GrowGH Blog » andy http://www.generalhydroponics.com/blog Growing with General Hydroponics Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:14:22 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 Andy’s Thoughts on Aerogarden Strawberries http://www.generalhydroponics.com/blog/2011/02/14/andys-thoughts-on-aerogarden-strawberries/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=andys-thoughts-on-aerogarden-strawberries http://www.generalhydroponics.com/blog/2011/02/14/andys-thoughts-on-aerogarden-strawberries/#comments Tue, 15 Feb 2011 00:09:16 +0000 Tiger Lilly http://www.generalhydroponics.com/blog/?p=2810

One of our readers recently wrote in to ask for an update on the Aerogarden strawberry hack. Andy replied, and I thought his comment would make a great post:

Hey David,

Thanks for following up! I’ve been through a lot here at GH since those Aerogarden Strawberries, and I suppose my update slipped through the cracks!

They finished okay. The constant issue with indoor strawberries is pollination. I attempted to hand pollinate them, however none took successfully. I doubt the Aerogarden light would have had the intesity to produce any kind of larger strawberries anyway.

The vegetative growth was great, the Nova really made the roots and foliage exceed my expectations. Blend worked well in there too, however it did make maintenance more frequent. I was changing the reservoir every week to keep up with cleanliness.

At the height of vegetative growth, they really started to transpire heavily, and I was topping off the res every 2 days minimum. The surface area of the leaves was quite large, and at times they were overlapping one another. That, combined with the heavy transpiration led to some weird fungal development, and gnarled leaf growth.

At highest dosage, the Aerogarden was receiving 10 ml/Nova. I pulled the Blend off towards the end, but kept it strong throughout the growth period at 10ml/gallon.

I would say stick to leafy greens and vegetative growth plants in the Aerogarden. The space issues and lack of heavy light intensity would probably hinder any worthwhile fruit development.

It is nice to be able to keep the light EXTREMELY close, due to it’s low temp, however that doesn’t make up for lack of penetration power.

Happy Growing!

]]> http://www.generalhydroponics.com/blog/2011/02/14/andys-thoughts-on-aerogarden-strawberries/feed/ 0 Meet Andy http://www.generalhydroponics.com/blog/2010/02/01/meet-andy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=meet-andy http://www.generalhydroponics.com/blog/2010/02/01/meet-andy/#comments Tue, 02 Feb 2010 02:14:03 +0000 Tiger Lilly http://www.generalhydroponics.com/blog/?p=2336 Andy Troutman, Sales
Hometown: Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania
Dog: Oscar, an Olde English Bulldog
Favorite Food: Supplication, a brew by Russian River

I’m very happy to introduce you to my new friend and the newest addition to the General Hydroponics sales team at our headquarters in Sebastopol, California: Andy. He works every day taking tech calls, responding to emails, and placing orders.

Andy is an amazing resource for GH because he is a devoted, experienced, and knowledgeable grower. He has 6 years of academic hydroponic achievements and a BA in environmental studies with a minor in geography and urban studies. Andy has long been fascinated with hydro, and chose to write his senior thesis on Urban Sustainability of Hydroponic Crop Production. Part of that process was teaching an entire team of people about how to garden without soil and expirimenting with different methods and techniques. He then applied to building a UV filtered, gravity driven, NFT hydrosystem for Temple University.

He is also going to be contributing sometimes to the GrowGH blog, and so it’s going to be really great to get to know him in a way that goes beyond just hydro. Andy is 1/5th the board of directors for the Muddy River Jam Festival. Its a 3 day musical event happening 7 miles from Philadelphia in Salem County. The festival is in its 6th year, and this year is estimated to double attendance from the 800 who made it out to dance and camp last year. The Muddy River Jam sound is based on the electronic-jamband-expirimental-dj national touring acts that fuel the Philly area, including Telepath, BioDiesel, Indobox and the MJ Project. Check it out at muddyriverjam.com

Everyone here is glad to have Andy as part of our sales team, and I am glad to finally and officially say. “Welcome!”

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