Check out this article from Rosebud Magazine's very own grower guru, Erik Biksa. This one is straight from the pages of the latest issue of Rosebud Magazine, and talks about a very important issue arising for growers: smart meters. For those of you who don't know, smart meters represent a serious threat to the privacy of everyone, indoor growers and non-growers alike. A concerned grower wrote in to ask Erik about this, and in true Biksa fashion, Erik served up the masterful advice of a hydroponics expert. This article will give you all the info you need to protect your grow and your personal life. Check it out!
It’s tough to argue against aeroponic cloning if you want big, healthy root systems fast. That’s why this spring, when beans pop and prop domes crop, we’re outfitting you with this run-down and comparison from the Big Three of comparibly priced aeroponic cloning systems. Plant ’em if ya got ’em, and good luck out there this season!
For many indoor gardeners, everything starts with cuttings (aka clones). If you can’t get rooted plants, you will never have a functioning garden. So how do we get stem cuttings that will root quickly and thoroughly? And how does a plant stem generate roots in the first place?
Q:
I want to construct a grow operation that uses IN/OUT ventilation, but only have access to one eight inch diameter duct for IN and one eight inch diameter duct for OUT. I want to run about 12 lights (not all in the same room or timer), and don't have a problem with supplying some supplemental air conditioning for the three or four weeks of the year where fans just won't cut it around here.
Hey growers, here are some tips for navigating your local hydroponics store. Enjoy!
Hey Folks, c’mon down and join us here in Hydro Lingo Bingo-the game where you get to show your level of hip-talk in hydroponics. Check with us online at rosebudmag.com/lb for the correct answers.
Q:
The power company has been promoting smart meters where I live, and there is talk of converting the grid here to a “smart grid.” According to the power company, this is going to benefit me, but they are rather vague about how exactly. Doing some research, I see these things are hugely controversial - there is reportedly even a moratorium on them in California.
I don’t want one, what can I do?
Q: How safe is most of the growing gear that is for sale at the local hydroponics shop? I haven’t had any problems, but I’ve heard of fellow growers getting inspected by local by-law enforcement for electrical codes in their rented buildings. My one friend had no problems, the other place got temporarily halted until they made some changes and got re-inspected. I want to avoid this potential production pitfall-what can I do to protect myself and my grow?
In the previous issue of Rosebud, we talked about powerful methods to make this your best year ever for getting the heaviest and most valuable harvests from your garden. Let’s take a moment to summarize those harvest-boosting techniques before we go on to this month’s set of powerful strategies that will give you more rewards from your grow room:
Plants and people aren’t as different as you might think. While on a cellular level we have some big differences (they have cell walls, we don’t), there are some remarkable similarities in how we function. Some of the ingredients in your premium crop nutrient feeding program are even good for your body as well.
Every commercial grower needs to evaluate the growing style that will work best for him or her based on a range of criteria. Of course, everyone is interested in the quantity of their yield, but it’s also important to consider things like the quality of your harvest, the growth period, the relative ease or difficulty in managing your growing style, and the overall cost-to-profit ratio in the growing system you choose. That might sound overwhelming at first, but I’ve always found that being meticulous pays off in the end.
Black Friday is upon us, along with the start of the holiday retail shopping season. For many, this means rolling out of our tryptophan-induced comas early Friday morning and heading to the mall to spend the day elbowing soccer moms aside for amazing deals on a 3-D flatscreen or iPad 2. In the US, the day after Thanksgiving is by far the busiest shopping day of the year but has also become more synonymous with images of panicked mobs and massive injurious stampedes than with the excitement and joy that should accompany the holidays. This Thanksgiving I’m thankful for the freedom that being an indoor grower gives me, which means I have the choice to join the madness or enjoy the serenity of my hydroponic garden far from the maddening crowd. On that note, there’s an incredible offer available for growers this Black Friday. I’ll get to that in a minute.
What do you think about security cameras; are they going to attract unwanted attention or help keep the bad guys away and tell me what’s going on when I’m not here?
My local Costco seems to be offering some pretty good deals and it would be nice to have some peace of mind while I am away. Some of the bundles even have models that allow me to check on things from my smart phone.
This is a question that sparks in the minds of many growers interested in making the switch over to hydro: "What are the advantages of hydroponic growing versus growing in soil?" It’s a question commonly asked in my store, and one that has become really easy for me to answer. I'm going to simply break down the advantages of growing in a hydroponics system, so you can make the decision if it's the right fit for you as a grower.
Q:
Where I live power outages are a common nuisance for me and my grow. They rarely last a few hours, although occasionally longer. This has been creating several problems for me including the fact that the lighting cycle gets all messed up in flowering, and it’s even caused some hermaphrodites as a result. I am a smaller scale grower and coupled with the fact that I live in an apartment doesn’t make a generator seem like a good solution for me.
Any ideas, especially where it comes to keeping the lighting cycle? Sick of picking out the seeds here :P