Teaming With Microbes, By Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis

This book is a complete guide to the world of life that creates the soil food web. It’s a heady read, intellectual, and packed with science. But its practicality makes it easy to absorb. I think it’s simple to read, probably because it was written by two men who describe themselves as amateur microbiologists. They started learning about soils because they had a desire for knowledge, and have learned many things along the way. The text is a culmination of their research and packed with full color photos and step by step methods.

It’s first part begins with a primer on the soil food web, or in other words, the amazing dynamic life that is in every square inch of healthy soil. Every critter gets a chapter, from big un’s like earthworms, to tiny guys including protozoa and nematodes. I became fully educated about the life cycles of slime molds, and bacteria creates decomposition. There is a fantastic illustration that describes the nitrogen cycle in part one as well as many other clear diagrams throughout the whole book.

Part two builds on everything you learned in part one with very specific tools for the practical use of the newly gained knowledge. The three tools focused on are compost, mulch, and compost tea. I could not believe how inspired I was to make my own compost and brew my own tea. The lessons are simple, and clear and very well done.

Beyond the separate parts, the book in its whole is a call for organics. It is a case against Miracle Grow. It is a prod towards inoculated soil. And it gives you the skill sets to create a more healthy, beautiful, and life filled garden. Oh, and don’t be discouraged from reading it if you are a strictly hydro, this book will benefit any grower.

Here’s a link to the book on Amazon. And check out this link for some practical notes from one of the author’s lectures.

I found some great information online to share with you this morning. It’s a chart listing about 100 common food and flower crops, along with their requirements for pH and ppm. It came from MidwestHydroponics.com, and it’s really well done. Click here to check it out.

Thinking about the new year and the new growth of plants is very inspiring. Today I thought I would start the new year off with a walk around the FarmLab. Things are always lush in our indoor gardens, and the farm was quite a contrast. Most of its plants are brand new seedlings. The weather was drizzling, but beautiful. The farm has many resolutions for the coming year, and this is the first year winter crops have been planted. I can’t wait to see how the production will grow. Besides the strawberries, broccoli and some artichokes that remain in the ground, a large number of new crops have been started, including chard, kale, peas and lettuce. 

The irrigation is neatly laid to provide fertlizer. For now, the rain brings water.

The specific variety of crops are well marked.

This artichoke has grown since last year. Did you know the leaves are edible too?

The broccoli plants that were harvested last year have re-grown and are going to seed.

At 10am everyday, we get a visit from the taco truck. Yum!

Innovation is a pillar of business at General Hydroponics. We are always striving to create the most advanced nutrient systems on the planet. Every new product, every new ingredient, and every new techinque requires lengthy testing. To get it done, we recreate typical indoor scenes. Terry, an ace around the entire office, let me shoot some photos of his latest project.

Stats: 2×2 Ebb and flow trays - 400 watt bulbs over each tray - Veg 18 hours daylight - Two different kinds of mixed spring greens from seed at 3 weeks after planting.

The environments are identical. Even the nutrients are almost identical, only one ingredient is different. The trays on the right with the white stake were fed the control, while the trays on the left with the red stake received the variation. 

Obivously the control killed it!  Further proof that over 30 years of research makes Gen Hydro the best in the industry.

I love our new dry pouches. They add increased value for you, for us, and for the environment. They have tons of ecological benefits, and they look great too. They represent a very thoughtful redesign from a manufacturing perspective. Production Manager Keith Evans recently shared his thoughts on the new packaging.

“I’m always looking for innovative ways to package our products, bring more value to our customers and to bring efficiency to our production areas. I try to go to at least one packaging trade show per year, so when I was at the West Pack show a few years back, I was exposed to the many different ways to package in foil pouches. There is a lot to like about foil pouches. They aren’t plastic intensive, so they aren’t heavily tied to petrol chemicals. They come on rolls, instead of stacked on pallets, so they take up a lot less warehouse space and are cheaper to ship per unit. The pouches themselves come with the art work already on the package, so that saves on labels and associated labor.They come double sealed from our facility and have a durable zip lock feature to keep your material dry.We also include a handy scoop that measures in teaspoons and tablespoons. 

On top of everything else they have major shelf presence, due to their brilliant reflective quality and beautiful graphic design done right here at GH. As a matter of fact , we source them from  a large international packaging company who wants to use our pouches in their 2009 advertising campaign! The other plus that a lot of people don’t realize is that when we went with the pouches, over the plastic containers, we increased the size from 1.5 lbs to 2.2 lbs ( 1 kilo ) and we kept the price the same.”  

So the Aerogarden product seems pretty neat, I mean, you can pick those things up in Costco these days! But I have been reluctant to check them out because of the fact that it has seemed necessary to purchase their proprietary seed packs and to purchase their propeitary foods. I just found a great web article describing how to mix General Hydroponics Flora Nutrients for the Aerogarden. So cool. Check out the article, click here, and if you use an Aerogarden, let us know in the comments how you like it!

Check out these trays of sunflowers. Ebb and flow, planted in coco coir, getting some new EARLY BETA TEST FULLY ORGANIC LIQUID NUTRIENTS. Oh yea!

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, it is wintertime. The season itself manifests for everyone in different ways. On the east coast, ice, snow and freezing temperatures dominate the landscape. Here in Northern California, fog and rain, mud and flooding are the major elements at work. The only common thread is the length of night at the darkest time of year, the winter solstice. No mater how you celebrate the holidays, we can all appreciate the beauty of the night sky and the power of winter forces. Generally the winter is a time where the earth is barren, and the days are passed with farmers waiting for spring and summer. Yet when you grow GH, when you use the products created here at General Hydroponics, Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter each bring equal promise of substantial harvest. The elements are transcended, and winter becomes just a frame of mind.

General Hydroponics is proud to wish you all a Happy Holidays. Every day, each one of our employees does their job with pride and heart. It is our greatest intention to bring you the products you need for a successful garden harvest.  We believe that the world’s supplies of food and medicine are on the brink of revolutionary change.  Growing your own using the technology of General Hydroponics makes the future happen now. Thank you, and best wishes.

GH has 4 greenhouses and several indoor test gardens. But some of the best expiriments can happen right on the kitchen counter. The sales staff has been conducting unoffical tests in the office kitchen. These kinds of tests are easy, simple, and give great results. Cuttings of philodendron were placed in coffee cups. One recieved just spring water, and one was given spring water and FloraBlend.  Below are the photos showing that the addition of FloraBlend is well worth it.  And please, leave comments letting us know about your own homebrew kitchen science!

The cuttings were started Dec. 10th, and were kept near a fairly bright window.

The side by side shot.

Even though philodendrons are notoriously easy rooters, adding the FloraBlend really boosted the roots and decreased the time it would normally take. I have several cuttings that have turned into nice little water plants in a vase on my windowsill, and after seeing this test, I will be adding the FB right away!