Indoor Gardens Need Grow Room Ventilation

If you are gardening indoors, you know that your plants need water, food and light to flourish. Because sunlight is not available indoors, indoor gardeners have to provide a light source for their plants and they do this with grow lights. If you are using HID lights, or high intensity discharge lights, one of the side effects that you will notice is that the light bulbs will heat up with use. If you have several grow lights in your indoor garden, as would commonly be found in a greenhouse setting, all of those lights are creating a tremendous amount of heat. While some heat is good for plants, an excess of heat can kill them very rapidly, and so greenhouse growers and other indoor gardeners will need some type of grow room ventilation system, so the excess heat is exhausted outside.

A key component in any grow ventilation setup are the grow room fans. Fantech Fans is a top manufacturer of grow room fans, and they offer several popular models, including duct fans and inline fans. Fantech fans are made from galvanized steel and come with ball bearings that are permanently sealed. You can fully control the speed, and they make the connection easy for you because the wiring on their grow room fans is external. The grow fans come in six-inch, eight-inch, ten- and twelve-inch sizes, and a speed control unit is also available.

In addition to grow room fans, there are other parts that you will need to complete your grow ventilation setup. While the fans are used to move the air around the greenhouse, you will also need a couple of exhaust fans to enable your grow room ventilation to remove stale air from indoors to outdoors. Duct pipe is also used to move air where you want it to go, and this comes in flexible varieties so that it is easy to work with.

Because you are watering plants in an indoor environment, often on impermeable surfaces, plants can also be exposed to too much moisture in an indoor gardening setting. This is not good, because plants can develop fungal diseases if they are exposed to too much water in the atmosphere for an extended period of time. Your grow room ventilation will help to keep good air circulation in the gardening room, so that the water does not have time to sit on the plants' leaves for long, thereby helping to prevent these types of plant problems.

You can learn more about ventilation systems for grow rooms by visiting an online discount gardening supplier.

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Flower Gardens - The Best Annuals to Grow

By Doris M Doris M
Level: Basic

Doris McComb is a Certified Floral Designer for the past 25 years. She is currently working on her studies to become a Certified Master Gardener. ...

Marvel at these garden annuals that will make your garden come alive with color, scent and foliage. When choosing your plants, aim for those all summer long bloomers.

Cleome Senorita Rosalita:  This new Cleome variety is amazing. Plant in full to part sun. No sticky stems, no thorny stems and no foul odor. Shorter than the other Cleome varieties, the Senorita flowers all summer long with soft lavender blooms. Does not require deadheading and easily doubles in width size. Grows to 12" tall.Nelia Argyranthemum: With daisy-like yellow flowers, the Nelia prefers a part sun to sun location.  This annual eventually grows to a shrub like appearance. Having a slight fragrance, butterflies and bees love this annual plant. Grows to 24" tall.Black Knight Pincushion Flower: What a discovery! With deep burgundy almost black flowers, this annual adds a real punch to any flowerbed garden. Having sturdy stems, the flower gives the appearance of dozens of straight pins! Attractive gray-green fern like foliage. Enjoys a part-sun location. Grows to 12" to 14" tall.Felicia Daisy: This sun-loving edging annual plant produces tiny lavender blue flowers with bright yellow centers. Interesting mini shrub like appearance. Grows to 8" tall.Magilla Purple Perilla: Striking coleus-like purple foliage. Great for shade container planting. Pinching this garden annual will have the plant becoming fuller, bushier. Great contrast annual.Colorblaze Coleus: Having lime green leaves with raspberry color veins makes this foliage annual a great contrast plant. Can tolerate full sun, but prefers a part shade, even shade location. Grows to 12" to 14" tall.Gartenmeister Fuchsia: This annual fuchsia provides gorgeous long, thin, red flowers with burgundy leaves all summer long. Can be planted in sun or shade. Great container plant, but because of its upright growth habit, it can be planted in a flowerbed as well.Euphorbia Diamond Frost:  Blooms continuously in mounds of airy  tiny white blooms. Although it blooms better in full sun, it does tolerate part shade. No deadheading required. A great filler and spiller for container planting.Sweet Potato Vines: Showy deep burgundy leaves, such as the 'Blackie', or the red leaves of the Sweet Caroline  and then there is the lime colored leaves of the Illusion Emerald Lace. All have a vigorous trailing habit making them appropriate for container planting. For sun or part sun.Ageratum Blue Horizon: An old favorite garden annual. A taller ageratum variety with true blue floss flowers. Great as an edging plant. Good for sun or part shade. Grows to 12" tall.Bonfire Begonia: A new begonia for sun locations. Although it can survive in shade or part shade, it fairs better in full sun. Amazing arched stems with red/orange blooms. This plant is self-cleaning. Great for container/hanging basket planting.Dusty Miller: An old-time peacemaker in the garden. Because of its silver foliage coloring, it is used to make color transitions in the flowerbed garden. Also deer and rabbit do not like this annual. Grows to 12" to 14" tall. Makes a good edging plant.Salvia Black and Blue: All annual Salvia varieties are worth planting. A tall growing Salvia, the Black and Blue rises up as a very good background annual. Can grow to 36" tall. The dark purple/blue tubular blooms seem to last forever and deadheading the spent blooms keeps them coming until the first hard frost.Salvia Lady In Red: Another annual Salvia with red tubular blooms on taller sturdy stems. Very attractive to hummingbirds. They bloom throughout the summer months.Salvia Mystic Spires: An annual Salvia that rivals any medium to tall annual. Beautiful deep purple spike blooms on tall sturdy stems. Grows to 28" to 36" tall and blooms last until a hard frost.Impatiens: Another old-time favorite for shade gardens. All colors (white, pink, red) look great planted in mass. Or try planting in containers and placing in hard to grow areas of the garden, like under a tree.Begonia Vodka: A Begonia (red, pink, white) with burgundy leaves. Can be planted in shade or sun. Makes a good edging plant.

There you have it. Suggestions for the best annuals to grow for sun, part-sun, shade and container planting. The above mentioned garden annuals are favorites for many gardeners. All are very easy to grow and are low maintenance.

Doris McComb, a Certified Floral Designer for the past 25 years, gardens in the Canadian Prairies. She is currently studying towards her Master Gardener Certification. As an intrepid gardener she enjoys pushing the gardening zone limits. She continues to makeover her 400 feet of backyard gardens. Her amazing gardens and Caribbean Ponds can be viewed at http://www.my-gardening-and-landscaping-makeover.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Doris_M

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Article Submitted On: September 20, 2010

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