cushmasternewbie
Active Member
I know nothing bout hydro grow please help why is it worth the switch how much more will it hurt my eletric running hydro n not soil so mean question I newbie at hydro help
is it worth the switch from soil to hydro
- Thread starter cushmasternewbie
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gmanguy
Member
I love hydro. Depending on the system you chose, and how big, the power used in the equipment is quite minimal. I have a very large air pump that can run around 20 dwc buckets if i maxed it but i use that on 8. Those run 24/7 and i think that big one uses 120 watts. 1 kilowatt hour is 1000 watts over 1 hour. So I figure that pump, 1000/120=8.3333hours for it to use 1 kilowatt hour. 24/8.333=2.88 kilowatt hours per day. 2.88x0.14(what i pay per kilowatt hour)=.40. 40 cents a day to run the very large air pump so like 12 dollars a month? Thats just an example for power usage but you can actually use less water/nutes and an easier "watering" because they always are getting water as long as you can make sure a bucket or tote or whatever your res may be is full.
StinkBud
Well-Known Member
Power is not an issue bro, Hydro uses nothing compared to your lights. The best thing about hydo is how clean it is. No more dirty soil to clean up after. Yields will most likely increase if you do it right.
But...Hydro is easy to fuck up. Everything grows faster...and dies faster! Basically things happen a lot faster with hydro and you don't have much buffer for mistakes. It's by far easier to grow with hydro than soil but only if you know what you're doing. Study up on the different techniques and methods.
It's hard to beat good soil grown bud, especially organically grown. It has a sweet, complex flavor that you just don't get with synthetic nutes. I use organic based nutrients that taste 99% as good as soil. If you do grow in soil use Soma's method of growing and SubCool's Super Soil recipient. If you choose hydro have a million choices. I use Botanicare Pro with Liquid Karma and Cal/Mag as an additive.
Good luck bro!
But...Hydro is easy to fuck up. Everything grows faster...and dies faster! Basically things happen a lot faster with hydro and you don't have much buffer for mistakes. It's by far easier to grow with hydro than soil but only if you know what you're doing. Study up on the different techniques and methods.
It's hard to beat good soil grown bud, especially organically grown. It has a sweet, complex flavor that you just don't get with synthetic nutes. I use organic based nutrients that taste 99% as good as soil. If you do grow in soil use Soma's method of growing and SubCool's Super Soil recipient. If you choose hydro have a million choices. I use Botanicare Pro with Liquid Karma and Cal/Mag as an additive.
Good luck bro!
cushmasternewbie
Active Member
Thanks fam soubds great I'm start studing uo on it asap
firsttimeARE
Well-Known Member
Well i've never grown in soil, but hydro had a little learning curve for me. Took me about 3 months to get a plant looking good in DWC.
I'm sure some of it had been due to me never having grown in soil and being skiddish of adding nutes too early as I followed that "plants dont need nutes until 3 sets of leaves" BS.
I'm sure some of it had been due to me never having grown in soil and being skiddish of adding nutes too early as I followed that "plants dont need nutes until 3 sets of leaves" BS.
Im leaning towards the pure blend pro but still have some thoughts about it. What system do you run it in and obviously you don't have bacteria problems with it ? It doesn't list any micros in it but is a one part?
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banks dank
Active Member
I started w/ soil and it was painfully slow...I did the whole fox farm ordeal...FFOF, the nute trio blah blah blah...
When i went to DWC, my plants exploded with life...
I was skeptical because i am one of those smoker who prefers quality to quantity,
and felt that a hydro system would take away from the essence of the bud.
Needless to say, i was wrong....
I know it seems counter-intuitive, but my DWC grow was much easier than soil.
With hydro, u can monitor all the variables and as long as you have the tools ( PH meter, TDS meter) you can see exactly what your plant is doing.
If you are willing to understand it, hydroponics is very easy and efficient.
When i went to DWC, my plants exploded with life...
I was skeptical because i am one of those smoker who prefers quality to quantity,
and felt that a hydro system would take away from the essence of the bud.
Needless to say, i was wrong....
I know it seems counter-intuitive, but my DWC grow was much easier than soil.
With hydro, u can monitor all the variables and as long as you have the tools ( PH meter, TDS meter) you can see exactly what your plant is doing.
If you are willing to understand it, hydroponics is very easy and efficient.
BigEasy1
Well-Known Member
I went from hydro to soil and have no intentions of going back. I just don't have time to babysit a hydro set up. I'm retired but do a little consulting work world wide and need to be able to leave my plants alone for at least a week from time to time. I couldn't do that with hydro but it's no problem with soil. Once in a while when I get back after being gone one will be dried out pretty good but so far they've always snapped back.
Tone5500
Well-Known Member
I leave my plants for up to ten days sometimes in my 15gallon dwc. And I might add every scent I stopped using soil haven't had to worry about pest either
BigEasy1
Well-Known Member
You leave then 10 days without anything being checked? Not the PH or the water temps/levels?
I leave my plants for up to ten days sometimes in my 15gallon dwc. And I might add every scent I stopped using soil haven't had to worry about pest either
Tone5500
Well-Known Member
For what my environment is dialed in 10 gallons of solution last for over 7 days in the heart of flower and I set my ph on change out day to 5.7 and let it swing until it hit 6.7 but usally never even swings past 6.1 over a course of seven -10 dayz at day 10-12 I change out and walk away
harris hawk
Well-Known Member
To be honest you should do at least one grow in soil before you attempt an hydro grow - this will make things easier for you in the long run. After a few grows then go hydro and yes you can get a better yield with hydro but, soil can do that also
Tone5500
Well-Known Member
Y does everyone say that better to learn with soil why so you can stress about how much to water when to water over watering slow growth how to feed when to feed , don't get me wrong soil if done right is outstanding but to say you should learn soil then Jump to hydro is comparing Apples to oranges ,
firsttimeARE
Well-Known Member
My friend who had been growing for a year before I started was doing soil. Most of his plants were only an oz yield(he must of been doing something wrong)
My first hydro crop averaged 3.5oz per plant. I still havent gotten past the 4oz plant and not even close to the 8oz plant everyone seems to say they pull.
I'm still learning, but NO PESTS! This bugged me with soil. I did soil for a week and had a bunch of fungus gnats. Tried using some spray to kill insects. Got bugged(pun intended) out over the ingredients in it and said fuck soil. The bugs were literally coming in WITH the soil bags. Fox Fox Ocean of Gnats they should call that shit.
My first hydro crop averaged 3.5oz per plant. I still havent gotten past the 4oz plant and not even close to the 8oz plant everyone seems to say they pull.
I'm still learning, but NO PESTS! This bugged me with soil. I did soil for a week and had a bunch of fungus gnats. Tried using some spray to kill insects. Got bugged(pun intended) out over the ingredients in it and said fuck soil. The bugs were literally coming in WITH the soil bags. Fox Fox Ocean of Gnats they should call that shit.
chuck estevez
Well-Known Member
soil, for organics, outdoors
if you want to grow inside and have hydro like results with a dirt like medium, try coco or peatmoss.
ANY choice requires learning, but as said above, hydro leaves little room for mistakes,if you are in it to make $$$ don't do soil indoors.
if you want to grow inside and have hydro like results with a dirt like medium, try coco or peatmoss.
ANY choice requires learning, but as said above, hydro leaves little room for mistakes,if you are in it to make $$$ don't do soil indoors.
Clown Baby
Well-Known Member
indoors? it was for me.
Even starting to do more of my outdoor crops in hydro. (leaf lettuce/herbs and stuff...not pot/tomatoes)
Even starting to do more of my outdoor crops in hydro. (leaf lettuce/herbs and stuff...not pot/tomatoes)
purplelicious
Well-Known Member
General Hydroponics Water Farm bucket system is the best for dwc. It uses only air pumps to circulate and aerate the water. No pumps to create heat and no water chillers to cool and no air stones to get clogged. It is pretty genius if you ask me. I have been a grower for almost 20 years and never went dwc, the water pumps,water chillers and air stones system did not appeal to me. I like simplicity in my grow. I just made the switch from rockwool to hydro farm buckets, this will be my first grow with them. Anyone use this set up? I will be using PH perfect sensi bloom and hygrozyme and at week 3 nirvana. No more buying a lot of rockwool or soil if you make the switch to a true hydroponic system. Your room will be cleaner and require less maintenance. It took a grower with a lot of knowledge to explain this system to me and convince me to switch. I hope I have helped a little.
WeedFreak78
Well-Known Member
I'm going full hydro, no more dirt in my house, mainly because of bugs and mess. I have yet to do a soil grow where i didn't get some type of bugs. I don't want to deal with topping off pots, repotting, spilled soil, bags of amendment, bags of perlite, moving around large heavy pots. Full hydro, I'll have a small shelf with my nutes on it, to repot, move the netcup from one to the next, spill something, grab a towel..it's just water, want to move a plant do it during a res change so it doesn't weigh as much. I love a good organic grow, but I've come to the conclusion, for me, that's an outdoor adventure.
