The Growing Revolution - Smart PotCast

In this latest installment of The Growing Revolution, we spoke with Alex Luscombe who is one of the managers at Lukas Nursery & Butterfly Encounter in Oviedo, Florida. Their nursery is one of the top 100 independent garden centers in the USA based on total sales, and it takes a small army of around 40 people to get the job done. Alex explains how the town of Oviedo itself, was founded by Paul Lukas and his family in the early 1900's as Slovakian immigrants. Later, Lukas Nursery was started by the Lukas family members with Paul Jr as President. They have had steady growth as Oviedo has grown as a suburb of Orlando. In the 2000's, they added a 4000 sq ft butterfly encounter where they have many species of butterfly and the plants that they love to eat and reproduce on. After being inspired by their visit, guests can purchase the same plants and even starter butterfly cocoons to start their own pollinator space. Besides being a destination for school groups and families for tours, Lukas Nursery also has a Fall Festival event where they bring in food trucks, vendors, activities and games for all. Come Christmas time, tree sales profits are donated to local charities, so the Lukas family knows all about spreading karma, and giving back to the community. Alex explains that one of the benefits of working at Lukas Nursery is the family atmosphere. Everyone feels like they are an extended part of the Lukas family, which is still family run to this day.Oviedo is North East of Orlando and Lukas Nursery is happy to see everyone, and familys can visit anytime before 3:30pm to see the butterflies. Groups are required to book in advance and we recommend calling early. Their wait can be up to 6 months!We greatly appreciate Alex for making the time to speak with us. Please subscribe to our podcast, as we have more great episodes coming in the future.

In the latest installment of The Growing Revolution, we spoke with Charles Malki who is the founder of IV Organic, based in Southern California. He came onto our radar as we were browsing on Instagram and came across his page for IV Organic where he has a ton of information on trees, organic gardening and much more. Like many of us, Charles had a love for plants from a young age, cultured by his mother and grandfather. His lifepath was leading him into medicine where he had an early interest in cardiology. He then decided to get his law degree and became a practicing attorney in Florida for around a decade. It was when he decided to move back to Southern California that he started IV Organic, and it's first product, the 3 in 1 Plant Guard, which is an organic substitute to the whitewashing that many tree growers will use to protect their trunks from disease, sunscald and pests. Charles also is an author, and writes about how backyard gardening can save the world. His book provides easy to understand lessons on how to be more productive in the garden and live a healthier lifestyle. IV Organic also has a couple of all purpose fertilizer products that focus on the six major macro elements needed for optimal plant health. Traditional ag fertilizers will only focus on NPK. We greatly appreciate Charles joining us on the podcast, and for being a great advocate for the organic commercial grower, and homegrower.

In this week's episode of The Growing Revolution- Smart PotCast, we got to speak with Paul Meehan of Natchez Tree Company of Lamar, Mississippi. Paul has become a great customer of our Root Control Bags for his tree farm, and we wanted to learn about his history, how he got into the business in the first place, and how he's using our products.Paul's nursery has only been running for 4 years, but he's already been selling through his inventory, which is a great accomplishment for a first generation tree farmer. He originally went to school for marketing, but after a few years of being successful doing sales in NYC, he had a longing to start a tree farm (who doesn't?) and thus started a long road of research. Paul called upon dozens of tree farmers to pick their brain about how to set up a tree farm and if he should even bother in the first place. The general answer was yes, you can do it, but you have to be smart. One of Paul's biggest mentors is Eric Hall, who was a previous guest on our podcast. Eric got him onto the Monarch Auger system, which works hand-in-glove with our Root Control Bags. With Eric's consulting knowledge, the Natchez Tree Co was started and it's been an adventure in farming trees ever since. Within the last year or so, Paul's trees have reached a harvesting size so now he gets to add selling trees to his daily chores besides keeping them growing and planting up new ones. If you are considering the tree nursery business, listen to this podcast, and feel free to reach out to Paul, and us at High Caliper Growing/ Smart Pot. Please Subscribe to our podcast for more great interviews to come!

This is the conclusion of our interview with Michael Melendrez of Soil Secrets in Los Lunas New Mexico. We discuss humic and fulvic acids, labeling laws and practices, comparing mycorrhizal products on the market, his nursery Trees That Please, and much more. It is pretty obvious from this interview that not only does Michael know what he's talking about, but that he is passionate about it, and he really cares about healing our Earth, and healing our bodies from the foods that we generally eat.Our world needs more people like Michael who knows what is wrong with how we are doing things and is actively working to make a change. His interview was very informative and entertaining to conduct, so we hope that you enjoy listening to it.Please like this podcast, and follow us for more great interviews to come.

This week on The Growing Revolution- Smart PotCast, we speak with Michael Martin Melendrez, founder of Trees That Please, and Soil Secrets based in Los Lunas, NM. Michael is passionate about people, plants and especially, soil health. He grew up the son of a farmer, and his father taught him at an early age about the importance of soil health. His passion for plants and soil won him a state title through the 4H Organization for judging soil composition, defeating people much older than him. Seemingly always the underdog in athletics and academics, Michael still excelled through sheer determination. The stories about his academic career, and it being guided AWAY from agriculture, by his Horticulture professor, must be heard to be believed. His initial venture into business was to improve health and wellness, which then lead him to nutrition, and the vitamins and minerals (or lack thereof) that composed the average American's diet. This shocking conclusion then redirected him back to soil health, microbiology, soil amendments and bio stimulants, starting his own tree nursery, founding an international oak tree organization, and so much more. This conversation with Michael actually went almost 2 hours, so this will be part one, of a two part episode. Part 2 is just as entertaining and informative. If you aren't inspired to change how you look at fertilizers after this podcast, you weren't listening. Please like this episode and subscribe for more great content coming in the future, including part 2 of Michael's interview.

On the latest episode of The Growing Revolution Smart PotCast, we spoke with Alex Burnett, founder of Canna Innovations. He is a manufacturing industry consultant who has been focusing lately on cannabis manufacturing and distribution. He has taken the skills that he learned as an Engineer and later through attaining his MBA from large Fortune 500 companies like Texas Instruments, to starting his own ventures. With Canna Innovations, Alex has developed a few products for the industry. Cannoogle, is a resource for people to find the right cannabis growers, dispensaries in Oklahoma to either buy or sell products. He has also developed a harvest station and his latest product is the Trellis Trap, which is a patented product similar in size to a 5 gal bucket, but with features that allow cultivators to stuff around 200-250 feet of 4 or 5 foot trellis netting into. This keeps the grow room clean, makes harvesting easier and safer, and ultimately pays for itself if you deal with trellis at harvest time.Alex has lots of good advice for cultivators and can be found at canna-innovations.com. It was a pleasure meeting with Alex again after initially meeting him last year at the MJBiz conference in Las Vegas. Please subscribe to our podcast and share with your gardening friends. We've got more great podcast interviews lined up in the near future!

In our latest episode of The Growing Revolution Smart PotCast, we interviewed David Larsen with Circo Innovations. They developed the snap clamp for attaching plastic sheeting around pvc piping for tile cutters to work indoors. Shortly afterwards, many industries, especially the gardening and greenhouse industries realized the potential of the snap clamp, and eventually all of the other products that they've introduced over the years.They are a small, family-run business based in Northern California, east of Sacramento. David talks about the many benefits of working in the family business and some of the potential issues to be navigated. Free childcare from Grandma is a major work benefit.We also spoke about the other pvc related products that they've rolled out over the years, including some of their parts being used on a greenhouse kit designed for growing food on Mars! It was a pleasure learning more about how Circo's products are helping gardeners around the world. Please like and share our podcast, and subscribe for more episodes coming in the future.

This week, we spoke with Bart Eller, founder of Paonia Soil Company. They have been making growing mediums and soil amendments since 2012 in Paonia, CO, which is on the Western Slope of the Rocky Mountains. Bart is a serial entrepreneur, but hopefully Paonia Soil Co is the last company that Bart starts up. In this interview he speaks about his background prior to Paonia Soil and the family upbringing that brought him to try and save the world, one farm at a time. They have a unique process of creating their "super soil" which makes it have an abundance of biodiversity of beneficial bacteria and fungi. Their process is especially beneficial for preserving beneficial fungi that otherwise dies off in other production processes. Bart is also a large fan of Smart Pot containers and raised beds, and has had many custom Smart Pot raised beds designed for his own, and his customer's needs. Besides being sensitive to the needs of Mother Earth, Bart is a fun laid back guy and tries to inject humor into his company, and their products at all times.This was a really fun interview to do, and Bart is exactly the type of person that we love to interview. If more people had his outlook on business, agriculture and life in general, this world would be a much better place. We greatly appreciate his support over the years and his sparing of time to join us for the podcast interview.

This week on The Growing Revolution, we interviewed Maygan Clark. She is based in the Cincinatti Ohio area, and is a passionate gardener, beekeeper and small business advocate. Her main job is in advising businesses on workplace safety training but when she isn't doing that, she is in her own garden, consulting with others on building and maintaining their own gardens and apiaries (bee house) and building The Growmunity, which is a local networking group for entrepreneurs and small businesses. For being in her 20's, she's done more than some people do in a lifetime. We've loved seeing her gardening posts over the last few years, as she is a huge fan of Cali Kim, and Smart Pots, and it was really enjoyable to get to know her more and learn how she's building up the karma points for herself and those who she's networking with. We greatly appreciate Maygan taking some time from her busy schedule to speak with us.More great interviews are coming! Please subscribe to our podcast and share with your friends who love hearing inspiring stories.

This week on The Growing Revolution Smart PotCast, we spoke with Jahasiel Torres, Manager of Orange County Farm Supply, in Orange CA. They have been serving the City of Orange and the surrounding communities for 75 years, and JT has been the manager for the last 10. They are currently owned by the Roy family and it is truly a family business with many of them occupying various positions in the company over the years. The focus of their garden center has always been on customer service and being knowledgeable about the products that they sell, so their customers have great success and come back for more. They also have occasional events where they will bring in some of the vendors that they carry to further educate their customers. Jahasiel had an interesting path to becoming store manager, and it's inspiring to hear that hard work, ultimately pays off. His wife, Cindy, is with their three daughters pretty much full time, but she has also become a huge gardener, and Smart Pot fan. She's done a great job at incorporating her kids into gardening, passing on the knowledge and cultivating their passion for plants.Please like this episode and share with your friends. We've got more passionate gardening guests coming in future interviews. Stay tuned!

This week on The Growing Revolution we spoke with Valin Bodie of Environmental Soil Solutions. He is a trained Soil Scientist with a degree from Oral Roberts University. His passion for agriculture comes from his family upbringing in the Bahamas where he was taught the importance of regenerative gardening. He talks about his educational and professional journeys in the world of soccer, where he played against national teams from USA, Brazil and more. His professional journey in agriculture had him starting out working for someone else until they got mad at him for doing research and trying to come up with a better soil product. This was the push that he needed to start up his own company, Environmental Soil Solutions where he will do testing, analysis and sourcing of amendments and soil mediums for customers in Oklahoma and beyond.Valin is a very down to earth guy, and we need more folks with his mindset in the agricultural industry. Please like this episode and subscribe to our podcast for more great interviews.

In this week's installment of The Growing Revolution, we got to sit down with Kris Whitten, AKA, Horti Kris. He is a longtime veteran of the hydroponic industry since it's early inception. His road began shortly after leaving Virginia, where he landed in Huntington Beach, California, and thus began his journey with growing cannabis. Besides being a grower, Kris is an inventor having come up with the first FlipBox on the market for running multiple rooms off of the same ballasts. Later, he solved the problem of dust and contaminants from air-cooled lighting systems with the DustShroom. His story of how those two products came about is entertaining and inspirational.He also talks about how the Heavy T Grow Show came about, his role on the show and some great stories from the glory days of the hydroponics industry.This was a very entertaining episode to record, so we hope that you all enjoy watching.

In this week's episode of The Growing Revolution, we welcome back gardening influencer, author, and Smart Pot super fan, CaliKim. We talked about her recommendations on how to easily set up a super productive backyard garden, even for folks who don't have huge yards. CaliKim's yard seems much larger than it actually is, because she has maximized space, especially growing vertically. We cover topics such as garden placement, what to plant, when to plant, and more!We always appreciate Kim's gardening knowledge and for her making the time to join us again on the podcast.Please like this episode and subscribe to our channel for more great podcasts.

This week our guest is Brandon Rust, who is a cannabis agronomist and consultant, as well as owner of Bokashi Earthworks. He sells organic biostimulants and microbial inoculants to improve soil health and quality. We talked about his background growing up in the San Diego area, his move to Oklahoma, his passion for organic chemistry and so much more.Brandon also touches on the recent adult use initiative for Oklahoma, why it failed, and why that isn't necessarily a bad thing.We have worked quite a bit with him lately in supplying his customers with Smart Pot raised beds and sleeves (bottomless pots).Please like this episode, and subscribe to our channel for more great interviews.

On this week's episode of The Growing Revolution, we got to speak with Sean and Allison McManus, who are a husband and wife team of gardening authors, influencers, and inventors. We met them over a year ago because they found us online and thought that a Smart Pot might be a great container to grow their dahlia flowers in. They were right!Their passion is in ornamental flowers of all types, growing in ground, and in containers of all types. They are long time gardeners and have been answering gardening questions for decades. Sean's background is in agriculture science at Washington State University, but before that, he grew up on his family's rhododendron farm. Allison's specialty is in teaching/education, so together they have a lot of gardening knowledge and the ability to convey it in an easy-to-understand manner. Their invention of the Little Dibby and Dibby XL are super cool and the story behind that is inspiring for any entrepreneur. They had some of the best energy out of any of our previous 48 podcast guests, and we really appreciate their time in joining us.Be sure to subscribe to our channel for more great interviews.

We are excited for this week's episode of The Growing Revolution, where we got to speak with one of our favorite recurring guests, Milo Shammas, Founder and CEO of Dr. Earth Organics. He blazed the trail for organic gardeners in the USA decades ago, so who would be a better source to help us understand fertilizer labels, what they mean, and what they might be leaving out.Some of the topics that we cover:What are some other important elements to have in your fertilizer besides NPK?What "NPK Numbers" should gardeners be looking for on their labels?What should organic gardeners look for in pest and disease control products?And much more!Milo has so much passion for organic gardening, and once he gets on a roll with a certain topic it's like an eruption of information. He really cares about Mother Nature, People and Plants, and it shows. We greatly appreciate his time in joining us for our podcast, and his advocacy of environmental stewardship in general.Please like and share this podcast with anyone who might be interested in furthering their organic gardening knowledge.

For the latest episode of The Growing Revolution, we interviewed Will Bowden and Adam Rollinger from Grasshopper Farms in Michigan. They are on year three of growing in full sun, outdoors for the Michigan marketplace. They are focusing on growing the highest quality cannabis possible, and less focused on yield, although they do quite well in that department, also. Will focused on building a team of veteran, outdoor growers who have a passion for the plant, work well as a team and have a long term plan of steady, sustainable growth. They grow in 100 gallon Smart Pots, and a great example of who we like to promote to others as a company doing things the right way.Please like this episode and subscribe to our channel for more great episodes featuring the best growers and retailers in the USA and beyond!

Welcome back to episode 46 of The Growing Revolution. This week we interviewed Emmanuel Arce, who goes by the handle @ultimate_gardening on Instagram. He's a 16 year old from South Florida who's very passionate about gardening in general. His initial draw was ornamental flowers but he then dove into growing edible plants. Emmanuel is a big advocate for organic gardening practices, and he LOVES growing in Smart Pot raised beds. We talk about his gardening journey, and what he's got in mind for the future. The gardening industry has a bright future with people like Emmanuel replacing us older growers :)Please like, and subscribe. We've got more great interviews coming down the line!

This week on The Growing Revolution we sat down with Andrew Martin and Tarra Quinn of 024 Collective. They are a full service marketing team that services all industries helping with social media, branding and all aspects of marketing, specializing in the cannabis industry. They work with many growers, dispensaries and related businesses and have a strong finger on the pulse of the marketplace in Oklahoma, especially. We greatly appreciate their insight on what's going on there and for their support of our Smart Pot products as well.

In episode 44 of The Growing Revolution Smart PotCast, we sat down with A.C. Moon, who grew up in the culture of Northern California and for decades has been a grower, advocate, edible manufacturer, and farm consultant around the world. She most recently was working in the US Virgin Islands to help on setting up some farms out there.She has been a long time fan of using Smart Pot containers and even invented a product, The CropTop Greenhouse, that works hand in glove with the Smart Pot container to create a mini greenhouse. A.C. has some great insight on the industry, from having been through all phases of its growth cycle. Her mission is to help people grow more sustainably and with mother nature rather than against her.Please like this episode and share with your friends. More great interviews are coming soon!

Episode 43 of The Growing Revolution is a super fun one! We were joined by Uncle John and Sean Piccirilli of Cutting Edge Solutions. John started the company back in 2001 after an interesting previous career as an avid Nor-Cal grower. Cutting Edge Solutions is known for high quality liquid, and water-soluble powder fertilizer products. Their growers have won numerous cups and awards, and their results speak for themselves.John and Sean share stories about the company's origins, how they differentiate themselves, dealt with the covid supply crunch, and so much more!This was one of the more entertaining interviews that we've recorded, and we hope that you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed recording it. These are the exact types of conversations that we are looking to archive for future generations of growers.For more information on Cutting Edge Solutions, visit cuttingedgesolutions.comFor more information on Smart Pot products, visit smartpots.comPlease like and share this episode!

For episode 42 of The Growing Revolution- Smart PotCast, we got to interview Alexandria Irons, who goes by Queen Of The Sungrown on social media. Alexandria is a passionate consultant and teacher of regenerative farming and gardening practices. Through various in-person and online classes and research papers, she's pushing growers of cannabis, and traditional crops, towards organic growing.When she was growing cannabis for the recreational market, she was a big fan of using large size Smart Pots and still recommends them to her clients.We lover her vision for sustainable agriculture, and we are just as much a fan of hers, as she is of us.Please subscribe to our podcast, and share with your friends!

In the 41st episode of The Growing Revolution- Smart PotCast, we interview Mark, the inventor of the Green Pad CO2 Generator line of products. Natural CO2 levels are around 400 parts per million. Most plants can benefit from double or triple that amount! Plants cannot grow without CO2, and supplementing in a clone dome, or a grow tent is highly beneficial. Mark invented the Green Pad CO2 Generator as a simple, easy way to amplify the CO2 levels without the need of complex or expensive equipment. Mark is a long-time cannabis grower/ and Smart Pot user, advocate and industry veteran. He's been a reoccurring guest of the Heavy T Grow Show, and always has a great story to tell. For more information on The Green Pad line of products visit thegreenpadstore.com

In Episode 40, we got to speak with Jim Eagan and Ben Thompson of Plant Revolution/ Plant Success, who are responsible for the products like Great White, Orca, King Crab and more. Jim's parents started the business in their garage back in the 90's, like so many businesses have in the past. Through innovative, high performing products, they have helped countless growers to use less fertilizers, while growing healthier plants and achieving higher yields.We talk about the challenges that they've faced over the last few years, innovations in microscope technology allowing us to know more about how roots interact with bacteria and fungi, and much more!

Welcome back for Episode number 6, of Season 2 of The Growing Revolution- Smart PotCast. Our guest this week is Eric Hall, who we have known for a number of years as a tree nursery manager, and as he was developing the Monarch Auger.Installing fabric, in-ground bags can be a labor-intensive operation, but with Eric's Monarch Auger, it's a breeze! Labor needed to install 150 in-ground bags a day goes from 14, down to 3 or 4. Labor being one of the largest expenses in any agricultural operation, being able to save on that manpower helps to achieve a positive return on investment within 50 hours of operation. Also, with the Monarch Auger, native soil can be amended with microbes and/or fertilizer to give it a faster time to harvest from 20-40%, which is HUGE, when you are talking about a product that takes 3-4 years to mature/harvest. Eric has been a longtime fan of our Root Control Bags as a production tool to help tree farmers achieve better profitability. The farmers that hire him as a consultant, and take his advice, are going to be the standard model for the tree nursery industry for many years to come. For more information, or to get in touch with Eric, please visit monarchaugers.com

In our latest episode of The Growing Revolution, we are joined by Genvieve Bessette, owner of La Shop Agricole. She is a passionate gardener herself where she loves organic gardening, designing gardens large and small, diagnosing plant issues and running a long-standing grow store in Quebec. She has been a very strong supporter of Smart Pot products over the years and has even been a driving force behind some of our raised bed products. We got to chat with her about how she got started, what it takes to run a profitable garden center, and how to have the time of your life while doing it. We also talk about Canada's cannabis laws and what needs to change to be more successful. Please give her a follow on Instagram and YouTube: @lashopagricole

In episode 4 of season 2 of The Growing Revolution, we interviewed Timmothy Hammond, who goes by @bigcitygardener online. He's a Houston, Texas based gardener who's been growing since he was a kid, because his parents were smart enough to raise him to know the importance of food, and where it comes from. He is a very adept gardener, and on social media, he's the smallest Ego guy you've met. He isn't trying to sell anything, or have any agenda. Timmothy just loves to grow plants, and help people try to be the best gardeners they can be.He's been a long time user of Smart Pot products, and had a ton of praise for us, which we really appreciate. We look forward to watching his garden journey, wherever it may lead!

Episode 36 was recorded at the 2022 MJ Biz Convention in Las Vegas, last November. Our good friend, and customer, Andrew Johansson was kind enough to hang out in our booth to record an episode for The Growing Revolution. We talked about his interesting path to becoming a hydro store owner, how the cannabis marketplace has changed in Nevada over the years, and where it might be heading.He works with both home growers and some of the largest Licensed Producers, like Planet 13, to source the products that are needed to grow the best cannabis. Smart Pot products have been strongly recommended by Andrew for many years now, and we greatly appreciate his support!

In Episode 35, of The Growing Revolution- Smart PotCast, we interview Melvin Robinson III Executive Director of the Mississippi Cannabis Trade Association. Mississippians approved Medical Cannabis back in 2020 and are one of the newest MMJ states. We wanted to speak with him to learn about the law, what it means for cultivators, patients and how it benefits the citizens of Mississippi. They estimate by 2025 that this will be an $800 million dollar industry, and Melvin wanted to work to educate businesses about how to navigate the regulations.We greatly appreciate Melvin coming on with us. We've got a lot of great guests coming up this season. Stay tuned!

Welcome back to The Growing Revolution, season 2! This week, we are joined by our friend and Smart Pot distributor, Jassem Bastaki of Sustainable Organic Q8. He has been seeing a huge increase in disease, and complexity of disease in his day job as a clinical pathologist in Kuwait. Cancer, STD's and disease in general has exploded, and Jassem wanted to sound the alarm. In this episode, we talk about what he's seeing, the root causes, and what we can do to counter. Spoiler alert: it involves gardening!Jassem is one of the smartest guys we've met, and his passion for plants and people, is nearly unmatched. Please "like" and "share" this episode to help spread the word about what the news media might not be covering. The outlook is grim, but with the right knowledge you can help insulate yourself from an increasingly toxic society.

Wow! It's hard to believe that we've uploaded 33 podcasts already. It has been a great season meeting a lot of new people and seeing some old friends, as well. I wanted to use this episode as an opportunity to give our take on the current state of Lawn and Garden as well as the Hydroponics industries that we service. Season 2 will be fast approaching. We are always looking for new guests to have on the podcast, so please reach out to us if you or someone you know would like to get on with us. I wanted to extend a thank you to all of the guests that were on with us this season. One guest who somehow got left off of the list from this episode is Rick Stone, of Our Stoney Acres. We sincerely apologize Rick! We will be uploading a few videos here and there before Season 2 starts up, so be sure to subscribe to the @smartpots youtube channel. Until the next time, bye for now!

We are joined for Episode 32 of The Growing Revolution by Dan Balma of Central Coast Garden Products, High Country Genetics and Outlaw Country Cannabis. He got his feet wet in the industry with RTI/ Xtreme Gardening and went 100 mph into the hydro industry. His hard work paid off when he landed the role of President of Central Coast Garden Products where their most popular product is Green Cleaner, among many more. Previous to hydro, Dan was working as a high end furniture maker in the LA area. Some of his pieces are spliced into this episode. Dan is one of many individuals that we love seeing at shows and events, and from this interview you can see why. He's a hard working hustler, but a chill family guy at heart. Please like this episode, and subscribe to The Growing Revolution podcast More great episodes are coming, stay tuned!

We got to meet with Gabe Pena, of Engineered Essentials recently for episode 31 of The Growing Revolution. He is an entrepreneur who invented the Plant Bender, a product designed to help growers of all types of plants, bend and manipulate stems and branches. This leads to improved growth, more flowering sites, higher yield, and less reliance on trellis netting. He used his brain to create a product initially with a 3D printer, that is now produced in larger batches, still here in the USA. In his previous life, he was working for a company that had Hawthorne Garden Co as a customer. He was blown away by the size of their distribution center in Michigan and was inspired to get his products in the mix. Besides his Plant Benders, he has a Smart Cure lid, which fits onto mason jars and tells you the internal humidity without even needing to open the jar. Oh, he sells Smart Pot planters as well! It's awesome to see folks coming up with solutions to personal problems, and then making a business/ product out of it! These are the types of stories that we hope to bring you more of on The Growing Revolution. If you enjoyed this episode, please Like this video, Subscribe to The Growing Revolution channel, and Share with your friends! More great episodes coming soon!

In episode 30 of The Growing Revolution we speak with Jason Rider, who invented the C-BITE garden support clip and also founded Thriving Design. Jason started tinkering with his idea back around 2014 where he used a 3D printer to make his prototype. Fast forward to 2020, where he had secured his patents and launched his company. The C-BITE can be used in countless ways, but it mainly is a system where gardeners can build their own custom trellis support systems. They also offer a garden stake kit which includes a beautiful stake cap system for safety and function. Jason is a big fan of Smart Pot planters, so obviously we had to get him on the show. His website is thrivingdesign.com and can be found on social media by searching "Thriving Design" Please smash that "LIKE" button, and please subscribe and also share with your friends. More great interviews are coming. Stay tuned!

It seems like every time you watch TV or surf for news, there is some new tragedy or problem that is affecting the agricultural industry. Diesel fuel and fertilizer is in a shortage with prices increasing rapidly. Chicken farms contracting avian flu, manufacturing and processing plants exploding or starting on fire, and more, have us concerned about our food security. In the USA, we've been spoiled over the last 90 years. We haven't faced a real food shortage since the Great Depression of the '30s. Agricultural industry experts around the world are warning us repeatedly that this fall, there could be the prospects of food shortages. Instead of complain about how our politicians could let this happen, we wanted to look in the other direction and speak about what we can do to hopefully be less dependent on the supermarket for our food. Raised Beds are probably the easiest way for folks to jump into growing their own produce, without a ton of backbreaking labor. Milo and Eric discuss that, and more ideas on how to not only sleep better at night, but to make yourself healthier by growing the most nutrient dense foods, at home! Please LIKE this podcast and subscribe to our channel for more great content!

In episode 28 of The Growing Revolution, we got to speak with Clayton Smith who is a long time industry veteran of both Big Ag, and the Lawn and Garden world with Monterey, and with Bayer and L&L Supply before that. We talk about how he got into the industry, what he loves about it, GMO crops, pest and disease control, and more! Please like and share this episode! Subscribe to our channel for more great content from industry personalities! montereylawngarden.com smartpots.com

With the avian flu being in the news this Spring, and the culling of millions of chickens, it got us thinking again about the poultry industry again. More specifically, about chicken manure- where it comes from and where it's going. I did some research into the industry and my findings were shocking, and confusing. We wanted to bring back Milo Shammas, the founder of Dr. Earth, to help us understand this topic more thoroughly. If chickens are being fed GMO corn and soy, how is it then that their manure would qualify as an organic input ingredient for fertilizers and compost? Are "organic" farms contaminated with GMO by-products? Is this a small, or a large problem? Do labeling laws need to change? We will discuss these topics in this special edition of The Growing Revolution Smart Potcast. We'd love to hear what you have to say about this topic. Please leave a comment! If you like what you seen here, please like this video and consider subscribing to the @smartpots channel. Thank you!

Milan Turner's passion for gardening was sparked by the covid lockdowns, and the unavailability of fresh produce forced him to look at how he procured his food. It started with one plant, and then a little bit of success snowballed to where now he has a new large backyard, loaded with plants. We also chat about what a "food desert" is, and what the city of Atlanta has been doing to rectify that issue (very cool solution.) Episode 26 is now available. If you like this podcast, please like and share with your friends. Make sure to subscribe for more great episodes.

We always love seeing Devon Langford, who is one of the Distributor Reps for Hawthorne Gardening Co, and we were honored to have him on episode 25 of The Growing Revolution. Devon got his start in the hydro world as a worker at Growers Choice Hydroponics, then worked as a rep for General Hydroponics. Before that, he was working as a trained chef for various establishments in the CA Bay Area. His take on growing food and medicine comes from the professional culinary point of view. He's a strong advocate for MMJ rights and is a huge promotor of backyard gardening. His favorite containers, when not growing hydroponically, are Smart Pot planters, of course! We greatly appreciate having him join us. For more great episodes, please like, and share this podcast with people who might be interested. Thank you! https://www.instagram.com/hydroponicchef/ (#HydroChef (@hydroponicchef) • Instagram photos and videos) www.smartpots.com

Episode 24 of The Growing Revolution was an entertaining one! We spoke with Jeff, who goes by @sfcgrown on Instagram. He's been a home grower for 15 years and has also worked his way up working in the legal cannabis industry. He passion for the plant is obvious. It's his full time job, then he goes home to tend to his personal plants. He has won, or placed in multiple categories in The Grow Off competition, which is a contest where growers all get identical genetics, and then product samples are turned in for analysis of medicinal contents, yield, quality, etc. Jeff has been a long time user of Smart Pot containers, and we are proud to be used by dedicated growers like him. At the end of the interview, he talks about how cannabis literally saved his life. Many of us can relate. Subscribe to our channel for more great content. https://www.instagram.com/sfcgrown/

Episode 23 of The Growing Revolution, we spoke with Kristin and Mike Weeks of Fifth Season Gardening in Asheville, North Carolina. Ryan Blankenship manages their Greensboro location and has his own YouTube channel, Growing With The Beard. Fifth Season has been around for over 20 years, and besides indoor gardening supplies (including Smart Pot products), they also sell other "urban DIY supplies" and products for making cheese, wine, beer, beekeeping, etc. They have a great focus on their customer and their experience. As we talk about in the show, retail is a "dying industry." With that said, brick and mortar retail will never completely die, and actually, stores that focus on the customer and creating an experience can, and do thrive! We greatly appreciate Mike and Kristin for their time. Their website: https://fifthseasongardening.com/ Ryan's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX15tEB69cisYGI9lKBo1rQ Smart Pot Website: https://smartpots.com/

Nicolas Boucher, @project.compendium.du.piment on Instagram, is a hot pepper grower who's been putting out beautiful macro and micro shots of his hot peppers as well as fun videos. He's a fan of growing in Smart Pot planters (especially the new Vivid Color collection) so we wanted to get him on to talk about his journey from first getting into hot peppers as a child, to growing his own, indoors and outdoors. His best tip on growing hot peppers seems so simple, but a lot of times, the simple things might be the hardest for inexperienced growers. We greatly appreciate Nicolas for making time for us. More great interviews are coming down the pipeline. The full video can be found on the YouTube page for SmartPots, search "The Growing Revolution" https://www.instagram.com/projet.compendium.du.piment/ (Nicholas a.k.a. Prof. Pepper (@projet.compendium.du.piment) • Instagram )

In the conclusion of our conversation with Bill Graham, we discuss the dreaded hop latent viroid, tissue culture in Columbia, Bill's interactions with Smart Pot President, Kurt Reiger and much more. If you haven't listened to the first part of our interview with Bill, you really should go back and listen to it. This interview was so good, and went so long that we had to break it into a 2 part feature. Bill is a cannabis industry veteran, and plant science expert, and an entertaining guy, for sure! Don't forget to like this episode, and subscribe to our channel for more great episodes to come

This week on The Growing Revolution, we chatted with Bill Graham, who is the President of Microclone, where he sells products for growers of any scale to do tissue culture propagation. There are many benefits to this method versus mother plants, though not for everyone, pretty much anyone CAN do it, as Bill explains. Bill grew up in Florida and was a fan of growing plants at any early age. His tales of guerilla growing had us laughing. Eventually, Bill opened one of the first hydroponics stores in Florida, which is another great laugh. From Florida, Bill and his wife moved out to the Bay Area of California, which was great timing as Prop 64/ SB 420 was passing, opening up the wild west, gray area MMJ industry. We also start getting into Tissue Culture a bit, what it is, how to do it easily, etc. This was probably one of the most fun interviews yet. Bill has been in the hydro industry for decades, so chances are good that you've seen him at a show or convention at some point in time. Bill had so much to say, that our interview had to be broken up into 2 parts, though we could have probably broken it into 4! Part 2 with Bill will come out next week. We want to thank Bill for his time. If you want to know more about Bill's products, go to microclone.com Please like this podcast and subscribe for more great content.

We are very excited for this week's episode of The Growing Revolution, where we spoke with Dale and Carrie Spoonemore, who started chronicling their journey to health and wellbeing through starting a massive backyard garden from scratch about 6 years ago. Dale had been a longtime suffer from anxiety and depression, but Carrie helped to actually diagnose the condition. They read a book that advocated for natural cures to depression, one of which, was gardening. Dale is a self described obsessive learner, so he dove head first into gardening, which he had NO experience in, prior to getting started. He and Carrie are a great example of how, if you are motivated to learn, and become an expert in any given field, it is possible to do so! They also created a really cool app, called From Seed To Spoon, which has all sorts of great gardening helpers. From insect identification guides, to regional planting instructions, garden tracking tools and more, it is an app that every gardener can benefit from. Their journey from typical suburbanites, to hardcore homesteaders, is pretty cool. We hope that you enjoy this episode. Please "LIKE" and "SUBSCRIBE" for more great content! Links: FromSeedToSpoon.net SmartPots.com

Harley Smith is a hydroponics industry veteran based in Lansing, Michigan. He is currently the Chief Science Officer at Total Health Cultivation/ Light Sky Farms. Prior to that he was with Hydro Dynamics International where he helped to formulate their Mother Plant nutrient product. He also was with NPK-Industries where he helped to educate users on the basics of plant science and how to "spoon feed" their plants. Although he's a wealth of knowledge, he doesn't have a university degree, and is a testement to the fact that you don't NEED a degree, to be an expert. Determination and a thirst for knowledge will take you very far in life. If you want to hear some grow secrets that Harley has accumulated over the years, tune into this episode. Please like, and share, and subscribe for more great content

In this week's episode, we speak with Rick Stone, of ourstoneyacres.com Rick is a passionate gardener who has been at it for over 25 years. He has participated in the Master Gardener program through Utah State University, and has been teaching his own gardening classes online for years. He is almost up to 100K YouTube subscribers on his, "Our Stoney Acres" channel, where he has a TON of videos on various gardening tips and techniques. He is based in Utah, and likes to focus a lot of information around season extending methods. He is producing currently around 1500 lbs of fresh produce annually! Make sure to subscribe to our The Growing Revolution Podcast for more great interviews! ourstoneyacres.com smartpots.com

We are very excited for this episode of The Growing Revolution, where we are joined by Nate Lipton, founder of GrowersHouse, which is a Tucson based hydroponics dealer with a huge online presence. After founding GH, he started Growers Network, which is a website dedicated to cannabis grower education and networking. Together with Nick Morin, he is the host of Cannacribs, the best series on YouTube featuring the best growers and grow facilities in the USA (and probably the world). Nate's journey in the hydroponics industry is probably a similar one to a lot of grow shop owners where, once you start growing, your involvement in the industry tends to snowball and before you know it, you are knee deep! It was very inspiring to talk with Nate, and we look forward to the future content that Cannacribs and Growers Network will be putting out. Please Like and Share this video, and Follow us for more great content! Links: GrowersHouse.com Cannacribs.com Growersnetwork.org

In this week's episode, we interview Gerrik Latta, who's been deep into the cannabis growing scene in Oregon since 1992, through today. He's seen a lot in 30 years with the plant and we had a great conversation. We talked about plant disease (hop latent viroid) and other challenges that growers face. We also discussed how his parents have gotten involved in his business and helped to be advocates for cannabis as a medicine to other older folks. Portland High Standards has been growing cup quality flowers for a long time, and are big fans of growing in Smart Pot planters. It was great chatting with him and we hope if you are in the Portland area that you try out some of his products. Please subscribe to our channel if you aren't already. Like this video and share it with your friends.

We chatted this week with Ben Owens, who is the founder of Cannaventure, which hosts events, hikes and campouts for cannabis consumers. He is also a published author with two books under his belt with a third on the way. His story is pretty compelling and it shows how, if you want to be in the cannabis industry, just dive in and see where the plant takes you. Don't forget to subscribe for more content coming. Please like this video and share it with your friends. Ben's Links: Letters From The Grow (Weekly Newsletter): www.cannabenoid.com CannaVenture®: www.cannaventure.org Discs-n-Dabs®: www.discsndabs.com Links for Books Mr. Boomer's Magic Kitchen: https://www.amazon.com/Mr-Boomers-Magic-Kitchen-Psychedelic-ebook/dp/B0895GJ29D Stoner Survival: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07T3HNRBV/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1 Links for The Ethos Magazine Vol. 1: https://www.ethosimportanddesign.com/product-page/multipass-magazine-vol-1 Vol. 2: https://www.ethosimportanddesign.com/product-page/multipass-magazine-vol-2 Vol. 3 (Coming April 2022)

In this week's episode, we speak with CaliKim, of CaliKim Garden & Home. Kim has been making gardening tutorial videos for 10 years now on YouTube and has a very large following on Instagram and Facebook as well. Growing up, she learned the basics of gardening as one of ten siblings. She was recruited to help with garden work, especially at harvest time. Fast forward to today, and her video tutorials have millions of views by dedicated fans all over the world. She has also been making videos featuring Smart Pot planters for the last 6 years or so, and has been a great asset in our quest to spread the word of why Smart Pot planters are the best container option. It was a lot of fun to get to know the REAL CaliKim, and we hope you enjoy listening to this podcast episode. Please like this episode and subscribe for more content.