hi just wondering how difficult a hydro would be for the first time compared with soil. never grown before and i really cant have my first crop fail because i will be putting all my savings into it. the setup has to be simple to take care of because im new to this. also how much faster do the plants grow in hydro as a general estimate.
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soil or hydro for first time?
- Thread starter madwun
- Start date
xeasyx
Member
alright matey well on my second grow first was in soil and my second is nft hydro and ive just started an aeroponic one as well. Well in my limited knowledge soil was ok but in hydro they seem to grow a lot faster and every thing is bigger the only thing ive found is there not a lot of room for mistakes in hydro like pump failure or some sort of contamation to your feed i meen not so long back i had problem and within a few hours 50% of my leafs were dead ,it was that quick but that was my fault but thats another story .
Even so hydro is a lot more fun and theres always help on ere and with what ive seen and read its a lot better yield . well thats my two penny's worth i go hydro even though my first hydro run in finished yet but its up to you either way you'll be proud of what you've done
easy
Even so hydro is a lot more fun and theres always help on ere and with what ive seen and read its a lot better yield . well thats my two penny's worth i go hydro even though my first hydro run in finished yet but its up to you either way you'll be proud of what you've done
easy
M
mugenbao
If you are going to go with soil, I'd recommend checking out BurnOne's thread for a solid and easy to use soil recipe, followed by reading Phillthy's thread to see the kind of results he can get using such a soil mix (ymmv). Super easy, low maintenance, solid results.
If you're not sold after reading those two threads... Go hydro, I guess.
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If you're not sold after reading those two threads... Go hydro, I guess.
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soil seems to be simple for a beginner but my biggest concern is that i cant reuse soil. in the middle of winter i don't want to be bringing in loads of boxes of soil and deposing the used will be a hassle too. but like i said i cant have my first crop fail and thats what scares me about hydro, if i screw up the little room for error. hmmm decisions decisions
yes you can reuse soil. stay away from harsh nutes and reusing your soil is simple
S
s00thsayer
listen to superman. soil can be re-used even though most people think it can't. farmers re-use soil outdoors don't they? keep it inside so pests don't invade it and make sure it is dry before storing. as long as you flush the soil with plain water before harvest to remove toxic salt buildup the soil will work fine.
M
Mitch Connor
If you want fast hydro growth without the chances of losing your crop in a day to random hydro errors go with coco.
Takes a bit of research to get the idea down of how to prepare coco and the feeding regiments/watering frequency, but it is a forgiving soilless medium that has hydro-like growth.
No need to haul around big heavy bags of dirty soil. Coco comes in compressed 5kg blocks that expand with water. Coco can be re-used for 3+ cycles if you use enzymes to break down the dead roots at the end of each grow.
Less chance of pests/disease in coco.
If all of this sounds good for you, I suggest reading into coco and see if it suits your style.
GL
Takes a bit of research to get the idea down of how to prepare coco and the feeding regiments/watering frequency, but it is a forgiving soilless medium that has hydro-like growth.
No need to haul around big heavy bags of dirty soil. Coco comes in compressed 5kg blocks that expand with water. Coco can be re-used for 3+ cycles if you use enzymes to break down the dead roots at the end of each grow.
Less chance of pests/disease in coco.
If all of this sounds good for you, I suggest reading into coco and see if it suits your style.
GL
soil handles higher temps than hydro and is more forgiving than hydro.
stickykool
New member
I am with Mconnor on this one. Coco could be a nice in between both to take a look at
my thoughts exactly. I've been growing hydro for 3 years, soil for 6. some hydro crops are amazing, some, a tiny problem turns into sub par yield/quality herb. Once you've gotten used to taking care of plants in soil, there are very simple things you can do to cure mistakes or deficiencies. but generally once your soil method is dialed in, you can get great yields in your sleep.
that being said, I have numerous friends who just pass around formulas and teach people hydro with great results everytime for beginners. depends on if you're a visual or mathematical and concrete type person. gotta find a grow style that fits you best i suppose.
I started in soil using fox farm.... then went to coco with a drip system and havent looked back. Just keep the ph right and a bubbler in the reservoir and fallow a feeding schedule and its all to the good. I use canna coco with canna nutes on a canna schedule, start there then you can add addatives as you learn a lil more, and dont forget a little cal-mag cuz its usually needed in coco. I use canna line and add a lil pro-tekt, bushmasters, beastie bloomz, cha ching, and gravity all at the times they tell you to. plus bat guano budswell the last 3 weeks for smell. have the pump on 15 minutes once or twice a day and the shit grows itself... good luck yo, the more you grow the more you will learn and the better you will get.
Do you have a friend who can mentor you? An experience grower who can help?
If you've NEVER grown anything from seed...I'd suggest soil. If you have...a "Hempy Bucket" is easier than anything I've ever tried.
You're going to get a hundred suggestions...good luck picking one.
Check out the grow diaries, there might be something in there you'd like to try.
If you've NEVER grown anything from seed...I'd suggest soil. If you have...a "Hempy Bucket" is easier than anything I've ever tried.
You're going to get a hundred suggestions...good luck picking one.
Check out the grow diaries, there might be something in there you'd like to try.
Dont worry about reusing it, just use it once and figure some basix out. Once you complete the first soil grow then move to the water next. Baby steps my man unless you got someone near, this is a must if you cant have it fail. Hydro will not forgive you like soil will for a mistake. Be smart about your endeavours with whatever you do.
I absolutely agree with ^. Logical
comes down to cost man. i am the type of person that researches something A LOT before i start, and so of course i've been on this massive research project the last two months before i start my first grow.
my initial plan was to go high pressure aero because it has the potential for giant yield, excellent quality, and minimal waste (ie efficient nute uptake reducing nute usage by up to 70% or something). then i priced it all out and i was looking at $700-1000 start up costs! crazy.
so i scaled down. soil is cheap and has been a proven medium for centuries. i've grown organic vegetables in containers for a few seasons now, so i have a bit of experience with it. plus organic nutrients are also much cheaper than synthetic nutes at the hydro store. my start up costs were about $500 but i splurged on a nice light system and spent 100$ on clones.
check out craigslist for hps ballasts and in line fans and all that junk. you can get some sweet deals on the kind of equipment that is meant to last a long time.
my initial plan was to go high pressure aero because it has the potential for giant yield, excellent quality, and minimal waste (ie efficient nute uptake reducing nute usage by up to 70% or something). then i priced it all out and i was looking at $700-1000 start up costs! crazy.
so i scaled down. soil is cheap and has been a proven medium for centuries. i've grown organic vegetables in containers for a few seasons now, so i have a bit of experience with it. plus organic nutrients are also much cheaper than synthetic nutes at the hydro store. my start up costs were about $500 but i splurged on a nice light system and spent 100$ on clones.
check out craigslist for hps ballasts and in line fans and all that junk. you can get some sweet deals on the kind of equipment that is meant to last a long time.
