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You may have noticed that some of your products when you buy them are labeled as containing no GMOs. A GMO is a genetically modified organism and simply that means that it’s any organism that has had its genes manipulated. GMOs are not necessarily bad they’re simply a tool and how they’re used determines whether they’re bad or good Golden Rice is a genetically modified organism that has had several genes put in it so that it contains vitamin A and by giving this to people in developing worlds this genetically modified organism prevents a hundred thousand cases of blindness each year. However glyco phosphate resistant plants are also genetically modified and they have been associated with some harmful effects. I don’t want to get too bogged down in the science but glyco phosphate resistance works because there’s an enzyme called epsps and it makes fatty acids in all plants and when plants are given glyco phosphate it’s like a poison and it prevents this enzyme from working now bacteria and the genus agro bacterium has a different enzyme which is not affected by glycol phosphate so what happens is scientists take the gene from the bacteria and put it in plants and that means that plants that now have this bacterial gene are not affected by like a phosphate. in this example it might not be the genes manipulation that’s the problem but what it allows farmers to do when farmers plant genetically modified organisms that have glyco phosphate resistance they spray herbicides on their crops several times a year and what this means is that many of the produce that we buy in grocery stores test positive for glycol phosphate and it also shows up inside humans. Now glycol phosphate has been linked with cancer in certain lab animals and many people have the idea of why should we wait until it’s proven to cause problems in humans. So the problem with glyco phosphate resistance is that now we can have lots of plants and produce it looks healthy but it can be covered at herbicides and we wouldn’t know it because these plants do not show any harmful effects of having an herbicide on them. Whether you want to start growing plants to avoid eating GMOs or just as a fun hobby I think the best place to start would be growing herbs and leafy plants like spinach and lettuce and arugula. these plants don’t need any light requirements for them to flower and plants need to flower before they produce any fruits and you can eat them as they go and they’re often smaller plants you can grow them in smaller containers and they take up less space in your house. Many people like to grow plants and their windows and there’s certainly nothing wrong with this but if you have a light to supplement or simply to grow your plants under you’re going to do a lot better fluorescent lights are fantastic lights for growing green leafy plants you can start off with the cheap light you get at any hardware store with the one-inch-thick bulbs these are called a t8 bulbs a better type of fluorescent lights which you can get from HTG Supply is called a t5 and these have small about 5/8 in diameter lights here I’m using a t8 light fixture I got from a hardware store and I’d like to use cool light bulbs they have a good spectrum of light for all plants. if you’re going to go and use a t8 or a one-inch thick fluorescent light bulb you’re going to need to keep it about one to two inches above the plants because these lights don’t have a very high intensity or output of light. so keep this light about one to two inches above your plants if you’re gonna use threats and lights like the t8 or the one-inch thick bulbs they’re great for growing lots of small little plants like leafy plants or herbs or for starting plants under but if you want to have plants that produce fruit like tomatoes or peppers to get larger look for my video on how to grow vegetables indoors. these plants are growing under the t5 with about the half-inch thick skinny fluorescent tubes these are actually a much better fluorescent light to use for growing plants because it has a more intense light output if space is limiting and it often is when you’re growing indoors HTG supply also sells two-foot-long fluorescent lights so these take up the space of about one plant tray. you can see here it’s not a lot of space and it’s a great way to start getting into growing plants indoors if you’re not sure what containers to use you don’t have to worry about going too big there’s no such thing as having a container too big. But growing indoors or in your house space can be limited so a general rule that I tell people is that for every 1 foot of plant height you want to have about one gallon of container size and so some of the spinach and lettuce and smaller herbs can use 1/2 to 1 gallon pots. it’s not a very large pot if you want to get serious about growing indoors and you want to grow a large number of plants then you might want to try using an LED that’s what this light is here – has a slight pink hue here’s the basil a couple weeks later and I’m starting some seeds over on the right I have this LED inside of what’s called a grow tent it’s kind of like a portable closet you can set up in your garage or in a room somewhere so you can grow your plants and hang your light inside this little grow tent I have a video out about different types of fertilizers and a general rule for any things kind of common sense is follow the directions. So read the directions and follow them to the tee and you won’t go wrong. I hope watching this video has encouraged you to start growing plants indoors, whether it’s to avoid GMOs so just be healthier or to have a fun hobby so that you and maybe your family and children can learn where your food comes from if you have any questions please feel free to email me at [email protected]. Good growing.