Living System is a state of the art hydroponic growing system which will allow you to use state of the art growing techniques. Living System is User Friendly!!! Living System will yield a continuous harvest when used in conjunction with a Living System Nursery.

The following is an example of a typical growing cycle of high energy plants such as tomatoes growing indoors with high intensity discharge lighting:

STARTING - Set up your Living Nursery according to the manufacturer's instructions. If you don't have a nursery, you can grow from start to finish in the Living System.

Seedlings or clones can be rooted directly in rockwool. They also can be put into Oasis Horticubes, and the cubes can be buried under the rockwool's surface.

Fill a growth module 3" from the top with rockwool and lay a white circle on the rockwool's surface.

Soak 8 to 12 Horticubes in water and set them on the white circle. Then fill cell to top of cubes with rockwool. You can use different quantities of different size cubes. Dip your cuttings for 10 seconds in a Dip'N Grow solution. (1 part Dip'N Grow to 10 parts of water). Stick in cubes. Attach spout to feed elbow and place growth module in the nursery. You should have healthy rooted cuttings in one to two weeks. Bury rooted cubes 1" under your medium's surface and direct the spout toward the plant base.

Another way to take cuttings would be to paint the stems of your Source plants with a rooting hormone just above the area where you will take the cutting. You will notice new accelerated cell growth on the painted area within one week. Take your cuttings at this time, soaking the stems in water for 15 minutes. Put the clones in rooting cubes and proceed as before in the previous paragraphs. Water soluble nutrients made up of macro and micro nutrients must be used.

Golden Grow 10/10/12, Hydrolife 9/7/14, and Dyna Grow 7/9/5, are just three examples of complete hydroponic nutrient formulations readily available at most indoor gardening stores. Golden Grow 10/10/12, is a relatively new formula that has rapidly gained in popularity, because of its high quality: It contains nitrogen in non ammonia form such that its use by the plants causes shorter stockier growth. It is totally water soluble when mixed properly. This is very important in hydroponic systems where debris can easily clog fittings. Fill your nursery with a lukewarm nutrient solution mixed according to the label instructions or 1300 PPM (parts per million) of dissolved solids, if you have access to a DS meter and can check the PPM level.

REMEMBER: If you are mixing 20 gallons of solution, add your nutrients to 20 gallons of warm water, one part at a time for Multi-Part formulas while mixing. 1100 is plenty of nutrient for the nursery. Adjust the pH to a level of 6.3 to 6.8 at least every other day.

Change nutrients each 7-10 days. This is when the percentage of dissolved salts used by the plants has decreased, and the minimum level of nutrients required for the plant's usual level of activity is not present. Which is just a fancy detailed way of saying out of nutrients. If you have access to a PPM (parts per million of dissolved solids) meter, simply maintain a nutrient concentration level of 1300 PPM and change nutrients every 14-30 days. Flush the system once every 3 times the nutrients are changed for optimum results. You will have to use a higher concentration of nutrients in your system after flushing because your medium will be water logged. The living system Nursery has automatic flush and drain capabilities to help you automate this process. If debris gathers in the reservoir pool, hose it toward the pump and pump it out while draining your system. A wet / dry vacuum will also do the job.

Use 1 gallon of nutrient solution times the number of modules in your nursery: 18; 36; or 60. Add enough nutrient solution to this to bring the level to within one inch of the bottom of the growth modules. Then add fresh water as needed to maintain this level for the remainder of the cycle. This will help prevent rapid swings in nutrient concentration due to differing rates of nutrient use and water transpiration.

With a PPM meter, you may fine tune your nutrient concentration daily to achieve optimum results. 1100 PPM of dissolved salts is the recommended concentration of nutrient solution to be used in the Living Nursery.

The 18, 36, and 60 cell nurseries are 45", 60", and 74" in diameter respectively. One 400 watt HID light with a 48" Parabolic reflector is enough light to start plants successfully in an 18 cell nursery. 36 and 60 cell nurseries require a 1000 watt metal halide for optimum results. A 1- Light Sun Circle is highly recommended for the 60 cell nursery and is a recommended option for the 36 cell nursery.

FRUITING: Set up your living system in your fruiting room. Your fruiting system is expandable and will easily accommodate up to 60 growth modules.

As your nursery plants reach their rapid growth stage (4 to 6 weeks old and no more than 16" tall), move your nursery growth modules to the Living System reservoir modules to begin fruiting. Use the Living System growth modules to start new cuttings or seedlings in your Nursery System.

The expanded Living System, is used to rapidly fruit your vegetables and other plants. By using a fruiting nutrient formula in conjunction with a controlled light cycle, you can also grow a crop from start to finish in the Living System. Nutrients should be changed in a Living System every seven to ten days. Changing the nutrients every seven days will yield optimum results. Your Living System should also be flushed once per month.

REMEMBER: Adding water to replace used nutrient solution is probably the easiest way to maintain a fairly balanced nutrient solution between nutrient changes. Checking daily with a PPM (parts per million) meter will allow you to fine tune your nutrient, increasing yield even further. Either technique will keep the nutrient solution within the acceptable concentration range, but a PPM meter is recommended for optimum yields.

REMEMBER: A complete water soluble nutrient must be used. A formula high in phosphorus, and low in nitrogen should be used for fruiting. It MUST contain a good balance of micro-nutrients. Bloom Builder 0/7/9 is recommended as an additive for use with Golden Grow 10/10/12 standard formula. First the Golden Grow is mixed as in the nursery example above. Then add Bloom Builder according to the label instructions (usually 1 tsp. per gal.). Dyna Grow and Dyna Bloom can be used to adjust your PPM upwards when your nutrient concentration drops too low during a feeding cycle. Since they are liquids, they can be added directly to the heart while the pump is on and mixed with the recirculating solution.

Do not overfeed your plants. It will cost you in decreased yield, wasted nutrients, wasted pH up, wasted money, and disappointment. A rapid fruiting environment is maintained with daily pH adjustment, and some form of CO2 enrichment. Mature fruit can be harvested within 6 to 8 weeks. Plants maybe harvested when they are fully mature. Replace the Living System growth module with a plant ready to fruit in a growth module from your Living Nursery.