Article 3-4 Pesticides

by Erwin Rosario, Atami, Holland Pyrethrum: Pyrethrum is made from the flowers of an African type of chrysanthemum. Its Latin name is Chrysanthemum Cinerariaefolium. It is very poisonous to insects and bees, because it works on their central and peripheral nerve system. This causes the impulse transference to be disrupted. After convulsions death will follow. An insect that is contaminated [ read more ]

Article 3-3 I am Fairly New to Hydroponic Growing

I am fairly new to hydroponic growing. I was very disappointed in my first crop. The yield was way below expectations. One of the problems I had was the leaves turning brown and curling up. I thought that they were too close to the light, but round two is starting to show signs of same. HELP, do you have any [ read more ]

Article 3-3 Hormones

by Erik Biksa Growers manipulate or take advantage of the enviroment to produce responses in plants. These include rooting, vegetative growth, branching, flowering, setting seed or fruit, and dormancy. Hormones in plants influence these reactions. They can be produced within the plant as a result of environment. In some instances, they are supplied to the plant by the grower. There [ read more ]

Article 3-2 I Use Oxycal

I use Oxy-Cal for soil based planting. I know it brakes down to lime, water and oxygen. Is there any way to use this in my hydro nutes (GH flora)? Thanks for the great mag. I wait for each issue with great anticipation. Sounds like a commercial huh. It’s true I really like the mag. You have good writers who [ read more ]

Article 3-2 How to Root Cuttings

Start with healthy, actively growing plant stock: Plants that are sick, weak, bug-infested or abused are already half-dead and they can’t be expected to supply successful cuttings. The reason is that cuttings are cut off from their food supply and must draw on their internal reserves to survive and grow new roots. The fact is, cuttings will go downhill everyday [ read more ]

Article 3-2 Aeroponic Problems

Dear Erik: I have a problem. I recently put together a system based upon your article on aero-hydroponics. I started with hydroponics and am now converting to rockwool as a medium. The system works just fine. I’m using a medium strength full-spectrum hydroponics mix and watching the pH carefully with a well-calibrated quality meter. In spite of this, plants (very [ read more ]

Article 3-1 Propagation

The Craft of Asexual or Vegetative Propagation By the Fearless Gardener Asexual or vegetative propagation of plants by cuttings is a very important part of horticulture. Asexual techniques allow the increase of plants so that all the children are genetically identical to the parents. This differs greatly for sexual propagation where there remains the potential for diverse genetic variation. Seedling [ read more ]

Article 3-1 Insecticide

Erik Biksa (dip-ag) Pests, which include insects, can be defined as: any organism causing injury, danger, or annoyance to man, property, or animals. In controlled growing conditions insects reduce yield and marketability, increase cropping expenses, are vectors for disease, and at worst, can result in entire crop loss. The best way to deal with the problem is to avoid it. [ read more ]

Article 2-6 Parenting Your Plants

Seedlings, cuttings and transplants The early stages of a plant’s life are a critical time. Like children, those raised in a healthy and nourishing environment grow up to become strong and productive; those raised in threatening and impoverished environments are always at a disadvantage and rarely mature to fulfill their true potential as adults. Vigorous, healthy seedlings develop greater resistance [ read more ]

Article 2-6 Garlic

If it works against Vampires! Garlic has been around since the dawn of time and with it much folklore about its’ powerful properties. The most noted thing about garlic is the incredible pungent odor. Every garden should have garlic planted. The garlic bulb consists of numerous segments called cloves, which can be separated and planted. A biennial usually grown as [ read more ]