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The Benefits of Beneficials |
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| One of the hottest topics in hydroponics at the moment is the effect of beneficial bacteria and fungi on your final crop size and yield. A number of products are now coming onto the market to enable you to harness the natural benefits of beneficials. |
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The growth of plants to their optimum potential is the aim of every indoor gardener – the idea being that if you can create the ideal growing environment and give your plant everything that it needs then it will achieve its maximum genetic potential and give you the best possible result. The massive range of products that we carry demonstrates there is plenty of research and development being carried out all the time in search of new products that can help growers achieve “the perfect grow”.
Research into plant growth factors goes back hundreds of years, but the advent of hydroponics and indoor gardening under high light conditions has helped push development on at an impressive rate. Manufacturers have moved on from elemental factors at their lowest level (such as basic NPK) and into many of the more complicated growth factors such as trace elements, enzyme research and beneficial organisms in their search for the next big breakthrough.
Beneficials are currently a very hot topic in hydroponic growing, with a multitude of products being released to enhance your growing results. Beneficial microbes, bacteria and fungus all live symbiotically within the root zones of your plants, carrying out a wide range of activities which can often be beneficial to your plants. In the simplest terms possible, these bacteria and fungi colonise your root zone helping your plants more easily absorb nutrients and water, protecting your plants from disease, stimulating root growth and many more functions which are good for your plants. In return they receive somewhere to live and a food source from your plants – the perfect relationship!
Most plants form beneficial colonies naturally over time as wind and animals carry fungal spores into the area. In an indoor garden however this is not the case - growers go to great lengths to keep their grow rooms as clean as possible and as such reduce the possibility of natural colonization. Combine this with the fact that intense indoor growing conditions lead to shorter crop times and it is unavoidable that if you wish to fully benefit from beneficial organisms in an indoor grow room then you are going to have to introduce them yourself.
One of the first companies to realise the potential of beneficial organisms was Canna whose Trichoderma Powder has lead the way in the use of beneficial organisms to aid plant growth. Trichoderma is a fantastic “friendly fungi” that protects your plant from other potentially harmful fungi such as pythium.
Ongoing research from other companies identified that if it was possible to artificially introduce Trichoderma to your plants, then what was stopping you from bringing in many of the other beneficial colonies? Both Vita Link Bio-Pak and Vita Link Bio-Pluscontain Nitrogen fixing, phosphorous solubilising and growth promoting bacteria (amongst a host of other goodies) whilst Advanced Nutrients have both Dr.Hornby's Voodoo Juice which contains five different strains of beneficial microbes and Piranha Powder which contains 26 different beneficial fungi including 8 strains of Trichoderma. There is also Bio-link Plus, a brand new product containing both beneficial bacteria and microbes. As you can probably tell – Beneficials are a hotbed of development at the moment and we fully anticipate further products to be introduced in this area in the near future.
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GroWell Hydroponics Ltd, Solihull, Birmingham, UK
Blooms Garden Centre, Kenilworth Road
Hampton-In-Arden, Solihull, B92 0LW
GroWell Hydroponics Ltd, Fulham, London, UK
1 Royal Parade, 247 Dawes Road
Fulham, London, SW6 7RE
GroWell Hydroponics Ltd, Merry Hill, Dudley, UK
Unit 52 Enterprise Trading Estate,
Off Pedmore Road
Brierley Hill,
Dudley,
DY5 1TX |
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Solihull shop opening hours:
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Sunday 11am-4pm
Closed Bank Holidays |
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