Apart from proving to be superior grow lights for plants, Light Emitting Diodes (LED) offer numerous benefits over traditional light sources including lower energy consumption, smaller size and greater durability. As a result, LED’s have become increasingly widespread among today’s most practical applications. LED Lights are appearing in everything from brake lights and status indicators to glow sticks and strobe lights.

LED lights are capable of dimming very easily and then lighting up again very quickly. These advanced on and off capabilities allow standard LED’s to achieve full brightness in mere microseconds, making them extremely well suited for traffic signals and emergency vehicle lighting. In fact, the use of LED Lights in recent years has led to vast improvements in drivers’ safety, since they now have more time to react to other vehicle’s brake lights.

The technique of growing in hydroponics is taking off in many places.  I encourage you to read this article and start thinking about a space in your home where you can set up an efficient, small in home garden and enjoy the nutritious benefits of home grown food.

Written by Danny O. Calleja / Correspondent

Monday, 28 December 2009 18:34

PILI, Camarines Sur—Even urban areas in the country can now produce in commercial scale high-quality vegetables and other agricultural crops through a revolutionary approach in farming called hydroponics. This newly introduced urban-farming system is a potential approach to revitalize agriculture by fundamentally altering the manner of how crop is produced. This included eliminating the dependence of plants on soil by completely changing their growing medium. The concept of hydroponics proves that soil is no longer crucial for the plant to thrive when the required mineral nutrients are artificially introduced into the plant’s water supply and plant roots absorb them, said Jose Dayao, the regional executive director for Bicol of the Department of Agriculture (DA) based here. Dayao explained that hydroponics makes use of crafty facilities, and resource-efficient and cost-effective cultures and systems to allow the effective use of land, nutrient, water and labor in a comfortable and sanitary working condition. Read more………

People are coming up with new ideas for growing everyday produce in hydroponics and in home gardens all the time.  It’s a “growing” industry that will feed the world one day.

Here’s an excerpt from a news report:

………”Mr. Fitzpatrick and his friend, an adept student of hydroponics science, began conducting some edible experiments which, after some time and nourishment, yielded a gold mine of an answer. “Anything that doesn’t grow inside the ground, we can probably grow it. We worked with some strawberries and these strawberries turned out to be the best-tasting, juiciest strawberries I’ve ever eaten in my life,” Mr. Fitzpatrick said.

“We tried basil. It was like a weed. It was phenomenal. You couldn’t keep up with it.”……..”

Read more……….

After the first successful application of hydroponics techniques in the 1930s, the stage was set for a shift in crop production from conventional cultivation in soil to hydroponics or soil less cultivation. Among the first crops to be commercially harvested included tomatoes and peppers, but the techniques were soon successfully extended to other crops such as lettuce, cucumbers and more. It was not long before successfull hydroponics techniques were adapted to cut flowers production. In fact, any plant can be grown hyrdroponically.

The extended growing season is not the only advantage to the soaring popularity of hydroponics production with both growers and consumers. Other advantages include the consistent vegetable quality and superior taste, plus the elimination of the use of pesticides and herbicides. Pesticides and other chemicals used in conventional agriculture have an adverse environmental impact; the run off from these chemicals contaminate groundwater supplies. Commercial hydroponics systems eliminate these toxic chemicals and contribute substantially to keeping the groundwater free from contamination.

You might be surprised to hear that such a large plant as a banana tree was being grown hydroponically on liquid feed alone, but it is entirely possible that there are people out there growing them that way. Hydroponics gardening really is not that difficult once you get the hang of the basic requirements and if you are well enough disciplined to attend to your growing plants regularly and consistently you will have great success.

The technique of hydroponics gardening might seem complicated to a person doing it for the first time, but usually novices are able to quickly get the hang of it. Just like you need gardening supplies for a regular garden, you will need hydroponics gardening supplies for hydroponics gardening. The supplies might not be available in your local supermarket but they can simply be ordered online at at very good prices.

Ivanhoe Junior and Infant School is growing its own vegetables with help from £5,000 from Local Food, a new programme supported by the Big Lottery Fund.

The £50 million scheme is funding food-related community projects across the country.

The Ivanhoe Gets Healthy project is a new education and growing scheme which will provide food-related activities for children, young people and adult volunteers to develop their horticulture skills.”

Read more….

Pain is a fact of life for many people.  In many cases, relief has been found using the marijuana plant.  I found this article about someone who needs it and someone who teaches how to grow it:

“Dustin Bohnett spent many years suffering from irritable bowel syndrome and hoped marijuana would give him relief from severe chronic pain.

But as the Onondaga Township man was about to receive state certification to grow and use medical marijuana, the 25-year-old realized one thing: When it came to a green thumb, he was all thumbs.

Bohnett knew he couldn’t turn to Better Homes and Gardens. So he went back to school. At HydroCollege in Lansing, he learned the craft of growing marijuana indoors and now cultivates a marijuana “garden” in his basement – under the nurturing glow of 1,000-watt lamps.

“I had never grown (a marijuana plant) on my own. I had never seen anyone grow one,” Bohnett said. “I never would have known how the hydroponics system works.”

When it comes to growing marijuana, course instructor Danny Trevino of Lansing is the answer man. He’s a self-proclaimed, self-taught guru of green, a professor of pot. Trevino, 37, teaches the three-day course at his business, HydroCollege, at 702 W. Barnes Ave. in Lansing.”

Read more………

Jean Siracusa, Owasco Valley Audubon Society president, organized the building of three greenhouses as part of a program designed for hydroponic produce. Installation of green energy, including thermal energy and a planned windmill for renewable energy to make the project self-sustaining, is now in progress.

The town is considering being the lead agency for the windmill so the nonprofit organization can apply for a grant. The town planning board has already approved the plans. Siracusa hopes to have the 100-foot windmill in place by spring.

“We’re carbon neutral, fossil fuel free and there are no herbicides,” Siracusa said.

“Our real goal is to have local produce available to people regardless of their income,” she said. She also talked of not just growing vegetables but “growing a generation that’s more aware. We just want to teach people how to grow food.”

Read more………

Cloning can be a difficult and tricky procedure; however this little guide should help eliminate some of your hurdles. To start, take a clone from a mother plant while still in the vegetative phase. Use a sharp knife or razor blade and cut a 3inch or so branch from the base of the mother plant at a 45 degree angle. Make sure there are a few leaves on the new clone so it can absorb enough light to take root.

Now at this point, you can take the cut end of your new clone or stick it directly into the 2inch neoprene plug so that the stem of the plant fits snuggly in the small hole in the middle and is deep enough that the cut portion of the stem is at least ½ ways down the length of the netpot. Make sure the hydroponic fogger unit is on and the area under the netpot is filled with a heavy fog. This will aid in faster root development.

It is a common myth that plants can’t utilize more than 12 hours of light per day and require a dark period. It isn’t true. Try to imagine a plant’s growth cycle is similar to an animal, the more you feed it, the fatter and bigger it gets. If you never decided to switch to 12 hours of darkness your plants would continue to grow until they reached an unmanageable size!

It is recommended that you start the flowering stage, which is when you start the 12 hours of darkness, once your plants reach 10-18inches in height. During all stages of growth your light hood should be around 5 inches from the growing tips of your plants. Since the reflector stays cool to the touch there is no risk of your plants burning. Move the reflector up as your plants continue to grow taller.