Enter “Cayenne Pepper” in any web search engine and hundreds of articles pop up praising this herb and it’s many health benefits. I have to admit that I began searching for a holistic remedy for a cold that has been plaguing me this week, and what I discovered is that the pepper I use as a seasoning is likely to heal not only my cold but some other ailments as well.

Cayenne Pepper is made from the dried pods of hot chili peppers, which are native to India and South America. These peppers are a member of the Capsicum family, and contain a compound called capsaicin. Capsaicin is known to improve circulation, lower cholesterol, fight infections, stop internal and external bleeding, alleviate sinus congestion, and overall boosts the immune system.

In addition to having one of the highest Scoville units amongst peppers (30,000-50,000), the measurement of capsaicin in a plant, the Cayenne pepper is a very high source of Vitamins A and C, has complete vitamin B complexes and is rich in calcium and potassium. All of which make it a great healer.

After speaking with my holistic doc, she recommended that I start off adding 1/8 tsp of Cayenne pepper to a hot cup of water. Slowly building my way up to 1 tsp of Cayenne pepper per 1 cup of water or 1 tsp of Cayenne pepper consumed per day to achieve max benefits. Tonight I will go home and have a drink, a Cayenne pepper drink, and I’ll let you know how this experiment toward a healthier me turns out.

Well, winter is in full effect. If you prepped your yard properly, there isn’t a whole lot to do out there right now. Pruning is done and the mulch is laid. However, there is one thing you can do right now that in the summer months will pay some delicious dividends. Plant bare root fruit trees! They are available at most nurseries and they are just begging to get planted in your yard. They are easy to plant too. The hardest part is digging the hole. If you live in an area where the ground freezes, this is even more difficult but not impossible. Check out the impressive 2012 Bare Root selection offered by our friends over at Harmony Farm Supply here in Sebastopol. Their selection is unreal and their friendly, knowledgeable staff is eager to help. Also check out these planting and care instructions. Now get out there and get dirty!

The quality of the water we give to our plants plays a big role in the overall quality of not only the plant but the quality of the soil or hydroponic system as well. Different sources of water contain different risks, city water often contains chlorine, chloramines and fluoride as well as the residue of a long journey through aging pipes. Well water can contain pesticide runoff, heavy metals, and above normal levels of calcium, iron or other nutrients. These contaminants can have any number of harmful effects, they wreak havoc on soil microbiology, throw off your nutrient balance, and can be toxic to plants and people. I’m not saying unfiltered water won’t work, it does, but it’s important to know what’s in your water and the better the water the better the plant. You can have your water tested if you are on a well, or find your local water quality report if your on city water. Testing using a standard ppm/tds/EC meter is not an effective measure of water quality as it will only tell you how much is in your water, not what it is, and it won’t detect things like harmful chloramines.

The most common, effective and complete method of filtration available to most growers is called Reverse Osmosis, or RO water, which is what this post is about. RO is the process of forcing a solution through a thin semipermeable membrane that will only let molecules of a certain size through, blocking out anything larger and filtering the solution. This is a very effective method of filtration and can drop your ppm to less than 10 as well as filtering out any chemical contaminants.

There are some downsides to this process though. RO is a pressure based system, using a thin membrane, not all of the water passing through the system is filtered, a portion of it is returned as ‘waste water’. The ratio of filtered water to waste water depends on the size and strength of the RO filtration system, household systems can return as little as 15% of the input water as usable filtered water, whereas a powerful industrial system can return as much as 90%.

Reverse osmosis filtration also serves to keep an even playing field when dealing with nutrients. Here at General Hydroponics, we use RO water in the manufacture of all our nutrients, a key component in maintaining the high level of consistency we are known for. We also base all of our feed charts off of an assumed zero ppm starting point, which is pretty much only achieved using RO filtration. So if you are using RO water, you are starting from the same place we do when mixing your nutrient formula.

Here are couple of personal tips and tricks and frequently asked questions about using RO filters.

I am often asked if a calcium and magnesium supplement, such as CaliMagic, is necessary when using an RO filter. The answer is that it really depends on your specific plants needs. When you use an RO filter, you are filtering out some amount of useful minerals, most often calcium and magnesium. Most base nutrients account for this, as I mentioned before, here at General Hydroponics we base our nutrients off the assumption of zero ppm, so there is plenty of calcium and magnesium in the formula without a supplement. However, many growers have been using unfiltered water on their plants for years, giving them an increased amount of calcium and magnesium, over the years these plants may become accustomed to a higher level of calcium or magnesium and require a supplement, it’s really up to the grower to find out what their specific plants need.

Another method of returning some of the minerals into your filtered water is to mix a portion of unfiltered water back in with your filtered water, if you do this be sure you know what’s in your water so you are aware of what you are putting back in.

A personal tip I have learned to help deal with the large amount of waste water generated by a smaller RO filter is to re-filter the waste water. When you filter your water, you get a percentage of clean filtered water, and an often larger percentage of waste water that contains all the contaminants filtered out of the clean water. This doesn’t mean that this is bad or useless water, it just contains higher levels of contaminants. To conserve water, you can run this waste water back through your filter multiple times. You do run the risk of less successful filtration as the waste water will contain higher and higher levels of contaminants, and it may reduce the useful life of your filter, but it will create substantially less waste water.

Below you can check out Gen Hydro’s RO setup:

Gen Hydro's RO Setup

It is only February but with the lack of rain here in the Bay Area I am starting to gear up and prep my hydro systems for deck duty in the spring. I scoured my WaterFarm & PowerGrower, swabbed my pumping columns and scrubbed my drip rings. Then it came time for the soaking of the hydroton. Grow rocks/hydroton are expanded clay pebbles that are my preferred choice of media for my hydro systems.

Click here if you want to know everything there is to know about hydroton.

One of my favorite parts about hydroton is the ease of use when prepping them for their new home in my systems. If you have ever used grow rocks you know what happens while they are in the bag. They rub together, get bounced around and settle in their bag. The result is a red chalky residue that can leave a film in your nutrient solution if not first properly rinsed.

I have a cheep and easy way of getting this rock laundry done that I want to share. It starts with a 5 gallon utility bucket that can be found at any hardware store. Get your favorite drill and insert a bit no larger than 1/4″ (I prefer 3/16″). Flip the bucket over, channel all of your frustration from the day and go to town drilling holes throughout the base of the bucket. Twenty or so holes is ample but if you are like me, you may keep going until you wonder how the bottom of the bucket is still in place. Next step is to fill the bucket with hydroton. Get a hose and gently spray water into the bucket over the hydroton. You do not need to blast off the film, as this can lead to degradation of the clay and will create more residue. You will immediately notice the red-stained water flowing from the bucket. After 20-30 seconds stop the hose and give the hydroton a stir with your hand or trusty scepter. Start again and run the water through the bucket until the red hue is no more. Boom, you now have hydroton that is ready to throw into your system.

After your grow is through and you want to recycle your clay buddies, simply boil a pot of water (I have learned the hard way not to use your best cooking pot unless you want a beat down from your significant other) drop in the hydroton, and let it come to a boil. Take your cooking pot and pour the hydroton into your nifty drain bucket, rinse and grow. You can also use bleach, H2O2 or a system rinse for rocks that are particularly gunked up. Then again, what is cheaper than boiling some water?

Do you have any other crafty cleaning and system set up tricks that you have concocted? If so, let me know, I am always looking for cheap and affective ways to make my plants happy.

General Hydroponics is sponsoring a program on hydroponics for The Miami Science Museum. I visited the museum last month. They are running a modified EuroGrower system, a RainForest system for cutting and rooting experiments, along with several aeroponic systems.

Children from schools and groups all over Miami come to tour the facility, learn about life sciences, and get a hands on experience that is really awesome. Planetarium, archaeology, engineering, marine biology displays are just the beginning. They teach children about the benefits of hydroponics and are able to relate math and science lessons to the children by incorporating General Hydroponics systems and nutrients through hydroponics.

The wall of mangrove seedlings from the pictures is done by a local artist, Xavier Cortada. Mangroves are native to South Florida and once matured, the seedlings will return to the Biscayne Bay.

The EuroGrower system has cucumbers that are dealing with a powdery mildew issue – they just started AzaMax applications.

Awesome museum – if your coming to Miami take the kids and check it out!

Browsing through some of my photos yesterday I came across these 2 very different pics of a local landscape. This is a small, man made lake near my home and it made me think about replicating seasonal effects when gardening indoors. One of our goals as indoor growers is to mimic environmental and nutritional conditions that our plants are naturally exposed/conditioned to. Indoors we do so in an artificial way in order to have our crops respond and produce as we choose. For me these photos shine a great deal of importance on the fact that all plants depend on sometimes subtle, sometimes abrupt seasonal changes in order to identify its own lifecycle and where it stands within it. Some factors like latitude and altitude greatly influence how slow or quickly these changes can occur. We know and practice the basic signals such as reducing daylight hours from 18 to 12. Nitrogen rich nutrient mixtures change to Phosphorus/Potassium dominate mixtures. Some growers even switch from MH bulbs in veg to HPS bulbs in flower in order to mimic seasonal changes in the color spectrum of sunlight.

A “perfect” plant environment is one that matches that in which the plants genes originated. Not all aspects obviously need to match up but the better we replicate these environmental changes the better chance we have of success. So consider this next time you change crops or varietals. Length of daylight, daytime temperature, nighttime temperature of both air and soil/medium/nutrient solution, daytime humidity, nighttime humidity and soil chemistry, to name a few, all come into play. If you can trace any plant to its origin and closely mimic those ideal conditions indoors you can truly maximize genetic potential through tuned environmental conditions.

Last week I took a trip to Northern Michigan, Traverse City and then came all the way down the west coast to the Michigan/Indiana border in Niles,MI. I risked life and limb, as you can see in the pictures, to preach the good word of GH! It was a blast and I met a lot of great people and great stores. The General Organics line was the top seller in many of my stores, and GH even more so! Glad I could get up and over there. The stores were so very happy to receive samples, window decals, 8ft GH vinyl banners, new catalogs and of course the spiffy new feedcharts.

By now, if you have not heard of the multinational agricultural biotech company Monsanto, you have either been living in a cell at Gitmo or have been in a coma since the late 1980′s. It is one of the largest corporations based in the United States with over 21,400 employees worldwide. Monsanto came from humble beginnings in 1901 in the “Show Me” state of Missouri. The company was founded by John Francis Queeny. Mr. Queeny had spent the bulk of his professional career in the pharmaceutical industry. The name Monsanto came from his father in-law, Mr. Emmanuel Mendes de Monsanto. Mr. Monsanto was a wealthy financier of a sugar company in Puerto Rico and based in St. Thomas V.I. (Danish West Indies at that time). The company’s first product was the now famous if not infamous, artificial sweetener Saccharin, which it sold to the Coca-Cola Company. I’m sorry, did I say Monsanto came from humble beginnings. Scratch that. They started big and bad and just got worse with age. Ok, fast forward some 44 years, when Monsanto began manufacturing a now-banned pesticide called DDT. Some of Monsanto’s other carcinogenic gems (and they have more gems than the crown of Henry VIII) are Agent Orange, Aspartame aka NutraSweet, BST aka bovine growth hormone and PCBs. Now, Monsanto didn’t limit itself to simply manufacturing chemicals in an ongoing effort to improve the lives of millions. They branched out into developing the first nuclear weapons. Oh yes, Monsanto operated The Dayton Project, and later Mound Laboratories for the Manhattan Project. The road to hell is paved with good intentions and Monsanto makes the pavement.

Now let’s fast forward another 38 years to 1982. This was the year that Monsanto developed its first genetically modified plant cell. You may be wondering, why do they need to modify the genetics of a plant. Well silly, it’s so that plant can grow better in the presence of other Monsanto chemicals such as RoundUp. If you want your corn farm to be weed free, you need to use round up to kill the weeds. But if you spray round up on young corn plants, they die. So, you make “RoundUp Ready” corn. Doesn’t sound too insidious right? Enter, the Terminator Seed. The terminator seed produces plants that produce sterile seeds. Therefore, if a farmer wants to grow his crop again next season, he or she has to buy new seeds for that season. Did I mention that Monsanto was actually able to patent this seed technology. That means that if through natural pollen spreading via wind, your non-GMO crop gets pollinated by a neighbors GMO crop, you are now the proud owner of patented seed technology and must therefore abide by the patent laws of said GMO seed. If you try to resist the power of the dark side, you will be sued. Check out the documentary The World According to Monsanto which is a film by a French journalist named Marie-Monique Robin (see below). It has also been published in written form which has been translated to many languages. It is a real eye opener.

Well, I think I have said enough to peak your interest. Now it’s up to us to fight the good fight. Fight for your rights, fight for your mind, fight for your food. FOOD FIGHT!

For further reading, see:
Vanity Fair
National Geographic

UPDATE: An interesting settlement involving Monsanto has taken place:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/24/monsanto-agent-orange-west-virginia

We here at GH receive lots of questions regarding the use of organic nutrients in a hydroponic setting. Bioponics is just that, a marriage of organic cultivation with hydroponic cultivation. To visit this very important topic I’ve included a link to our sister company, GHE’s blog. Read through as Noucetta describes 3 key factors to having success with a bioponic set up.

The Marin Agricultural Land Trust is a member supported non-profit organization of farmers, ranchers & environmentalists that work to permanently preserve farmland for agricultural use in Marin County. Since 1980 MALT has protected more than 44,000 acres on 68 family farms.

Across the country many other similar organizations such as the Sonoma County Agricultural Preserve are working to preserve the family farm as well as the open space that promotes wildlife and plant habitats. Look for similar programs in your area and see how you can participate to help protect the family farm and establish open space for your family to enjoy for generations to come.

I’ve been traveling in Portland, Oregon lately and it’s been overcast and raining pretty much the whole time, Portland has 222 cloudy days a year, many of which bring at least a little rain. This leads to some unique gardening conditions and unique gardening methods, one such interesting and sustainable type of garden that’s well suited to this environment is known as a rain garden

A rain garden is a shallow, constructed depression that is planted with deep-rooted native plants & grasses. It is located in the landscape to receive runoff from hard surfaces such as a roof, a sidewalk or a driveway. Rain gardens slow down the rush of water from these hard surfaces, hold the water for a short period of time and allow it to naturally infiltrate into the ground. A rain garden can be thought of as a water quality system because it filters the runoff from your roof and lawn and recharges the groundwater. ¹

Usually, a rain garden is a small garden which is designed to withstand the extremes of moisture and concentrations of nutrients, particularly Nitrogen and Phosphorus, that are found in stormwater runoff. Rain gardens are ideally sited close to the source of the runoff and serve to slow the stormwater as it travels downhill, giving the stormwater more time to infiltrate and less opportunity to gain momentum and erosive power.

Below the surface of the garden, a number of processes are occurring which mimic the hydrologic action of a healthy forest. Soils are engineered and appropriate plants selected for the rain garden. The garden is a small bioretention cell in which stormwater is cleaned and reduced in volume once it enters the rain garden. Nitrogen and phosphorus levels and overall sediment loads in the stormwater are reduced by the action of the plants and growing media on the water. Multiple rain gardens over an area will have a positive cumulative effect on both the volume and quality of stormwater run off. Some municipalities even offer a small grant for building a rain garden due to it’s beneficial effects.

Most rain gardens are populated with either herbaceous perennials, woody shrubs or trees. This does not mean that annuals are not possible for such gardens; rather it means that the gardens have been designed for habitat and low maintenance goals rather than purely seasonal aesthetics,color effects or production. Some annuals are good candidates for a higher maintenance version of a rain garden. ²

Rain gardens are a great example of the ingenuity and adaptability of gardens and gardeners to their local environment and resources. With nature and technology plants can be grown under any circumstances and in any environment, so while I enjoy the plants of the rainy pacific northwest I hope everyone takes a look at the unique properties of their local climate and environment and how that effects both indoor and outdoor gardening this winter!

Additional resources

About Rain Gardens:
Wikipedia
Sue Ellingson

How To Guides (PDF)
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Oregon State University

Notes:
¹ Low Impact Development
² Rain Garden Network

The view surrounding GH Sebastopol changes month by month as the once prominent apple orchards yield to the ever expanding vines of progress. Western Sonoma was once renowned for its Gravenstein apples. Today when people think of Sonoma County I am confident that the first thing that tickles the brain is the melody of flavorful grapes in their favorite wine. On our property here at GH we have about a dozen Gravenstein trees that we plan on keeping for the long run. We often take “apple walks” from mid summer to fall, up the hill to our favorite tree for fresh pickings. Around the neighborhood, tractors can be seen plowing down the orchards to make way for new vines as the crop of choice has changed. This changing of the guard got me thinking about this very specific variety of apple and how it became so popular and dominant in this area. The great botanist, horticulturist, and agricultural pioneer Luther Burbank once proclaimed “”It has often been said that if the Gravenstein could be had throughout the year, no other apple need be grown.”

If you want to know more about the Gravenstein, and what it has meant to this area of the country, below are a few links you may enjoy:

The Gravenstein Apple Fair
Gravenstein Apples Struggle to Survive in Sonoma County
US Presidia: Sebastopol Gravenstein Apple
Wikipedia: Gravenstien

Everything was frozen over this morning when I hopped in the car to go to work. All of the leaves have fallen off my mulberry and apple tree, and my tomatoes are wilting and dead in the frost. So in the dark of the morning I tried to look around and see which trees & plants are still giving off color and making the winter less gloomy. Around my North Bay neighborhood plenty of Japanese Maples are popping with red and yellow leaves. Looking at my deceased garden I started to think that I really need to gear up earlier for winter and plant vegetables for a winter garden. But then again, what should I plant? I found the following links to winter friendly plants:

Plants for the Winter Garden

Fall & Winter Vegetable Planting Guide

These are great suggestions! I can’t wait to get this rolling next fall!

I picked up a Poinsettia plant the other day while grocery shopping and started wondering, “Why is this plant associated with the Christmas Holiday season”? Here are some interesting facts I learned about this beautiful plant that may help shed some light on your questions?

The Poinsettia (Euphorbia Pulcherrima) is native to the Southern Mexican countryside. Known to the Aztec people as “Cuetlaxochitl”, this star shaped plant was used to make dyes and medicine for the ancient people. The legendary Aztec king, Montezuma would have these beautiful plants caravanned to his temple because they could not be cultivated in the high altitude region of his empire.

Contrary to popular belief, the Poinsettia is not poisonous. A 50lb child would have to eat 600 bracts (leaves) to have a toxic effect. That is about 40 plants worth of leaves. Interestingly, the Aztecs used the sap from the plant to treat fevers.

Dr. Joel Roberts Poinsett, for whom the plant is named, introduced the Poinsettia to the U.S. in 1828. As the first U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Dr. Poinsett introduced the American elm to Mexico and was looking for a new species to bring back to his South Carolina greenhouse. The Poinsettia grew so well that he began propagating them for friends and other greenhouses.

In the 1920’s a California farmer decided to try his hand at growing Poinsettia’s. Paul Ecke, Sr. loved the beautiful colors of the plant and the fact that these beauties bloomed in December. Mr. Ecke had the notion that these plants could potentially be big sellers for the December holidays. He moved his family ranch to Encinitas, CA and the rest is history. Paul Ecke single handedly traveled the country selling his Poinsettia mother plants to greenhouses. Encouraging them to up sell as a great holiday plant. Even now, the Ecke Family control about 70% of Poinsettia sales around the world.

If you enjoy Poinsettia’s this time of year the way I do, take good care of your plant. Poinsettia’s DO NOT like to be over watered. When the media is dry to the touch it’s time for another watering/feeding. Feed them a solution of FloraNova Grow; remember the red flowers are actually the plants leaves. So we enjoy this plant more often than not in it’s vegetative cycle. I feed my plants 5 ml/gal of FloraNova Grow every 5 days. They also do not like a lot of heat or to be in direct sunlight. Take good care of them and Poinsettia’s will reward you with their beauty long after the holiday season.

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.