Eric Hopper
Articles by Eric Hopper
Plant Growth and the Light Spectrum
Breakthroughs in understanding how the light spectrum affects plant growth are occurring more rapidly with advanced technology. Eric Hopper...
Defend Your Roots: Dissolved Oxygen
Maintaining a high level of dissolved oxygen in hydroponic nutrient solutions is one of the most important steps an indoor gardener can...
Increasing Automation with Autodosers
Autodosers provide consistency, precision, and certainty while removing the potential for human error. It’s no wonder that commercial and...
Hydro Meal Planning 101
Every garden is unique, so a one-size-fits-all nutrient scheme isn’t always the best for hydroponic setups. In this article, Eric Hopper...
Two Flowering Rooms and Others Ways You Can Adjust Your Indoor Grow for Winter
Indoor gardeners can adapt to the winter growing season in a number of ways, including adding a second flowering room.
How To Perfect Your Grow Room’s Ventilation System
A good ventilation system is vital for a successful growroom. Here’s how to make sure you have what you need to achieve maximum yields.
Organic Gardening Practices You Can Implement Indoors
Sustainable gardening is steadily becoming more popular in traditional, outdoor settings. However, as Eric Hopper explains, it’s possible...
How to Use Beneficial Bacteria for Pest and Disease Control in the Grow Room
A growing number of modern horticulturists are learning about and embracing the power of microorganisms.
How Slight Negative Pressure and Keeping a Light Tight Garden Can Help Maximize Yields
Here’s how keeping your garden light tight and under slight negative pressure can respectively maximize production and deter unwanted...
The Benefits of Adding CO2 During the Cloning Stage
Are plants in the cloning stage too small to benefit from enriched CO2?
Top 4 Reasons Why Your Garden's pH is Out of Whack
The pH of your nutrient solution or soil is not a constant thing. In this article, Eric Hopper looks at the top four suspects that could...
LED Grow Lights: Footprints and Planning
Horticultural LEDs offer myriad advantages, but a lack of standardization means indoor growers may have to experiment a little to achieve...
The Subtle Art of Hardening Off Your Seedlings
They’ve been nurtured inside where it is warm and cozy, but it’s time to prepare your seedlings for a transition to the comparatively harsh...
Take It Outside: Why Outdoor Hydroponic Systems Make Sense
While designed for indoor growing, outdoor hydroponic systems can provide solutions to problems such as diminishing arable land, water...
The Light That Binds: Lighting for Young Plants
Of all the equipment used in an indoor garden, the lighting system is the equipment that should be given the most consideration.
Supplemental CO2: The Next Step to Ridiculously Good Plants
Your crops are on a killer nutrition regimen and living in an indoor growroom with on-point lighting, temperature, and humidity. What’s the...
Strengthening Your Plant’s Roots
Horticulturists who focus some of their energy on making the plant’s root system thrive will usually have better yields and less problems...
Amps, Watts and Volts: Preparing Your Home’s Circuitry for a Growroom
Horticultural lighting equipment requires a reliable source of electricity. Whether you’re using HID fixtures, LED fixtures or any other...
Battling Slugs and Snails
Slugs and snails can be the bane of any gardener’s existence, as these little creatures have big appetites when it comes to young plants.
Enzyme Energy
Enzymes are the glue that holds together an incredibly intricate garden relationship between minerals, microbes and biological creatures....
Finding the Sweet Spot for Artificial Lighting
When it comes to indoor horticulture, maximizing the available light energy is the key to success. The more efficiently the light energy is...
How to Maintain Growroom Air Quality with Air Purification Devices
Keeping the air fresh and clean in your growroom will not only protect your plants from pathogens and pests, it will help keep your...
Hydroponics 7 Ways: Tips for Setting Up Common Systems
Considering switching to hydroponics? Having a good understanding of how the different hydro systems work will help you get the best...
Flushing for Soil and Hydroponic Gardens
Flushing is an important, relatively simple, and all too often misunderstood technique that should be used by just about every gardener. A...
The Various Forms of Rooting Hormones & Organic Rooting Stimulants
Rooting hormones, either synthetic or naturally occurring, help promote the fast, healthy onset of new roots. Available as powders, liquids...
The Downlow on Dissolved Oxygen
While most growers know dissolved oxygen is important to have in their hydro systems, they do not really understand what it is or why it’s...
Benefitting from Beneficials: How to Improve Plant Growth
The most common types of beneficial micro-organisms used by indoor growers can be broken down into three categories: beneficial bacteria,...
Glazing Your Greenhouse: 5 Ways to Cover Up
A greenhouse glaze is the transparent cover material used over the frame that allows light to reach the plants inside. You may be surprised...
Wireless Technology in the Garden
There are plenty of reasons to go wireless in your growroom, most of which relate to making your life easier. Wireless automation devices...
New Trends in Hydroponic Growing: What to Expect in 2016 and Beyond
Technological advancements in the hydro industry are happening, fueled by the growing demand for fresh produce that’s cultivated closer to...
How to Choose the Best LED Lighting System for Your Grow Room
A more affordable price, combined with all of the other benefits of growing with LEDs, including cooler operating temperatures, longevity...
The 3 Stages of a Perpetual Garden
The most successful indoor growers take full advantage of the elevated degree of control over the growing environment by maintaining a...
Spotlighting Fiber Optics
With fiber optics, a grower could potentially channel the power of the sun into a growroom, so if you want to use the sun as the primary...
How To Tell When Your Lights Need Replacing
All lighting technologies will depreciate over time, which causes a reduction in usable light energy for plants called photosynthetically...
A Beginner’s Guide to Calculating Garden Lighting Needs
The lighting system is the heart of any indoor garden, providing plants with the energy needed to photosynthesize and develop. But first,...
Filters, Ozone Generators and Air Purifiers, Oh My!
Whether it is implementing filters, ozone generators, air purification devices or a combination of solutions, indoor growers need to do...
The Best Temperatures for an Indoor Grow Room
Finding the ideal operating temperature is one way growers can help ensure growth rates and bountiful harvests.
Choosing the Right Light for Vegetative Growth
Starting off with the appropriate vegetative light can make a world of difference when it comes to yields.
Let There Be Light Reflection: Increasing Light Energy Efficiency
A better understanding of light reflection, cross-patterns and diffusion could mean the difference between a vibrant, successful garden and...
Cracking the Code
In the United States, every fertilizer label on store shelves must contain five key components: the brand, the grade, a guaranteed analysis...
When 2 Become 1: Innovative Lighting Combinations
Making decisions can be difficult, especially when it comes to your indoor garden’s lighting system. Fortunately, growers no longer have to...
Optimizing Supplemental CO2
Want to maximize plant performance in the growroom this year? Providing your plants with extra carbon dioxide is one way to get faster...
Beating Botrytis: How to Identify, Prevent & Treat a Common Crop Ailment
There are more than 50 different species of botrytis, also known as gray or brown mold, which can wreak havoc on numerous plants, including...
Bringing in the Harvest
There are many techniques for harvesting various fruits and vegetables and, in many cases, there is more than one correct way to properly...
Illuminating HID Lighting Systems
Though many new technologies have emerged, HID lighting is still the most commonly used lighting system in indoor gardens. Both metal...
A Breath of Fresh Air: The Importance of Air Purification in an Indoor Garden
Air purification is one of the most overlooked variables of an indoor garden because most airborne pathogens are invisible, but ignoring...
Attack of the Clones Tips & Tricks for Cloning Success
For an indoor gardener to have a perpetually successful garden, they must first become successful at cloning.
Essential Components for Starting an Indoor Garden
The first step to a healthy, vibrant indoor garden is to build a growroom with the hardware required to ensure plants are supplied with the...
Ebb and Flow Hydroponic Systems
An ebb and flow hydroponic system maximizes nutrient uptake and available oxygen in the root zone. Here's how these systems work and why...
Analyzing Nutrient Film Technique
NFT systems are still widely used by both commercial and hobbyist horticulturists. Although the commercial use of NFT is focused on leafy...
Evolution of Hydroponic Nutrition
Hydroponic nutrients, like indoor gardening hardware, have evolved immensely over the last 10 years. There have been major breakthroughs in...
Optimal Nutrient Reservoir Parameters - Understanding the Heart of Your System
Getting the nutrient solution just right is important to ensure a successful, thriving garden. Read on to learn how to make your nutrient...
Fighting Fungi the Organic Way
When fungi problems strike in the vegetable garden, the results can be catastrophic. Eric Hopper has the latest on organic solutions that...
Two Methods to a Great Clean: Sanitizing and Sterilizing
In order to maintain an optimal growing environment, the horticulturist must maintain cleanliness. To implement sanitization and...
Raging Hormones
Plant hormones are quite different from those found in animals, but they do have at least one thing in common: they play an intricate role...
A Gentle, Guiding Hand
Lush, vibrant growth is always a good thing in a garden; however, indoor growers don’t have a lot of room to spare. Thankfully, we’ve...
Undergoing an Organic Transformation
Over the past few years, many people have become more educated in organic production techniques. Here’s a closer look at how this education...
Consistency is the Key
Plants are a diverse bunch with a wide variety of optimal needs. Thankfully, however, they all have one thing in common: a love a...
Below The Surface: Root Growth Stimulation and Microorganisms
A healthy root system depends on beneficial microorganisms that live in the rhizosphere. In learning which products and techniques best...
Homegrown Groceries: An Argument for Indoor Food Production
There are a few reasons why growing one’s own food is becoming more of a necessity.
Recipes for Success: Building Your Own Organic Potting Soil
Building your own organic potting soil is no different than any other do-it-yourself project. It allows the gardener to save money while...
The Complexities of Defining and Measuring Light Energy
Light is light, right? Well, human eyes perceive light as color, with each shade corresponding to a different wavelength. However, there...
Battle of the Bugs: A Guide to Beneficial Insects
There are few things as troubling as discovering an insect infestation in an otherwise flawless garden. Once discovered, a grower must...
Dissolved Oxygen: The Hidden Necessity
You can’t see it and you don’t even know it’s there—but the dissolved oxygen in your water supply is absolutely critical to maintaining the...
Ventilation Systems for Greenhouses and Indoor Gardens
Ensuring your greenhouse or indoor garden is properly ventilated is every bit as important to the health of your plants as adequate water...
Eco-friendly Horticultural Lighting: The Future is Here
The horticultural industry has been making significant progress in developing new, energy-efficient light fixtures, its main goals being to...
Building an Effective Fertilizer Regimen
What should you be feeding your plants? Figuring out their perfect diet is a matter of trial and error and careful observation.
The Science Behind Light
Every garden is different, but the laws of physics apply equally to them all. See how it applies to light.
Q&A by Eric Hopper
How much nitrogen is required for growing corn?
The pre-sidedress soil nitrate test (PSNT) is a soil nitrogen test developed by Dr. Fred Magdoff from the University of Vermont to help...
What are the best indoor ambient temperatures and relative humidity levels for maximum photosynthesis?
Finding the optimal temperature for a CO2-enriched growroom is essential for maximizing your return on CO2 equipment. Regardless of the...
What tips do you have for someone starting a commercial-sized growroom?
Thank you for your questions. First, when setting up a commercial growing facility, remember that automation is your best friend. The more...
If I've lost my plants to a virus what do I need to do to decontaminate the room and equipment?
Thank you for your question. When a plant gets infected by a virus it should be immediately removed from the rest of the crop to avoid...
Can you use Epsom salts as a magnesium sulfate treatment for plants?
Yes, Epsom salt can be used as a magnesium sulfate treatment for your plants. Epsom salt is a form of magnesium sulfate that is highly...
What natural insect controls can you recommend for potato leafhoppers?
Thank you for your question. Insecticidal soap can be an effective treatment for potato leafhoppers but can be difficult to implement...
Why did my little cucumber buds yellow and die?
Cucumber plants have both male and female flowers. On most cucumber plants, the female flowers require pollination from the male flowers to...
What should a new grower know about nutrients?
When growers are choosing a base nutrient, they will quickly discover there are one-part, two-part or three-part options. Although these...
Are there lighter carbon filters available for indoor gardening?
Exhaust fans and carbon filters are heavy pieces of indoor gardening equipment. Before you purchase a lighter filter, please keep in mind...
I’m about to buy my first grow tent. What sort of lighting system is best?
High intensity discharge lights, including metal halide and high pressure sodium, are still the most commonly used lighting systems in grow...
Can I use gypsum to buffer the coco peat?
Thank you for your question. When discussing buffering or buffering agents in a soil, it is usually in reference to the soil’s ability to...
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