CREATING AN INDOOR GROWING SPACE

Have you ever tried growing outdoor only to have your crops eaten up by birds, bugs, and other forces of nature!😢

 Whether outdoor or indoor gardening you will always face challenges! Using the sunlight, and soil for growing outside or high pressure sodium lights, and hydroponic systems to grow inside? What do I do?? If you decide to take things indoor! How do you figure out the  size of room or space will you need?

Here are a few things to think about!

• What type, and size containers will you be using to grow your plants?

          There are many different sizes of containers and pots for many different growing methods. The type or strain of the plant you are planning on growing also has much to do with your needs.

• Determine method of growing you will be using!

         Once again the strain or type of plant will have much to do with your decision with which growing method you will be using. Keep in mind Ebb & flow systems, and Drip systems will take up more room than say a soil grow or DWC . Root Spa

• How many plants will you be growing, and what type or strain of plant?

         It is obvious that an entire garden would need more room than a single plant! But think about how big of a radius does each plant need? How tall is it gonna get? How far do my lights hang down?

• Do you have the ability to control the environment such as temperature and humidity?

         Is there plenty of ventilation to help control the heat that is produced when using grow lights ? Is there room for a charcoal filter, and ventilation ducting? Especially if you are using metal halide or high pressure sodium high intensity discharge lamps! HID light kits If HID lamps are too hot or expensive to run for your taste you may like the cooler and less expensive to run LED. LED Lights

• Ability to control the light source during different stages of growth, harvest, cloning,etc.?

          Will your entire grow be in cycles or will you be trying to keep all growing stages going at the same time? We know the vegetative stage light cycle is longer than the bloom light cycle so if you are going to use one grow space or room it will have to be split up with walls or grow tents. Using grow tents is a good way to split a single space into a complete grow room set up giving you the ability to veg, bloom, harvest, clone, dry, and process in one area. Grow tents

Stem & Root Rot

What a sad, sad day when you realize your plant is affected with stem or root rot. Whether growing in soil or hydroponics your plants are at risk for problem causing fungi!!!!😡

The definition of stem rot is "A symptom or phase of many diseases of plants characterized by decay of the stem tissue" and in most cases is caused by these soil inhabiting fungi.

• Rhizoctonia
• Fusarium
• Pythium

Stem rot can happen whether your plants are in the vegetative growth state or the flower stage. It is possible to survive up to 5 years in soil. It can be spread by unfiltered water, and unsterilized tools. Symptoms of stem rot may include wilting, dieback, and poor vigor. Some causes may include poorly drained soil, crowding, mechanical injury, over watering or improper nutrient balance.

Plants showing signs of stem rot will have spots near the stem or on the roots near the soil level. These spots will vary in color and sizes. Spots on the stem or root may be gray, brown, black, or even bright red!

To avoid and/or treat root or stem rot be sure not to over water your plants. Try to keep base of the stem in dry conditions. Do not fertilize during hot, dry conditions. Mulch and aerate the soil. There are also multiple fungicides available. With a little research it easy to find what you need for your certain growing conditions.

NEEDS OF A PLANT

We need food, water, and air, to survive. The purity, amount, and quality, help determine how healthy our bodies will be. Plants, in the same way, have certain needs to survive.

LIGHT
 The Intensity of the light or brightness.
 The quality of light or wavelength of the spectrum.
 The duration of light or amount of exposure,
are all determining factors on how well your plant will grow.
HID (High Intensity Discharge) Lamps include;
 High Pressure Sodium
 Metal Halide
These are great for indoor gardening although they need to be ventilated as they put off a lot of heat.
The HID lamps also use more electricity than fluorescent, and LED grow lights. Compare lights here. Light Reflector Kits

WATER
 Required for photosynthesis.
 Helps to cool the plant through evaporation.
 Keeps the plant turgid or rigid.

AIR

 The plant gets it's carbon dioxide to aid in photosynthesis,
and oxygen for respiration from the air.
 The roots of the plant may experience problems if they aren't irrigated properly, and receive
adequate Oxygen, especially in DWC (Deep Water Culture)

Note the affected Brown roots on the left verses the light colored, firm, smooth roots on the right.

If using the DWC method for growing indoors it is very important not to leave your plant roots in stagnant or warmer temperature water. Many growers use air stones or bubble buckets to enrich the water with Oxygen. Check out these awesome Root Spa buckets. Root Spa

MINERALS

 Plants need nutrients to produce their own food through the
process of photosynthesis. There are Macro, and Micro nutrients.

• MACRO NUTRIENTS

Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, and Sulfur.

• MICRO NUTRIENTS

Iron, Copper, Zinc, Manganese, Molybdenum, Boron.

 Growing in soil provides most of the nutrients your plant needs, especially for the first part of the growing stage. Other micro nutrients are provided through using tap water, but when using DWC, or other Hydroponic Systems, using pre mixed nutrient packages makes providing your plants with all they need easy and affordable. Here's a basic 2 part package. Feeding Package

Get Started Early!!!

This time of year is the perfect time to get ready for your next grow! Whether you are into indoor hydroponic gardening, or more the outdoor type of gardener, now is the time to get your little plants and seedlings a head start on the grow season.
  The Outdoor gardener can take advantage of germinating seeds, and growing healthy well developed young plants indoors, to transplant outdoors after the last Spring freeze. Complete Rooting/Cloning kits provide what you need to help guarantee success! Complete Root/Clone Kit

The Indoor gardener has the advantage of growing basically all Year long, but often needs to Clone a favorite strain or to create a SOG.(Sea Of Green) This Complete Rooting/Cloning kit has Cloning gel, disposable scalpels, heat mat, and much more to make Cloning a breeze! Complete Root/Clone Kit

Keeping it cool

Well it's officially Autumn! "So why is it so freaking hot!" Really though it's usually in the 70's around here all year long ,but we've been hitting the Nineties. One thing to remember on hot day's like these is if you're hot your plants are also hot!

Make sure your grow room has fresh air coming in ,and a good filter and fan combo. Fan and Filter Combo

Grow Tents without proper ventilation can become extremely hot and have terrible consequences on your plants.

Bringing in fresh air ,having fans inside grow tents, and using the proper size fan and filter combo kit can keep your indoor garden cool and comfortable even when it's hotter than usual outside!

"What is pH,and how do I check it?"

Plants absorb different nutrients much better at certain pH levels.What is pH anyway? When the purity of water is altered it can become "acidic" or more "basic". Water that is considered neutral has a pH of 7 on the pH scale of 0-14. If the water is "acidic" (on the low end of the scale) the water has more hydrogen ions than hydroxyl ions.If the water is "basic" (on the high end of the scale) the water contains more hydroxyl ions than hydrogen ions.

As you can see on the chart most nutrients are absorbed between 5.5-6.5. So we want to make sure our pH levels are within these parameters.  If growing in soil pH should be a little higher.

So lets do this!!! 

get a sample of nutrient solution. Half full at least.

 Now place 3-5 drops of pH test solution in sample. If it turns "reddish" in color it is too "acidic",and if it turns more "blueish" in color than it is too "basic". In this case our sample is on the low end being too "reddish"! So we will add some pH up to our nutrient solution 1-2 mg per gallon at first.Then more if needed.

After rechecking our solution again it appears to be more of a "yellowish" color which means it is around 6.0 on the pH scale!

 This is where we want to be. Remember when you add more water to your solution in the near future make sure the pH is adjusted before using. Keep in mind any nutrients or additives may change your solutions pH . Of course if our pH was too high we would have used pH down too lower it .link

"THE BORG"

This is a Blog Post I was hoping I would never have to write about! After all the precautions taken ,we've been invaded by Spider Mites .Some call this terrible force of nature "The BORG". Which I believe is fitting! These nasty little critters are so small you can hardly see them with the naked eye! Once you see the first sign of infestation in your indoor garden it's time to act fast!!!!

Indoor hydroponic gardening is usually easier to control or prevent infestations, but it does happen to the best of us! Once you see one of these guys or there webbing you can bet you got trouble!

After you realize you have visitors it's time to show them the door!!!!! 

If you have webbing on your plants you know the situation is bad ,and will take several treatments to rid this "EVIL"!!!!!First off we will kill off every single mite we can see with one of  several different  products.

 There are approx. 1,200 different kinds of mites . Natures mite control is done by lady bugs,but if we don't have an army of lady bugs we'll have to use other methods.

 Mighty wash can be found mostly anywhere hydroponic supplies are sold. Be sure to use this product right before lights out to help protect from leaf burn!

SM-90 works very well ,and smells great. Mix 5-1 with water

and be sure when using these products that you apply on and under all your leafs. Repeat every 5-7 days to assure all mites are destroyed ,and none are hatching from eggs. When your convinced their gone treat again! Wash your grow room area with a bleach solution then repeat a week later.SM-90 added to your solution is good for your roots ,and good mite prevention. Don't forget to leave outdoor plants outdoors ,and keep your grow room clean!!!!

*IMPORTANT UPDATE*

Introducing "Smite" 

SPIDER MITE MITICIDE

Extremely effective and kills naturally on contact!

Smite contains oils produced by cold-pressed extraction of naturally grown Geranium,Peppermint, Cottonseed, and Rosemary. Under warm conditions ,Smite will naturally degrade in 5-7 days leaving minimal residue! Smite kills on contact by blocking the breathing holes, resulting in death by suffocation.It also causes reproductive disruption among female spider mites not initially contacted by the spray. This leads to infertility, eggs that don't hatch or mites that do not develop to an adult stage.Get yours HERE!