CELEBRATING 20 YEARS! JANUARY 4TH-9TH

We are excited to announce that this January we are celebrating 20 years in business.  As a thank you to all of our loyal customers, we are making January 4th - 9th customer appreciation week.  It's been 20 years, so everything will be discounted by 20% that entire week.  There will also be other specials, blowouts, tons of free samples, giveaways and chances to earn/purchase raffle tickets to win prizes (ex: a double-ended lighting system, gift certificates, a gift basket full of grower-necessities, etc.).  On Saturday the 9th, we will end the week with food and drinks, more giveaways and the raffle drawing in Nyack.  We hope to see you!

HOLIDAY SCHEDULE

Wishing you all Happy Holidays and a great New Year!  

January 4th is the first day of our 20th Anniversary Customer Appreciation Week, so check back for more information on that!

Why Plants Stretch and How to Avoid it.

A common concern we hear from customers is that their plants are stretching: getting tall and skinny, bending or falling over, random branch spurts that lead to an uneven canopy, large spaces between internodes (which will cause a lower production of fruit due to less branches and flowering sites on a taller plant).  There are many causes of this, the most common being:

- Not enough light, or the light is too far away.  When plants aren't getting the light that they need, they stretch out in search of it.  If your light source is too far away, your plants will grow quickly towards it, causing long, thin stems and branches that won't be able to support heavy fruit.  With HID lights, a good rule of thumb is to keep them around 18" from the canopy.  Fluorescent lights can be kept closer because they're not as intense and don't produce as much heat, so 7-12" is usually safe.  A very basic way to judge where to keep your grow light is to put your hand at the height of the plant canopy.  If your hand gets uncomfortably hot under the light, so will the plants.  Raise it higher.  If you notice any bleaching of the leaves, you know your light is still too close.

Tomato plants stretching for light: notice the thin stems, uneven growth and far internodal spacing.

The plants on the outside edges of this tent are much taller than those directly under the light because the light isn't spreading far enough to cover them, so they stretch to get closer.  

- Heat.  Plants tend to stretch (or "bolt") when the temperature gets too high for them.  They do this in an attempt to cool themselves off: the more surface area they have, the more they can transpire.  They can also grow odd-looking shoots at the tops in an attempt to protect themselves from the source of the heat (outdoors: the sun, indoors: your grow lights), and then eventually go to seed.  Never let your garden get too hot or let your lights get too close.

This is supposed to be a tight head of lettuce, but apparently it got too hot.

- Over-crowding.  Plants that are too close to each other fight for light and space, which leads to stress and an uneven canopy.  A garden with less plants, where each one has room to grow and branch without touching other plants, will usually yield more than a packed garden.  The actual number of plants isn't something to be too concerned about, quantity doesn't equal quality.

Here is a good example of an overcrowded grow tent of tomatoes: the canopy is uneven because they're fighting for space and light! 

If you take all the precautions against the three things listed above and your plants still stretch, an easy thing you can do that will help to direct the plants to grow wider, rather than taller, is something called "topping," or "cropping."  Once a plant is developed (roughly 3-4 weeks old and still in the vegetative stage of life), cut the main central branch at the top of the plant.  This will redistribute the growth hormones to the entire plant and also send a signal that there is something at the top of the plant that will harm it.  They will then grow outward more than they will grow upward.

There are also supplements that you can feed your plants that can help to limit upward growth, but be very careful when selecting these products if you're growing food crops.  Most products that claim to keep plants compact, with more uniform fruit or flower development contain dangerous plant growth regulators (or PGR's) that were designed for the ornamental flower industry and are not safe for human consumption.  Avoid the ingredients Paclobutrazol, Daminozide, Benzyladenine, among others.  A safe alternative to those products would be a silicon/silicic acid additive like Cutting Edge Solution's Bulletproof Si, or a more concentrated product like Aptus's Fasilitor.  While silicic acid is known for increasing cell wall strength (which helps plants to naturally fight disease, insects and stress), when used in higher than normal doses in the late grow/early flowering stages it can actually help to control upward plant growth.  

All of that said, some plants just grow taller depending on their genetic makeup (for example, indeterminate tomato plants that continue to grow and yield vs. determinate tomato plants that reach a certain height, stop growing and yield in one cluster).  There are tips, tricks and supplements that can help, but sometimes they just are what they are.  If you have low ceilings/height limitations in your garden, try and grow plants that naturally stay more compact.

THANKSGIVING SCHEDULE

We will be closed Thursday, November 26th through Sunday, November 29th for Thanksgiving.  We will reopen Monday, November 30th.  

We hope all of you and your families have a great Thanksgiving!

From Canna: Win a Trip to Amsterdam

Visit the Canna website, read an article and watch some videos, then take a quiz on their Coco growing medium.  You can win a free trip to Amsterdam or other prizes like free nutrients, bags and bricks of Coco, Canna gear, etc.

CLOSED - SATURDAY OCTOBER 24TH

We will be closed Saturday, October 24th for the Maximum Yield Indoor Gardening Expo in Boston.  We're sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

If any of you would like to attend, here is a link to a free ticket for Sunday:  http://www.indoorgardenexpo.com/ticket/  (to automatically download the ticket, use this link:  http://www.indoorgardenexpo.com/?wpdmdl=3635)

Open Sesame, Beastie Bloomz and Cha Ching - New 15 lb. Size

Foxfarm's three popular solubles now come in a larger 15 lb. size.  MSRP is $164.95 which works out to be $11.00/lb, for a huge savings.  

Still Fighting the Heat?

This summer has been pretty hot and it's not over yet.  If you're still struggling to get your temperatures under control, think about installing a mini split air conditioner.  The DIY units from Ideal Air come with their lines pre-charged with refrigerant, so installation can be done by you, without the need to hire a professional HVAC technician.  The compressor is installed outside or in a VERY well-ventilated space/garage, while the head is mounted to a wall inside of your room.  These particular units are available in 12,000, 24,000 or 36,000 BTU models.

Memorial Day Weekend Schedule & Summer Hours

We will be closed Saturday, May 23rd - Monday, May 25th for Memorial Day Weekend.  We will reopen Tuesday, May 26th.

This weekend also marks the beginning of our summer hours:

From Memorial Day Weekend until Labor Day Weekend, both stores will be open Monday-Friday and closed Saturday & Sunday.  If you can't make it to the shop during our normal weekday hours, please give us a call and we will work with your schedule.

Our 2015 Seed Picks

The outdoor gardening season is upon us in the northeast, and if you've been looking forward to it since last year, you've probably already started the bulk of your seeds by now.  For plants like peppers and tomatoes, you're at that almost-too-late point to start from seed, but if you're determined enough do not wait any longer.  You still have plenty of time for your fall and winter greens/vegetables, and we've got some great picks for this year.  The only seeds we sell are from High Mowing Organic Seeds - they're 100% organic and now Non-GMO Project Verified.  They are the first seed company in the United States to be recognized by that organization, look for the label:

We carry a variety of their seeds, but here are our favorites for 2015:

Sylvetta Wild Arugula - One of the spiciest and most flavorful of all of the arugula varieties (in our opinion), a great salad or micro green.  Plants grow slowly, stay compact and are very resistant to temperature extremes (slow to bolt and make for a great fall/winter crop).

Golden Nugget Tomato - These plants produce a LOT of tomatoes, starting pretty early on in the season.  1-inch, juicy fruit, resistant to cracking.

Rosie Basil - We love the unique dark purple color of this basil, plus it is very aromatic with strong stems and uniform germination.  Great as a micro green, too.

Bangles Mini Bell Pepper Blend - A pretty mix of different shades of mini bell peppers (fruit develop to about 1.5" wide).  Each plant has a different color of pepper that ripens to red, gold or chocolate. 

Chioggia Guardsmark Beet - An improved strain of the traditional heirloom Italian Chioggia beet, these have better uniformity and are bolt-tolerant.  Plus the "bullseye" markings just look cool.  

Toma Verde Tomatillo - It is very hard to find organic tomatillos, so why not grow your own?  Tart when picked early, fruit get sweeter as they ripen.  Make your own salsa verde.

Tadorna Leek - A great fall/winter crop, but they need a long season (110 days to maturity).  You want to get these going and in the ground ASAP, that way you can start harvesting them in the fall.  We like the Tadorna strain due to their strong disease resistance.  

Pirat Lettuce - This heirloom lettuce variety is one of our absolute favorites.  Not only does it have great flavor, coloring and texture, it can handle almost anything.  Heat tolerant, resistant to downy mildew, tip burn, white mold and bacterial head rot.  Perfect for an outdoor garden but works just as well indoors.  

Special: Premium 3'x3' Grow Tent Set-Up

A month and a half ago we set up a 3'x3' Gorilla Grow Tent in our Nyack store to show that you can create any growing environment you want at any time of the year when gardening indoors.  Here we are in January, with full tomato development.  Here is our display:

3'x3'x7'11" Gorilla Grow Tent (with 12" height extension) fully outfitted.

Nano San Marzano tomatoes (Grown from seed - imported from Italy from Arthur Ave. in the Bronx)

Cluster of tomatoes, in January in NY!

Reflector and ventilation set-up: Super Sun 2 Air-Cooled Reflector, 6" Pro Series Max Fan w/ 3 speed settings (420, 378 & 291 CFM) , 6"x16" Mini Can-Lite carbon filter, premium 6" PVC-coated Max Duct).  All being held by Hydrofarm's Light Riser Rope Ratchets.

New 600W Dimmable Phantom II electronic ballast.

The tomatoes are growing in Air-Pot #3's.  We usually wouldn't recommend growing tomatoes in anything smaller than a 5 gallon container because they could outgrow their containers and get root bound, however Air-Pots allow the roots to breathe and be air-pruned which gives you a larger, denser root system without the root spiraling.  Paired with Canna Coco (the growing medium we're using), plants can thrive in smaller containers.

Special: This entire premium set-up (brand new, not the items we used for our display) including all of the top-of-the-line, name-brand hardware you see here except for the Air-Pots: $1099.00 (20% savings)
Entire set-up, including Air-Pots, Saucers, 1 Bag of Canna Coco, Full line of 1 Liter Canna Coco Nutrients & Additives (Coco A+B, Cannazym, Rhizotonic, PK13/14, Cannaboost) : $1370.00
All Gorilla Grow Tents: 10% Off