Back in Stock: Nirvana from Advanced Nutrients

After being backordered from the manufacturer for the last few months, Advanced Nutrients' Nirvana is back in stock at both stores.  It's a good all-natural additive to any nutrient regimen and for use with any growing medium.  It's also part of the Advanced "Professional" feeding schedule.  Nirvana is full of beneficial organic ingredients:  Humic acid acts as a catalyst for all other nutrients you're using allowing for easier uptake, whey protein is an all-natural bloom-booster due to the fact that it stimulates amino acid production (plus Nirvana contains a bunch of different amino acids, and B vitamins derived from seaweed extract), alfalfa extract helps to accelerate CO2 intake, plus azomite (made up of TONS of trace minerals and elements), yucca and Chilean soap bark extracts (natural plant surfactants), earthworm castings, bat guano and more.  

CLOSED THIS WEEKEND

We will be closed this upcoming weekend: Friday and Saturday, February 15th and 16th.  We will reopen Monday, normal time.

New Product: Clonex Cloning Kit

Cloning plants, rather than starting from seed each time, not only cuts weeks off of your growing cycle, but guarantees consistent results.  Every seed has a different genetic makeup, regardless of if they are from the same strain of plant (or even the exact same plant).  Some grow taller, some grow wider, some are resistant to disease and fungus while some aren't, some provide large yields while others provide smaller yields, they're all different.  Growers go through endless trials and errors to find the best, heaviest yielding, strongest, hardiest plants...and once they do, cloning is the easiest way to ensure that those genetics will not be lost forever.  All cloning should be done while the plants are still in the vegetative stage, so when starting new seeds we always recommend planning ahead.  Let the seedlings grow up to about a foot, take a clone or two, grow the clones to about a foot and flower them instead, while keeping the original plant that started from seed in the vegetative (grow) stage.  That way you always have a strong stock-plant (aka: a "Mom" or "Mother") just in case it turns out to be a plant you'd like to keep and work with again.  If starting multiple seeds at the same time, make sure to label everything so there is no confusion as to which plants are which and what cuttings came from what plant.

For first time cloners (or experienced cloners who are looking for better results), Hydrodynamics has come out with an all-in-one kit with everything you need to make your cloning successful.  For $29.95 you get:

- a packet of Clonex Gel that will be enough to dip about 50 cuttings in (dip them immediately after taking the cutting)

- an 8 oz. bottle of Clonex Cloning Solution (mix with water to pre-soak your medium/starter cubes in or use in the water of your cloning machine)

- a 100mL spray bottle of their brand new product Clonex Mist (spray on your mother plant about a week or 2 before you start taking cuttings, and then mist your cuttings with it during the rooting process) which has been shown to produce roots 30% faster, with 156% more roots than if you mist with water alone

- a small glass to portion your cloning gel out into (you never want to dip directly into the container to avoid contamination)

- a small tray to prepare your cuttings on

- a postcard with instructions on how to clone

Winter blues? Grow indoors with a DarkRoom tent!

It's 10 degrees in New York right now and we're harvesting hot peppers.

If you miss your garden in the winter, set one up indoors!  You don't need to wait for your favorite produce to be "in season" anymore.  Grow your own, any time.  If you don't have an extra room to use, DarkRoom grow tents can transform any unused corner into an indoor garden.  They are very easy to set up/take down and fold up neatly for storage and transportation.  They offer a wide variety of sizes, ranging from 3'x2'x2' (the Propagator) to as large as 10'x10'x6'7" (the DarkRoom II 300).  For even larger tents (with stronger frames) check out their Intense line.  Once you know what size space you'd like to work with, we can help you decide what equipment to fill it with!  Not all tents are created equal, either.  We love the DarkRooms for their high quality material, highly reflective lining, zippers that can stand up to anything and their exceptionally strong structures.  Plus they have plenty of ducting ports for all of your ventilation needs.

(shown is a DarkRoom II 150 - 5'x5'x6'7")

2012 Holiday Hours

Happy holidays from all of us at The Grow Room!  We hope you and your families have a great holiday season and a happy, healthy and SUCCESSFUL 2013!  Here are our hours for the upcoming weeks:

Zucchini Grown in a Gro Momma Bucket

We've been doing a lot of growing in the shops lately.  One of my favorite vegetables is zucchini, and it happens to grow very well in hydroponics.  We've always grown it in ebb and flow systems, but we decided to give some Striata d'Italia a try in the Gro Momma deep water culture buckets, under a 4 foot, 4 bulb T5 fluorescent fixture, using Canna's Aqua line of nutrients.  We knew that the DWC system would work great because of all the oxygen it delivers directly to the roots, but even we're impressed w/ the root system, speed of growth and overall production!  Here are our results so far:

2 Days Old (w/ some heirloom black tomatoes we germinated at the same time)

6 Days Old (healthy white roots thanks to some Azos!)

2.5 Weeks

5 Weeks

Roots at 6 Weeks (there's an air stone in there somewhere...)

At 6 Weeks - Multiple Flowers & 5 Zucchini

Thanksgiving Closing

We will be closed Thursday, November 22nd - Sunday, November 25h in celebration of Thanksgiving.  We will reopen Monday, November 26th.  

Wishing all of you and your families a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!