We decided to support them in the best way we can (from the other coast): by donating some of the best of our GH & GO products to help improve their gardening success! We sent them coco fiber, to add to seedling mixtures, potting soils and all types of growing media. We sent them several General Organics fertilizers, to enrich and enliven the soil. We also donated Alaska Humus, which increases biological soil diversity, nutrient availability and overall stability.

We can’t wait to see how this awesome organization continues to flourish in the future!

Edible Schoolyard is a wonderful project that first began in our neighborhood (in Berkeley, CA) teaching kids how to grow their own food. It has since grown enormously and many school gardens (and garden-based curriculum) can be found all over the country! Kids are learning to garden at a younger age; they are learning what it means to eat healthy and how to grow their own food!

We love to support innovative programs like this because it helps our awesome community to grow and strengthen. We feel we have a responsibility to educate and prepare the coming generation. As we all know so well, being able to grow your own food is not only a fun hobby. It can be a vital life skill!

So, we decided to offer our support to one particular Edible Schoolyard that is teaching kids how to grow food right in the middle of the in the biggest city in the country: New York City. We donated Coco fiber, Alaska Humus and General Organics fertilizers to Edible Schoolyard NYC.  With those GH ingredients added to their soil, those kids will be able to grow bigger, healthier, more nutritious crops! Gardening success is at their fingertips, with a little extra help from their friends at General Hydroponics. Keep up the good work, little gardeners!

Stay tuned to the GH blog for an update from Edible Schoolyard. We’ll see how our products helped their garden!

Zach tried RapidStart® on some lettuce and the difference was amazing! In the first two pics, we see leaves and roots growing with base nutrients. The last two pics were taken less than two weeks later. Look at the dramatic difference both in vegetative and root growth! RapidStart® launched a major growth spurt!

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 increasing plant growth.

Before RapidStart (leaves)

Before RapidStart (roots)

After RapidStart (leaves): 2 weeks later

After RapidStart (roots): 2 weeks later

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!

The EcoGrower® is one of our larger systems, capable of growing gorgeous crops like bell peppers and tomatoes. It stands at a stout 2ft X 2ft, with a 17 gallon reservoir, making it only slightly smaller than the MegaFarm®. However, the difference between the two is that the MegaFarm is one big unit, while the EcoGrower contains six smaller units. The unique quality to the EcoGrower® is its air-driven “spider” drip system with a revolutionary hexagonal reservoir. Air goes down the pumping column and forces water back up and out of the six drip lines on the “spider hub”. This set up increases nutrient circulation and air flow, making it possible to grow multiple crops in the same unit. You can grow different crops in the same system, just as long as they have similar nutrient requirements.

Each lid insert will accommodate one 6” net pot so that one EcoGrower can easily grow several plants together. The compact design (2′x2′x2′ hexagonal) can grow small and medium size plants from seedling to maturity.  One unit will give you, as you can see in the photo below, enough tomatoes to satisfy a large, Italian family.

The EcoGrower®, like most of our systems, is a great unit that works really well. It’s ease of use makes it accessible to all types of hydroponic gardeners! 

One company in Atlanta, Georgia is taking the concept of locally grown hydroponic vegetables and running with it a really cool way. PodPonics is a new ag business that restores old shipping containers and turns them into hydroponic “grow pods”. These self-contained growing units are equipped with computer-controlled systems to regulate temperature, humidity, pH levels, CO2 and lights. The system is so precise that it wastes very little energy. In a 320 square foot area, PodPonics can produce an acre’s worth of produce. The pods can be stacked on top of each other for more efficient use of space. It’s a great way to reuse old materials and turn them into something incredibly useful. By putting these portable units to work, people could, theoretically, use them to grow food everywhere in the world.

Hydroponic systems can be set up virtually anywhere with access to electricity, creating instant local hydro farms for any community. General Hydroponics’ precise nutrient solutions and high-yield systems are perfect for these climate-controlled pods. The AeroFlo2® series would be a great fit for portable systems that are growing for high output. It’s a turbo system that cranks out amazing plants at high rates, perfect for starting a small business. If you add in the Rainforest® series, you’ve got your means of propagation right there as well. With Gen Hydro’s high-yield systems and a portable, inclusive container like this, we could grow food anywhere to sustain any community! The possibilities are exciting!

What other types of containers would work to house a hydroponic growing operation like this? Have any of you seen similar systems anywhere else? Leave a comment and let us know!

Written by GH’s South Western Sales Rep, Nels Hansen:

After the sun began to set on this record-breaking hot day, I figured it was the perfect time to start teaching my boy about the growing and feeding of plants. What better way than to introduce him to General Organics™?

Living in a city with nothing more than a large concrete patio makes growing vegetables a little tricky. But, with some imagination and creativity, I figure anyone can have their own little farm! I used some cinder blocks that I found laying around the house to make walls for my garden bed, which gave me roughly about eleven inches to fill. Man, it took lot of soil to fill this thing! But after all was said and done, with a few inches of Ancient Forest® spread across the top, I had completed my very own raised garden bed!

My son is really excited about helping, maybe almost as much as I am to have him help! We started with the nutes at the full strength veg dosing. We began by mixing BioThrive®Grow at 10 mls per gallon of water with our twenty-five gallon res.  Then we added the CaMg+™ at 5 mls, BioRoot® at 10, BioWeed® at 2.5 milliliters per gallon. To finish it off, we added DiamondBlack™ at 1 tablespoon and BioMarine® at two tablespoons per gallon.

Once we had all our GO nutrients mixed together, in the proper amounts, we sprayed 25 gallons of solution (using a 400 g.p.h. pump) and top fed the entire 6’X12’ garden plot. No need to adjust the pH with the GO line so we were ready to go!
     
In our garden, we are growing many different herbs and spices, like cilantro, basil, and thyme. We also have a handful of onions, artichokes, tomatoes, kale, a blueberry bush and more! We expect a bountiful, delicious harvest, thanks to the GO. My son is so excited to watch the plants grow and taste everything that comes out of our garden.

Stay tuned for updates from our garden periodically (sooner if something pops up!) With the help of my son, and General Organics, before you know it, I will be enjoying the fruits of my labor!

We are so lucky to work with so many great hydro stores around the country! We love to feature them in the blog once in a while. We’ve just been talking with Michael Taylor over at Horizen Hydroponics in Grand Rapids, MI. He has been using the GO line in his home garden and having some awesome results! See the photos below.

A little bit about Horizen Hydro:

They started online in November of 1999; after much success and realizing the industry potential, Horizen Hydroponics opened a retail location in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2002.  On a shoe string and a prayer, shelves were stocked with the finest plant fertilizers from around the world and the highest quality equipment used for controlled environmental agriculture. 

They offer complete hydroponic systems, the perfect blend of science and nature for your garden. Horizen Hydroponics stocks a wide selection of hydroponic systems, lighting, organic composts fertilizers and indoor gardening equipment. Hydroponic indoor gardening is a fun, clean, and safe hobby for the whole family.

About Michael’s garden:

He has been using the GO line in his vegetable garden and has been seeing some amazing growth rates on his tomatoes, strawberries and other edibles. His fruit production is taking off and you can really see that healthy, lush foliage in the photos. He’s using them indoors and out with some seriously great results. Thanks for sharing, Michael! Keep us posted on your progress!

We begin with the gold standard, our best-selling module, the WaterFarm®. Versatile, durable and compact, the WaterFarm® hydroponic system is popular for good reasons. Because it’s made of such high-impact plastic, the system you buy is the system you will have for many years to come. This is the best choice for growers with smaller spaces to work with, as the units create a high-density installation.  However, even though it’s compact, you can still grow many types of plants, large and small. Tomatoes do wonderfully in the WaterFarm® systems, as do avocados, coffee plants and more. Check out these photos from Stephen at Garden Connections in Ohio, to see the WaterFarm® in action:

Coffee in a WaterFarm

Tomatoes in a WaterFarm 8-pack

Are you ready to really get your hydroponic itch scratched? Get the WaterFarm® 8-pack: eight module units, connected to one GH controller for a full-on high-production system with everything you need. How much can you grow with an 8-pack? The sky’s is the limit! (well, ok, maybe the ceiling is the limit).

The WaterFarm® system is a great place to start, if you are new to hydroponics. No matter where you live, you can grow hydroponically and get the fresh fruits and vegetables that you want. Even a small space can be put to work for you. With our complete sets of nutrients to pair with the system, you can get amazing, lush, delicious crops that no outdoor garden could touch. Plants are protected from disease, pests and the weather and they don’t have to compete with weeds for nutrients! Everything they need is right there.

Leave a comment and let us know how the WaterFarm® works for you. What fruits and vegetables grow best in it? If that one isn’t your favorite system, which one is and why? We’ll be covering our other systems in future blogs and we need your input!

We eat all sorts of plant parts so not every vegetable needs pollinating. Leaf and root crops (lettuce, kale, beets, etc) do not need to be pollinated because we eat them before they get to the flower stage of their life cycle. However, there are plants that we eat (like tomatoes, lemons and almonds) that need to be pollinated in order to produce the fruit or seed that we want to eat.

Quick botany lesson:

Male squash flower

Bees (and other pollinators) travel from flower to flower, drinking nectar and spreading pollen. Pollen is the male component of a flower (flower sperm, if you will). When it’s transferred to another flower, it goes into the pistil (female flower part) and fertilizes to make fruit. This process can’t be done without the aid of a pollinator. There are some plants, however, that have both male and female parts and can self-pollinate but you can still give them a little help.

Since there (presumably) aren’t swarms of bees flying around your hydroponic system, you might want to lend a hand to a few of your edible crops. It’s pretty simple. Here’s how to do it:

• Leaf and root crops (like spinach, carrots, onions and garlic): don’t worry about it! They don’t need to be pollinated. Just crunch them and enjoy.

• Self-pollinators (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, beans and peas): They can generally take care of things themselves but you can help: jog the pollen loose by gently (very gently) shaking the plants, tapping the flowers or try this method:

• Cross-pollinators (squash, cucumbers, melons and most fruit): These plants need to trade pollen in order to produce fruit. The squash, cukes and melons have separate male and female flowers. The male flower will have pollen-laden stamens and the female flower will usually have what looks like a tiny fruit bulging at the base. These guys need the most help and must be pollinated to produce fruit. The how-to:

1. Wait until both male and female flowers are in full bloom, petals open.

2. Get a watercolor paintbrush or a Q-tip. Brush it against the male flower (you should see yellow or orange pollen on the brush or Q-tip).

3. Brush it against the pistil on the female flower (the pistil is tall and gooey and right in the middle. You can’t miss it.)

Female squash flower

That’s it! You’ve done it! You should see fruit begin to form in the next few days. Keep repeating the process with subsequent flowers and you should have lots of fruit in no time.

We love to share success stories from our customers and other fans of hydroponic growing. Stephen, at Garden Connections in Columbus Ohio, is having great success with a wide variety of vegetables, using our General Organics line. Stephen tells us that the GO products work really well for his flourishing lettuces and booming tomato plants (both pictured here). Four of the tomato plants pictured are in a Waterfarm 8-pack that they reduced to a 4-pack. They adapted the Waterfarm system, to suit their needs. Garden Connections is also growing coffee (Coffea Arabica) plants- in Ohio!! What other way could you grow fantastic coffee in the Midwest? Only hydroponically! They are also seeing good growth in their avocados, another tropical plant that flourishes under the precise care and feeding of a great hydroponic system. Our General Organics line produces amazing, abundant organic produce, even crops that wouldn’t normally grow in that region!

Garden Connections provides the latest hydroponic systems, supplies, indoor gardening equipment, organic nutrients and growing supplies. If you are in the Columbus area, stop on by Garden Connections to see all those plants thriving and tell Stephen we said hello! If you have a hydroponic success story that you would like to share, visit our Facebook page, hit the “Like” button and leave a comment! Don’t forget to share your photos! We love to see what everyone is growing!

I am so impressed with these clever rain gutter planters. They are a great example of brilliant repurposing! Via MAKE

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Fiskars Rain Collecting Barrel

Aquaponics is extremely popular in Hawaii. In fact, I’d say people are as aware of aquaponic methods as they are of hydroponic methods. One reason could be that the taro root is traditionally grown in water. Taro is a starchy root that thrives in water, and has long been eaten by island dwellers around the globe. While I was visiting the University of Honolulu, I came across these really beautiful taro bogs. I love that you can see the different stages of growth in each patch. Click the photo for a larger image, and check out the history of taro on this great website, friendlyaquaponics.com.

Right now we have a crop of dark, leafy green kale going nuts in the greenhouse. It’s a power veggie, packed with vitamins and minerals. Most people know that it’s super nutritious, but did you know that vegetables grown with General Hydroponics nutrients actually have more nutrition than most soil grown crops? This is due in part to the fact that our products have the complete macro and micro nutrients needed for growth, and that those nutrients are formulated to be easily available to the plant.

But just because we know kale is healthy, it’s often a challenge to want to eat it. Here is a super short and entertaining presentation on “How to Crave Kale”

These pole beans are so lovely. They look like they are right out of Martha Stewart Magazine!

His TesteCalabasa is a beautiful thriving mound of blossoms!

Pumpkin Row…

And instead of a scarecrow, he has a scare shark, watch out!!!!!