Maximum Yield Australia/New Zealand March/April 2019 | Page 12

No matter what technology we use to grow, how plants grow will never change.” from the EDITOR TG Toby Gorman 12 Maximum Yield W e’re returning briefly to our roots in this issue of Maximum Yield. Over the past couple of years, we’ve focused on the innovation that has taken place in the indoor growing space. There has been a lot. From robotic bees to personal food computers, artificial intelligence to growing hydroponically in space, how we grow our food is constantly changing. These days, indoor farms that employ just a couple of robots and a cloud-based brain are at the leading edge of farming. No matter what technology we use to grow, how plants grow will never change. The basic biology remains constant, as do the problems growers encounter, such as pests, nutrient deficiency, and pH control. In this issue, we’re featuring stories that every grower needs to know, starting with long time contributor Chris Bond’s article “Understanding How Roots Uptake Water and Nutrients” on page 54. As Bond states, “Most folks know what plant roots are and have a vague notion of some of the basic functions they perform. Of course, roots offer an anchorage system to keep plants in place, they store food for the plant in the forms of sugars, starches, and proteins, and roots send water and nutrients up into the plant. But not everyone knows just how the root system does these amazing things.” There is no better stage in the growing game to brush up on how roots work than the pre-veg seedling stage. We’ve got that covered in this issue, too, with Grubbycup’s article “Caring for Delicate Pre-veg Seedlings” on page 36. “After a seed has sprouted — but before it enters the preadolescence of vigorous vegetative growth — plants go through an oft-overlooked and frequently under- appreciated seedling (pre-veg) stage. While the time spent in this stage is usually limited to a week or two, it can be fraught with opportunities for mistakes by unseasoned growers and is less forgiving of errors than mature plants,” says Grubbycup. It’s never a bad time to revisit some of the basics. As always, thanks for reading Maximum Yield and if you have any questions or just want to drop us a line feel free to contact us at [email protected].