Is hydro difficult to start with?

[TheArchitect]

I like this advice...go tried and true, and SIMPLE.

I have to disagree with the pH monitoring. Get a decent EC wand and your off to the races.

My initial try at hydro involved much monitoring, adjusting of pH (constant & a pain in the ass!!) I quickly got tired of it and went to soil/ pro mix/ coco mix.

Had a hydro shop owner convince me to run a waterfarm as a side show plant next to my regular "soil" plants. Mix up nutes according to directions. Top up with straight water, then top up with a mix. THAT'S IT. Let the pH swing like the wind, just keep an eye on the EC level.

Well that was many years ago...and I haven't looked back. I've played with the formula a bit over the years...always looking for the best flavor. But I DON'T check my pH EVER!!

I would also recommend going with hydroton or some other recyclable material. I find it much easier to discard water than mediums like coco, soil, or pro mix. Then just clean up between runs. It's easy.

Flood tables are easy and versatile. You need a lot of water to fill them though. I now run mine more like an NFT set up...but that just illustrates what others have said about them versatile!!

Bottom line jump in, you won't regret it...(or your "friend" wink wink) With all the help and info available here, you won't have a problem. KISS to start for sure.

KG

all good advice.

im a huge advocate of ignoring ph, and worrying about ec too.

the only stipulation to that is you must have very low alkalinity water, or just use ro, which is what i do.

alkalinity (usually measured in mg/L of CaCO3)will cook your ass sooooo quick in hydro. so, just get the ro. your local water company gives you a report every year that states alkalinity, but many times it varies seasonally due to runoff, and changing the sources of the feed water.

ro water and nutes(jr peters). thats it, maybe some mg, or silica.


my res add backs in flower consist of plain ro water or (a more advanced method) potassium nitrate, calcium nitrate, and magnesium sulfate mixed in the ro. really they only need the potassium and nitrogen but to keep balance between ca k and mg you have to add all three.

 

[Keep goin]

the only stipulation to that is you must have very low alkalinity water, or just use ro, which is what i do.

Yeah, sorry...I sometimes forget how SWEET my water is. Straight out of the tap it is 003 on a Nutridip meter. As close to RO as you can get. When I had water that was 275 I had to run RO...it sucked. Good tip. Check your water source...then you're off to the races!! Enjoy!

 

[CasioCalculator]

Read, Read, Read, read... read.

And then go read some more.

Before you start... you should have only a couple of questions you haven't figured out by reading. Post a thread and then start your grow when you're comfortable.

Took me 6 months before I was ready... bitchin first run without having to ask anyone a single question. Totally worth the research.

Stay Safe!

That's more or less how it went for me as well. There was not a growers sub-forum that I did not dissect. Even though I do hydro, I still look at the soil/organic threads and even though I am horizontal, I can't even begin to touch on all I've learned in the vert section. All the bits and pieces I picked up along the way made it that much easier. Now I made hella mistakes my first go, but all the research allowed me to already know what is going wrong instead of making a thread in the newbie section and praying for someone to rescue my grow. Now I'm just a couple weeks away from 12/12 for my second round.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

You can do 'hydro' with a $7 pH drops test kit.

I do.

Yeah, I have a cheapie tds meter because I run add-back reservoirs... but you don't NEED one to grow superior-quality cannabis.

Lucas simple res management... anyone can do it.

10 gallon res for DWC with R/O water
Mix 10 gallons of nutes, pH to 5.2 (E&F or medium based hydro would pH to around 5.8)
Top off reservoir every day with plain R/O water... until you've used 10 gallons
Dump reservoir and mix a new 10 gallon batch.

When you get close to harvest... don't dump the res, just keep topping off with plain R/O water.

Wow... wasn't that super simple?? You didn't even have to adjust the pH, ever. It's lots of fun and very easy. (Yes, I check the pH nearly every day anyway... a sharp drop in pH is an early sign you're having other issues.)

Hydro is Sooooooooooo Simple.

Stay Safe!

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Lucas add-back reservoir


Mix res with Maxibloom, GH 8/16, FloraNova Bloom or any other nutrient mix that's very close to the nutrient profile you get with 8/16 Flora. You are of course mixing to your strain's desired strength. Write down the tds.

pH to your desired starting pH (bottom end for DWC/NFT/UCDWC etc... top end for medium based drip/E&F)

pH will rise. When pH hits 5.8 (dwc) or 6.1 (medium based)... add nutes to reach target tds again. Add pH down, if necessary, to reach beginning pH again.

That's it.

When you get a month from harvest(approximately)... stop adding back nutes. Just top off with plain R/O and forget about pH completely.

Absolutely amazing results.

Stay Safe!

 

[DHF]

Coco is a hydroponic medium.
If you are growing in coco, you are growing hydroponically, even if you hand water with the coco specific hydroponic nutrient solution.

Actually Harry , coco is a "soilless" medium that produces "hydro" like returns if and once dialed properly.......but...

I`m a firm believer in vertical hung bare bulbs , although a 4 x 8 flood and drain table with 2-1KW horizontal hoods over said table filled with hydroton , lavarocks , chowmix/coco/hydroton , or pots sittin on the table filled with all the above and reduced levels of nutrient solution is/has been/always will be the easiest true beginner`s way to pop their cherry into hydro.....and...

Far less painless.....I hung "Nutradip" trimeters in my rez`s for constant ph , ppms , and solution temp monitoring , but I always had ph and ppm truncheons from BlueLab for proof positive that all juice was within the parameters it took to dial hydro from 5.2 - 6.0-ish ph levels and never over 750 ppm`s/1.5 ec till adjusted......but.....

Once yas get yer feet wet yas can upgrade to better equipment cuz yeah....the drops and strips will keep yas in the areas if all works properly , but folks tend to experiment and add this and that..and then drops and strips go out the door and rez cleanings and swapouts are in order guaranteed.......

As HS stated above......Do yer homework , and when yas think yas got it down......Keep readin cuz X can be anything , and it`s the X factor that`ll kill your plants if yas don`t understand when shit goes sideways and adjustments HAVE ta be made or suffer the consequences........

Not tryin ta be all negative , only tryin to make it known that it`s not as simple as some here allude to , but.....it can be with attention to detail and proper maintenance......

Runs under yer belt/first hand experience means more than all the above guaranteed.....and that takes time.....

Good luck.....DHF...........

Edit:...Harry......I meant no disrespect and........ if there`s no such thing as "soilless" in the UK except peat as yas said , then that`s why I saw HGO post that coco was/is a "hydroponic" medium in his thread once....and....I corrected him as well......but.......for the record and to set things into better perspectives for all to understand.........

A "Hydroponic" medium is an "inert" medium as in hydroton , lavarocks , verm/perl mixes , and ANY medium that has no "cation exchange capacity"/CEC that Coco most DEFINITELY has and is to be dealt with without knowin a copy of the rules and howta maintain ppm`s and ph with said medium.....Soil is the only medium that has more CEC potential than Coco.......

Mediums that store nutrients to a certain level before releasing em back to the plants is what CEC means.......

 

[Iffy]

Hi Manstien,
In my view it also depends on the location. If you're living with your grow and are on-hand to deal with problems as & when they occur and you are METICULOUS with your environment, than you'll find Hydro prettly straightforward.
ALL the advice you'll ever need is here mate.
Stay safe

 

[stonedwarrior]

Mediums that store nutrients to a certain level before releasing em back to the plants is what CEC means.......

Actually, it means
Cation-exchange capacity

 

[CasioCalculator]

Actually, it means
Cation-exchange capacity

Obviously DHF knows what the acronym is, he was just explaining it in laymen's terms. The very first sentence from your wiki link is more or less what DHF said in the first place and I quote, "In soil science, cation-exchange capacity (CEC) is the maximum quantity of total cations, of any class, that a soil is capable of holding, at a given pH value, available for exchange with the soil solution. " You do know that nutes are just ionic compounds right?

 

[medicalmj]

Actually, it means...

And what about Heath Robinson? Heath Robinson was an illustrator from century ago who drew eccentric machines. Complex machines that absurdly simple tasks.

"The machines he drew were frequently powered by steam boilers or kettles, heated by candles or a spirit lamp and usually kept running by balding, bespectacled men in overalls. There would be complex pulley arrangements, threaded by lengths of knotted string. Robinson's cartoons were so popular that in Britain the term "Heath Robinson" is used to refer to an improbable, rickety machine barely kept going by incessant tinkering.machines that do simple tasks"(Wiki).

 

[bugman52]

you do need a tds meter read ppm if u keep adding water u dont need to check the ph as much