Influencing flavour?

AlphaPhase said:

Curing and properly drying the herb is definitely the make it or break it phase of growing.

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Going through a 10-week flowering cycle without making any mistakes is the make it or break it phase of growing.

Yeah that too! But people can grow the perfect plant, and if dried too fast can be pretty harsh, but definitely keeping plants healthy through their cycle is a must for sure.

waterdawg said:

I actually find I enjoy hydro grown taste more, it seems to allow more flavour out for me anyways.

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You enjoy soil-less (hydro) because you can't taste the soil.

You should try aroe

Aero is a very nice growing method. Nasa grows Aero because it's the best method for growing plants available at the moment for quality, quickness and quantity.

I can't tell the difference between hydro and soil buds, not sure how others can, still trying to figure that out and why organic growers claim better taste because I grow all methods and don't buy it. I was a cigarette smoker for about 7 years and quit a couple years ago, I figured maybe my taste buds weren't right.. Until a lot of friends couldn't tell the difference between the different growing methods either. It's just gotta be grown properly in my opinion. Nutes are nutes. Genetics are genetics. Hydro is the best for quickness and cleanliness in the grow room and is actually healthier than organic soil grown plants because of refinement of the bad stuff out of the fertilizer. Organics can't refine anything and can contain selenium, fluoride, radioactive stuff like radium ect. Not as clean as it sounds but I still like supersoil. Hydro is just easier and cheaper.

AlphaPhase said:

Aero is a very nice growing method. Nasa grows Aero because it's the best method for growing plants available at the moment for quality, quickness and quantity.

I can't tell the difference between hydro and soil buds, not sure how others can, still trying to figure that out and why organic growers claim better taste because I grow all methods and don't buy it. I was a cigarette smoker for about 7 years and quit a couple years ago, I figured maybe my taste buds weren't right.. Until a lot of friends couldn't tell the difference between the different growing methods either. It's just gotta be grown properly in my opinion. Nutes are nutes. Genetics are genetics. Hydro is the best for quickness and cleanliness in the grow room and is actually healthier than organic soil grown plants because of refinement of the bad stuff out of the fertilizer. Organics can't refine anything and can contain selenium, fluoride, radioactive stuff like radium ect. Not as clean as it sounds but I still like supersoil. Hydro is just easier and cheaper.

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I started to follow your other thread and am amazed its made it this far with out being trashed lol. Pretty touchy subject! And as stated I do think its the dirt I taste lol. I only grew truly organic once and that was 20 years ago using only dried cormorant poop, and lots of it lol. Cant remember what it tasted like lol. I do think, and may be way wrong, if using hydro, things re taste could be ruined easier with the wrong thing as it is pure water going up the plant with no filtering through soil. Again I may be way iff base saying that! I have all if the stuff to do true aero, re Booster pump and pressure tank, and was going to do it but just seemed like a lot could go bad , i set up a low pressure system instead.

lol I'm just as surprised it wasn't trashed as you! It's not about which is better though, I like growing organically when I have time for it, so I think that's why it's doing ok. Lots of good info I'm finding! And I just don't want opinions so that pretty much makes it hard to respond to the thread

And yeah I think you're right about hydro can change the taste, the theory I have (and have been guilty of) is pushing the nutes too high. I don't think it's a matter of flushing or not flushing, I think it's a matter of not overfeeding and lowering dose after week 4 and start reducing nutes (especially nitrogen) until the last couple of days do a quick flush to rid any salt build ups (this is for the system maintenance more than the plant imo). I've had some nasty hydro before. I've had some nasty dirt grown as well. Genetics play a major factor in taste and smell, the grower is just trying to get those true genetics to come through with the proper amound of nutes. It's really about learning a strain and dialing it in and I think it can be done with any method, just takes time. But that's just an opinion lol. RO water or even rain water (rain water is dirtier though) can be used and won't need any filtering and i think it is better than tap water. I still use tap though, mine is only 80-120ppm so it's pretty soft.

I also built a true aeroponic system a long time ago, and like you said, I got a little overwhelmed at first and never truely got to test it out. A $700 piece of equipment just gathered dust until I gifted it to a friend 5 years ago The only aero type system I have now is my aero cloner lol. But I would like to give it a shot sometime when I can have a dedicated space for it incase I mess up I will still have another crop going. (I do could be wrong with a lot of things I mentioned above, it's just a theory I have and not much to back it up, so take it with a grain of salt lol)

I've done enough side by side grows to know that soil will affect the flavor of most crops.
Sometimes good, sometimes bad.
For example: Some of my tomatoes taste better with the acidic flavors from soil.
And: Some of my tomatoes taste better without the flavor of any soil at all.

I think I enjoy a soil cucumber more than a soil-less cucumber.

Cannabis I definitely enjoy soil-less.

You have to grow a ton of stuff and figure it out for yourself and what you prefer.
Make your own soils and see how it affects flavors.
Fish meal and anything from the ocean ground up will definitely spark your nose hairs up. Guano, manures, and worm castings all have an affect as well.
Like I said... sometimes good, sometimes bad. For cannabis I personally (my opinion and speaking for myself only) find it best without soil.

AlphaPhase said:

Aero is a very nice growing method. Nasa grows Aero because it's the best method for growing plants available at the moment for quality, quickness and quantity.

I can't tell the difference between hydro and soil buds, not sure how others can, still trying to figure that out and why organic growers claim better taste because I grow all methods and don't buy it. I was a cigarette smoker for about 7 years and quit a couple years ago, I figured maybe my taste buds weren't right.. Until a lot of friends couldn't tell the difference between the different growing methods either. It's just gotta be grown properly in my opinion. Nutes are nutes. Genetics are genetics. Hydro is the best for quickness and cleanliness in the grow room and is actually healthier than organic soil grown plants because of refinement of the bad stuff out of the fertilizer. Organics can't refine anything and can contain selenium, fluoride, radioactive stuff like radium ect. Not as clean as it sounds but I still like supersoil. Hydro is just easier and cheaper.

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I can I us to look at work all day everyday all day Long.

I gotta disagree on cheaper its more expensive in my case the line up I use is mixed n mached but more expensive all the way. I can tell the difference on so many levels but it all comes down to the growers style!!!! There r so many variables n growers n growing styles.. The same strain 5 growers will be 5 diffrent flavors looks n qualities??? It's more complex than that.... In my opinion

Yeah, some nutes can be pretty pricey, that's for sure. I just switched to an all in one powder nute that is used for both veg and flower and it is working great so far. That and silica is all I'm using at the moment. Saved me a lot of money this grow compared to other grows, so depending what nute is preferred will determine the price factor. The bottled organic nutes are super expensive though. Bottled organic nutes use 2 tbls compared to 1 tsp of hydro nutes, so 6x the amount is used but it's the same price. I haven't done too many side by side comparisons yet because I've only been testing the theory for a couple of years. One strain, Ice by royal queen won hands down in hydro and beat it in every aspect. The point made that different strains may be better in soil and some in hydro, that is solid. When I think about it, it is very rare to find a grower growing a pure strain that hasn't been bastardized. The strains we grow are not natural to nature. A kush would not be pollinated by a Afghan with out human interaction. So to think that some strains prefer a certain growing method because these strains are not natural to nature and man made, that it a very legit statement. I know there's many people that have more soil vs hydro experience than me, I've been growing a while but I usually stick with a couple strains for a while until they are perfectly dialed in. I've only grown out maybe 30 or so strains in 14 years.

I felt rich (and probably foolish) the last time I was at the store and purchased H and G aqua flakes. I gotta say it is producing better than my normal nutes but hard to get passed the price. I really hope all of the strains I choose will like hydro, doubt I'll ever return to soil. Outdoors I am probably going to stick with auto's just for the early harvest before the birds start flying

AlphaPhase said:

Yeah that too! But people can grow the perfect plant, and if dried too fast can be pretty harsh, but definitely keeping plants healthy through their cycle is a must for sure.

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What about "Pro-mix HP" ? This is all I know and have stuck to, I flush one week with a solution at week 7 then just use distilled water with refined sugar till harvest time 1-3 weeks. Watering once a week. Have had no complaints on taste, fact everyone thought it was the tastiest kush theyve ever smoked.. this was probably simply said just because of how fresh the weed was as apose to them grabbing from a random dealer who has been sitting on his kush for a few months drying out and absorbing random smells.

Aren't additives like "bud candy" from advanced nutrients to add sweetness and flavour? I am using this on my current grow, figured it was a substitute for refined sugar... (flushing and adding refined sugar till harvest is my own thing, not suggested on a schedule obviously)

WestDenverPioneer said:

I've done enough side by side grows to know that soil will affect the flavor of most crops.
Sometimes good, sometimes bad.
For example: Some of my tomatoes taste better with the acidic flavors from soil.
And: Some of my tomatoes taste better without the flavor of any soil at all.
I think I enjoy a soil cucumber more than a soil-less cucumber.
Cannabis I definitely enjoy soil-less.
You have to grow a ton of stuff and figure it out for yourself and what you prefer.
Make your own soils and see how it affects flavors.
Fish meal and anything from the ocean ground up will definitely spark your nose hairs up. Guano, manures, and worm castings all have an affect as well.
Like I said... sometimes good, sometimes bad. For cannabis I personally (my opinion and speaking for myself only) find it best without soil.

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I think you're right on point, and IMHO personal preference is EVERYTHING

I use promix hp but it's been a while since I've flowered in promix. I love promix for my mother plants, it makes the veg room much easier to handle. As for the sweetener additives, It's been a long time since I've used one. I'm still reading up on them and might use one for flowering my current grow. They supposedly sweeten the Buds, but I'm looking into terp enhancers, so rather than sweetening the Buds, it would bring out the natural smells and flavors and make them more noticeable? Though I don't know for sure, it sounds too good too be true. I may just try it on one dwc plant and see what happens. I have 2 of the same plants each in its own dwc bucket so it would be the perfect test for it.

Ya i used to use refined sugar from dutchnutrientformula.com was using the entire line actually.. i chose myself to continue with the refined sugar after flush. I have more plants I am flowering now so I will do the same with the "Bud Candy" on 6 of the 7 and see if it actually does anything noticeable. I can see plants gaining more of an earthy taste through soil grows. I prefer outdoor weed I know that atleast.. soil over hydro, can't say I would know what is what.. if I did I would prefer that earthier taste.

</troll>
Throw some food coloring in your water and grow some purps.
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