Check out the General Organics T-Shirt in this video review of the new Quantum Infinite Breeze Fan. Oh, and the fan looks pretty good too! I found the link on Growshop.com!

Hydrogen peroxide is my favorite tool for sterilizing my ebb and flow trays. I’ve also heard that it can be used to add oxygen to over watered roots. But I didn’t know that I was using the wrong kind of peroxide! This article from Jason’s Indoor Guide to Organic and Hydroponics Gardening is filled with information on H2O2 and it’s applications in hydroponics.

General Hydroponics is proud to congratulate Natural Heroes on their 2010 Emmy Award wins! Five seasons ago GH was the founding sponsor and executive producer of a little PBS show about regular people becoming heroes to the environment. We now can say that that little show is a very big deal, with a total of five trophies from the Emmys!

This years awards include Outstanding Achievement for a Historic/Cultural Program for the episode Voyage of the Vezo, and Outstanding Achievement for a Public/Current/Community Affairs Program for the episode Brower Youth Awards.

Red has a great post up about his composting setup. His Bokashi can even compost meat!

From the MaxYield publisher, Linda Jepson:

Join us at the 7th Annual San Francisco Indoor Gardening Expo July 24-25, 2010 at the Fort Mason Center on the bay for the Industry’s Biggest Trade Show of the Year!

Exhibitors from around the world will be displaying their latest distinctive indoor gardening products and technologies. This expo unites the industry on a global platform to network, educate and do business on Saturday, July 24 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, July 25 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. General Public is welcome Sunday, July 25 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. to discover water-wise and organic techniques for growing healthier plants and produce.

Whether you’ve just started gardening or are an aficionado, there will be something for everyone at this year’s expo.

Randall was in NYC recently and visted Bronx Hydro and Garden. They offer free classes for growers on Saturdays for their customers who are interested in learning more about everything from systems and feeding to cloning and lighting. Randall had the opportunity to meet some amazing people during his talk on the Basics of Hydroponics.

Randall met with a class of about 15 students. He spoke about the basics: pH, PPM, different styles (flood and drain, aeroponics, drip, NFT, aquaponics, DWC, passive), different medias, and nutrition. Everyone was engaged and interested and the group went off on several tangents about cloning and hydroton versus coco.

At the end, Randall hooked everyone up with samples of FloraSeries, Floralicious Plus, and Kool Bloom. Bronx Hydro just opened a new store in Brooklyn (Bklyn Hydro), so people in NYC have two great options for learning about growing. I’m going to be in NYC in 2 weeks and I have their spots down on my list to check out. And when Randall heads back for a new class, I’ll be sure to let you know!

GH sent a great team to Maker Faire Bay area, headed by Luke Silverman. Karlo, our engineering assistant, also came and he took the shots I’m posting today.

They spent the weekend at our booth, which was filled with lush plants and examples of hydro systems. But my favorite part was the cush leather sofa with a perfect view of the music stage and the OkGo performance.

One of the most famous visitors to the Maker Faire is the Electric Giraffe. She walks around the lot dropping house beats. No, seriously. She’s standing in front of the Ray Gun Gothic Rocket Ship, a 4 story installation from another place and time. To get a better view, click the picture for a larger image link.

I don’t even know what this is, but its on fire and it looks like it spins. In my book, that makes it awesome!

Have you seen the Mentos and Diet Coke videos? Where they do the Bellagio Fountains? This is their soda rocket bike. This video from their Maker Faire 2009 show is epic.

Check out Maker Faire Re-Cap: Part 1, and stay tuned for more.

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!

A maker is a person who builds- who does- who creates. Makers as individuals are people, together they are a movement. You might be familiar with their slogans: “If you can’t open it, you don’t own it!” or “You are going to poke your eye out!” A maker is anyone with a desire to hack their computer, hack their media or hack their tools. Our favorite makers are the ones who hack their food supply by building hydroponic urban gardens. We love makers with plants that twitter their need for water. And who can forget makers who build micro controllers for their gardens with nails from the hardware store as their soil condition probes.

To start our introduction to Maker Faire, I’m going to use this fast-paced action montage. The music is from GH’s very own Andy Graham. Andy is a musical genius, and his instrument of choice is the didgeridoo. He is our resident inventor, who spends most of his time as an engineering fixer. For many people, his music is the soundtrack of the Maker Faire. If you’ve ever called General Hydroponics, you will instantly recognize him as our alternative to “on hold” muzak. But his most important role is as the house drummer for the GH after-hours-jam-band. More on Andy later, for now, enjoy the tour:

This is a nice little piece with easy steps to keep greens lasting longer. I know that when we are overflowing with chard from the garden or CSA box, I often have more than I can eat in one meal. I like the idea of wrapping damp greens in pillowcases because I hate buying and using paper towels, and they always get too soggy anyways.

I am so impressed with the projects and their website, and wish them all the best! I’d encourage everyone to stop by and leave some comments of encouragement!

Our manufacturing team is bringing more positive change to the product line. SubCulture-M, our mycological inoculant and SubCulture-B, our bacterial inoculant for hydroponics, are now in pouches!

The volume of these new containers will also be streamlined. In the past, these products were available in two different sizes, 150 grams and 300 grams. GH has merged production into a single 200 gram option. And both M and B are now at a better price-per-gram than before!

The new packaging is the same re-sealable, heavy duty plastic pouch that our Maxi Series is in. The bags reduce wasteful packaging and in turn, reduce shipping costs. Beyond their ecological benefits, they also add convenience – they are easy to open and easy to close and proven to be watertight.

I love these new containers. In fact, I’ve grabbed some of the empty Maxi series pouches from the warehouse and I use them for carting around random stuff. Everything is better about them. Even the label art pops more than it did on the old cartons. And of course, not one thing has changed about the contents- you will find the exact same quality product that growers have come to expect from GH.

General Hydroponics is based on firmly held ecological ideals that we actively uphold. Our business practices have always reflected a desire to preserve the earth’s natural resources. We make our choices not just on Earth Day, but on every single day of the year.

Ingredients are sourced with integrity and with the utmost regard for impact on the earth. We run on solar energy and our founder drives a natural gas vehicle. GH brings the stories of environmental successes to the airwaves as the sponsor of Natural Heroes. Our manufacturing team worked hard to reinvent our packaging methods with a goal of reducing waste and reducing the use of fossil fuel for shipping.

This year, General Hydroponics made it’s biggest and most epic move with the release of General Organics. GO is a complete vegan formula, with supplements made from organic sources including plants and fish. The GO product line was developed as our response to the need for consistent organic nutrients in the hydro industry.

Our Earth Day gift to you is the power to make a choice. Save water with our hydroponic and aeroponic systems. Or grow in soil and provide your plants with the veganic nutrition of General Organics. We are proud to know that our efforts will help bring your indoor garden into balance with nature and technology.

General Organics

Check out our Massive Solar Array

Lawrence’s Natural Gas Vehicle

The Benefits of Switching to Pouches

Natural Heroes on PBS

These babies came as crowns, from the local nursery here in Sebastopol. The reservoir on the Aerogarden is just about 3.5 liters when full, so I started by adding 5ml/res of Flora Nova Grow and a generous dose (30ml/res) of FloraBlend to get them started right! For that first week I had pH at 6.4 (high for strawberries, wanted to see effect) and an EC of 1.7. I wasn’t topping off much at the beginning, as the crowns weren’t transpiring heavily. These pictures were taken at the end of week 2 right around the 16th. I’ve seen already from past experiences that a lower pH would be more suitable, somewhere around 5.5-5.8

I moved the EC up to 2.5 during the 2nd reservoir refill and they are now flowering quite heavily with just the Nova Grow. I’m thinkin’ these berries might get the full experimental treatment. I have some plans of using Nova Grow throughout their entire life to see how they finish…I’ll keep you posted.

The team behind Urban Garden Magazine has been working hard to create a new hydro event called Grow 2010. They just wrapped up their show in Manchester, UK, and sent the video above as a nice overview. If you don’t live in the UK, no worries. They will be hosting a second event in the US in October, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Can’t wait!