Hydro or Soil for first grow?

If you are a personal grower that wants to concentrate on fast yielding.....

Take a look at my grow journal located here

http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-g...or-first-grow-600w-3x-multi-strain-autos.html

Autoflowering. Seed to harvest in 60-75 days. Average of 1-2 ounces per plant. Easy maintenance.

I know alot of people like hydro....but im not really sure why?
There is a ton of maintenance.....checking ec and ppm....root rot comes easy
It just seems like alot more work to me.

Whereas soil....all i do is add some water every other day......

 

Soil. Soil acts a buffer, hydro is very easy to mess up.

Do some research in the organic section and create your own mix. Once your done, ph is a thing of the past. No added nutes. Just water.

 

Agreed......check out this thread.

http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/1116550-easy-organic-soil-mix-beginners.html

 

Hydroponics isnt something to be scared of OP.

Dont scare him away from hydro Blades!

A first timer could pull off a bubble bucket with minimal problems - given the ideal environment. A RDWC isnt too much more difficult. OP either way do ur homework. Invest in the right supplies/equipment and it will pay off in the end

Organic can be just as complicated imo

 

hydro is satans spawn!!!!!!!!!!!

lol jk....im just not a fan of hydro

 

Lol nice grapeD!!

Hydros not a bad option at all, use a couple bubble buckets and good water and your good to go!! Bubbles are fun!

Do whichever your most interested in trying, switch it up after a grow or two keep it interesting!

 

I got to agree here! If you have all the tools and do the research before hand you will have no problem choosing hydro. I recommend it if you are in a place that getting rid of or bringing in a ton of soil will look strange (4 bags of soil going into a apartment with no yard space would look strange to me)

 

well thats fantastic.....owning it really gives you some room to stretch..
whatever you feel more comfortable with then is your best bet...whatcha leaning towards dude?

 

...a few things that may help you in your journey.

Organics

http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/336320-organic-soil-mix-mine.html

http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-...chunks-organics-other-random-shenanigans.html

http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/801593-soil-food-web-gardening-compost-teas.html

http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/650139-organic-higher-learning-resources.html


Hydroponics

General Hydroponics Flora Series Feeding Strategy - Lucas Formula

G-M-B (Grow-Micro-Bloom)
0-5-10 - For Vegetative cycle (18/6)
0-8-16 - For Flowering cycle (12/12)

The numbers above indicate the number of milliliters (ml) of Flora Grow, Micro or Bloom formulas that I use in one gallon (US Liquid) of nutrients.

You will notice I dont use any of the Flora “Grow” formula, do not need to, the Flora "Micro" provides plenty of Nitrogen.

There are two ways to work with this formula:

1. Top off the reservoir daily using a pH corrected water solution as required to maintain full reservoir level. After adding back an amount of water equal to the amount of your reservoir capacity you should change the reservoir and put in fresh solution.

2. Top off the reservoir daily using a pH corrected 100% strength nutrient solution as required to maintain full reservoir level. Continue to use this nutrient solution without dumping the tank unless the PPM rises above acceptable levels.

Between vegetative and flowering cycles you should dump your nutrients, then flush (possibly with Clearex) to remove salt buildups, then change to the other feeding program. Always shake your GH nutrient bottles before using them!

For young plants, just transplanted into the hydro setup, give them 50% strength nutrient mix to prevent overfeeding them while their young. Gradually bring up the mix to full strength as they grow over the next few weeks or so.

The lucas formula is normally intended for use with RO or near 0 PPM water.

NOTE: The Lucas formula eliminates the need for Epsom salts to correct (Magnesium) Mg deficiencies in most normal feeding programs recommended by manufacturers. Cannabis needs a lot of Magnesium to thrive.

The Flora Micro is providing the Nitrogen and the Magnesium in the proper balance, thus there is no need for the Grow formula and little or no room under the maximum acceptable ppm limit of 1600 @ 0.7 conversion.

Calculated EC/TDS levels:

EC microsiemen:
0-4-8: 946 µS
0-5-10: 1184 µS
0-8-16: 1894 µS

TDS @ 0.5 conversion:
0-4-8 = 473 ppm
0-5-10 = 592 ppm
0-8-16 = 947 ppm

TDS @ 0.7 conversion:
0-4-8 = 663 ppm
0-5-10 = 829 ppm
0-8-16 = 1326 ppm

Addback Calculator - (For Advanced Users)

Say you were running the 0-8-16 formula, at 0.7 conversion with a 22 gallon res. When you first fill it up, your ppm will be around 1330.

Now you have been growing for a week, and some of the water has been taken up by the plants, some has evaporated, and now your res is at 947 ppm. You need to get your ppm from 947 to 1330. Here is the equation:

((target - current) / target) * 8 ml per gallon * res gallons = Flora Micro (ml) double this figure to get Flora Bloom (ml)

Example:

((1330 - 947) / 1330) * 8 * 22
(383 / 1330) * 8 * 22
0.3 * 8 * 22 = 53 ml Flora Micro

53 ml Flora Micro, double that and you get 106 ml Flora Bloom. So 53 ml Flora Micro and 106 ml Flora Bloom to add back to your 22 gallon res to get you from 947 to 1330.

Using Hard Water GH Micro

I had been experimenting with using the Hard water Micro as a substitute for the normal Flora Micro, this to account for my hard 350 PPM water and the lack of a large enough RO filter at the time. It has worked well for me. I just kept my reservoir below 1150 PPM @ .5 conversion and its all good.

One tip - do not pH down this stuff, the hard water micro will drop pH gradually over the next 24 hours, for example I mix up a batch, it is at like 6.2, the next day, its at 5.6-5.8 after running in the system for a while. If I pH downed that to 5.7 before putting it in the system, it ended up as low as 4.8-5.2 by the next day.

My conclusion, the hard water micro was buffering the alkaline crud in my water, it just doesnot do it ASAP fast like the phosphoric acid.

 

Oooohhhh Boy.... the only thing certain is, if you don't try, you won't screw up anything!!!!
Like the others said, both have advantages. Organic peeps like playing with worm poop and bat do-do, and the $#i+ works!!! But it's an art form in itself. The soil has to be prep'ed in advance, takes a couple of months to percolate & get the microorganisms going. Done right, can be self sustaining.
Traditional soil grows (don't use any dirt) work well, as long as you follow good watering / feeding schedules & keep pests away. You still have to watch pH & nute strength.
But hydro should NOT be scary. Yes, ph and nute strength need to be paid attention to (the Lucas formula that Trich mentioned helps with this).But the same is true for a traditional soil grow (excluding pure organic). But with a few cautions it's a piece of cake.
If you don't use Lucas, stay away from full strength nute regimens - 50 to 75% of recommended formulations work great.
The price tag your hydro store quoted is high... shop around. You should be able to get going under $1000.
Invest in a good light system. Amazon has steal-of-a-deal's but most are made in China and can be a POS. Get a good American made ballast; or a top line European brand like Hortilux.
Use quality nutrients (I prefer GH Flora series but there's other excellent ones as well).
Get the best carbon scrubber and centrifugal fan combo that you can afford. Four plants can stink up an entire home. Easy.
Build your own hydro system - look in the DIY section here for Budslinger's recirculating DWC system. Or check Jakesterjammin's DIY thread for an awesome ebb and grow system: http://forum.grasscity.com/do-yourself/1112322-lets-build-ebb-gro-6-site-system.html This system will kick butt against practically any factory built system on the market. Tell Jakester that Olde School sent you & he'll give you a discount
A plain old bubble bucket will work very well too, as long as you can control your nute temps. Sitting the containers on a concrete slab in the basement works very well for this.

I hope we've done absolutely nothing to make your decisions any easier because this is half the fun!!!!! Christmas is just around the corner!!!

 

Shitttt if ur just growing for yourself you could build a bubble bucket and a cfl fixture for like $100

 

just to give a heads up, people grow hydroponically because it grows faster and bigger than soil, hands down.............

 

Soil is far easier and more forgiving. I'd definitely go that route at first.

 

Personally, I think it's best to do your first grow in soil. You're going to have your hands full dialing everything else in, such as temps, humidity, etc. Once you get everything else dialed in, if you want to give hydro a go, go for it, but you really should concentrate on all other aspects of your setup first.

 

...if your talking about running a hydro SoG, I'd go "flood and drain." I've been running a sog for sometime now, you can check out my technique in my sig link titled, "wana see my plants?" below

 

BPGuy, I just gotta love these threads. Just remember, everybody who posted on here except you & me is crazy, and I'm not too sure about me!!!!
If you're leaning toward hydro, just do it & don't look back.
Dirt is dirty.
I don't want turds in my weed.
And what do you do with all the muddy water that runs off every time you water?
Sorry, can't seem to think of a single thing to say bad about hydro, except you have to be a real man to pull it off
But I'm totally impartial, don't let anyone tell you differently.

And before anyone is offended, I'm just having a good time reading all the opinions. Glad you have one.

But seriously, if you want to try hydro, don't be afraid of it. A good pH meter & nute meter & you're going to be fine. Again, be sure to look at BudSlinger's RDWC DIY. And Jakester's ebb & grow.
Or invest in a good ebb & flow table if you have the money.

Second strain? Look at C-99 - one of the best smoking, high yielding, fast finishing trippy head-high sativas you'll ever find. Or Critical Mass - wonderful aroma, kick ass smoke, high yields, great for SCROG or SOG. Or a good Strawberry cross like Strawberry-Blueberry, top notch exceptional yields too. Or Northern Lights, every beginner's dream come true.
Mother plants? Don't over-light these. You want controllable growth, minimal space. A clip-on reflector with a 42W cool white CFL is all you need to keep a mother happy. Easy to keep several with its own light. Works good over a 5 gallon bubble bucket for each mother. Get several.
Same for clones. A 23W CFL will root a small tray of clones with no problems. Or use the same 42W as for your mothers, works good too. A single 65W CFL flood light (Home Depot, about $35) will root a tray of 30 clones with nooooo problems.
A 400W MH light for veg, a 600W HPS for bloom, you will have a first class setup. Don't bother upgrading from 600 to 1000; just add a second 600W.
That 400W MH will "feed" two 600W bloom chambers on a staggered perpetual grow that will keep you and the relatives in bud for a long, long time. If you want to turn growing into work.

Now make up your mind & go do it before someone puts bat do-do in your mailbox!!!!
Or worse yet, worm poop.