“
THERE MAY BE some ways you can help
reduce your energy output and environmental
impact by changing the room’s structure.”
LEDs
Most LED grow lights aren’t overly
expensive to put into your growroom,
and this can be a good baby step
towards reducing the amount of energy
you’re consuming. Depending on your
current set-up, this may be as simple
as changing the type of bulbs you buy.
However, you may have to invest in
completely new grow lights. Still, this
could be a bonus way to reduce your
environmental impact as you can look
for equipment that uses less energy
than your previous set-up.
Reusable Media
Another relatively simple change you
can make to reduce your growroom’s
environmental impact is your growing
media. Currently, you may be guilty of
using a subtrate for a short time and
then tossing it rather than trying to
clean it because it’s less labor. Instead,
try using a growing media that can
be reused to prevent waste. Examples
include grow rock, growstone hydroponic substrate, and water-absorbing
crystals. It’s worth it to take the extra
time to clean what you can reuse again.
Conserve Nutrients
It’s often tempting to just use the same
measure of nutrients on a regular basis,
but this can be another way you’re
negatively impacting the environment
in your growroom. More may not necessarily be better, as your plants may just
not be taking in all the available nutrients. This can keep nutrients in your
hydroponic system, and in some cases,
you may be negatively impacting the
health of your crops if they are getting
too many nutrients. Instead, test your
system to see what nutrients are needed
and in what amount. Then, you can just
add what is necessary. Not only will this
help reduce your growroom’s environmental impact, but will also help your
wallet in the long run because you won’t
be buying as many nutrients as you
were before implementing the testing.
Repurposing Spent
Nutrients Outside
When your nutrients have served their
purpose in your hydroponic system
indoors, use them outside instead of
just figuring out the best way to dump
them. After all, your plants outside can
benefit greatly from these nutrients. To
up your environmental cred even more,
you may want to create a small wetland
in your backyard; there are plenty of
instructions available online. A backyard wetland is the perfect place for
dumping your wastewater as it will put
it back into the water cycle in a positive
manner. Sure, this can be costlier than
just watering your outdoor plants with
spent nutrients, but it adds some good
karma to your green lifestyle.
Growroom Structure
In your efforts to reduce the environmental impact of your growroom, you
may be focused on your hydroponic
system instead of the building itself.
However, there may be some ways
you can help reduce your energy
output and environmental impact
by changing the room’s structure.
Some examples are putting in new
windows that are built to be energy
efficient, sealing up any cracks or
openings in the walls, and insulating the walls. Each of these actions
will help keep the heating bills down
because your heat will stay indoors
rather than escape outside.
You may find that you’ve already implemented some of these five ways to
reduce your growroom’s environmental
impact, and that’s great. Give yourself a
pat on the back, but then start evaluating even more things that you can do to
reduce your impact. You’ll be glad that
you did when your energy bills drop
and your crops come out looking just as
gorgeous as always.
Shannon McKee lives in Ohio and has been a freelance writer for several years now. Nicknamed a garden hoarder by loved ones,
she grows a wide variety of plants in her urban garden.
Maximum Yield USA | December 2016
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