Hydro vrs soil??

[Preston12]

Greetings to you all again. As i commented in a past post, i've been growing in a cheap DIY CFL setup... Right now im looking forward to renew my setup, equipment and methods used. I've been thinking about wheter i should keep growing in a soil medium or a hydro one.

My main concern is focused on the use of chemical nutrients. They affect bud taste too much? Are they completly safe? (I know this may sound dumb)... How have been your experience growing hydro or soil? What do you prefer?

I was thinking in a DWC - LED lights setup

Thanks to all in advance

[Rwise]

I looked at hydro, but stayed with my organic living soil, I use only water when needed and no expensive bottles of stuff. I dont have to flush to get rid of bad tastes as they dont have it. No chasing PH the plants take care of it, whats needed is in there. To each their own, this is what I like.

[Preston12]

Yeah, that's what i like the most about it definitely, thanks!

[UndergroundFarmer]

I've only ever raised plants through flowering in hydro using Aurora's Soul nutes. I suspect they help with flavor and smell more than straight chemical solutions. So far the only rough smoke was some Afghani from ILGM that I probably should have flushed before cutting. It does make some amazing edibles though!

[Preston12]

How much nutrients you use per plant in average?

[UndergroundFarmer]

For either hydro or coco, I use Aurora's feeding chart but only use half the nutrients they recommend. So in the DWC totes, I refill with about ten gallons of water, measure out nutes for five gallons and mix then adjust pH. For coco, I fill a five gallon bucket with water, measure nutes for 2.5 gallons, mix and adjust pH. I could try to run the numbers per plant, but it would be easier to calculate per tote. For Soul Grow, that would be (weeks in veg) times 10 mL times (tote capacity in gallons/2) or 4 x 10 mL x 5 = 200 mL. I could go on with the same formula for Soul Infinity and Soul Bloom & Big Swell. I've got three plants per tote this time, but that setup will go in mothballs after this current crop is done. For coco, I'm just letting them dry out a bit between feedings then using just enough to give the pot some "heft". A five gallon bucket of water/Grow/Infinity mix lasts about a week among two modest sized moms and twelve clones and four seedlings.

[dphipps1020]

I'm currently doing both, hydro and soil. Like Rwise I use amended soil so I just water and call it a day. There's advantages and disadvantages for each. Soil has a better smell and flavor but slower growth. Hydro has faster growth and can still have good smell and flavor but it can be a bit pricey for the nutrients. Still waiting for an actual side by side comparison between flavors and smells. My thoughts, try different mediums and see what you like better. Hope that helps.

[Preston12]

I'll probably end up trying different mediums indeed. But I don't want to make a big investment on equipment I won't use later. How much nutrients do you use or spend per plant?

[dphipps1020]

Nutrient costs can vary depending on the plant, and the nutrients used. For example if you get bloom boosters or other enhancers your cost is going to be higher. I use just the basics General Hydroponics Flora trio, CaliMagic and Hydroguard and it still gets pricey, but I usually have multiple plants going. Also depends on your setup, more gallons equals more nutrients.

[gbauto]

I've used both on indoor grows. A 4 tote UC system for my main grow and I've also used 5 gal fabric bags w/soil.
I've always used salt nutrients in both types and had very good results. Hydro always nets quicker, larger yields but it's like a performance car-things can go sideways quickly if you're not paying attention.
Soil is much more forgiving but it never matched my hydro grows.
Organic vs salt nutes always seems to spark strong feelings.
I look at it from a chemistry standpoint. Organic nutes need a biological agent to make them plant available and salts are already in elemental form.

[Preston12]

Interesting, I agree with your opinion that this conversatios sparks strong feelings. About costs... how much nutrient do you use per plant roughly?

[Cali]

I have to say for me organic/living soil is the way to go. When I started growing my own I wanted to stay away from dispensary bud. If you have scored from dispensary’s your know what I mean. I started in soil with bottled nutrients but didn’t like to check the ph going in and the ph of runoff having to mix nutrients all that. Then I decided to try hydro same thing I hated having to take my plants out the reservoir and changing water to avoid root rot or any problems and had to add another 2 bottles to the 3 I already had. All this time the buds seemed the same as dispensary weed and when I looked for tutorials on organic soil all I could find here is an mix from subcool that only scared me off because it calls for about 100 or more gallons of soil and you have to let it sit out and cook. Finally I kept looking and found a recipe called the Clackamas Coot soil mix and liked how easy it was to make and very little amendments. I decided to try it last year and I have to say I wouldn’t go back to bottles even if I had a free lifetime supply. In my opinion the quality is second to none. It’s easier than other styles I’ve tried and cheaper even my wife liked it better and she hardly ever smokes. If you don’t want to be spending money on bottled nutrients, ph pen, ppm pen, ph up bottle, ph down bottle, hydro guard bottle for roots in hydro, cal/mag bottle and I’m sure there is more I can think of then go with a soil like mine just look up my post from January 2019 where I made a request to Nebula Haze and Sirius to hopefully add this mix in one of their tutorials but just got ignored lol. Anyways you can read where to buy the nutrient and mineral mix that you have to add to your soil base after that you can plant a seed or clone right away, then just water the soil because in this style you are taking care of the soil and the plants just feed off it what they need only when they need it. Once you harvest cut the plant off leave the soil alone and just put a new plant in continuing to use the same soil no waste. All I do is from time to time a compost tea, I also like to water with aloe Vera once a week builds up your plants (SAR) also neem once a week. That’s just to help your plant grow healthy and fend off any pests. If you are interested hit me up I can help you out more. Sorry for the long post I guess what I’m saying is this is truly the way to Grow Weed Easy and Cheap. And wish I would have known this from the beginning would have saved me money and time.

[Preston12]

I'll definitely check on your post, sounds really interesting. thank you so much

[dphipps1020]

I did the same thing. Looked into amendments and found a mix on eBay for about $23, mixed 2 bags and some earthworm castings into my soil and let it bake. Since the soil is so hot I used the recommendation to only use it for the bottom 1/4-1/3 and the rest FFOF and FFHF mixed (whatever you choose). All I do is water, soil is on the second use with no issues. Mixing everything together this time after I harvest and going again. Will probably go 2 more complete grows before I get more. Each of those bags was good for a 1.5 CF bag of soil and just needed earthworm castings added as well. Still have a few hydro going as well but I love the ease of soil.