Posts Tagged ‘Commercial Hydroponics’

Tips for Havesting your Hydroponic Garden

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

The harvest is one of the most enjoyable parts of  running an indoor garden; It is your reward for all of the time and energy you have put into it.

Generally speaking, healthy, well maintained plants are going to produce plentiful harvests, but there are plenty of additional things you can do to get the most out of your plants.

Pre-Harvest Tips:

  1. To avoid the taste of organic or chemical fertilizers, you should flush the garden with plain water 10 to 14 days before harvesting. Some gardeners will use fertilizers up to 3 or 4 days before harvesting and use clearing solutions to remove the fertilizer residue.
  2. If you are growing herbs that will be dried, do not water them for 1 or 2 days before harvesting them. The soil should be mostly dry, but not too dry to where the plants begin to wilt. Done correctly, this will reduce your drying time by about a day and will not in any way effect the end product.

Harvest Tips:

  1. Harvest timing is critical, as plants and fruits need to be harvested at the moment of peak ripeness. This window is very small, usually between 5 to 7 days.
  2. Growth of the plant or fruit will stop at harvest. Make sure to keep plants from prolonged exposure to the light, temperatures above 80°F, excessive friction, or damp/humid conditions.

Facility Tour; Garden Indoors of New Jersey

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

Setting up Your Indoor Garden

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

Before you can begin growing your indoor plants, the garden itself must be properly constructed. Here are some step-by-step instructions to follow for getting your garden ready to use.

  1. Step 1: Location - The best locations for your indoor garden will be areas that are out-of-the-way, and see little to no traffic on a day to day basis. The  corner of the basement, or spare bedroom are both ideal. Ceilings lower than 5 feet should be avoided if possible, as sufficient space for plants to grow may not exist. However, routine pruning and/or using smaller wattage lamps can compensate for this is there is no other alternative
  2. Step 2: Enclose the Room & Paint it White - If the room is not already enclosed, make it so. Furniture, drapery or anything that does not pertain to the garden should be removed, as they may harbor plant-killing fungi. Erecting makeshift walls out of plywood or plastic is also an option. After this is accomplished, every reflective surface should be painted white to maximize the light energy reflected in the room. When done correctly, HID lamp effectiveness can increase by as much as 20%.
  3. Step 3: Air Ventilation and Water Supply - A constant supply of fresh air from the outdoors is essential; This can be accomplished by ducting in air from the outside through a door or window. A Garden also will also require a large supply of water, so running a water hose to the indoor garden is usually much more efficient than carrying it in manually.
  4. Installing HID Lamps - Hooks must be mounted on the walls / ceilings for each HID Lamp fixture that will be used. Each of these hooks must be able to support at least 30 lbs. It also is a good idea to hook up an adjustable chain or pulley to the system to allow for easy adjustments to the light fixtures.

And that’s it, Your Garden is now ready to house your seedlings and plants!