Hydro and soil considerations

J

John LOQUE

Member

• Oct 18, 2020

• #1

Hello,
my question is more for soil AND hydro expert.

I am an hydro guy because i find it grows bigger and faster in hydro compared to what i can do with soil.

But i never had colas... I mean, i can have big buds, but the buds are not packed together forming an cola. There is room between buds.
I saw pictures of a strain i know growed in soil, the stretch was more important in soil but the guy had colas though.

So are colas a soil thing? Stupid question i'm sure, but...

 

S

slownickel

Active member

ICMag Donor

Veteran

• Oct 18, 2020

• #2

One can achieve colas in Coco, we get some serious weight in amended Coco/Perlite. It is a happy spot between hydro and "soil".

 

SuperBadGrower

Active member

• Oct 18, 2020

• #3

1 is genetics, 2 is light/environment (3/4/5/6... is everything else ). Having grown in soil and hydro, the medium doesn't matter. If you want some colas, look at haze/skunk/NL family of plants. 1ft+ of pure buds. Watch out for rot

 

J

John LOQUE

Member

• Oct 19, 2020

• #4

SuperBadGrower said:

1 is genetics, 2 is light/environment (3/4/5/6... is everything else ). Having grown in soil and hydro, the medium doesn't matter. If you want some colas, look at haze/skunk/NL family of plants. 1ft+ of pure buds. Watch out for rot

Click to expand...

Don't you think there is more stretch in soil (or coco) due to root bound?

 

OldSSSCGuy

Active member

• Oct 19, 2020

• #5

John LOQUE said:

Don't you think there is more stretch in soil (or coco) due to root bound?

Click to expand...

I've not seen that. Stretching and bud thinness has always been genetics mixed with light intensity. For me, a 400 watt light causes stretching and thinness compared to the same plant under a 1000 watt.

 

X

xavier7995

• Oct 19, 2020

• #6

I can't say what it is, but it isnt soil vs hydro. I generally always have colas regardless of grow style.

Are you topping heavily? More than say..8 (idk) tops? Maybe the plant just doesn't have the structure necessary to stack up like that. Just random speculation on my part.

 

Fixer

Active member

• Oct 19, 2020

• #7

I've grow colas in both DWC with autoflowers and photos in coco. I think the crew has it. Probably genetics and technique.

 

SuperBadGrower

Active member

• Oct 20, 2020

• #8

The difference between coco/hydroponic vs soil is more like a difference of growth rate, cell size and cell rigidity. A cookies plant is just never going to make stacked colas. The only option is to use growth retardants. Using those you can stop the stretch to get dwarf plants with stacked colas.

 

Switcher56

Comfortably numb!

• Oct 20, 2020

• #9

John LOQUE said:

Don't you think there is more stretch in soil (or coco) due to root bound?

Click to expand...

Root bound doesn't happen in either smart pots or cloth pots.