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Hail Hydro!

T

thesloppy

I switched from dirt to coco to dwc, and will probably switch back to all of them at some point. Your environment makes a big difference too...I live on the 3rd floor of an apt building and grow in a small cabinet, so using buckets full of water make a lot more sense than trucking dirt up and down the stairs and tilling it in the bathtub or whatever, conversely someone growing two dozen trees, in a basement stacked with lights, might actually save time and effort using dirt versus setting up a massive hydro system.
 

stoned-trout

if it smells like fish
Veteran
oh and the reason the store hydro maters suck is cause for one their bred for hardiness for shippin and longetivity/ shelf life and have already lost some flavor,,second is they harvest early ....if they would grow better strains that don't last as long and let em ripen on vine then they would be tasty... yeehaw
 

stoned-trout

if it smells like fish
Veteran
I switched from dirt to coco to dwc, and will probably switch back to all of them at some point. Your environment makes a big difference too...I live on the 3rd floor of an apt building and grow in a small cabinet, so using buckets full of water make a lot more sense than trucking dirt up and down the stairs and tilling it in the bathtub or whatever, conversely someone growing two dozen trees, in a basement stacked with lights, might actually save time and effort using dirt versus setting up a massive hydro system.
recycle soil is easy
or living soil...you can put small worm bin any where too...depending on size of grow it wouldn't be a big deal...yeehaw..I good soil tub you can rip out old plant and insert new one....ha ha yup that freaking easy
 

St. Phatty

Active member
Oh, I don't think there's any need for a cage match or the random bitching we see around here sometimes.

There's more than one way to grow great weed, and it all depends on your goals/expectations.

I grew in dirt for about 3 years before switching to hydro, and have never looked back after 15 years.

What kind of hydro did you use and why did you go back to dirt?

I used rockwool with GH nutes. When I started GH came as a dry powder. I remember how (slightly) upset I was when they switched to the liquid nutes, which I then used till 2008 (except for outdoor experiments, that resulted in my personal 6-tick record :woohoo: )


I took an organic composting class in 2008 and tried good organic soil. Very impressed - same strain I'd been growing in rockwool ebb&flow for a year, just plain grew bigger happier healthier.

(That was in a near-sealed room, and my implementation of hydro grow media also may not have been perfect.)

I think it would be fun to try the kind where the nutes have bubblers, with the roots dangling down, or spraying on the roots.

Also, rockwool seems to be associated with indoors. Always thought it would be fun to try rockwool outdoors, under the sun. Did try it once, just a little too obvious, it got swiped.

Overall I like both of them. I wonder if I'm slightly frustrating for grow-store folks, because I rarely buy anything.

I look at the plastic labels (100 for $8) and go to the dollar store to buy HUGE popsicle sticks - 60 for $1.
 

BadRabbit

Active member
I used rockwool with GH nutes. When I started GH came as a dry powder. I remember how (slightly) upset I was when they switched to the liquid nutes, which I then used till 2008 (except for outdoor experiments, that resulted in my personal 6-tick record :woohoo: )


I took an organic composting class in 2008 and tried good organic soil. Very impressed - same strain I'd been growing in rockwool ebb&flow for a year, just plain grew bigger happier healthier.

(That was in a near-sealed room, and my implementation of hydro grow media also may not have been perfect.)

I think it would be fun to try the kind where the nutes have bubblers, with the roots dangling down, or spraying on the roots.

Also, rockwool seems to be associated with indoors. Always thought it would be fun to try rockwool outdoors, under the sun. Did try it once, just a little too obvious, it got swiped.

Overall I like both of them. I wonder if I'm slightly frustrating for grow-store folks, because I rarely buy anything.

I look at the plastic labels (100 for $8) and go to the dollar store to buy HUGE popsicle sticks - 60 for $1.

I had been growing a cut of black domina for a few years so I knew it very, very well. I switched to hydro just to try it ... basic ebb and flow set up and I was really amazed how much healthier, bigger and better the plants were ... instantly. Now, the quality of the smoke/bud, I can't say that was different, but the yield and health was a big leap forward.

I also liked that I had less bug issues and I loved that I didn't have to deal with dirt and all the cost and mess that went with it. Trying to go to 5 gal and bigger dirt buckets ... lot of mess and work and cost.

I've refined my ebb/flow with RW methods over the years to where it's fool proof and simple with great results. I spend way less on RW that I used to on dirt since it doesn't have to have such huge pots.

They still do sell GH nutes in powder and that's all I use. I'm experimenting recently with using the "kool bloom" booster during week 5. It's expensive stuff and I'm really not sure it's worth it yet.

Unlike most RW folks, I use loose RW ... I buy it in big ass blocks ...

http://www.discount-hydro.com/grodan-gro-wool-asorbent-granulate-3-5-cu-ft/

I just put it in net pots and set it on the table, works great ... never really got used to the big cubes.

I dunno, but so many commenters make hydro sound tricky and picky and complicated when it's really anything but ... today's RW and GH Nutes are all ph balanced, I rarely check it anymore. Just top off the rez and add fresh nutes. It's very forgiving as a media ...

The big mistakes are ususally the very same ones ppl make in any grow .... mis-setting the timer, light leak, bad environment too much heat or humidity, etc.

I respect that most growers are going to use dirt ... works great, a very natural media of course. But I think anybody who grows for longer than a little bit, and is an indoor only grower, they really should take a look at hydro (and at Rockwool, the amount of straight out incorrect info I hear shared about RW on this site is just amazing) ... but, whether RW or other hydro media, the hydro approach can be of lot easier than most anybody realizes and great results to boot.
 
I respect that most growers are going to use dirt ... works great, a very natural media of course. But I think anybody who grows for longer than a little bit, and is an indoor only grower, they really should take a look at hydro (and at Rockwool, the amount of straight out incorrect info I hear shared about RW on this site is just amazing) ... but, whether RW or other hydro media, the hydro approach can be of lot easier than most anybody realizes and great results to boot.

+1
 

mojave green

rockin in the free world
Veteran
Water comes through pipes to my grow room. I have ro water Rez on float valve, always available. Turn the tap on in the sink for tap water. As messy as I am, I'd ALWAYS be vacuuming dirt. No thank you. Water so easy, even when I fuck up and spill water, I grab the mop bucket and floor gets good cleaning. It works for me. I concur with trout though, each has its advantages.
Hydro medium is same way, each has advantages. I like a 50/50 mix of coco croutons and clay balls for veg, but find they like to float in my flood and drain tray. But if I put a rw cube surrounded by 50/50 mix it don't float. I like the coco though because I run bennies, and they say some of them really like coco.
Room for every style. Never felt the need to evangelize my style. If it works for you, do it.
Besides, I fuck plants up in soil!
:laughing:
 

Ganoderma

Hydronaut
Mentor
Veteran
I'm experimenting recently with using the "kool bloom" booster during week 5. It's expensive stuff and I'm really not sure it's worth it yet.

I've been using kool bloom for years and years. In my opinion it Worth It! I started using Kool Bloom back when it first came out, which was before the company was forced to change the name of their product. It used to be called KaBloom, there was also a cleaning product that had that same name and then there was a lawsuit...

If you have a strain that you are harvesting at week 8, then use during week 5-6, stop at week 7.
 
agree with petflora on this...

agree with petflora on this...

"The old argument that organic tastes better is laughable".......you are joking right?
I can only speak from personal experience and that is that organically grown weed DOES taste better than salt based ferts. I have read other people sharing this view. Pet you are the first person I have come across that does not share this view.
"Another great benefit of Hydro is growth, which is typically 2-4Xs greater. This is confirmed by many Greenhouse Seed YT videos"......LOL! Have you ever grown organically? Well I have grown in hydro and in soilless mediums and now finally and thank god I do ROLS and am growing the BEST indoor weed in my life with the least money, the least time and the least problems EVER.
I will call BS when I see it.

I have been growing for 35 years now and would never go back to soil growing...too many variables which can be controlled by hydro growing only...
It is personal preference but to call BS shows inexperience...ppl done seem to get the fact that the soil has to break down to its salt form to be available for the plant to use...this is what is happening when ppl say that more 'things' are going on with soil with microbes and such...like microbial breakdown of the organics....the plant can utilize it when and only when it is broken down to its salt form...
With hydro, u do not have to depend on this process...you control EVERYTHING your plants get....properly grown hydro is as goodnas a plant can get...still personal preference...regards,
 

Snook

Still Learning
Veteran
Started with DWC went to Ebb&Flo, then coco back to dwc and then came the PPK and JacksPro+, never looking back.

With dirt and coco I had gnats. I do not like Gnats or any other bugs. In DWC, I had root aphids, more bugs..

Inert media is my choice.:tiphat:
 
the main issue with hydro imo is the water temp. When the plants are small, the light hit the buckets and heat it, but when the plants are big the buckets are shadowed and it's cool. So for growing seedlings or cuttings i have to deal with about 26°c water temp, it's borderline, it works (no rot) but it could root faster with colder temp.
But it's cleaner than soil.
 

mojave green

rockin in the free world
Veteran
the main issue with hydro imo is the water temp. When the plants are small, the light hit the buckets and heat it, but when the plants are big the buckets are shadowed and it's cool. So for growing seedlings or cuttings i have to deal with about 26°c water temp, it's borderline, it works (no rot) but it could root faster with colder temp.
And in vert setup?
:biggrin:
Actually, without chiller, water temp=ambient. keep your room at 72, water will be 72. Good circulation and air stones, chiller not needed, imho.
 

PetFlora

Well-known member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
the main issue with hydro imo is the water temp. When the plants are small, the light hit the buckets and heat it, but when the plants are big the buckets are shadowed and it's cool. So for growing seedlings or cuttings i have to deal with about 26°c water temp, it's borderline, it works (no rot) but it could root faster with colder temp.
But it's cleaner than soil.

Try 1-2 layers of HD Al foil
 

PetFlora

Well-known member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
And in vert setup?
:biggrin:
Actually, without chiller, water temp=ambient. keep your room at 72, water will be 72. Good circulation and air stones, chiller not needed, imho.

My ambient is typically >82*s. If I ran ac to keep it t 72 it would be running 24/7 $$$$$$$$$$$.

Even now, over the last 2 months we're 15*s ABOVE normal

Circulating fans help. I keep mine on a timer else the leafs dry out and curl
 

Buddyy

Member
Guys, PLEASE stop encouraging him. He is clearly lonely, His follow up posts still contribute nothing to this thread

Structured water YT videos are readily available. Do I really need to provide a link? Why don't you actually do something besides posting here and research it yourself

Hey Pet and anybody else who believes in "STRUCTURED WATER" I got a link for you to check out http://www.chem1.com/CQ/clusqk.html
peace:)
 

Buddyy

Member
LOL this is your source to refute structured water? 'Chemistry professor and habitual imbiber of tap-water...,'

Please go away

Ok so he is a chemistry professor and he drinks tap water. So why do you find this funny?

I would love to have a civil, factually based debate on the subject of 'STRUCTURED WATER'...I'm not going anywhere. Please do not tell me to go away. I want to contribute. And I hate myth based pseudoscience.
 

PetFlora

Well-known member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Ok so he is a chemistry professor and he drinks tap water. So why do you find this funny?

I would love to have a civil, factually based debate on the subject of 'STRUCTURED WATER'...I'm not going anywhere. Please do not tell me to go away. I want to contribute. And I hate myth based pseudoscience.

You are adversarial and ignorant (more like stupid) with the various challenges and comments you make

No one cares that you are not impressed

No time for you

GO AWAY
 
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