In most parts of the country, other than Hawaii, temperatures have dipped. Even Florida has been experiencing cooler than average autumn temperatures. But for hydroponics gardeners, cold weather brings more good than bad. So let’s take a look at hot tips for autumn and winter hydroponics gardening…

In our previous aeroponics article, we noted that aeroponics provides maximized mists containing hydroponics nutrients, water and oxygen to spur incredibly fast growth and superb yields. But aeroponics has its drawbacks. One of the biggest is that you can’t just plug plants in to an aeroponics system, make sure you’ve got adequate water and nutrients in a reservoir, and go away for a few days.

Took a detour from my series on hydroponics systems to talk about how hydroponics has changed for the better, which couldn’t have been better timed because just as I did it, Advanced Nutrients announced the availability in America of its pH Perfect® Technology and Bigger Yields Flowering System®. Those two developments are the biggest changes in hydroponics nutrients since hydroponics pioneer Dr. William Gericke used deep water culture and chemical nutrients in the 1930s.

In our previous discussions on hydroponics systems, we noted that systems can be categorized based on what happens to the hydroponics nutrients water after it has been first applied to the hydroponics root zone. In some circumstances, the nutrients water enters the root zone, leaves the root zone and is then discarded. This is an “open” system. In other circumstances, nutrients water enters the root zone, leaves the root zone, and is recaptured. This is a “closed” system.

Hydroponics is the word we use for the gardening we do, but literally speaking, it isn’t an accurate word for our type of growing. The word hydroponics literally means “water working,” and was coined in the early 1900’s to describe systems in which plants grew with their roots dangling in water laced with chemical hydroponics nutrients.

In a previous article on hydroponics roots, we noted that because roots are out of sight, they are also out of mind for many hydroponics growers…and this is dangerous.

One of the most persistent types of questions I get from hydroponics growers is about all the different types of systems that are called hydroponics. The question makes sense because the term “hydroponics growing” is used to describe aeroponics, drip irrigation, aquaponics, nutrient film technique, ebb and flow and other types of growing systems...but these systems are not similar in how you run them, in their set-up, and even in their operating costs. And yet these systems are called “hydroponics” because they’re most often indoors with the plants usually fed with “synthetic” hydroponics nutrients and because they’re not growing plants in soil. The significant differences between these systems make it important for you to understand them so you know what your options are.

Your hydroponics urban garden benefits from added C02 to give you maximum yield, but many hydroponics growers don’t realize that C02 benefits hydroponic plants because it provides oxygen along with carbon for increased photosynthesis.

What’s more, your urban garden hydroponics plants need to intake significant quantities of oxygen through their roots.

Lots of growers write us at Rosebud after looking at other hydroponics magazines and getting more confused about hydroponics systems and growing techniques.

They look at other “hydroponics” magazines, and see how the articles talk only about lettuce, cucumbers, and similar data that doesn’t help you or me as a serious high-value grower.

It’s easy to see how confusion is the only harvest you get when reading that vague and obscure stuff.

We’ve talked about aeroponics before, and it always generates a lot of interest because you rightly see aeroponics as a way to get maximum yield in your hydroponics urban garden.

Rosebud readers contacted us to ask some interesting questions about the various types of hydroponics urban garden systems that avoid or limit the use of solid root zone media such as rockwool, soil, coco coir, etc.

Hydroponics cloning is a fundamental skill when you want to get more serious about your hydroponics gardening.

Cloning gives you the ability to duplicate your favorite genetics by making smaller but identical copies of a larger female plant, known as the motherplant.

Of course, you want a motherplant that has the qualities you most desire in your hydroponics gardening. Selecting and maintaining motherplants is an art and a science, and you can use the search function on Rosebudmag.com, as well as look at Rosebud print magazine, to see articles on selecting and maintaining motherplants.