That's fair enough, I hope I have answered all your questions in your previous post. I got the feeling the questions were more of a point than questions but I tried to address them the best I could. I still protest that hydro is much easier for beginners because of the reasons I previously gave
LMAO! Yeah that would probably get my neighbours a bit suspicious too.....especially as my whole outside space is concreted lol.....might have to grow a few pot plants outdoors too (but not pot plants, just plants in pots) Not sure we have the best temps in the UK to grow huge plants outdoors Lux, not that's it's an option for me anyway.....As the title suggests, I'd like to grow huge plants indoors, or at least as big as possible given it's my first grow......so the bigger the better, but realistically I'll be more than happy to succeed in keeping them all alive till harvest. Got a house thankfully GG, but plenty of curtain twitching neighbours still, so I will have to be slightly vigilant when carrying in materials etc. Are soil pests still a problem with coco?, or is that a contender for dumbest question of the month award?.
I am not knocking hydro, I've seen the huge plants and huge harvests that can be achieved! But for some bodies FIRST grow? How many posts do you see from first time growers,"is this nitrogen deficiency or mute burn?" How is measuring ph and measuring chemicals and referring to a chart as to when to add more of chemical B and less chemical A, easier than watering a gallon of water every 3 days? I think growing in dirt and watching and learning how the plants develop and grow is the easiest for a beginner I live in Thailand where buying everything is a pain in the @ss. Use your diet once and stir in a bit of additives you can buy at your local nursery/ hardware store, and it's ready to go go your next grow. You don't have to travel to a possible far away hydro shop or have to wait for the post. Use simple 20 liter buckets from the hardware store and drill holes in the bottom... Easier to grow BIG harvests, yeah I think hydro is easier, easier to grow period... I think dirt... Either way it's pretty much guaranteed mistakes will be made and a lot of learning will happen along with stress and joy. Either way the OP will have a ball! http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-grow-journals/1316222-4x4-led-wild-thai-seed-second-grow.html#entry20304616
what specific pests to soil are you talking about? also organic soil doesn't need to get dumped.. a couple handfuls of amendments and you throw a new plant right back into the same pot after harvest. i think any method is fine for a beginner grower IF they do their homework beforehand.. if not then they're gonna fuck up whatever they attempt. i've seen many failed soil and hydro first timers on here over the years. Can't say one fails more than the other on the first try.. OP: to answer your question.. long veg time, as much light as you can give them, and proper ventilation/room temperatures will make for the largest plants.. (regardless of what method you use to grow weed)
Thanks mate I am treating this first grow as a learning experience.....if I can somehow scrape my way through it and finish up with some reasonable looking plants at the end I will be very satisfied!. Cheers bud, this is pretty much my plan thinking 6-8 weeks veg, using 2 x 600w HID in a 2.4m x 1.2m tent, so hoping light wise I should be okay, and I'm fairly confident I can keep the temps reasonable too. Main worry is venting really, seeing as I can't quite vent outside (about 1-2ft from open window) and intaking air from the same room. Lmao! trying to con folk into sending large amounts of money to purchase fictitious quantities of weed is one thing.....but posting that shit on a thread posted to get advice about growing your own is beyond silly. Nice touch offering to only steal half the money up front though....mighty decent of you.
Very true but still some methods are easier than others. Hydro is easier than soil because as far as nutrients go you read the digital meter instead of the visual aspects of the plants. A digital meter will tell you there is something wrong way before you could spot problems with the plant. I'm certainly not saying soil doesn't have its place, all popular methods work otherwise they wouldn't be popular, but I still say reading a meter shows you if things aren't perfect, reading a plant only shows you when things have gone wrong, and to such a degree your plants are unwell. There is quite a bit of ground between perfect nutrient levels and the plant showing illness. If someone kept their plant in this area they would have slow growth and not even realise If you use raw organic fertilisers and utilise aerobic bacteria it's a different story because the soil/bacteria self regulates the nutrient concentration if done correctly.
It's not a dumb question at all, and yeah you can still get pests in coco. My personal view of coco is that it's not really any better than any other type of "soil". It certainly works but I believe hydro or more specifically DWC is better for beginners because it's easier to keep some aspects correct
I honestly don't think you have any idea how hydro growing works. Click on the link I gave earlier in the thread about nutrient concentrations, I think you may find it a bit of an eye opener. If the method is adhered to you won't get any "is this nitrogen deficiency or nute burn". Follow it and as long as you are using proper nutes you will always be giving the plants exactly what they want. In soil you simply cannot measure with that sort of accuracy
Hey GG....the more I read about DWC, the easier it appears to be.....beginning to give it serious thought for my first grow, if I can manage to find a decent 8 pot system for a reasonable price. One quick question though....From what I have read so far about soil/coco grows, it is paramount to have at least around a 5 gallon pot to obtain maximum root growth and optimal yield....Does this apply the same way to hydro?....As in, would my DWC system, net pots etc, need to be the same size in order to achieve the same yield, or possibly more?. Or given that hydro appears to give better results, would I be able to go a little smaller with the pot size, and still expect to achieve roughly the same harvest as the 5 gal soil/coco option?. (presuming I manage to keep lights/temps/ph etc all roughly the same). I ask because I have found an 8 pot system for 150 quid....but the tubs are only 5 litre.......I'm guessing that may not provide as great a yield as a 5 gallon soil/coco grow.....or is it possible?.
Without a doubt plants grown in DWC need less root room than soil, but having a large reservoir(s) makes it easier to keep EC and PH stable. The more stable it is the less often you have to adjust it, and of course how often you have to top the reservoir. I have 1 plant in a 70 litre container and its awesome because I can leave it for several days without even looking at it and not have to worry about it. That's a pretty big plant too. The minimum size of the res is dependent on the size of the plants, for average sized plants I would say the minimum of 20 litres each is needed, but you can go smaller, it's just you would need to top up more often. When hydro plants are growing at full speed it's shocking how much nutrient solution they drink up. My last plant in full flower was drinking 10 litres every day, but it was huge, a regular sized plant will drink way less. Sorry man I'm making it sound more confusing that it is. Basically you want the biggest res you can get hold of or fit in there. That way it's just less work. Net pots of a width of between 4" and 6" is ideal. Any strong container with lid will make a good reservoir. This is mine, it only has a hole in the lid for 1 pot but you could have 9 holes in that res for smaller plants, or 4 holes for regular sized plants. I only have the one because I prefer to have less plants hanging around. In my veg tent I have plants in small 5 litre buckets. Once the plants get about a foot or so tall and wide the 5 litre buckets are a little under sized really This res is a quality RUB box, very strong and light proof. It was £20. You can get all different shapes and sizes of RUBs and I really can't recommend them enough
Cheers GG, some well useful info there I may be becoming slightly overconfident however, just been reading Heath Robinsons DIY instructions to build a RDWC system, and tbh it seems pretty straight forward! I think the hardest part would be sourcing the correct tank size, plugs, pipes etc.....maybe something I will consider for next time around at least. What size tent are you using mate? By the pic I think mine is roughly twice the size (2.4m x 1.2 x 2), and with 2 x 600 HID's. If I'm correct, then I could fit 2 70 litre RUB boxes inside reasonably, with 4 plants each?. And if I'm right in thinking this, then with say 6" net pots, and of course providing that I maintain the optimum temps/nutes/lights etc, would you say I could expect around the same harvest I would get from say 5 gallon coco pots in the same environment?. Financial restraints might end up limiting me to soil or coco first time around anyway....but hydro is interesting me more and more....damn I wish I was rich!.
That set up sounds great. My flower tent is 1.2m x 1.2m x 2m, with a 600w HPS. You will get more in DWC than coco providing you get a big enough air pump. With your proposed set up you would be looking at around 20, maybe 25 oz per light if you do it right 2x 70 litre RUBs - £40 2x piston air pumps, lines and stones £60 Clay balls and 8 pots £25 PH meter - £5 EC meter - £5 It does add up I suppose, but once they are bought you re-use them
I know it depends on brand... But how much for nutes for an 8 week veg and grow http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-grow-journals/1316222-4x4-led-wild-thai-seed-second-grow.html#entry20304616
A 1 litre bottle of ionic grow (veg) and a 1 litre bottle of ionic bloom (flower) will run you up about £15 for the pair and will last you 2 maybe 3 grows. It's the best nutrient I have ever used, it's cheap, and it comes in complete single bottle, so you just glug some in and test the EC/ppm, no need to measure out and mix
I know it depends on brand... But how much for nutes for an 8 week veg and grow http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-grow-journals/1316222-4x4-led-wild-thai-seed-second-grow.html#entry20304616
Well that was odd.... Sorry for the double post 6 hours apart http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-grow-journals/1316222-4x4-led-wild-thai-seed-second-grow.html#entry20304616
I don't suppose you have a link to somewhere I can buy them at these prices by any chance GG?, been looking all over eBay for them, only boxes I can find at 70 litres are twice the height of yours, and meters are over a tenner each....I don't mind persisting, but if you happen to know a place that would be sweet. One thing I'm sure of is I will be using Ionics all the way, yourself and other experienced growers all highly recommend it, and for the price it seems the best option all around! Heard a few people add pk 13/14 in the last few weeks of flowering too, so I may give that a go too. Basically if I can get the growing system and medium for under 200 quid I will definitely go hydro this time around....slightly nervous of course, but at the very worst it's gonna be a learning experience!
I have grown about every way there is, even in one of those hanging tomato things... My opinion is there is no easiest way. Every style takes work. If I had a gun to my head and had to nail down the very easiest way to grow, rockwool with top drip and trays, with a 2 part chemical fertilizer, is super easy. More forgiving of noob mistakes than dwc in my opinion. That being said, I am currently using soil in my 100% organic plants, I found from many side by side comparisons, the soil takes to my bennies better. Once your soil web is healthy, growing gets super easy, and cheap. Before I went organic, I was like most everyone out there, spending a fortune on bottles of stuff left and right...now I use basic EWC tea exclusively. Yield is lower than hydro, but no chemicals equals better terpene production, and far better smells. If you want to grow the kind of bud that stinks up the entire house when you walk in, organic is the only way.