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.

Q: Hey, really liking your new RAW! column. You have always told it like it is, but my friends and I are really appreciating your help as a grower with what goes on outside of the grow room too.

This one might be right up your alley:

Growers have expressed a lot of interest in soil mixes, and we’ve been looking at how you can create an ideal hydroponics soil mix while at the same time amping up growth and yields using hydroponics nutrients and bloom boosters. Here’s what you need to know…

In a previous article we provided you an ideal hydroponics soil mix so you could make a recipe that works well in grow and bloom phase and can also be used with your hydroponics nutrients. Based on feedback from several hydroponics growers, here’s some additional insight into growing hydroponics crops using soil…

Myles Lewis is part of a new generation of hydroponics plant scientists who test materials and processes to determine the best strategies for faster growth and bigger yields. He has an Applied Biosciences graduate degree from the University of Arizona, has taught hydroponics classes in Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) and other hydroponics topics, and is founder of a plant science and agricultural company called Verdant Earth Technologies. He’s based in Tucson, Arizona. Myles recently completed a test that compared the Jiffy Preforma rooting cubes with Grodan rockwool cubes. As you may be aware, Jiffy Preforma is fast becoming the preferred hydroponics media used for seedlings and clones. When you read what Myles has to say, you’ll see why…

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.

Growers often ask about basic general hydroponics equipment and indoor gardening tactics that are guaranteed to create healthier, faster-growing plants that give you more flower per watt and put smiles on your face every harvest.

Hydroponics growers ask a lot about coco coir versus rockwool for ebb and flow and drip irrigation hydroponics gardens. It’s one of the most frequent questions I get and the first thing I tell hydroponics gardeners is that Grodan, the premier manufacturer of hydroponics rockwool, has stepped up its game to make rockwool even more ideal as a root zone media than it was before.

We’ve talked before about rockwool, soil, and coco coir…three of the most popular root zone media you can use in your hydroponics garden. But hydroponics growers have flooded me with queries about the many other types of root zone media, while also mentioning that aeroponics growers don’t need any media at all (except maybe a small amount to provide plant anchoring). So first I must apologize for not making it clear in my other articles that root zone media choices are a lot more diverse, and complex, than most hydroponics growers realize.

With more and more general hydroponics growers using cloning and the sea of green method to get maximum yield in their hydroponics urban garden, it’s useful for us to look at root shooters, rooting plugs, rapid rooter, and other products used to stick cuttings in for hydroponics urban garden root development.

Rockwool is a sweet substrate for your hydroponics urban garden roots that can give you maximum yield and easy use.

I refer to rockwool as the “cotton candy” of hydroponics substrates because it’s spun into an airy, wooly mass from molten basalt in a way similar to how cotton candy is spun from sugar.

A friend of mine conducted an interesting experiment in his hydroponics garden- he created a customized soil mix and grew his plants without using any nutrients additives.

Everything his plants needed to eat, they would have to get from the soil.

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.

In our previous episodes about hydroponics garden comparison testing, we’ve covered some fun and interesting territory as we detail how an indoor grower tested the performance of six clones growing in soil and fed only water compared to six clones growing in rockwool and fed synthetic and synthorganic hydroponics nutrients.

Along the way, we’ve seen how the scientific method is applied to hydroponics garden testing so you can reliably determine how deliberate changes in nutrients, climate, root zone media, C02, lighting technology and other variables affect your crops.

Here we are with useful data obtained when a grower mixed his own custom soil and used it to do a comparison grow meant to examine how soil performs against rockwool.

This experiment featured 12 clones from the same mother: six in soil and fed only water; six in rockwool fed synthetic base nutrients and synthorganic supplements.