Every gardener has experienced growing pains, from plant choice and environment to pests or diseases. I have always struggled with pests in my indoor garden and, more recently, powdery mildew. I almost always have thrips or mites and do my best to minimize the damage they cause. I am implementing new protocols and am optimistic that 2025 is the year I kill all these mother F***ers. This edition has informed and motivated me to make some changes. I hope you can solve your problems too with a little help from our friends.
Everest Fernandez has two informative articles any grower can relate to. In “Evaluating Clones” and “Powdery Mildew: A Quick Guide to Sanity,” you’ll find tips and tricks for selecting healthy plants and keeping them that way.
Countless growers use Calcium-Magnesium supplements, aka CaMG, to solve many plant problems. While vital to plant health, what’s the real scoop on Camg? Can it fix everything that goes wrong in a grow? In “CalMag – Cure-all or Quackery?”, our resident nutrient expert Av Singh, PhD, gives us the answer.
Alex Field offers excellent growing advice for all our budding mushroom enthusiasts in his article, “The 5 Most Common Mushroom-Growing Problems – and How to Avoid Them.” Xavi Kief writes about living soil as an IPM, a must-read for diehard organic growers.
I would also like to take this opportunity to introduce Haley Nagasaki, the newest member of the Garden Culture team. She’s taking on a new series of interviews with some of the best growers in the world, and it is called Professional POV. The first interview is with one of Canada’s best, Alex Gauthier, from Origine Nature in Quebec, Canada. They discuss IPM and how a huge facility like Origine has managed to stay pest and disease-free.
Happy Gardening
Gardens don’t grow without problems, but you can get a head start on battling pests and diseases! Catherine Sherriffs offers a list of preventative strategies.
When you think about it, gardening is not all that different from dating. In this article, Xavi Kief shares some tips on plant selection for a successful grow.
Kyle and Mel Burns love dirt! They’re committed to nurturing the soil and growing delicious, nutrient-dense food for the community of Chico, CA.
Fresh, pesticide-free strawberries year-round? Yes, please! GUSH is an indoor vertical farm offering Montrealers ‘clean’ strawberries grown in the city.
Strive for a self-sustaining ecosystem in the garden with cultural practices like crop rotation and interplanting. Haley Nagaski reveals her IPM toolkit.
How do professional growers keep their rooms free of pests and diseases? In our Professional POV series, Alexandre Gauthier of Origine Nature talks IPM.
Mushroom cultivation can be a very fruitful hobby – or even business, once the correct conditions are dialled in.
