I hate hydro

[Farmer P4t]

Been a dirt farmer for years. Recently ran out of soil mix and an IC/OGrefugee member convinced me to pop my hydro cherry for.... get this... its "ease of use."

After consultation, I decided to do a sort of modified SWC setup, using GH nutes since I'm apparently a n00b.

Anyway, I obtained two clones, and set out to train them into my 3x3 space under a 600w sodium bulb. Things were going great initially. I was more than pleased with the rate of growth and (initially) the lack of mess and attention I had to pay these bitches.

So, they're about 20-25 days into flower. I check them on a Saturday evening just before the bulb fires up and things are fine. I add some more solution..... which by the way, I now have to do every other day at the bare minimum. Soil was never so demanding, lol... I could actually go out of town for a weekend!

Anyway, Sunday night, I check them again because, apparently, that's what you have to do with this "SWC" crap. Boom, one of the bitches is on her last leg. As you can see, it's not pretty:






I still don't know what went wrong, exactly. The other girl looks fine as can be. I didn't run them out of solution, I didn't have the level of solution too high or too low, the pH of my solution is fine. The temperature of the solution is fine, and, in fact, the dead girl sits right next to the intake so IF ANYTHING, her solution should remain at a lower temp. Temps never get above like 82F in the cab, anyway, and topping off the solution every day with cold tap water mix should keep the solution temp much lower than that.

My best theory is that her airstone stopped functioning which led to catastrophic lack of oxygen uptake via the roots.... and apparently killed her IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS.

So, ya, to make a long story even longer, dead bitch is dead for good, I think. I gave her a new airstone, flushed the solution a few times... went with plain water at first, then gradually added nute solution and she's not responding at all. Leaves are all crispy

Moral of the story: hydro sucks.

See if I ever listen to you again, n00b: you know who you are

 

[Haps]

Any medium is only as good as the grower is competant. I'm suprised you can manage soil with your attitude, dude.
H

 

[Farmer P4t]

I don't mean to come off as snide... it's just aggravating to have such a sudden death in the family. I mean, I just saw her on Saturday night and she was vibrant and happy, and Sunday night I get a call... dead. It's sadder still that the autopsy could not confirm a cause of death.

Perhaps it's my own mortality I'm concerned for..... or maybe it's that my yield has been effectively cut in half.

Althought.... I just looked and it appears that the "dead girl" is throwing out some new shoots... albeit mutated and strange looking, she's apparently not ALL dead

The other one seems strangely happy relishing in her newfound space..... is that an evil grin I see on her face?

PS give me a break on my competEnce... this IS my first hydro excursion.

 

[MID TOWN]

If I were you I'd delete this thread and start a new one. post all the specs and conditions of the room and POLITELY ask for some help. Caus as of right now No one's gonna want to help you the way your coming off. I'd also bow down on your hands and knees to kiss your friend ass for talkin shit when he was trying to help you out.

PS. Switching to hydro was the best thing I ever did and if you ask anyone else arround here they will tell that hydro deffinately does NOT suck.


see how long it takes you to grow some bitches like this in soil.

peace

 

[Neuronaut]

Thats strange... but stick with it. Hydro is the only way to go!

 

[70s_PotHead]

If you can't swim then don't jump in the water

70s

 

[Guest]

Any medium is only as good as the grower is competant. I'm suprised you can manage soil with your attitude, dude.
H

I've run organic soil indoors and out, soilless (both organic and chemie) indoors and out and hydro indoors (only chemie though) and Haps pretty much summed it up in the first sentence I quoted. All have advantages and disadvantages. I've been incredibly fortunate in that my various mentors were masters of the various schools of growing they participated in.

 

[Farmer P4t]

MIDTOWN, with all due respect, I'm not looking for any help. What's done is done. But where else can I vent about my growing problems? I can't exactly talk to my friends about it....

The good news is that I still have one lucky lady left and if I can manage to not kill her, I'll have a decent yield - probably better, in fact, than two plants in my old soil mix w/ the current setup.

I do like not having to deal with mixing soil, vaccuuming carpet, transplanting in the bathtub (lol), and dealing with spilled guano tea. That's not to mention that a few bottles of nutes and a few jugs are a LOT easier to hide. Next time I will try organic hydro.

And 70s, you couldn't ever tell me that.... :wink:

MORAL OF THE STORY: don't forget to soak your airstones before you use them!

 

[circadian clock]

did u forget to water them? a plant next 2 the intake is gonna b thirsty.

 

[MID TOWN]

Farmer P4t MIDTOWN, with all due respect, I'm not looking for any help. What's done is done. But where else can I vent about my growing problems? I can't exactly talk to my friends about it....

I don't know what you were expecting coming into the indor HYDRO forum and saying HYDRO SUCKS.
It seems to me that you need all the help you can get. no one just jumps right into a new growing method and knows it all. and as far as "venting" this isn't realy the place to cry. I'm sure you can handle the stress of losing one plant.

So if you Don't want any help and you want to dis on a grow method that you obviously know so much about then what was the point in starting this thread.

 

[Guest]

Funny, I feel the same about soil. Everything is so delayed. When there is somthing wrong you dont know untill you have nonrepairable leaf damage. Where as if somthing is wrong with hydro, just chage solution, and in a few hours youll see improvments.

Now, I personally think that DWC is not the best noob system. I would say that hempy buckets are good, though they require high maintanence ( according to what Ive read I have yet to do a run with them, but the day is very near ) in that you have to water them every 2 days or so.

The other systm I think is better for noobs is Deep Water Flow, not sure the technical name. IT's an NFT but with the channel filled 1/2 way instead of just a "film." I like this sytm because you can treat it like a recirculating DWC, but it has more surface area around the roots. I have some pics of one I built a while back, using a stocked fishtank as a res for some lettus. PM me if you wnat.

 

[thc43]

the thing with hydro is EvErYtHing need to be so consistant, must be on the ball and ready to take action when temps change winter/summer, if algee blooms so on..

i ran reclycled clay and rock wool for about 1 year good results but come summer 35c+ i wasnt prepared and the grow would suffer.


Farmer P4t your plant doesnt look healthy, looks like a problem from early in the grow getting worse, your roots looks good so temps variation or heat probally isnt the cause, they look overly watered and not happy with you .. Maby the air pump isnt up to the task or your going too long between res changes making PH ec unstable.. do your best to get everything consistant its the only way in your setup.

Maby you should try a grow somewhere inbetween hydro and soil, coco comes to mind watered somewhat like soil but from a res of perfect EC PH week long if you dont go crazy with additives and run a suitable nute. Laziest of grows and very forgiving in alot of ways..

 

[chosen]

Break it down. What was your ph and ppm? How many gallons were you using in your setup? Was it DWC or what do you mean by SWC?
It will make helping easier...

 

[datoad]

dude,im in week 6 of my first hydro gro.and all i can say is WOW...i have stalks that will need a saw to cut through,never have i seen bud so large

 

[sophisto]

Bro you gotta chalk this up as a learning experience. You only tried one method of Hydro and you already are saying you hate it. Everyone has their method and thats cool, maybe hydro isnt for you, and if not thats cool. I would say this to you and only this. try to find out what happened, learn from it and try not to repeat it. If you really want a hydro setup that is as close to soil as hydroponically speaking as possible try cocoa.

It is easy to hate something that we fail at, but it is more honorable to learn to appreciate something that has challenged us but we eventually conquered. If you loved soil I think it would make you a better soil grower to at least experience one succesful hydro grow so you will know first hand which you prefer and why. In knowing this if you decide you still hate Hydro you will start searching for ways to get out of your soil what you had hoped to get from Hydro. Also remember it is really easy to call upon the things we are good at when we find something we are not good at........Good LUck man you still got one strong girl, keep it going dont give up....

 

[humble1]

i've dug my hand in a few different mediums and i think, to second a few more learned opinions here, that coco will be a smaller hurdle for you to leap as you transition styles. i love hydro because of my first dwc bubbler.... but you know what? that crop failed because the wire i used to hang my lights snapped. rookie mistake, right?
even still i feel the love from that grow because while i was tending her everyday i was amazed that simple aerated water could be more effective than good ol'dirt.
live and give, brother

 

[Ziggy420]

I was about ready to give up on coco. For the last 6 weeks I've been playing with nutes, ph, more water, less water, in the bucket, out of the bucket...etc. I have one plant I want to mother if it's fem but after all this time, 2 months I think, it's only 6 inches tall - partially from the bonzai training and from nute dsficiency. I yanked it out of the pot and realized I forgot to take the net off the friggin Jiffy pellet. Ripped off the net, flushed the coco and put it back together. Next morning I could already see it perkin up. 3 days later, man let me tell you, now I believe what I've heard about coco. New growth all over and fresh new roots less than a quarter inch from the surface. I'm actually going to pick up some coco nutes this weekend But it's not doing bad with molasses, fish emulsion, Terra Cycle, epsom and Super Thrive. Wonder if I'll get too harvest by August.

 

[Farmer John]

You gotta keep the airstones doing their thing down there in swc/dwc, otherwise your plants die its that simple, if you think hydro is shit becuase you fuck your plants, all your fault, then maybe you should just stick to soil, how hard can it be to buy soil?

 

[Guest]

It simply looks over watered from the air pump/stone failure, and I'm also betting the water is too warm. You have a very low volume of water with an air pumping running into it warming it up. When the bad bacteria builds up on the roots, it will also cause that over watered look.

I would say keep the aeration and temps in check and I bet you do ten times better....but what do I know? It's only been about 3 or 4 years of learning for me to start getting awesome crops, EVER bit of which had to do with environment and water temps.

When those variables are right the growth is down right explosive....you WILL know when you've got hydro right.

 

[Heady NUGs]

The first several hydro gardens we tried worked perfectly, using the multiflow, ebb and flow bucket system.

I recently built another flowering room, and had exactly the same wilting and dying problem as you are experiencing. My pH and PPM are perfect, temps are good, I guess I have finally narrowed it down to not enough aeration of the res water.

I have since added a circulation pump and haven't had any more plants wilt and die.

Also, make sure you have a good/calibrated meter so you know exactly whats going on with your water. If you are having to adjust things daily, there is definately something wrong. Often nutes contain pH buffers, so allow things to sit for a day before adjusting. Hope this helps, but obviously hydro doesn't suck, its a multi-billion dollar business.