A new, voluntary recall has cropped up in Salinas, California. Pacific International Marketing, announced yesterday that they would voluntarily recall of 19 cases of bulk romaine lettuce which affects Vons and Pavilions stores in California and Nevada. The recall stems from concerns that the romaine may be tainted from Salmonella exposure.

Though the recall was announced out of an abundance of caution after testing positive for Salmonella bacterium, the source of contamination has not yet been identified.

The lettuce, sold in bulk produce bins between July 2-4, is banded with a red twisty tie marked “Safeway” and bears the code 12EASROM182. No pre-bagged or lettuce in cartons were affected.

Thus far there have been no reported illnesses in connection with consumption of the contaminated lettuce. Consumers are advised to discard their lettuce or return it to the place of purchase for a full refund.

Yet another reason to grow your own with Prosource Worldwide’s LED grow lights!

Starting seeds or clones using LED grow lights is surprisingly simple. Start your seeds in your favorite medium (I like ProMix) with 30-40% perlite added to increase drainage and aeration. Depending on the seed planted, it may be beneficial to use a seedling heat mat to reduce germination time.

Whether with seed or clone, start out with the 90W or 180W light at about 18-24 inches from the top. After the first true leaves form, drop the lights to the recommended height for vegetative growth – see chart below.

Starting Seeds Under LED
By ProSource Worldwide LED Grow Lights  |  View on Facebook

This cherry tomato grow journal uses our 180W Illuminator. The grow space is 3×3 ft though this plant takes up only about 18 inches square.

It was started from transplant on 5/25/12. The variety is Husky Cherry Red.

Growing Conditions:

• 75 degrees, stable
• 50%-60% humidity
• Vegetative light cycle was 18/6
• Flowering light cycle is 12/12
• Using X Nutrients for feeding
• Watering cycle – Feed, water, water, feed, etc with a full strength feeding between watering
• Using ProMix with 30% perlite added

Cherry Tomato Grow
By ProSource Worldwide LED Grow Lights  |  View on Facebook

Chicago Police seized 8 tons of marijuana yesterday and then posed for pictures as part of their victory lap. The funny part is that this comes just one day after the City Council voted to reduce penalties for possession.

This seizure made Tuesday was the city’s largest bust in the last 20 years, capping an investigation into drug trafficking.

The bales of marijuana were wrapped in layers of green plastic and foil. They originated in Mexico (shocker, I know) and were funneled through Texas (border security?) on their way to Chicago.

Estimated street value: $40 Million

Now the penalty in Chicago for less than 15 grams of marijuana is only a ticket – no longer a misdemeanor.

Perhaps they can take this “evidence” and just donate it to a dispensary . . . HA! You can check out the full story here.

It seems like a damn shame to waste it all but the Chicago Police sure are proud of themselves. At least they are dealing with the criminal gang element here – only after money and power. Yet another reason to legalize and grow your own!

My name is Brian and this is a users guide to growing with LEDs. I am going to be demonstrating the best practices of LED growing and I am going to be highlighting the critical differences between growing with LEDs versus growing with High Pressure Sodiums. This is my LED grow.

LED vs HPS – Proper Environmental Controls

The biggest difference between growing with LEDs and growing with High Pressure Sodiums is the amount of heat that the lights put on. High Pressure Sodium run hot and LEDs run cool. In a High Pressure Sodium room, your ambient temperature of the room is typically 10 degrees cooler than the temperature directly under the light. With LEDs, my room temperature and the temperature under the light is actually the same. Most people agree that the plant canopy needs to be maintained at about 85 degrees. The reason for that is because the way plants grow is that they transpire water, they evaporate moisture and then that allows them to suck new moisture and nutrients up and grow. With High Pressure Sodiums, some of the heat that (at) the canopy is generated by the light. If your room is 75 degrees, the canopy will be 85. However, with LEDs, in order for my canopy to be 85 since these lights put off heat my whole room has to be 85 that is the single biggest difference between growing with LEDs and growing with High Pressure Sodium. Although, it is commonly agreed that 75 degrees is the perfect ambient room temperature sodium LEDs, you have to use 85 degrees because your canopy stays at 85 degrees with this light.

I have turned off my LEDs so that I can talk under some normal light. We are just talking about how 85 degrees is your optimum temperature when growing with LEDs, the range being a minimum of 80 degrees and a maximum of 90 degrees. Above 90 degrees your plants will be stressed, below 80 degrees they simply won’t transpire enough moisture to grow at a fast rate. When growing vegitatively under LEDs 80 degrees is the optimum temperature as they require less intensity. The optimal humidity for LED growing situation is right around 40%. This is also to aid in the transpiration of moisture so that the plants can uptake new water and nutrients.

LED Grow Light Logistics – Spacing

Next thing I want to talk about is how to space your lights and how to hang your lights. Right now I am using the 180 watt version of the Jumbo UFO from Prosource Worldwide. They also make a 90 watt version and a 350 watt version. The 180 watt version is my personal favorite. I hang my lights at 2 feet apart from the center of one light to the center of the next light. The reason for that is this light has a 2 feet by 2 feet quad footprint and a 3 feet by 3 feet total footprint. At 2 feet apart, on center, my intensity is under the light, the intensity between the lights is the same. Directly under the light we have light from the light directly between the light, we have cross penetration from both lights equally in the light directly under one light. The height we should hang the light without maximum benefit is 12 to 14 inches from the bottom of the light to the tropical plant. I like to start at 14 inches and that gives me a little bit of room for growth. If you are using the 90-watt version you want your light to be a little bit closer and if you are using a 350-watt version then you should have the light a little bit higher.

Proper Growing Methods

Now I want to talk about growing mediums. My favorite growing medium with LED is a soil. The particular soil that I am using is very loose and well draining. This is Fafard #2 growing mix. However, Promix and Sunshine #4 are virtually identical. The reason I would like to use this is because it doesn’t hold too much moisture and it drains well. If you are using Hydroponics, the key challenge is your room temperature is 85 degrees optimally for growing. However, you must maintain water temperature between 65 degree and 75 degrees that is going to require you to do one of two things. Either place your reservoir outside the room or use a water chiller. If your water reaches above 70 degrees, you won’t have enough oxygen for good growth. If your room temperature is below 85 degrees, you won’t have enough temperature for your plants to transpire. That is why I prefer using soil with LEDs.

Results With LED Grow Lights

In our last video, we got some comments that the buds didn’t appear that dense. I want to show you a plant that is just about ready for harvest and just how dense it really is. It is a little squeezed bud and we can see some squeezing as hard as I can and it doesn’t move. It is really a solid. Now I am going to cut this branch off and I am going to take it out into the light and do some other demos with it. This is the cola that I just removed from my flowering room. I am going to quickly remove some of these extra fan leaves just to give you a better idea of what these really look like okay. As we take it, I am just going to drop it in the trim trays so we can kind of get a sense of the density. We will do that again. As you can see this is a dense heavy cola and the results from the LEDs are just phenomenal. Now I am going to put this cola on the scale so you can see what it actually weighs. 60.7 grams for about a 1 foot cola. This is one way and I would like to allow less than that. Now I just want to give you an idea of the density of the product grown under the LED. Now I am going to put a dry bud on the scale that was grown under my LEDs. This one little piece right here, I am going to place it on the scale, comes to 3.4 grams. So this one little piece is basically an eighth of an ounce.

After visiting and troubleshooting other LED growers, one common mistake I have found people have is that they forget about air exchange. When running High Pressure Sodiums most people either air cool the lights or have air exchange to keep the room from getting too hot. Although the LED won’t make your room too hot, your plants still need fresh air. I always like to recommend 3 to 4 air exchanges per hour. When watering your plants you want to first make sure that your soil has reached the point towards very dry like this and the pie is nice and light. Once we are at this point, the plant is ready for water. When I do water, I make sure that I water very heavily so that water will make it all the way through the bucket to the bottle and even run off the bottle. These plants are not flowering so I added a part of a teaspoon each of Dyna-Gro Grow, Dyna-Gro Mag-Pro and Dyna-Gro Pro-Tekt for my nutrients. That is what I like the best. Now once your plant is properly watered so that water makes its way all the way through do not water again until we reached that light and dry stage where we had adjust the flow. Watering too often or watering not deeply will result in inferior root mass.

A lot of people are skeptical about LEDs and a lot of people now start to see the light. If you follow the tips that I have outlined to you, you will be as successful as we are. It is actually easier to grow with LEDs as long as you know how and now you do then it is with High Pressure Sodiums. We are yielding typically 5 to 8 ounces per 180 watt light provided to us by ProSource Worldwide.

In a voluntary recall, Dole Fresh Vegetables pulls 1077 cases of pre-washed, bagged salad from Wal-Mart and Kroger stores in six states. The reason for the recall: suspected listeria contamination.

The recall includes Kroger Fresh Selections Greener Supreme, Kroger Fresh Selections Leafy Romaine, and Wal-mart Marketside Leafy Romaine – UPC numbers and date codes of affected packages can be found here.

The affected states are located in the southeast United States – Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. As of now, no cases of illness has been reported. The California based Dole indicated that affected supplies are likely off the shelves at this point but is urging stores and individuals to double check for recalled salad bags. Dole opted for a voluntary recall after a randomly selected sample of Wal-Mart Marketside Leafy Romaine tested positive for listeria in South Carolina.

This is Dole’s second salad recall in as many months. In April of this year, Dole recalled 756 cases of Seven Lettuces salad in Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin due to concerns over salmonella contamination.

Yet another reason to grow your own with LED grow lights!