LED grow lights

What do the majority of grow mediums you find at your local gardening supply store have in common?  They are formulated to retain water lost to a radiant light source such as the sun or HID lighting.  Over the years we have developed mixtures that have amazing properties of water retention that have become staples in many indoor gardens.  In walks LED grow lights without the radiant heat.  The absence of heat slows evaporation which makes it ever more important to look out for overwatering.  Choosing the right grow medium goes a long way towards avoiding related problems.

The parameters changed for the LED gardener.  What now becomes the priority when choosing your grow medium is porosity and the ability to hold oxygen for your root zone.  This concept goes hand and hand with overwatering.  Plants take in oxygen through their roots, it the soil is constantly saturated, they cannot do this.

A grow medium is anything that a plant will grow in and most plants will grow in whatever you plant them in.  For optimal growth under LED grow lights, you want to avoid some common mediums such as sphagnum moss, peat pellets, and rockwool or any medium that advertises water retention as a feature.  Freshwater Diatomaceous earth is an excellent medium for LEDs.  Simply mixing in some gravel, or perlite to your existing medium will show improvements.  There is room for a bit of creativity in the mix.  My personal best crop yet was planted in “Turface” which can be gathered at your local baseball field.  The key is to give your root zone some room to breathe.    AL   http://www.led-grow-master.com

Minnesota Flowers

I come from a long line of gardeners.  The old fashioned kind of gardener, they use what nature provides- the sun, dirt, and then add a little water to create small paradises in rural Minnesota.  My mother’s garden draws visitors to our home from miles around and provides at least 75% of their fruit and vegetables every year.  I call her whenever I have a gardening question and she has always given me sound advice.  But as children age, which I have, there comes a point when your parents no longer have all of the answers.

In my current position at LED Grow Master I have come to this point.  My mother doesn’t know the light wavelengths that are used in photosynthesis.  She is not familiar with the microEinstein.  Grow medium is dirt, and in Minnesota the root zone temperature is too low when the plants freeze.

Our company has worked directly with schools, Universities, research organizations, commercial growers, and hobby growers using LGM lighting for the last seven years.  This experience has taught us that there is a notable difference in the growing environment when the heat of traditional lighting is removed and plants begin to receive quality light.  A focal point of our business is to help clients adjust to these changes.  While I’m certain that many of the people who contact our company have been gardening far longer than I have, in the world of LED grow lights- I dare say I could teach you a thing or two.–AL

www.led-grow-master.com

LED Grow Lights

Yes.  LED grow lights work.  They have been in use for over 10 years all over the world.

LED Technology

One of the missions of my company is to create an understanding of proper methods of growing under LED grow lights.  The future of my company quite literally depends on customers achieving success with the grow bars.  Realizing this, we follow up on the progress of over 90% of clients to make sure that expectations are met.  The good news is that the overwhelming response is positive.

It is a difficult task to convince a seasoned gardener to change their way of doing things.  Many have developed a system that works and want to stick with it.   In fact, the gardening market is notoriously slow to accept new technology.  Add to this the changes in watering cycles, medium requirements, heat management, and talk of light frequencies/wavelengths involved in LED technology and you get: quite a bit of information to take in.  Not everyone can spend their day researching LED grow lights.  It may surprise you to know that many people actually dislike reading through pages and pages of technical information.  Why not simplify?

Here is what can go wrong.  If your LED Grow Master bars are too close to your plants they will shut down or stretch away from the light.  Follow the hanging recommendations on the back of each bar very closely.  Do not over water.  Evaporation rates are greatly diminished under LEDs.  Use a porous medium and make sure there is air circulation.  This will decrease your chances of mold or mildew.  Remember there is only a negligible amount of heat coming out of the bars.  Monitor root zone temperatures.  If you really want to make use of the additional light your plants are receiving- supplement CO2.  That wasn’t so difficult was it?  Now you are ready to grow with LEDs.

Learn more about us at www.led-grow-master.com/aboutus.html–AL

LED Grow Lights

Imagine for a moment that the LED horticultural lighting market is a busy cafe.  We can call it the “Lighthouse”.  The cafe has been split into sections, each being served by a different manufacturer with their own daily special.  As you enter the Lighthouse you will most likely be greeted by SolarOasis, a familiar face to the regulars because SolarOasis has worked in the cafe since its inception.  But it is your first time to the Lighthouse so you choose the first open table and order the special.
When your order arrives it is like nothing you have ever eaten before.  You are not even sure how to go about eating it.  You look around for clues from your fellow diners and that is when you notice that in the SolarOasis section, The condiment stand has a diagram of just the information you need to make the most of your meal.  You also notice that your server is busy  taking notes off of those very condiment stands.  Your server is very helpful when returning to answer your questions but it becomes apparent that this cafe is like any other field of business.  There are the slackers and there are the overachievers.
While other servers gossip in the hallway, SolarOasis is serving up their latest version of the  Pro-5 with a 40% increase in light energy.  Complete with condiments. The finest meal ever presented in the Lighthouse.  A hush falls over the cafe as one by one the patrons are overwhelmed with that feeling of “I wish I ordered what they’re
having.”  You stand and slowly walk over to find a seat with the regulars.  The latest version on the LGM5/Pro-5  LED grow lights are available now.  The other servers will be busy taking notes.–AL

Alfred State SUNY College of Technology

A Bigger Slice of the Pie

In the spirit of spring, I recently visited two startlingly different gardening supply stores for the first time.   One was your basic nursery type. They carried plants, Miracle Grow, lawn and garden ornaments, and gardening tools.  In the half an hour I spent wandering, there was at least two dozen other shoppers wandering the premises.  The employees were busy answering questions and caring for their plants.

My next stop was the local indoor gardening supply store.  I spent an equal amount of time in this establishment.  Only one other customer entered.  He whispered in a hushed tone to the only employee- a young man behind the counter who proceeded to hand him a bottle of nutrients labeled “Super Bud” or something of the sort.  The customer paid and avoided eye contact as he walked hurriedly from the store.   It made me pause to think about the kind of market that the indoor garden shop has come to represent.    This was the moment that I realized LED Grow Master lighting gives indoor gardening shops across the country a much broader market.  (The moment may also have been inspired by the unnatural amount of time I spend reading, writing, and talking about LED technology.)

For the first time, we have plant lighting that will fit over your bookshelf or countertop.  Lighting that is safe and durable- for the true “hobby” gardeners.  I’m talking about grandmas that want to grow orchids in a dreary corner of the study without 1,000 watts and a climate control system.  Anyone that doubts the size of this market need only step away from the indoor gardening shop and into the nearest nursery.  You can also look at the new trend of gardening in schools, or the increasing number of architects and builders incorporating gardens into new buildings and homes.  The LED Grow Master line is the first product that avoids the burn, fire, shock, and mercury poisoning dangers that have been barriers to these markets.  Maybe you can look into the solar/wind powered communities that now have a viable plant lighting option.  These are only a few of the many new markets opened up with this new technology.  The pie just got bigger.   Get your slice now. -AL

For more information- visit us at www.led-grow-master.com or call toll free 1-866-414-7244

Herbs and LEDs

The Skeptics

Scientists have been researching the potential of LED’s for over 50 years.  Like all ideas that promise radical change, they were greeted with technical challenges and skepticism.  Companies like SolarOasis were born in almost every niche of lighting.  Made up of scientists, researchers, and engineers that realized the potential of light emitting diodes.  With over a century of lighting research to draw from, they determined to overcome the obstacles, and presented the public with LED products that meet todays standards of practicality.  The people are mobbing towards the light of the future.  But even with the undeniable advantages of LEDs in grow lights, and massive global interest, thay have not eluded the skeptics.  I am reminded of a parallel story.  It took place over a century ago…

In the face of daunting technical challenges and skepticism from leading scientists and engineers, Edison and his team of experimenters and machinists found the solution to the decades-old problem of creating a practical incandescent lamp.  The light bulb was the culmination of nearly a century’s worth of work and research on electrical lighting systems, most of it done by other inverntors.  Edison’s contribution to this field was to synthesize all of the past work done on electrical lighting and to solve the lingering problems that had prevented these other inventors from creating a practical system.  In December of 1879, Edison gave a demonstration of his new invention.  As word spread to the general public, Edison’s lab was mobbed by visitors who flocked to see the light of the future. 

Thomas Edison’s invention of the light bulb was not universally well-received.  In the late 1870s, a British Parliamentary Committee assigned to investigate its value described the invention as “good enough for our transatlantic friends… but unworthy of the attention of practical or scientific men.”  This quote from H.G. Wells comes from about the same period… “New and stirring things are belittled because if they are not belittled, the humiliating question arises, ’Why then are you not taking part in them?’ ”   -AL

The genus Heliamphora contains 16 species of pitcher plants native to the mountaing tops of South America.  They have tubular shaped leaf forms that evolved mechanisms to avoid completely filling up with water and attract, trap, and kill insects.  The leaf size ranges from a few centimeters up to more than a meter.

Small pitcher plants trap flys, beetles, and ants.  A clever design attracts the insects with a sweet nectar spoon feature.  The nectar acts as a drug that makes the insect unsteady as if drunk.   Next, the unfortunate insect finds that the smooth pitcher walls offer an unstable foothold.  The lowermost region of the pitcher have sharp, downward pointing hairs that prevent the upward movement of prey and becomes a watery, digestive prison.

It is recommended that this particular carnivore be grown in a terrarium.  The best coloring of  Heliamphora develops with bright, diffuse light, and cool conditions.  The heat from windows and artificial lighting is often too intense for a terrarium.  The ideal night/day temperature range is 50-75 degrees Fahrenheit.  LED Grow Master lighting has overcome these obstacles to achieve an intense red color- a credit to good lighting.  By using led grow lights to light your terrarium, no heat is added, over 85% of the light from the LGM line will pass through to your plants, and the glass will stay mostly clear of condensation.  Heliamphora provide an exotic touch to terrarium growing and can be an excellent learning tool for the classroom if conditions can be provided.  –AL

Carnivorous Pitcher Plant

Leonardo Da Vinci predicted a solar industrialization as far back as 1447.  As we speak, Australia  plans to build the world’s largest space-age solar power station.  It will power 45,000 homes, cost about 420 million dollars, and save the earth from 400,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions a year.  Here in the US, Bush’s proposed 2007 budget includes a Solar America Initiative that promises to make solar technologies more affordable by 2015.

The advantages are clear.  Solar energy can be used without the emission of pollutants, is unlimited in supply, and can be stored and used to do just about anything.  Thanks to the engineering genius of Solar Oasis, that now includes solar powered plant lighting.The low power requirement of LGM led grow lights simplify the conversion to a solar energy system.  A solar “photo-voltaic” panel/battery system of 324 watts @24Vdc will supply ample power for a 56 Gro-Bar light grid layout, alowing the lights to operate continuously, 24 hours a day.  A solar system of this size has an estimated cost of under $3,000 per planting bed, for 100% power grid independence while maximizing grow chamber utilization.  The implication for a solar community is food, grown anywhere, using the least amount of water, regarless of the availability of farmland.  So Sun, and go SolarOasis!

I come from a family of farmers and carpenters. I was raised on the adage there is no substitute for hard work. But increasingly, I’m finding that actually, there is. Technology seems to be advancing far faster than work ethic.  ”Go mow the lawn.”  is no longer an afternoon sweating in the hot sun.  Now kids can hit the button in the garage that activates their automatic mulching lawn mower.  It parks and turns itself off when the job is done. “Go water the garden.”  Well, it is on a timer.  ”Bring in the firewood.”  Forget about it- all propane.  It seems that these days, even the very lazy can get things done.
You would think that in a time when our children’s lego set can be programmed to bring you a glass of water, that we could just spend our days relaxing with a glass of wine in a hammock somewhere.  But somehow the
average American still finds 34 hours of work a week on top of their household chores.  Could it be so wrong to take the easy way?  Are dishes really cleaner when you wash them by hand?  Does dinner really taste better when you cook it yourself?  I’m not so sure.
What does this have to do with LED’s you say? The answer is this. When some people are inserting provided screws into the proper disc holes (A or B) and threading screws into the correct cylinder holes (1,2,3, or 4) while mounting their high voltage 50 pound ballast and glass bulb, I will plug in my LED Grow Master bar and mount it over my plants with two tacks and some dental floss and spend my evening drinking wine in the hammock. Cheers to living easy!

LED grow lights