Ventilation: avoiding excess humidity

Whenever I tell my neighbours that I have a fully equipped grow room in my basement recreation room, inadvertently the conversation turns to pot. “Did you hear that Snoop Dog got busted the other night after his appearance on The Tonight Show? Yeah, he was leaving the Burbank studios and the cops pulled him over. Had enough drugs on him to make Pharmasave envious.”

As soon as it becomes clear that I’m only growing innocent flowers, they seem disappointed. “We were hoping you could invite us over for your harvest celebration!” I always try to interest them in buying a bouquet for their loved ones. I keep some fresh greens on hand just for such emergencies.

Then they start fretting about the humidity and the mold. “We saw on TV that all these grow-ops have mold and mildew covered walls and that they’re totally unhealthy for the neighborhood.” I reassure them that the media exaggerates those problems and that the humidity and bad fungi in my grow room are controlled by making sure that there’s adequate air movement and ventilation.

Stomata are tiny pores on the underside of leaves that can’t even be seen with a naked eye. They’re like the nostrils of an animal, in reverse. They control the amount of carbon dioxide that’s inhaled, along with the oxygen that’s exhaled. Stomata are easily clogged by dirt and dust particles in the air and the filmy residue left over from some sprays.

Outdoors, the stomata are cleaned by the wind and rain. The indoor horticulturalist must either wipe each leaf by hand, or use a mister to stimulate rain and good air circulation to mimic wind.

I not only have a powerful exhaust fan located near the ceiling of my grow room to suck hot and humid air out, I have two ventilation fans located on opposite walls near the bottom of the room to bring fresh air in from the outside.

It addition, I have two oscillating fans near the floor, aimed up at the bottom of my Drip Irrigation Hydroponic system and the rockwool slabs that hold my carnations. These fans push oxygen into my reservoir, as well as circulate the air under the leaves where the stomata are.

I feed my plants a basic diet of Advanced Nutrients Micro, Grow, and Bloom, always pouring the Micro into my mixing tank first, then the Grow or the Bloom, according to the cycle that my plants are going through.

My babies suck up a considerable amount of water along with the nutrients, and this moisture is transpired into the air of the grow room by the leaves. Without adequate ventilation, this moisture would cause a 100% humid environment, leading to the dreaded mold and mildew problems of the grow ops depicted on the TV news.

I make sure that my humidity never rises above fifty percent. Whenever it does, the fans automatically kick in on high setting to clear all the humid air out and fresh, dry air in. When the temperature outside is below zero Centigrade, my two oil-based radiators jump in to warm up the inflow of freezing air.

This week I’m mixing Carbo Load Liquid, Calcium Mg Mix, and B-52 into my reservoir. I figure I eat more sweets and chocolates in the winter, so my carnations probably need more carbohydrates.

Calcium and Magnesium are constantly depleted by the growth of my babies, so they have to be replenished.

And I also take a B-complex supplement, so why should my plants be any different? B-52 helps increase their resistance to stress and it ensures that young plants grow up healthy and vigorous.

Check out the Advancedepedia for detailed product descriptions on all these wonderful supplements.

I did real well in the flower show last week, thanks to the dynamite nutrients I feed my carnations.

Using oil-filled Radiators, and nutri-filled Seaweed

As you know, my basement rec room—where I grow my prize-winning carnations—measures 12’x20’ for a total of 240 square feet. At either end of the room I have installed two DeLonghi oil-filled radiators, with timers..

Running at their medium setting for a more gentle heat, these radiators provide enough BTU’s to keep my entire grow space at an even 15º to 18º C (59º to 65º F). This is the optimum temperature for growing disbuds or Sims, which are the long-stemmed, single flower carnations that I grow.

Oil-filled radiators became popular in Europe, but now they’re all the rage in North America, as well. This particular model (TRD0715T) generates heat at three levels, 600 – 900 – 1500 Watts, radiating 2,050 – 3, 070 – 5,120 British Thermal Units (BTU’s) of heat per hour.

The oil is permanently sealed into the unit (no chance of spillage) and it radiates a more even heat then fan-forced electric heaters. These are ideal for small grow operations, like mine, while a Hot Water Boiler is preferable for larger ones.

I augment my radiating heat with infrared radiation from my 6 – 600W High Pressure Sodium light fixtures, as well as with hot water pipes running under my grow medium (rockwool slabs). I had an extra large water heater installed, since I hate to run out of hot water for my leisurely baths that I prefer at the end of the day.

In addition to the timer, the de Longhi also has a metal thermostat, which is more accurate and lasts longer than the cheap plastic ones on their competitors’ products.

I spoke to the Advanced Nutrients technical advisor, and he reminded me that Piranha, Tarantula, and Voodoo Juice, as well as Sensi Zym, should be added at three week intervals, but only at half-strength in hydro grows. I must have misread their Nutrient Calculator, thinking that they’re only supposed to be administered at the beginning of the grow cycle.

I am also adding Grandma Enggy’s Seaweed Extract to my regular diet of Micro, Grow, and Bloom for my carnations. Seaweed Extract contains many different vitamins, as well as natural chelates that help with the uptake of nutrients.

This miracle product also contains natural antibiotics, that cause my carnations to develop resistance to aphids, spider mites, mildew, scabs, and many types of fungi.

I initially mixed it into my reservoir at the application rate of 5 mL/L, but I also intend to use Seaweed Extract as a foliar spray. It stimulates beneficial bacteria, increases cell replication, plant metabolism, and accelerates growth.

I’m heading for another flower show at a downtown hotel. Wish me luck! Given the size and quality of my flowers these days, my luck has been preordained by using Advanced Nutrients products to feed my babies.

Dropping temperatures, keeping it cool

Here in Mississauga, nighttime temperatures this coming Monday will go down to minus 4º Celsius. That’s only 24.8º for those still of the Fahrenheit persuasion. In other words, it’s cold. In Ontario, the closer we come to winter, the colder it gets.

Everyone knows that flowers grow best during the warm season of the year, so if you’re growing carnations—like I am—in your basement recreation room, you have to fool your babies into thinking that it’s still a warm season. (I do this with several oil based electric radiators, as well as hot water pipes running under my growing medium.)

Not too warm, mind you. The optimum temperature for disbuds or Sims—the kind I grow—is 15 to 18º C, or 59 to 65º F. Carnations do not like the temperature to be above 22º C (72º F) and neither do I. I’m just a Canadian lass, used to cool temperatures. I’d wilt in Florida, to be sure.

High humidity in your grow room should also be avoided. Whenever I see a gardener misting her flowers, I tell her that it’s an open invitation to fungal infestation. My drip irrigation system injects the nutrient solution into the rockwool slabs that my flowers grow in and the moisture never touches the upper part of the plant.

As you know, I’ve switched nutrients a number of times, but now I feed my babies a basic diet of the Advanced Nutrients 3-part (Micro, Grow, and Bloom) along with some vitamins and bloom enhancers. I also like to add Grandma Enggy’s Humic and Fulvic Acids, as well as Carbo Load Liquid, in order to boost my babies’ growth with energizing carbohydrates.

Humic acid adds natural drought and stress resistance, protects against diseases and pathogens, and stimulates root branching.

Fulvic acid provides for faster growth and nutrient absorption. Its secret is an organic loamy material called “leonardite,” which is mined from deep places beneath the earth’s surface.

I was turned on to these magic products by an elderly gardener who claimed that Grandma Enggy was one of his relatives. He grew the most beautiful orchids using these and Grandma Enggy’s Seaweed Extract, which is another Advanced Nutrients product that I’ve been meaning to order.

Their online store is open for business 24/7

Choosing a Lighting System, Feeding my Babies

If you think that growing carnations in your basement rec room might be something that you’d want to do, first consider the variables. You’d have to make some important decisions, each of which will impact on your pocketbook.

You’re creating a total environment for your flowers, that means attempting to bring the sun indoors. Thank goodness that lighting technology has progressed far beyond Edison’s primitive incandescent light bulb. The two main lighting sources you have to choose from are Metal Halide or High Pressure Sodium.

Many gardeners will recommend Metal Halide, because it comes the closest to emulating sunlight indoors. It has good lumen maintenance and long life expectancy. As a lamp ages, it starts putting our less and less lumens, but only gradually.

After twelve months of use at 12 to 18 hours per day, the lamp will put out only about 85% of its original brightness, and it should be replaced. Metal Halide bulbs emit light at the blue end of the spectrum, just as the sun does.

I chose High Pressure Sodium for my six 600W fixtures, since I’m growing flowers. When plants are in their flowering stage, they need light at the red end of the spectrum, which HPS provides. However, during the early vegetative stage, I use conversion bulbs to give my carnations much needed blue light, without changing the ballasts on my fixtures.

My lights use a lot of electricity and generate much heat. The heat is taken care of by high performance, variable speed fans that literally suck the hot air from my grow room and bring in cooler air from the outside.

This works fine ten months out of the year, except during the hottest summer months it has to be augmented by buckets of dry ice or some other coolant. If Mississauga summers get any hotter, I might have to invest in an air conditioning system, either air or water-cooled, which can be costly.

When your electrical use suddenly spikes upwards, you draw the attention of the power company. Many times they alert law enforcement because they suspect that something illegal is going on. I’ve had to ward off many an inspector who thought I was growing marijuana. When they discover that it’s only carnations, they seem disappointed.

I’ve had another talk with my tech advisor at Advanced Nutrients and he advised me against overwatering my carnations. He said because I grow in rockwool slabs, they retain moisture much longer than other growing media, so I have to water less.

As you know, I use a drip irrigation hydroponic system to grow my babies, so I had to turn it down a notch to accommodate what he said. Perhaps I was giving them too much solution. Using Micro, Grow, and Bloom, I’m giving my flowers all the nutrition they need, but I have to remember that their root systems also need oxygen.

My hot lights take care of the drying out periods between waterings. In my reservoir, I also pour Sensi Cal Mg Mix Bloom during the flowering stage. I pre-mix 1.25 mL/L of Sensi Cal, along with 2 mL/L of B-52, an excellent B-complex vitamin, and the bloom enhancers Bud Blood, Big Bud, and Overdrive, in sequence.

O.5 g/L of Bud Blood only during the first week of flowering, 5 mL/L of Big Bud Liquid during weeks two, three, and four, and 2.5 mL/L of Overdrive during weeks five and six.

I never use these flower enhancers all at the same time, because they’re very powerful additives and would burn my poor carnations to a crisp if I did.

It takes a woman to change her mind

After singing the praises of Sensi One Grow and Sensi One Bloom last week, I feel a little foolish. But it’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind. Perhaps it had to do with the way my dictionary flipped open to the word “powder” the other day. “A finely ground or pulverized mass of loose particles formed from a solid substance in the dry state.”

Perhaps it was my reaching a different technical guy at Advanced Nutrients, who convinced me that a liquid fertilizer would be better for my drip irrigation system and my carnations. So I’m switching back to the “traditional” 3-part Micro, Grow, and Bloom that Advanced Nutrients told me to use in the first place.

It’s not that the Sensi One fertilizers are not everything I said they were in my last posting. It’s because powders are slow to dissolve in a hydroponic situation, and using Micro, Grow, and Bloom liquid trio turns out to be more cost effective and equally beneficial to my flowers.

I’ve visited the Advanced Nutrients website many times before, but this is the first time I used their Nutrient Calculator, which is a wonderful feature that lets you plan your feeding regimen week by week. It includes the ppm to use—start low and increase by increments of 200, until your reach your maximum desired level. For light feeding, that might be 1200ppm, for heavy feeding, up to 2000ppm. Then decrease by increments of 200, until harvest.

I take a middle course with a medium-feeding regimen. Week one—1000ppm, week two—1200, week three—1400, week four—1600, week five—1400, week six—1200, week seven (the harvest week)—300ppm. Always give your plants a break during that final week.

Week eight, I usually flush my system with Final Phase, then the cycle starts all over again. I have to be careful to add Micro to my reservoir first, then Grow, and then Bloom. I have to remember never to mix these three ingredients in their concentrated form, in order to prevent any possible binding of the micronutrients, which would defeat their purpose.

During the first two weeks, I add my root enhancers—Piranha, Tarantula, and Voodoo Juice. These are only added at the beginning of the growing cycle. Toward the end of the flowering stage I will add one bloom booster at a time.

Since I keep my stock plants for up to 18 months and just harvest the cut flowers every two months or so, I find that Micro, Grow, Bloom mixed all together serves my purpose better, than a fertilizer specifically timed to the vegetative, then the flowering growth of plants.

This 3-part reliable plant food regimen includes all the micro and macro nutrients that I was raving about last week, along with the 2 to 4 of the highest quality chelators per micronutrient and pharmaceutical grade precursors to ensure the highest quality possible.

Please visit the Advanced Nutrients website or talk personally to their technical advisors in order to find the perfect plant food for your flowers or vegetables. And don’t be like me—do the research, choose the product, and then stick to it! This wonderful company backs up all their products with a 100% money back guarantee!