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WE HAVE EVERYTHING FOR YOUR GARDEN AND DELIVERED RIGHT TO YOUR DOOR!
WE HAVE EVERYTHING FOR YOUR GARDEN AND DELIVERED RIGHT TO YOUR DOOR!
LET THE EARTH DO THE LABOR
WHAT IS TERRAPONICS?
TERRAPONICS is a highly technical but very simple way of growing plants based on their natural growth patterns combined with advanced biological science. Terraponics can be used in organic growing as well as traditional hydro culture. The word “Terra” is derived from the Latin word for Earth and the word “Ponic” is derived from the Greek word “Ponos” which means labor. Terraponics uses organic growing mediums and nutrients high in minerals as opposed to growing in an inert medium in water as in hydroponics. Many plants and vegetables are very difficult to grow outdoors, especially in climates like on the foggy and cold Oregon coast but are very easy to grow successfully all year round in a small space indoors using Terraponics. All of the photos you see here are of plants grown under our special lights inside the house at normal room temperature and not in a greenhouse. We have set out to create an educational and informative site explaining proper indoor and greenhouse plant growing and to provide the proper tools and supplies for those wanting to partake of this enjoyable and satisfying endeavor. Knowledge is power.
PRINCIPLES OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS
One of the major differences between plants and animals on earth is the ability of plants to internally manufacture their own food. To produce food for itself a plant requires energy from light, carbon dioxide, water and some form of nutrients. If any of these ingredients is lacking, photosynthesis (or food production) will stop. If any factor is removed for a long period of time, the plant will die. If any factor is less than optimum the plant will not grow well. Photosynthesis literally means "to put together with light." Through much experimentation and trial and error we have successfully grown many types of crops for many years as a commercial business including thousands of pounds of Tomatoes and Cucumbers as well as Herbs, Tropicals and Ornamentals. Below we will look at the major principles involved with plant growth to better understand the growing products we sell and why we sell them.
PRINCIPLES OF LIGHT
Lumen: Basic unit of measurement for light. A dinner candle shines at about 12 lumens. A measurement created for human eyes only and not for plants.
Foot-candle: A unit of illuminance. 1 foot-candle is equal to 1 lumen per square foot area. One footcandle is approximately 10.76391 Lux.
Lux: The International System unit of illumination: 1 lumen uniformly distributed over an area of one meter.
Color Rendering Index: (C.R.I.) An international system used to measure light on a scale from 0-100, natural daylight being 100. Index created for human eyes only and not for plants.
Color Temperature: Temperature scale used to describe color temperature in Kelvin (K). Scale can be used for plants indicating the narrow color spectrums used by them.
*** Par: Photosynthetic Active Radiation. Light energy available for photosynthesis.
First let’s talk about the part of light that plants see. Plants use a very narrow band of the electromagnetic spectrum that we call Photosynthetic Active Radiation or PAR. PAR watts directly indicate how much light energy is available for plants to use in photosynthesis. This light includes the spectrum between 360 nanometers and 760 nanometers. This includes ultra-violet waves which are shorter and infrared rays which are longer. Sunburn is caused by ultraviolet because they are shorter and penetrate your skin better. Sunsets are red because when the sun is on the horizon the light rays have farther to travel through the atmosphere to reach you. The long light rays travel farther than the short rays so you only see the red long waves at the end of the day. Plants perceive these wavelengths of light through pigments that absorb light energy. These pigments allow the plant to perceive the amount of light and the type of wavelengths to store energy for photosynthesis. Plants use this energy with water and carbon dioxide to produce photosynthates (food) for growth.
Plants primarily use Blue Light in the 380-500 nanometer range and Red Light in the 600-740 nanometer range for photosynthesis. Green is reflected back and the rest of the spectrum is virtually unseen, and therefore unused by them. The Blue and Red light spectrums are what the plants are utilizing for growth, flowering, fruiting and seed production. Blue light activates crypto chrome pigments that stimulate correct vegetative growth. It decreases the spacing between leaves so you get compact, bushy plants. Summer days which are shorter and have more red wavelengths trigger hormonal changes in many plants which causes flowering and fruit production. The same reaction can be created with indoor plant lighting by switching from Blue spectrum bulbs to Red spectrum bulbs. Even better yet by using Narrow Spectrum High Output Fluorescent bulbs alone.
Foot-candle: A unit of illuminance. 1 foot-candle is equal to 1 lumen per square foot area. One footcandle is approximately 10.76391 Lux.
Lux: The International System unit of illumination: 1 lumen uniformly distributed over an area of one meter.
Color Rendering Index: (C.R.I.) An international system used to measure light on a scale from 0-100, natural daylight being 100. Index created for human eyes only and not for plants.
Color Temperature: Temperature scale used to describe color temperature in Kelvin (K). Scale can be used for plants indicating the narrow color spectrums used by them.
*** Par: Photosynthetic Active Radiation. Light energy available for photosynthesis.
First let’s talk about the part of light that plants see. Plants use a very narrow band of the electromagnetic spectrum that we call Photosynthetic Active Radiation or PAR. PAR watts directly indicate how much light energy is available for plants to use in photosynthesis. This light includes the spectrum between 360 nanometers and 760 nanometers. This includes ultra-violet waves which are shorter and infrared rays which are longer. Sunburn is caused by ultraviolet because they are shorter and penetrate your skin better. Sunsets are red because when the sun is on the horizon the light rays have farther to travel through the atmosphere to reach you. The long light rays travel farther than the short rays so you only see the red long waves at the end of the day. Plants perceive these wavelengths of light through pigments that absorb light energy. These pigments allow the plant to perceive the amount of light and the type of wavelengths to store energy for photosynthesis. Plants use this energy with water and carbon dioxide to produce photosynthates (food) for growth.
Plants primarily use Blue Light in the 380-500 nanometer range and Red Light in the 600-740 nanometer range for photosynthesis. Green is reflected back and the rest of the spectrum is virtually unseen, and therefore unused by them. The Blue and Red light spectrums are what the plants are utilizing for growth, flowering, fruiting and seed production. Blue light activates crypto chrome pigments that stimulate correct vegetative growth. It decreases the spacing between leaves so you get compact, bushy plants. Summer days which are shorter and have more red wavelengths trigger hormonal changes in many plants which causes flowering and fruit production. The same reaction can be created with indoor plant lighting by switching from Blue spectrum bulbs to Red spectrum bulbs. Even better yet by using Narrow Spectrum High Output Fluorescent bulbs alone.
TOMATO AND CITRUS TREES GROWN INDOORS USING HIGH OUTPUT FLUORESCENTS
HIGH OUTPUT FLUORESCENT GROW LIGHTS
Most people have been led to believe that full spectrum bulbs are better for growing plants indoors. NOT SO. It is true that plants can be grown indoors with full spectrum bulbs and they grow quite well this way only if you are using the High Output bulbs and not the low light producing T-12 fluorescent and incandescent light bulbs that most stores sell. Narrow spectrum bulbs are far superior though for plant growing color spectrums than any other type of indoor plant light. They give the plants MORE of everything they need from any other indoor light source. Narrow spectrum wavelengths supercharge plants by increasing photosynthesis and their speed of growth, flowering and fruiting phases. Narrow spectrum bulbs do not put out the white wavelength that we perceive with the human eye. They concentrate the Reds and the Blues which we do not see very well but are exactly what plants do see and thrive on. The full spectrum plant light bulbs offered in most stores make the plants look nice because of all the wasted white light they are putting out which our eyes perceive but the plants don’t. Nice to look at but not so nice for the plants which really require a lot more than this. The human eye has a peak sensitivity in the yellow-green region, around 550 nanometers. This is the "optic yellow" color used for highly visible signs and objects. Plants, on the other hand, respond more effectively to Red light and to Blue light, the peak being in the Red region at around 630 nanometers and in the Blue region at around 460 nanometers.
In addition to photosynthesis which creates material growth, several other plant actions such as germination, flowering, etc. are triggered by the presence or absence of light. These functions, broadly classified as photomorphogenesis, do not depend much on intensity but on the presence or lack of certain types of light beyond threshold levels. With higher levels of blue light and lower levels of red light plants start to produce more compact leaves and also produce other pigments which absorb light without transferring it for photosynthesis. These effects may be desirable in ornamental plants but reduce yields in leafy crop plants.
A common misconception is that the ideal color of light for plant growth is sunlight. Much of the light spectrum of sunlight is actually wasted by plants. You can successfully grow vegetables, herbs, flowers, ornamentals, orchids and even bonsai trees indoors using our High Output fluorescent bulbs and fixtures.
Narrow Spectrum fluorescents produce light exactly where chlorophyll is most sensitive. Many experimental studies prove much higher fruit production and growth rates with Narrow Spectrum wavelengths. A good rule of thumb is that a Narrow Spectrum fluorescent will produce 7/3rds more growth than a regular spectrum fluorescent. Color temperature ratings don't actually mean much with narrow spectrum fluorescents. They make more very deep Red light than traditional low color temperature sources like High Pressure Sodium while at the same time they actually make much more Blue light than high color temperature sources like Metal Halide. The type of deep Red light that is best for plants is barely perceptible by the human eye so these bulbs look Blue to the eye even though they actually make more Red light than Blue. The Narrow Spectrum bulbs are the best all around bulbs for growing, fruiting, and flowering.
High Output Fluorescents have proven to work extremely well on overall plant growth. They actually put out much better wavelengths of Red, Far Red and Blue than High Pressure Sodium and Metal Halide bulbs and without the extreme heat (which is really wasted energy) and without the high energy costs to run these other high wattage bulbs. HPS and MH bulbs are primarily used for growing much taller plants and they have to be placed several feet above these big plants to prevent burning. When growing big plants like this you can grow them up to a point indoors under High Output fluorescents and then transfer them into the greenhouse. High Output fluorescents run very cool and extremely energy efficient costing very little on your electric bill (only a fraction of the energy consumed by HPS and MH bulbs) and can be placed very close to the plant canopy without burning the plants. They can be used both indoors and also in Greenhouses providing they are safe from water. They can add a lot of light for your greenhouse plants during the winter months and during foggy, low light days at extremely low energy cost. They can also be plugged into our Heavy Duty grounded timers to make them completely automatic. Plant growth phases can be controlled very efficiently with our different type spectrum bulbs. Our High Output 6500 K bulbs are normally used for the Growth phase and our 3000K bulbs are normally used for the Flowering and Fruiting phase and can be switched accordingly or can even be used together alternated in the fixture. Both systems work very well.
High Output Narrow Spectrum bulbs can be used alone and provide everything that the plants need and then some. Our High Output T8 bulbs put out about 93 lumens per watt of energy used which make them the most energy efficient bulbs - even better than High Output T5 bulbs which give you about 83 lumens per watt.
In addition to photosynthesis which creates material growth, several other plant actions such as germination, flowering, etc. are triggered by the presence or absence of light. These functions, broadly classified as photomorphogenesis, do not depend much on intensity but on the presence or lack of certain types of light beyond threshold levels. With higher levels of blue light and lower levels of red light plants start to produce more compact leaves and also produce other pigments which absorb light without transferring it for photosynthesis. These effects may be desirable in ornamental plants but reduce yields in leafy crop plants.
A common misconception is that the ideal color of light for plant growth is sunlight. Much of the light spectrum of sunlight is actually wasted by plants. You can successfully grow vegetables, herbs, flowers, ornamentals, orchids and even bonsai trees indoors using our High Output fluorescent bulbs and fixtures.
Narrow Spectrum fluorescents produce light exactly where chlorophyll is most sensitive. Many experimental studies prove much higher fruit production and growth rates with Narrow Spectrum wavelengths. A good rule of thumb is that a Narrow Spectrum fluorescent will produce 7/3rds more growth than a regular spectrum fluorescent. Color temperature ratings don't actually mean much with narrow spectrum fluorescents. They make more very deep Red light than traditional low color temperature sources like High Pressure Sodium while at the same time they actually make much more Blue light than high color temperature sources like Metal Halide. The type of deep Red light that is best for plants is barely perceptible by the human eye so these bulbs look Blue to the eye even though they actually make more Red light than Blue. The Narrow Spectrum bulbs are the best all around bulbs for growing, fruiting, and flowering.
High Output Fluorescents have proven to work extremely well on overall plant growth. They actually put out much better wavelengths of Red, Far Red and Blue than High Pressure Sodium and Metal Halide bulbs and without the extreme heat (which is really wasted energy) and without the high energy costs to run these other high wattage bulbs. HPS and MH bulbs are primarily used for growing much taller plants and they have to be placed several feet above these big plants to prevent burning. When growing big plants like this you can grow them up to a point indoors under High Output fluorescents and then transfer them into the greenhouse. High Output fluorescents run very cool and extremely energy efficient costing very little on your electric bill (only a fraction of the energy consumed by HPS and MH bulbs) and can be placed very close to the plant canopy without burning the plants. They can be used both indoors and also in Greenhouses providing they are safe from water. They can add a lot of light for your greenhouse plants during the winter months and during foggy, low light days at extremely low energy cost. They can also be plugged into our Heavy Duty grounded timers to make them completely automatic. Plant growth phases can be controlled very efficiently with our different type spectrum bulbs. Our High Output 6500 K bulbs are normally used for the Growth phase and our 3000K bulbs are normally used for the Flowering and Fruiting phase and can be switched accordingly or can even be used together alternated in the fixture. Both systems work very well.
High Output Narrow Spectrum bulbs can be used alone and provide everything that the plants need and then some. Our High Output T8 bulbs put out about 93 lumens per watt of energy used which make them the most energy efficient bulbs - even better than High Output T5 bulbs which give you about 83 lumens per watt.
LEMON GRASS GROWN INDOORS USING CFL BULBS
COMPACT FLUORESCENT GROW LIGHTS
Compact fluorescent (CFL) Grow Lights can do a good job of growing plants too up to a certain point. They use very little energy for what they put out in light. We offer specialized CFL 6500K Grow Light bulbs which are 26 watt fluorescents that produce 100 watts of light and 1600 lumens each. They are rated at 8000 hours of usage. This is a great Grow Light bulb for the growth stage of all plants. These are no where near as powerful as our Giant High Output Mirrored Hood Grow Lights but these do put out the good Blue light spectrum for lush compact growth. This bulb runs very cool so you can put it very close to the plant canopy and raise it as the plants get taller. Some very nice plants can be grown with this specialized Grow Light bulb. Tomatoes do very well under this in the growth stage. It does not promote flowering so when they reach about 8 to 10 inches or so they will need red light. Plants such as basil and other leafy varieties do great under these special bulbs. We have grown some nice plants to about 15 inches tall and more using these bulbs. They fit any standard 120 volt light socket. These special Grow Light bulbs can be doubled up in a Y connector to get twice the punch and lumen output. This will give you 3,200 lumens per socket. Not bad. These bulbs are very cost effective and can be teamed up in a series to make quite a nice Grow Light.
BASIL/TOMATO/BONSAI/CITRUS TREES-ALL GROWN INDOORS
THE NANOMETER SCALE AND THE EFFECTS ON PLANTS
280-315 Spectrum: Ultraviolet Effects: Small influence on morphogenetic and physiologic processes, bleaches colors, causes sunburn, causes some fungus sporolation.
315-400 Spectrum: Ultraviolet-Blue Effects: Slight absorption by chlorophyll, influence on photoperiodism, inhibition of cell elongation, sunburn, causes some fungus sporolation.
400-520 Spectrum: Blue Effects: High absorption by chlorophyll and carotenoids, big influence on photosynthesis.
520-610 Spectrum: Green Effects: Low absorption by pigments.
610-750 Spectrum: Red Effects: Low absorption by chlorophyll, big influence on photosynthesis and photoperiodism, blocking may slow stretching.
750-1000Spectrum: Far Red Effects: Low absorption, stimulation of cell elongation, influence on flowering and germination, blocking may slow stretching.
1000+ Spectrum: Infra Red Effects: Energy absorption is converted into heat.
315-400 Spectrum: Ultraviolet-Blue Effects: Slight absorption by chlorophyll, influence on photoperiodism, inhibition of cell elongation, sunburn, causes some fungus sporolation.
400-520 Spectrum: Blue Effects: High absorption by chlorophyll and carotenoids, big influence on photosynthesis.
520-610 Spectrum: Green Effects: Low absorption by pigments.
610-750 Spectrum: Red Effects: Low absorption by chlorophyll, big influence on photosynthesis and photoperiodism, blocking may slow stretching.
750-1000Spectrum: Far Red Effects: Low absorption, stimulation of cell elongation, influence on flowering and germination, blocking may slow stretching.
1000+ Spectrum: Infra Red Effects: Energy absorption is converted into heat.
CUCUMBER-TOMATO AND LETTUCE GROWN INDOORS
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