain priority on therichest humus pools, therefore the richest in fulvic and humicacids, to create products that offer the most sought-after andthe most efficient properties in the sphere of horticulture.

Fulvic and humic acids are the most complex and refinedwater-soluble substances on earth. In the human body, theyact as free radicals antioxidants and are powerful chelatingagents of heavy metals. Health food storessell them in capsules and in liquid form. Inhorticulture, they stimulate the cellularmetabolism of plants, and revive the nutritivesolution's electro-conductivity and theplant's cellular electrolytes. Fulvic acid trans-ports organic matter directly to the cells.

A product straight out of the prehistoric era:Diamond Nectar

General Hydroponics has designed theDiamond Nectar, an exclusive fulvic acidextract, as found in leonardite. The productis rich in the mineral and organic matter

required for plant growth at any stage of a plant's life. This reg-ulating product contains chelates that remain stable in a widerange of pH (between 4 and 10 on average). Because of thechelates, the product also offers a high ion exchange capaci-ty at the root level.

According to General Hydroponics, Diamond Nectar offersthese characteristics:It improves the absorption capacity of nutritive elements bythe plant by converting them into easily available particles.It delivers nutritive elements to each part of the plant: roots,stems, foliage, flowers and fruit.It offers the benefits of a naturalorganic element in liquid form.In hydroponics or soilless cultures,it creates an environment resem-bling that of soil.

All types of cultures can benefitfrom this product: fruit-bearingtrees, medicinal plants, ornamen-tals, food products, etc. The ben-efits of this fulvic acid extract canbe attained in an outdoor garden,in hydroponics or in aeroponics. Itcan be mixed in the nutritive solu-tion or applied by foliar spraying,and can be used with completefertilizers or more conventionalplant nutrition programs. With theaction of fulvic acid on the plantcells, plants are more vigorous,flowering and fructification occurearlier and in abundance. Finally,the taste or smell will be greatlyimproved.

Manufacturer's directions for Diamond Nectar:

Use 2 to 3 ml/l during all phases of growth, fructification andflowering. Add to the nutritive solution in any substrate, soil,or hydroponic system.

Beware: Diamond Nectar is an acid: itwill lower your solution's pH. Add it toyour water before correcting the pH.

These quantities can be increased.Above 20 ml/l, however, the manufac-turer has observed a saturation phe-nomenon that could slow plantgrowth.

Sources: General Hydroponics,www.agri-nova.com,www.bioticas.com,http://nymphes.ifrance.com

Photos: General Hydroponics & http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk

Roots of an indoor plantgrown in a Rainforest

system with One Part andDiamond Nectar.


PLANTS’ HEALTH

So you have bugs damaging your plants and can’tdecide what to do. Should I use a pesticide, beneficialbugs, or what? With so many options, one might haveto find what works best for their conditions. With anarray of products available, maybe this will help withthe decision.

There are organic pesticides that are toxic, for example:pyrethrums. This pesticide is derived from chrysanthemums,and is probably the most common in the gardening world, andI have no idea why. Pyrethrums can damage the plants, oftencausing stunted and deformed growth. I never recommendusing pyrethrums on indoor plants!

Beneficial bugs / predatory insects

Predatory insects can be very expensive, temperamental andsensitive to specific environments, and they can take days toshow improvements – if at all. I personally have wasted hun-dreds of dollars on beneficial insects, when I should have usedBANG!

Sulfur burners

Some indoor gardeners have had luck eliminating spider mitesusing sulfur burners. Sulfur is most commonly used for moldand mildew prevention, but can help with those pesky mites.Beware, as too much sulfur will suffocate your plants!

Non-toxic organic pesticides such as BANG! (last but certainlynot least). Do not confuse BANG! with those other organicsderived from citric acid – another product to avoid!

BANG! has endured several years of testing by myself and oth-ers, so I choose to use it most often. A great product for pestcontrol, and if used properly it can also eliminate infestations.When used as needed, BANG! will control the infestation andkeep your plants from being destroyed. If used daily, it caneliminate the infestation. BANG! is very effective against spidermites and aphids.

The manufacturer recommends one part BANG! to three partswater. I recommend mixing a diluted solution on seedlings andflowering plants, unless you can’t treat as often as needed.

BANG! is derived from plants, herbal extracts, and otherunmentioned ingredients. That’s right: its secret recipe is wellguarded. The aroma is pleasant and resembles garlic, BBQsauce and soap. Yes I know that sounds funny, but its true.

BANG !Possibly the Best Organic Pesticide Available

By Josh Morell

Photo: Josh Morell

PLANTS’ HEALTH

BANG! is available in one litre and four litre bottles.

Advantages:

• 100% organic and non-toxic.• Effective on most soft-bodied insects.• Can be used throughout the entire plant life cycle, up to threedays prior to harvest.• Does not harm or burn plants.• Use indoors, outdoors and with hydroponics.• Kills and repels.• Pleasant aroma.• Will not harm pets, people or wildlife.

Disadvantages:

• Do not spray BANG! around Mylar. It leaves a milky residue, decreasing the reflective properties ofthe Mylar.• To eliminate pests, the plants should be treated daily for at least one week.• Once BANG! has been diluted with water, it should be used within 24 hours.• BANG! can be an eye and skin irritant. For those with sensitive skin, wear a long sleeve shirt andgloves, or wash immediately after treatment.

If you care about your body and your future, only use nontoxic pesticides.

Manufactured by www.earthsfriend.com; 1-800-611-4115.

AGRO SUNGRODANGREEN AIREYEWIGGLE WORMFOXFARMSUPERTHRIVEBIO NOVANUTRIDIPPLUG N GROWHARVEST MASTERVENTUREPHILIPSAGRO BRITESUNLEAVES

PAR GROACTIVE AIRHYDROFARM LIGHTINGAMERICAN AGRICULTUREGENERAL HYDROPONICSEARTH JUICE ORGANICSHYDRODYNAMICS INTERNATIONALBCUZZ ATAMI TECHNOLOGIESAMERICAN HYDROPONICSSOIL SECRETSHANNA INSTRUMENTSOZONE ENVIROMENTALOLIVIASMILWAUKEE THE TESTER SPECIALIST!SUPER BAT

AGRO DYNAMICSBOTAMICARELIGTH RAIL 3GROTEKDYNAGROTERRA CYCLEDOCSOASISPLASMAPONIXOAKTONSPRAY N GROWSUNMASTEREINSTEIN OIL

WWW.GROWEZHYDRO.COMCOMPLETE SECURE ON LINE SHOPPING

Photos: Bang & D.R.

BANG !The Last Word In

Plant Damage Control

Cats and dogs, and evenmore so kittens and puppiescan and do chew on any-thing they find – whether itbe a toy you bought them, abottle of chemicals or yourmost cherished orchid. A petchewing on a plant can be apainful sight for the caringgardener – but it can alsosend the pet-owning gar-dener straight to the emer-gency veterinary clinic. Manyof the plants we love – andsome that we eat – can turnto poison when ingested byFido or Kitty.

Plants are not the only possible sourceof poison for your pets – they can getin trouble by eating chocolate oronions, tinsel or prescription medicine.If your pet has ingested something it shouldn't have, immediatelycontact your veterinarian. If you can, bring the veterinarian a part ofthe ingested plant, product or fungus. The symptoms of poisoningcan include almost anything, and the animal can appear normal forhours or days after the poisoning occurred. In that case, the key tosaving your pet's life or health is your reaction time and your pre-paredness.

You can be prepared for such an emergency. Keep your veterinar-ian's phone number and an emergency veterinary clinic's nearby (inmy experience, pets only have accidents or distress when theirregular clinic is closed, say on a Saturday at 6 or on Christmas Eve,and you should know where the nearest emergency clinic is – ifnecessary, keep enough money for a cab ride somewhere safeand readily accessible). Make sure you have a pet carrier that isnearby and ready to go. During your next routine visit, ask your vet-erinarian what you should have at hand in case of poisoning andwhat you should know – in some cases, you may have to inducevomiting urgently, and you should know how to do it. You may

need to flush out eye contaminants orclean off a skin irritant – you'll needgloves, soap or a saline eye solution.Depending on the animal, having amuzzle ready might prove a good ideain case of panic or pain. A small emer-gency kit, left in an accessible location,can save lives. So can calling the vetright away.

Ingested plants can affect pets in vari-ous ways. Some affect the heart (lily ofthe valley, yew, rhododendron), somecan cause kidney failure (rhubarb,grapes), liver failure (cycads), andsome cause multiple effects (autumncrocus can cause hemorrhagic gas-troenteritis, renal and liver damage andbone marrow suppression). Pesticides,herbicides and fertilizers should be outof your pets' reach, and ideally youwould not allow them on lawns or gar-dens treated with such products. Don'tforget that cats can get into unlockedcupboards and have a knack for open-ing bottle caps, while dogs' teeth canoften simply go through a plastic con-tainer. Most of the precautions taken for

young children can and should be applied when one has pets inthe home.

If you are both an indoor gardener and a pet lover, you will needto take extra precautions to prevent accidents. Although cats anddogs can be trained not to eat plants and although there are prod-ucts you can buy that are supposed to repel pets, chances are youare not always keeping an eye on your four-legged friends, andthere is probably much going on that you don't know about. Youcould use liquid sprays, such as Bitter Apple and Liquid Fence Dog& Cat Repellent, although I would not guarantee their safety onfood crops. There are other options, such as burying mothballs inthe soil, which can get smelly, or purchasing a mat which gives offa slight electric shock to the pet (!) when it comes too close to theplants, or an ultrasonic system which emits a frequency deterringpets from coming any closer once they enter a certain area. Thereare home-made recipes, such as a mixture of garlic and hot pep-per sauce, which has to be sprayed on the plants. All these meth-ods can fail, and are putting both your plants and your pets at risk


BOTANICAL DICTIONARY

Pets and plants: a tricky combination

By Helene Jutras

Photo: vieux bandit


BOTANICAL DICTIONARY

– you need to try each to find one thatworks for you. Opt for safety, and putdangerous (or tasty) plants up on highshelves, in glass-paneled mini indoorgreenhouses, in hanging baskets or in aroom that is off-limits to the pets, and youcan enjoy both lush greenery and warnfuzziness in your home.

Here is a list of plants that are poisonousto pets:

Aloe VeraAmaryllisApple (seeds)Apple Leaf crotonApricot (pit)Asparagus FernAutumn CrocusAvocado (fruit and pit)Azalea Baby’s BreathBird of ParadiseBittersweetBuckeyeBuddhist PineCaladiumCalla LilyCastor BeanCerimanCharming DieffenbachiaCherry (seeds and wilting leaves)Chinese EvergreenChristmas RoseCinerariaClematisCordatumCorn PlantCornstalk PlantCrotonCuban LaurelCutleaf PhilodendronCycadsCyclamen DaffodilDevil’s IvyDieffenbachiaDracaena PalmDragon TreeDumb Cane Easter Lily (cats)Elaine

Elephant EarsEmerald FeatherEnglish IvyFiddle-leaf FernFlorida BeautyFoxgloveFruit Salad PlantGeraniumGerman IvyGiant Dumb CaneGlacier IvyGold DieffenbachiaGold Dust DracaenaGolden Pothos Hahn’s Self-Branching IvyHeartland Philodendron

Hurricane Plant Janet Craig DracaenaJapanese Show Lily (cats)Jerusalem Cherry Kalanchoe Lacy Tree PhilodendronLily of the Valley Madagascar Dragon TreeMarble QueenMarijuanaMexican BreadfruitMiniature CrotonMistletoeMorning Glory

Mother-in-law’s Tongue NarcissusNeedlepoint IvyNephytisNightshade OleanderOnionOriental Lily (cats) Peace LilyPeach (wilting leaves and pits)Pencil CactusPlumosa FernPoinsettia (low toxicity)Poison IvyPoison OakPothosPotato Plant (green fruit, stem and leaves)Precatory BeanPrimrose Red EmeraldRed PrincessRed-Margined DracaenaRhododendronRibbon Plant Saddle Leaf PhilodendronSago PalmSatin PothosScheffleraSilver PothosSpotted Dumb CaneString of PearlsStriped DracaenaSweetheart IvySwiss Cheese Plant Taro VineTiger Lily (cats)Tomato Plant (green fruit, stem andleaves)Tree PhilodendronTropic Snow Dieffenbachia Weeping Fig Yew

Photos: vieux bandit & D.R.


COOKING

What can be better than making a tian with the tomatoes andeggplants you carefully brought to maturity in your hydropon-ic system? Nothing, if you know the recipe and make no mis-take. Here are a few secrets.

Secret #1: Your tian looks like a quiche or a gratin?Follow the recipe, yes, the recipe, please! No eggs, cream, milk

or cheese! A tian is a tian (vegetables patiently baked in oliveoil), not a gratin or a quiche!

Secret #2: Your tian looks bad?Place the vegetables carefully! They should not be thrown inthe pan! First, cut the tomatoes, eggplant and onions in thickslices (maximum of 1 cm thick) and place them in the pan,

Photo: Bruno Bredoux

Five Secrets for A Successful Tian

By Bruno Bredoux

30MINUTES


COOKINGPhoto: Bruno Bredoux

alternating the vegetables and pushing one against the other.Do not peal the vegetables, or the tian will not hold!

Secret #3: Your tian is dry?The olive oil should cover three fourths of the vegetable slices.Of course, you must use a pan with sides high enough to keepthe oil in – you wouldn't want it to spill in the oven and triggeryour fire alarm! While it is baking, you can take the pan out ofthe oven and drain the tian by tipping it lightly to one side. Theperfumed oil can be recuperated: it will be perfect to cookvegetables, fish or meat.

Secret #4: Your tian is not cooked enough?It is a perfect dish only when all perfumes have blended well(tomatoes, onions, eggplant, garlic, olive oil, fleur de sel, pep-per, rosemary, thyme, basil, dill and terragon). To attain thisblend, start baking at 200oC for 30 minutes and keep it goingat 150oC for an hour and a half. Push on the vegetables with aspatula many times during this time, and eventually, cover thedish with parchment paper.

Secret #5: Your tian is bland?Oil the bottom of the pan, and scrub it with garlic, using a gar-lic clove cut in halves. Put a lot of fresh herbes de Provence ontop of the vegetable slices. Season generously with fleur de seland pepper. Another trick is to prepare the tian three to fourdays in advance. Covered in cling film, it will keep well in thefridge. And do not hesitate to adjust the seasoning early in thebaking process.

One last piece of advice: you can broil the dish for 4 minutesbefore serving, which will make the top layer crunchy.

Ingredients (for a 32-cm pan): 1 kg long SanMarzano Italian tomatoes, 3 medium-size eggplants,1 big onion, olive oil, 2 garlic cloves, 2 sprigs offresh thyme, 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, 2 sprigs offresh terragon, 2 sprigs of fresh dill, 5 fresh basilleaves, pepper and fleur de sel – which you canreplace with coarse grey salt.

120MINUTES

M72


DISCOVERY

By Marco Deux (text and pictures)

MORELS

DISCOVERY


Morchella esculenta or common morel

Morchella esculenta or common morel is found inmixed forests, along path edges, near hedges, onbare and sandy ground. In Eastern Canada, it fruitsfrom mid-May to mid-June. Common morels areoften found under poplars. The top left pictureshows specimens picked in an urban park undera row of Lombardy poplars in central Quebec.They can also befound under old appletrees. They blendremarkably well withtheir surrounding habi-tat and are difficult tofind.

Morchella conica orconical morel

Morchella conica orconical morel appearsa couple of weeksbefore Morchellaesculenta. They growin gardens, wastegrounds, along road-sides and disused rail-way lines. Their darkcolor makes them par-ticularly difficult to spotand finding them is achallenge for beginners.

Morels generally grow on sandy or limey soils.They particularly like burnt soils and are reputedto be found in areas affected by bush or forestfires. Legend has it that large amounts were foundon the beaches of Normandy in the spring thatfollowed the invasion by allied forces at the endof World War II.

The reputation of morels as a gastronomic delica-cy is richly deserved. When raw, however, they

contain dangerous toxins: they should always bewell cooked. Drying is a good way of eliminatingthe toxins and of keeping those rare andesteemed treasures.

Cultivation of wild mushroom species

The ideal conditions for the growth of the myceli-um of wild mushroom species are in general not

the same asthose whichcause fructifica-tion (those areoften not wellknown, whichdoes not facili-tate the cultiva-tion of ediblespec i e s ) . T hem o r e l(Morchella) isstill far frombeing pro-duced on anindustrial scale.Indoor growershave often triedto cultivate thembut until now,no effectivemethod hasbeen devel-

oped. Some growers, however, obtainedencouraging results when placing morel fragmentsin a mixture of soil and apple pulp. Tests are car-ried out to cultivate bolete (Boletus), but the dif-ficulties are even higher in this case because it isnot only necessary to grow the mycelium andmake it bear fruit, but also to control the formationof mycorhiza in association with the trees. Theartificial mycorhization of hazel trees or oaks bytruffles has been carried out since the end of the1970's and yet the culture of truffles is still at theexperimental stage.

Morels are among the most sought-after wild mushrooms and for mycol-ogists, they represent a sort of Holy Grail that very few other species cansurpass except, of course, the truffle. There are several types of morelswhich all grow in the spring.


DISCOVERY

Juan Valdez: Your Papers!Investigation in the Country of the Most Famous Coffee Harvester

By Rose Laforêt

Bogotà, Colombia: taking my breath away. Of all that I have seen in latinAmerica, it is honestly the most beautiful city. The mountains are mag-nificent, as are the trees (Canadian pines) and the flowers. The air isfresh and cool. There are bike paths and many parks. There are littlecafés with a terrace, shops, second hand clothing stores, flea markets.

Photo: © Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia

DISCOVERY


The food is good. A few local special-ties, to whet your appetite: morcilla(fried blood pudding), pork sausages,beef paunch (a part of the animal'sbelly) and flavorful soups.

There is a very strong military and lawenforcement presence. Often, wemeet troops of military police postedon street corners. It gives off both asafety feeling and a strong feeling of insecurity.Nothing to report so far.

Did I meet the man of my dreams? Well, I met one,but I hope he wasn't the one:he was about seventy-fiveyears old and had only onetooth... in fact, I much pre-ferred his dog, a nice bigchow-chow doggie (reasonfor the encounter). The dogis only five years old, and hehas all his teeth.

Two days later, the govern-ment decided to bomb the"distancia" zone, the neutralzone between Bogotà andan enclave held by theRevolutionary Armed Forcesof Colombia. This zone islocated near Bogotà. Sincethe government broke thetruce with its bombings of the neutral zone, we mustexpect retaliation from the RAFC.

Time to reorganize communications and to regroup...Our plane leaves tomorrow, as we needed to waitfor an authorization from the Canadian securityauthorities to leave.

In principle, there should be no problem, becausethe RAFC have not yet had time to regroup... All thecountry's security forces are on alert, and expect theRAFC to hit Bogotà with terrorist acts. The mediareport the arrest of three IRA members who alleged-ly came to Colombia to train the RAFC.

And Juan Valdez in All This?

For those who have spent sleeplessnights wondering if this little characterreally existed... The suspense is comingto an end... The answer is... yes.

Juan Valdez, the little man wanderingwith his donkey, picking coffee beansone by one, is real. He is a coffee

farmer, as the legend tells. Juan was discovered by aadvertising agency that decided to turn him into apersonified symbol of Colombian coffee. Accordingto popular rumor, Juan is still in the mountains, pick-

ing his coffee beans. Eitherhe likes it, or the advertisingagency never gave him apeso to use his image on thenumber one Colombianexport.

The other symbol product ofColombia (no, not cocaine!):emeralds. They are every-where, in a store on eachstreet corner (small exagger-ation), but apparently onemust be careful, as there aremany fake stones on the mar-ket. The difference betweencoffee beans and emeralds isthat, for one, the emeraldscan not be ground up and

brewed; they are also a little more expensive thanJuan's beans. Above all, the magnificent little greenstones have not been the object of a major publicitycampaign, as coffee beans have. This is probably dueto the fact that it would be difficult to paint a prettypicture of emerald harvesting in this country: emeraldworkers live in conditions resembling those of theworst coal and diamond mines.

This being said, coffee producers are not as happy asour friend Juan would have us believe. Coffee is oneof the primary resources of Colombia, but one thatbrings the least money to producers. Coffee bringsmoney to the multinationals that buy coffee from thePh

otos: ©

Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia


DISCOVERY

producers at ridiculous prices andresell it to consumers at a muchhigher price. Producers are forcedto accept the price offered by themultinationals, because thosehave a sale and distributionmonopoly over the productaround the world. What's more,Colombia is not the only coffeeproducer. The multinationals andthe governments of coffee-pro-

ducing countries have signed agreements, imposing a ridiculouslimit on the raw product's price. This means Juan might be the

only happy coffee producer inColombia. The rest are poor,exploited and indigent.

Why then put the effort on mak-ing coffee appealing and notemeralds? Because emerald buy-ers come from the richest classon the planet and have becomerich by exploiting others, or areheirs of the exploiters, and theygladly accept the order of things.Emeralds are also not as popularas coffee, which is drank in allclasses, from poorest to richest. Itis easy to deprive the middleclass, with its huge spendingpower, of emeralds; not so easyto deprive it of its daily coffee.That is why Juan was born.

Now, if you want to keep believing the myth of Juan, goahead. If not, you can help the world's coffee producers bybuying fair-trade coffee – which means a fair share of theprofits goes directly to producers. Help to create other JuanValdez who will actually be happy to keep hand picking theircoffee beans one by one. The taste of each sip will improve,as you know it encourages the hard labor of a coffee pro-ducer somewhere in the world.

Thank you, in the name of all the Juan Valdez of the world!

Visit www.juanvaldez.com Photos: ©

Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia, Sweet M

aria’s Coffee & C. Sheppard

76

THE HYDROPONIC WORLD OF NORTH AMERICA

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SHOPPING

RainworksNutrients

Fulvic Rain, Humic Rain, Mega Bud and BloomStar

Rainworks offers a complete nutrient lineto accompany your plants through their evolution cycles, fromvegetation to harvest. The first nutrient (Fulvic Rain) is a water-sol-uble fulvic acid to use starting at the time of transplant. The solutionpenetrates deeply at root level, facilitating the transport of nutrientsand trace elements to the cells and all the way to developing leaves.The second nutrient (Humic Rain), containing 6% humic acid, does thesame job during growth, flowering and fruit development. Mega Budactively stimulates the formation of new branches with its balancedpH nutritive elements. It is powerful and reduces the distancebetween internodes, which multiplies the development ofbranches to support more inflorescences. Finally, BloomStar,as its name implies, puts the finishing touch. It is an ampli-fying nutrient that ensures a flowering and fruits of gar-gantuan proportions (use only from the onset

of the flowering stage). – B.B.

Photos: Jessy Caron, Hanna Instruments, Rainworks, Sylvania.

HORTICULTURAL NOVELTIESCoop

Unitek’s marine fertilizerA brand new company,making 100% organic fertil-izers, has set up shop inForestville, in Québec’s Côte-Nord. The company’s motto:feed the soil to feed the plant.The Unitek cooperative recuper-ates marine waste from transforma-

tion plants and turns it into biologicalhorticultural fertilizers. Three varieties are

offered: algae meal compost, crab meal compost andclam meal compost. Other projects are in the works,including shrimp meal compost. Those products arenot yet available at all retail outlets, but the co-opis developing its distribution to answer the

growing demand. [email protected]. – J.C.

OSRAMSYLVANIA introduces the PlantaStar

Designed for plantgrowth applications, PLAN-TASTAR high pressure sodiumlamps from OSRAM SYLVANIA areknown for high efficacy and long life.These light sources are specially engi-neered for horticultural applications toprovide ideal growing conditions. Thelamps provide a very cost efficient solutionfor plant growth. With high lumens per watt,a lower investment is required for significantlyimproved photosynthesis. The lamps alsohave solid high impact construction for lessbreakage and come with a two-year warranty. - Laura

HannaInstruments’ Champ® pH

meter

The Champ pH meter comes in anergonomic casing, offers a large LCD screen,a non-clogging renewable fiber junction, andis very affordable. It is even the most sought-after pH meter by experts. Calibration isextremely easy, and can be done in one point ofthe growing system. The junction can be replacedonce used. Price-wise, it is one of the cheapestmeters on the market. It comes with a one-year warranty and its precision margin isof more or less 0.1 on the 0.0 to

14.0 pH scale. – B.B.

For more information on pH,EC and combo pH/EC/TDSmeters, see also our article onScientific factors and measuringinstruments in hydroponics,page 50 of our first issue (Vol.1 / Issue 1 - March/April 2005).


SHOPPING

Adjust-A-WingReflector

Launched by AccentHydroponics a few years

ago, Adjust-A-Wing reflectors arebeyond compare when it comes to covering the lighting needs of a 1.2 mby 1.8 m growing unit, and they can be very close to the tip of the plants.Because of its shape, its size and its covering (cooked paint in white or silver),the Adjust-A-Wing reflector ensures that the heat emitted by the lamps will neverremain captive in the reflector but is rather evenly distributed in the room.

Accent Hydroponic has also designed a heat diffuser, the Heat Shield, whichadapts to the Adjust-A-Wing series. The Heat Shield diffuser is made of whitemetal and covered with the same type of paint as the reflectors. It is alsospecked with tiny holes which filtrate the heat emitted by sodium lamps.Fixed to the reflector, the diffuser is at an angle, which allows it to diffusethe heat above the grow room instead of having it concentratedunder the bulb. No more problems with uncontrollable tempera-tures caused by the extra heat from the lamps. Dependingon the reflector's opening angle, you can offer your

plants between 40 and 60 watts per squarefoot. – T.I.G.

Atami'sB'cuzz A + B

Hydro, Coco and SoilNutrients

The use of various substrates has increased these past fewyears: rock wool, coco fiber, soil... Each growing medium has spe-cific characteristics related to water and air. Atami nutrients are made from the purest raw materials and of foodgrade quality components. Entirely adapted to the substrate type, theyallow for maximum yield. Their ideal NPK ratio ensures vigorous growth. Theyare economical and environment-friendly. Sold in 1 litre (12 per case) and in5, 10 and 20 litre containers.a) Hydro: growing on stonewool cubes or slabs, mapito (flakes), clay peb-bles, PU-slabs and recirculating systems. Characteristics: substrate forms noconnection with the nutrientsb) Coco: growing on cocos soil. Characteristics: substrate contains a lotof air and little water, high absorption of fertiliser substancesc) Soil: growing on organic soil, containing peat mixtures.Characteristics: substrate contains nutrients leading to savings.

NPK values for A+B nutrient (%): • Hydro: 19 – 15 – 27 • Coco: 21 – 16 – 19 • Soil: 21 – 14 – 28

– T.I.G.

OasisRootcubeGrowingMedium

Oasis Rootcube GrowingMedium is an innovative for-

mula of foam substrate whicheliminates the need for leachingbefore use and requires only a thoroughirrigation. The medium’s uniform cell structureensures proper drainage and water retention toachieve an optimal air/water balance. Oasis Rootcube is available in “sheets” that fitconveniently into a standard 1020 tray, and comes in several strip sizes with optionalliners.

Oasis LC-1 Growing Medium Horticubes offer a versatile system that has multipleapplications in crops that require high water usage, such as foliage plant propaga-tion or hydroponic seed germination. The Oasis LC-1 products are available in“sheets” that fit into a standard 1020 tray and are pre-punched, ready for stick-ing or sowing seeds. This medium must be fully saturated prior to insertingcuttings or seeds. Various sizes accommodate the necessary spacing formany crops.• Sterile sheets reduce disease problems;• Specially engineered product provides proper balance

of water and air for vigorous roots;• Pre-drilled holes for easy seeding and

sticking. – T.I.G.

“Catsin the Cradle”

Hand Cream

This all-natural remedy by New Hampshire Goldfrom Ancestral Acres Farm is an easily absorbed creamformulated with grape seed, almond and herbal extractswhich is perfect to soothe and smooth the tired hands of agardener after a long day in his indoor or outdoor garden.Royal jelly extract, propolis, raw beeswax and honey areadded to the fine oils and plant extracts, along with aloe veraand glycerin.

Essential oils give this cream a light, fresh scent. And the mixof all its natural ingredients gives it a silky and easy tospread consistency. Your hard-working and work-wearyhands will be in good condition after a relaxing carewith this Cats in the Cradle hand cream! The125 ml jar is sold for US$11.95. Visit

www.hhgold.com. – T.I.G.

Photos: Atami, Accent Hydroponics, Ancestral Acress Farm & Oasis


Q&A

Hi,This spring, I hurriedly put my indoor plants out-side so they could enjoy the sun with me. Butsome burnt (especially those like dracaena). I

understand I should have gotten them used to thesun little by little, a few hours at a time... but what do I

do now? I throw them out? I've had them for a long time, andthey have always "come back", and I would like to keep them.Can I simply cut off the burnt leaves? And what can I give theplants to get them back to health?Thank you,

– Marie

Hi Marie, This is a common mistake made by gardenersevery spring, forgetting to harden off or acclima-tize their plants to their new surroundings. For

seedlings and tender plants this can often be dead-ly and you can even burn a cactus. Dracaenas, yuccas and

weeping figs often recover well from a sunburn.

Depending on how badly burnt your dracaena was, if it was only

the leaves that were cooked and the crown was not seriouslyaffected, your plants should have recovered by now. If they hada much more serious burn, where all the leaves and crowns wereaffected, it will take a bit longer to recover, but often with dramat-ic results. When new growth begins, growing tips can appearanywhere along the stem and when it is fully recovered you willhave a completely new plant.

For a light to medium burn, immediately return the plant to its pre-vious location, where the plant was happy. After a day or two,trim off the damaged leaves and begin the process of hardeningoff your plants. Start by placing your plants in a shady spot in yourgarden that is protected from the noon sun. As your plants hard-en off, move them into the sun a little bit at a time. You should beable to do this over a two-week period.

For a much more serious burn, where all you’re left with is a twig,all is not lost. Move the pot to a shaded location. I know it soundssilly but go through the hardening off process. It may take anoth-er four to six weeks for new shoots to appear. During this time itis very important to not over water. As the soil begins to dry out,water it sparingly, never letting it dry out past the point where younormally would if the plant was healthy. Do not fertilize until theplant has started to grow. Use a vitamin B solution like B Thrive,Super Thrive, Organic B or Power Thrive at half strength.

Good luck.

Fred

Hi,Somebody told me that with 0-0-47 you can dou-ble your harvest. Is it true? And if it is, is it what wecall SoluPotasse? Thanks, – Shawn

Hi Shawn, I don’t think so.I have never heard of using 0-0-47 (potassiumbicarbonate) as a fertilizer. It is commonly used toraise the pH in hydroponics solutions.

It will stabilize well water that has a bicarbonate deficiently. If youadd fertilizer to this type of well water without treating it, the pHwill drop drastically! My supplier tells me that there’s a hugedemand for it right now and she is out of stock: “People are usingit as a fungicide for powdery mildew”.

SoluPotasse is something completely different. It is a fertilizer 0-0-50+18S and it will lower the pH. It cannot be mixed with fertil-izers that contain calcium (Ca).

Our indoor gardening and hydroponics experts are here to help.You have questions, we have answers. Fred Leduc shares some of his tips. All you need to do is ask.Send your questions to: [email protected].

Q

A

Q

A

One year after light sunburn.

Two years after severe burn.

Photos: Fred Leduc

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Check out our classified sectionTHE HYDROPONIC WORLD OF NORTH AMERICA.

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Manufacturer’s description

Tessenderlo Group’s SoluPotasse®, is a variety of potassium sulfatethat dissolves completely in water. Because it contains a high con-centration of potassium and no nitrogen, it is a fertilizer that can becomfortably used in drip irrigation. Because it contains no poten-tially dangerous elements such as chlorine, sodium or heavy met-als, it can safely be used for all plant types.

The fact that it contains 18% sulfur means that in soil and waterwhere the pH value is high, it will lower the pH level in addition toincreasing the ability to absorb phosphorus and trace elements.

It can be comfortably mixed with other water soluble fertilizersthat contain sulfur and phosphorus. It cannot be mixed with fertil-izers that contain calcium (Ca).

do do do

Fred

Hello,Do you know a device that could simultaneouslycontrol humidity and temperature with efficiency? Ihave a problem when I reduce the humidity in thegrow room with a centrifugal fan; the hot air is also

going away, so I can’t keep the room at the right temper-ature (27oC). For the moment, I must choose between the righttemperature and the ideal humidity rate. Any idea or device youthink of to change my life? Thanks. – Trich

Hi Trich,

Usually I hear about people having an overheatingproblem, asking whether they can get their growrooms down to 27°C with just a circulating fan – they

would be thrilled to be in your situation!

A simple inexpensive device that will change your life is…Are youready? A dehumidifier! It will fix your problem without lowering thetemperature of your room. I’m sure that if you talk to your localhydroponics supplier they would be happy to answer all yourquestions about environmental control devices.

do do do

Fred

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Photo: Tessenderlo Group

Documents

The Indoor Gardener Magazine Volume 1—Issue 3 (Reissue)