I formerly posted a thread asking about the viability of growing weed cheaply, doing research I feel I'm just better off springing for a kit, so that I can easily gather my needed materials and know I have the right things. I dont know if people would recommend me doing this for first time tries. Though I am considering currently a Bubbleponics kit, which would come with a cheap timer, nutrients etc, and I have heard hydroponics is easier than soil, which I think true.
High there, I think soil is better to start off with and very cheap. Hydro can be a bit more messing about and you need more test equipment and such. I also think that soil helps breakdown some noobie mistakes and does not hit the girls as fast as with hydro if you was to over nute or something. But Im a soil dude Im sure others will have thier own thoughts. That being said I think bubble buckets and such are a groovy way of breaking into hydro and Ive seen many good examples in the grow journals section. You should head into there for some ideas to steal, see what you think would work best for you. I also don't like kits, I find them more expensive and there are some great DIY guides around here. If you are willing to read and learn then with some help from GC you could pull it off. Good luck
If you want to look into hydroponics and don't want to spend a lot of money, look into hempy buckets. They don't require much more than a soil grow, aside from pH and EC meters, which you really should have regardless of the way you are growing. To make a hempy bucket all you do is find a 2.5 gallon container, drill a hole in the side of the bucket roughly 2 inches from the bottom, and fill it with vermiculite and perlite. Then you're set to go. No soil! Drop a germinated seed in, and watch it grow. Its not automated so you do need to water every 2 or 3 days, but just consider it an extra control. If you do a forum or google search for "hempy bucket" you will find all the information you need regarding the system.
I was considering a do it yourself method, but I tend to hate making DIY jobs and screw them up. God advice about the ph monitor, though nutrients with the hydro kit "supposedly" balance PH, I dunno but PH monitors are more money, I'll have to look into it. One of my biggest questions though would be the issue of a hydroponic grow from bag seed with the kit, already spending enough money, the problem with bag seed being the chance of males, I read somewhere that this is an issue in a hydroponic system due to the roots tangling together in the environment considering the roots all would go down into the same water.
With hempy buckets, each plant has its own 'reservoir' (pot) so you don't have to worry about roots tangling together and what not. I hear that you can get away with using RO water and General Hydroponics 3 Part nutrient formula as it will buffer the water to the correct pH. I've read statements that people just use RO water and the GH nutes, never checking pH, and their grows turn out nicely. You will see a lot of debate on the forums regarding regular seeds vs feminized. Just remember, feminized seeds are chemically stressed to be female, and have the possibility of turning herm. If you start with 10 bag seed, and get atleast 1 female (which you no doubt will) then you can use that as a mother plant and just take clones. This would also allow you to skip the entire germination stage and jump right into vegetation (saving you approx. 2 weeks -- just remember it takes up to 3 weeks sometimes for clones to root, but just factor that into your harvesting / planting schedule)
Hm, I've got my eye set on the kit basically, because as I probably said before my do it yourself jobs are disastrous at best, even the simpler ones. Considering the problem, I think my best answer would simply be to start out with one and then do clones. I'm not sure in the first place though if the roots are gauranteed to tangle though, I'd appreciate it if someone could clarify that.
This is absolutely not the case. Hydroponics is more difficult than soil, and for one pretty simple reason. The soil acts as a buffer for your nutrients. This means that if you do something wrong, say your nutrients are too strong or too weak, the soil will counter this to some degree. This allows you to see that something is wrong and correct it before your plant dies. Hydro does not give you this safety margin. If you make a mistake, your plants will immediately suffer the full effects, which means they can all be dead before you even know you did something wrong. A good analogy is walking a tightrope without a net. Someone with experience can get away with it, but it's just asking for trouble if you are still new. You will make mistakes on your first grow, everyone does, it's best to try and allow for that.
Yes, I have considered this, which is why I am going with the kit personally because the nutrients are just in baggies, they're premeasured, you just put in the right amount of water and put it in, that's what the website says and the reviews seem to support that. I also might as well be walking a tightrope without a net lol, I would rather trust that system since it apparently works, I dont have much faith in my amateur horticultural skills, especially with nutrients.
Thanks for the advice that everyone's given. At this time I don't need anymore advice, so you don't need to post anything here if you stumble upon this. And if curious, I've decided to embrace frustration and do this DIY style, most likely hempy or bubble buckets.