Is Hydroponics worth the expense over Soil?

[KSum]

I've been doing soil, and I'm sure there are plenty of things I could do to boost my yields. I've done some of them with decent results, but I'm wondering what the consensus is about getting better yields and more vigorous plants using hydro.

One assumption I have about hydro is that it's easier to maintain proper nutrient and ph levels. I'm looking at the Hydrofarms Ebb & Grow 12 pot system that uses a 55 gallon barrel reservoir. I thought about building my own with buckets, pumps, tubing, timers, etc.. but I felt it would be cheaper and certainly easier in the long run if I just get a complete system.

Thanks.

 

[monstercroper]

hydro is better in my experience, but that's not to say someone else think soil is better, I have friends that will disagree with me no matter what the results of comparison is, then I have friends that totally agree with me, personal preferences I guess.

you can go bubble buckets and will be very cheap to setup, you just need a 3 gal or bigger bucket with lid, an air pump and couple air stones for each buckets, net pots, clay pebbles and hydro nutes and you are ready to rock and roll

its a little more work than a other system, as it is the lowest cost hydro setup, but works just as well once maintained correctly, 7 to 10 days solution change, you have to lift the whole thing out to do that, top up and adjust ph when needed, but check daily till you know how long it takes for it to go out of range, again, lift the whole thing out when you do that, well, I don't anymore did no harm what so ever, nothing that I noticed anyway, I just lift the whole thing a little and stir around by moving the whole thing in circular motion with roots in the water. you can see how mind working out from link in my sign

 

[KSum]

I ordered the Hydrofarms Ebb & Grow 12 pot system. I didn't notice until after I ordered that the pots are only 2 gallon, but I suspect that's not going to matter, as long as they don't tip over from the weight of the massive buds I'll be growing. (fingers crossed)

The water ph around here is such that if I use the buffered nutes the guy at my local hydro store gave me then I shouldn't ever have to worry about ph. I'm a little OCD so I'll be checking everything constantly anyway, at least for a while. I re-calibrated my ph meter properly this time, and got a ppm/temperature meter so once the system arrives I'm good to go.

 

[KSum]

The new Ebb & Grow system arrived and I set it up with 8 pots for now. Airpot inserts are filled to the appropriate level with Hydroton and everything seems to be working fine.

One thing that concerned me though. I've seen that the fill and drain cycle should be done 3-4 times a day. If you're only leaving them filled for say, 30 minutes, the media dries out pretty quickly over a 5 1/2 hour period. Is this going to be bad for the roots? Should I set the timer to cycle more often? Is there an optimum cycle period that gives the best results?

Thanks.

 

[KSum]

It's been a month now and I've seen the results of growing in hydro. The Ebb & Flow system couldn't be easier to work with, except maybe quick connectors between everything. That would be nice for rearranging stuff.

The growth from hydro is probably close to twice as fast as soil. The seedlings pop out, get their leaves out and charge up, then about week 2 they just explode, growing 1-2 inches a day for the next week.

So if anyone is having reservations about switching from soil to hydro, I say go for it. I even managed to transplant 3 soil plants that were 2 feet tall into hydro. They took a week to 10 days to recover, then started growing again, and once they went into flower the buds started appearing much faster than they did in soil.

 

[DukeO]

I started out in dirt and high pressure lights and then moved to DWC in 5gal buckets with LED's and I am loving it and I never plan to go back to dirt.
I did have issues at first with root rot because of tap water that comes from a lake and 80f res temps because it gets very hot where I live.

Most of the time I can keep them down to about 77f

What changed everything thing from me is when I read on here about someone using z7 water treatment.
Some folks where saying that they where just making wild claims about that stuff.

But I though it was worth a try because I had already tried everything else that I had read about on here.

Crazy but 1.5mils in 3gals of water and that was the end of my root rot issue.

Two years ago when I first went DWC I would change and clean my buckets ever week.

Now I just keep an eye on the ph and add more water when it is at about 2inchs left in the bucket till I flush at the end. The z7 some how also helps to hold your ph. Not sure how it works. But I have seen it with my own eyes.

I do not know what is in that z7 stuff. But I know it has made a major change for the good for me and my setup.

I almost went back to dirt.

Now I am a very happy DWCer.

 

[KSum]

Nice. Good to know there's something out there for root rot if I ever run across that. In the Ebb & Flow system it leaves an inch or two in the bottom bucket, so the roots grow out the holes in the upper bucket and sit there in the water. I expect I'll have to deal with root rot at one point or another.

DWC keeps each bucket separate right? There's an advantage there over Ebb & Flow because you can give different plants at different stages the exact nutes they need. Ebb & Flow is all tied together, so if you have a veg room and a bud room you need 2 reservoirs and 2 pumps..

 

[DukeO]

Yes DWC is just a bucket with a basket and air stone.

It is a good way to go for beginners and if your growing different stains at the same time.

That way you can adjust things just for that plant.

I have gotten to love growing that way.

It keeps it simple and you may lose one or two plants if things mess up.

Other ways you can lose your whole crop if you mess up.

Those DWC buckets and a cloning bucket is all I use now.

I add z7 to both and they are always spotlessly clean.

Not sure if will be the same for you with your water.

But it was a game changer for me.

Good Luck to you!!!

 

[KSum]

My room is humidity and temperature controlled, and the water stays about 68F so it's pretty good.

The nutes I'm using are PH buffered to keep everything at 6.5-6.8 so as long as I start with good clean water and don't overdo the nutes then everything works fine. Simple and easy. I just have to get another reservoir and pump to separate the veg from bud so I can put in the nice bud boosters and get some heavy harvests.

It's a big space with 18 plants now, fully legal.