How difficult is hydro?

papa canna

papa canna

Well-Known Member
I am a novice grower, on my third grow. My first two I did with soil that were pretty mediocre. I'm almost finished with my third grow now in a soilless peat mix, and it is going a hell of a lot better. I'm getting my system dialed in, and finally producing somewhat better yields from the looks of it. but unfortunately my first 2 yields were quite bad. 4.5 zips on my first and 5 on my second. I'm hoping for 7-8 this time.

But im getting off track. How much more difficult is hydro compared to soilless? What is the most simple hydro setup to run? I'm entertaining the idea of switching at some point. But I would probably wait until I had more experience under my belt. I dont like setups to get too complicated. I'm doing better for right now so i'd hate to spend more cash, invest more time, just to be unsure with my results.

Any advice appreciated.
 
Flagg420

Flagg420

Well-Known Member
Hydro is as tough as you make it...

You can get some simple A/B solution, maybe some calmag, and an RO filter. (everyone should have one anyhow, makes your ice clear, your coffee tastes better, and you can rock a kickass aquarium if you want)

Simple DWC bubble buckets are beyond easy. Hempy is even less work, but..... might as well be dirt given the methods...

Make a habit of checking daily on your girls and your good. Check that the Ph is within range, and the solutions strength (ppm/ec) is within range.... practically set it and forget it beyond that... and its fun to see a veg plant explode over a weeks time, or be able to visibly SEE if your roots are healthy.....

Things to remember....

1) Better to underfeed than over, ones easier to correct a day or two later....
2) Don't skimp on the air pump, you want a shit ton of bubbles in the bucket, thats how your plant don't drown.
3) Myco's are your best friends... (I use Orca) them+bubbles=healthy roots. They are what makes worm poop so great in organics...
4) ALL the nutes are concentrated... and for the most part, are all the same shit. Don't pay a fortune, don't follow dosage schedules written by people who's income depends on you buying more product.... or hydro store guys... Listen to other growers, not sales people.
5) The initial start up cost can be daunting, but aside from nutes (concentrated) a LOT of the stuff is re-used. The stuff thats not is cheap.. (hydroton, root cubes, cheap air stones, etc)


I have grown both ways, and find hydro to be better for me. I get bigger plants, bigger yields, and fewer bugs... well... actually.. no bugs since I went full hydro...

got potatoes going in a coco mix, see how that affects things....
 
Flagg420

Flagg420

Well-Known Member
kmog33

kmog33

Well-Known Member
Flagg420 said:
Hydro is as tough as you make it...

You can get some simple A/B solution, maybe some calmag, and an RO filter. (everyone should have one anyhow, makes your ice clear, your coffee tastes better, and you can rock a kickass aquarium if you want)

Simple DWC bubble buckets are beyond easy. Hempy is even less work, but..... might as well be dirt given the methods...

Make a habit of checking daily on your girls and your good. Check that the Ph is within range, and the solutions strength (ppm/ec) is within range.... practically set it and forget it beyond that... and its fun to see a veg plant explode over a weeks time, or be able to visibly SEE if your roots are healthy.....

Things to remember....

1) Better to underfeed than over, ones easier to correct a day or two later....
2) Don't skimp on the air pump, you want a shit ton of bubbles in the bucket, thats how your plant don't drown.
3) Myco's are your best friends... (I use Orca) them+bubbles=healthy roots. They are what makes worm poop so great in organics...
4) ALL the nutes are concentrated... and for the most part, are all the same shit. Don't pay a fortune, don't follow dosage schedules written by people who's income depends on you buying more product.... or hydro store guys... Listen to other growers, not sales people.
5) The initial start up cost can be daunting, but aside from nutes (concentrated) a LOT of the stuff is re-used. The stuff thats not is cheap.. (hydroton, root cubes, cheap air stones, etc)


I have grown both ways, and find hydro to be better for me. I get bigger plants, bigger yields, and fewer bugs... well... actually.. no bugs since I went full hydro...

got potatoes going in a coco mix, see how that affects things....
Click to expand...
This is solid advice.

Granted you can set up dwc buckets for around $20 a piece, and you can avoid mycos, and ro/ph(depending on the water where you live, you should test it) by keeping Rez temps at 65 and no light leaks in the buckets.

Root enzymes are a good idea when you're starting out to prevent root rot before it happens as well, but once your system is dialed they are less necessary. My dwc consists of tap water, gh flora 3 part Nutes with the hard water micro, and air stone and buckets. Other than the plants, nothing else goes into my system ever. (Oh I have a calmag just in case, but it rarely gets used as I use tap, not ro water.
 
papa canna

papa canna

Well-Known Member
kachiga said:
Try coco. I went from soil, to coco, to hydro. Coco is semi hydro.
Click to expand...
currently using a peat base with some coco mixed in. very similar to using coco.

kmog33 said:
This is solid advice.

Granted you can set up dwc buckets for around $20 a piece, and you can avoid mycos, and ro/ph(depending on the water where you live, you should test it) by keeping Rez temps at 65 and no light leaks in the buckets.

Root enzymes are a good idea when you're starting out to prevent root rot before it happens as well, but once your system is dialed they are less necessary. My dwc consists of tap water, gh flora 3 part Nutes with the hard water micro, and air stone and buckets. Other than the plants, nothing else goes into my system ever. (Oh I have a calmag just in case, but it rarely gets used as I use tap, not ro water.
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I actually have pretty good tap water. Oddly enough our city uses detroit tap water which is supposedly some of the best tap in the country. How would you keep your rez at 65 though? I don't have a dedicated AC for my room, so in the summer that would be pretty difficult. right now im bringing in air from outside to keep everything at a nice 75. I run an open hood.
 
kmog33

kmog33

Well-Known Member
papa canna said:
currently using a peat base with some coco mixed in. very similar to using coco.



I actually have pretty good tap water. Oddly enough our city uses detroit tap water which is supposedly some of the best tap in the country. How would you keep your rez at 65 though? I don't have a dedicated AC for my room, so in the summer that would be pretty difficult. right now im bringing in air from outside to keep everything at a nice 75. I run an open hood.
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Frozen water bottle in your buckets or a chiller. I'm running all led and there's no heat in my tent, so my Rez temps stay low most of the year and when it gets hot I throw in frozen 2 liter bottles once a day after the lights have been on for an hour or so.
 
papa canna

papa canna

Well-Known Member
kmog33 said:
Frozen water bottle in your buckets or a chiller. I'm running all led and there's no heat in my tent, so my Rez temps stay low most of the year and when it gets hot I throw in frozen 2 liter bottles once a day after the lights have been on for an hour or so.
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while thats not a bad idea, dont you risk a chance of shocking the roots?
 
Gregor Eisenhorn

Gregor Eisenhorn

Well-Known Member
Do not underestimate the infamous notoriety of root rot and/or other pathogens. Hydro is well easy, especially Deep Water Culture, but don't start without any kind of beneficial bacteria (or just go with some sterilizers, much easier method) if you don't want to be shitting bricks hoping nothing will attack your roots (like I am).

Apart from that, the only thing to worry about is temperature which should be around 15-18C and honestly hydro is as easy as it gets. The trick with the frozen water bottles/ice packs are spot on, and it won't stress the roots.

For some products that sterelize the reservoir try H202, Bleach, or if you live in America get some HTH pool shock, that stuff is like 2 dollars and works flawlessly.

But mate, you'll need to adjust a bit, it is slightly different then soil.

You also need to buy a pH meter (the cheap chinese ones work FINE, some calibration solution for them, but that usually comes with it) and a TDS meter to emasure the ppms of the water. Trust me, it's good having the TDS meter even if other people will tell you that you won't need it. It makes life a helluva lot easier, you know if you're adding too little/too much nutrients, if the plant is drinking water, nutes or both etc.
 
papa canna

papa canna

Well-Known Member
Gregor Eisenhorn said:
Do not underestimate the infamous notoriety of root rot and/or other pathogens. Hydro is well easy, especially Deep Water Culture, but don't start without any kind of beneficial bacteria (or just go with some sterilizers, muich easier method) if you don't want to be shitting bricks hoping nothing will attack your roots (like I am).

Apart from that, the only thing to worry about is temperature which should be around 15-18C and honestly hydro is as easy as it gets.

For some products that sterelize the reservoir try H202, Bleach, or if you live in America get some HTH pool shock, that stuff is like 2 dollars and works flawlessly.
Click to expand...
while i know almost nothing about hydro, isn't 15-18c super cold? Just looked that up and according to google thats 54-64F. I assume you would need some sort of chiller to keep water that cold. In the summer room can get as hot as 82 :(
 
Gregor Eisenhorn

Gregor Eisenhorn

Well-Known Member
Also I wouldn't bother with any root hormones, enzymes etc. you can use them, but if you just have a basic nutrient line like Flora 3 parts that was mentioned above you'll be right as rain. No need to spend tons of money on additives, you should limit what goes into that reservoir.
 
Gregor Eisenhorn

Gregor Eisenhorn

Well-Known Member
papa canna said:
while i know almost nothing about hydro, isn't 15-18c super cold? Just looked that up and according to google thats 54-64F. I assume you would need some sort of chiller to keep water that cold. In the summer room can get as hot as 82 :(
Click to expand...
15-18 is perfect, the less the temperature of the water is, the more DO (dissolved oxygen) it holds. The theory is that low temps inhibit the ability of pathogens to attack. Although if you get some beneficial bacteria, then you can have higher reservoir temperatures, like probably 20+. May I ask if you live in America? If so, get some Hydroguard, that stuff is worth every penny.

Unfortunately that's the main problem with hydroponics, but there is a ton of information on the net on how to/what affects your water temperature. Chillers are expensive, but ask anyone with a chiller and I guarantee he won't tell you that the money wasn't well spent.

Insulating the reservoir helps a lot, the infra red from the lamps can really heat up anything they touch. Cold water bottles are handy, but require constant changing, but if you can cool the room by opening the window to cold air then a cold room=a cool reservoir.

Also you can use an igloo chiller as your reservoir, that REALLY helps, but I haven't tried it yet.
 
bird mcbride

bird mcbride

Well-Known Member
The reason the res is kept in the 60,sF is because micro shit can grow and lock out the nutes.

Newbies...Don't mess with the res temps because of things you may "think".
 
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Gregor Eisenhorn

Gregor Eisenhorn

Well-Known Member
Well also the warmer the T the less DO it holds and root rot thrives in a low oxygentated reservoir.

And pathogens are more likely to attack then. I'm not saying that at 60 they don't (that's why it's better to sterelize from time to time or add bennies), but it's less likely.
 
goodro wilson

goodro wilson

Well-Known Member
I'm tired of long ass veg times I wanna make the switch from organic soil but I need someone to make it easy for me lol

I been reading about one part feeding schedules
Like only foliage pro or only gh flower
Ive used the 2 part Lucas formula before just micro and bloom
Let's say I set up a dwc and start at 1/4 the recccomended dosage then I just change that water once a week and slowly up the feeding? Seems pretty easy
 
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