Hydro vs Soil

BluBerri

Member
For a first time grower with no knowledge of gardening....

Which way would you recommend they start their first grow?

In Soil....?

Hydro - In a Hydro locker/cabinet with everything you need (this ways seems as if it would be easier....)?

Does anyone know if it's possible to grow with an Aero garden??

And with any advice given - could you please explain the why or why nots??

Thanks!!:peace:
 

somedude247

Well-Known Member
For a beginner, do soil. Just plant your seed and water/feed. Fox Farm Ocean forest is really good and you wont have to feed til you flower. Way TOO MANY things can go wrong in hydro. Unless you want a challenge and the possibility of losing your whole crop. Im not familiar with the aero garden, but Im sure it would work. Aero systems are bad about leaking though. But if you do go hydro, get a good ph tester like a Hanna. Your ph is the most important thing. As far as nutes, everyone on here will tell you something different, so just read some threads and compare.
 

Nusky

New Member
Hydro made more sense to me than soil. It's really up to you but most will say get your foundations with soil first.
 

dam612

Well-Known Member
soil is easier bc it will take alot more neglect. hydro can also be easy but only if you take the time to research + a bit more investment but could pay off
 

trickJames

Member
For a beginner, do soil. Just plant your seed and water/feed. Fox Farm Ocean forest is really good and you wont have to feed til you flower. Way TOO MANY things can go wrong in hydro. Unless you want a challenge and the possibility of losing your whole crop. Im not familiar with the aero garden, but Im sure it would work. Aero systems are bad about leaking though. But if you do go hydro, get a good ph tester like a Hanna. Your ph is the most important thing. As far as nutes, everyone on here will tell you something different, so just read some threads and compare.
Agree 100% Foxfarm is the best for beginners. Pretty much guaranteed results with a decent finished product,
First time Hydro... Flora Duo from GH is pretty damn easy to use but the initial cost of equipment makes it tough.
Soil is cheap and easy. I sell Foxfarm soil at my store for $12 a bag for 1.5 cu Ft.
 

lostNug

Well-Known Member
U can grow with aerogarden. Im gonna put th one I got free to use soon. There's threads on here about it. Do a search. There kinda expensive tho
 
a great article by an awesome author:

http://eastcoastmarijuana.net/deciding-on-soil-vs-hydro/

I have packed some fresh herb into the vaporizer and listening to The Doors, I am sitting down to write my first article in a long time on a subject that I know a little bit about. Medical Marijuana or Marihuana in my State, Michigan.

When I first learned how to grow weed indoors, I started out with soil and I am admitting for the first time in public that I used Miracle-Gro for my first few grows, only because I didn’t know there was something on the market that was better. I am not starting the Miracle-Gro/Ocean Forest debate, there are website forums for that. Both work equally great in given situations.

I am currently using both hydro as well as soil. For my soil grows I use a mixture of Ocean Forest and Happy Frog and I also add other nutrients to help with the roots as well as making the pH a little more stable and less “hot”. But with both hydro and soil, I am using General Hydroponics nutrients just in different doses and schedules. I am also adding Kushie Kush by Advanced Nutrient for my hydro grows in the last 3 weeks of 12.12 and I use Big Bloom and Beastie Buds for soil, all the way through flowering from week 1 to harvest.

First I am picky about taste and flavor, in my real job I am a restaurant consulting chef, so if my taste is off, I am out of work. I can taste many things that some can not, so when I say that soil gives you better flavor, please trust me on that.

Soil is the most forgiving plant medium to work in as it takes some time to absorb the material in the soil as with hydro it is almost instantaneous. After I was sure that I had soil mastered where I wasn’t killing or burning anymore plants, I asked my Cannabis Guru, JimmyBud what was next.
JimmyBud has been growing weed indoors and outdoors since he was a youngster in the 40’s so I know what he has taught me and am spreading the love.

I have grown a plant for 7 months in a DWC for only 1.2oz of usable medicine once, just because I wanted to have that particular flavor. I have also grown some monster quantities in my 18 site hydro hybrid I made and walked away with enough medicine to send me to federal custody for a long time.
I bought my first hydro system from JimmyBud and it worked so awesome and the results were so much faster using hydro that it blew soil away in comparison. I could veg in 7 days and get 13” of growth and threw them into 12.12 and have them done in 10-11 weeks and have that on a perpetual cycle you are cranking some serious medicine. But it was lacking the soul and the flavor of worry and stress that you put out watching over your ladies.
I am now using soil for “my” medicine and I am using the hydro for my patients so they are never without their medicine that rely on me to provide.

If you are learning how to grow weed indoors it is up to you which medium to choose, soil and hydro are not your only options but I hope to have given you some insight as to some pros and cons of soil vs. Hydro.
 

collective gardener

Well-Known Member
Having taught several beginning growers, I've found a very reliable starter settup. Sunshine mix #4 with about 30% added perlite. This is a great soiless mix and the perlite makes it impossible to overwater. Feed it with either General Hydroponics 3 part Flora, or Cutting Edge 3 part. If you use Cutting Edge and RO water you will not need to adjust the PH...it lands on around 6.2 everytime.

You can start in a 1 gallon container and then up-can to a 5 gallon. Water by hand once per day with 1000ppm. If you don't have a TDS meter at first, just use half what the bottle says. That's it.

I used this mix 20 years ago with wonderful results. It's very reliable and idiot proof. There's really nothing to go wrong, leaving you with time to concentrate of your atmosphere and canopy shape/size. I like this combo so much that I used it for the first 3 crops in our current 20,000 watt settup. We wanted a no-nonsense, simple medium/feed so that we could dial in our atmosphere and work the bugs out of the room. Once the room was dialed we switched to coco. Once we had enough patients to allow enough plants for a SOG, we switched to my current favorite, rockwool.

If you do go with organic soil, I suggest you add plenty of perlite (30%). This will avoid overwatering issues (a common problem with new growers). Personally, I don't belive that soil is good for new growers. Sooner or later you'll have to start feeding the plant for good results. It's difficult for new growers to know when and how much to start feeding. With soiless, you're feeding with every watering...the exact same everyday. You only change your mix one time when you go into bloom.

Whatever you choose, keep it simple. Try not to get to involved in feeding your plants a bunch of crazy boosters and additives. There will be time for that later. Pick a system and stick to it. Concentrate on getting your atmosphere as perfect as poissible.
 

Prefontaine

Well-Known Member
For a first time grower with no knowledge of gardening....

Which way would you recommend they start their first grow?

In Soil....?

Hydro - In a Hydro locker/cabinet with everything you need (this ways seems as if it would be easier....)?

Does anyone know if it's possible to grow with an Aero garden??

And with any advice given - could you please explain the why or why nots??

Thanks!!:peace:
both at the same time soon youll know which you prefer
 
Having taught several beginning growers, I've found a very reliable starter settup. Sunshine mix #4 with about 30% added perlite. This is a great soiless mix and the perlite makes it impossible to overwater. Feed it with either General Hydroponics 3 part Flora, or Cutting Edge 3 part. If you use Cutting Edge and RO water you will not need to adjust the PH...it lands on around 6.2 everytime.

You can start in a 1 gallon container and then up-can to a 5 gallon. Water by hand once per day with 1000ppm. If you don't have a TDS meter at first, just use half what the bottle says. That's it.

I used this mix 20 years ago with wonderful results. It's very reliable and idiot proof. There's really nothing to go wrong, leaving you with time to concentrate of your atmosphere and canopy shape/size. I like this combo so much that I used it for the first 3 crops in our current 20,000 watt settup. We wanted a no-nonsense, simple medium/feed so that we could dial in our atmosphere and work the bugs out of the room. Once the room was dialed we switched to coco. Once we had enough patients to allow enough plants for a SOG, we switched to my current favorite, rockwool.

If you do go with organic soil, I suggest you add plenty of perlite (30%). This will avoid overwatering issues (a common problem with new growers). Personally, I don't belive that soil is good for new growers. Sooner or later you'll have to start feeding the plant for good results. It's difficult for new growers to know when and how much to start feeding. With soiless, you're feeding with every watering...the exact same everyday. You only change your mix one time when you go into bloom.

Whatever you choose, keep it simple. Try not to get to involved in feeding your plants a bunch of crazy boosters and additives. There will be time for that later. Pick a system and stick to it. Concentrate on getting your atmosphere as perfect as poissible.
well said,


+rep
 

RawBudzski

Well-Known Member
I began growing in DWC hydro & love(d) it. If you dial it in right it will be a blessing with how vigorous and fast they grow, I now grow in soil & love it. I do not plan on quitting soil any time soon due to the fact it works for my method of growing, I enjoy moving my plants around alot & such. I too believe where soil may lack in growth rate and yield it makes up for with smell / potency, may just be my opinion but all the vet growers I know agree that the best tasting bud will be in soil.
 

Prefontaine

Well-Known Member
I began growing in DWC hydro & love(d) it. If you dial it in right it will be a blessing with how vigorous and fast they grow, I now grow in soil & love it. I do not plan on quitting soil any time soon due to the fact it works for my method of growing, I enjoy moving my plants around alot & such. I too believe where soil may lack in growth rate and yield it makes up for with smell / potency, may just be my opinion but all the vet growers I know agree that the best tasting bud will be in soil.
i agree nothing easier than fill up a 5 gallon bucket, pluggin in an airtsone, and walking away
 

RawBudzski

Well-Known Member
my first grow I had used an 18 gallon res for 4x plants, with a pump that put out 900 gph. plants got 5ft I yielded 12oz under a 600w light. I now use that pump to mix my nute solutions before I feed.
 

Prefontaine

Well-Known Member
my first grow I had used an 18 gallon res for 4x plants, with a pump that put out 900 gph. plants got 5ft I yielded 12oz under a 600w light. I now use that pump to mix my nute solutions before I feed.
I have two 5 gallon buckets with 6" net pots, each has two plants with ginormous root balls covering the airstone, im sitll waiting at these girls are like 6 weeks behind their sisters in flower, but their sisters have had big time root bound, and these hydros have had no issues, besides losing fan leaves to the scissors when they over grew the soil girls
 

RawBudzski

Well-Known Member
Potency, hydro crushes nothing, Maybe your referring to hydro buds that have not been properly flushed & you may be mistaking that extra light-headedness from the chems make you believe it is more potent. Which is a mistake many people make now days.
That's completely subjective. Some people like it some don't. I think properly grown NorCal outdoor tastes the best, but I've had tasty hydro as well.
For potency hydro crushes it.
 
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