Soil vs Hydro ?

Hello, I am curious about the 2 options for my next grow. How much more beneficial is using a hyrdo operation vs a soil operation ? Im only growing for hobby, 4-8 plants. Any feed back would be appreciated.

Also when using CO2, is it supposed to be a CO2 rich environment or do you just spray the plants on a schedule ?


Thanks

Hydro is better all around IMO. It's easier to diagnose, and cure deficiencies. It's less messy, less work. Hydro yields much more. It is very easy to adjust PH, and PPM of feed where in soil you'd be flushing, tweaking, and going nuts.

You will need a decent PH, and PPM meter which will set you back under a hundred bucks, but once you have them you can read your entire grow. MUCH more control than you could ever have in soil.

You want a CO2 rich environment. You'll need either a bottle and regulator, or generator and a controller. Generators put of heat, but are cheaper to run than bottled CO2. Too much CO2 will kill your plants so a controller is a good idea.

if you think you can handle it go hydro but soil is much more forgiving also no need for co2 in such a small grow

Soil is the best and organic is the way....hydro might yield u more but the quality from a good soil grow is better hands down.

Soil is less maintenance and more maneuverable and taste is way better

Hydro is much tougher to start with. Ther are many more things to go wrong for a beginner and the mistakes are inevitably fatal.

A gentleman farmer such as yourself does not want or need the pressures and pitfalls that attend a first-time hydro grower. I would
highly reccomend starting in dirt for at least the first few grows. I started in hydro with 2 diastrous failures and switched to dirt. Six
years later I got a thriving 3-room perpetual grow going with enough production capability to double a mortage.

Trust me, no one thinks dirt is for dummies. There are challenges all the time for even the most experienced grower.

Better go. I'm starting to sound like that city slicker from Petticoat Junction.

BigSteve.

Taviddude said:

Hydro is better all around IMO. It's easier to diagnose, and cure deficiencies. It's less messy, less work. Hydro yields much more. It is very easy to adjust PH, and PPM of feed where in soil you'd be flushing, tweaking, and going nuts.

You will need a decent PH, and PPM meter which will set you back under a hundred bucks, but once you have them you can read your entire grow. MUCH more control than you could ever have in soil.

You want a CO2 rich environment. You'll need either a bottle and regulator, or generator and a controller. Generators put of heat, but are cheaper to run than bottled CO2. Too much CO2 will kill your plants so a controller is a good idea.

Click to expand...

I go along with this man, I see too many problems with soil, also as said hydro is easier to rectify a problem. never tried CO2 so I won't comment on that.

Go with a hempy its as easy as soil and you get the benefits of hydro.

this will sound kinda..idk lame? i agree with all. even though there were some disagreement. which is easier. i will say soil is easier from the aspect of "moving parts" and the actual soil being a buffer. i holds water and nutes so u dont have to work as hard. soil is more prone to bugs. both my rooms are clean though. for about 4 days i had some bugs when i brought my soil in. hydro is more beneficial to vigor and such. someone mentioned the fact u can really control more of the factors. im doin a run of schwag soil vs hydro now and have a forum with pics. to say bottom line i love hydro. had a few hiccups but critical thinking and a sense of urgency is on my side!!!

hydro is much quicker, soil makes slightly better buds, imo.

If you veg a clone in coco and an identical one in soil, the one in coco will grow much faster.

dial in your grow before adding co2

if you go with soil, use mycorrhizae

Taviddude said:

Hydro is better all around IMO. It's easier to diagnose, and cure deficiencies. It's less messy, less work. Hydro yields much more. It is very easy to adjust PH, and PPM of feed where in soil you'd be flushing, tweaking, and going nuts.

Click to expand...

Whoa whoa whoa... why the hell would I be "flushing, tweaking and going nuts"? I mix up a batch of soil to my liking for each stage of growth. Then it is pretty much just water with few supplements or anything added at all, no pH adjustments required EVER even if I am mixing in liquid organic nutrients or whatever. The soil is designed to care for itself.

Some AACT with forest humus every now and then and that is IT. Other than watching the plants grow and waiting for them to finish.

Nullis said:

Whoa whoa whoa... why the hell would I be "flushing, tweaking and going nuts"? I mix up a batch of soil to my liking for each stage of growth. Then it is pretty much just water with few supplements or anything added at all, no pH adjustments required EVER even if I am mixing in liquid organic nutrients or whatever. The soil is designed to care for itself.

Some AACT with forest humus every now and then and that is IT. Other than watching the plants grow and waiting for them to finish.

Click to expand...

that goes to prove dont listen to everything you hear soil is much more simple ive only flushed once the whole grow due to a lil nute burn

Take it from a beginner. I bought a basic hydro setup. Followed directions to a tee. Played with it for weeks, never could stabilize pH!
plant barely grew. Now in soil. Plant growing well. No more adjusting Ph. Just water and leave it.

why not go with the best of both worlds and use coco ,possibly with air pots for a good yield. dip your toe into hydro and go from there

Take it from this beginner -- hydro is easy! You top off with water, look at the ppm level and the ph level, adjust and you're done. If you're doing some LSTing, and inspecting the plants well, you'll looking at 10 fun minutes 2x day. Get good lighting, and these babies blow up in hydro -- top at 3.5 weeks, lst to control height, and it quickly looks like you're growing eight bushy plants that fill your 2x3 footprint.

No bugs (at least not in my set up, which is in my living room), no wondering if the girls are getting enough nutes, no nute burn, no nothing.

Of course, I've never grown in soil -- but I killed every plant that came within 5 feet of me prior to trying hydro, which is why I started with hydro right off the bat. So I think I'd struggle with soil.

Good luck!

things go wrong fast in hydro though....

U can always go sunshine mix #4 or pro mix hp, and blow the socks off what most are calling hydro.
Get house and garden nutes, small bottles of the line. 3 gallon pots, 600-1000 watt lamp for 8 plants.
if u want co2, research it a little bit and go for it.

I would say go with soil. Even better mix your own organic. Since its just a hobby you have no need for hydro. Yes, hydro plants grow faster. But what do you need speed for if growing for a hobby? And since your not growing commercially, and you'll probably be smoking it yourself, then you probably want good tasting bud. Organic soil will give you the best tasting buds you can grow. And you don't need the ppm meters and ph meters and all that. Just give em some water then they need it and watch em grow! Hydro would be a lot more work. If you choose to go organic soil route then I'll help you get started with this link to making your own simple organic soil. Good luck!

http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/1116550-easy-organic-soil-mix-beginners.html

a mongo frog said:

U can always go sunshine mix #4 or pro mix hp, and blow the socks off what most are calling hydro.

Click to expand...

Uh, No. You're still talking soilless so that would be considered hydro. Soilless is the NEXT best thing to straight up hydro.
Why do soilless when it's more work than soil, or hydro and will still yield less than straight up hydro?
Don't get me wrong, Soilless gives GREAT results. but you still have to water, and feed more than soil. You still use nutes for feedings that need to be mixed and PH'd along with waterings that ALSO need to be PH'd EVERY time you do either.

In Hydro you add Nutes, check PPM/EC, Adjust PH and leave it for up to a 1-2 weeks only topping up the reservoir when it needs it.
Todays hydroponic nutrients come with feed schedules on the bottle for God sake.

What's so hard about this?



Super Soil is great but do you think a total beginner is going to cook that shit up, and get the PH right on the first try?
Buying soil is Expensive and will still only carry your plants through veg before you start having to feed- May as well be doing Soilless and getting more bud.
You still need a PH meter to know what's up if things start going wrong.

This is all just my opinion. I've grown in all three.
Soil may have smelled a bit more earthy, but the yield was low.
Soilless yielded great, but needed more attention.
Hydro tops them all, and is a LOT less work for me.

Good Hydro is Good Bud. If you have some properly flushed hydro and some soil grown bud dried, and cured 95% of people would not tell the difference.

I'm not one to start arguing and being violent and calling names just because someone else has a differing opinion than me. Nice to see someone else who can disagree civilly. If he follows the simple instructions in the link then the ph will be set already. Also if mixed correctly, nothing can go wrong. No defeciencies. Only overwatering and the grower himself could cause problems. And it has enough nutrients to easily feed the plant throughout its entire life cycle.