The Grow Guys

The Grow Guys Gardening supplies and hydroponic specialists

22/08/2026

Here's a number worth writing on the tent. Sixteen degrees.

Below 16 degrees in the root zone, nutrient uptake stops. Not slows. Stops. And that single fact explains a huge number of the winter problems we get asked about in store.

The pattern goes like this. Plants start looking off, growth stalls, yields come in under what the same setup did in March. So the grower assumes it's a feeding issue, changes the nutrient brand, tweaks ratios, starts chasing a deficiency.

There was never a deficiency. The food was sitting right there. The roots were too cold to take it.

Two fixes, neither complicated. Heaters from AC Infinity or VIVOSUN, which run off a controller and hold a set point. Or heat tubes, which come in a range of sizes and pair with a thermostat so they cycle to your target temperature instead of running flat out.

Neither is a big install and neither is winter-only. Any tool that gives you control over room temperature earns its keep in the shoulder seasons and on the cold summer nights too.

Full climate control range: https://www.thegrowguys.com.au/collections/grow-room-environment-control

Heat Saber tube heaters: https://www.thegrowguys.com.au/products/heat-saber-shields-by-horti-air-grow-room-heater

21/08/2026

Most failed cuttings aren't a technique problem. They're an environment problem, and it's usually the same two things missing.

Here's the propagation setup we put together, and why each piece is in there.

A small tent, because you're not trying to light a room. You're controlling a shoebox, and a contained space holds warmth and humidity right where the cuttings are.

A 26W blue-weighted light. The Horti-Vision TLED in Grow spectrum does the job. Blue drives vegetative growth, and cuttings do not want a big flowering fixture parked over them.

Root zone heat with a thermostat. The VIVOSUN Seedling Heat Mat with Thermostat lets you set the root zone temperature rather than hope. This is the piece most people leave out and it's the one that moves the needle hardest.

Humidity. A cutting has no roots. It is drinking through its leaves, so if the air is dry it simply runs out of water. A small ultrasonic humidifier fixes it.

From there, strike into whatever you prefer. Eazy Plug cubes, Grodan rockwool, or a Seahawk cloning station.

Full propagation range: https://www.thegrowguys.com.au/collections/propagation

Propagation tents: https://www.thegrowguys.com.au/collections/propagation-grow-tents

20/08/2026

The most common objection we hear about adding a heater to a tent is the power bill. It's a fair question and the maths usually goes the other way.

A domestic oil column heater draws somewhere around 2,000 watts. The AeroFlux Smart Grow Tent Heater by VIVOSUN draws 700. So on wattage alone, the thing most people are already using is the expensive option.

But wattage isn't really the point. The oil heater is designed to warm a lounge room, so it heats hard, cycles off, lets the space fall, then kicks back on. Your root zone and your canopy ride that swing all night, every night.

A grow heater sits on a thermostat and holds a target. That's what you're buying. Not heat, stability.

And stability is what your yields are made of. A room that sits where you set it produces a repeatable result. A room that swings eight degrees overnight does not.

Winter is not a reason to stop growing. It's a reason to use a different tool.

AeroFlux 700W heater: https://www.thegrowguys.com.au/products/vivosun-aeroflux-smart-grow-tent-heater-700w

Full climate control range: https://www.thegrowguys.com.au/collections/grow-room-environment-control

19/08/2026

Thirty days. That's roughly how long a pH pen holds its calibration in regular use before it starts drifting, and the frustrating part is it never tells you. The screen still shows a number. The number is just wrong.

Here's the full process on the Aqua Master Tools P160 Pro2, which does pH and EC in one pen.

Start with the probe sitting in electrode cleaner for about ten minutes. That glass bulb is the sensitive bit, and cleaner lifts the film off it. Skip the RO water.

Rinse, dry, pH mode. Into pH 7 first, wait for it to settle, press CAL. Rinse. Then pH 4. Two points, because 4 and 7 sit either side of the 5.5 to 6.5 range you're actually growing in.

Then swap to EC. Probe into the conductivity standard, hold CAL, arrow up until it reads exactly what the bottle says. Ours reads 2.76. Confirm with the power button.

Then store it wet. KCl or electrode storage solution in the cap, every single time. That one habit is the difference between a pen that lasts years and one that dies in a season.

Pen: https://www.thegrowguys.com.au/products/aqua-master-tools-p160-pro2-combo-pen

Calibration and storage solutions: https://www.thegrowguys.com.au/collections/ph-control-calibration-ph-ec

11/07/2026

Your plants aren't dying because of bad luck. Check your pH.

Ours were going off — then the browning started. Yellow leaves, leaves dropping completely, plants looking rough. And when plants get unhealthy like that, they're weaker and way more open to bugs, disease, and all the icky stuff you don't want.

The culprit? Our nutrient solution was sitting at 7.1. Way too high.

The fix:

Grab a pH pen (freshly calibrated) and test your solution
Know your target — coco wants around 5.8–6.1, soil sits a bit higher around 6.5
Adjust with pH Up or pH Down — a drop or two at a time, they're strong
Smaller reservoir = smaller doses
Rinse your probe after every single use

We brought ours down to 5.9, stripped back the dead growth, and now the recovery starts.
Moral of the story: do your pH once, get a good yield at the end.

pH pens, pH Up, and pH Down in store and online — come see Jack or Jess, or hit the link in bio.

10/07/2026

Winter's here — which means it's time to give your indoor plants the attention they've been missing.

Part 3 of our propagation series, and we're back on the water method with a neglected houseplant that's about to become several houseplants.

Why propagate now?

It's a cheap way to grow your plant stock at home
It's an insurance policy — if a special plant carks it, you've got backups
Winter's when you're indoors anyway, so put the time to good use

Take cuttings at different sizes for variation, leave a few nodes and leaves on the mother plant so it still looks good, and strip any leaves that won't fit in the vase.

While you're at it, tidy the plant up. Remove leaves sitting too close to the medium — that's where mildew, fungus, and gnats set up shop. Same rule as your outdoor garden.

One big one: don't repot in the middle of winter. Wait until your plant's actively growing. For now, just get everything healthy so it's ready for spring cuttings.

That's a wrap on the series. Catch up on Parts 1 and 2 if you missed them.

Propagation gear at thegrowguys.com.au — link in bio.

09/07/2026

Free mulch season is here — grab the kids, the dogs, and a bucket, and hit the parks.
Autumn leaves are one of the best free resources going, and right now they're everywhere. We've been out scooping them up for the compost, the worm farm, and the new garden beds here at the shop.
Why bother with leaves?

They add organic matter to your soil
They feed the microbes and worms — get those little critters doing their thing
They help with water retention
They suppress weeds

One tip: leaves are light and they will blow away. Weight them down with pea straw, oat straw, or sugarcane mulch over the top. Our pick is oat straw or pea straw bales — dense, and they compact nicely over winter.

Free organic matter, healthier soil, happier worms. Hard to argue with that.
More soil and mulch content coming — follow along.

Mulch, compost, and everything soil at thegrowguys.com.au — link in bio.

08/07/2026

Water's not the only way to propagate — sphagnum moss might be your new best mate.
Part 2 of our propagation series, and Jess is showing us her go-to method for cuttings with finer roots.
The setup:

Wide-mouth vase (easier to work with, easier to clean)
Moist sphagnum moss as your medium
Roots touching the moss, cutting pinned in place with florist wire — or a bobby pin, or even a stick
Mist regularly to keep that moss moist

The environment matters just as much as the method. Bright room, indirect light — no harsh sun on delicate cuttings. Keep them away from your fruit bowl, heat pump, and fire. Moisture is key.
And if a cutting doesn't take? Re-nip it, pop it back in water, and go again. No stress.
Part 3 coming soon. Got a smart propagation trick of your own? Drop it in the comments.
Propagation gear, misters, and more at thegrowguys.com.au — link in bio.

07/07/2026

Taking cuttings? KISS — keep it simple, stupid.
Part 1 of our propagation series and it all starts at the node. That little bump on the stem is where your roots will fire from, and where new shoots and leaves will push out later.
The method:

Find your nodes
Trim off the excess stem below them
Keep a leaf or two up top
Pop them straight into a vase of water

We're running pothos here — one of the easiest plants to propagate and a ripper for leaf variation. Single pieces, a bit of height difference between them, and they'll look mint when it's time to pot up.
Don't stress if your leaves look a bit limp out of water — they bounce back.
Part 2 drops soon. Follow along so you don't miss it.
Everything you need to propagate at home is at thegrowguys.com.au — link in bio.

24/05/2026

Don’t grow with the seasons — build the season.

Just dropped a full walkthrough on the channel: setting up the complete Vivosun climate control package in a 5x5 tent. Heaters, AC, humidifier, dehumidifier, exhaust fan and the E42A smart controller — the lot.

This is how you take a grow tent from “box with a light” to a fully automated environment that holds temp and humidity year-round, no matter what’s happening outside.

We cover the bits most beginners stuff up too — carbon filter airflow direction (arrows matter), why the filter sock isn’t optional if smell’s a concern, and a cheeky reminder to grab some Method Sevens before you’re squinting under full-spec LEDs.

Whether you’re a first-time tent builder or upgrading an old setup, this one’s worth a watch.

🔗 Full video live on YouTube — link in bio

🛒 Full Vivosun range at thegrowguys.com.au

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