Change from soil to hydro, good idea or not?

I currently grow in soil almost 30 plants indoors. I water by hand, but I'm tired of that shit. I think I want to go with the General Hydro Waterfarm drip system, mainly because I like large plants and it seems easy enough. I am interested to know if any soil growers that went hydro would do it again, or should I continue to get back aches for the best herb. Thanks to all that reply.

I usually grow hydro but I germinated one seed to many this go around and decided to stick it in some soil stuff I had. It looks nice and green and healthy but the hydro plants are probably at least 3 times bigger than the soil plant. They're only a couple weeks old so I don't know what will happen as time goes on. Other than size they look the same. Both of the hydro plants have already developed some hellacious roots. I doubt if I pulled the soil plant that it would have the same root mass. I'm not going to pull it though, just saying.

Once was given five plants in soil---about 4ft tall.

I gently washed as much soil off as I could and put in my aero tubes-----about half survived-------too much shock I think .

Safest way is to take cuttings from the soil plants and start those in your choice of hydro cloning method.

A~~~

If you got a good understanding of growing and have the money to buy the few tools to make
hydro a simple venture then yes it is a good idea....

I suck at soil, so in the past couple of years I've moved 5 plants from soil to DWC.

3 plants I removed as much soil as I could, and like Alaric's girls, mine wne into shock and didn't really recover.

2 girls, I just knocked off what would come off easily and stuck them in net pots surrounded by hydroton, turned out much better.

So I guess what I'm saying, if you do switch to hydro, treat your plants as if you were transplanting them, the less handling the better.

Good luck

I moved a 3 week old seedling from soil to dwc because it seemed stunted. The roots weren't growing well, I knocked off just the lose dirt and left the rest, threw it in a netcup with some hydroton and its growing again.

I used to work in 100% coco. After I switched to 100% hydro I can tell you it was the BEST decision I ever made and will never go back. no more dirty hands, transplanting, dust every where. TERRIBLE!
Consider a simple system like the CAP Monster Flood system. Work with either 100% synthetic nutes with H202. If you choose to use nutes with kelp (B1) or Humics then be sure to change rez every 7 days and research using teas as well as beneficials.
Invest in a good RO system.

Good luck

Jimdamick, lots of options open to you. i made a choice to go from soil to DWC and i can only say i am not looking back. had a problem with root rot when i didn't keep an eye on my res temps. They got to about 80f. once i killed the root rot and lowered the temps the plants took off! i am going back every morning and being impressed with their rate of growth. its incredible. Best part is the plants talk back to you via the PPM/PH of the water, PH goes up and ppms go down your plants want more stength. PH goes down, ppm up nutes are too strong. plus no need to flush soil and guess soil PPM/PH is, also no mess. Only water. No need to deal with large amounts of used soil.


+1 vote for Hydro.

ok so to answer the question, yes you can go from dirt to hydro, wash all roots in luke warm water and after you have rinsed them just flood your hydro bucket and medium and slide your girl right on in there. i usually keep a light on 24.7 for a few days to recover the plant.. but when you go from dirt to hydro you must have those roots exposed for any length of time.. but the earlier the better a 6 inch plant better to do then a 2ft plant,


if running auto's always plantin final pot.

I like soiless medium it gives best of both worlds. Easy to transition from soil and will give you similar results to hydro, coco is good, but I prefer promix and lighten up with a lot perlite, set up a drip system to water. You can start out with little to no perilite to get feel for how often you will have to water and lighten up to your liking.

I'm in my first hydro cycle and even though this won't be my 'best' round it's unlikely I will switch back to soil apart from a couple of plants for fun maybe. Takes a while to get the hang of it, coming from soil, but is not more difficult or anything, just different, imho 'better' and given proper preparation even easier for beginners than soil.

So yeah, I would do it again. Should have done it sooner.

soil is easier than water. soil cost less than water. Soil is more forgiving than water. Soil grows smaller plants than water.

If you can spend time with your plants almost every day and you're willing to learn some new skills and some science than hell ya water rules imho

the first shot is of 3 plants in my RDWC system at 7 weeks, the cages are 4 feet high

Alaric said:

Once was given five plants in soil---about 4ft tall.

I gently washed as much soil off as I could and put in my aero tubes-----about half survived-------too much shock I think .

Safest way is to take cuttings from the soil plants and start those in your choice of hydro cloning method.

A~~~

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I just took 6 3wk old plants out of soil, washed the roots and moved in to hydro... 100% success rate with recovery in 2 days. I wouldn't do it with a plant too big or too small, though... Would be smart to do some light defoliation, too.

As for the OP... Soil is great for small personal grow or for fun but not for so much for yield. Hydro also uses less water overall and the plants grow a lot faster.

woodsmaneh! said:

soil is easier than water. soil cost less than water. Soil is more forgiving than water. Soil grows smaller plants than water.

If you can spend time with your plants almost every day and you're willing to learn some new skills and some science than hell ya water rules imho

the first shot is of 3 plants in my RDWC system at 7 weeks, the cages are 4 feet high

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Lovely Sativas! What strain?

Nice frosty buds!

woodsmaneh! said:

Soil is more forgiving than water.

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Nah... if the water doesn't forgive you, you can simply replace it. Can afford making mistakes on water because they are easier and faster to fix. Water is way more forgiving than soil. Fucking up PH, EC, drowning has a longer lasting effect on soil, hence is LESS forgiving than water, which can be replaced or adjusted quickly and effectively.

Sativied said:

Nice frosty buds!

Nah... if the water doesn't forgive you, you can simply replace it. Can afford making mistakes on water because they are easier and faster to fix. Water is way more forgiving than soil. Fucking up PH, EC, drowning has a longer lasting effect on soil, hence is LESS forgiving than water, which can be replaced or adjusted quickly and effectively.

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One of the biggest reasons I love hydro... Instant changes. I use tap water, so it's super cheap and easy. It's also nice to have visual reference to the roots...

flyingsteve said:

I use tap water, so it's super cheap and easy.

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Me too, I just roll out a hose of 6 yards and turn a valve (to fill) or start a pump (to drain). Takes me 10 minutes (ok, only 16 gallon). Topping it off with some correction usually suffices. Besides that, who doesn't like playing with water

flyingsteve said:

It's also nice to have visual reference to the roots...

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Yeah definitely a nice bonus. Many 'symptoms of problems' on soil are directly related to root problems. Like yesterday some guy had clearly drowned plants and someone suggested he had N deficiency because the leaves look yellow...

Hey... I see you grow White Russian, I just smoked it last Friday in 'Dam and concluded I might have to grow it some day. Going to check out your journal.

I turn a valve to stop return flow to dwc tanks and open the drain valve with hose running to tub! Then I pump it from a bucket back in... Some day I'm going to have hydro system directly connected to water line with a ball valve... Will be super easy to flush/refill in no time.

I just started the white russian. I had the seeds for about 2yrs probably and just decided it was now or never lol. I topped them at the 5th/6th node. But that is when I was growing them in soil still. If I would've known I was going to put them in the hydro system I would've waited to top till like the 10th node, around 8" tall.

Hydroponics is hands down the best way to grow in my opinion. I have used soil for many years and have NEVER seen the results that my hydro set-up is giving me now. I recommend 2 6 pot systems for personal use. One with 6 flowering and the other with 6 vegging. Using a drip system made out of cpvc is the best and cheapest way to go by far!!! I let me drip system run 24/7 and ive seen 1-2 inches of growth a day, more since i set up my 400 watt Apollo grow light!! Use a 1inch rockwool cube to start in then move the cube to a net pot with hydroton after the first few sets of leaves show up. Ive been using GH Flora series 2 part nutrient system and have had great results. I just ordered FOX FARMS nuts as i heard they are the best for these plants. Hydro grows also are alot cleaner and produce almost no pests in my experience. Here are a few pics of my most recent grow, tell me what yas think

I like water culture because I'm lazy-------had rather turn some valves to flush and reload the nutes (yes not for everyone-----must stay focused).

At least 90% of plant material is waste compared to dbw (have run tests). No way I want the labor of disposing spent soil for a 6KW flower show------and the mess.

Monitor and control------love it.

A~~~