CO₂ is Carbon Dioxide. Basically it is made up of one carbon molecule and two oxygen molecules that are in a gaseous form at standard conditions for temperature and pressure. But enough of the elementary science – how is it important to hydroponics?  The role of CO₂ in your hydroponic system is not a complicated one to understand – photosynthesis is a process that all plants use to converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from light.   Now what this means to you is that your plants require CO₂ to make food for themselves, pretty simple. Not so fast.

Where is it?  In the very air you are breathing right now.  With that being said, why would you need CO₂ in your hydroponic system at amounts greater than what is in the air?  Good question.  Let’s break the explanation down. (more…)

LED grow lights are gaining in popularity as the indoor and greenhouse lighting of choice for both commercial and home use. They have proven  to be superior to alternative lighting systems for many reasons. They are not only more efficient but are more economical and last longer as well.

The newest LED indoor grow lights save you money in a number of ways. First of all, they use less energy than most other types of lighting. Obviously, less kilowatts equals a lower monthly energy bill.

Second, LED lights specifically designed for growing plants use less energy as they don’t use the entire light spectrum. “Broad spectrum” lights produce a lot of wasted light. LED lights are designed to produce only the light frequencies that are beneficial to the plants.

The comparison between LED lighting and all the others lighting is simple.  When done right and built correctly the LED’s will last ten times longer, with 50% to 90% less energy used on a constant basis.

It is really easy to see, for instance; A 4 ft florescent tube uses 40w’s for 8,000 hrs (that is 333.334 days or less than one year at 24 hours a day use)

The best fluorescent 18w 4ft tubes will last for 50,000 hours “minimally” and will have run for over 80,000 hours of testing in a lab (that is 2083.334 days or 5.71 years of continual use minimally to 3333.334 days or 9.13 years with continual use) all with more light output.

The conventional lighting with the equivalent output and coverage uses 250w minimum.

Incandescent (regular light bulbs and conventional lighting) and fluorescent tubes and even “energy saving” bulbs all have horrible toxic, dangerous and explosive chemicals in them, some of which leach out into the air. All of it will end up in the ground as these are not recycleable. It is likely that most people don’t know they are toxic and so just throw them away.

Setting up the Grow Room For Roses

One of the first considerations for your roses will be lighting. During the non-blooming stage, you’ll want to use a high intensity bulb that provides an abundance of blue spectrum light, such as a Metal Halide bulb. When your roses move into the flowering stage, they will need bulbs that provide a red spectrum, such as High Pressure Sodium.  Try the new LED grow lights for even better results.

The rest of the grow room will need to be set up the same way you would for growing most other flowers or vegetables. You’ll want to provide proper temperatures, quality nutrient solutions and ventilation. Also, if you want to increase productivity, increase the amount of CO2 in your grow room. This will help stimulate more photosynthesis activity which provides more growing power.

As Big Mike says, roses are a hydroponics crop that can win you a ton of praise and provide hours of gardening enjoyment. And they are not difficult to raise.

For the purposes of indoor gardening, LED lights are used as a substitute for the natural light of the sun.  A grow light refers to an electric lamp, which is designed to promote plant growth by way of emitting an electromagnetic spectrum which is appropriate for photosynthesis. This light spectrum resembles the light of the sun and allows indoor growth of the plants. Since natural daylight carries a high color temperature and appears bluish in color, a color rendering index is used for getting the bluish appearance.

Different spectrums are used during different stages of growth. In the initial stages of vegetation, a blue spectrum of light is required, whereas during the later stages, red-orange spectrums are usually used. You can buy lights of different color spectrums specifically for different stages of vegetation, or you may buy a full spectrum bulb which can be used during all the stages of growth.

I’ve just discovered “The Emerald” Supper Budding light. It’s apparently the only 90W five Band Grow light.  These new LED grow lights produce a better yield per watt at a lower cost. They save 90% on electricity and 100% on landfills.  All lights are 100% recyclable and you can replace your regular light bulbs and CFL’s . Using these lights will eliminate truly toxic gases like argon and vaporized mercury from your home.

Low heat emission eliminates the need for ducting and heat exhaust fans.  The replacements for your standard bulbs and fuorescents come in any required wavelength from 2500k to 7000k depending on your lighting requirements.

It could be that a lot of the problems with lighting indoor gardens is being solved with LED lighting.  A new technology, which is able to expand the conventional way of lighting, offers many benefits related to running costs and efficiency.  For those who know about such things, LED grow lights are the way to go.

Since the life of an LED light is about 10 years, this fact makes it a sensible buy.  Comparing it to a conventional light, a lot of money can be saved.  LED lights are great for saving money because they are are very good on energy conservation. The average light bulb or incandescent light will draw a large amount of energy over the course of a year. LED lights require a fraction of the energy to operate and will illuminate an area proportional to the amount a normal light will.

Last century was a period of major scientific developments. LED was one of them. LED, or light-emitting diode, refers to an electronic light source. It was invented in Russia sometime in the 1920s by Oleg Vladimirovich Losev, who was a radio technician. Losev found out that the diodes used in radio receivers emitted light as current was passed through them. In the year 1927, the details of the first LED were published by him in a Russian journal.

In 1962, the system was introduced into America in the form of a practical electronic component.  All the early devices used to emit low-intensity red light.  However, the modern LED lights are available with visible, ultraviolet as well as infra red wavelengths and carry very high brightness.  This is perfect for growing plants indoors.

If you love to grow plants, it can really be a sad when winter approaches and puts a chilly end to your outdoor gardening. However, you don’t have to stop growing if you would like to try hydroponics gardening. You don’t need any soil for this type of gardening.  Instead, you grow your plants in mineral nutrient solutions. It’s quite easy to grow vegetables, fruits and flowers indoors, even in the depth of a bitter winter, when you choose hydroponics gardening as a hobby.

The easiest way to get started in with this style of gardening is by purchasing a kit. All plants need adequate light in order for them to grow and thrive, so grow lights are an important part of your hydroponics system. Grow light kits are available which include all the parts you will need, grow lights, digital ballast and reflectors. Many gardeners are now turning to LED grow lights, because they are small but don’t overheat and don’t neet a ballast or reflector. They also produce a tremendous amount of light efficiently in the light color spectrums you will need for your plants to flourish.

We now know that there are literally hundreds of items and devices inside your home stealing your electricity and costing you money every single day. It is a fact  and it is called phantom electricity usage. Electric companies and utilities companies have tested and proven that most common household electronics and appliances use small amounts of electricity even if they are turned off.

There are electronic gadgets out there that can tell you exactly what the electricity consumption of an appliance is. These electricity testing gadgets are very easy to use. You simply plug them in and then plug your electronic or appliance into the gadget.  Very useful for testing an hydroponic system.