Getting information out to our customers is one of our major goals at GH. The creation of the blog has worked to meet that goal, and now we are happy to announce our newsletter. Volume One just came back from the printer. It is a thoughtful combination of articles and product information. And you can pick it up at any grow store. I thought I would share an article from it for today’s post.

Partners in Science with UC Davis

General Hydroponics believes in it’s products. Every nutrient is developed under rigorous testing. GH runs a state-of-the-art greenhouse experiment laboratory and tests products in real life situations with local growers. Yet even more extraordinary pride in our work comes when our results are verified by the esteemed agricultural school UC Davis.

Relationships between General Hydroponics and the University of California were forged in the mid 1970′s. Lawrence Brooke not only has a personal affection for the schools, but also was a student and employee of UC Berkeley and Livermore Labs. He graduated from UC Berkeley in 1974. During that time Lawrence, working with a friend from the botany program, was able to develop the PH stability that even now GH products are known for. It was in the late 80′s that Lawrence and his chemist Cal met with Dr. Hillel Soffer, a renowned botanist, at UC Davis. Dr. Soffer noticed a protype system that Lawrence had built, inspired by a mountain stream and plants growing beside it. All of Dr. Soffer’s research to that point had been realized, inadvertently, by Lawrence Brooke. The two agreed to work together and became professional peers and allies.

Currently Davis has been providing General Hydroponics with cutting edge research, done by graduate students under the strictest scientific standards. Take SubCulture-B for instance. It was tested for 3 years at the university in many different systems. Not only were the General Hydroponics results confirmed, but the school was able to give some surprising information as well. They were able to prove that when deficient and toxic nutrients were given to plants, SubCulture-B actually protected the plants from nutrient excess. These kinds of results are very satisfying, and help to assure our end users of our commitment to scientific integrity.

General Hydroponics will continue to look to UC Davis for independent tests and studies. With the insightful designs and inspired concepts of Lawrence Brooke and his staff, backed up by the science and hard results of the University of California, we hope you will take as much pride in using GH products as we do in creating them.