A Credit to Good Lighting

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

Take It Easy

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

And I Will Make Thee Beds of Roses

For centuries, the rose garden has been an inspirational place. From Cleopatra to George Washington, the rose has been grown and romanticized throughout the world. Today, through the wonders of progress, we are now able to bring the rose garden into our homes. Several varieties of roses have been specially bred to live indoors. These include miniature roses, and hybrid teas such as the “Sunsprite.”

Balancing out the light and heat requirements can be difficult when growing indoors. Although roses love light, they require moderation in heat. The excessive heat of traditional plant lighting can cause the rose to transpirate water faster than it can take it up. The result is wilting, browning, and short-lived blooms.

My solution: LED Grow Master lighting. The lack of heat will make blooms last longer and you won’t see the spotting or edge burning that you may see under traditional lighting. Miniature roses can be grown under LED grow lights with blooms that are picture perfect. Some of them lasting for months. The quest for the perfect rose is nearing its end. Love the quest. -AL

CO2 and You

Carbon Dioxide doesn’t receive a lot of good press these days, but for those of you looking to increase your growth rate and yield- CO2 is your friend. The average air we breathe is about 300-400ppm. Proper ventilation can maintain these levels in your gardening area. But increase this level to 800-1600ppm and you can increase your growth rate by as much as 40%.

There are several different methods used to increase the CO2 in your greenhouse or grow area. But as we are heading into colder weather, and many LED gardeners will need to supplement heat to their environment, a great way to get this added CO2 is the burning of hydrocarbon fuels such as propane. This is a fairly inexpensive way to kill two birds with one stone. As the CO2 is introduced to the grow area it needs to be thoroughly mixed using a circulation fan- but if your prerequisites of proper light, moisture, humidity, temperature, and nutrition are satisfied, you should be able to see results within days or even hours.

When considering supplementing CO2 take into consideration the size of your area. A small grow room can actually be augmented by just spending more time breathing next to your plants- the most economical method by far. With the exception of this method, remember that the concentration needs to be monitored to insure safe levels. High concentrations of CO2 can cause dizziness and even unconsciousness. This noted, get ready to fill up the propane and watch them grow.-AL

Lumens… Please.

     The most accurate way of measuring a light’s plant growing capabilities is the microEinstien, which is able to measure how many photons of photosynthetically active radiation strike an area per second.  This information doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, or even register to many.  If this is you, feel free to skip ahead to the last paragraph.

Carl Sagan made an interesting point when he said “We live in a society exquisitely dependant on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.”  This is evident in the number of people who fill our inbox wanting lumen comparisons for the LED Grow Master grow bars.  We’re talking measuring light in relation to a candle’s flame.   Not only is this an old-school standard, it does not apply to plant lighting at all.  Let’s look at the definition of lumen.  “The unit of luminous flux, (energy within the range of frequencies we perceive as light) given out through a solid angle by a source of one candela intensity radiating equally in all directions.”  This measurement is relative to the human eye.

The interesting thing is that the colors that plants use fall within a spectrum that is barely visible to the human eye.  The colors that we equate with room lighting  are those that plants do not need.  The second part of the definition states that the light is radiating equally in all directions.  By measuring the lumen output of a plant light you could measure the overall luminous flux being radiated but not the amount of light that is reaching your plants.  The LED Grow Master lighting incorporates a reflector in each diode that ensures light is focused on your plant and not scattered around the room.

Generally I prefer to explain it like this…  What is now called an inch was originally the width of a man’s thumb.  The word carat comes from the weight standard for precious metals of the olden days- the carob bean. We promise not to send you bar measurements in thumb widths, or the weight in carob bean.  Along these same lines, we do not measure our output in lumens.  LED Grow Master understands the need for, and beauty, of accurate measurement. -AL

Let’s Be Creative

Most grow lights can only be mounted one way- suspended from the ceiling and pointing toward the floor. If they can be hung different ways, their bulky reflectors make this a lot more difficult than you might like. Small and light weight, the LED’s can be positioned any way you like. And because LEDs produce very little heat LEDs can be mounted within the foliage of large plants, ensuring all parts of your plants get the maximum light they need. Traditionally, grow lights are very hot, running from several hundred degrees to over 1400 degrees Fahrenheit at the bulbs surface, limiting your mounting options. Ask any HID gardener who has ever bumped into their light fixture or reflector while tending their plants. LED Grow-Master Plant Arrays are kid and pet safe. Our LED grow lights are merely warm to the touch, even after operating for hours. Put your plants where you please … on a table, on a shelf, on a windowsill…and bring the light to the plant. The compact size and light weight of the grow bars let you bring the light to your plants. If your plant has a cascading form, arrange lights to shine on the plant the way it naturally grows. There’s no need to light up half of your living room just to try to grow a few prized plants indoors. In conclusion, don’t be stuck in the rut of traditional grow lights. As no two grow spaces are the same, LED grow lights offer a potential for creatively making the most out of yours. With completely directional light, and the ability to mount them anywhere, we can grow in spaces, on spaces, out of spaces, and all over the space. Be creative…CEO Solar Oasis

Temperature and plant growth

Heat plays a vital role in your garden. Heat is a major factor in determining, among other things, transpiration rates. Transpiration involves the use of about 90% of the water that enters the plants through the roots. It is necessary for mineral transport from the soil, to move sugars and plant chemicals, and for the maintenance of Turgor pressure. An increase in temperature or air movement decreases relative humidity and causes the guard cells in the leafs to shrink, opening the Stomata and increasing the rate of transpiration.
Conventional grow lights are very hot, running from several hundred degrees to over fourteen hundred degrees Fahrenheit at the bulbs surface. This excess radiated heat output adds to the cost to cool your grow environment. Check your plant’s optimal temperature range. When using LED lighting, the heat has been eliminated from the equation. To ensure adequate transpiration rates we often need to supplement heat in order to maintain ideal
growing conditions. The lack of heat also requires additional attention to the root zone, again check the optimal root zone temperatures for the plant species you are growing.
With very little evaporation taking place, there is a tendency for over watering. Cold water can stress plants and reduce water uptake. The root zone temperature needs to remain consistent for ideal growth rates. Root temperature is more important than leaf temperature in achieving plant growth. Water should be room temperature. –AL