Month: November 2019

Fertilizer—Friend or Foe to disease causing organisms?

Gardeners that read this blog understand that minerals are absorbed mostly by plant roots as ions, and are essential for plant growth and development. Some minerals are required in parts per hundred, and are macro-nutrients while others are only required in parts per million or parts per billion, and are considered micronutrients. As long as enough of the 16 most essential minerals are available, plants grow and reproduce in a healthful way. When not enough of one of the essential elements are available, a deficiency occurs, and plants

may present deficiency symptoms.… Continue reading this article “Fertilizer—Friend or Foe to disease causing organisms?”

Hydroponics, Aquaponics, & Aeroponics, Part Deux

Last month I shared some basic info on the major techniques for growing plants without soil, namely hydroponics, aquaponics, and aeroponics.  With such interest in these topics, I thought it would be good to dive a little further into the technologies used.  I’ll provide a bit of basic information about each type of system used for production and provide some resources for further technical reading if you’re interested in learning more. For some simple diagrams of the systems, check out this link (we don’t know if we can “borrow” the images, so we didn’t copy them over).… Continue reading this article “Hydroponics, Aquaponics, & Aeroponics, Part Deux”