Hydroponics Unlimited Blog

Advanced Nutrients got a makeover! The brand recently changed all of their labels. While updating our website with the new “look”, I was reminded on how many great things Advanced Nutrients has to offer. Changing the pictures took me twice as long because I couldn’t help but re-look at products, read about what they do and remember how much I love them! It reminded me of trying to organize a memory box and instead spending hours looking at old photos, reading old notes and reminiscing. The good news, the products have been updated AND I now have some great products to highlight!

One of my favorites from Advanced Nutrients, is Piranha. A blend of six super strains of fungal spores, Piranha maximizes yield and crop health by promoting the symbiosis between beneficial fungi and their plants. Beneficial fungi grow on the roots, forming vast networks of mycelium, the filaments that transport nutrients back to the plant. Buy Piranha.

Another oldie but goodie, is Wet Betty Organic. This non-ionic product provides comprehensive nutrition and bio-catalytic agents directly to plant roots, in order to boost plant health, increase water and nutrient absorption, and promote incredible harvests. We love Betty! Buy Wet Betty Organic.

We have always had a sweet tooth, and it’s no different in hydroponics. Luckily, Advanced Nutrients came up with Bud Candy, which makes your plants taste sweet and natural. It uses a powerful combination of simple and complex carbohydrates, special salts, and a secret proprietary blend in order to enhance the flavor of your yields and flush out toxins and by-products you don’t want in your end product, like excess nitrogen and phosphate. Buy Bud Candy

Take a look at all our Advanced Nutrients products and their new and improved look at: Hydroponics Unlimited Advanced Nutrients

Make room for great new buckets and mesh pots sure to help your growing!

The Superoots Air-Pot is a recyclable, reusable plastic container that actively enhances the quality of the root systems of plants. This revolutionary approach to containerizing plants and trees produces fabulous, non-spiraling root systems that are impossible to develop in any other available container. Buy it!

Botanicare’s New HERCULES pots are formed with a unique shape to help give your plants the guidance they need to keep from becoming root bound. Air holes positioned around the sides of the HERCULES pots encourage grow media to dry more evenly between feedings giving growers increased control over plants’ nutritional and watering needs. HERCULES pots are available in 6 sizes from 6″ to 16″. Buy it!

The Smart Pot is now offered in tan! The Smart Pot is a soft-sided aeration container that air root prunes your plants. Air root pruning is a key component to a healthy fibrous root ball. Unlike plastic containers, roots do not circle. Instead, air root pruning creates a more fibrous root structure with more root tips. More roots means quicker growth. No circling roots mean better growth. The tan Smart Pot is available in sizes from 1 gallon to 100 gallons. Buy it!

Check out all our buckets and mesh pots at:

Hydroponics Unlimited Buckets and Mesh Pots

It’s a known fact that plants don’t process light anywhere near   as well as they should. If they could process light closer to their   genetic potential the results would shock you. Luckily, there are   several products available that solve this lack of light issue and   bring plants to the “brighter side”.

One of our personal favorites is “Dutch Master Gold Range Liquid Light“. Gold Range Liquid Light puts your plants into   overdrive by helping to restore their lost natural photosynthetic   power. Liquid Light does this by providing your plants with     selected minerals, carbohydrates, amino-acids and phyto-   nutrients that optimizes the Calvin Cycle, a critical   cycle of photosynthesis. By restoring a large portion of   a plants’ natural genetic photosynthetic speed, or power, plants   are able to use a lot more of the precious light you provide them. Indoor lighting is expensive to provide and the running costs can be enormous. Doesn’t it make sense to maximize your plants natural response to that expensive light?
Gold Range Liquid Light is indispensible in today’s modern indoor gardens where many gardeners are now using new technology Grow Tents or Grow Huts. These tents or huts often have limited lighting due to heat and size constraints so Liquid Light allows you to get big light results from a single 400W or 600W lamp by helping your plants achieve their maximum natural photosynthetic power! It works just as great outdoors maximizing your plants limited exposure to full sun. Great for gardens where plants are often shaded and liquid light is so easy to use.  Indoors or outdoors… we guarantee you’ll love it!

Dutch Master Gold Range Liquid Light can be purchased in store or on our http://www.hydroponicsunlimited.com/product/719277.html. Visit us now to get it for 20% off!

Not cleaning your plants can lead to a "pesky" infestation.

If you are anything like the average person, your list of housekeeping chores can seem endless. From bathrooms to bedrooms, mopping to vacuuming, keeping a clean and tidy house can be a full time job. So, you are probably not overly enthusiastic at the thought of adding plant washing to the already time-consuming list of chores. BUT, adding this task could be the task that saves your hydroponics garden.

Ignoring your plant washing duties can cause many problems for your hydroponics garden. One of the most common effects of leaf washing negligence is an infestation of spider mites. Spider mites are small bugs that will turn a thriving crop into a dry and dead one.  Spider mites flourish in warm and dry climates. Once they arrive they pierce single leaf cells of the plants and suck out the contents, causing the plant cells to collapse and die. Initially, spider mite infestations will cause speckled browning on the plants’ leaves and the undersides of the leaves may become yellow and crusty. But, as the infestation worsens the spider mites will remove most of the chlorophyll, which makes the leaves crumple, die and fall off.

A Spider mite infestation is an undesirable situation and can ruin the hard work you have put into creating a prosperous indoor garden. Therefore, it behooves all of us to keep these pesky mites away. One simple solution is to use a new and revolutionary spray: Mighty Wash. Mighty Wash is a ready-to-use proprietary formula and can get rid of spider mites in all stages of development, from eggs to adults. It may be used throughout the grow and flower cycle up to (including the day of harvest) Mighty Wash is truly the cleanest solution to your spider mite problem. With items like Mighty Wash, plant cleaning is now a quick and easy task on that long list of household chores.

Other great leaf washing products:

PM Wash: A new revolutionary way to solve your mold and mildew problem in all stages of plant growth.

Power Wash: Power Wash is a new revolutionary way to remove residuals left by other plant sprays.

We are saying happy Holidays with a huge blowout sale! Come by the shop and save 25% off selected products. Quantities are limited so hurry by to save! For a complete list of sale products, click here!

Buy this Emily's Garden for just $75 or the Great White 6" Reflector for $150!

The sale items...just waiting to be bought!

 

With Christmas just around the corner, it’s never too early to start crossing items off your gift to-do list. To make your life easier, we have put together a list of Hydroponics gifts for under $20. Make your friends’ and family’s Christmas a little merrier with the gift of hydroponics!

Smart Pots

These soft growing containers allow more air to reach the growing medium and roots, improving drainage and keeping the root system from overheating on hot days. Smart Pots start at only $4! Buy Now!

Hydroponics and Microforms CD Rom

This informational CD allows you to view over 1000 pages of practical, easy to follow information on hydroponics, aquaculture, urban forestry. Only $18.95. Buy Now!

“The Best of Growing”

Are your friends interested in hydroponics? Check out our 3 different volumes of “The Growing Edge” Magazine-a compilation of various growing articles. Volumes start at only $18.95! Buy Now!

The Hydroponics “Gift Basket”

Buy a variety of these small gifts and put together your very own “Hydroponics Gift Basket”

Mini Clipper: Ideal for cutting & trimming flowers. Only $2.95. Buy Now!

Bonsai Shears: Larger than the clippers, these also work great for trimming and cutting flowers. Only $9.95. Buy now!

Trellis Netting: Get your friends or family started with growing tomatoes, beans, grapes, clematis, sweet peas, or other vining plants. This netting comes in 2 sizes and starts at only $5.95! Buy now!

International Measure Mug: Make measuring easy! This great mug cross references all values and is large and sturdy. Only $12.95. Buy Now!

Temperature Gauge: This floating gage delivers easy and accurate readings of your water temperature. Reads in both Celsius and Fahrenheit. Only $1.95. Buy now!

For other gift ideas, go to  Hydroponics Unlimited Growing Gifts. Happy Holidays!

Halloween is just days away and by now the patches have been visited, the perfect pumpkin has been chosen, and those orange gourds have been carved. For many the sight of those pumpkin patches popping up in local parking lots create a festive excitement for what’s to come on the 31^st of October. For others, they create nostalgia, as we are taken back to the childhood routine of visiting a real pumpkin patch and picking out the perfect pumpkin. But, either way, the pumpkin patch has always been a cornerstone of the American Halloween.

What many don’t know is that the traditional pumpkin patch is now accompanied by a modern and environmentally friendly counterpart: “The Hydroponics Pumpkin Patch”. Across the country hydroponic growers have transformed the way we pick out pumpkins and have begun to grow pumpkins in their very own indoor gardens. Using the basics of any standard hydroponics system, pumpkins are on the long list of vegetables that have been hydroponically grown. It may be too late for this year, but it’s never to late to start the garden plans for Halloween 2012.

Learn how to grow a pumpkin at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvYA9X8SMCU

The popularity of using a hydroponics system for growing is spreading rapidly throughout the United States. In fact, Plant Yampa in Moffat County, Colorado just received a grant of $50,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to use for the expansion of their hydroponic greenhouse complex. However, the success and increased popularity of Hydroponics is prevalant beyond the U.S. Borders. Hydroponics is traveling the globe and showing its producers just how successful it can be!

Pater Broerson, a Dutch grower, was the first person to grow lettuce in water in the outdoors. Broerson’s new methods are saving the environment, but also helping him. Since using the new system, his production has multiplied by 8 times!

This summer in Bahrain, work started for the creation of a major training center for hydroponics gardens. The new center, which will offer regular free workshops on growing with hydroponics systems, is being created to help encourage more green areas in the largely concrete kingdom.

Italy is also able to claim a “hydroponics first”. Just this summer, Giannengelo Boccuzzi from Bari, Italy grew the 1st ever Black Magic Grape using a hydroponics system. Not only did the grape look good, but it tasted sweeter than ever!

Tokyo, Japan’s financial district is known for its fast-paced business and towering skyscrapers. However, amongst all that hustle and bustle there is actually a 1,000 sq. meter farm. Surprising? Yes it is!  Located in a basement of a former bank vault, this hydroponics garden grows over 100 different types of crops. Talk about an underground surprise!

Toronto has so many people with homegrown hydroponics gardens, that they are able to have their own expo. The “Homegrown Hydroponics Expo” on October 30 in Toronto offers people a chance to learn from experts at informational seminars, try an abundance of free samples, eat great, homegrown food, and preview exciting new hydroponics products.

“Our goal is our name,” owner and founder Paul Antriasian said. The number of hydroponics stores that have opened over the last five years has almost doubled. With an increase in competition, the spotlight has been put on “store survival.”

As Sir Francis Bacon said, “knowledge is power” and nothing is truer for survival in an industry that is vastly and quickly expanding. America’s Best constantly strives to be ahead of the curve with product knowledge and trends and also in educating their customers.

“Knowing hydroponics systems and products and how to set up a grow room is the key to growing successfully—we help you through the entire process,” Paul said. “We constantly

test new products and give customers samples to try and request their feedback. It’s a network.”

America’s Best Hydroponics and Garden Center and its employees are continually educating themselves.

“Always reading, trying new products, talking to manufacturers, attending grow shows,” Paul said. “…myself and all my employees.”

“I have personally used all the products I carry and I know they work,” he said. “We want to make sure the customers are educated and comfortable using the product before they leave the store.”

“We pre-program and calibrate all of the pH and PPM meters before we sell them,” Paul said. “We have custom nutrient/grow room charts that show all the nutrient and grow room high/low parameters to help keep the PPM, pH, air temperature, water temperature, CO2 levels and humidity at the correct levels for optimum growth. We always have up-to-date catalogs, magazines, feeding charts and various literature for the customer to take home with them, for free, to help further their education.”

America’s Best is known for their helpful and experienced staff. “Word around Antelope Valley is we love to help,” he said. “If you educate the customers and help them reach a successful crop, they will come back and bring their friends!”

In 2005, with the encouragement of friends—many of whom Paul introduced and educated about indoor gardening—Paul opened the first hydroponics store in the Antelope Valley, Palmdale Hydroponics. “They told me I was a true pioneer of hydroponics,” Paul said.

Paul’s experience with growing started long before he opened Palmdale Hydroponics. With a father who was an engineer as well as a landscaper and mother that was a “plant fanatic” it was only natural that Paul became interested in growing. In high school he took horticulture and continued growing outdoors for seven years before starting with indoor gardening.

“In 1988, I started growing indoors,” Paul said. “The first hydroponics store to open in the entire country wasn’t far from my home. It was there I received my first lessons in hydroponics and bought everything I needed to start my own hydroponics system.”

For the next 18 years Paul developed his expertise of indoor gardening. His passion for horticulture and expertise in hydroponics leads him to believe that hydroponics is the way of the future.

“When hyperinflation hits the U.S., this is when you will start to see hydroponics systems in every home,” he said. “Like the computer, this will be a modern tool for everyday living.” Hyperinflation increases the prices of all food products forcing people to purchase inexpensive low quality processed foods, which in turn leads to an unhealthy population. Hydroponics can help combat this.

“Many of the fruits and vegetables we consume are being waxed, died, sprayed with pesticides and exposed to radiation, which is extremely harmful to humans and the environment,” Paul said. “This is just another reason why everyone should learn hydroponics.”

When Paul opened Palmdale Hydroponics, he was the sole employee for the first year.

In 2007, Paul’s fiancée, Victoria Wouk came on board. “Her master’s degree in business administration and marketing has really helped the business expand to other avenues,” he said. “In 2009 we launched our online store HydroponicsUnlimited.com, which she runs.”

At the beginning of 2010, Paul moved to a new location that could better serve their clientele and customers.

“We moved to a 3,000 square foot location with a roll-up door for easy loading,” he said. “We felt that this new fullystocked location (one-stop-shop) deserved a new name and decided on ‘America’s Best Hydroponics and Garden Center’.”

With the launch of the website America’s Best Hydroponics and Garden Center created an additional avenue to offer their products and expertise to their customers. The online store allows them to reach customers throughout the United States and give them the same benefits that Antelope Valley locals have been receiving since 2005. The online market has become saturated with new stores opening all the time, but America’s Best Hydroponics and Garden Center remains optimistic that quality will beat quantity.

“Online is the future,” Victoria said. “It’s a marketplace that you need to be in these days.”

America’s Best Hydroponics and Garden Center has over 2,800 products, many demos and interactive displays, a convenient location, an online store and new and innovative products.

As written on their website, “…whether you are a beginner or experienced, growing hydroponics herbs on the windowsill of your apartment or operating a full-service hydroponic greenhouse we have what you need from organic nutrients, additives, supplements, grow mediums, to a full range of bulbs, meters, controllers and complete grow systems.”

It comes down to integrity, honesty and hard work that have contributed and will continue to contribute to America’s Best Hydroponics and Garden Center’s success and growth.

“This is an extremely difficult business,” Paul said. “You really need to do your research and know what you are getting into. You just have to take it one day at a time, always moving forward and making progress. One thing for sure is you have to love a challenge.”

America’s Best Hydroponics and Garden Center is located just off Highway 14 on Palmdale Blvd. tucked behind a main shopping center. The new location attracts to new customers, makes it easier for customers to load and receive their products, and since it is not on the main boulevard, this decreases traffic and allows for plenty of parking space.

Download the PDF Maximum Yield Talking Shop – June 2011

We just added two new items to the online inventory, Feliz Blue and Red Fluorescent Lamps.

Feliz Blue Fluorescent Grow Lamps:

• Ideal for use with our Sun System 8 and Bright Wing® fixtures. (300Watt does not fit Bright Wing and is not ETL listed)
• Proven success in high humidity.
• Designed for horticulture.
• Full Spectrum.
• Fits standard mogul base socket.
• Cool spectrum for vegetative growing.
• 6 month warranty.

Feliz Red Fluorescent Grow Lamps:

• Ideal for use with our Garden Bright and Bright Wing fixtures. (300Watt does not fit Bright Wing and is not ETL listed)Proven success in high humidity.
• Designed for horticulture.
• Compatible with digital timers.
• Warm spectrum for flower production.
• Fits standard mogul base socket.
• 6 month warranty.