..or just another blonde moment?

When you first get embroiled in the world of growing your own produce, it can seem a bit of a mine-field when it comes time to hit the grow shop in search of your grow room essentials.

With so many different lotions, potions, additives, supplements etc as well as pH up, pH down, buffering solutions, and all to be stocked up on by the first time grower, it becomes difficult to see the wood for the trees.  Expensive too, albeit initially. 

So how can you be sure that the grow shop is not spinning you a line with regard to what’s "necessary" and what is a "beneficial", or growers choice, (like "Liquid Silicon" is for instance)?

Personally I come from the old "organic" less is more school of thought.  Essentially if it doesn't smell like its just been shovelled off the farmyard floor, then I don’t want to know about it, preferring the sweet taste of truly organic grown produce.

But the truth of the matter is, this short-sighted approach to growing means I miss out on a lot of things which other growers take for granted.  Like mah-hoosive hydro yields for instance!

There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that given a pack of seeds and a 14 week diary to keep, the hydro grown plants will grow bigger, faster and stronger than similar plants grown under organic conditions, and here's the reasoning as I see it; 

Organic nutrients tend to comprise of "raw materials".  That is, a set of components which as they stand in the bottle, are almost useless to the roots.  This is why organic fertilisers seldom work very well when fed to hydroponically grown plants, unless accompanied by a heady mix of bacteria, as seen in the new breed of "bio" hydro nutrients such as BioSevia.

But for the privilege of using a bio product we have to spend even more of our hard earned on buying the bacterial solutions we need to mix in, to get the fertiliser to work as it’s meant to.  Not exactly cost effective, for the grower on a tight budget. 

In hydro there are no bacteria at the root zone. Not good bacteria anyway. We feed bare roots with a cocktail of salts based fertilisers which are, once mixed with water, absolutely ready for the grower to serve, and for the plants to use as is.  Fast, as well as efficient and straight to the point, (or is that straight to the roots?).

But with organic gardening things happen a little differently. 

First of all we actually encourage microbial activity at the root zone, as this is the organism which actually processes the raw materials we provide and in doing so, feeds the plants.  Of course (as mentioned earlier) there are good bacteria as well as bad bacteria, and this is where the boundaries become a little blurred. 

H2O2
So I'm standing in the grow shop, looking at the obligatory solutions required for a successful grow, and the grow shop owner points out the H2O2.  So I pick up the bottle and start to read the label.   

"Contains Hydrogen Peroxide at 17.5%"! 

Its worth mentioning at this stage, science lessons were never really my strongpoint in that dim and distant memory which is my school days.  I hardly attended any of them for one thing. 

”Happiest days of your life”? 

I could tell you some tales which would have the bleeding heart Liberals spewing exclamations of minor child abuse cases into their Twining’s "Worcester sauce and coriander" flavoured green tea, but I digress.... 

The facts as I see them are as follows.  Why on earth would I spend out good money on nurturing a healthy and active micro-herd in the root zone, and then set about pouring hydrogen peroxide over them?

It’s corrosive, and it makes your hair go white!! 

So I set about finding out, and what I found was like an epiphany of enlightenment. Which also made me wish I had paid more attention during my previously mentioned science lessons, as I would have been using this stuff a long time ago. 

How it works.
So we pour hydrogen peroxide into our water, which gives a slight reading of EC or electrical current/conductivity so that needs taking into account.   

The H2O2 is very unstable in its current form and it quickly breaks down once in the nutrient solution.  Essentially within a short space of time it’s present only in its component form (water and oxygen), and in reaching this form it releases a single oxygen atom.

This oxygen atom is ultra-reactive as well as aggressive.  It’s looking for a fight, but instead of looking to cause problems it’s actually on your team.

So the unstable single oxygen atom sets off, looking for mischief to make. 

If it comes across another oxygen atom, it attaches itself to the other atom, forming a larger, more stable oxygen molecule, or ion.  This gets taken in by the plant through the roots, and benefits growth both above, as well as within the root zone.

If however, the rambunctious oxygen atom comes across an organic molecule, such as a virus, or fungal spore as it waxes & wanes through your nutrient solution, it will attach itself to the pathogen and quite literally oxidise itself, as well as whatever organism it had attached itself to.

And this stuff actually works! 

So what this means is not only does H2O2 supply the nutrients (and indirectly, the plants) with a massive boost of pure oxygen ions, it will also play a huge part in keeping your reservoir fresh, highly oxygenated, as well as free from organisms such as Pythium, Fusarium, mould as well as a plethora of other nasties we encounter daily as hydroponic growers.

Not only that but when the crop comes down there is no better cleaning agent to use (albeit in higher concentrations) than hydrogen peroxide.  Not only will it clean as effectively as bleach but, as explained earlier it attaches itself to other organic micro-bad guys, and oxidises them into nothingness.  They simply cease to exist, leaving your grow room clean, sterile and ready for the next crop. 

Safety First

With this in mind its worth mentioning your fingers/hands are also "organic organisms" so its worth reading the safety data sheet which any good grow shop will be able to supply with the aggressive liquids they sell, as well as getting some gloves and goggles.

Speaking of goggles I could tell you a nightmare about a grower who left a pipette full of 81% nitric acid hanging out the top of the bottle, only to catch it with his sleeve, sending it airborne and filling the surrounding environment with microscopic droplets of industrial grade nitric acid, at the perfect altitude and vector to land in someone’s eyes.  Think safe, and handling these ultra nasty liquids becomes a whole lot easier. 

But I know what you’re thinking.  You’re thinking “Cleaning is for girlies”!  “What does it do for the plants dragon”? 

Right? 

O2
If it even needed saying, a fresh and regular exposure to pure oxygen will work wonders in how your plants look and “feel”. 

Oxygen invigorates, it heals, it’s present (and necessary) in every living form and plants just can’t get enough of it. 

With lots of oxygen available nutrient uptake is massively boosted and if the plants getting the nutrients, it will use them.

Also, this extra nutrient, along with a blast of oxygen is going to increase the production of proteins at cell level across the board, especially if the plant is getting plenty of CO2 (the carbon source the plants use to actually “build” themselves).  This means thicker stronger stems with shorter inter-nodal spacing, as well as lush deep green healthy foliage.

Which is also better equipped to handle the complicated conversions as a result of the photosynthetic processes the plant carries out, in the creation of the sugars and starch’s necessary to feed it. 

As a result of this mad growth, your plants will supply readily, the smaller side branch’s necessary to facilitate a productive run of cuttings.   

So, no matter what your chosen growing method is, get some hydrogen peroxide in the grow room. 

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