Hello again,
So now that I have finally finished talking about the different elements needed for starting seeds, I can talk about other interesting things. Now you may be wondering what the heck are foot candles and how on earth does this have anything to do with plants?? lol Well I would like to explain.
Foot Candles is the measurement of light a plant needs to grow properly. The abbreviation for foot candles is Fc which I will use from here on in. For some reason I can not remember why it was called this but I will check it out and let you know. :) To give you an idea of how many fc's come from different light sources I will give some examples.
Foot Candles
Light Source FC (approx)
Starlight 0.00011 FC
Moonlight 0.02 FC
Overcast Daylight 1000.00 FC
Direct Sun 10,000 FC
As you can see, direct sun has about 10 times the amount of Fc's than on a cloudy day. To give you an idea how much a plant needs, vegetables need at least 1000 fc's. Also the taller a plant is the more fc's it will need. So different plants require different amounts but no need to worry about figuring out how much each plant needs or anything-this is just some interesting information to share with you. It can help to know this if you are growing plants in a greenhouse and I hope to expand further on it sometime but for now you can use this to impress your friends that may not know about this measurement. lol :)
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Talking Green: Starting at the beginning. Part 5
Today I would like to talk about the final element needed in starting seeds which is sunlight. When starting seeds indoors, you have a couple of options. You can set the trays by a window to get natural light or you can use grow lights.
Natural light
This is probably the easiest option and the least expensive because all you need is a window which everyone should have. While the seeds are sprouting and still small, a window works fine. But when they get bigger they will actually start to reach for the light. If you are starting seeds where you can't put them outside, this is something that is possibly difficult to get away from. One way to help your seedlings grow up straight (or straighter) is to turn the tray when they start to lean a bit towards the window. One interesting question my sister had was if it matters if the sun isn't out and if the seeds will still get enough sunlight. I assured her that they would be fine. Even on cloudy days there is still sunlight. :)
Grow Lights
This is possibly a better option to help your seedlings grow more like they would outside but it can also be a bit of an investment. Grow lights are basically full spectrum lights. What this means is that they have both the red and the blue spectrum. I have heard that you can copy this by getting two flourescent lights-one blue spectrum (cool white) and one red spectrum (warm white) and place them both above the trays. I have never tried this but apparently it works and can be cheaper than buying special lights. The other cost for grow lights is the electricity used to power the lights which can also add up. I do like grow lights because they help plants look much better and less spindly but I don't like the cost. I also have places with lots of light in the house that keeps the plants from reaching as much.
The positive is that once it gets about +10 celcious that it is fine to put the plants outside in the sun for small amounts of time so they can enjoy the wonderful sunshine. The only downside is that +10 is still a little chilly and the plants will likely not grow too much. They sort of shut down a bit if it is chilly. But taking them outside for short periods of time will also help to harden off your plants which is basically getting them used to the outdoors after being inside in a sheltered environment. Happy Gardening!
Natural light
This is probably the easiest option and the least expensive because all you need is a window which everyone should have. While the seeds are sprouting and still small, a window works fine. But when they get bigger they will actually start to reach for the light. If you are starting seeds where you can't put them outside, this is something that is possibly difficult to get away from. One way to help your seedlings grow up straight (or straighter) is to turn the tray when they start to lean a bit towards the window. One interesting question my sister had was if it matters if the sun isn't out and if the seeds will still get enough sunlight. I assured her that they would be fine. Even on cloudy days there is still sunlight. :)
Grow Lights
This is possibly a better option to help your seedlings grow more like they would outside but it can also be a bit of an investment. Grow lights are basically full spectrum lights. What this means is that they have both the red and the blue spectrum. I have heard that you can copy this by getting two flourescent lights-one blue spectrum (cool white) and one red spectrum (warm white) and place them both above the trays. I have never tried this but apparently it works and can be cheaper than buying special lights. The other cost for grow lights is the electricity used to power the lights which can also add up. I do like grow lights because they help plants look much better and less spindly but I don't like the cost. I also have places with lots of light in the house that keeps the plants from reaching as much.
The positive is that once it gets about +10 celcious that it is fine to put the plants outside in the sun for small amounts of time so they can enjoy the wonderful sunshine. The only downside is that +10 is still a little chilly and the plants will likely not grow too much. They sort of shut down a bit if it is chilly. But taking them outside for short periods of time will also help to harden off your plants which is basically getting them used to the outdoors after being inside in a sheltered environment. Happy Gardening!
Monday, April 4, 2011
Talking Green: Starting at the beginning. Part 4
Hi again,
Today I want to cover watering your plants. After planting the seeds, it is important to use a mister bottle or a spray bottle so you don't wash the seeds away. When the seeds sprout it is important to use the spray bottle so that you don't damage the delicate seedlings. New seedlings can be super delicate unless they are something like a sunflower which is pretty strong. Larger seeds have larger sprouts which are tougher and also require more water so it is safer to use a watering can. when the seedlings get to a point that they don't bend over so much when you mist them then it is safe to go to a watering can. One common mistake people make that I want to point out is over watering plants and actually drowning them. You can kill them with too much of a good thing I suppose. Plants need water but the roots also need to breath a bit unless they are supposed to grow under water. When you over water a plant, the roots sort of suffocate I guess you could say. So the next question you may have is how to know how much is too much or too little. This was something I had difficulty explaining to my sister without showing her but I will give it a shot. First clue to over watering is that the dirt goes mouldy. lol Also if it is mud then it is too wet. I like to see the top dry out a bit before watering again. But something else to point out is that the top dries out first so just because the top is dry does not mean it is dry lower down. With young seedlings it can be tough to put your finger in the soil to see how wet it is but when they are older there is a neat gadget that I love to use that is very handy. It is called a moisture meter and it is something inexpensive and it has a probe you stick in the dirt and it has a meter at the top that tells you how wet the soil is. This is so handy for me! One tip I can give is if you have one of these, you can stick it in dirt that you don't have seeds into and water the soil and check it to see how wet the soil is. Then you can get a visual idea of what soil looks like when it is too wet or too dry. That way it is easier to know if the seedlings need water or not because sticking a probe into the soil where there are seeds is tough. It is tough because you don't always know where unsprouted seeds are that you might disturb and push down and the probe can damage the delicate roots of the seedlings. Once the seedlings are older then it isn't such a big deal. That is the best way I can describe how to know how wet to make the soil. I hope this helps. :) Happy gardening!
I would like to mention that I am not saying it is necessary to get a moisture meter and I am not trying to sell them or anything. I just find that they are very useful to me and that other people may benefit from them.
Today I want to cover watering your plants. After planting the seeds, it is important to use a mister bottle or a spray bottle so you don't wash the seeds away. When the seeds sprout it is important to use the spray bottle so that you don't damage the delicate seedlings. New seedlings can be super delicate unless they are something like a sunflower which is pretty strong. Larger seeds have larger sprouts which are tougher and also require more water so it is safer to use a watering can. when the seedlings get to a point that they don't bend over so much when you mist them then it is safe to go to a watering can. One common mistake people make that I want to point out is over watering plants and actually drowning them. You can kill them with too much of a good thing I suppose. Plants need water but the roots also need to breath a bit unless they are supposed to grow under water. When you over water a plant, the roots sort of suffocate I guess you could say. So the next question you may have is how to know how much is too much or too little. This was something I had difficulty explaining to my sister without showing her but I will give it a shot. First clue to over watering is that the dirt goes mouldy. lol Also if it is mud then it is too wet. I like to see the top dry out a bit before watering again. But something else to point out is that the top dries out first so just because the top is dry does not mean it is dry lower down. With young seedlings it can be tough to put your finger in the soil to see how wet it is but when they are older there is a neat gadget that I love to use that is very handy. It is called a moisture meter and it is something inexpensive and it has a probe you stick in the dirt and it has a meter at the top that tells you how wet the soil is. This is so handy for me! One tip I can give is if you have one of these, you can stick it in dirt that you don't have seeds into and water the soil and check it to see how wet the soil is. Then you can get a visual idea of what soil looks like when it is too wet or too dry. That way it is easier to know if the seedlings need water or not because sticking a probe into the soil where there are seeds is tough. It is tough because you don't always know where unsprouted seeds are that you might disturb and push down and the probe can damage the delicate roots of the seedlings. Once the seedlings are older then it isn't such a big deal. That is the best way I can describe how to know how wet to make the soil. I hope this helps. :) Happy gardening!
I would like to mention that I am not saying it is necessary to get a moisture meter and I am not trying to sell them or anything. I just find that they are very useful to me and that other people may benefit from them.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Talking Green: Starting at the beginning. Part 3
Hello again,
Wow the week flew by! This past week I had my birthday and I had a lot of coupons for free meals so I went out alot and didn't manage get on here. I would just like to apologize for that.
After you have your trays and growing medium picked out, you will need to think about seeds. Today I would like to talk about that a bit. What seeds do you plant, how many, how far apart, how deep to plant them etc.
What Seeds should I plant?
If you are just starting out, it is good to pick seeds that are easy to grow and not too finnicky. Generally it will say on the package if it is easy to grow but if it doesn't there are some ways to pick them out. I have found that the larger the seed, the easier it is to grow. So seeds like sunflowers and Nasturtiums, 4 O'clocks, and sweet peas are pretty simple and easy to grow. Unless you do like I did one year and plant them directly in the dirt but not deep enough and then the birds came and ate them. lol After awhile I started to wonder why they were not sprouting so I dug around in the dirt.... there were no seeds left. lol So to avoid that I start them indoors first and give the birds a bird feeder with seeds I don't mind them eating. lol The size of seeds varies greatly though and they go from the very big ones like sunflower seeds to the incredibly tiny ones like Lobelia. One question my sister had for me about the tiny seeds is how many to plant and whether it was important to control where they fell. Tiny seeds like Lobelia are so small that it is next to impossible to control where they land unless you are incredibly careful and patient. If you are like me, then you don't want to spend hours trying to plant seeds so I reccomend sprinkling some on the dirt and it's good to plant a few extra because not all seeds germinate. Then later when they sprout you can do something called pricking out that I will cover in a later post. One other rule of thumb I follow is the larger the seed, the fewer you plant per cell. A cell is basically one container or one part of the tray you plant seeds in. In the greenhouse kits, I like to buy the 72 cell kits and for each of those cells I tend to plant between 5-10 tiny seeds. For large seeds I tend to plant just one per cell.
How deep do I plant the seeds?
Something else you need to think about when planting seeds is how deep to plant them. Generally I look at the size of the seed and place it about the same depth down under the dirt. What I mean is that if a seed is 1mm wide, I will place about 1mm of dirt over top. Yet not all seeds should be covered with dirt. There are some seeds that require light to germinate and need to be placed on top of the dirt. I learned this the hard way years ago the first time I attempted snapdragon seeds. I could not figure out why they would not grow! lol So I googled snap dragon seeds and discovered they don't grow if they are covered with dirt. oops. If seeds require this, it should say on the back of the seed packet. I don't know all the seeds that need this but 2 I know for sure are alyssum and snapdragons. Most should be covered though.
How far apart should I plant the seeds?
The nice thing about buying seeds is that there is usually most of the info you need on the back of the packet in terms of depth to plant and how far apart. So if you are new at this, it is good to look at that. Each seed is different and it is hard to list on here how far apart each one should be planted so I reccomend looking at the packet. If you have any questions-feel free to contact me!
When do I plant the seeds?
Lastly I would like to cover when to plant the seeds. This can be very tricky if you live somewhere where you get snow and frost because it is hard to predict when it will be gone. If there is ever a crystal ball to know when the last frost will be-I will be first in line to get one! lol Yet it isn't impossible either to figure out. Something to keep in mind is that the bigger the seed is, the faster it will sprout and grow so it needs less time to grow. The faster seeds grow also means if you start late then it isn't too big of a deal because you can usually just plant them right outside. Sunflower seeds can be started even a week or two before you put them outside. If you are planting really tiny seeds like lobellia, these take quite awhile to sprout and grow and generally need 8-10weeks before the last frost. It is a good idea to check what zone you live in because this helps to know when it stops freezing. Here in Alberta, I plan to have them ready by mid May or beginning of June because it seriously freezes up to that point some years. lol We are zone 2 though and live in the country which are important to factor in the equation as well.
I hope I have covered a bit of what to do with the seeds and helped a little bit. I would like to set up something where people can email me questions and I will answer them once a week so that I can help people as much as possible. Also if there is anything people are interested in me covering then you can let me know and I can cover that specific topic. :) I really want to help people become successful in the garden! Happy Gardening!!!
Wow the week flew by! This past week I had my birthday and I had a lot of coupons for free meals so I went out alot and didn't manage get on here. I would just like to apologize for that.
After you have your trays and growing medium picked out, you will need to think about seeds. Today I would like to talk about that a bit. What seeds do you plant, how many, how far apart, how deep to plant them etc.
What Seeds should I plant?
If you are just starting out, it is good to pick seeds that are easy to grow and not too finnicky. Generally it will say on the package if it is easy to grow but if it doesn't there are some ways to pick them out. I have found that the larger the seed, the easier it is to grow. So seeds like sunflowers and Nasturtiums, 4 O'clocks, and sweet peas are pretty simple and easy to grow. Unless you do like I did one year and plant them directly in the dirt but not deep enough and then the birds came and ate them. lol After awhile I started to wonder why they were not sprouting so I dug around in the dirt.... there were no seeds left. lol So to avoid that I start them indoors first and give the birds a bird feeder with seeds I don't mind them eating. lol The size of seeds varies greatly though and they go from the very big ones like sunflower seeds to the incredibly tiny ones like Lobelia. One question my sister had for me about the tiny seeds is how many to plant and whether it was important to control where they fell. Tiny seeds like Lobelia are so small that it is next to impossible to control where they land unless you are incredibly careful and patient. If you are like me, then you don't want to spend hours trying to plant seeds so I reccomend sprinkling some on the dirt and it's good to plant a few extra because not all seeds germinate. Then later when they sprout you can do something called pricking out that I will cover in a later post. One other rule of thumb I follow is the larger the seed, the fewer you plant per cell. A cell is basically one container or one part of the tray you plant seeds in. In the greenhouse kits, I like to buy the 72 cell kits and for each of those cells I tend to plant between 5-10 tiny seeds. For large seeds I tend to plant just one per cell.
How deep do I plant the seeds?
Something else you need to think about when planting seeds is how deep to plant them. Generally I look at the size of the seed and place it about the same depth down under the dirt. What I mean is that if a seed is 1mm wide, I will place about 1mm of dirt over top. Yet not all seeds should be covered with dirt. There are some seeds that require light to germinate and need to be placed on top of the dirt. I learned this the hard way years ago the first time I attempted snapdragon seeds. I could not figure out why they would not grow! lol So I googled snap dragon seeds and discovered they don't grow if they are covered with dirt. oops. If seeds require this, it should say on the back of the seed packet. I don't know all the seeds that need this but 2 I know for sure are alyssum and snapdragons. Most should be covered though.
How far apart should I plant the seeds?
The nice thing about buying seeds is that there is usually most of the info you need on the back of the packet in terms of depth to plant and how far apart. So if you are new at this, it is good to look at that. Each seed is different and it is hard to list on here how far apart each one should be planted so I reccomend looking at the packet. If you have any questions-feel free to contact me!
When do I plant the seeds?
Lastly I would like to cover when to plant the seeds. This can be very tricky if you live somewhere where you get snow and frost because it is hard to predict when it will be gone. If there is ever a crystal ball to know when the last frost will be-I will be first in line to get one! lol Yet it isn't impossible either to figure out. Something to keep in mind is that the bigger the seed is, the faster it will sprout and grow so it needs less time to grow. The faster seeds grow also means if you start late then it isn't too big of a deal because you can usually just plant them right outside. Sunflower seeds can be started even a week or two before you put them outside. If you are planting really tiny seeds like lobellia, these take quite awhile to sprout and grow and generally need 8-10weeks before the last frost. It is a good idea to check what zone you live in because this helps to know when it stops freezing. Here in Alberta, I plan to have them ready by mid May or beginning of June because it seriously freezes up to that point some years. lol We are zone 2 though and live in the country which are important to factor in the equation as well.
I hope I have covered a bit of what to do with the seeds and helped a little bit. I would like to set up something where people can email me questions and I will answer them once a week so that I can help people as much as possible. Also if there is anything people are interested in me covering then you can let me know and I can cover that specific topic. :) I really want to help people become successful in the garden! Happy Gardening!!!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Talking Green: Starting at the beginning. Part 2
Hello again,
Once you have your trays or containers picked out, you need to decide what growing medium you will use. I say growing medium because you can use dirt as well as other stuff. Not all “dirt” is actually dirt and they are not all considered equal. Here are a few of the different growing mediums to choose from. When choosing the growing medium, it is also important to keep in mind what you are planning to grow because different growing mediums work better with different ways of growing plants. What I mean is that one way of growing plants is the more common way of sticking seeds in dirt and growing them. There is also hydroponic gardening which would require different stuff to grow healthy plants. I will be focusing on the more common method of placing seeds in soil and getting them to grow.
POTTING SOIL
As you can see, there are many options when it comes to growing mediums!
Once you have your trays or containers picked out, you need to decide what growing medium you will use. I say growing medium because you can use dirt as well as other stuff. Not all “dirt” is actually dirt and they are not all considered equal. Here are a few of the different growing mediums to choose from. When choosing the growing medium, it is also important to keep in mind what you are planning to grow because different growing mediums work better with different ways of growing plants. What I mean is that one way of growing plants is the more common way of sticking seeds in dirt and growing them. There is also hydroponic gardening which would require different stuff to grow healthy plants. I will be focusing on the more common method of placing seeds in soil and getting them to grow.
POTTING SOIL
The first one I would like to talk about is potting soil which is generally a soiless mixture. This is the one I prefer to use. It is a mix of different stuff like peat, perlite (the little white things that look like rocks) vermiculite and sometimes a wetting agent. I may be missing some stuff but that is the jyst of it. Depending on the type you buy, there may or may not be a wetting agent. All this is for is to make it easier to mix in water because peat tends to resist water a bit at first before it soaks it up. Some potting soils contain some fertilizer as well. The other ingredients perlite and vermiculite both play an important part in the potting soil as well. Perlite is added to improve drainage in the soil which is sometimes very important for certain plants and vermiculite is added to absorb and retain moisture. Both are very useful in the potting soil. Of course potting soil is not one of the more environmentally friendly options but in my experience it tends to work the best.
SPAGHNUM MOSS
Another soiless mix is something called Spaghnum moss. I have personally never tried this but it may work well.
VERMICULITE AND PERLITE MIX
You can also use a mix of vermiculite and perlite which apparently work well together. Using straight vermiculite though is a bad idea because it would most likely keep the roots too wet and kill off the plants. It would probably have poor drainage as well which is why using it with perlite would help because perlite helps with drainage.
DIRT
SPAGHNUM MOSS
Another soiless mix is something called Spaghnum moss. I have personally never tried this but it may work well.
VERMICULITE AND PERLITE MIX
You can also use a mix of vermiculite and perlite which apparently work well together. Using straight vermiculite though is a bad idea because it would most likely keep the roots too wet and kill off the plants. It would probably have poor drainage as well which is why using it with perlite would help because perlite helps with drainage.
DIRT
Another option is just straight dirt but I would advise against starting seeds in straight dirt from the garden unless you are going to add stuff to it which can be a pain. Regular dirt out of the garden is much heavier than potting soil and can have poor drainage.
COIR OR COCONUT FIBRE
Something else that I have noticed advertised more in the last few years is something called Coir. It is made from Coconut Fibre and is labeled as being environmentally friendly which appealed to me a great deal. I did try this option and I am not sure if I was doing something wrong but once my seedlings got to a certain stage they were dying off. I transplanted them to the usual potting soil and they did much better. I have not had alot of experience with this product so I am not sure I can provide an accurate opinion on the Coir.
As you can see, there are many options when it comes to growing mediums!
This may all sound a bit confusing or daunting so if you are just starting out and would like my opinion then I would suggest potting soil. It is common and found pretty much anywhere you shop so you don't have to go to any special stores to find it. I do know I am biased in a way towards which product I prefer but from my experience it is what works the best. I am only sharing from what I have read and learned through experience. :) Which ever product you choose, go to a store you know and trust. This can be a grocery store or a greenhouse that specializes in growing and selling plants/plant products. You can even shop from companies you trust online! There is Veseys and Stokes which are great companies. If you are able to spend the extra money, a greenhouse may be a good place to start if you want more information than I am able to give here. Once you have the growing medium picked out that you want, the next step will be seeds which I will cover in my next post. Happy Gardening!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Talking Green: Starting at the beginning. Part 1
Hello all!
Last year I finally convinced my sister to attempt to let me teach her to grow plants. I thought that I could maybe help her turn her brown thumb into a green thumb and in the process I learned a lot myself on what may or may not be common knowledge to other people. I am happy to say that my sister did really well and I would say she now has a green thumb! So I would like to try to share some of what I know in an attempt to help others grow better plants. I have a passion for growing plants and I would like to share it with others. For anyone who loves flowers but hates the cost of buying plants already grown, growing your own can save money if you know a few tricks. J So I would like to start at the beginning and share what I know and hopefully help some people along the way.
First I would like to start with the materials you need to grow your own plants. Then I would like to explain a bit about each item. This may be something most people know but for some it may be something new so I will just share everything. To grow your own plants you need seeds, a growing medium (such as soil), trays, water and light whether it is sunlight or a grow light.
For today's post, I will start with the first element needed to grow plants. This is the containers that you grow your plants into. If you are new at this, it may be good to start with something designed to grow seeds but you can also use anything around the house that can hold soil. I have used anything from yogurt containers, to old mugs. As long as it holds dirt you can probably use it. The only thing to remember is that if the container does not have drainage holes, then you should either poke holes in it (if possible) or put something in the bottom of the container to allow drainage. I usually like to use a bit of gravel in the bottom of containers that can not get holes poked in the bottom like mugs. For myself when I start seeds, I do prefer to use the greenhouse kits with the plastic domes because it contains the tray and lid and the cells (what you put the dirt and seeds into). It just makes everything simpler and easier. So this is the first element needed to grow your own plants. Tomorrow I will discuss the soil and how to pick out soil to use. Stay tuned!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
CRTC's Usage Based Billing
Hi again,
Recently I noticed a post on facebook about CRTC and usage based billing and once I learned about it I was confused why it hasn't been on the news and why this was the first time I was learning about it. I have a few points I would like to make on this subject and the first point I would like to make is about the lack of awareness there seems to be about this. Maybe I am living under a rock but I watch the news like many other people and while I don't catch everything, I am pretty sure there hasn't been much if any said on CTV about this. I mention CTV because that is the primary news channel I watch. I am not sure about what other news channels are reporting because I don't watch them that much and I can't say what they have reported. It sort of feels like I am hearing about it after the fact when the damage seems done already. How come we have not been made more aware of something that will greatly affect us financially? For those who are still a bit unsure about what Usage based billing is about, here is a link to the Vancouver Sun that talks about it. Usage Based Internet Billing: How it works and what it costs. Now some may say that it makes sense and you just pay for what you will use but one thought I have immediately with that is businesses who use alot of internet and the cost of internet will go up. This means that their cost of doing business goes up which means the cost for us consumers to use or buy their product also goes up. Of course this is known as inflation because these internet companies are getting greedy wanting more money. So not only will we be hit with our personal internet usage but also with higher prices from businesses who use the internet for their business. That is just one argument against this usage based billing. Another argument against it is the headache of keeping track of how much you are using so you can be careful to not go over and not get gouged for going over your limit. One bit of good news is that the Canadian government has said they are going to look at this and possibly overturn this decision. To make the government aware of how many people are against this and how important it is to over turn this decision, we need to tell them. One way to do this is to sign a petition and there is one going around facebook but you do not have to be part of facebook to sign it. You can go to http://www.openmedia.ca/ to read further about what is going on and go to http://openmedia.ca/meter to sign the petition if you would like to do so. Thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts on this matter. :)
Recently I noticed a post on facebook about CRTC and usage based billing and once I learned about it I was confused why it hasn't been on the news and why this was the first time I was learning about it. I have a few points I would like to make on this subject and the first point I would like to make is about the lack of awareness there seems to be about this. Maybe I am living under a rock but I watch the news like many other people and while I don't catch everything, I am pretty sure there hasn't been much if any said on CTV about this. I mention CTV because that is the primary news channel I watch. I am not sure about what other news channels are reporting because I don't watch them that much and I can't say what they have reported. It sort of feels like I am hearing about it after the fact when the damage seems done already. How come we have not been made more aware of something that will greatly affect us financially? For those who are still a bit unsure about what Usage based billing is about, here is a link to the Vancouver Sun that talks about it. Usage Based Internet Billing: How it works and what it costs. Now some may say that it makes sense and you just pay for what you will use but one thought I have immediately with that is businesses who use alot of internet and the cost of internet will go up. This means that their cost of doing business goes up which means the cost for us consumers to use or buy their product also goes up. Of course this is known as inflation because these internet companies are getting greedy wanting more money. So not only will we be hit with our personal internet usage but also with higher prices from businesses who use the internet for their business. That is just one argument against this usage based billing. Another argument against it is the headache of keeping track of how much you are using so you can be careful to not go over and not get gouged for going over your limit. One bit of good news is that the Canadian government has said they are going to look at this and possibly overturn this decision. To make the government aware of how many people are against this and how important it is to over turn this decision, we need to tell them. One way to do this is to sign a petition and there is one going around facebook but you do not have to be part of facebook to sign it. You can go to http://www.openmedia.ca/ to read further about what is going on and go to http://openmedia.ca/meter to sign the petition if you would like to do so. Thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts on this matter. :)
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