Check this out, I am starting a grow real soon and I need some advice from the experts. The grow is going to be in an attic. My place so my rules as far as that goes. I have a 250w HPS with a MH conversion bulb, I am going to be purchasing a HPS bulb for it as well. This is for private stock so I don't think I need anymore than 250w from a HPS lamp. I am willing to put in as much time and care needed to help my children grow LOL. I was planning on going soil with 4 female seeds from a bank. Strain I am still undecided upon. I read the bubbler bucket thread and I was interested in maybe going that route. Ive never grown like that before so I don't want to jump in thinking it's easy and it turns out I missed some shit. I have grown from soil indoors with bag seed but never flowered, after a lot of reading I feel like its worth another shot. Finally to the question, Environment - attic *temps will be maintained* Light- 250w hps and mh cov. bulbs Strain- Satori Mandala Should I go soil or hydro??? I just want to yield enough to never be dry with constant grows.
Hydro will be faster, more yield - but depends on experience Soil will be slowerrrrrr, less yield - easier for people to start out with I would go with a nice 400 watt HPS for flowering if you can manage it and even like a 175watt MH should be good for Veggin and clones and seedling... Yields will be a factor of also genetics, depends on the seeds u got. Take care of smell and you should be ok, good luck.
If you have not done HYDRO yet or GROWN to HARVEST I would probally limit the Hydro too 1 plant for now and grow the rest in dirt..The reason is because if you have a problem you still have the other plants to fall back on.. Thats what I would do
If you have the space, a few bubblebuckets would be ideal. As long as you are careful about your nutes and watch your Ph level, you will be fine. The results from these buckets are amazing, I cant say enough good about them.
I feel where you coming from stadenko. I think I am going to make a 4 pot bubbler like the one from stealth hydro, with a water pump that puts water in each basket. I feel like as long as I keep a close watch on it it should be ok. I am going to use Satori mandala seeds. It says they do fine without a ton of nutes and hold up well to alot of conditions. I enjoy a creative high rather than a couchlock.
i do both now in the same grow, I think i have some pics in my gallery if you'd like to look. Hydro is technical, but clean, soil is very easy but could get dirty at times.
I tried to go hydro first.. it didn't work out well for me.. after some frustration, I decided to switch to soil till i could get a grasp on what a plant does, when it does it. what problems you might run into, and such.. I'm reasonably smart, had all my equipment, and had troubles my first two grows and trashed out 4 plants each time and alot of time was wasted. I'm sure it doesn't happen to everybody, but hey,.. I'd really hate to see you go through the same frustration as I did. After I completed one full grow in soil, I started slowly getting back to hydro,.. an it worked out much better...I know everyone wants to run immediately, but sometimes you have to walk first. One thing I have certainly learned since I started growing is patience. If you aint got it, you ain't going to succeed. Good Luck with whichever way ya go, though, Happy Growing!
hard hat, thats some real shit. I see what you mean about learning what the plant does and when it does it. Thanks for da advice man. props
That's because it is my friend,...that equipment is expensive TDS/ PH meter, etc.. getting your system ready takes time, sometimes you don't get it right at first.. Start you a plant in Soil and start taking her through veg while you tinker with your stuff,..Then clone her.... and use your clones for your hydro experiment. If it fails,you haven't lost anything but a little time.Anyone can grow in soil, it's easy... not everyone gets the whole hydro thing all at once... there are quite a few aspects to it. It's not really difficult, but you have to be able to ... man I don't want to sound corny, but listen and respond to your plants. It takes time to learn what your plants does when certain deficiencies and toxcities arise...and they will arise. Sometimes in the beginning your responses aren't exactly correct. It happens. By the way, thanks for the +rep, bro, that's the first i ever got.. if i can ever help you gimme a shout...
+1 for soil as a beginner. it's a lot harder to royally fuck things up when you're working with dirt. Once I'm done with this grow, I'm thinking of trying a bubble bucket or 2, but also doing soil both as a "just in case" and as a comparison between the two, since the next grow will be with clones instead of seeds. No males FTW!! Hey another plus-side, start with soil, get your females, then make clones from them, flower the mothers and put the clones in hydro (or hydro/soil), that way you won't waste your time/$/effort on the hydro stuff just to end up with males!
I DUNNO after reading some of the other replies you would think hydro is the hardest thing to do in the planet! lol i prefer hydro, i am not very patient so i will sugest to go hydro, bubble buckets are fun and easy to make and maintaining and adjusting things like nutes and ph just seem so much easier to me with hydro over soil.
Soil all the way if you want FLAVOR and hydro if you want faster results with more hastle.ORGANIC is the way to go .I just got done with a Grape Ape crop,all soil.The flavor and taste is fare more sweater and whole.Especially if you know good shit when you smoke it.
Hydro is easier than soil, if you screw up in soil, you are SOL and have to waste time to flush your plant, in hydro you can simply dump all the water, re-mix and you are done. All you have to remember is the following. Mix the nutrients for the proper growth stage and get a PPM meter and a PH meter. Also check the PPM, if you starting out from a clone, you probably want to keep the PPM relatively low, like 200PPM and gradually increase. After you mix all the nutrients in and you have the PPM level you want, then last adjust the pH. That's all there is to it, but if you don't think you are good at it, ya do 1 plant like the other user have suggested, use common sense - applies to plants too. Good luck!
Im talking FLavor.Plus you have to be a Dildo to Fuck up in SOIL. just do your NPK and your A ok. I can water and walk away for a few days not worrying about a thing .
Sure - you are right about the flavor part. All my pot that comes from hydro has lots of flavor in it. But you are correct, soil will give you better flavor :- ) maybe even a better aroma, who knows. But soil takes forever sometimes and yield not as good - I grow 1-2 plants for that flavor too. But sometimes I can get 9-10 dry ounces from 1 hydro plant (depending on what strain that I am growing).
I've used both. Soil is cheaper, But a bit slower. 100% hydro is more expensive. I choose soil, for a new grower. [FONT="]_____________________________________________________________[/FONT] [FONT="]PS:[/FONT] [FONT="]I am a pathological liar.......And post only out of boredom![/FONT] http://forum.grasscity.com/grow-journals/313576-white-widow-pics-grow-1-city.html
Hey it's not that hard,.. but I wouldn't bet the farm an a newbie grown hydro plant..I would have a backup. It can be tough for the inexperienced..trial and error..remember alot of us don't have 'people' that can bail us out... and things can go south real fast in a hydro setup. If you don't realize it fast enough(easy to do for a noob)you're done.