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Frequently Asked Questions

Environmental Control

Watering

Growing

Plant Care

Lighting
General
What is Hydroponics?
Although there have been recent technological advancements,
hydroponics has been around for almost 100 years. It is the method of growing plants using soilless-based materials like clay, gravel, rubber and peat. Normally, a plant takes its nutrients through the soil via its roots, but with hydroponics, the nutrients the plant needs are dissolved into water, which is then given directly to the plant itself.
What are pH levels?
pH is the measure of how acidic/basic (alkaline) the soil or, in other cases the material is. The range goes from 0 to 14 with seven being neutral and anything less than that indicates higher acidity whereas a pH level greater than seven is more alkaline. We recommend that you keep your solution at around 7 because this is the point where the nutrients are most soluble.
What are parts per million measurements?
Parts per million or PPM is the measurement of a number of different elements. Most common in hydroponics, the measurement indicates the total amount of dissolved solids in your nutrient solution or how much CO2 is in the atmosphere.
What is Electrical Conductivity? (EC)
Electrical conductivity is measured by how easily something is able to travel through a solution. An EC metre applies electrical voltage to the solution and reads the connectivity that is produced from the motion of the materials.
What is the difference between High Pressure Sodium and Metal Halide?
A: Both High Pressure Sodium and Metal Halide are types of High Intensity Discharge (HID). The difference between these two types is the colour that is emitted from the blubs. The High Pressure Sodium bulb admits a red-yellowish hue. This is in contrast to Metal Halide which admits a very balanced light and contains weak energies in all aspects of the visible light spectrum. To indicate the difference is easy: Metal Halide is more blue-white in colour while High Pressure Sodium blubs on the reddish side.
Should I Use High Pressure Sodium or Metal Halide bulbs?
The Metal Halide light is a very balanced light and is excellent for plant growth in leafy plants like lettuce and basil. The Metal Halide light space between five and 120 lumens per watt, which is a measurement of the efficiency of the bulb. The sodium light produces a bright, concentrated yellow-red light and is not as balanced as the Metal Halide bulb makes up for the lack of balance in the amount of light it gives off. The sodium bulbs produce between 95 to hundred 50 lumens per watt and is superior in both life expectancy and efficiency. Which one you use is dependent on what is more important to you.
Why use Metal Halidefor vegetative growth?
Metal Halide tend to keep their plants tighter with less space in the internode’s. Many growers use the Metal Halide light bulbs during vegetative growth to keep the structural growth of the plant tight. This ensures a nice even growth.
Why use High Pressure Sodium bulbs?
Once the plant starts to bloom, a grower will often switch to the High Pressure Sodium bulb because it gives off a lot more light, which the flower needs. Sodium bulbs have been known to make some plants grow leggy stretched out because of the yellow-red spectrum of light they give off. Eventhough the High Pressure Sodium light does not have as wide of a spectrumas the Metal Halide intense light. This aids in the flower development and fruit set. It is best practice to use a combination of the two lights dependingon the growth cycle.
What size light should I purchase?
The first thing you need to do is figure out how much square footage you have to grow your plants in. It is easy to overestimate how much room you have and you need to be careful and measure only where the plants will grow. You do this by multiplying the length and width of the square footage.Growers want to achieve at least 30 watts per square foot, so if you have a 5x 5 area is 20 ft.² and you multiply that by 30 watts you get 500 watts. In addition, you will want to use lights that give off at least 500 watts. This however, is just an estimate and it really depends on the type of plant you are growing as some plants need more light than others.
Do I need a ballast?
A ballast is required to start the lamp and to control the voltage required to run the land. The ballast is responsible for starting the lamps with a high charge of electricity. After the ballast lights the bald, the transformer controls the range of voltage and current needed to operate the bulb sufficiently.
Are HID lights efficient?
Yes HID lights are extremely efficient compared to standard incandescentbulbs found in a normal household. For example, a thousand-watt sodium bulb produces as much is 87 standard hundred watts of incandescent light.
Can I interchange bulbs between systems?
No, you should never interchange balls between systems unless there is some specific reason to do so. Inexperience growers will try to use a 200-watt bulb in a 400-watt bulb watt system, which won’t work and will likely cause damage to the system. In some cases, the risk of injury to yourself as the light bulb can become unstable and even explode. In addition, you should never put a Metal Halide bulb in a High Pressure Sodium system because, once again, the light could explode and do you harm. We strongly recommend that you use the type of bulb with the type of system it was created for.
Do these lights require any special wiring?
No, there is no special wiring required to use the systems and it can be plugged into any regular ground wall outlet. Custom voltages can be built into the ballast if a customer requests sent but do not attempt to charge thevoltage of the ballast unless you are an experienced electrician. Connecting the wrong wires could result in a fried ballast or bald or can even start a fire.
What CO2 system is right for me?
CO2 generated is burn either natural gas or propane the CO2. The combustion of these fuel produces CO2 as a by-product however generally excess heat is also produced in the process. While the generators are on, they can produce extreme temperatures in a room rapidly. The nice thing about these generators is the availability of propane or natural gas in the price of gas suitable less than CO2. On the other hand, CO2 regulators are hooked up to tanks and are regulated the amount of gas being omitted through the use of a timer and a flow metre. A grower can set the cubic-feet-per-hour on the regulator and open the solenoid long enough to charge the room CO2 up to the desired p.m. using the timer to control the intervals. CO2 regulators do not produce any heat at all, but are more expensive to maintain than the generator system since the price CO2 is much higher than propane or natural gas.
What is the difference between Miracle-Gro, other fertilizers available and Hydrochronic nutrients?
Most of the commercially available fertilizers our for general-purpose and do not always work well for all types of plants. The nutrients that we sell are more specifically for specific plant types and are grown in hydroponic systems that use sterile growing mediums. Most common commercially available fertilizers are meant for plant growth in soil and do not contain all the necessary trace elements. Our fertilizers contain all theseelements and are also made to be soluble so that plants can easily take the nutrients from the watering solution. Other fertilizers will work to grow plants but you will not get the desired results from these types of fertilizers.Fertilizers are like any other type of food source and the higher quality the better stimulates growth and increase the health of your plants.
What is the desired temperature range for the nutrient solution?
The best temperature for the nutrient solution should be around 18 to 24°C. Letting water sit uncovered in a container overnight will help dissolveany or rind in the water before you add it to the reservoir.
How much electricity will I say running grow light 240 V?
There is a misconception that you will save energy running lights at 240 V. The main advantage is that you can run more lights on one electrical circuit which increases efficiency. For example, if you’re running a 20 amp hundred and a 20-volt circuit you can also run to a thousand lights on the same circuit. This makes for a lot less wiring but does not actually save you in your electricity bill because each light still uses the same number of watts.
How can I germinate my cannabis seeds?
The best way to successfully germinate your cannabis seeds is to place each seed in a jiffy seven style disc tempered with warm water around 25 to30°C and store in a dark warm cupboard. If you keep the seeds in your fridge, remember to take them out 24 hours in advance to shake them out which will increase the chances of them germinating. Germination takes anywhere from one day to a week to complete.Alternating germination methods which include placing the seeds in a glass of water or directly into the soil, but we strongly recommend against this due to their low success rate.How much water or nutrient solution a cannabis plants needs can be difficult to determine for inexperienced cannabis growers. The amount of water or nutrient solutions you should use is dependent on the size of your plant and the climate conditions in your growing space. You should always monitor the development of your plant daily as this will best determine whatyou need and the amount of water required.One method that works well is to compare the weight of a watered and unwanted plant by manually lifting the plant in their pot. Repeat this technique every day and watch the development of your plant, looking for signs of and eventually you learn to tell when they need to be watered.This simple method is easy to learn and once you master it you will be able to identify the nutritional needs of your cannabis plant. All you need to do ispractice in this method will allow you to monitor look and health of your cannabis plant.Another important consideration is soil aeration. I’ll see when you feed yourplant you need to make sure the soil gets plenty of water and nutrition, ideally through regular watering and dewatering cycles but you always want to ensure the cannabis plant is properly hydrated said and oxygenatedat all times. For beginners achieving this balance can be difficult but once mastered can increase the health of your plant.
What pruning and growing techniques should I use to increase the yield of the auto flowering plant?
Auto flowering cannabis plants automatically switch from vegetative growth to the flowering stage based on age as opposed to the ratio of light to dark they receive. Unfortunately, we cannot recommend any one growingmethod pruning technique. The reason is that auto flowering strains don’t have the same capacity for vegetation regeneration as photo dependent plants. Auto flowering seeds contain genes from the cannabis strain ruderalis, which allows plants to flower automatically. This aspect is ingrained to the class seeds and therefore cannot be controlled. If anything,you can prune lower branches that are smaller and get less light in order to boost the growth of the upper branches.
How do I know if my cannabis plant is ready for harvest?
You’ll need to check with a backlit magnifying glass whether the plants resin trichomeres are ripe. You will know that your plants have reached maturity and are ready to harvest with at least 30% of thetrichomes have turned amber. If you harvest straight away, the buds provide an excellent high while if you decide to wait a little longer the factual gradually become more necrotic to dative and physical to ultimately it will depend on the type of effect you’re going for.
What should I do if my plant is sick?
There are number of things you can do dependent on what the cause of the sickness is. You will need to first investigate the root cause of the sickness. It can be any number of things including a nutrient deficiency, nutrient overabundance, pest problems, overwatering, under watering, soil issues or poor environmental control. People using hydroponics to grow their plants tend to run into pH issues more than any of the others mentioned. People growing outdoors tend to see more pest problems and overwatering is common for inexperienced growers.One common thread is that all growers tend to have a problem regulating pH issues that show themselves in nutrient deficiencies. Even experienced growers at one point will find themselves running up against a pH issue willmanifest cells and marking or defects on the leaves. Many times, it may seem as if your plant needs more of a specific nutrient like calcium or phosphorus however, many of these are actually pH issues. The real problem is that the pH range doesn’t allow the plant to undertake the required nutrients even if it has a lot of them available.
Why do I have to put pH into my plants' nutrients?
Plants need a variety of nutrients to grow, just like people do. For humans Vitamin C is healthy but people cannot survive on Vitamin C alone. The same concept also applies to plants. Even if your plant has all the nutrients it needs, the plant will only be able to take in these nutrients if thepH levels are right. For example, all cannabis plants need magnesium to grow. With hydroponics, your plants will easily intake the magnesium if the pH level is around 5.5 or 6.5. However, if your pH level is at 4, your plant won’t be able to take in the magnesium and thus give the impression that the plant needs more of that mineral even if the plant roots are surrounded by magnesium.