Easiest medium for new grower

[Skeet Kuhn Dough]

I'll start off by saying NFT hydro interests me. I like the idea of faster growth from what I've read and bigger buds? Another hydro system I briefly looked over was the hempy style

I'm wanting to do a Scrog setup with 4 plants goal is weight and good quality.

Can someone convince me this is the right way to go or should I stay clear and start in soil?

Also curious about water chillers and sizing I dont imagine you'd need a big chiller for the requirements of 4 plants i would think the res for them would only need to hold around 40 liters?

I really agree with some of the people on here that are saying DWC is the easiest. That was what I used first and I had zero regrets. That being said, if you're wanting to use soil, rather than mess with Fox Farm Ocean Soil and having to mix stuff up, you could always order their Happy Frog soil mix and use it by itself.

Regarding meters, when I grew via DWC I never once used an EC meter, only a pH pen. I couldn't afford it for the first cycle. After having much success with that, I decided not to get one and really never had any major issues. Sure, there were some spots here and there, nothing drastic. Worried about root rot due to higher res temps? Get some hydroguard.

Why DWC? Because you're new to growing and the number one blunder that any new grower makes, and anyone in here will back me up on this, is that they over-water their girls when growing in soil. Over-watering isn't an issue regarding hydro. And what's the easiest, most noob-friendly way to do a hydro grow? Why, DWC of course.

To be fair, anything you put a lot of research and effort into should get you some good results. Don't be afraid to ask questions, AND REMEMBER: when using nutes, less is more; it's better to underfeed than to overfeed.

Best of luck.

 

[Renfro]

There are so many ways to grow weed well. It comes down to what works best for you and your situation. Many will say that a particular method is far superior to another and I will say that hydro is superior to soil but the hydro method that works for you may be different than someone else. I know people that can't get DWC / RDWC to work no matter what they try while others can't seem to fail regardless of high nute temps.

 

[PadawanWarrior]

There are so many ways to grow weed well. It comes down to what works best for you and your situation. Many will say that a particular method is far superior to another and I will say that hydro is superior to soil but the hydro method that works for you may be different than someone else. I know people that can't get DWC / RDWC to work no matter what they try while others can't seem to fail regardless of high nute temps.

Well said Renfro. I'm growing in soil with all organics now, but have wanted to try RDWC when I can find some extra space. And I believe you when you say hydro is superior. I've seen your pics man, and they are impressive.

 

[Renfro]

And I believe you when you say hydro is superior.

Yeah I just proved it again to myself. In my rooms I am running a peat based soiless mix but in my tent I ran a flood and drain hydro setup. Same genetics, same nutes, the light was different being a cob LED instead of HPS. The quality was even better in the dro. Way more flavor and smell for sure. The aroma was more complex on some strains too, danker for sure, my buddy and my girl both agreed it was insane. Add that to the increased growth rates and improved yield potential hydro really rules if done well.

 

[PadawanWarrior]

Yeah I just proved it again to myself. In my rooms I am running a peat based soiless mix but in my tent I ran a flood and drain hydro setup. Same genetics, same nutes, the light was different being a cob LED instead of HPS. The quality was even better in the dro. Way more flavor and smell for sure. The aroma was more complex on some strains too, danker for sure, my buddy and my girl both agreed it was insane. Add that to the increased growth rates and improved yield potential hydro really rules if done well.

Nice, I thought you lost some of the smell and flavor with hydro vs soil and organics. And I would love to try your shit man. If I ever make my way down to Colorado Springs, we should hook up and do a taste test. I'm sure your shit is way better, but I could bring a cutting of the Green Crack we were talking about too. That is, if I ever do make my way down there.

 

[Renfro]

Nice, I thought you lost some of the smell and flavor with hydro vs soil and organics. And I would love to try your shit man. If I ever make my way down to Colorado Springs, we should hook up and do a taste test. I'm sure your shit is way better, but I could bring a cutting of the Green Crack we were talking about too. That is, if I ever do make my way down there.

Im down. I would love to have a chance to meet. I wanna try and do a RIU get together somehow. everyone could smoke out and trade clones.

 

[Renfro]

As to whats easiest, gave it some thought and flood and drain hydro is pretty darn hard to screw up.

 

[PadawanWarrior]

Im down. I would love to have a chance to meet. I wanna try and do a RIU get together somehow. everyone could smoke out and trade clones.

Ya, I like the idea of a get together and smoke out with RIU members. That would be sweet. Sad thing is, they don't all live in our awesome cannabis friendly state. It would be cool if there was a section to meet up with other members depending on their location for people that live elsewhere. You could travel to another country and smoke out with a fellow RIU member. If you had the money of course. Great idea Renfro.

 

[hellmutt bones]

Hydro is better than soil. Specialy DWC.
You can tank me later noob

 

[Renfro]

We had a small gathering in Colorado like 5 years ago. It was fun.

 

[Logan Burke]

I grow from seed I crossed Nirvana AK48 and Master Kush, love the combo but have hundreds of reg seeds.

I'm obviously not that serious. I do however travel for 2 to 3 weeks at a time.

There are 2 time frames in my grow where I can leave for 2 or 3 weeks.

2 weeks away or about 18 days tops after flip but before males burst sacs. (full 18 days I go 13/11 on off to slow process a bit)

*or*

3 weeks away after pulling males before harvest.

I use 20 oz plastic coke bottles and hook screws thru the caps for drip system. (small gauge hook screws give a good drip) Just a small nail first then a hook screw in and out and they drip out as the soil dries. I completely saturate the plants before leaving then place three 20 oz aforementioned coke bottles in the soil tightly.

23 days is the most I've done unattended right before harvest.

Soil allows for this!

View attachment 4366065

With a little DIY know how there are a lot of hydro setups that can be automated, along with having large water res's so you don't need to top-up for days at a time. But soil is most definitely more convenient for a lot of people. I'd be really interested in trying the method Rky mentioned, about Hempy Buckets using Floranova nutes. I'm getting a tad bit bored with DWC to tell the truth.

 

[G.IGrowBoss]

Keep it simple, Fox farms has never failed me. You will get bigger buds as gain/learn more technique.

 

[cobshopgrow]

if you get your watering right soil is probably a easy option.
I never mastered the watering and went coco coir with better results.
I tried DWC but didnt really mastered it, even with bennies i wasnt able to avoid root rot without a chiller, otherwise DWC really give quick growth.
On my small setup, a chiller isnt worth it for me.
Went for Hempys now and like it so far.
Easy to setup and maintain, for me.

 

[InTheValley]

FoxFarm CocoLoco, Coco/Peat/perlite mix with amendments. Water when 70% dry weight. Didnt need nutes for about 60 days, shit is amazing to be honest. Just added 250PPM of calmag per 7 days, with RO PHd to 6.8 every watering other then calmag day. Very forgiving, just dont over feed,

 

[Jypsy Dog]

I'll start off by saying NFT hydro interests me. I like the idea of faster growth from what I've read and bigger buds? Another hydro system I briefly looked over was the hempy style

I'm wanting to do a Scrog setup with 4 plants goal is weight and good quality.

Can someone convince me this is the right way to go or should I stay clear and start in soil?

Also curious about water chillers and sizing I dont imagine you'd need a big chiller for the requirements of 4 plants i would think the res for them would only need to hold around 40 liters?

COCO HEMPY...

 

[EmmaEmma]

I'm about 75 days into my first grow, doing 4 plants hempy and scrog

If I was starting from the beginning, I would keep the hempy and only do two plants, and I would raise the height of my scrog net - right now I can't really reach the two plants in the back, and it is really inconvenient. I'd also consider just doing LST instead of SCROG - SCROG has been great but definitely a huge hassle not being able to move my plants.

 

[CanadianDank]

I grow from seed I crossed Nirvana AK48 and Master Kush, love the combo but have hundreds of reg seeds.

I'm obviously not that serious. I do however travel for 2 to 3 weeks at a time.

There are 2 time frames in my grow where I can leave for 2 or 3 weeks.

2 weeks away or about 18 days tops after flip but before males burst sacs. (full 18 days I go 13/11 on off to slow process a bit)

*or*

3 weeks away after pulling males before harvest.

I use 20 oz plastic coke bottles and hook screws thru the caps for drip system. (small gauge hook screws give a good drip) Just a small nail first then a hook screw in and out and they drip out as the soil dries. I completely saturate the plants before leaving then place three 20 oz aforementioned coke bottles in the soil tightly.

23 days is the most I've done unattended right before harvest.

Soil allows for this!

View attachment 4366065

thats fkn cool

 

[Obepawn]

Soil

This^

 

[Obepawn]

Ive done soil, dwc, and coir/perlite. 75% coir and 25% perlite mixed with either Gaia green or Dr. Earth organic fertilizer is the easiest by far in my opinion. Check into Mr. Canuck on youtube for more info.

Pros= Impossible to over feed or under feed, impossible to over water if you mix in perlite with coir, impossible to burn, Very large harvest, You dont have to worry about root pest such as fungus gnats since you are starting with sterile mediums. You also do not have to worry about your ph level in the medium since coir/perlite and organic nutes listed are stable.




Instructions

For a fresh start add one cup of organic fertilizer listed below per five gallon bucket of coir and mix in well, every three weeks top dress with half a cup and water in. If you are afraid of over watering add 25% perlite to the bucket and mix with the organic ferts.

Just ph the water "6.5-6.8" and water. Every three weeks after that top dress with half a cup of organic nutes and you're good to go.

For grow= https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079ZPDKPH/?coliid=I23UDJ4MF01VYG&colid=1QOFUN5UI013L&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

For flower= https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079ZN7CNB/?coliid=I2SXN9ZLUJL40K&colid=1QOFUN5UI013L&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

Don’t you have to water every day to every other day. Cancel the Vegas weekend.

 

[Obepawn]

Something for you to consider with the people mentioning soil.

If the soil recipe is peat based then you need to be certain you are on top of proper watering practices. Peat is hydrophobic, so once it starts to dry up it'll create dry spots that can cause problems at worst and reduce yields at best.

For this reason I actually recommend a coco based "soil" mix to people just starting off. Coco is like a sponge, cannot be overwatered so you can be certain your plants always have the right amount of water. Once you get a grow or two under your belt and have experience, then you can move onto peat moss based soils. Not many people have everything dialed in even after a couple of grows, and going with coco means you'll have one less thing to troubleshoot. Once you're familiar with how the strains you pick grow, and your grow room has a properly maintained temp/humidity to it, and proper ventilation then you can start worrying about tweaking your soil mix once everything else is figured out.

Trust me, speaking from experience here. I LOVE peat moss and only use peat now.. but damn, took me a couple of cycles to get used to watering it properly whereas coco is literally idiot proof.

The reason people use peat over coco is because peat has nearly double the CEC (Cation Exchange Capacity) of coco coir, meaning more things going on in your soil mix due to the doubled rate of cations/anions being exchanged. However, if you're like me and most people that used peat for the first time you need to be cautious you don't ever let the pots dry out! Peat moss that is improperly watered will have worse results than coco, despite peat having double the CEC.

Use coco so you don't have to worry about your soil mix being good. Mix equal parts coco, perlite, and compost. Something like 5cuft coco, 5cuft perlite, 5 cuft quality worm castings/compost. Then amend that with kelp, crab, and neem meal.. 1/2 cup of each per cuft of soil, so 7.5 cups of each for a 15cuft soil mix. Finally you'll need minerals, 4 cups per cuft. I use a mix of basalt and glacial rock dust, but basalt has been tough to source for me lately. Azomite can work in a pinch, but it isn't as good as basalt or GRD.

And how long to cook this soil mix?