I built an ebb & Flow system but my DWC buckets grow giant healthy plants so why fix it if it aint broke.
I wouldn't be quite so strict. It's like Ford v. Chevy ... a passionate topic but ultimately one of preference.
My core attitude is "go with what works". If it works for you, more power to you. I couldn't make it work with my current genetics. cn
I guess if by easy you mean playing with a bunch of soil, watering all the time and disposing of all the soil when you are done with it then ya its certainly the easiest and if by best you mean vegging for long periods of time to try to grow a couple oz. then yup sure is the best.
Soil is its natural growing environment. Id pay you $1000 to go and show me a feral weed plant growing from a man made hydro system.
My buddy grew a side by side snow cap from clones one time. One synthetic, one organic and one hydro. Out of all 3 the hydro def produced more and faster but the smoke test was not even comparable. Couldn't tell too much of a difference between the synthetic and organic but the hydro burnt up way faster and was no where near as tasty. Of course, i've heard ppl say the complete opposite but i just got to live and learn the experience and that made my mind up for me.
Remove the word "feral" and you are no longer begging the question. Imo. cn
i have a super pot snob friend who lives down in florida, and every time she smokes some bud that has been grown hydro, she can spot it a mile away.. i'm not the expert she is, or maybe i just haven't smoked as much hydro as she has, but she can say she can easily taste the difference between a soil grow and one that was grown in hydroponics..
And replace it with what? Wild? Would that be better?
