Hydroponics Unlimited Blog

We’ve just added JD Lightings Electronic Ballasts to our inventory — 400 Watt, 600 Watt and 1000 Watt.  Check them out below and to purchase and for more information head over to Hydroponics Unlimited.

JD Lightings high performing Electronic Ballasts are a technological revolution that creates energy efficiency and produces more Lumen output than magnetic ballasts. This grow light system works with both Metal Halide (MH) and High Pressure Sodium (HPS) Lamps . They are silent, lightweight, extremely efficient – 99.9% power factor, soft starting, increases lamp life and reduces lumen depreciation. They eliminate the need for conversion lamps or multiple light systems. MH lamps are better suited for seedlings and vegetation stages, while HPS lamps promotes fruiting and flowering.

Dimmable Features

50% 75% 100% and 110%

E-Ballast Features

• Extruded aluminum housing is engineered to dissipate heat and keep the components cool.
• Resin-sealed case for completely silent operation
• Resettable circuit breaker for short circuit protection.
• Wire core 120/240V compatible
• Completely silent and lightweight
• Operates both HPS & MH lamps
• Extremely efficient – 99% power factor
• Detachable power cord that allows easy change over
• Available in 250, 400, 600, and 1000 Watts
• 5-YEAR WARRANTY — 3 year full + 2 year prorated

Cloning Instructions

- Start by cleaning and sterilizing EVERYTHING (trays/domes/scissors/razor blades).

- Soak rooting medium in R/O (reverse osmosis) water mixed with both of these products:

- Nature’s Solution Compost Tea (1 cup per gallon of R/O water) (Root Soak

- KLN Rooting Hormone (2 teaspoons per gallon of R/O water) & Spray)

- Re-soak rooting medium in above solution every 5-8 days (pour any excess water out of tray).

**The trick is to let the grow medium dry out 5-8 days prior to re-soaking (approximately 75% dry). The clones will try to put out roots to find water

- Squeeze the excess water out of the rooting medium (coco plugs or Grodan blocks) and place the medium in tray.

- Keep PH between 5.4 and 6.4

- Take 8″ long clones and place in a cutting tray submersed in room temperature R/O water (this is the safest way to cut a clone).

- Cut down the 8″ long clone to 4″- 6″ at a 45 degree angle underwater.

- Dip 4″ – 6″ long clone (1/2 inch deep) in one of the following Rooting Hormone.

- Clonex Gel

- Dip & Grow

- Rootech

- Wood’s Rooting Compound

- Place clone 1″ deep in one of the following grow tray medium.

- Coco Plugs

- Oasis Cubes/Wedges

- Grodan Blocks

- Cut all large fan leaves on the clone in half with sterile scissors.

- Spray clones immediately with the same mixture from LINE #2.

**Mist clones with this spray once every three days

- After spraying the clones, spray the humidity dome with the same mixture then place the dome over clones and keep the ventilation holes closed.

- Place clones in a dark or subdued light for 24 hours.

- After 24 hours, open (halfway) ONLY 1 ventilation hole and put a Dual Florescent Light (T-12) or a Single T-5 Light Fixture 1″ – 2″ over the humidity dome.

- Set light timer to 20 hours ON and 4 hours OFF.

- Place Heat Mat under the tray and set thermostat at 77 degrees (always keep clones 74-79 degrees).

- After 5 days, open (halfway) the 2nd ventilation hole.

- After 14 days, open (entire way) both ventilation holes.

- You should have rooted clones ready to transplant in 14-21 days.

- 24 hours prior to transplanting, prop open the humidity dome 1″ – 3″ to let air in to harden the clones off.

Tips for after Cloning

**When taking clones from clone tray, feed roots with 1/4 strength bloom nutrients for the first week (PPM should be 300 – 500 and PH should be 5.3 – 6.3).

Advanced Spraying for Veg – Flower

**All sprays should be mixed with 1 quart R/O water and a wetting agent (such as Coco-Wet, SM-90 or Dutch Master Saturator) to make plant sprays.

First Week of Veg: Spray rooted clones with 3/4 tsp. Canna Rhizotonic and3/4 tsp. Grotek Insta-Green. Spray once per day for 5 days.

Second Week of Veg: Spray plants with 1 tsp. Ful-Power Fulvic (Humic) Acid and 1/4 tsp. Dyna-Gro Foliage-Pro. Spray once every other day for 5 days.

Third Week of Veg: Spray plants with 1/4 tsp. Silicate and 1/4 tsp. Messenger (and 1 drop PH Down). Spray only once this week.

Fourth Week of Veg: Spray plants with 3/4 tsp. Canna Rhizotonic and 1/2 tsp. Spray-n-Grow. Spray only once this week.

**This is a good week to cut clones and trim plants before going into flowering

First Week of Flower: Spray plants with 4 tbsp. Dutch Master Max FX Flower and 3/4 tsp. Canna Rhizotonic. Spray only once this week.

Second Week of Flower: Spray plants with 1/4 tsp. Messenger and 1/2 cup Nature’s Solution Tea. Spray only once this week.

**You should start to see small flowers now. The following will be your last spray.

Third Week of Flower: Spray plants with 1 tsp. Ful-Power Fulvic (Humic) Acid and 1 1/2tsp. Sray-n-Grow. Spray only once this week.

**If you wish to keep spraying plants in the flower stage, use Dutch Master Max FX Flower with a very fine misting spray only. Spray once per week.

Who doesn’t want bigger buds and better yields?  Bud Candy is a great product and awesome solution.  Advanced Nutrients Bud Candy (0-0-1) is a 100% organic flower booster that provides powerful plant energy when it’s needed most. Whether your plants are in bloom phase right now, or you’re preparing for bloom phase, this is the time to procure this product and look forward to better flavors, higher yields and stronger plants. Check out more at http://www.hydroponicsunlimited.com/product/ADVANCEDNUTRIENTS/ADVBUDCANDY.html.

Over the years we have come to trust and love Canna’s products.  Since 1979, Canna has been producing outstanding products for healthier, stronger and bigger plants with precision.

From the Canna website:

Based on 22 year’s experience with growing and intense collaboration with other pioneers, Canna has assembled an enormous reservoir of knowledge that cannot be matched in the green market or even beyond. This rare combination of professional knowledge and enthusiasm has, in the course of seven years, led to a series of very high quality products. No single Canna product is simply placed on the market. Only when we are 100% certain that a product will have an optimum performance do we bring it onto the market. But for us that is still not enough. To be sure that there will be no unpleasant surprises, we also need to be certain why something works. In addition, we first undertake an extended investigation with people in various countries who are in the growing business, in order to list all the possible conditions. Therefore, we shall never introduce a product too quickly to the market. However tempting that may sometimes be in a market where the issues of the day all too often lead to short term hypes.

Canna offers five lines of products; Terra, Aqua, Coco, Substra and Additives.

Terra: “CANNA’s nutrients for cultivating on pre fertilized soil and soiless mediums are called CANNA TERRA. CANNA TERRA can be used for cultivation in both containers & beds, indoor & outdoors. The biggest advantages of growing with soil based systems are its ease of use and the tolerant nature of this medium.”

• Canna Terra Vega : 1L – $21.95, 5L – $88.95
• Canna Terra Flores : 1L – $21.95, 5L – $88.95

Aqua: “CANNA Aqua is the nutrient that has been specifically developed for the use in combination closed hydroponic systems, like NFT or Bubbler systems. With these systems the drainage water isn’t removed but is reused.”

• Canna Aqua Flores A & B : 5L – $99.95
• Canna Aqua Vega A & B : 5L – $99.95

Coco: “CANNA Coco was the first nutrient product that was suitable for use when growing on coco and it still hasn’t been equalled after all these years.CANNA Coco gives unrivalled results on CANNA’s coco substrate. This substrate combines the tolerant, organic nature of soil with the precision of rockwool. Due to the special characteristics of the substrate the nutrient doesn’t have a Vega and Flores variant, but there is one unique formulation for both growth and blooming phase. We can’t make things easier!”

Substra: “CANNA Substra is the nutrient for systems in which the drainage water is not returned to the nutrient tank but drains away (Run-to-Waste / Open hydroponic systems): the most popular cultivation method in the Netherlands and CANNA Substra is the nutrient that is most used for this system.”

• Canna Rhizotonic : .25L – $17.95, 1L – $59.95, 5L – $275.95
• Canna Boost : 1L – $105.95, 5L – $485.95
• Canna Cannazym : .25L – $9.95, 1L – $28.95, 5L – $135.95
• Canna PK 13/14 : .25L – $9.95, 1L – $19.95, 5L – $90.95
• Canna Substra Vega : – 5L – $85.95

Additives: “CANNA additives are products meant for use alongside the main nutrient.
They are not complete nutrients themselves but a way to complete your nutrients during the different stages in the growing cycle of your crop. They are used to improve plant health and yield.”

• Canna Rhizotonic : .25L – $17.95, 1L – $59.95, 5L – $275.95
• Canna Boost : 1L – $105.95, 5L – $485.95
• Canna Cannazym : .25L – $9.95, 1L – $28.95, 5L – $135.95
• Canna PK 13/14 : .25L – $9.95, 1L – $19.95, 5L – $90.95

Canna provides nutrients that have helped us grow the best plants we can and we stand by Canna as a consistent and reputable supplier of some of the best nutrients offered on the market today.  For the full line of Canna products available at Hydroponics Unlimited go to http://hydroponicsunlimited.com/category/CANNA.html.

We just added to our inventory the Green Pad CO2 Generator.  This is an awesome product for so many reasons, but the greatest benefit we have experienced is giving our customers the ability to try and test CO2 without the costs — and best of all see the amazing benefits CO2 has to offer their plants.

What we posted on The Green Pad site:

We are from Palmdale Hydroponics and we have been selling the pads now for about 6 months now and according to our customers they see tremendous differences in growth when adding the Green Pad to their grow area.

They have told us that their plants look healthier and are larger than ever.
We always say that CO2 is a must have, but it is a big expense and sometimes it is nice to try it out first. Before the Green Pad we could only sell CO2 tanks or even seltzer water as the alternative. Now, with the Green Pad we can have customers trial CO2 with small plants so they can see the difference before taking a big step with a CO2 tank. We have customers who have trialed with the Green Pad and now have upgraded to the tanks, but with out the Pad we do not know if they would have done it.

Check out more and give it a try at hydroponicsunlimited.com .

We just added Emerald Triangle’s Snow Storm Ultra, check it out at http://www.hydroponicsunlimited.com/product/719942.html.

If you like Purple Maxx/Snow Storm, but color is not your primary goal, then Snow Storm Ultra is for you. We isolated the “snow storm” effect and optimized it for maximum results. Absolutely nothing else like it on the market. Does not contain carbohydrates or molasses. Three years of development went into this Humboldt County original. Best of all, this additive works with all your favorite nutrient lines. When used with Gravity, Snow Storm will take your plants beyond anything achievable with fertilizer alone.

We have it in 3 different sizes; 1 Qt – $28.50, 1 Gallon – $85.50, and 2.5 Gallon – $170.95

We’ve just added Organocide to our site.  A great product and definitely work a look. It comes in both a spray and a concentrate.  See below…

Organocide Organic Insecticide – Concentrate 1 Quart

A nature-safe, organic spray oil effective on a wide variety of insects, mites, armored and soft scales and certain fungal diseases. It is insecticidal to the eggs, larvae, and nymphs of insects and adults of soft bodied insects. Controls a wide range of mite and insect pests, and certain fungal diseases such as powdery mildew, black spot on roses, helminthesporium and greasy spot on citrus. Use on vegetables, fruits, nuts, vine crops, herbs, ornamentals, greenhouse crops, landscape plants, bulbs, flowers and field crops. Active Ingredient: sesame oil 5.0% / Inert Ingredients: edible fish oil 92.0% and Lecithin 3.0%. Dilution Rate: Mix 2 oz. with 1 gallon of water. Exempt from EPA registration.

Yes this big…

Phresh Filters and Phresh Pre Filters just added to Hydroponics Unlimited.  All sizes, and as always discounted from the msrp price.  Presh Filters are the best around and there are sizes to fit all needs and keep you growing:

1) Aluminum tops and bases for reduced weight. Half the weight of competitive filters.
2) 6mm (1.8″) RC-48 activated, certified virgin carbon bed.
3) Machine packed carbon means more carbon and less movement.
4) Cone shaped internal base for optimum air flow.
5) Sealed, bagged, boxed and labeled directly after being manufactured for optimum life span, handling and presentation.
6) 51% open air custom mesh.
7) Unique Anti Air Bypass System.
Large selection of sizes available to fit any application.
9) Flange & prefilter included.
Get ‘em now at hydroponicsunlimited.com

One of the major benefits of hydroponics is that you can grow anywhere and anytime of the year. I recently stumbled across a project called Window Farms from www.windowfarms.org.  Basically the concept behind them is that you can grow indoors in any space, but specifically in spaces without a lot of room.  See below:

“Researchers have argued that to grow some of his own food is the most effective action an individual can take for environment, not only because of the food industry’s heavy carbon footprint but also because participating in agricultural production cultivates a valuable skill set around sustainability issues.

Many neighborhoods (particularly low income ones) in cities aroun the world are considered food deserts, meaning little fresh food is easily accessible. Residents tend to consume processed, packaged, and canned food having depleated nutrients.

Few other projects provide opportunities for such direct personal involvement, make this productive use of existing construction, or so directly target urban dwellers estranged from agricultural issues.

Inner city dwellers can grow their own food in their apartment or office windows throughout the year by means of these elegant, inexpensive, vertical, hydroponic vegetable gardens made from recycled materials or items available at the local hardware store. The first system produced 25 plants and a salad a week in mid winter in a dimly lit 4’ x 6’ NYC window.”

If you go to www.windowfarms.org you can download instructions for creating a kit.  It’s just a great thing to see hydroponics growing to all areas and new ideas for growing spreading.