The Big Story: Swaziland Teenagers Wins Dollars With Hydroponics

As we all aware of the hydroponic benefits and how it is useful for an environment. It’s a vital source of vegetation in abundant areas which are deprived of proper growing conditions like soil, water, light, and nutrients. You can plan out artificial environment with desirable growing condition and grow food crops for living. Hydroponics can be started as a hobby or for commercial purpose. Hydroponic gardening can change your life and same happen with teenagers from Swaziland who with their efforts and hydroponics, provided food to their small country called Swaziland which is surrounded by South Africa. Two teenagers 14 years old Shongwe and Bonkhe Mahlalela, won $50,000 for their projects which explores convenient way of providing hydroponic system to poor farmers, allowing them to sustain and grow crops in large amount and in restricted space available without using soil.

The teenagers developed a new hydroponic technique called USHM - Unique Simplified Hydroponics Method that will help you grow vegetables using wastes and organic material as a growing media and waste box as the containers. Hydroponics technique is the method of growing plants in growing medium other than soil such as sand, waste, gravel and other organic materials with added nutrients. Using hydroponic growing system can change your life and gives you a new way of growing plants and vegetables.

In an experiment, they compared ecological hydro system with soil farming and found that hydro gave 32 percent increase in produce, 180 percent quicker plant development and 114 percent big profit margin. Hydroponic growing needs water nutrients to feed plants, eliminating soil use. You can use hydroponic system that reuses water and more effective than irrigation. The hydroponic growing uses hydro system that depends on pumps, nutrients and materials which are sometimes expensive. Before you start with hydroponic gardening, let us talk about the pros and cons of hydroponics.

You do not require soil in hydroponics. Hence, it is an efficient technique for places where there is insufficiency of agricultural land. Using hydroponics, plants can be cultivated anywhere. For instance, veggies can be produced on a terrace, window sill or in a fish tank. In countries like Japan and Canada, veggie is grown in supermarket itself and provides fresh produces to the buyers. This helps to save money on transportation and decreases carbon usage. In hydroponic, there is no need of soil tilling, farmland irrigation, fumigation, and fertilizers. This means less effort and hence labor cost is cut. Hydroponic systems use recycled nutrients and thus nutrients and water is required less as compared to traditional farming. This can reduce pollution of stream and land. Hydroponics works on complete regulated system that provides better control over plant development. Unlike traditional farming where you can’t control the pH level, humidity, growing environment and chemicals. Hydroponic grower can decide the temperature, pH and nutrient level, humidity of the system and thus you can grow plants in a perfect environment.

The cost of setting up the hydroponic system is expensive. It involves a big investment to start with hydroponics. Hydroponic beginners require appropriate guidance and training from an expert who has understanding of plant nutrition and system build up. A failure in a system can cause big financial loss. Hydroponic plants are very sensitive to environment changes. If your plants have deficiencies, it appears on a plant immediately. All the seedlings in the hydro system share the same water nutrient mix, there are chances of disease and pest plague.

The hydroponics plants are filled with expectations and promise but a proper research on the topic and devoted time and efforts will help you achieve the desirable result. Hydroponics benefits have proved that it can change the environmental situation in a near future and meet the necessary food requirements. However, few new gardeners need to carefully understand the pros and cons of hydroponics before starting with full-blown gardening. 

Easy Guidelines To Build Sealed Grow Room For Your Indoor Hydroponic Gardening

Indoor hydroponic gardening are divided into two basic types viz. open and sealed. The open grow room draws air from outside the room and removes air from inside the grow room through a circular venting and ingestion exchange. Another type of hydroponic grow room is a sealed room which avoids an exchange of air outside the grow room. A sealed grow room gives you a chance to work with CEA –Controlled Environment Agriculture. Through using CEA, you eliminate plants diseases and pests; providing ideal temperature and humidity for your hydroponic plants. In almost all cases, you get the higher yield per watt and less danger to plants, using CEA. So how to build an ideal sealed grow room for your hydroponic indoor gardening? Here are basic guidelines:

1. Measure total space you have for your indoor hydroponic grow room.
2. Calculate the amount of lighting required, air conditioner size and electricity requirements for your grow room. Estimate the electricity requirements of any electrical gear like fans, monitors, light movers, pumps, security equipments etc. You’ll end up using all electricity needs and hence make sure you have adequate electricity supply, outlets, junction boxes, circuit breaker, wiring, and infrastructure. If not, add up the expense and hassle of upgrading your electricity infrastructure, purchasing solar power unit or generator, economizing your tools to decrease your electricity needs. Figure all this out; before you start structuring your own indoor hydroponic gardening grow room.
3. Visit your hydroponic store and look for the range of equipment, installation factors and expense of building your CEA room. Make sure that you have the financial support to shell out for the room, and time to build it.
4. You need to sterilize walls; floor, ceiling, and any other indoor grow room building structure. For this, you can use antifungal or mild bleach solutions.  If you’re using any hydroponic equipments that need to be install outside the grow room such as the wire fitting, kindly install them before cleaning.
5. Cover the hydroponic grow room ceiling and walls with an infrared blocking materials to manage your outside walls and ceiling that doesn’t run away through them.
6. When you build a sealed grow room, avoid using carpeted floors. Instead of using carpeted floor in hydroponic grow room, you can cover floor with thick water-resistant tarpaulin.
7. Install light stands, movers, lighting, monitors, CO2 generators and other equipment. If you wish to save money on air conditioning, you can use plasma or LED lighting. The new kind of lighting that provides specialized wavelengths alter to create valuable oils in your flowers with emitting less heat and saving electricity as compared to HID. This light is ideal for crop-specific wavelengths, dense and bushy plants with not more than 5 feet tall. Another advantage of using plasma or LED lights as it generates less heat than HID.
8. Install your grow system. You can consider the Hydro Stacker, Easy Feed or Under Current systems. You can also install security system that consists of closed television cameras, hydroponic monitors and motion detectors that defeat electrical problems, fires, water shortage, pump problems etc. Now, you can install your plants.

These are basic guidelines to install a CEA hydroponic indoor gardening grow room.  Building your own sealed grow room is a big investment of money and time. If you’re a beginner then get practical hands-on experience running the sealed grow room. If you switch over to new hydroponic equipment then get yourself acquainted with operating procedures before installing your plants. A hydroponic CEA grow room reimburse for itself in increased yield, growing easiness and prevention of plants disease and pests.

Hydroponic System: Vital Tips and Tricks before Setting up Hydroponic System

Hydroponic system is the essential prerequisite for starting a hydroponic gardening, as it provides the basis to the plants. Setting hydroponic system is quite tricky for hydroponic beginners. Still many advanced gardeners has problem with setting up hydroponic system. The main components of hydroponic systems are growing medium and water nutrient solution. The system use Rockwool or other substances as a base for roots. Since, hydroponic does not use soil; the nutrient is supplied to the plant through water nutrient solution. Here are few tips and tricks that you should be aware of before setting up your hydroponic system.

• Before starting your gardening, know which system you are going to use. There are different types of system available and choosing a system depends on what you want to grow. So it is necessary for you to educate yourself with the system appropriate for your gardening. The most commonly used hydroponic methods are Drip systems, Wick system, N.F.T. system and water culture system.
• Get all your hydroponic equipment prepared. After you choose your hydroponic system make sure that you get all materials ready. The most important materials useful for system are nutrient solution in form of water or spray, water pumps, grow lights if planting indoors, growing medium and grow bed.
• Select a proper place for hydroponic garden. The place should be appropriate for growing according to lighting, humidity, temperature and circulation. Make sure that you look into these parameters before starting your garden indoors or outdoors. Do not change your garden place periodically because this can hamper your plant growth. Set up your hydroponic system and check your system to know, if it’s working from time to time. In hydroponics, ensure that your plant does not remain motionless. Supply the nutrient solution to your plant so that the nutrient level maintains in your plant roots.
• Make written plans regarding the schedule for feeding plants and timer for nights. Written plans will help you know when your plants need nutrient solution and make necessary adjustments. This will help your plants to grow properly. Make proper adjustment for appropriate lighting. It will work as an alternative for direct sunlight.
•  Nutrients are the most important module for hydroponic gardening and core necessity for hydroponic system. Since, hydroponic is a technique of growing plants without soil and thus plants do not get soil nutrients. Thus it is important to use nutrient solution for your plants. Choose nutrient solution as per the hydroponic system for e.g. in aeroponic system, the nutrient is supplied in form of spray while in other system; the nutrient is supplied through water.
• The hydroponic system requires a growing medium to support your plant roots. You can use gravel, sand, Rockwool and other substances as a support technique for growth. If you are using water-built systems, use suspension systems that will allow your plants to afloat on the water surface.

These tips will help you get started with the system. For beginners, it might look awful but after a regular habit you can become a pro. Using hydroponic will give you healthy food all the year around irrespective of any climatic conditions.

Indoor Gardening: Essential Hydroponic Supplies for Planting Indoors

Indoor gardening is best portrayed as creating a synthetic garden atmosphere inside the house or indoor. The indoor gardening is useful for those who lack space outside their homes or apartments for gardening. Through indoor gardening, you can produce any fruits and vegetables irrespective of the climate and season. Here are some essential hydroponic supplies for your indoor hydroponic garden.

Grow Room: There are two types grow room for indoor gardening. One type of grow room takes air from the exterior of the grow room and eliminate air from the interior of the grow room. This process is known as a circular venting exchange system. The other one is a sealed grow room that does not allow any air inside or the outside of the room. Sealed grow room helps you to suppress plant diseases and pests. The sealed type of grow room increases your CO2 amount and helps provide suitable humidity and temperature condition for the plants. 

Grow Lights:  Grow light is another aspect of indoor hydroponic gardening. This provides lighting to your plants because the grow light is an ideal substitute to natural sunlight. While choosing the best light for your indoor garden, you need to look for different factors such as the light intensity, duration of lights and colour of lights. You can go for High Intensity Discharge Lights, this are electric lights which are highly efficient for your plants.

Growing Medium: Hydroponic is the technique of growing plants without soil and hence we need an alternative for growing plants other than soil. Growing medium is an essential for indoor garden. Growing medium contain varied minerals and nutrients. The main objective of growing medium is to hold the plants roots. There are different growing medium available for e.g. Oasis cubes, Coconut Fiber, Perlite, Sand, Rockwool etc.

Grow Bed: The grow bed is the space where you split your plants into diverse planter areas. It’s a raised section that relaxes on the apex of your indoor hydroponic area. This area contains your growing medium and it helps to hold your plants.

Nutrient Solution: The nutrient solution is fixed at nutrient bay which is position under the grow bed. Plants nutrients are mixed in water that helps your plant to grow. You can use high acidic solution with good pH level and ensure that your solution should have essential nutrients like sulfur and nitrates. You can get different solution ingredients that will hold the nutrients of your plants and help in improved growth of your indoor plants.

Hydroponic System: Indoor gardening is done in a sufficient space and hence you can use different hydroponic system. You can go for Drip system, Water culture, N.F.T. (nutrient film technique), aeroponics and Ebb & Flow systems which is quite suitable for your indoor environment. You also require other basic materials like the basin, an aerator and a pump.

You can get all hydroponic supplies from shops or through an online marketing. Once you start your indoor gardening, make sure that you spend time and effort for growing plants. Don’t forget to preserve these as this farming is based on artificial environment.

Get The Most Benefits From Fulvic Acid And Humic Acid

Humic acids and fulvic acids are generally polymers, compound composed of various atoms, which are found in soil and liquid environments. Both Fulvic and Humic acid are useful in gardening and landscaping that improves the soil state and plant development. They are also studied for health benefits as there are chances that they help fight many viruses such as the HIV and influenza. Fulvic acid is an anomalous compound which is derived from humic acid. The primary use of this acid is to boost the land fertility to plant crops. It is necessary to give appropriate make up to your soil to get bigger harvest. Since, fulvic and humic acid is organic, there are no health cause included.  Here are few ways to get the most of humic and fulvic acid benefits.

Combination with Humic Acid: Humic and fulvic acid are mostly sold separately, but they performs alike functions in the soil. They vary in their solubility at definite pH levels. Fulvic acid gives you positive effects. Though, if you want to get the bigger and best yields from the fulvic acid, then you must use humic and fulvic acid together at same time.

Increase Nutrient: The most valuable properties of fulvic acid is the capability of converting nutrients from unwanted and waste materials into ions. Ions can easily be absorbed by the root. Even if you don’t want to alter or change the nutrient mixture, you will perhaps see the benefits from increased outcomes. Still, it is possible that the new roots which are stronger and much more bio-nutrients will actually benefit the increased nutrient density. It’s a best way to boost the intensity slowly but do not affect the growth through overfeeding. You must pay attention to the pH levels, because this can change or alter the nutrient density.

Light Intensity: Besides increasing the nutrient density, fulvic acid also enhance the photosynthesis activity. This helps plants to produce much more carbohydrate which is required for growing plant quicker and healthier. You can make most of this through placing the light quite closer to the crops to increase the beam power. If you want your plant to be closer to the light without hampering its growth by heat, then you must switch to LED grow lights. There are some facts that proofs that this lights helps plant growth.

Soil Benefits: Fulvic acid is used to boost the fertility of soil and improves the crop yield. This acid removes the electrolyte that brings balance in soil through eliminating the radicals found deep under the surface. For proper fulvic acid benefits, you need to make a proper mixture with water and make sure the mix reached the surface. It breaks down the availability of harmful chemicals and metals providing hydration to the roots and plants. Fulvic acid increase the oxygen level in the soil hence soil has good level of aeration required for better and bigger harvest. If you use seaweed plant food – the most potential organic fertilizers for hydroponic growers that contain hormones and antioxidants, can rapidly boost the plant growth and produce best vegetables and flowers. 

Choosing The Best Hydroponic System For Your Garden

A hydroponic gardener always have confusion on which is the best technique or system for hydroponic growing. According to me, one should read or do research on different technique available and choose the option that best fits their budget, time and grow space. If you’re thinking of making change in your system then you should consider your growing techniques and materials. Here is your complete guide on the best hydroponic system that will help you yield bigger and better.

One of the most widespread and simple to use hydroponic system is Ebb & Flow system. In this system, the plant is continuously flooded with nutrient solution for not more 15 minutes every hour. As soon as the solution is drained through the growing medium, the plants are out in the fresh oxygen. This system is used for different types of crops and the most general method used in indoor garden. The next method is the Drip system. The Drip method is a timely process that washes out the crops’ growing media with nutrient solution all the way through overhead pipe or tubing. Most commercial farmers use drip method for long term plants like tomatoes, peppers and berries. 

Here comes the N.F.T. which is also known as the Nutrient Film Technique hydroponic system. Unlike other system such as Ebb & Flow system and Drip method, NFT system doesn’t use growing medium like Rockwool, gravel or hydroton. In spite of this, the plants in this system are continuously flooded with nutrient solution on frequent basis. In this, the roots top are constantly exposed to oxygen that most plants needed.

Lastly, there is the Passive system. The Passive method eliminates use of pumps or water timers for supplying nutrients to plant. Instead, in this the plant’s roots have stable and continuous approach to supplied nutrient solution. The drawback of this hydroponic system is that this technique has lesser volume of oxygen available for plants. But in the nutrient solution, you can use air pump that helps refill the oxygen which most plants lack in the system.

These are not the ultimate methods in the hydroponic world but these methods are used more commonly. If you’re planning to change your hydroponic system, or want to switch to hydroponic growing from soil farming then I think you must try out these techniques. Ensure that you do proper research before actually saying yes to any method because this can affect your time and money. You need to be educated before spending funds.

Now, choosing hydroponic system depends on different criteria such as your grow room, budget, time and manpower, system height and working. You need to choose the system as per the space available in your grow room for plants and equipments. Most big plants overshadow the system’s sides and hence you must be prepared for any unexpected growth. Most hydroponic growing system will surely get your plants in the vegetative stage. This is possible when there’s a good amount of light and supply for oxygen and water. This facility is provided by Aeroponic system. Compared to other water hydroponic system, the outcomes of this hydro system will surprise you! 

Houseplant Care: How To Care For Your Hydroponic Indoor Plants

Indoor plants grow well with right fostering and care. This applies especially to indoor plants as they are grown in artificial environment. Indoor gardening not only requires apt set-up but also proper care. Indoor gardening requires fundamental elements like clean air, light, food, water etc. to be provided in appropriate amount to make sure healthy growth of indoor plants. Here are few houseplant care and feeding guidelines for your hydroponic indoor gardening.

Light: As we all know, plants make their own food and this method is known as photosynthesis. As the name suggest, the method is reliant on light. Houseplant grown in your hydroponic indoor garden should be supplied with sufficient amount of light to replicate the outdoor growing surroundings. Perhaps, ensure that you are opting for harsh lights as they can damage your plant growth. For hydroponic gardening or greenhouses, you can pick from several lighting options like metal halides bulbs or HPS bulbs. Efficient fluorescent lamps too work great for indoor plants like cactus and aloe. Proper supply of light is vital for indoor plant care.

Water: It is very important to provide sufficient water to indoor plants, perhaps, do not over water them. Although there is no prerequisite for the amount of water required by plants but proper experience and skill can act as your best teacher. In case of hydroponic gardening, factors like temperature, pH level, nutrient solution, humidity varies from plant to plant. To supply proper humid condition, spray the leaves with water at regular intervals or you can place plants in a dish of wet gravels.

Nutrients: Feeding and plant care in terms of nutrients helps plant growth healthier. In indoor gardening, it is vital for plants to be fertilized in every fourteen days. Choose for fertilizers that are rich in Nitrogen, Potassium and Phosphorus ratio. If you’re planning to avoid using chemical fertilizer, you can opt for organic natural options like compost, green manure, kelp etc. You can also use supplements diet for feeding the plants. Supplementary diet will supply micro-nutrients such as magnesium, manganese and iron to plants.

Pest and disease: Indoor plants are prone to pest and disease. Ensure that the place where your indoor plants grow should be clean and dry to avoid fungus. You can also use pesticides if they attack your plants. Perhaps, remember prevention is always better than cure.

Pruning: Many gardeners think that pruning is not the better option and can be avoided. But it is a myth. Pruning not only gives desire shape and size to the plants but also helps in proper growth of indoor plants. If plants are not trimmed properly, they grow up tilted and off balance. This is a major problem for indoor garden as there is no enough space to spread. Ensure that you prune your plants frequently with the use of clean hydroponic gardening equipment.

If you thoroughly follow all the above mentioned guidelines and give gentle care to your indoor plants, you will get to see healthy plants and enhance your hydroponic gardening yields considerably.

Fulvic Acid: Importance Of Fulvic Acid Supplement

Humic acid comes from humic matter present in the soil. The acid is form after microbial decay of dead organic substance has occurred. This acid is a complex combination of a variety of acids. Fulvic acid is one of the components of humic acid and differentiated by a high range of oxygen and weight content of each molecule. They have been used for a long time in agriculture to treat certain diseases in livestock and soil supplements. Recent researchers have discovered the benefits of fulvic acid supplements to plants and human beings. The acid is available in liquid form, a compound of mineral colloids.

Fulvic acids are found in decayed organic plants residue. They are formed in a process called humification, when microorganisms work on decomposing plants. The acid contains nutritional compounds such as ketones, natural sterols, tannins, hormones among others. Fulvic acid compounds are very essential to combat against cancerous conditions.

In past, human beings has obtained reliable amount of fulvic acid compounds through eating food crops. The supply of these nutrients has been affected by modern development in farming that requires the use of pesticides and fertilizers. It has also been damaged by improper farming technique that have led to depletion of soil and minerals which directly affect the microbial activity in the soils. Thus, attempts to find solution to this problem have led to the invention of fulvic acid supplements.

These supplements have several health benefits. They provide protection against radioactive substances. These harmful substances and metals like uranium and plutonium have a very high resemblance for humic substances. These matters react to form dissolvable metal compounds which are often absorbed in the body, thus obliterating radioactivity and metal deposits. This prevents reproduction of viruses that can attack the human body. Their major properties are viral synthesis reserve which facilitates them to make it difficult for harmful viruses to enter into the blood stream. Through this process, the initial stage of viral multiplication has been rendered protecting body against infectious disease.

The fulvic acid supplement is a powerful scavengers and antioxidants of single radicals and helps to get rid of harmful toxins in the body. Through this they prevent any effect of harmful substances that might have on the cells. These matters are removed from the body waste. They help create an alkaline surroundings which is vital for cell functioning. The intake of these minerals in proper quantities creates balance between the bases and acids. This reduces any possible growth of harmful bacteria and microbes and hence enhancing the nutrient absorption through the cells. Through controlling the pH levels they promote hydration, absorption, removal of waste goods and respiration. The complexes are also responsible for maintaining an electrochemical equilibrium in the body.


The fulvic acid supplement is also responsible for different functions. It regulates inflammation, increase the rate of metabolism, catalyze enzymes, control the thymus and thyroid glands, and enhance circulation. This also improves your memory and helps in proper functioning of the brain. These matters are gained from humic substances available in uncontaminated areas. It has become a vital source of nutrients to lots of people all over the world. 

Top Five Myths About Organic Farming

Organic farming works with nature rather than harming it. This includes using techniques to obtain best crop harvest without hampering the environment and people living in it. It’s an ancient farming method which is aimed at cultivating field and raising crops as to keep soil lively and in good health through using organic waste material obtained from crop, aquatic, farm and animal manure along with useful microorganisms. This helps to release nutrients for sustainable production to create pollution free environment. The benefits of organic farming are ample but all organic foods aren't created equally, here’s what secreted behind the label.

Organic foods are Expensive: Organic food costs more than traditional food because of the time-intensive system used by small organic farmers. But the benefits of organic farming make up for additional cost. The production expenses of organic foods are higher due to great labor inputs and greater diversity. Post-harvest cost of small quantities of natural foods is relatively higher especially for transportation and processing.  Marketing and distribution of organic products is comparatively ineffective and costs are much higher because of small volumes.

Same as natural food: Eating organic food is not the same as eating natural food. Natural foods surely do not contain preservatives and additives but they might contain element which are modified and have been grown with pesticides. The ingredients might look similar but might not be produced organically. Similar natural foods quality are not controlled and do not meet the criteria same as organic foods.

Tastes like cardboard:  Some people feels that organic food tastes like a cardboard. But this might be true to processed foods for example pretzels or crackers. Today, almost all organic foods taste same as their traditional counterparts. While most people agree that organic produce is fresh and healthy. Try hydroponic farming, a soil-less farming which gives you healthy harvest throughout the year. Taste is an individual matter, so give hydroponic or organic farming a try. 

No pesticides use: The sad truth is, whether its organic farming or traditional one, most farmers use pesticides generously. The difference is that they use organic pesticides driven from natural waste resources available in the surroundings, different from those synthetic fertilizers and pesticides used in conventional farming. It really depends on what method is used for crop produce. Few organic farmers spray their crops with pesticides twice a month. Natural pesticides might contain toxic substance and harmful bacteria, fungi and chemicals that can harm your crop.

Organic Farming Is Better For The Environment: Organic farming use less artificial pesticides which are less damaging to the environment. But few organic farms uses own bank of chemicals which might be ecologically damaging and avoid using of new technologies to reduce or eliminate the damage altogether. Unfortunately, creation of new organic farms can result into the destruction of habitats and endangered species.

Top 4 Vegetables To Grow Hydroponically

Hydroponics is a technique of growing plants without soil. You can grow almost everything in your hydroponic garden. Growing crops hydroponically depends on particular system you decide to use for your garden. Growing vegetables hydroponically is not a rocket science! You can start with small indoor garden with much less effort and time. A hydroponic vegetable grows in an enclosed environment wherein plants root is supplied with nutrient solution and proper growing condition, if growing indoors. There are different ways for doing hydroponic garden for instance vertical gardening, indoor or outdoor gardening; you can even start with hydroponic gardening with a blend of organic nutrients.  Hydroponics technique is faster as compared to other conventional method because of their controlled environment they produce better and healthier vegetables. Here are top four vegetables that can be grown easily in your hydroponic garden.

Lettuce: Lettuce and other green leafy vegetables are an excellent choice for growing hydroponically. It depends on simple set-ups with less attention. Lettuce grows like a wild plant in hydro set-ups and yields more than any other veggies per inch of plot. There are many varieties of lettuce you can grow, with extensive range of textures and tastes. Lettuce requires additional light to grow effectively. Lettuce prefers cooler temperature as they are cold weather crops. It is possible to grow fresh lettuce throughout the year since they reaches maturity in one month. Along with lettuce, you can grow green leafy vegetables such as kale, mustard greens, arugula, Swiss chard and watercress.

Tomatoes: Tomatoes are the first plant most hydroponic growers try in hydroponic systems. Many hydroponic tomatoes grow in commercial greenhouse or indoors with extra care. The most popular system for growing tomato is Ebb & Flow system and Drip system. A popular aeroponic system grows cheery or small tomatoes. Starts transplanting from seeds in controlled environment condition. You can use stake or other growing medium to keep the plant in upright position. Tomatoes need enough light to fruit and flower. For indoor gardening, you can supply plant with artificial lights such as LED, HID or fluorescent lights. Plants deprived of proper light grow tall and shaggy.

Peppers: Like tomatoes, peppers prefer warm growing environment. Peppers are hardy but easy to grow plants that add colors to your hydroponic garden. Peppers love moisture and grow well in Ebb & Flow system. Temperature and light requirement to grow pepper plants hydroponically remain the same as growing tomatoes. However, raising temperature in night and reducing it in daytime per day enhances the fruit production of plants.  Suggested varieties that can be grown hydroponically includes mazurka, cubico, Narobi and Fellini for sweet peppers and habanero, cayenne and jalapeno for hot peppers. 

Cucumbers: Cucumbers grow bountiful in hydroponic garden but they need support to be upright as they grow. Cucumber plants those developed in container works best in a raft system. They need enough space and support to grow. Keep checking the plants as they start growing, as hydroponic environment results in faster growth of plant. Cucumbers grow well with indoors HID lighting. They are normally summer vegetables; hence they normally need eight hours of sunlight and enough warmth. 

Three Best Natural Nutrients For Organic Farming

Have you ever thought of growing organic? What does organic farming mean to you? An organic farming is an agriculture activity that uses natural fertilizers and nutrients for growing plants. The only thing necessary for organic farm is the healthy soil that gives reliable output and helps to manage disease, pests and nutrition. Growing organic foods is not a rocket science; a right blend of nutrients will give you healthy produce always. But before you switch to any natural waste, here are three best natural nutrients that work best for your organic farm.

Natural fertilizers: There are naturally available fertilizers that can be used for organic production. They can be driven from minerals, animals and plants. Mineral driven natural fertilizers are mined phosphates in the form of raw, colloidal or black rock phosphate, a mined potassium silicate, carbonate and magnesium sulfate. There are also natural deposits of sodium nitrate, a water soluble useful for organic farming. Animal driven fertilizers are bone meal, fish meal, and oyster shell lime. Plant driven fertilizers comprises of soybean meal, alfalfa meal, cotton seed meal, kelp, wood ash and sea weed. For animal driven nutrients there is restriction about using cotton seed which are sprayed with insecticides. Alfalfa is a superb source of nutrients and nitrogen.

Green Manures: A very old, traditional source of natural nutrients is growing plants on the ground and plowing them into the soil that decay and release nutrients for the next crop cycle. These crops are used to add nutrients to the soil called as green manures. Few plant breeds are used as green manures because of their deep root systems that bring up the nutrients to the soil and they are hardy and tolerant of moisture stresses and nutrients. The most vital green manures are plants with useful bacteria which are able to capture nitrogen and make it accessible to plants. The plants supply soil bacteria to the roots for photosynthesis. They grow larger with nitrogen and give more carbon. The available nitrogen can be used up by other plants as the original nitrogen fixation. We can also grow nitrogen fertilizers through crops such as clover, alfalfa and soybeans. We can also make use of fresh, dried and decomposed plant as fertilizers. The green manures can either be grazed, tilled or mowed. 

Compost: Compost is the primary source of nutrients for small organic farm. Compost is the end result of biological breakdown of natural substance. Soil composting can result into bacterial process at higher temperature and fungal activity at lower temperature. During the process, carbon is lost and heat and water is generated from the organic substance. The result of this process has more nutrient content which can be used as fertilizers. The output is more stable and decreases the nutrients solubility and avoids immobilization of nitrogen. The weed seed can be beneficial for reducing soil borne pathogens. Bacteria feed on carbon which is released in the atmosphere making nutrients more concentrated and soluble. 

Start Your Own Indoor Vegetable Garden Hydroponically

Have you ever thought of growing home grown vegetables, fruits and plants all the year around? Yes, you can through using hydroponic gardening techniques. Indoor hydroponic garden is a hobby that allows you to grow vegetables and fruits throughout the year with much less effort. Hydroponics is a technique of growing plant without the use of soil. In Indoor hydroponic gardening, plants are met with proper growing conditions such as lighting, temperature, growing medium and nutrient solution. In indoor garden, you do not have to worry about outdoor temperature and pests that harm your plants. Here is your complete guide to start your own indoor vegetable garden. 

Nutrient Solution: The secret of growing wonderful vegetables hydroponically is in finding the right nutrient solution. It is quite necessary to distribute correct nutrient solution to yield healthy plants.  Usually, hydroponic gardener should use a commercially made nutrient solution rather than making your own. The important key for successful hydroponic vegetable is through maintaining the perfect pH level of the solution used.  Ensure that proper air circulation is maintained at the plant roots to produce best absorption of the nutrient solution. This can be done through the use of air pump, air stone and hose. The basic components for hydroponic nutrient solution are potassium nitrate, potassium phosphate, magnesium sulfate and calcium nitrate.  They must be fully dissolved in the mixture and supplied to vegetable plants’ roots. When plants are small, nutrient solution should be used for 14 days and once the plants are developed, the solution can be replaced after every 7 days.

Temperature, humidity and Location: With indoor vegetable garden, you can place your plants in high traffic area or mostly used family room. High traffic area will make sure ample of carbon dioxide in the air or grow room to nourish the plant. Maintaining the appropriate temperature of the environment is vital for plants to thrive. An ideal temperature of 65 to 75 degrees or normal room temperature is perfect for your indoor plants. Normal humidity levels should encourage plant’s health. A humidity level too low or high can damage your plants growth.

Lighting: It is very crucial to supply your indoor plants with proper lighting conditions. Avoid using HID lights that emits extra heat and increases your grow room temperature. This might burn your houseplants. Hence switch to LED grow lights with a timer to maintain proper temperature and provide your plants with required lights.

Hydroponic System: Hydroponic gardener might find ebb flow or deep water hydro system quiet simpler and easy to work for indoor vegetable garden. You can also opt for other hydroponic system such as aeroponic system- a proper solution for vertical or vegetable gardening. N.F.T. system is the best system that saves your money and reuses nutrient solution for several planting cycle. Choose the right system that suits your plants and growing environment.

Care and Maintenance: Test the water pH level before planting to make sure they have pH level of 6.0 to 6.5 maximum. You can adjust the pH by adding the potassium hydroxide and phosphoric acid. Ensure that water includes proper quantity of hydroponic nutrients to feed the plants. You can water daily or alternately depends on vegetables growing needs. Fertilize every two weeks to avoid degradation of nutrients and use a balanced organic fertilizer for best results. As you grow indoors, chances of pests and disease are less but still pets are more common to houseplants. Hence, you can use insecticidal soaps. 

When you lack space and outdoor land to start with traditional garden, try hydroponic gardening, also called as soil-less gardening to get best outcomes. Indoor hydroponic gardening set up can take little effort to get used to but once you learned how to use it, it can be effective to grow best vegetables and plants of any kind. 

Top Eight Reasons To Support Organic Farming In Future

Our lifestyle selection may have a big impact on the world. The daily choices we make have short-term and long-term effects. It is very essential for us to choose our lifestyle wisely and for those going organic is contributing to the world and environment in better way. Organic farming is the future of farming able to meet the demand of world population in a healthy way. Well, organic farming is an agricultural activity used to produce crops without using synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, genetic modified organisms and any form of plant growth regulator. You can even switch to hydroponic farming, a technique to grow plants in nutrient solution mixed in water eliminating the use of soil. There are several benefits of organic farming to producers, consumers and environment. Here are top eight positive features to support organic farming in future.

Encourage Biodiversity: Organic methods such as crops rotations helps to build soil fertility and raising animals to encourage biodiversity which maintains health of each breed. Natural farms are boon to wildlife and improve our ecosystems.

Reduce Farm Pollution: Conventional farms create their own pollution in form of synthetic fertilizer and chemical pesticide overflow that affects the areas around them. Additionally, organic farm is more beneficial and cause less impact on the environment.

Reduce Toxic Lead: Majority farmer’s uses non-organic methods which make use of harmful chemicals for pesticides and fertilizers and other substances for livestock. If more and more people switch to natural gardening would have environmental benefits in the future.

Healthy and tasty food: It’s true, food produce organically taste better and healthier than conventionally grown crops. Organic produce has less nitrate contents that lead to sweet-flavor fruits and contain higher levels of anti-oxidants. Hence, organically grown foods lead to better taste.

Soil-quality: Conventional farming uses chemical fertilizers that destroy soil quality. If organic technique is applied eliminating the use of ammonia and chemical fertilizers- we can see an increase in health of the topsoil. This in turn produces vegetables and fruits which are higher in micronutrients and minerals.  Besides using organic method, easiest and effective option of growing healthy crop is hydroponic crop farming that does not include the use of soil and hence maintain soil degradation.

Climate Change: Chemical-free farming avoid usage of chemical stuffs, hence reduces non-renewable energy consumption. It takes significant amount of fossil fuels to produce artificial fertilizers used in traditional farming methods. Thus organic farming increase the amount of carbon dioxide restore to the soil, which in turn reduces global warming and greenhouse effect.

Reduces Water Pollution: Chemical used in conventional farming method mostly flows into the groundwater reservoir that causes water pollution. Organic farming enriches the soil quality, removes the risk of water pollution and rehabilitates soil in areas where soil damage has been occurred.

Preservation: Food is the one thing shared in every culture. It’s a universal festivity. Organic gardening celebrates biodiversity and healthfulness. It also removes chemical toxins from the environment and food. Cloned, GMOs and other modified food are introduced in the market. These foods are of big risk to the health of people. Whereas, organic farms might help to combat all this issue and give us fresh and healthy harvest every time.

Addition to this, organic farming and hydroponic farming is the future of agriculture. Hydroponic window farming will save you money and time giving you healthy produce as always. Go green organically!

Seed Starting: The Secret Of Booming Hydroponic Seedlings

Seeds are regarded as sacred in the growing world. One needs to select proper seeds appropriate for indoor hydroponic growing environment, to grow species as per the grower’s preferences. Seed starting is the basic of well planned growing area but for indoor hydroponics it’s the trickiest. While germinating your seeds, plants require a proper balance of water, oxygen, temperature and light to crack out the seed coating to become seedlings, and develop into maturity. A healthy start for your seeds and seedlings can affect the quality and yield of the strain. Plants treated well grow quickly and produce more flowers and fruits than the plants that were neglected as seedlings. If the temperature is maintained and seeds are germinated accurately, the gardener can save time, effort and hence money.

Germination:

For germinating seeds hydroponically, gardeners can use vertical hydroponic system because it is clean, growers can watch the seeds development and they germinate faster than the soil. Sometime, it’s difficult to find a way to supply the perfect blend of water, light, oxygen and temperature to germinate. The foremost important thing for germinating seeds hydroponically depends on which medium you use. You can use several hydroponic methods and system for germination of seeds. Coco coir or coconut fruit husk is amazing for seed sprouting as it is easy transferrable to any hydroponic system without any shock. Coco coir is filled with natural compounds, that helps to build helpful colonies of aerobic fungus and bacteria that aid in root growth and germination. When added to air and water ratio, offers a sustainable and perfect environment for plant seeds germination.

DIY Germinating seeds with Coco Coir:

Coco coir is a matter that wick water all through the growing medium keeping itself at the right moisture level. Here are few important steps essential for germinating seeds with coco coir:

• Take a piece of newspaper and role it around a 1.5 inch pole to create a dense layer around the pole.
• You need to seal or glue the paper’s edge to avoid unroll when pulled off the pole.
• After drying, remove the tube creating a hallow space. Stuff the coco coir into the newspaper roll which is not too loose and not to compact.
• Place the coir on top of tray filled with water covering the bottom. Put the seed in the coco coir and mist it until they are nice and moist.
• You should cover the dish with a plastic cover creating a humid environment while the seed develops to seedling stage. 
• Once your plant has its first leaves, remove the lid and transplant seedling into the proper hydroponic system, make sure that the bottom coir touches the water.

After hydroponic seedlings, a proper amount of light is needed. The best suited light is fluorescent or LED grow lights. Avoid using HID lights because they are too strong and emits excessive heat. Fluorescent lights are cooler than the traditional grow lights. Prior to transplanting, gardeners should remove the week sprouts and should focus on stronger plants which are healthier and produce better yields. Once the seedlings have been transplanted into desire hydroponic medium, you can expect rapid root growth and this brings to the end of seedling phase. The plants are now allowed to be fed with nutrients and place under proper light. It is now the proper time for vegetative phase. 

Magic Of Indoor Hydroponic Gardening!

The benefits of indoor gardening are endless- supply yourself with delicious food, cost-efficient and develop new skills while enjoying. But some people lack space outdoor to have their own complete garden. In a limited space, there are options for hydroponic gardening. Don’t be afraid to start it indoors. With the propagation of genetically modified foods, pesticides, and artificial fertilizers around the globe, you’re left with few options. 1. Ignore the basic health practices and eat modified food, 2. Buy organic 3. Grow your own food. Well, opting for last two options is the best choice. I support organic farming which is environment friendly and produce fresh food throughout the year. Imagine your house wall has transformed into a beautiful tropical landscape. This can be done through vertical gardening. Indoor gardening removes pollutants out from the air and provides your house with healthier environment. 

Indoor- Go the Green Way: First, you need to decide the scale of operation and amount of plant you want to start with. It depends on you whether you want to start with organic indoor vegetable gardening or some other variety of plants may be dwarf, fruit or ornamental plant. It is vital to indentify the lighting condition as this can harm your organic garden later. For example, vegetable and herb garden require bright, direct sunlight while lily and fern can grow in low-light conditions. Next, do some research and find out the amount of space that plant or vegetable will take. For instance, dwarf fruit tree grow tall as ’10 but with proper pruning practice can keep it manageable.  If you’ve a very tiny apartment with one-room residence then switching to spice garden will be a great idea. Lighting plays a crucial role in the success of healthy indoor vegetable garden. Good lighting yield healthy vegetables throughout the year from your organic garden. 

After you’ve planned the basic criteria for indoor hydroponic gardening such as the garden size, type of indoor plant and location, now it’s your time to go forward with indoor garden supplies. Many people enjoy small container gardening- a great option for tiny pots such as strawberries and tomatoes. Other people like to set up the entire indoor gardening system may be hydroponic or organic. Not all vegetable work well in your indoor vegetable garden. Choose your plant wisely that suits your indoor organic or hydroponic garden and yield better and healthier produce. A smart vertical gardening is perfect for growing small vegetables in indoor gardens and makes the ambience looks more beautiful.

Benefits: One of the last finishing touches to any house is the addition of beautiful indoor plants. There are many plants that can be grown in different environment condition but most indoor hydroponic plants provide numerous benefits such as:

• The foremost advantage of adding houseplants is their decorative use. Plants are the most beautiful additions to any room and create a sense of comfort.
• Indoor plants either grown organically or hydroponically adds oxygen and humidity in the air. They filter the atmosphere by eliminating carbon dioxide and toxic elements like benzene and formaldehyde.
• They also help strain the pollutants from a furnace and fireplace and improve the smell of air.
• Indoor plants have many psychological benefits. Many studies have shown that people who had plants in their house experienced less stress and headaches.

Success Tips: Well, starting with the operation of indoor gardening, you need to consider composting as well. For organic garden, you can use organic nutrients such as husk, manure and decomposed materials. While in hydroponic garden, it is vital to use proper hydroponic nutrient solution and growing medium to support your plant growth. You can mix hydroponic gardening with organic nutrients for example mixing organic compost to the growing system made from decomposed microorganism and waste manure. They work as an awesome fertilizer promoting great yields and sustained growth.

LED Grow Lights: Is the Right Grow Light for Your Indoor Hydroponic Growing?

People living in northern state in the U.S. always face hardship to find appropriate spot for indoor gardening that are not cold-hardy and an excellent place to start flowering and vegetable hydroponic gardening. Many plants require long-growing season hence can’t be grown indoors in January. An innovation has taken place in plant lighting, with LED grow lights being marketed in place of HID lamps and fluorescent tubes. LED grow lights have been hyped as the right solution for indoor lighting problems. A High-Intensity Discharge (HID) lights are bright but bulky, generating immense heat. This makes them costly to use and incompatible for living areas of a house. But are they accurate for your indoor plants? Let’s find out.

Advantages:

Cooler and Efficient:  LED lights are 80% more efficient than other heat-generating lights such as HPS and halide lamps. Thus LED runs cool on normal room temperature and is proved to be very effective at promoting plant growth. These LED light array are offered with lamps, that results in various wavelengths of the light spectrum. They are just the right lights for your indoor plants which is require at different stages of life cycle. Few arrays include beams that produce light at four or five different wavelengths, and some manufactures offer a display of 11 wavelengths. There is a need of using higher wattage LED lights, which emits more lights in a small space. These large LED lamps, though brighter, are very efficient than using a series of smaller lamps for hydroponic growing.

Convenient:  LED lights do not require a handy power source in their grow room to keep them lit. These lamps are very convenient as compare to other HID lamps. Arrays are available in numerous shapes, including spotlights which can be attached into CFL lights such as floor lamps, small or large flat panels that can be hung over your growing trays  that can cover the larger area. This makes them suitable to use on wide variety of places in home such as floor, shelf or a table. There are large commercial versions available for use in greenhouse. LED lights last longer than their counterparts. These lights last around fifty thousand hours than HID beams that last for around twenty thousand hours.

Disadvantages:

LED grow are more expensive as compared to other. But as the technology develops, the light will become cheaper and save money than halide or sodium lights in the long time. Traditional lights allow the user to replace the entire bulb if the light goes out. As in LED light, if the enough strip goes out user has to change the entire unit settings. LED functioning depends on the temperature of growing environment. Over-using the light in high temperature can lead to device failure. Heat-sinking needs to be avoided to maintain long-life. LED should be supplied with voltage above the limit and a current below the mark. You have to run your product at appropriate power to ensure best possible balance of operating temperature, power consumption and life expectancy. They also produce blue light which are hazardous for your eye and hence avoids direct contact with your eyes.

Conclusion:

LED lighting is not almost as affordable as traditional lighting. The expense problems get worse if you’re about to change the existing light and start with the new set-up. Though these lights are good or bad to use depends on how you feel about them or you’re willing to make any necessary investment. 

How To Select A Grow Light For Indoor Vegetable Gardening

When starting with indoor vegetable gardening, one of the most influencing factors is light. For hydroponic growing, establishing a good nutrient solution, growing medium and maintaining the exact temperature and humidity is a must but lighting is the most crucial part of all indoor gardening either organic or hydroponic gardening. In indoor hydroponic gardening, the plants are provided with artificial growing conditions which include indoor plant grow light.  When lighting used correctly, promote the proper growth of plant at every stage. Here are key points to consider before choosing a grow light for your indoor vegetable garden.

Color of Light: Bright sunshine includes the full range of light wavelengths from green to violet and blue and red to yellow. Plants require all these wavelengths for photosynthesis process, but blue and red are the most important light for the process. The blue spectrum light encourages vegetative growth that builds into foliage. The red lights promote fruits and flowers development.

Duration of Light: No matter how much light do they need to grow, plants also need a rest from time to time, to complete their functions. Plants partialities for dark to light are commonly divided into long-day, short-day and day-neutral. Long-day plants require maximum 18 hours of light every day. Indoor vegetables and other plants are long day, and get stretched when they are deprived of maximum light.  Few examples of long-day plants are beetroot, artichoke, lettuce, radish etc. Short-day plants need not more than 12 hours of light in one single day. Most plants may even stretch to shorter days to get buds and flower. Indoor plants like cucumber, okra, beans, sweet potato etc. are short-day grow. Day-neutral vegetables like cauliflower, corn, kale, sprouts etc. are happy with 8 to 12 hours of light all through the year.

Intensity of Light: All indoor plants need light to bloom, but few plants have high or low intensity towards the lights. Some houseplants are shade-loving while other need light as much as desert cactuses. Flower gardening generally need intense light to produce flowers and fruits.

Kinds of Grow lights: There are many different kinds of lights available in the market that will support your plants. Few of them are LED; fluorescent, HID and incandescent grow bulbs that give multiple light ranges. Fluorescent bulb gives much more light than the incandescent lights on same energy. Their color ranges from red to blue, so you can match up different tubes and use it as per your preference. Full-spectrum bulbs are great for seedling stage. You can even opt for LED or HID bulbs which are best grow light for hydroponic indoor gardening. LEDs are very efficient, generates less heat, making it safe for human beings and plants.

In spite of which kind of light system you use for your indoor gardening, rotate your plants to balance the light each plants get. Replace lights as and when required to avoid blacken and maintaining the adequate level of lights. Keep your plants quite far from the light to avoid burning. 

How To Grow Nutritious Mushrooms Hydroponically

Mushrooms are highly healthy and unique fungi that can be grown all around the world in moist, warm and protected place. Unlike other green plants, they grow in dark hence plant grow lights is not required if appropriate warmth, nutritional and moisture needs are met. Mushrooms live in indoor setting, especially in hydroponic garden which is both humid and perfectly protected. If mushrooms are grown hydroponically, they are grown as fungi. Hydroponic mushroom has unique appearance and finer quality. Here are few useful tips on how you can grow mushrooms in your own cheap hydroponic garden.

Types of mushrooms:

There are huge varieties of mushrooms that you can grow in hydroponic gardens such as shitake, dark brown mushrooms, nameko or butterscotch with a bright orange crown, oyster with almost frilly cap, also suitable are maitake, enokitake, lion’s mane, button mushrooms- an usual mushroom available in most kitchens in the world.

How to grow?

There are two ways of growing hydroponic mushrooms one is pre-populated cake and the other inhabits a growing medium with spores, the later is more difficult. The easy way of growing hydroponic mushrooms, buy a growing kit. The grow kit is the best method for growing mushrooms and quiet appropriate for your cheap hydroponic gardens. The grow kit has a small block filled with growing materials and mushrooms spores. You need to soak the block with cold water for a few hours and put them in dark place with temperature extending to 75ºF. If you already have a hydroponic garden with suitable controlled environment, it’s an easy for you to start over with growing hydroponic mushrooms. Growing hydroponic mushrooms requires dark room and cold water with proper mix of hydroponic nutrients. Hydroponic nutrients will add more taste and nourishment to your mushrooms. Hydroponic eliminates the soil usage and hence soil testing is not required unlike other traditional growing method.

After your first harvest, you can keep the sawdust block to rest for a week and then recycle it for growing another set of mushroom growing cycle. But, with new cycle the number and size of the mushrooms may reduce as the quantity of hydroponic nutrients lessen on same growing medium for several mushroom planting phases. When the sawdust is completely used, you can add up to your garden compost heap.

If you wish to grow mushrooms hydroponically but without a kit then start with planting mycelium, unless it’s strong and big enough to hold a mushrooms growing cycle. You can use a fresh mushroom from a local culture seed bank. Now place the fresh mushroom, on a dish and let mycelium to grow out. After few weeks, you can see formation of clean grain like millet, rye or wheat. And after four weeks, mushrooms will start growing on the grain. You can also use grain seeds to yield more grain. Make sure that you perform this action in a cleaner environment to avoid contamination of molds and harmful bacteria. For using this method of growing hydroponic mushrooms, it is advisable to clean the filter, growing medium and grow room carefully.

Uses:

Mushrooms are used for many purposes apart from eating and selling in the market. Some mushrooms are also known for its medicinal purposes and are dried and minced to make medicines and are even harvested and sent to health food companies. There are numerous uses for less than modest hydroponic mushrooms. 

Four Best Method for Grafting Your Fruit Trees

If you want to increase your fruit trees diversity then try grafting, an age old skills to reproduced original cultivar from the seeds. Grafting is a technique that connects a part of plant with another plant, grow together to form a single plant. The top part that produces leaves, branches, fruits and flowers is called as scion. The lower part includes the root system at the bottom of the trunk called as rootstock or simply stock. The scar which remains visible on the tree is known as graft union, simply union or bud union. There are several method of grafting used for different plants in different situation. Here are four best methods for grafting your fruit trees.

The Whip Graft: The whip graft is commonly used for young fruit trees such as apple and pears when the branches are small and the under stock is also the same as scion of the new tree. They are commonly used for grafting root and scions but can be used for joining small branches. They are sometimes called as tongue or bench grafting to unite plants easily. This type of graft is complicated for beginners but is widely used by experienced gardeners. The under stock is cut at an angle and second cut is made with the first in order to create a tongue. Similar process is conducted on the scion and placed on the under stock in a way that the tongues get lock.

The Cleft Graft: The cleft graft is mostly used on older developed fruit trees either on the small tree trunk or on the branches of a large fruit trees to propagate hard-to-root plants such as ornamental and fruit plants. The advantage of this method is that it joins two or four scions to stock, giving better chance of the graft to hold. Cleft grafts are done in late winter season to early spring when the tree is inactive. If the scion is cropped frozen, this can take longer to heal. During the growing season, the scions must sprout from the buds and start to grow. After the seasons, the best bud should be selected and rest needs to be removed.

The Side Graft: The side graft is used on branches which are not too large for the whip graft and too small for cleft graft though they are used on a wide range of branch sizes. In this, the scion is placed on the side of the stock, larger in diameter.  Side grafting produce effective results when done throughout the late winter and the beginning of spring, before the new growth season has begun. This method is used for sapling trees to turn them into different kind of tree to create a weeping form.

Budding: Budding is a grafting form where a single bud is used instead of section of stem. It is normally used method for fruit tree production but can be used on young fruit trees such as plum, cherry, peach, pears, apples and apricots. Budding is done in summer season when the stocks slips quiet easily and have full-grown buds. Budding needs the same safety measures as grafting. But make sure the rootstock and scion are well-suited; scion has mature buds where the cambia of rootstock and scion should match. Be careful to prevent contamination or drying of grafting materials. Generally deciduous and shade fruit trees are perfect for budding. 

Easy Hydroponic Gardening With Organic Growing Medium And Nutrients

Hydroponics is a method of growing plants using nutrient solution, without soil. The hydroponic plants are grown in an inert medium such as gravel, perlite or mineral wool. When people think of hydroponic gardening with organic nutrients, they assume that organic growing is totally incompatible for hydroponic. But the use of organic nutrients instead of synthetic chemicals in the hydroponic garden can ease your work. The absence of artificial chemicals eliminates the issue of ppm volume and maintains pH level of the water. Hydroponic gardening is quite easy as there is no need to adjust the nutrients level, check pH level and calculate fertilizer’s amount, which means future gardening problem may not occur. You can use organic nutrients such as Bat Guano, kelp, fish meal or earthworm casting that will surely enhance your hydroponic growing medium and plant.

How to create organic hydroponic system:

A gardener can use hydroponic grow container or coir fiber container to create hydro system for organic vegetable gardening. Place lava rock at the bottom of the container that perfectly maintains the water level. Lava rock is covered with a loose rock wool to divide the medium layers and prevent it from mixing. The upper layer must be filled with a mixture of potting soil, horticulture perlite and vermiculture. Such arrangement ensures the vessel action of water and prevents the bottom of grow layer from mixing with organic particles. Place a plastic screen lining inside the grow area with proper fitting at the bottoms and on the walls to protect the water mixing with small particles. Follow this same method if you’re starting with vertical gardening. You can also use hydroponic containers with small holes.

A perfect choice for organic gardening technique in hydro system is coir fiber pots. The filling will be same as described above but with thin layer of strand coir between the growing medium. Such container can be place in grow bed. Ensure that level of pump water should be lower than the soil combination. The secondary root should be flooded with water and lava rock and encourage water flow into the soil. The lower half of the base should be watered as per the hydroponic source, while the upper part should be moist once in a day.

This system promote gardener to supply nutrients to the upper part where it is important. Simultaneously, the medium structure can be moistened through pumped water with constant supply of oxygen and CO2 to the root system. Lastly, appropriate amount of CO2 will enhance the captivation of organic nutrients by the upper roots.

If you’ve been growing hydroponically and want to switch to organic plant nutrients then you must learn how to deal with pests and understand the new organic hydroponic nutrient material properly.

Tips for growing with organic materials:

• Organic materials cause nutrient solutions alkaline hence you should measure the ph level carefully before using. Use only high-grade pH adjusters to adjust the ph range.Organic material provides ideal environment for useful microbes to grow and live in your hydro system. Hence invest in good root booster and use it simultaneously to protect the roots.
• Keep your reservoir well oxygenated that helps to keep unlikeable odors coming from the tank and improve the health of plants and roots. Avoid using hydrogen peroxide that works well in averting root rot but kill all beneficial microbes essential for your plant growth.
• Avoid maintaining the same nutrient level for your plant as your solution might be more concentrate at vegetative phase than the flowering stage. You can check with the manufacturer for proper mixing directions.  
• Make sure that you regularly clean your pump and remove all unwanted residue. You can replace or clean your medium after each growing cycle. Keeping clean system will promote nutrients uptake and prevent system break down. 

Choosing The Right Grow Light For Your Indoor Hydroponic Garden

Indoor grow lights are mostly used around the globe to provide plants with appropriate light which are blocked away from natural light and the sun. Grow lights can be used in certain topographic area with less or no sun exposure all through the year. Before using specific glow tubes for your grow room, it is vital to know the basic kinds of plant grow lights available and when to use them for particular plants. You also need to know if the bulbs used are environment friendly and efficient to ensure that the selected one should not cost you more on energy consumption. Below mentioned are few common grow beams that are used by most indoor hydroponic gardeners.

Fluorescent Lights: Fluorescent lights are used for amateur gardens, and are extremely limited. They only produce white light and low intensity, thus can’t deliver level of lights required by the plants to grow potentially. They are really useful for seedlings and clones. As they deliver less heat, they can be placed close to the plant but experts recommend a distance of maximum six inches. Fluorescent lights are quite inexpensive but their bulbs need to be replaced frequently, this adds up to extra cost.

HID Grow Lights: HID- high-intensity discharge is one of the brightest indoor grow light. They can be position anywhere in your house, garage or greenhouse to complement the existing light; they can work as only source of light for your indoor plants. These bulbs supply electricity through a ceramic tube or a glass that contains a mixture of gases. The balance of gases determines the light color given off by the lamp. HID lamps are more efficient as compared to fluorescent lamps; a 400-watt beam emits as much as 800-watts of fluorescent tubes. All HID beams can run on normal household current of 120 volt but they still require special fittings with ballasts.  HID lights are divided into two categories such as metal halide and high-pressure sodium grow light.

-Metal Halide lights: This bulb emits light strongest at the blue end. It’s a bare and cool white light that give more compact and leafy growth. This light does not deform your plants color and hence they are an appropriate choice for plant display in a living space. Gold halide bulbs give off more orange/red light than normal metal halides. Halide lights should be replaced once every year.

-HPS lights: HPS grow lights last longer which can be replaced in every 18 months. They emit strong light of red/orange color that promotes flowering. Perhaps, HPS lighting might also produce gangly growth unless used with daylight or metal halide. If your goal is to get lots of bloom, then you can use high-pressure sodium beams. But be careful, as these light cast red/orange color that alter the color of thing they illuminate. This grow light is not suitable for living room, everything looks vaguely jaundiced. You can use 1000 watt hps grow light recommended for gardeners with limited space that promotes high yield and a perfect choice for your indoor garden.

LED grow lights: Light Emitting Diode lights are the latest grow bulbs available in the market today. LEDs are very economic to use, though you need to get used to it. They have specific range which is suitable for different plant growing stage. LED emits different types of spectrum so that you can easily change the range that suits your plant. LED lights have number of benefits as compared to other grow lights. They produce less heat and hence less chance of burning plants, that do not force you to purchase cooling fans. LED lights require big investment but they last for more than ten years and hence save you money in the long run. LED grow lights are more efficient for hydroponic gardens. The grow beams are offered with varied colors use at proper stages of vegetative growth.

To control the frequency of light and convert the dirty light into clean light, Baddass ballast can be highly effective. The Baddass ballast works on intelligence strike and continue to provide clean, consistent light to your plants always. 

Easy Tips And Tricks For Indoor Plant Care

Do you want to add booming beauties in your life? If yes, then houseplant is the best option available. Houseplants will brighten space and freshen up your life. Indoor plants make your space more lively, purify the air and improve your health. One simple rule to make your houseplant flourish for years is to make them comfortable in your dwell as they might be in their natural habitat. Most gardeners find peppers and tomatoes easier to grow as compared to indoor plants as one day your houseplant seems good while the other day it might get infected with pests and disease. It’s not difficult to keep indoor plants healthy; you just need to pay attention to their needs.  Here are few important guidelines to keep your indoor plant healthy for years.

Understand your plants:

Before you start planting, it is vital to know your houseplant identification and care. Different plants have different requirement to grow effectively. For example, cacti require dry soil and direct light whereas ficus tree generally lives on moist soil and indirect light. Make sure you choose a plant that booms on the amount of light you can supply. Healthy plants can easily fight off disease and pests better than the weaker plants.  Chinese evergreen, Peperomia, Grape Ivy and Vine are few low maintenance houseplants, hence they need little care and attention as compared to Hosta, Agave, Bromeliad and Crocosmia.

Basic needs:

• Water:  Most plants are killed by overwatering. Always aim to keep your plant moist and water accordingly. Check by inserting your finger in the compost. Normal tap water works well with almost all houseplants, but some plants require distilled or rain water. Water less in frosty weather than in summer. Irregular watering can harm your plant’s root system. Majority of plants like moist roots, but not fully wet.
• Feeding: Most plants grow without feeding, but flowering plants grow best with a weekly dose of liquid nutrients. While moving your plants to bigger pots, adding few grains of fertilizer does miracles but avoid overfeeding.
• Pruning and Cleaning: Majority of plants are easy to look after. Remove dying leaves and flowers. Dust usually builds up on leaves, so wipe the leaves with piece of cotton doused in water. Houseplant care kit would be a smart choice that meets feeding, cleaning and pruning needs of your plant.

Pest Prevention:  Pest and disease are quickly spread to plants. Before buying, make sure the houseplant is free from insects and pests. Every time you water, check both sides of the leaves for signs of disease and pests. If you suspect so, cut off the leaves or if required remove the plant from the indoor garden. Webbing and yellowing of plants is a symptom of spider mites. They mostly thrive in dry, warm atmosphere. Thus, remove the affected parts and spray around the plant to avoid another outbreak.  Insure to clean and inspect your plant using houseplant care kit on weekly basis.

It is not necessary to be a green thumb to keep your houseplants thriving and healthy. With a little attention to lighting, temperature and watering, your plant will flourish and be a beautiful reminder to your house.