We've got a lot happening this week, and even more on the way.  Let's get right to it:

I've posted two new articles this week.  The first one is all about our Hydrogen Peroxide in hydroponic gardening.  I hope it's of some help to all you with bacteria in your reservoirs.  Hydrogen Peroxide is a great way to perform a bacterial reset in your reservoir.  It  kills off all the bacteria in your water, then breaks down into water and oxygen.  It's really great stuff.  Check out our new article, Hydrogen Peroxide: The Bacterial Reset Button.

Our second article is a follow up on our do it yourself aeroponic system from a few weeks ago.  Since you're likely to want a light stand for your aeroponic system, I thought it would be a good idea to show you how to make one.  It's the most inexpensive way that I know, and will also provide support for your plants as they grow.  These two projects will give you a really solid growing system.  Additionally, it's the best way to grow "one big plant" in an aeroponic system.  As you may have seen in my photos, an eggplant has the capacity to grow quite large.  In my case, it conquered my entire TurboGarden.  In the future, I'll be growing eggplants in their own single-site units, as they tend to have a very large canopy.  I think the single-site aeroponic unit serves this need well (not to mention, I don't know of any single-site commercial units).

Also, we've done a bit of rearranging this week.  The whole hydroponics room got turned upside-down when we made room for the new aeroponic units.  Take a look at the new layout:

It took some work to make room for the new arrivals.  However, I'm overjoyed at the new layout.  You'll notice that there are two identical units on the far wall. This is going to be very important in the future.  We're going to start performing comparative side-by-side studies.  Since these units were built to be identical, we'll be able to perform some really legitimate comparisons.  Both units on the far wall are the do it yourself aeroponic system, with the matching light stand.  They are equipped with brand new lighting systems.  The lights consist of LumaTek 400 Watt Ballasts (capable of running High Pressure Sodium or Metal Halide) and HydroFarm Radiant reflectors.  We should be starting our first comparative grow in the near future.

Also, to make room, we moved the "nursery" to the other side of the room.  All the babies start out in the MegaGarden.  The MegaGarden is also the home of Jessawick's phalaenopsis orchid.  Take a look at the newly moved setup:

Since I've been getting a lot of emails from readers asking about the orchid, I thought I'd post a closer view...

Not all the flowers are open yet, but we're getting more by the day.  There is a fourth flower on the "back" side, but it's hard to see in the picture.  I don't have a particular time-frame, but I'd expect the rest of the blossoms to open in the next week or so.

In other news, things are happy and stable.  The eggplant is still a monster.  It's still dominating the TurboGarden, and doesn't seem to be slowing down.  It's about seven months old now, and it doesn't seem to realize that winter just isn't going to happen. Although I hate to admit it, I may have to kill off the eggplant in a few weeks.  Once my herd of Fort Laramie strawberries arrive, I may need the TurboGarden's 14 sites to be available.

Regarding the Do-It-Yourself department... I've been working on the PVC tube gardens once again.  I've almost finished a 14-site (10 foot) 4" tube.  I've managed to get it running using an ActiveAqua PU550.  In theory, I hope to use it for outdoor strawberries this year.  I think the long tubes are unwieldy, and would be hesitant to recommend them for indoor use (long and thin is really a pain regarding lighting).

I'm afraid that I won't be able to post the typical "overview" photos of the TurboGarden anymore...  The new layout of the room doesn't give me the angle with the camera anymore.  I'll need to invent a new angle for showing off the baby plants.