Getting into hydro while in quarantine

[keith1975]

So for 3 weeks we can't order stuff online, or leave or houses. That was great until I realised I can't order the hydro gear I wanted. So now I can't spend the 3 weeks getting into hydro as I planned.

Can someone tell me if there are some prep work, other than reading, that I could get started on? Or am I basically stuck waiting til I can get the main components. (I have a fully functioning grow room.)

 

[Listersmeghead]

Are you going to use clones or seed?

 

[keith1975]

Are you going to use clones or seed?

I have seeds and can make clones from plants I currently have in dirt?

 

[SarahJane211]

Do hydro in coco ....... all you need is a bag of coco and some Perlite.

 

[keith1975]

Do hydro in coco ....... all you need is a bag of coco and some Perlite.

Okay, let me come back after I read more about hydro. I thought the minimum you need is the fancy water pipe box thing.

 

[TurboBucket]

Well your kinda running hydro already with your primarily Coco medium.

I'm assuming you mean you want to switch to water culture. Are you sure that's a good idea when your already having some water quality issues?

 

[Chris Scorpio]

Lol

Get yer water dialed in first

 

[keith1975]

Well your kinda running hydro already with your primarily Coco medium.

I'm assuming you mean you want to switch to water culture. Are you sure that's a good idea when your already having some water quality issues?

I've sorted out my water issue and I understand PH's better now. So I want to stick with dirt, but at the same time start learning about hydro. Just one plant would do and after reading a bit, it really sounds like a lot more fun and you will get far superior results in a shorter period. So there's a very clear speed benefit. So I'm very interested. It basically comes down to using less electricity, for more bud. I would really welcome the savings.

But I don't think it's going to be possible for me. We have intermittent power in my country. So every day I might lose power for 2 hours at a time. Sometimes more than once a day. I've managed to keep my plants going despite this but I think with hydro, if I don't have a generator of sorts, then this will surely result in plants dying, right?

Note: I do have an inverter that should be able to manage a pump if there is a power cut. But the lights are too powerful for the inverter. If only the pump is important, then I could possibly manage with this solution.

 

[Scottylikesbud]

Dude go for hydro get some Mc, ph pen and a tds pen that can do ec. Have a good portion of the roots above water. If power issues are a problem, look up the kratky method doesn’t require a pump. Haven’t tried it myself but looks super interesting, results look exceptional for growing other outdoor crops.

 

[keith1975]

I ended up getting a "wilma" kit. Not sure if I'm even allowed to mention it. It sounds like the easiest way to get into hydro. It's basically just a big tub with slots for 4 plants. I only created clones today so I only need to set up the hydro part a bit later. I'll update as I go.

What I learnt so far:

1. I doubt that there is much difference between the two. I heard that growing with dirt makes it taste more earth en therefore more "natural". In fact, I was even told hydro is "fake weed". I now doubt it. After reading about it, hydro just gives the plant exactly what they want. So hydro can only be better.
2. You need soil plants to. My mother plants will probably be soil as it's harder for them to die than in hydro. But I never thought you'd have both. I always figured you're either the one or the other.

As a sidenote, I'm also growing a tabacco seed to see how that turns out for fun.

 

[Cbdman]

I have only grown in coco, I know when I share some with rock bands. One band member asked what it was mixed with. Lol. He could not believe it was just weed. There was a learning curve, but i do notice the weed is stronger. The hardest part was to keeping the coco moist, not letting it dry out. Cloth pots and coco get killer grows