Plant Gardens 101

We’ve all heard about community gardens, but in the city like New York there is so little space for serious farmers that the sustainable urban foods seems next to impossible. Now imagine creating a farm in the middle of a highly urbanized city.Serious urban farming with the aid of hydroponics systems and taking this it into the roof tops of buildings is a viable way for a city to become sustainable. Roughly speaking, there is something like 5,000 hectares of unused roof top space in New York City. If we were to grow vegetables using hydroponics in all those 5,000 of those hectares we could grow enough vegetables to feed something like 15 million people. Imagine a city like New York with a huge catering industry of food that would really impact greatly the sustainable urban food in the city. The secret to this ultra modern farming is hydroponics system that runs in greenhouses which nourishes the plants without wasting any resources. Also having a weather station in the city is of great advantage in using hydroponics farming in the city. (more…)

Beware of dealers posing as manufacturers when purchasing your first hydroponics grow box.

So, you want to begin growing indoors. You have decided to purchase your first hydroponics grow box and grow your own. You are no longer willing to pay the high prices for fruits and vegetables sold by companies like whole foods and he decided to grow your own fresh fruit and vegetables right in your own home with hydroponics. By no doubt you’ve taken the time to do the research and decided against building a room for hydroponic since this is such a messy and expensive endeavor. It looks like if you’re reading this article you may have decided that you actually rather purchase a hydroponics grow box rather than modifying the room.

Since you’re in the market for a new hydroponics grow box there is something that I would definitely look out for before you make any purchase. There are other in reputable dealers out there that are posing as manufacturers of hydroponics grow box systems. They will often have the same photographs on their website as the actual real manufacturer of the hydroponics grow box you are actually interested in. They will often put misleading information on the website making it look like they make the machines they sell, but they do not actually manufacture the machines they sell. (more…)

How to purchase a hydroponics grow box

Purchasing your first hydroponics grow box can be a big decision. We have written this article to make it easier for you to purchase a hydroponics grow box that is going to be right for you. There are many things to consider before you buy your first grow box. Usually the grow box you want is best based on as much money you are comfortable spending on a grow box. Once you have a number in your mind, be prepared to spend at least this or maybe a little bit more to get a grow box that’s going to last for many years. Try to think about expandability in mind. Get the best grow box you can afford at the time as it will serve you well into the future. Based on the price you have some idea as far as the features that you are looking for, or rather to say can afford.

Usually the more expensive the grow box is, the more plants you can grow, the more room you have to use as the plants grow fast, the more powerful the lighting system will be, and overall more technologies usually involved in the manufacture of that particular hydroponics grow. The cheaper or less-expensive grow box systems are often smaller than their larger counterparts and even use less light. For instance you may have an air cooled reflector on your higher end grow boxes versus the non-air cooled reflector on your lower end entry level grow boxes. (more…)

Hydroponics is the practice of growing plants in a solution of nutrient enriched water. Since hydroponic plants have access to unlimited nutrition and water, they are able to grow up to ten times faster and healthier than soil grown plants. The rapid growth and incredible quality of hydroponically grown plants and produce is resulting in many commercial growers to use hydroponic systems in their indoor gardens and greenhouses. Plants grown in soil-free gardens have the perfect balance of nutrients and water delivered directly to their roots. Crops are not forced to expand their limited energy searching for water and food. They are able to grow faster, larger, and healthier and able to deliver the highest level of vitamin content, flavor, yield, and color possible.

Hydroponic crops do not have to fight the fungi, diseases, and pests typically found in soil and plants mature unhampered by competing organisms. Healthy plants are also less prone to insect infestation, so the use of toxic pesticides can be decreased or even eliminated. The crop’s water and nutrient needs are simpler and more effective which helps allow greater control over the crop’s life cycle. Instead of the need to guess what the plants need, it will be evident. Without the unnecessary complexity of working in soil, a few simple measurements will quickly determine the plants water and nutrient requirements. (more…)

Homegrown Hydroponics (BBB) Better Business Bureau B+ Rating

I have been in the market to buy a personal hydroponics grow box for quite some time now. I have seen many different manufacturers advertising their goods on both the Internet as well as in various trade magazines like High Times. There were three companies that looked like they made a pretty good product. Of the three companies that I initially had an interest in were Supercloset, BC Northern Lights, and Homegrown Hydroponics. I had a decision to make. What was going to be the best grow box for me, and what was the best company to deal with. I am no expert in hydroponics and I have had no previous experience with any of these companies prior to now. So I began to do my due diligence and research on the big three grow box manufactures in the industry.

I was not able to find too many reviews on BC Northern Lights or Supercloset. Essentially there was very little in what I could find on the Internet that said much about anything about these two companies which was surprising. I saw one or two reviews that said that that BC Northern Lights units run hot, but other than nothing. Supercloset I was almost able to find nothing at all. Made me a little hesitant that maybe people were not buying anything from Supercloset and hence no reviews or input of any kind. (more…)

As what most people would say, growing plants is a skill and great skills comes form experience. You need to have some experience before you can start growing plants successfully. But with NaturesHydro grow boxes, only a little experience is needed to actually start growing plants such as medical marijuana. A lot of marijuana growers know how hard it is to become successful in growing marijuana the traditional way. With all the hassle of monitoring and all the efforts in maintaining with the absence of control over these things, it is possible that there is a big room for errors which would result to failure. But when you switch to using NaturesHydro grow boxes in growing your herbs, not only that you will become successful but you can also have better yield compared to traditional soil growing methods. With NaturesHydro grow boxes you will be able to accelerate the growth of your medical marijuana and optimize its full potential. This is because a NaturesHydro grow box has all the accessories, like hydroponics system, plant light, nutrients, CO2 ventilation, that made it capable of controlling and customizing the growing environment to make it suitable for marijuana to grow and yield optimally. (more…)

Hydroponics is extremely valuable to the world because it allows you to grow in any temperature or any climate that you wish. A lot of you that live in moderate climates do not realize the full value of hydroponic systems. Often hydroponic systems are given a bad name because the media associated hydroponics with illegal plants; but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Hydroponics has been around for quite some time now and it makes it possible to grow plants in what would otherwise be very difficult or impossible situations due to extreme climates like the ones we have here in Alaska.

People like myself living in a remote part of Alaska can only grow plants with hydroponics if we want to be successful all year. There has to be a regular pattern during parts of the year with regular lights cycles to keep your plants from stressing out due to irregular Sun conditions. People living in Alaska are not able to grow like people can in moderate climates. We have a bizarre hours they we have to deal with as well as the cold weather on the winter I. Obviously we can’t grow plants in snow and ice and that’s where hydroponics comes along to help people like myself to keep it growing in Alaska; the great white north. (more…)

I have just completed my first grow in a Homegrown Hydroponics Large PC Grow Box. I was so impressed with the performance of this micro grow box that I felt compelled to write this review. It all began several months ago when I was off to college. I wanted to continue growing plants, but I’ve would now be living in a dorm with other people. After scouring the Internet for micro grow boxes I finally came across the Homegrown Hydroponics Large PC Grow Box. The Large PC Grow Box by Homegrown Hydroponics with exactly what I was looking for. A small and compact hydroponics grow box that looks like a computer.

The Large PC Grow Box is the coolest and best designed hydroponics grow box I’ve ever seen, because it looks exactly like your computer tower case. Homegrown Hydroponics also make the smaller one which is their standard PC Grow Box which will grow up to three plants were the Large PC Grow Box that I got will grow up to six plants. So the Large PC Grow Box is basically a much bigger hydroponics growing system, that will grow six plants instead of three like it’s smaller cousin. However I only decided to grow for large plants instead of six plants so that they could grow larger. (more…)

Review of the Homegrown Hydroponics PC Grow Box

For quite some time I have been looking for an easy and convenient way of growing my plants hydroponically indoors in a stealth-like fashion. I am a 42-year-old man and I have a wife and kids that I live with. I live in California where it is legal to grow my own medicinal herbs, I have chosen to look purchase a commercial grow box that would suit my needs. After several weeks of Internet research I finally came across the Homegrown Hydroponics PC Grow Box.

I really like the design and functionality of Homegrown Hydroponics PC Grow Box, and I also thought the $595 selling price was more than fair. This is a micro grow hydroponics system that I purchased will grows up to three plants, even though I decided to actually grow only two. The PC Grow Box comes with a 125 compact fluorescent light which seems to be the perfect amount of light for a grow box of this size. The plants have a little bit less than 2 feet to grow so this would definitely be considered a micro grow. (more…)

Review Homegrown Hydroponics Grow-Pod Air-conditioned Grow Box

I live in Southern California where it hot. Really hot for most of the year! There is not much I can do about it. It’s my choice to live in this beautiful desert on the West Coast. I have been wanting to grow my own organic fresh herbs for quite some time now. However because of my living space I have very little room that can be devoted to a hydroponics grow operation. Since I live in a small one-bedroom studio condo, I really have no room to grow any plants. I’m pretty crammed in there with the furniture that I own and I have no room to grow any plant in my living space as they would be really obvious to anybody that came over and would give me less space to live in.

However the one space that I have that is not being used fully is my outdoor attached storage facility; sort of like a small garage for a scooter or something. The storage space has an electrical outlet, as well as a light as well as privacy which I like. It seems like it would be a perfect place to grow my plants if it wasn’t so hot in there. In the summer the temperature in my outdoor storage room can get over 120°. Way too hot to grow a plant. So after three years I have almost given up looking for a grow box. I thought I would have to build my own if I wanted to do it right. That chance never came; which turned out to be a blessing in disguise! (more…)

Are you familiar with the Hydroponics system? It is actually a process which instead of using the soil where to grow your plants you are using water. The use of hydroponic gives a lot of advantages. It is because the process gives you the best natural source for both your urban and indoor gardening. There are things that you need for this process such like led grow light, grow box, and hydroponic system and more to start your indoor garden. Indulging with the hydroponics way of gardening can give you benefit as well like giving more valuable time of your day instead of consuming more of your time cultivating your traditional gardening. You can have more leisure time instead of focusing more of your time in your garden. While using the grow box can save you an average space of about 6 times compare to the normal size of a soil garden operation. Most of the reason why people never use much the hydroponics system for their gardening is because they were trying to think that it is difficult to learn the process. They never know that indulging with the hydroponics has a step by step instruction to assure you that you are doing the right step. Another thing that makes hydroponic advantageous compare to the traditional way of gardening is that your hydroponic plants can be grown the whole year round while plants grown in traditional way of gardening would rely on nature which is a long way process. (more…)

If you are considering starting a hydroponic garden, there are some basic facts you should know. Hydroponic gardening presents many challenges, but also has many benefits.

The name, hydroponics, suggests plants grown in water, and that is the basic method. However, it really refers to any method of horticulture that doesn’t use soil. It is sometimes called S/CEA or soil-less controlled environment agriculture.

Light control is the most important aspect, although water and nutrient control can be the most difficult. Of critical importance is the pH adjustment. When you have a soil based garden, these factors are mostly self-regulating. However, in a hydroponic garden, you must take a little extra care. (more…)

This article is to give you some information on hydroponic gardening. More specifically, indoor hydroponic gardening. I will tell you what to do, and what to avoid doing.

This information can be applied to most all of the crops or plants you will be growing. Some people will think that this only applies if you want to learn how to grow marijuana or learn how to grow pot. This not my intention. Though it will work for that. So let’s dive into my list.

10 Things You Need to Know About Hydroponics Gardening

1. Hydroponics is twice as fast as using soil.

2. It isn’t near as messy. No dirt, no mess.

3. You can grow indoors or outside.

4. Little or no difference in quality between hydro and soil.

5. There are several ways to get the nutrients to the plants.

6. Lights do make a difference.

7. The initial set-up can be a bit more.

8. Why use CO2.

9. The drawbacks to hydroponics.

10. It is all worth it.

10 Things You Need to Know About Hydroponics Gardening

Here is my “Famous” Quote of the Day

Gardening is a matter of your enthusiasm holding up until your back gets used to it. ~Author Unknown
In this article I will go over each of the 10 items on my list. This will give you enough information to make a decision whether hydroponics gardening is for you.

10 isn’t that a perfect number. You get a 10 in the olympics, you’re perfect. If you’re a guy and you’re rating the women you see, 10 is perfect. I sure that women do the same thing. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 is always the top. So let’s get into the “10″

1. Hydroponics is twice as fast as using soil. When using hydroponics, the plants are getting so much nutrients so fast they do what they do best, they grow. If you were to just keep eating and eating, you to would grow fast. Problem is you would grow out or around, not up.

2. It isn’t near as messy as dirt. When using soil to grow with, you have to bring in lots of dirt. Depending on how big your garden is, will determine how much dirt you will need. Consider you will need AT LEAST one gallon of dirt for each plant, and that’s at the end. You will have to transplant a couple of time before you get to that one gallon container.

3. You can grow indoors or out. I like growing indoors because you don’t have as many issue’s to deal with, like rain, wind, brutal sun, or animals. Outdoors you don’t have to worry as much about leaks, though you shouldn’t have any. It does happen once in awhile.

4. Little or no difference in quality between hydro and soil. I’ve heard both sides of the story. Hydro isn’t as good. It depends on who you talk to. This is almost as bad as arguing relegion or politics. Nobody and everybody is right. I’m a hydro guy so you know how I feel about it.

5. There are several ways to get the nutrients to the plants. My personal favorite is the drip system. It allows a steady amount of water/nutrients to the plants at all times. Another system you can use is the wick system, you put a rope or “wick” into a bucket or reservoir and the water is drawn up to the plants. One more system is the ebb and flow system. A reservoir holds the nutrients, and a timer is used to flood the plants. When its done flooding, the nutrients drain back into the reservoir. This is where you can have problems with leaks. To much flooding and pretty soon the nutrients are on the ground. If you’re indoors that can be a real mess.

6. Lights do make a difference. Depending on what you’re growing and what stage the plants are in determines which lights to use. The usual rule of thumb is, metal halide for vegatative growth and high pressure sodium for flowering or fruit growth. I DO NOT recommend using florescent lights, they just don’t work as well as the metal halide or HPS.
7. The initial set-up can be more. Yes it does cost a bit more to get started, but you make it up in your plants growing faster and not having to replace the soil after each crop.

8. Why use CO2. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is what all plants thrive on. They take in CO2 and release oxygen. All the rain forest clearing is cutting down the amount of foliage growing so there is less oxygen being produced. The more CO2 a plant gets the faster it grows and the bigger it gets. I’m sure you can imagine what that means. It works best during the flowering cycle.

9. The draw backs to hydroponics. There are a few, but when I tell you what they are you won’t mind. The first one is, the plants aren’t to forgiving if you forget to water them or if it gets to hot inside. You have to be on top of it at all times. The good thing about that is, this is why you are growing indoors. You get to watch your plants grow everyday. Isn’t that what it’s all about. (No the hokey pokey is what it’s all about)
10. It is all worth it. This one doesn’t need a lot of explanation. When you get done with your first crop, you’ll say “that was worth it”

Wasn’t that fun? Yeah right! Well you now know all about Growing with Hydroponics. I hope it convinced you to use hydro instead of soil. Gardening is a labour of love, I’m sure you are going to love it. Below you will find where you can go to find more info.

Jim Broderick, author of “How to Build Your Own Hydroponics Grow Closet”, invites you to check out my website http://growingcloset.com . While you’re there subscribe to my monthly newsletter “Things Are Looking Pretty Green”. Each month I will give you new tips and tricks to hydroponics and information about using a grow closet. You can’t go wrong on the price, it’s FREE. If you have any questions feel free to contact me at jmbrod3@growingcloset.com.
Find out more about hydroponics and growing closets at growingcloset.COM

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Buying your first hydroponic grow box is considerably a tough decision to make. This article will serve as your guide to give you an idea and help you decide on what kind of grow box you would want to purchase. There are a lot of factors to consider if you are planning to buy one for your own. First you have to have the budget and consider how much you are willing to spend. Because hydroponic grow boxes comes in different prices, it is practical to know the specifications you want so that you’ll be able to manage your budget well. Also consider the quality and durability because you would definitely not want to spend more on a hydroponic grow box just for it to break so easily. If you are thinking why there are expensive grow boxes and less-expensive ones, this is because those grow boxes that costs much usually have more features and can accommodate more plants. (more…)

The advantages of growing with a hydroponics grow box versus converting a room

There are numerous advantages to grow in your plants hydroponically in a grow box of versus converting a room in your house or apartment. Converting a room can be a huge undertaking. Often there will be a huge mess associated with converting one of the spare rooms of your house or a closet into a hydroponics grow space. Often these spare rooms on their own do not have adequate ventilation by default, so you could have temperature issues right off the bat. Certainly in most cases it’s not a good idea to have water directly on your carpet or wood floor. A grow box is self-contained unlike the grow room but the advantages don’t stop there. A grow room cannot be moved in a moment’s notice. A hydroponics grow box however can simply be moved to another room or space in your house or even to another growing location with ease. It comes completely assembled and ready to use. It can be broken down and cleaned in minutes. You can’t rebuild a the room that fast. (more…)