Hydroponic Economics has a good, simple post with tips for troubleshooting your drip system.

I love The Cheap Vegetable Gardener! He seriously goes the distance with his product reviews! Take this waterproof powerstrip by Wet Circuits, for instance- CVG documented his test for everyone to see. And, good news, it works! This is a brilliant tool for any indoor grower. Not that I needed one more thing to add to my grow room wish list!

Photo by CVG

Powdery mildew (PM) is one of the most disturbing problems in any garden. First of all, it’s just disgusting- the smell and the nasty texture are just awful. But even worse is the damage it does to crops. Once infected with mildew, your plants are weakened and any crops contaminated should not be consumed. Indoor gardeners are especially prone to developing PM, mainly because high humidity and overcrowded plants are ideal conditions for the disease.

The ideal solution is prevention:

*Keep your temperature in check, and don’t overcrowd your plants.

*If you visit a friend’s room, be sure to change your clothes and especially your shoes before you re-enter your room.

*Treat your room with Azamax to prevent fungus from taking hold.

*Remove any leaves with PM, and then wash your clippers or scissors.

But if you do find yourself battling PM, I recommend checking out the solutions in this article from Urban Garden Magazine. They break down many different methods for eliminating the problem, including using hydrogen peroxide, a milk solution, and even pH up. I hope that you never have to deal with powdery mildew, but if you have any tips, please share in the comments!

Photo of powdery mildew on pumpkin leaves by Jeff Kubina on flickr.

This project, featured on Treehugger.com is one of the best home greenhouses I’ve ever seen. The ambitious garden was built by Jim Dunn and is totally tricked out with features. The dome is all about providing a stable growing climate. To achieve this, the location was carefully chosen to maximize exposure to the sun, and 600 gallons of water are used as a thermal mass to trap heat and slowly release it. The planting beds sit on top of heat pipes to keep the root zone perfectly warm, and the dome structure features a solar panel and temperature activated vents. The farmer isn’t growing hydroponic veggies, but I’d imagine that the water tank could be easily converted into a reservoir!

The Urban Hydroponic Growers Union is one of my favorite websites. All kinds of amazing growers post about their home gardens, including some names that should be familiar to readers of the Grow GH blog: Red-Icculus and ChuckieD! I am totally impressed with this simple AeroFlow hack- they call it the Super Cropper. So clever!

You know you are dedicated hydroponic grower when your entire trunk is full of perlite! I managed to get a 20lb bag of Nor Cal brand horticultural perlite and 40 coco baskets in my tiny hatchback. Ebb and Flow for life!

The crowns are situated in 2” neoprene inserts, which support heavy upright growth, while keeping moisture at bay.  This is a great way to prevent crown rot.  These systems have been fed FloraSeries, at ½ strength Label recommendations since their 2^ndweek.  An often overlooked option for feeding, is the “Basic Applications Table” found on any FloraSeries Label.  The numbers are in order of Grow, Micro, Bloom with the recommendations made  in ratios of tsp/gal.  Each number corresponds to a different part of the Flora Series trio(Grow, Micro, Bloom) by giving the number of teaspoons per gallon, for any phase of growth.   For example, the 3-2-1 recommendation for “Growth” provides 3 tsp Grow, 2 tsp Micro and 1 tsp Bloom per gallon.  It is a great idea, to start things with the 1/2 strength label recommendations, to see how your plants are able to be fed.

Recently, the switch was made to ½ strength 1-2-3 (Bloom Recommendation), to bolster heavy fruit production.  We have used NO additives.  They seem to enjoy a pH of around 5.8; we fed them at a higher pH (6.3-6.4) for a few weeks, before switching to the lower pH based on results.

We have been enjoying them here in the GH kitchen for about a week now, and we have a few thoughts.  The higher phosphorus content seems to make them ripen quicker, while allowing for a heavier water weight and pushing for the more distinct Strawberry sweetness.  The earliest berries, which were harvested from the systems while they were running ½ strength 3-2-1, seemed to have less water weight, but were a tad bitter and lacking in sweetness.  Happy Growing!

The greenhouse right now is filled with flowers. Remember the fruit trees that are waiting for transplanting? Many of them are currently in full bloom. I took some really crazy closeup shots, and it just blows my mind how each flower is so different from the next, yet so the same.

The greenhouse team has been busy at work potting up an entire orchard worth of fruit trees. These trees will eventually be transplanted into the General Hydroponics Farm Lab orchard, but for now they are cozy and warm indoors.

It’s really cold here in NorCal, and so I like to sneak over to the greehouse to soak up the warmth. Besides the decent temperature, there is the warming effect of looking at the rainbow of peppers growing in the ebb and flow trays. They look great, and are the perfect reminder of the real reason we all grow hydro: to get amazing results any time of year.

I took this shot on August 11:

They have exploded in the last month. Amazing.