[BasementBreeder]

Title: Hydroponics: A Practical Guide for the Soilless Grower
Author: J. Benton Jones Jr.
ISBN: 0-8493-3167-6
Price: ~ $80.00


I am a man of science. When a claim is made, I need more than just anecdotal evidence to support it. Growing cannabis is no exception. So why then, am I reviewing a work where our favorite plant is referenced zero times? Simple. For the aspiring cannabis cultivator, the currently available cannabis-specific resources fall far short of academic standards. They are sloppy, imprecise, lack sources, and at times just flat out wrong. Remember that cannabis is simply a plant. It is a wonderful and magnificent plant, but is still just a plant. Despite what other authors or nutrient manufactures would have you believe, it does not require special nutrients or techniques. Hydroponics: A Practical Guide for the Soilless Grower by J. Benton Jones Jr. excels where all cannabis-specific books fail.

First and foremost, this work is a guide to plant nutrition. The majority of this book is dedicated to the essential elements and their concentration in the nutrient solution. The chapter on the elements is extremely detailed. It lists each one’s purpose, deficiency symptoms, common reagents (with molar mass), and the ideal concentration range for the nutrient solution. While tomato is the most frequently referenced, other common hydroponic crops including lettuce, peppers, and strawberries are covered. There is even a chapter on organic gardening; however I found this to be lacking when compared to the remainder of the text.

This work by Mr. Jones is more than just a guide to nutrients; it is a general handbook to soilless gardening. Within it are chapters on everything from how the plant root works to diagnostic testing procedures to pest control. Of particular usefulness are the sections on operating one’s very own hydroponic systems (i.e. NFT, ebb-and-flow, drip irrigation, etc.). It provides excellent, precise details on running each system. And while it doesn’t include step-by-step instructions for constructing one’s own, the details, including a multitude of photographs and diagrams, give ample information to do so.

Do not let the high price steer you away. Hydroponics: A Practical Guide for the Soilless Grower is a must have for anyone serious about mixing his or her own nutrients. Even if you’re not yet to that point, but simply interested in taking your indoor gardening to the next level, this book is for you. The knowledge within will pay for itself a hundred times over.

Pros: Extremely detailed, lists many sources, amazing source of information on plant nutrition and soilless culture
Cons: Expensive, wordiness makes it inaccessible for growers who aren’t dedicated to learning

[VonBudí]

Originally Posted by BasementBreeder

Price: ~ $80.00

book better come with a midget to look after the garden



yay found it

$80 saved lol

https://www.mediafire.com/?qxb0hj1f9n09unr

[spurr]

@ BasementBreeder,

Thanks for the review. I have been planning on ordering that book for some time, as well as few seminal works that are well over $100.

@ VonBudi,

Haha, Cat Williams rocks!

Cat's dealer:
"... this shit is called "DEATH"!"

Cat:
"What?! I'm gonna DIE if I smoke it?!"

Cat's dealer:
"... nah, it's called "D-E-A-F", not "DEATH". Cuz this shit will make you go DEAF when you smoke it!"

Thanks for the link to mediafire, however, I feel not good about copyright infringement on a book like that. I did download the PDF file, but I am also going to buy the book, so I don't steal from the author.

FWIW, I scanned the PDF at VirusTotal and it's clean ... but that doesn't mean it won't 'dial home' ...

[Fattie]

gotta love 1 MB\S.

[supermanlives]

80 dollars for info found free on the net , hell no. but i suppose someone has to buy actual books to keep publishers in buisness and it probably saves you hours of searching.

great book ...... pricey but worth it.

[BasementBreeder]

I know it's expensive. And I know that all the information within it can be found online for free. Still, having it in one organized, easily accessed spot makes it worth it for the serious grower.

For everyone who finds this book by Jones useful, I'm currently going through Hydroponic Food Production by Howard Resh. Again, it's a little pricey(~ $50), but it too seems to be worth every penny. I bought it because I was told 'it's the bible of the hydroponics industry'. I'm not disappointed.

[avant gardener]

another great book.
here's the torrent for it:
https://isohunt.com/torrent_details/...5/?tab=summary

textbooks are a goddamned racket.
here's to one more starving academic.

[Haps]

Reading books and learning is good for us, but the real up to date info is here, not in any book, and only an asshat prices their work so greedily.

You do not become a ganja guru by reading, we learn from our successes and failures, and as a culture, we run years ahead of any books.
H

[avant gardener]

Originally Posted by Haps

Reading books and learning is good for us, but the real up to date info is here, not in any book, and only an asshat prices their work so greedily.

You do not become a ganja guru by reading, we learn from our successes and failures, and as a culture, we run years ahead of any books.
H

i'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you on this one. grateful as i am for all the input i've gotten from folks on icm (as well as what little i've been able to offer), there's a lot of bad science going on here.

that is to say you've got shills for this product and that product hanging around here trying to keep their ship afloat by endorsing their own stuff whether it actually works or not. then you've got people who want to appear knowledgeable so they simply repeat something they've heard but probably never tried—or even worse, just make some shit up—and pretty soon it gets regarded as true by a large number of people, and certainly to the detriment of the community.

there's also a lot of good information getting passed around here—a lot of it very unconventional too—but negotiating which of it is worth trying and which of it is bullshit is definitely an art unto itself. on the other hand, relying on information which has already been peer reviewed takes so much of the guesswork out of it. there's a lot to be said for academic scrutiny.

one's own empirical data is probably the best resource available. if i'm being perfectly honest though, i'd have to rank the online archives of the agriculture department at UC Davis second and icmag a fairly close third.