News RSS

What is… Silicon? “The biochemistry of Silicon in planta is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma” (Epstein, 2001). Silicon is still today not as well understood as many of the other elements that we commonly use in our plant feeding regimes, it’s probably not used as widely as other additives and yet it is (in my opinion) one of the most important tools in a grower’s arsenal. I say this because of what it can do for your plants throughout all stages of growth and reproduction, which varies from helping the plant to support itself through stronger...

Humidity… Don’t sweat it! What is humidity? You know those really hot days, when no matter what we do we just can’t cool ourselves down… that’s mainly due to high humidity! When the air around us is saturated with water vapour, we cannot cool ourselves, as the sweat from our skin can’t evaporate. Then we have the really hot days that we could just lay in the sun all day but stay relatively cool… That’s due to low humidity! The air is quite dry and allows any perspiration to evaporate off of our skin and keep us cool. However, extremely...

How do you feed your plants? Do you use an EC meter? Do you give them an occasional flush with water? Do you top or bottom feed? Firstly, we should all be using an EC pen to measure the amount of fertilizer in our water, an EC pen or truncheon (EC stands for Electrical conductivity) will measure the amount of salts in the water which you add as fertilizer (Fertilizers are salts). The more fertilizer you add, the greater the EC. Now think of your plant as a very quickly growing person, when it's young it doesn't want a lot...

As the world’s population numbers continue to rise, scientists and engineers face a huge challenge—developing new agricultural solutions. Professor Dickson Despommier thinks the answer is literally in the sky and has developed the Vertical Farm, i.e. high-rise agricultural structures to feed urban areas. Based on Despommier’s ideas, the design group Aprilli has created the Urban Skyfarm concept, which is planned to be built in downtown Seoul.   Korea’s capital city runs along the Cheonggyechon stream, meaning it has a steady supply of water that can be used to water the tree-like structure. Each of its components—root, trunk, branch and leaves—has its own...

Rose black spot:Rose black spot is a fungal disease of roses where purple or black spots develop on leaves, which often drop early.Quick factsCommon name: Rose black spotScientific name: Diplocarpon rosaePlants affected: RosesMain symptoms: Purple or black spots on leaves, leaves falling earlyCaused by: FungusTiming: Spring onwardsSymptomsThese are variable, depending on the rose variety and the strain of the fungus.You may see the following symptoms:Typically, a rapidly enlarging purplish or black patch appears on the upper leaf surface, with diffuse and radiating strands of the fungus sometimes just visible.Leaf tissues may turn yellow around the spots and the leaf often...