Hydro is more expensive on the setup for sure, but after the initial purchase.... way cheaper!! I reuse everything but old nute water, 1.5" rockwool, and about 10% of the used hydroton. Equipment failure?? If you are growing so big and arent watching your gals for over 72hrs at a shot, you're needing commercial environ controls, and price isnt an issue. Ive forgotten to turn on entire banks of timers. About 3 days later my ladies told me they were thirsty, and I plugged the equip back in. If youre running indoor lighting, that failure will affect soil and hydro equally really. If you try to run a 1000w in a small area, indoors, unvented, I think youve already got an equipment failure? Anyhow, $180 aint bad for a 1000 ballast by itself.
The reason I gave in and started hyro at the beginning was those darn pesky gnats. That, and I couldnt quit messing with the gals enough, and boffed the watering schedule ALL THE TIME! Seemed to me like it was harder to control what kind of nutes they were getting in soil. Granted I didnt burn them with organic ferts, I did with bad soil. Most of my learning curve was actually spent on plant training, and environmental stability issues. I used some trial and error, and actually found a simple to make, easy to maintain, and cheap ebb and flow setup. I'm talking $60 cheap for the ebb setup to hold (6) 2' gals, including pump,res,float,tubing and hydroton! All my parts were found easily, so if theres ever an equipment failure...I fix it.
In the beginning nutrient cost scared me, but when compared to the cost of soil, its less over time than a good soil. Not to mention, dumping water is easier than dumping soil for me. I also WAY over worried myself over the ph and ppm thing. Hell, now I just kinda guess at the ppm I'm looking for, dump in the 3part i use, and if its close....run it! If it starts to burn, I add some water to the tubs. If they look a tad yellow or spotty, add more nutes next change. Also, with a big enough res, ph drift isnt so bad. Let's not forget how wonderful it is to not wonder if it's time to water!
I'd suggest to run hydro off the go, if you plan to try it in the future. If you plan to grow more than a few small gals and quit, go hydro. But, if you want HUGE ladies, and plan on not collecting expensive lights anyhow.. go soil. Really tho, if you're buying a 1000w right now, are you THAT concerned about investment? I wish I hadnt wasted so much money on BS cheap stuff to "try" with. Now that stuff is collecting dust and my good equip earns its worth each day.
Im definately waiting for the day I can power my OUTDOOR garden by the sun, and use and reuse the soil mother earth gave us. But until then, its technology for me and oh it tastes so good. Somewhere here I have a thread "hydroponics aint that damn hard ppl!". Not sure youre worried about it being hard, but if so... Happy growing to ya!!
