I need help deciding how to grow

if first time I'd get some bubble buckets and try the dwc before doing anything too advanced. j m $.02

 

yeah with dwc one problem isnt contaminating your whole crop! get a few practice tries then switch to something like ebb flow for high quantities low work once youve mastered the basics

 

I would suggest using a Hempy Bucket for your first hydro method.   
 
Bubble buckets (DWC) works great as long as you can control the temps of your nutrients. You must be able to keep it under 70F (68 is best) to get the efficiency out of a DWC system.  This usually means buying an expensive water chiller.
 
Hempy Buckets are very inexpensive, difficult to mess up, and will work great even in a variety of temps.  Even seasoned pros use Hempy buckets, so you aren't sacrificing anything to use them.  Great way to cut your teeth in hydro.  Coco coir is, a great option, too.

 

hempy is good did it for a while back in the day..I like 50/50 coco perlite hempy...gonna want to scrog or put small clones into flower thats not much height you're working with

 

Ive been growing almost five years now. First two as a dwc hydro grower did one run flood and drain as well... Last year I switched to soil. My buds look better, smell better, taste better and I get bigger yields. With organic soil you can create a water only soil and reuse your soil grow after grow. Just re ammend between runs. I wish I went with organic soil from the start. just my input hope it helps.

 

I've been growing for four years indoors and i still use Hempy. I go fur quantity of plants but size I've found orchard pots work wonders because they have a pocket for water

 

I did DWC first, had problems, started coco and omg my plants are taking off, insane changes daily, idk if ill ever use dwc again, its just too much a hassle keeeping temps down, where coco is idiot proof, and i dont notice a different in speed, maybe coco is better starting in dwc is kind of slow, coco is same speeding only increasing, after saying experience in both id definitely reccommend hwmpybucket (mine is coco perlite btw) to my friends, or anyone wanting to grow!

 

Keeping it simple is key!

 

very true, plus i think it's impossible to over water coco, so even if you cant leave the plant alone you atleast cant over water, only slow down growth a bit...... thats pretty coool, though dwc you don't water... and as long as you can 1) afford a chiller to every bucket, 2) add icecubes way too frequently 3) i imagine sticking an air conditoner in room may help
 
 
truthfully speaking i didnt even cover buckets im such a lazy piece of shit, i got rid of the root rot pant and everything else is fine so im dealing with high temps, i also have 12w of power for 6 gallons so i think im okay in that sense, plus i do add icecubes....

 

either way hempy is simple and i love it dwc is way more expensive and time consuming now i have a 5gal res with water pump (koi pond techniquie) and thats how i keep my hempy buckets at same stage fed, the run off is there and i use it to feed them, when its gross i change

 

sorry, what way are you thinking? ebb flow? coco hempy?

 

every day my hempy bucket grows noticably, from seed, i started grodan then planted in 5gal hempy and it's taking off way more than same seed same grodan mix in pure coco with drainage, i don't know why (i assume it has to do with drying different rates because diff sizes) sooo i think im always going to do that, right into 5gal hempy buckets, mine also has a drain...im not sure if anyone else does this.....
 
 
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Awesome decision!  Hempy buckets have no downfalls, that I can think of.   Nonfiction, cool set up there!  Any troubles with perlite clogging the drain?  Usually I rinse it out in basic nutrients once, then add the wet stuff to the buckets to reduce the fine particulate from clogging my drains (when I grew that way)  Yeah, if you add a drain to your bucket, it will make it a bit easier to maintain, but a big tray works too.
 
FYI, if you like Hempy buckets, and would like to scale the number of them up a bit, consider a Dutch Bucket system  (Some call it a Bato bucket, but Bato is the manufacturer)  It's basically Hempy buckets that share a common drain (simple PVC pipe)
 
https://www.icmag.com/modules/Tutorials/Hydroponics/1579.htm

 

i just set my hempys on something like 6" tall so theres room to stick something under the hole to catch runoff..you got a tub though so should be good with that..i also put hydroton on the bottom to right above the hole to keep perlite n coco in..3 gal buckets are plenty unless you're growing trees