Secret Jardin Grow tents are now available able to buy online from FluidsensorOnline.com
Secret Jardin have been making high quality Grow Rooms since 2006.
You can expect:-

• Fast Assembly
• Fully Lightproof Materials
• Rigid aluminium tubular frame construction
• Heavy duty stitching
• Double sealed cuffs for cooltubes
• Highly reflective Mylar interior
• Heavy duty hanging points for lights and extraction fans (30kg)
• Velcro sealed windows
• Compact carry case for easy storage and transport
• Light proof zips
• Waterproof inner tray liners

For more information on Secret Jardin Grow tents see our company profile post here

To buy Secret Jardin Grow tents visit our eShop

.
.
.
.
.
.
.

This predatory mite feeds only on spider mites. It should be the first choice for biological control of spider mites if conditions are suitable. Phytoseiulus is effective if released in sufficient numbers at the first sign of the pest, and if temperatures reach 20°C for at least a few hours each day. Optimum temperatures for control of spider mites are 15-25°C, when the predator breeds faster than its prey. However, P. persimilis is less effective in the hot, dry conditions (above 30°C and below 60% relative humidity) that favour its spider mite prey. The adult predators are slightly larger than the Two-spotted spider mite (Red Spider Mite)  and are orange-red and shiny. They have longer legs than spider mites and are very active, running around the leaves searching for prey. P. persimilis will eat both mobile stages of the Two-spotted spider mite (Red Spider Mite) and their eggs. Younger predators are smaller and paler than the adults. The eggs are pale pink, oval and about twice the size of those of the Two-spotted spider mite (Red Spider Mite). These can easily be seen with a hand lens when monitoring, on leaves with spider mite damage, and are a good sign that the predators are establishing. As the predators do not have wings they cannot fly, but they will move readily from plant to plant if these are touching. The predators are supplied in bottles with a bran or vermiculite carrier that is sprinkled on the plants. Products with larger numbers of predators in smaller amounts of carrier leave less carrier on the plants, deliver more accurate numbers of predators and allow more effective use of high doses in spider mite ‘hotspots’.

Now known as the Two-spotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae)
Although serious problems are uncommon on herb crops, the damage caused by their feeding can make fresh cut and potted herbs unmarketable.

Identification

All stages of two-spotted spider mite  are usually found on leaf undersides. The young mites and summer adults are up to 0.5 mm long, light green in colour, with two darker lateral marks on their backs. In September or October, in response to shortening day length and cooler temperatures, and also earlier in the year in heavy infestations when plants are senescing, adult females turn a brick-red colour. The brick-red females that appear in the autumn find a sheltered place in the structure of the glasshouse or tunnel, or in plant debris, to hibernate. Over-wintered adults become active again in the spring, in response to increasing temperature and daylength. They move onto host plants , where they feed and lay small, clear, round eggs on leaf undersides. The eggs hatch into 6-legged larval mites, that feed on the leaves and develop through two 8-legged nymphal stages into adults.

Symptoms

Spider mites feed by extracting cell contents using their needle-like mouthparts. This damage causes fine yellow speckling to be visible on the leaves, which later develops into yellow or necrotic patches, making the plants unmarketable (Fig.3). In severe attacks, leaves or plants can senesce and the mites can produce extensive webbing.

Sources of spider mite infestation and favourable conditions

The source of the pest is usually overwintered females that hibernate in the glasshouse or tunnel structure and migrate onto susceptible plants in the spring. The pest can also be brought in on infested plant material. Spider mites have no wings so they cannot fly. However, they can walk from plant to plant, or along glasshouse, tunnel structures or inside grow tents. They can also spin fine threads of silk which allow them to be carried on air currents. Spider mites can also be spread on people or clothing. Hot, dry conditions favour the pest and allow it to breed rapidly. Many generations per season can occur, and on nurseries growing all-year-round herbs with heat and light during the winter, the pest can continue to breed throughout the year.

How to avoid spider mites and other infestation

• Check all incoming plant material for damage symptoms, particularly highly susceptible herbs.
• Use a thorough clean-up procedure at the end of each crop. Dispose of unwanted and heavily-infested plants and plant debris promptly and carefully, and clean bench, tent or floor coverings.
• Avoid moving people or equipment from infested plants to ‘clean’ plants on the nursery, and wash hands after handling infested plants.
• Maintain good ventilation
• Misting infested plants with water, if practical, can reduce spider mite population growth during hot, dry weather.

Before starting to grow indoors you really do need to think about what you want and above all about what’s possible.

How to start

Before starting to grow indoors you really do need to think about what you want and above all about what’s possible. Things you need to think about include how much to invest in plant materials and cultivation equipment such as plant food, lamps and ventilation.

Do you want to grow indoors or outdoors? Which plant/variety do you want to use and what kind of yields/crop do you have in mind? What stock material are you going to use? How much space do you have available for the crop? How many plants per square metre? Which growing medium are you going to use?

So there are quite a few points you need to watch and they’re all interconnected. Give it a bit of thought so that whatever you choose will be more realistic and there’s a better chance you won’t find yourself stuck with unpleasant surprises.

Seeds

You generally buy seeds if you decide you want to select a mother plant that you will then take cuttings off yourself. You need to make sure you choose healthy seeds.

Some seeds you can buy are what you call hybrid seeds. Hybrids are a cross between a number of varieties of the same crop . If these hybrids then get cross-bred again, you often get plants you can’t get a decent crop out of.

There are a number of ways of getting seeds to germinate, but you’re best off doing that indoors because that’s where the environment is better protected. A seed needs to absorb water before it can germinate. Then biological processes get to work inside the seed and it comes, as it were, to life.

One way of doing this is to put the seed in a glass of mineral water (If seeds are large enough). When a root tip starts to sprout put the seed on a piece of damp kitchen paper. How long it takes before the seed starts to sprout varies per variety and depends on the age of the seed.

Always make sure that the seeds are well ventilated. This helps prevent fungus. After a day the seeds are ready to be placed in their growing medium. Place them 2,5 times the seed height under the surface (e.g. If seed is 2mm place 5mm under the surface). Make sure the humidity is sufficiently high, but remember too that the area around the seeds mustn’t be too damp. So go easy on the watering.

When the first real leaves appear on your plants you can start giving some fertiliser. The fertiliser concentration mustn’t be too high: don’t go beyond an EC level of 1.2, depending on the hardness or EC of the water. Keep the temperature between 20°C and 25°C. Ideal humidity at this stage is between 60% and 70%.

As well as fertiliser, the light spectrum given out by your grow lamps also has a considerable influence on the way your plants grow. The blue part of the spectrum is what gets the plants to grow widthways rather than lengthways. This allows you to get robust plants before they start to flower. We call it pregrowing if you start growing plants in one area before moving them into another to flower. Again, this encourages robust plants that pick up strength faster and that can be readied for flowering straight away. Other advantages include less wastage and more frequent harvesting. You normally use fluorescent lighting in the pregrowing stage. This light is easy and inexpensive and a further advantage is that the lamps can be set close to the plants so you don’t need much room or any expensive arrangements like vents to draw off the air.

The reflectors for your lighting get dirty as time goes by. Clean them regularly. Research shows that light yields drop by 20% pretty quickly!

Cuttings

Buying cuttings instead of seeds has a number of advantages. First of all the plants have already grown a bit, which means that they’re not just stronger but you can harvest them earlier. You’ll also know more about your plant, because genetically it’s identical to the mother plant from which the cutting has been taken.

If you have a good mother plant of your own you can take cuttings yourself. Take cuttings from young, vigorous parts of the plant. Cut a piece off that’s between 5 cm and 15 cm long just above an axillary bud where the stem is between 2 mm and 5 mm thick.

The cutting shouldn’t have too much leaf because otherwise it’ll dry out too quickly – it can’t absorb water easily without roots. Remove any excessively large leaves so that the cutting looks like a small plant.

articles-growingdummies_text_2Cut the stalk diagonally. Try to maximise the area of the cut. If you’re not transferring the cutting straightaway to the growing medium it’s a good idea to put it in a glass of water. It won’t dehydrate but you’ll also ensure that air bubbles don’t get sucked up the stalk which will block the passage of the sap. Dip the end of the cutting in rooting powder/liquid and make sure to get rid off any excess. Ensure that the growing medium is nice and damp. Place the growing medium in a closed off area, a seed box say, and start giving it some water as a fine spray. Make sure you don’t keep humidity constantly too high.

After a week or two the first little roots start appearing. The cuttings have now turned into little plants and are ready to be transferred to another medium with more space for growth.

Sexing plants

Some plants have different male and female plants, like the hops you need for brewing your own beer . If you’ve grown a healthy plant from seed but you’re not sure whether it’s male or female, you can take a cutting to find out. Place the cutting apart and force it to flower by reducing the hours of light from 18 to 12 each day. See if it will start to flower!

Growth

When your plant has thrown out enough roots it starts to grow. A plant grows because the cells in the growth areas divide and because the cells that have already been formed, swell up with water. The plant is now using a lot of water and nutrients, above all nitrogen. In order to make the best use of these nutrients and the water the plant requires a lot of light.

Although the plant continues to grow when it comes into bloom, many growers get their plants to go through a pregrowing phase first. The longer this period lasts, the longer it takes before any harvesting. But on the other hand the plant has so much more time to develop branches, this increases its resistance to disease and defects, and also it can provide a bigger crop later. Allowing your plants a one week pregrowing phase will make them strong and robust.

Flowering

Even before there’s anything visible on the outside of the plant, at a certain point a switch starts to take effect within the plant. This is the switch that marks the start of the flowering phase; the first cells are formed that later make up the flowers. In annual plants this switch is activated by the days growing shorter. If you’re growing indoors you can decide yourself when the switch will happen by reducing the hours of light to 12. Light that is more to the red end of the spectrum, such as light from sodium lamps, influences this switch and stimulates longitudinal growth and root development. These lamps need to be suspended at a greater distance from the plants because they give out more heat. Many growers use combinations of lamps. During this period you need to make sure the plant remains undisturbed when in the dark period because this will extend the flowering period.

It is a good idea to keep the humidity (around the heads) at below 60% to prevent fungi such as Botrytis taking hold in the fruits or flowers. But it’s best to keep it above 50% to avoid spider mite.

Now that the plant has moved into the flowering phase (which lasts for at least 2 months), the plant’s nutritional requirements change. Its need for nitrogen (N), which was the primary nutrient during the growing phase, comes down but its need for potassium (K) and phosphorus (P) rises markedly. Stop giving fertiliser between 1 and 2 weeks before the harvest, as the plant’s ripening process nears completion.

It’s important that the young flowers do not get fertilised so that no seeds get formed. Plants have a tendency to put all their energy into the seeds, so they can procreate of course.

Remove flowers in the shade because these are virtually worthless, they just siphon off energy from the main crop. But never remove any leaves that are shaded. These generate the energy the heads need for their development.

When your crop is ready for harvest depends on the crop grown. Often crops are harvested too early. Affecting yield, taste and flavours!

.

.

.

Reproduced with kind permission from Canna-UK

Organic / Mineral, What’s the Deal?

Organic, inorganic, mineral, natural, all natural… what do they all mean? How come some of these terms get bantered about so loosely? It’s confusing and made more so by advertising and politics. That aside for now, let’s look at the correct meaning of these terms and the implications for the grower when choosing a crop and system.

Mineral:

The inorganic salts, including sodium, potassium, calcium, chloride, phosphate, sulphate. So called because they are (or originally were) obtained by mining. They aren’t necessarily natural.

Organic:

Chemically, a substance containing carbon in the molecule, with the exception of carbonates and cyanide. Substances of animal and vegetable origin are organic. These organic substances aren’t necessarily natural.

Inorganic:

Simple enough, not organic. See mineral. Again, these products aren’t necessarily natural.

Natural:

Present in or produced by nature. For us, natural basically means that it was not made by man but was harvested or processed from nature. These may not necessarily be natural but it really depends on whose definition we use.

Synthetic:

Man-made or, more precisely, not natural: artificial or contrived.

Now that we’ve covered the definitions, let’s look at each one as it relates to selecting parts and components for growing systems.

Plant roots can be selective in terms of the elements they let through the membranes and into the plant itself. It is a system comprised of many components that work by allowing access by diffusion to all elements that are smaller than a particular size; or by actively moving very specific molecules such as nitrate or larger single elements; or other various methods. Mineral elements are the ones that will break down and be available faster than anything else.

All elements, including those applied organically, must exist as a single element to cross over into a cell (excluding specialty molecules), and organically applied components are still complex molecules awaiting further breakdown into usable end products. So synthetic inorganic minerals will react quicker with a plant and can be controlled more precisely. They are supplied in many combinations such as Ammonium Nitrate, Calcium Nitrate, Potassium Sulphate, or Potassium Phosphate, ions that disassociate in solution and the plant can take them up. Unfortunately, when supplied with undesirable components such as Sodium Molybdate, or when the ‘mined’ material is not pure, these impurities or undesirable components cause problems. This is especially true where heavy metals are concerned. These undesirable elements can either be deposited into the medium causing salt and other toxicity problems, or they pass into the plant to be deposited into the cell vacuoles where they remain until consumed by the end user or degrade into the soil.

Basic concepts

Organic, as the term is used in the Green Industry, implies two basic concepts. The first is material that is based on an organic molecule and contains Carbon. In this case it is a source of nitrogen and the Carbon, as we noted earlier, has to break down to be available. The second concept refers to the end product, plant or fruit that’s harvested or used. Example; if lettuce is organic then everything the crop was given was done with all natural and organic stuff. This means natural and organic feeding, pest control, or whatever that was used in the process. Remember, a combination product like a fertiliser can have organic components with mineral elements combined and be either Organic or not, depending on both components. So if you want to grow organic, check before you buy!

Organic components are recognised as either synthetic or natural; they are either man made or not. When the subject is fertiliser, for instance, typically it is the Nitrogen that is worked with and everything else is incidental. Natural Organic Nitrogen is supplied by whole components of once living things from plant or animal components such as manure, leaf mould, or blood meal. These require organisms to finish the breakdown so they, too, must be present and the Nitrogen becomes available slowly.

Synthetic Organic Nitrogen includes compounds such as Urea, or Urea formaldehyde (UF) that will release based on microbes and temperature, pH or other conditions of the medium. This Nitrogen is available fairly rapidly although some breakdown must occur. There are advantages and disadvantages to all of these. The faster they are available, the less time they spend available to the plant and the greater the chance of burn. Also, to fit into the Organic Programme, they have to be Natural Organic. The remaining component-supplied elements are almost incidental when it comes to their presence in the fertiliser mix.

If the other main components of a fertiliser are needed to make it complete, then it has to be added to the Nitrogen mix, or added separately. Using a blend of plant and animal-derived components will get close to all the required elements, but not all. A grower who feeds 100 % organic components will never maximise their crop. Certain components such as Calcium are needed in large quantities but are consumed in the degradation process. Bone meal can be added for the additional Phosphorous needed, but this will not be accepted by many organic consumers. Many want no animal by-products to be used either. The next best option is to supplement what is needed and get the ratios correct by using naturally available elements such as Calcium Carbonate (Lime) or Rock Phosphate. However, the material can no longer be described as ‘Organic’ but is now ‘Natural and Organic’. As noted earlier, this same description, Natural and Organic, could apply to a Synthetic Organic Nitrogen and heavy metal contaminated Rock Phosphate. Confused ?

Summary

So, in summary, we see that the term organic means many things and the same thing, so does natural, and yet both can be used at the same time to achieve better results. So what should you do? The grower needs to understand a few important points first:

Certain components exist in almost all natural mineral soils that are suitable to grow in, so why grow in pure organic? Important components such as Calcium are supplied in lime, phosphorous exists in all soils too, either as bound or as free while phosphate is the oxidized form and occurs in all mineral soils. Using Natural Organic components requires the proper root environment containing the microbes necessary to break down the organic components. The physical conditions of temperature, moisture and pH will affect the process and must be taken into account.

A grower that feeds 100% organic components will never maximize his crop

Growing ‘Organic’ requires not just the proper fertiliser. Every component must meet the standards. Seed or cuttings used must also be from ‘Organic’ stock, pest control has to be 100% Natural or naturally derived compounds from plants or animals. (This begs the question if growing under lights is Natural).

Materials used to produce components of Organic systems must be Organic as well. If plant extracts are used, for instance, then the plants must have been produced ‘Naturally’ and ‘Organically’ as well.

Growing Organically takes time, as the materials used for feed take some time to become broken down enough to supply a plant’s needs. It can be a long process with tens of processes required to take an organic component like a cell wall and turn it into an available single element or specialty molecule like nitrate.

With fertility, Natural Organic growing requires that a microcosm be established to deal with the organic component needing reduction. You can add all the manure, castings, and blood meal you want to the medium, but without the micro-life, it will just sit there and do nothing. It may break down to a certain degree but will probably not be sufficient to feed a crop. You need organisms that feed on the raw proteins or other components, then another organism to feed on those waste products, and another until the compound is rendered into a plant-usable form. You also need the right balance between these organisms to get the ratio correct in N-P-K values or to supply the trace elements. The correct micro flora have to be present at the right time.

All this has to occur in the root zone in a medium that will support the processes; an organic base with storage sites. So our system is limited to soil or soilless organic based mediums, usually peat, since the values will work with the organics. The best feed to use would be one that is as close to the final stage of breakdown as possible; this takes the variability and guesswork out of it. Organic ‘teas’ or liquid compost are examples of getting closer to the end result. But all are different and will tend to vary with the components being turned into tea and the seasonal changes in temperature (or any other external factor) of the ‘brewing’ facility. In a perfect world, giant fermentation tanks would take raw materials and render them into a liquid fertiliser by the careful addition of specific soil-borne microbes that would work on the first step only. Once they had digested everything they could, they would be removed and replaced by the next step’s microbes.

This would be repeated by the same microbes engineered to produce very particular compounds, all the way to the final step, where it would be bottled and sold. Once applied this would be reduced immediately at the root surface to become available, with little delay, to the plant. All the while, the materials and process would be 100% Natural and Organic and would include nothing added except the microbes (if they are even needed by this step). Wishful thinking? Perhaps, but one that will be feasible with future technologies.

Organisations

Unfortunately, all the technologies in the world will do little to clarify the industry’s use of words like natural and organic. Fortunately, laws have been passed to control claims on labels and in advertising. There are now organisations set up to sanction components and processes in terms of whether these fit into an Organic System or Programme. This is done to ensure the consumer gets what they think is in the package. Organisations such as OMRI (the US Organic Materials Review Institute) and our European Control Union look at the materials being labelled Organic or Organic Produced and certify the materials and processes used. Not only do they review the types and origins of materials used, but they also keep an eye on the process from harvest to bottling. They also recognise the inability of pure organics to provide for all the required elements for a plant and allow certain components to be used that are natural and clean. These are paid services that guarantee the product and process. Government, on the other hand, should provide controls on the use of these words on the product labels.

Some governments regulate the design and content of labels for fertiliser and pesticide labels. Most will not let the word ‘Organic’ or ‘Natural’ be used on the label unless the product meets certain criteria. Some follow the review institutes’ guidelines, some are much stricter and only allow organic to be used only when the only components of a product are plant-based or animal-based. Registration is designed to protect the purchaser and consumer from cowboy operators selling damaging products with confusing or false claims and statements. The grower has to do the rest of the legwork and decide which route is best for their own growing situation.

When it comes to the consumable products, production is governed pretty well but less so within the Hydroponics Hobby Industry.

So, there’s the problem in a nutshell. It is confusing; just remember, do your homework! Find out the metal contents, find out where the technology is coming from, use registered products, find out how it is produced, and use it correctly. How ‘Organic’ does this need to be? What crop am I growing? Some species do not do as well on organic systems preferring waste type soils. How will this be done? What can be reasonably expected anticipated from this method? If you want Organic then use OMRI or Control Union listed products: that makes it really easy. You can check online if a product is really registered and therefore organic or not. These are all questions the grower must answer before deciding on how organic to grow and which materials to use. Take some advice: keep it simple, understand the way it works, and the limitations it has, but enjoy the benefits of growing ‘Organic’. Work within the limits and keep an eye out for that perfect product.
www.omri.org – Organic Materials Review Institute
www.controlunion.com – Control Union World Group
.
.
.

Reproduced with kind permission from Canna-UK

Hydroponics Lights

Lighting for my plants… Hmm, where do I start? What do I need? What should I consider? What is light really? So many questions, a little basic knowledge starts to make things a lot easier.

Of course, sunlight is undoubtedly the cheapest source of light for growing plants but it is not always available. With an indoor grow light, it is possible to gain control over your plants and grow effectively all year round!

Indoor lights commonly consist of three individual items:

• a reflector, which protects the lamp and directs the light to where you want it, as well as providing up to 30% extra light for nothing since there is no light lost but is bounced back on to the plants;
• the ballast box, containing the components necessary to power the lamp and to regulate the current when the lamp is running;
• the lamp itself.

What do I need to know about light?

The first factor is to choose the colour of light required, whether you need a warm or cool light source. The temperature of light is expressed in degrees Kelvin and is known as the correlated colour temperature or CCT, and relates to actual thermal temperature. High intensity discharge (HID) lamps and fluorescent light sources all have CCT ratings and this indicates how warm or cool the light source is, for instance a lamp with a CCT of 2700 Kelvin is considered warm, 4200 Kelvin is considered neutral and 6000 Kelvin is considered cool.

CCT RANGES

5000-7000 Kelvin: Strong Blue Light

Promotes bushy growth. Ideal for the rapid growth phase of plants. Greatly enhances all round plant growth when used with super high output, high pressure sodium or 3K warm metal halide lamps.

4000 – 4200 Kelvin: Cool White Fluorescents

Can be used to supplement blue lighting. Ideal for propagation.

4000 Kelvin: Neutral Metal Halide

Best single light source for plant growth, producing shorter, bushier growth than 3700 Kelvin and colour rendition. Used in general plant lighting.

3700 Kelvin: Softer Metal Halide (coated)

This coated lamp is used for general plant lighting and for more rapid growth than 4000 Kelvin produces.

2100 – 2700 Kelvin: High Pressure Sodium Lamps

Redder colour mix, ideal for the fruiting and flowering stages as well as supplementary greenhouse lighting.

Can I tell by looking at it whether the light is suitable?

Basically, no. Historically the output of HID lighting has been measured in lumens. This method of measuring light output favours light at the yellow end of the spectrum, as this is light that the human eye is most sensitive to. As a result, this method of measuring light largely ignores the light produced at the blue and red ends of the spectrum. However, it is precisely the light at the blue and red ends of the spectrum that a plant needs to thrive!

High Intensity Discharge (HID) lamps

Simple to use and covers a large area for almost any type of plant.

HID lighting can be divided into two categories: Metal Halide (MH) and High Pressure Sodium (HPS).

Metal Halide (MH)

Metal Halide (MH) lamps give off an abundance of blue light imitating the light of spring and summer making them the best light for propagation and vegetative growth, promoting short internodal length.

High Pressure Sodium (HPS)

High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lamps produce ‘redder’ light and can be compared to the light of an autumn sunset. More yellow/red colour in the spectrum and less blue promotes a higher flower-to-leaf ratio in flowering and fruiting plants. HPS lights are widely used to extend the natural ‘day length’ that a plant is subjected to thereby imitating summer conditions.

Since the blue light provides all the blue light necessary, the HP sodium is used during lowlight hours and during total darkness. If you are growing indoors and without any natural light then a combination of the two lamps is ideal, especially when used with a light mover.

Fluorescent lamps

Fluorescent lamps are very energy efficient and therefore ideal for the green grower. There are several categories: strip fluorescents, compact fluorescents (CFL) with a high wattage design, warm or cool light and high or low wattage. The fixtures for these lamps usually come complete with lamp holders and built-in ballast. Your local hydroponics dealer will show you some different models.
Fluorescent lighting has a lower intensity than metal halide or sodium lamps and due to their low heat output they will not dry out the growing media when placed close to the plant. This makes them ideal for propagation and early vegetative growth as well as for orchids and other plants that need lower light conditions. Because of their low heat output they can also be kept approximately 1 inch from the plants, and do not require ventilation to remove excess warmth. This means you are getting more usable light to your plant and maximising the output of your lamp.

For vegetative growth you should choose a ‘cool white’ lamp. This is also acceptable for flowering, but a ‘warm white’ light will be better as it is stronger in the red end of the spectrum which is more suitable for flowering.
Use fluorescent lights only for seedlings and clones, for supplementing daylight and for vegetative growth. A HID Sodium Lamp is always recommended for flowering due to its high light output and it is more efficient when you look at what your plants produce for the number of watts you put in.

Compact Fluorescents (CFL)

Compact Fluorescents are exactly what their name implies; they generate greater light intensity than their strip tube cousins and come in a variety of wattages. Due to their small size they are very ‘versatile’ and can fit into most normal E40 lamps fittings.

If you are only growing vegetative crops such as herbs or lettuce you should find that one compact fluorescent lamp will be sufficient for a small area.

Does size matter?

The size of lamp required depends on the size of the growing area, and the type of plants you wish to grow. Plants that require a lot of light such as herbs and vegetables will need between 20 and 60 watts of light per square foot of growing space. If no natural light is present, a 400 watt metal halide in a 3 x 3 foot area will provide 45 watts per square foot, compared to 25 watts per square foot in a 5 x 5 foot area. Similarly, a 1000 watt metal halide in a 5 x 5 foot area will provide 40 watts per square foot, compared to 20 watts per square foot in a 7 x 7 foot area. Proper reflectors, light movers, and reflective material on walls will considerably increase the intensity and efficiency of these lights. As a basic rule, the higher the intensity and the broader the spectrum, the greater the benefit.

But remember – a 1000 HPS lamp is not the same as four 250 HPS lamps. 250w lamps don’t have anywhere near the intensity needed to penetrate thick canopy or tall, bushy plants. We know from experience that it is almost impossible to grow very tall bushy plants with a 250w lamp!

Here is a basic guideline for lighting a grow room for good growth using HID Lamps:

WATTAGE COVERAGE

1000 watt - 4 to 5 feet (1.3 to 1.5 meters)

600 watt - 3.5 feet (1 to 1.2 meters)

400 watt - 2.5 to 3 feet (0.8 to 0.9 meters)

250 watt - 2 feet (0.6 to 0.7 meters)

These guidelines assume you have a good reflector around your bulb as well as reflective wall coverings. You can also increase coverage using a light mover.

.

.

.

Reproduced with kind permission from Canna-UK

Anubias are broad leaved plants. These plants grow best when attached to stones or bog wood. Do not bury the rhizome as this can cause it to rot away. The Anubias species are a slow growing and hardy addition to any planted aquarium and should be suitable for keeping with fish such as cichlids.
They can also be grown emmersed provided the rhizome and roots are kept moist.

Position	Foregorund
Size	15 cm
Temperature	24-30 ºC
Light	High
Origin	West Africa

Anubias are broad leaved plants. These plants grow best when attached to stones or bog wood. Do not bury the rhizome as this can cause it to rot away. The Anubias species are a slow growing and hardy addition to any planted aquarium and should be suitable for keeping with fish such as cichlids.
They can also be grown emmersed provided the rhizome and roots are kept moist.

Position	Midground
Size	40 cm
Temperature	22-30 ºC
Light	Low – Medium
Origin	West Africa

Anubias are broad leaved plants. These plants grow best when attached to stones or bog wood. Do not bury the rhizome as this can cause it to rot away. The Anubias species are a slow growing and hardy addition to any planted aquarium and should be suitable for keeping with fish such as cichlids.
They can also be grown emmersed provided the rhizome and roots are kept moist.

Position	Midground
Size	30 cm
Temperature	22-30 ºC
Light	Low – Medium
Origin	West Africa

Anubias are broad leaved plants. These plants grow best when attached to stones or bog wood. Do not bury the rhizome as this can cause it to rot away. The Anubias species are a slow growing and hardy addition to any planted aquarium and should be suitable for keeping with fish such as cichlids.
They can also be grown emmersed provided the rhizome and roots are kept moist.

Position	Background
Size	80 cm
Temperature	22-30 ºC
Light	Low – Medium
Origin	West Africa