Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Hydroponics components and instructional videos

Below are a couple of instructional videos on hydroponic systems showing assembly of the various components.  So far, it appears the combination of plastic water reservoirs, pots, plumbing, water pumps, drip tubes, timers, and clay aggregate growing medium are quite effective.  

Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHAIzeqd9k0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlRLBpYYoKU&feature=related

Pump:
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=mag+drive+2+pump&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=7221915484849848321&sa=X&ei=Y4WCTufLDNPfsQKQ6PWZDw&ved=0CGcQ8gIwAw

Timer:
http://www.alliedelec.com/search/productdetail.aspx?SKU=6843621

Reservoir Drain Kit:
http://www.eastwesthydro.com/water/hydroponic-components/general-hydroponics/40-gal-panda-reservoir-lid?utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=product-feed

Clay aggregate growing material:  inexpensive, reusable, inert:

http://hydroton.net/

http://hydroton.net/hydroton-clay-pebbles-perfect-for-hydroponics/

Urban Garden at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport !

Add another variation to the 'ponics family:  aeroponics
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/cities/ohare-airports-new-soil-less-garden-helps-feed-passengers/983

Some tools of the trade:
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=aeroponics&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=ZI4&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvnsb&resnum=3&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.&biw=1589&bih=751&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=7415697237607472192&sa=X&ei=mnOCTp_yEOn20gHsuLyJAQ&ved=0CGcQ8gIwAA

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=aeroponics&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=ZI4&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvnsb&resnum=3&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.&biw=1589&bih=751&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=10821010751498856046&sa=X&ei=mnOCTp_yEOn20gHsuLyJAQ&ved=0CG0Q8gIwAQ

"The Aerojet is Botanicare's Best Selling Expandable Hydrogarden The AEROJET is a true aeroponic system, not a deep flow hydro-aeroponic system. Microjets spray the roots of the plants allowing for aggressive growth rates due to the high levels of oxygen delivered to the root zone."
 http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=aeroponics&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=ZI4&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvnsb&resnum=3&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.&biw=1589&bih=751&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=9891231660679612652&sa=X&ei=mnOCTp_yEOn20gHsuLyJAQ&ved=0CHIQ8wIwAg

"The AeroFlo² 60, accommodates sixty plant sites. Growers who wish to expand this system can enjoy 120 plant sites" 
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=aeroponics&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=ZI4&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvnsb&resnum=3&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.&biw=1589&bih=751&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=3889365892785694743&sa=X&ei=mnOCTp_yEOn20gHsuLyJAQ&ved=0CH0Q8gIwBA 

Parts and Supplies:
http://www.genhydro.com/genhydro_US/parts_aeroflo60.html

"Today, over thirty years later, General Hydroponics is a leading innovator in the field of hydroponics with factories in North America and Europe. Our products are used by NASA in preparation for hydroponics on the International Space Station. Numerous laboratories and universities throughout the world use our products for teaching and research; other clients use our products for commercial crop production as well as high-tech gardening."
  http://www.genhydro.com/genhydro_US/aeroflo.html

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Products to be investigated (1 of many)




Notes from "Slow Death By Rubber Duck"

Preliminary Outline of Key Points:

- ... 'no separation between environmental issues and health issues'.  Despite billions of dollars spent yearly on medical bills for illnesses that can be traced to 'environmentally attributable causes', the 'link between pollution and human health is a relatively new phenomenon.'
-   Instrumental in focusing attention on the vulnerability of children to environmental pollution :       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Goldman  
-  America's post WWII economic boom and its heavy reliance on petrochemicals for the production of plastic products.
-  Billions of pounds of toxic chemicals are released into the American environment yearly.  In addition, even greater amounts of toxic chemicals arrive in the U.S. for use in industrial products, many of them household products.   The EPA's TRI database tracks this process:  http://www.epa.gov/tri/.
Despite this information, toxicity testing lags behind and some well known offenders, such as asbestos, have yet to be banned.
-  American culture, one of 'success but over-consumption, the culture of abundance but obesity, the culture fueled by petroleum but opposed (until recently) to global warming standard, and the culture of toxic chemicals but now an emerging field of green chemistry.'
-  Revision of our common understanding of pollution as something 'external', smoke from factories and car exhaust, etc., to include the chemicals that seep into our bodies from the everyday use of industrial products and their subsequent links to a host of allergies and diseases. 
-  Ken Cook's epiphany - measuring pollution in peoples' bodies.  The Environmental Working Group:
 http://www.ewg.org/node/8147
-  Bill Moyers as one of the first celebrities to provide a public face for the testing of 'body burdens'.

Historical examples of external pollution: 

-  the Thames River, London, England. 
-  Lake Erie  (I love the revision of Dr. Seuss' 'The Lorax' !)  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lorax
- the Broad Street pump.
-  the Cuyahoga River, Cleveland, Ohio.
-  the Meuse River, Belgium
-  the mining town of Donora, Pennsylvania.
-  London, England's Great Smog of 1952 and subsequent U.K. Clean Air Act in 1956.

Historical examples of 'internal' pollution - direct bodily exposure to toxins:

-  1927 New Jersey women's lawsuit against U.S. Radium Corportation
-  the "Lucifer Match"
-  felt hat manufacturing, "carroting" resulting in mercury poisoning
-  arsenic in paint and wallpaper.
- "elixir sulphanilamide" for streptococcal infection released prior to toxicity testing.
-  "torch sweaters"
-  DDT in human breastmilk.
-  "the Tooth Fairy Survey" testing strontium-90 contamination from nuclear testing.

To be continued .  .  .