While most of our happy clients love their General Hydroponics & General Organics products in quarts and gallons, many requests have come in over the years for larger sizes. The strangest request of all was from one gardener that owned an old milk tanker. He wanted to back his empty milk truck into our production facilities and top it off with FloraBloom!

As you read this we are bursting through the 6 gallon barrier and are now offering 15GL & 55GL sizes for our best selling products. You will get the same premium quality product at a great value with less trips to the shop. The 15GL has two handles to make for an easy move with a friend and it also accommodates the same spigot that is used in our 6GL container for an easy pour. The 55GL has dual openings for easy access, and works well with most siphon pumps. Getting it out of your truck is a bit trickier unless your housemate regularly appears on World’s Strongest Man.

If you are getting ready to work your monster garden and want to load up the truck, look no further than our new super sizes. Grow BIG. Grow GH.

A gentleman in Michigan provided us with these epic root photos for our RapidStart Roots Contest, and evidently this plant isn’t even his most epic:

This root system is from a clone clipped on October 16th, 2011. It measures over 37” when extended. Here they are looped to support the RapidStart. I wish the pictures were better but it is not easy dealing with roots three feet long. FYI- The plant is about 13” tall and thick like a hedge.

Truthfully I am not real impressed with these particular roots. I am in the process of transplanting my plants. I have been doing it over two days. I started with the biggest plants and this plant was the 17th in line. These may be some of the longest roots but others have almost two times the mass. I just happened to check my Facebook page and see the contest while taking a break.

I have a picture of me holding up a plant that is over 5’6” tall by the bottom of the roots. The roots were about three feet long overall. The plant was bigger in diameter than a 55 gallon drum. It probably weighed about twenty pounds in all. I used the GH FloraSeries Expert Aggressive Calculator to grow it. The roots were insane, the top 18” were 6” in diameter and hard like a rock, you could not stick a pencil through them. Every plant of six was like this. The plants were as healthy as they could be.

I have changed systems for a variety of reasons (none of which are because it did not work) so I may never get roots like that again. I invented the solution delivery system and it is considerably different than any other. I believe that my system, as it currently is, is the easiest and cheapest to build, cheapest to maintain, most nutrient efficient system in use and it produces the highest yield to time ratio, 14 weeks from clip to harvest.

Additionally my system has built in redundant safety systems that ensure no problems if the pump fails and prevents overflow. The problem with my ideal/original system is that the standard equipment is not suitable.

I am currently using the new FloraSeries expert feeding schedule and am very happy with the results. However, I do believe that my last yield will have been bigger and I used the Expert Aggressive Calculator. There are many variables though (one is the system change) so I plan to do a fully controlled experiment with the feeding schedule as the independent variable and yield as the dependent variable. I will start this experiment in about one month and will keep you posted.

However, because not everyone can start out with soft and/or purified water, our expert team developed FloraMicro Hardwater, which reduces the problems associated with hard water and maintains proper nutrient balance. It is formulated to compensate for the elevated calcium levels in your base water. 

But where is the cut-off? When do you know you need Hardwater versus normal FloraMicro?

Here is the answer:

Use FloraMicro Hardwater when your starting water contains over 200 ppm or Calcium above 70 ppm.  Always test your starting water, especially if you know that it’s prone to being hard. Using FloraMicro Hardwater will help you avoid nutrient imbalance, which can lead to severe deficiencies or, more likely, toxically high levels of certain nutrients.

If your levels are only slightly high, try blending the normal and Hardwater FloraMicros together. If your water contains 30 to 50 ppm Calcium, you can mix the original FloraMicro with FloraMicro Hardwater to create a perfect Micro blend for your plants.

Share your experiences using FloraMicro Hardwater with us! Are there other tricks you use, when dealing with hard water? Leave a comment and let us know.

I’d like to try growing a giant pumpkin next year, using General Organics humus and fertilizers. I think it would be easy to challenge some past pumpkin champions with a prize-winning GO pumpkin! Has anyone tried growing pumpkins hydroponically? It’s easy enough to do. You just need to have enough space for the long, trailing vines and the large, heavy fruit. Three years ago, Jesse grew this 485lb guy here at GH and entered into the Half Moon Bay Giant Pumpkin contest. It was grown with Flora Nova, Alice’s Garden, Floralicious Plus and SubCulture B. Check out the size of that baby!

 Some people are growing them vertically, with the pumpkins hanging in mid-air, as they grow. Check out these awesome photos!

 Photo from Discover Hydroponics

 Photo from Linneyville

If growing pumpkins isn’t your thing, you can still carve them every year! With the proper tools and motivation, you can get really creative with your designs. Many people use stencils to make it easier but you can free-hand some interesting shapes and faces as well. If you want something to aspire to, check out these amazing sculpted pumpkins! The artist, Ray Villafane, has truly perfected the art of pumpkin carving.

I hope that served as some inspiration for your Halloween weekend! Enjoy, dress up and be safe out there everyone! Happy Halloween from General Hydroponics!

Fifth Season Gardening Co. operates beautiful garden centers throughout North Carolina and Virginia.  Since 2000, the Fifth Season family has been providing quality indoor and outdoor gardening products.  Each store has its own unique flair – if you are in the area, check them out! We sent them some samples of the General Organics line and FloraDuo, to try out on some crops in the store. They decided to grow green leaf lettuce under 360W LED lights, in Rockwool.

The FloraDuo® gave this lettuce all the essential macro and micro nutrients that it needed, including specific ingredients to help resist pathogens and insects. It is a 2-part formula, FloraDuo A and FloraDuo B, designed for all growing methods: including hydroponics, soil, and coco blends.

Diamond Black™ is derived from 100% pure Leonardite, a naturally occurring form of carbon drawn from prehistoric peat bogs. These organic compounds improve nutrient absorption, stimulate microbial activity, promote soil structure and increase nutrient retention. Together, these two products got this lettuce really going! Check out all the photos to see all the stages of growth!

NOTE: Please use caution when using GO DiamondBlack™ (and any other organic-based nutrient) in irrigated systems.

   Seedlings during the first week of growth, in the Rockwool (LED lights off)

     One week of growth, with the LED Lights on.

    After 2 weeks of growth, they are really taking off!

               4 weeks of growth: Look at that! It’s ready to begin harvesting.

Looks like the GH FloraDuo® and the GO DiamondBlack™ did the job! By providing the foundation of quality nutrition with the Duo and adding the enhancement of the DiamondBlack, that lettuce is packed with vital nutrition. Let us know how those salads taste!

Randall's peppers in June

He’s growing both green and red bell peppers in a WaterFarm® and a PowerGrower®. Randall kept them healthy and successful with the ever reliable Flora Series™, with help from SubCulture B, a probiotic bacterial root inoculant that helps increase the vitality and yield in all plants. He’s also been using a brand new GH product called RapidStart®! RapidStart® delivers a powerful blend of natural plant extracts, amino acids, and nutrients to generate prolific root growth. It stimulates abundant root branching and development of fine root hairs that enhance nutrient uptake. Stay tuned to this blog and the GH website for more details coming soon!

Randall's peppers in August

This summer has been one of the hottest on record for the east coast! The average temperatures during the life of these pepper plants have been 95° during the day (80° at night) with 88 – 90° water and 65% humidity. Peppers generally like warm weather but, even for them, this was a bit much. During the peak temperatures of July, the plants would produce flowers but they fell off due to several 100° days in a row. At the beginning of August, when the temperatures finally lowered to 85-90°, the peppers began to hold their fruit. Now that it’s back to a comfortable range, the pepper has been exploding with flower sites that are rapidly bearing fruit. And just look at that tall, lush foliage!

Thanks to Randall’s hydro skills and his good choices on what GH products to use, he‘ll be enjoying the fruits of his labor before the summer is over. Good luck keeping cool in the meantime, Randall!

Luckily, in addition to being very relaxing, entertaining and all around fantastic, the Electric Forest Festival is also green-minded; they feature many sustainable options, lots of healthy food and great eco-friendly vendors including…us! That’s right: you can come play and dance in the forest and stop by to visit your favorite hydroponics supplier. General Hydroponics will be there for the entire festival- June 30th-July 3rd. We will have samples of many of our nutrients and hydroponic systems on display for you to check out and drool over. Come see all the amazing, healthy plants that we’ve grown with our GO series.

Additionally, we’ll have a new shirt design to give away, as we usually do. You won’t want to miss this year’s design!

Come visit us during the day to see our products in action and talk to the folks behind the products. Then hang around to dance with us! Summer is here and it’s time to enjoy it!