Why hydro?

[Tracker]

So, I’m setting up the 4x4 tent now. I have to redo all the plumbing on it. 2” x 10’ PVC pipes are 20 dollars here now, fucking ridiculous! The new tent takes up so much room, but has so much more room and is taller. I’m going to run the system for a couple days with bleach in it. I scrubbed the hell out of the system with Clorox and rinsed it out, I just want to run bleach to get it all. I had to put two new holes in the tent for plumbing, I hate doing it lolView attachment 5076441

so I don’t know what the weight is and probably won’t weight it. I filled all these jars tho and got a shit ton of little shit buds and leafs I’m going to cook down and get butter. The mason jars are expensive as hell here too and hard to find View attachment 5076442

To save money and hassle on jars, I use 5gal food grade plastic buckets with air tight screw on lids. They make for way less hassle burping all those jars. Not sure where you are. I get mine at Home Depot in US.

Leaktite 5 gal. 70mil Food Safe Bucket White

Leaktite 5 gal. 70mil Food Safe Bucket White 005GFSWH020 - The Home Depot

Leaktite Food Safe Bucket White is made of plastic and has a wide range of possible uses at any work site and home. Convenient to carry.

www.homedepot.com

SKU# 300197644

Bucket Companion 5-gal. and 3.5-gal. Screw Top Bucket Lid in Black

Bucket Companion 5 gal. Black Paint Bucket Lid LD5GRLBK006 - The Home Depot

Conclude a stunning addition to your living space with the selection of this affordably priced Bucket Companion and Screw Top Bucket Lid in Black.

www.homedepot.com

SKU# 303808738

 

[Tracker]

Why hydro?

When I was a kid I read an article on NASA's hydroponic program. Growing food in space and on other planets. The article stated they got 5,000 pounds of tomatoes from one plant. Not sure if it was accurate but it sure made an impression. (I do thing it was true).

As an adult, when I looked into growing, I already knew which way I'd go.

It's cool! Lol. Science, baby! Plus, the idea of handling guano, castings and composting is kind of repellent and stinky. Lol.

By the way, it's domes on Mars forever. We can never create an atmosphere. No terraforming. The Earth has a huge iron/nickle core with a magnetic field that repels solar and cosmic radiation. Mars doesn't. It had an atmosphere but it was boiled away from constant bombardment of radiation. Try it and it gets stripped away again.

You could eventually use the dirt there but it would be under a dome. It is sterile, that's for sure! I think hydro would be the method of choice.

I remember going on a school field trip to NASA in the 80's and seeing aeroponics for the first time. My mind was blown. When I started growing, I knew i'd be trying that for sure.

 

[Incredible4Mr2E]

you got some clones or seedlings ready to go in it? good luck.

The plants I just cut down I found out are GG4 x Zittlez, not a GG4. My buddy has two strawberry kush plants that he said are a great strain. I also got a couple fruity chronic juice seeds from delicious seeds. They already popped and I just threw them in soil. Two or three days and they should come out of the promix. I think I'm going to let a couple FCJ plants from each seed and SOG them and see what’s seed does better and kill the other. I love the FCJ and can’t wait to grow it out.

 

[Meast21]

I ran a SOG grow for over 10 years. 45ish plants in a 4x4 flood tray in my basement with ceilings under 7 feet. I used 6inch square pots of hydroton with clones that only vegged for 2 weeks till they were about 7-8 inches tall. Then into flower, where I removed the bottom couple nodes to encourage single cola growth. In the end most plants were about 24-30 inches tall with a couple small side branches and yielded 20ish dried grams per plant on average.

It could be done in a 4x4 tent, but it really would be ideal to have a separate veg space to do it right. I had roughly a 7x6 room for flower with a 4x4 tray under an air cooled 1kHPS. Then a separate 5x6ish space for veg with a 2x4 tray to veg the clones and a 2x2 spot for the new clones all under floor lights.

I have 6 tents total and (between 1 and 4 plant in each tent depending on tent size and strain) a total of 60 square feet amongst those tents... I don't veg in a tent just out in the open in my basement and it gives light to the basement also when I'm down there.... Hydro, I do DWC is way better and faster. I prob avg 23 oz's a month and in you're normal soil those 23 oz's would prob be less than 10 oz's.

 

[Meast21]

I've grown (and still do) many grows, both soil, and hydro. You can amend your soil and whip up a batch of "Super Soil" and hope for the best, or you can go hydro and have much, much more control over the root environment, and if you have a tent or grow room you control pests, mold & mildew, light type/quality/Wattage/Par value/schedule, and mostly what they uptake. You get to decide how simple you want it, or how complicated. Some are so complicated that you might as well get a lab coat because you'll be measuring discreet amounts with gram scales, and pipets, and spending hours monitoring and recording values. I use an extremely simple Veg formula and Bloom formula; ditched the chemistry lab years ago. Regardless of what method of hydro you use you'll have to keep an eye on the ph of the water. In soil that would mean top-dressing lime or potash but in hydro adding a few drops to make it acidic or alkali - and your "changes" take effect almost immediately, not days later as with soil. That also means that things can go to hell a lot faster than in soil, so it's a compromise. Personally, I just enjoy the extra effort hydro requires, and I admire the elegance and simplicity of the system. I mean, soil is amazing too but ...sorry for the run-on; I'm high AF.

A tent is way better too bc of the reflection it gives off.

 

[Artmann11]

I have 6 tents total and (between 1 and 4 plant in each tent depending on tent size and strain) a total of 60 square feet amongst those tents... I don't veg in a tent just out in the open in my basement and it gives light to the basement also when I'm down there.... Hydro, I do DWC is way better and faster. I prob avg 23 oz's a month and in you're normal soil those 23 oz's would prob be less than 10 oz's.

Way less than half? I believe it. I did one bucket run with a mother because I didn't have room elsewhere. When I eventually cut it the roots were six inches thick at the bottom of the bucket. I had to cut the air stone out with a knife. They were clean and beautiful. It was a beast.

 

[potpimp]

A tent is way better too bc of the reflection it gives off.

Yeah, I've got panda plastic lining the walls and ceiling.

 

[Herb & Suds]

Yeah, I've got panda plastic lining the walls and ceiling.

Interesting
I tried that but it created heat issues
I might revisit it if I switch to LED though

 

[HGCC]

Hydro may produce bigger yields and easier to control but looks like the market prefers organic/veganic grown.

people argue the latter taste better and has better looking buds?

khash on ig grows strictly veganic and his stuff is known to sell for 11-1200 zip if you’re in his circle and most customers get it around 15-1800

Lol, holy macaroni batman, that's a crazy price. I came across 800 an ounce weed back when it was illegal everywhere but CA, that seemed ridiculous then, let alone now.

More power to him if people will pay it I guess.

I like hydro as I can consistently hit higher quality than if I grow in soil. I like that plants respond quicker to changes.

 

[Incredible4Mr2E]

Interesting
I tried that but it created heat issues
I might revisit it if I switch to LED though

Me and a buddy hung some up in his room and it created humidity issues. He couldn’t get it to drop. He took it down and the problem went away. He has a Gavita LED light having the humidity issue. He never put it back up.

 

[Naddydasty214]

Lol, holy macaroni batman, that's a crazy price. I came across 800 an ounce weed back when it was illegal everywhere but CA, that seemed ridiculous then, let alone now.

More power to him if people will pay it I guess.

I like hydro as I can consistently hit higher quality than if I grow in soil. I like that plants respond quicker to changes.

yeah it’s insane I would never pay that,specially With all the info that’s online now nothing is stopping anyone from growing their own other than finances

 

[potpimp]

Me and a buddy hung some up in his room and it created humidity issues. He couldn’t get it to drop. He took it down and the problem went away. He has a Gavita LED light having the humidity issue. He never put it back up.

That's a humidity problem, not a plastic problem. Hardly anything is truly impermeable but plastic is up there pretty good. I've grown in this stuff for years and never had a problem, but there is no water exposed to the environment.

 

[Incredible4Mr2E]

you got some clones or seedlings ready to go in it? good luck.

I got lucky too. The Delicious seeds got crushed during shipping. I still put them in a paper towel for the hell of it and they both popped a tiny root. I feel very good about this lol

 

[amneziaHaze]

when i started growing people knew about hydro but everybody had scarry stories of how hard it is. but first time i tried it i feel in low.every 24h you see a huge difference compared to earth when it takes a few days to notice new growth. no stress about overwatering or forgeting to water yea it got substituted with ph and ppm checking but honestly you learn the way it goes really fast.
for some reason hydroponics gives plants with more flowers. i planted a chilly plant in it this year there was more flowers than leafs.i guess plant is happiest in hydro

 

[coralreefer999]

Easier to monitor = easier to maintain IMO. Add in the growth is faster with bigger, stickier buds.

I finally broke down and spent the loot to get Bluelab gear, but what a difference it made. Keeping the plants in a consistent healthy environment is key, and hydro makes that easier. For me at least.

 

[amneziaHaze]

What does the bottom part do?

 

[coralreefer999]

pH pump, it adds either pH up or down. Only one at a time. The right tube is intake (hose stuck in a bottle of pH down), left tube is pumping into res.

I REALLY want a second one so I can do 1 up 1 down, but they are not cheep.

 

[Hollatchaboy]

What does the bottom part do?

It's a pH doser. It'll give a dose of pH adjuster when it gets to a preset pH.

 

[lusidghost]

pH pump, it adds either pH up or down. Only one at a time. The right tube is intake (hose stuck in a bottle of pH down), left tube is pumping into res.

Having automated ph correction has to be super nice. I've been wanting one of those since I started growing.

 

[coralreefer999]

It's a pH doser

Thanks, I remembered the correct name late last night.

Having automated ph correction has to be super nice.

It's takes a huge part of the equations out of the "mix". Highly recommend it.

The software is pretty decent too (1 connect stick needed for all devices to report too).

You can control most things remotely expect dosing direction, which hopefully they'll add. Device can be in "control" or "monitoring" mode. I use monitor for res changes. If it hits a triggered "alarm" it stops dosing until you correct it. Also tells you when to calibrate pH meter, which I see needs to be done (orange CAL bubble). Mobile app is informational only with graphing, but nothing impressive.




Also resets the dose counter at midnight so you know how much it's dosing daily.