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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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 LandL 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