This week, we've got a trip report from our own Max Parker.  He's recently returned from the MaximumYield expo, and he's got a lot to tell us.  For those of you unfamilar with Maximum Yield, it's a magazine which happens to host some of the largest industry events.  I visited the convention in Orlando, FL last year, and met with great success.

Ok.  On to the report. 

"I've had a really busy weekend. I've seen so much new technology and met a variety of people. I'm confident I've made some very good friends.

The 5th annual San Francisco Indoor Gardening Expo featured many new companies and technology.

I visited every booth I could for two days and I came out with a load of new information and contacts.

General Hydroponics 

The FloraNova line is a highly concentrated line of nutrients, including both FloraNova Grow and FloraNova Bloom. Both grow and bloom are easy to use one-part nutrients which are [Paraphrased] "Given the strength and concentration of dry nutrients but the ease of liquid form."

KoolBloom Combo consists of Liquid KoolBloom and Dry KoolBloom. Liquid Koolbloom promotes good flowering, fruiting, and production of many other blossom boosters. Dry Koolbloom is used in the final stages of flowering and fruiting to promote healthy, aromatic and fat fruit. It promotes flowering late in the stage, as well.

Subculture B is a bacillus root-inoculant. It's a wonderfully rich blend teeming with beneficial bacteria and microorganisms. The bacteria, fungi, and microorganisms colonize root-zone and media to promote healthy root-growth which helps with the uptake of nutrients to the plant.

Botanicare 

Liquid Karma is a "Bio-catalyst Plant Stimulant" which means it activates steady and accelerated growth because of it's high metabolic activity.

Pure Blend Pro Grow/Bloom is a one-part grow and bloom nutrient containing a large number of main, minor, and trace minerals and other essentials for good growth.

HydroGuard is a biological water treatment used for the purpose of deterring and resisting Damping-off.

Clearex is a salt leaching solution which binds with excess salts, leaching them from the growing medium.

Cal-Mag Plus is a concotion of Calcium, Magnesium, and Iron. These three elements are some of the most important factors in a plant's health and vitality. From Botanicare

Sweet is a supplement containing carbohydrates and other elements to sweeten the flavor and aroma of fruit.

Humboldt Nutrients 

Humboldt Grow, Bloom, and Micro are a line of standard nutrients for all stages of a plant's life. It's designed for use in all growing mediums from hydroton to soil to coco.

Humboldt Roots is used for the expansion, health, and vitality of a plant's roots during critical growth stages.

Big Up Powder is designed to give your plants one last boost in the flowering stage for extra energy.

Prozyme is a concentrated mixture of 80 beneficial enzymes. Enzymes break down organic matter for later absorption.

Grotek 

VitaMax is a B vitamin supplement for healthy root system, big blooming, flowering, and fruiting. It can be used for rooting, cloning, and transplanting, similar to regular B1.

Solotek is an organic-based, one-part, any media nutrient. It comes in both Grow and Bloom, both containing high NPK content.

Bloom Fuel gives plants a push in the right direction by signaling them when it's time to flower.

Heavy bloom contains Amino Acids, Carbs, and other goodies to increase the weight, density, and lusciousness of your flower and fruit.

Monster bloom lengthens the period in which a plant can flower and helps a plant to bud, flower, and set fruit. It has a number of uses which aid plants during the flowering cycle.

Blossom Blaster aids bud development. By adding it before flowers bloom, it provides them with essential nutrients, resulting in large, healthy blossoms.

Cutting Edge Solutions 

Grow, Bloom, and Micro are all part of a nutrient line developed and tested to function flawlessly in Northern California despite "A wide range of water-quality issues and diverse microclimates." These conditions make it very difficult to grow hydroponically and these nutrients have been acclimated to work under a number of different difficulties and problems.

Uncle John's Blend. This definitely came from the Grateful Dead! It's used as a stress reducer, to boost flower and fruit production, and alleviate nutrient deficiencies.

Plant Amp is a pure Calcium chelate, chelated to improve a plant's ability to abosrb the Calcium itsself. Calcium helps the development of the cell wall and cellulose, and to amplify hormone signals, resulting in better growth response.

Mag-Amped is pure Magnesium chelate, which, like Plant Amp, is chelated for better absorption. Magnesium is used mainly in the production of chlorophyll, but far too often Magnesium causes lockout of other elements. Magnesium should be used when a plant isn't receiving enough light.

House & Garden (Van De Zwaan) 

Aqua Flakes A&B help keep the nutrient water of your system clean and pure while the balanced nutrient levels ensure maximum nutrient uptake. The purity of these nutrients help keep PH balanced and nutrient fallout at an incredible low.

Drip Clean bonds with excess nutrient salts to keep them from clogging your system and harming your plants.

Top Booster is used for the flowering stage. It tricks the plant, making it think it's close to the last stage of it's life cycle. What then happens to the plant is it flowers and fruits quickly and efficiently, thinking it has to produce seeds to ensure survival by reproducing.

Shooting powder starts a new flowering cycle after the regular one which can increase output by up to 20%. It can create a whole new layer on top of the existing fruit.

Magic Green is a foliar spray which, when used, creates a waxy film coating on the leaves which can prevent damage from many different pests and mold.

Bud XL uses a plant's own sugar to sweeten the blossom and fruit. Bud XL uses enzymatic process to extract sugar from the bract which is late stored in the fruit.

Multizyme strengthens a plant's immunity and makes the growing process simpler for a plant.

Roots Excelurator promotes explosive root growth, fixes a number of root problems and diseases, and will help a root system with nutrient uptake.

DNF 

Grow A&B/Bloom A&B are base nutrients developed for symbiotic use with additives and enrichment. Naturally, the first part of each is weaker than the second. Successive nutrition is the key to these nutrients.

Technaflora 

PuraVida Organic Nutrient Grow/Bloom are an organic nutrient for use in any media. It's supposedly fixed many of the problems with organic nutrients, such as Fallout, clogging, and "organic" smells. I hope that these claims are more than just claims.

Editor's Note: This is especially interesting to me, as there are very few totally organic nutrients in the marketplace.  I discussed organics back in February, and the selection was tiny.  I've always been a big supporter of Technaflora, and I'm really excited to see this addition to the line.

MagiCal is a Magnesium, Calcium, and Iron solution. Used with a regular growing schedule, these elements can help fix numerous nutrient deficiencies.

Dyna-Gro 

As stated here, Dyna-Gro is apparently the only "complete" nutrient on the market. What this means is that it contains all trace elements beneficial to plants, without any lockout in the bottle.

Grow/Bloom are formulated in a very special way. A plant can only absorb a certain amount of nutrients, and there can only be a certain amount of nutrient before there's nutrient lockout. These nutrients are made with the perfect amount for a plant to absorb and just enough before there's any lockout.

K-L-N is a rooting concentrate that can be used for a variety of different root purposes.

Protekt is a silicon solution used for thicker cell walls and better cellulose production. If used regularly, it will protect your plant against pests and disease quite well.

3D 

Rx Grow/Bloom are relatively new organic nutrients. They come in dry form, and are designed to eliminate problems associated with organic nutrients, such as fallout and clogging.

FoxFarm 

Open Sesame, Beastie Bloomz, and Cha-Ching are organic based soluble granular bloom-nutrients. They are all used for the flowering stage of a plant, and they all have different but important purposes. Open Sesame is for the early blossoming stage, Beastie Bloomz for heavy flowering and juicy fruit, and Cha-ching is the late flowering stage nutrient to get the most out of your blossoms and fruit.

Peace of mind is a tomato and vegetable slow-release fertilizer. It contains a lot of goodies and can do veggies a lot of good.

PlantLife Products 

Suck it up is a penetrating agent with a color pH indicator. While some products force open the Stoma of a leaf allowing pathogens in, Suck it up allows absorption through the space in epithelial cells.

Prop-o-Gator is used to increase the success rate of newly-rooted clones. Apply as soon as a root appears and you will see explosive root growth.

BioBizz 

Bio Grow and Bio Bloom are standard grow and bloom nutrients containing amino acids, micronutrients, and soil bioactivators.

Sure To Grow 

We've discussed Sure To Grow several times in the past.  It's a sterile, inert, pH neutral seed-starting media. It has uses for seed starting, sprouting, and as a growing media.

Grodan 

Coco-Dan Coco Mix is a high quality coco coir enhanced with worm castings. It is young, has small fibers, and is rinsed with fresh water to remove salt.

Coco-Dan Coco Croutons are a coconut-husk alternative to hydroton or rocks. They provide excellent organic aeration, drainage, and mulching properties. They are low in salt and their porous structure will allow roots to grow into them.

Super Starts 

Plant Tissue Culture is incredibly underrated, and I'm extremely interested in it's practice. I received a common pitcher plant growing in tissue culture substrate. Tissue culture allows a plant to be cloned from a small segment of plant tissue.

Summary 

This expo displayed an abundance of new technology and nutrients. After speaking to several people stationed at different booths, all I can say is that there's a lot to come in the world of indoor gardening.

Unrelated followup...

Back in the grow room, our cantaloupe is doing just fine.  We've gotten our first flowers this week.  Since it's just not Hydroponics Tuesday without a picture, here's one of the new flowers: