Dirt VS DWC

After starting up a couple DWC buckets I am returning to the world of dirt. I know this is a question people ask themselves before diving into the bucket so to speak but I personally am going to stick with dirt. I am not knocking the bubble bucket guys at all but for my opperation im finding that DWC is alot more work. I can say that the growth in DWC is WAYYYYYYYY more vigorous and I am serious when I say that this method of growing WILL BLOW YOUR FUCKING MIND when it comes to the guy who looks at their plants at least 127 times a day..... you can actually see these girls grow each day lol I would say my two plants in the Bubble buckets grew and inch per day but I found myself battling res temps everyday. I was putting frozen bottles in the res everyday and still could not quite get this method of growing down. I will post pics of my grow. I have 2 Northern lights in DWC and 2 in dirt, all germd the same time and transplanted at the same time and you will shit bricks when you see the side by side comparison.
I can see why people would grow in these buckets but for my style it is just to much work. I find myself checking the PH at least twice a day and adjusting it. I know if I had a larger res this would probably eliminate the need to constantly adjust the PH. I am impressed with the growth though and I mean seriously impressed but the ammount of work just to speed up the Veg time is just not my cup of tea. Dirt imo is way more forgiving and not nearly as "fussy" as hydro. Im just the style of grower that finds that dirt is just easier to grow in.... simply put. Im just rambling on at this point but in my opinion dirt wins this battle..... its just easier and cheaper too. As long as you dont over nute the damn things youre fine. We will see the outcome of this side by side grow and I can say that the hydro will probably yield more and produce a bigger plant but at a cost...... tons of work lol. I know the hydro guys are gonna get pissed but Im not trying to change any ones mind about making the switch to hydro im just sharing my personal experience. I need to learn to write without going all oer the place... lol I apologize for my composition faults lol.
Feel free to put in your two cents..... thats what this place is for.....To share our growing experiences and learn from each other

I think hydro is as fussy as you want to make it. I personally have no room thermometers, no humidty meters, no water temp thermometers. I do not clean my buckets, i sterilize nothing, other than initlaly setting the ph i measure regulate and keep an eye on nothing but making sure i fill the tub up again when it's empty. But i will admit, due to having mine as portable DWC buckets and not just filling em up with some watering cans or a hose, that once a week re-fill is a bit of a bitch, but it's swings and roundabouts for me, it's either one big job each week or a medium sized job everyt other day.

I agree tiptop.... its as hard as one makes it. But watering once every three days (give or take a day or two) is as simple as it gets. I guess Im just bitching cause I thought the hydro world would be easier but for me its not. I think I have OCD or something cause I feel the need to check the damn Ph every eight hours lol I have been paranoid about nute lockout due to Ph problems ever since I had it happen in dirt and it almost ruined my crop..... my baby could have yield alot more if I had not gotten nute lock out. What most noobs fail to understand (and I am guilty of this too) is that more is not better when it comes to nutes...... I dont even use veg nutes anymore, the roots organic soil provides PLENTY of nutes to keep her good till the 12/12 switch.

Anyone else have any input on this age old battle lol

i'm using promix in 5 gallon buckets.
i water once a week.
everything is great so far, easy!

do you get res temp problems? My roots look a little orange but my nute solution is also orange.... i use the lucas formula.

I grew Hydro 1st grow. it was amazing DWC.. here they are. NEVER CHECKED PH. but now im going soil this run. I like the fact i can have HANDS ON each plant pot and design each one View attachment 1412367 same 600w light notice i can FIT MORE PLANTS. will be bushier.. indicas.. sure to yield same if not more. SOIL FTW now,.

What soil do you use RawBud?

Im starting out with hempy this round and am having slow beginning growth, not too impressed. But that goes the same to say I had problems the first time I used soil. Every situation is different, unfortunately Ive never tried DWC but I will admit soil is pretty damn easy

I can't stand straight DWC due to temps and the slime developed(I've only seen it in a couple plants), not to mention knappy ass looking roots, in aerospring roots turn out nice white and fuzzy. I've been told in DWC you don't need these fine root hairs and knappy ass is fine but I still don't like them. I like nice fuzzy white roots. Aero spring is kinda a form of aero/nft/dwc all rolled into one. Your temperature problems come from non-insulated reservoirs , if all you're doing is DWC then temps shouldn't be a problem IF you use igloo coolers(or any brand really, I just push igloo) as the bucket, I have 2 igloos going atm one 70 liter in veg with 6- 3 inch sites and one 100 liter in flower with 3 sites(only able to use 2 sites when the plants get big) , got another 150 liter I'm working on now for flower. As I stated I do aerospring and up until now decided I wouldn't change a thing.....but... subnersible water pumps in a insulated res kinda defeat the purpose, I didn't realize those put out as much heat as they do, I'm correcting this today by buying a chiller. If I didn't feel I needed the water pumps and could go with and be happy with straight dwc a cooler would hold its temp for days. I just turned the pump off my veg cooler 3 days ago, the temp has come up less than 1 degree per day. I could probebly even get by without the water chiller if I were to use external inline pumps for the sprayers in the cooler. But back to your subject, if you like dirt you like dirt, personally it isn't an option for me even though I know it would be much less work. I'm rebuilding my system to be much more user/lazy friendly.Good luck and happy growing.

After I added everything up to fix a problem just to spend more money to fix another problem just to spend even more money to see setups like yours and try what your are doing lol hydro can add up fast. Dirt is....... welll its dirt lol pretty inexpensive and so easy to grow in. Plus dirt seems to be WAY more forgiving. I know hydro is faster and produces bigger yields but its just not worth the pain in the ass it has become. Dirt i guess is just simple and easy..... and ive been told dirt grows taste better.... ill be the judge of that after this grow is done. But does anyone els agree with me on the fact that with the right soil (I use roots organic) you dont even need veg nutes, unless you have an N problem which ive noticed happens during the first phase of flower, I spent a fraction on nutes for soil than I have on my hydro setup. This roots organic soil is some serious stuff for real. It is a little hot for seedlings but they grow through it and turn a nice dark green...... all my plants in soil have ZERO problems. All I can say is just keep it simple with soil and the soil will take care of you.

Thats all cool but the rapid growth you were talking about earlier on is cool as fuck, not to mention yield, to each his own, I'll spend the coin but I WILL have a working simple solution in the end.

Oh for sure dont get me wrong im not knocking anyones system and dialed in your system will rock no doubt. The rapid growth IS cool as hell and ive seen many people have great luck with it but its just too much work for a stoner like me lol like i said though i will see the results of dwc at the end of this grow. Just out of curiosity have you ever grown dirt before dbkick?

No sir I have not, if I had to grow anything in dirt I'd starve to death more than likely, due to I dunno shit about it. My nephew on the other hand does do dirt and he's talked about how long it takes and it sounds painfully slow.

Ahhh I see. Dirt is slower but I only grow for personal so I have enough to hold me over between grows. Good on ya for getting the hydro down though i wish I could.