Help me choose a growing method

[Dirten]

Hi folks, I'm looking for some help picking my first and hopefully last growing method. I'm not interested in soil or organics for a variety of reasons, I'm thinking more along the lines of NFT, drip to waste, fast recirculating hydro, or low pressure aeroponics.

I've seen a lot of great threads on these forums. I'm a big fan of the vertical section, really has me interested on trying this out myself.

I expect to be able to eventually figure it all out (so by all means, if method X is awesome but not for beginners, that's fine, I wanna know). First things first, ask the experts.

There are three or so things in mind I want to accomplish.

1. Secrecy/Safety; no need for anybody to know or find out what I'm doing. I'd like to keep the electric bill low, gotta pay it after all.
2. Yield; may as well yield more than not
3. Ease of operation; I work a lot, so I like not to work sometimes
*4. Vertical system; help keep the electric bill low, increase yield in the space given

I look at aeroponics and I see what may be the best system in an ideal world (of no pumps failing for example). It would deliver the most oxygen, I hear that it uses less water and nutrients than some other methods. In some ways, it seems like you could dial a system like this in easier. Sounds great, but, if things go wrong and roots are hanging in the air... and I'm away for three days... not good.

I look at fast recirculating hydro and I'm thinking, good amount of oxygen, similar issues as aeroponics, but less moving parts. But it might make a lot of noise (I've never listened to a 1400-1800gph pump blasting fluids through a tube).

Drip to waste (coco coir?). Pump failure? Some kind of medium is there to give you a shot at survival. But not a lot of oxygen (I would think).

Do I even need to bother with picking a method that delivers oxygen? I kind of intend to veg for a short period and fill two "flip rooms" to harvest perpetually. I'm under the impression that oxygen is more important during veg. And if I'm not growing large plants...

And NFT, well... I really don't know anything about NFT to be honest. I just saw some very professional looking rooms utilizing it.

 

[ChaosCatalunya]

drain to waste coco is far easier and more reliable than NFT, that is why I switched, yeild and speed is slightly behind, but not too far. Coco is just so forgiving, more than any other method, especially NFT, great but a knife edge.

Start plants on 1ml/l, move up to 2ml/l with canna coco, pH 5.8/6... so easy, 100% success with newbies I know... It is not soil, water to runoff daily... it is idiot proof, even i manage to get it right.

 

[PetFlora]

Flood & Drain is the easiest. Root ball and plant are from first attempt where entire bottom of tote was lava rock. I modified it to incorporate Air Pots, which allows for easier movement of plants. The lava rock has hundreds of pockets that trap air and nutes between feeds. Due to fast drainage, I flood ~ 45 minutes and got explosive growth. The PVC has holes which create a Bellagio effect, but plants must be mature enough to handle the streams. Totally unnecessary. It was an experiment. The high wall Rubbermaid tote helps keep the environment humid


NFT was developed for small root plants like lettuce NOT large root plants like mj.

 

[bombadil.360]

if you're coco loco, raise your hand

 

[delta9nxs]

"1. Secrecy/Safety; no need for anybody to know or find out what I'm doing. I'd like to keep the electric bill low, gotta pay it after all.
2. Yield; may as well yield more than not
3. Ease of operation; I work a lot, so I like not to work sometimes
*4. Vertical system; help keep the electric bill low, increase yield in the space given"

you have just described a ppk!

 

[Keep goin]

Pro's and Con's to each of your "solutions"...high speed RDWC I can tell you makes a hell of a lot of noise!!

Guys are always carrying on about coco, the ease, the results, etc. I would agree...the drawback there..what do you do with it all when you are done!?! I have raised bed gardens outside...spread it around the yard..and still have bins of it laying around the garage!!

You have to weight the pro's and con's of many choices. You will have to do some "work" if you want results!

I personally love top feed into hydroton recirculating res...pretty easy..results for sure. There are many ways to skin a cat you know...

Good Luck

 

[DamnUglyDogE]

"1. Secrecy/Safety; no need for anybody to know or find out what I'm doing. I'd like to keep the electric bill low, gotta pay it after all.
2. Yield; may as well yield more than not
3. Ease of operation; I work a lot, so I like not to work sometimes
*4. Vertical system; help keep the electric bill low, increase yield in the space given"

you have just described a ppk!

I 2ND this. lol

 

[RetroGrow]

Hempy buckets with coco.....
K.I.S.S.

 

[Phychotron]

How large of an area are you planning on using? have you considered a grow tent?


Get an LED to keep the power/heat down. Just make sure to get a good one and you'll be alright (research). they are a bit of an investment at first, but keep the electricity and heat down. also don't have to keep changing those pricey bulbs, or have to deal with any of the care/risks of an hps system. An LED will pay for itself, while an hps will continuously need bulbs and extra electricity. Get with the times, forget the hps and buy a nice LED.

I'm disabled so i'm all about automatic watering. I'm using the autopots with great success. I've had some issues with clogged valves, but a friend suggested a product called "DRIP CLEAN" by house and garden. it is essential for anyone who is using anything drip line related. I was having my nutrients locking up in the tank and lines but this stuff solved all that. I've been able to leave the house for a week or two as needed. half an hour of work 5-7 times over a 10 week period is not that much work for keeping them watered. kind of an investment, the single is $60 on ebay, but worth it if you are only going to have a few plants.

Gravity fed, passive bottom feed hydro. no pumps to go out, but i keep a recirculating pump on a timer to keep it oxygenated/mixed. You can get the air dome which attaches to an air pump and pumps air directly into the root zone. they claim up to 150% increase with it. uses any medium, I'm using 50/50 coco/perlite, but want to experiment with hydroton then top with coco/perlite since the bottom feed makes it form a capillary mat to soak up nutrients. just to stop having to keep buying so much coco/perlite. not that it's expensive, but i have to drive 160 miles round trip to get to the hydro store.

the valve only opens once the water in the tray has been used up. there is the double and the single, i prefer the single since it allows you to space the plants out as needed. Plus with the double it has one valve to 2 plants, so they need to be on a close feeding schedule, otherwise one might get over saturated. If you have short 2-3oz trained plants you'll be fine with the doubles.

A friend has been using blumats with good success, which might be a cheaper way to go-no air dome though...

 

[Guest 263194]

if this is your first time growing, i highly suggest you do go with soil. Coco, sometime, is too sensitive especially you don't know what your exactly doing, best wishes.

 

[Maj.Cottonmouth]

if this is your first time growing, i highly suggest you do go with soil. Coco, sometime, is too sensitive especially you don't know what your exactly doing, best wishes.

I completely disagree with this. Coco, hand watered daily using only Maxibloom and tap water and pHed to 5.6-5.8 will give great results easily. With that said I don't think lugging bags of coco into your place and then having to get rid of it is in synch with your #1 goal of secrecy. I recommend you do an RDWC system with a water chiller for the res. If you go this route and build your own system I highly recommend using 4 drains per bucket, two high and two low. I had issues with making it a full round when using 2 drains per bucket down low because they would clog with roots and would have to drain and disassemble to remove the root clog. Here is the 6 site system I was running before switching to coco, the res and chiller are behind the wall to the left. No mater what method you do I recommend you get a good pH meter, the BlueLab pen is about $100 and works great.