Newbie: Soil vs DWC, Uggh

[SmokingBud]

@MochaBud Now you tell me not to buy the fancy water testing tools - since I have them all

As for dirt, for years I have had a normal veggie garden in the backyard, so I know how easy it is.

I also lost 10 galloons of RDWC on the basement carpet cuz I missed connecting a dripper last month
You make me feel like dirt has already won the race to the good life We will see . . .

 

[Buds Buddy]

High & Welcome aboard. Like Mocha, I started in soil, went to Coco, then to DWC, & now back to soil. I like the easy route too !

 

[SmokingBud]

Thanks Buds! I love the avatar and congrats on Grow Journal of the month last year! I will check it out. Another one with thumbs up for soil

 

[MochaBud]

@MochaBud Now you tell me not to buy the fancy water testing tools - since I have them all

As for dirt, for years I have had a normal veggie garden in the backyard, so I know how easy it is.

I also lost 10 galloons of RDWC on the basement carpet cuz I missed connecting a dripper last month
You make me feel like dirt has already won the race to the good life We will see . . .

These are the ones I bought when I was doing hydro, still have them...somewhere...gathering dust

 

[SmokingBud]

@MochaBud Ah yes, Bluelab the king of meters. I have that same PH meter. You can sell that on Ebay for probably over $100. I still use mine to get my nute/water PH to 5.8. You are lucky if you don't have to do that!!!
Will I keep feeding at PH of 5.8 for the whole grow?

I planted 2 of the 3 last night. I'm hoping to start my grow journal in the next 36 hours. FF dirt arrives Friday for last one. I'm nervous

 

[MochaBud]

@MochaBud Ah yes, Bluelab the king of meters. I have that same PH meter. You can sell that on Ebay for probably over $100. I still use mine to get my nute/water PH to 5.8. You are lucky if you don't have to do that!!!
Will I keep feeding at PH of 5.8 for the whole grow?

I planted 2 of the 3 last night. I'm hoping to start my grow journal in the next 36 hours. FF dirt arrives Friday for last one. I'm nervous

If you're going to PH in FFOF, I'd recommend 6.3...and, my tap water is 7.0 to 7.3...I don't PH anything, the FFOF will buffer it for you

And the pens are going to my youngest daughter and her husband, along with all the left overs I have from previous grows styles...like a half a bag of FF Coco Loco, 5-5gal DWC buckets and tubing, some clay pellets, a brand new air pump and air stones, and a GH Flora 3 pack of nutrients...should save them some scratch

 

[SmokingBud]

If you're going to PH in FFOF, I'd recommend 6.3...and, my tap water is 7.0 to 7.3...I don't PH anything, the FFOF will buffer it for you

And the pens are going to my youngest daughter and her husband, along with all the left overs I have from previous grows styles...like a half a bag of FF Coco Loco, 5-5gal DWC buckets and tubing, some clay pellets, a brand new air pump and air stones, and a GH Flora 3 pack of nutrients...should save them some scratch

@MochaBud Your leftovers will make a great start and will save them some scratch for sure
6.3 is higher than I saw in some journals - but High is good I will always go high when given the choice I was at 6.3 and then PH downed to 5.8, but overshot and PH up to 5.8 I will just remix from scratch and land perfectly there.

In looking closely at my plants, I think I have a magnesium deficiency as evidenced on the lower leaves with brown spots. I have RO water and apparently no magnesium in my fertilizer blend I started them in. I should have caught this sooner, but the top new leaves always looked so good. Let me know what you think.

Starting grow journal tonight if I can figure it out

 

[bluter]

if cost is a factor hempy is probably the cheapest hydro system to run, is easy to learn, and produces great for the bucket size.

a $30 bale of perlite lasts 2 or more yrs without re-using.

hempy grow

those are essentially micro plants. they are in 2L buckets (pop bottle size), and i keep them to about 3ft tall for management purposes.

 

[SmokingBud]

if cost is a factor hempy is probably the cheapest hydro system to run, is easy to learn, and produces great for the bucket size.

a $30 bale of perlite lasts 2 or more yrs without re-using.

hempy grow

those are essentially micro plants. they are in 2L buckets (pop bottle size), and i keep them to about 3ft tall for management purposes.

@bluter Wow, that's a lot of plants in a small space! I don't know about hempy, but I will look into it. I love the mounted outlets inside the tent. Nice job!

 

[MochaBud]

@MochaBud Your leftovers will make a great start and will save them some scratch for sure
6.3 is higher than I saw in some journals - but High is good I will always go high when given the choice I was at 6.3 and then PH downed to 5.8, but overshot and PH up to 5.8 I will just remix from scratch and land perfectly there.

In looking closely at my plants, I think I have a magnesium deficiency as evidenced on the lower leaves with brown spots. I have RO water and apparently no magnesium in my fertilizer blend I started them in. I should have caught this sooner, but the top new leaves always looked so good. Let me know what you think.

Starting grow journal tonight if I can figure it out

You can fix that by putting a table spoon of "Epsom Salts" into a gallon of water and feeding it to her...epsom salts is the mag in cal-mag...but I would recommend getting some cal-mag, it comes in handy

And hempy is just like coco, a neutral medium with no additives, you treat it the same way...

And 6.3 PH is the low side of soil PH...

 

[SmokingBud]

@MochaBud I have Cal-Mag and added it. Thanks MochaBud and I saved that awesome chart!

Please join me in my first grow First Grow: White Kush 1 In Soil, 1 In Hydro/Coco, 1 In Perlite, Who Will Win?

 

[MochaBud]

@MochaBud I have Cal-Mag and added it. Thanks MochaBud and I saved that awesome chart!

Please join me in my first grow First Grow: White Kush 1 In Soil, 1 In Hydro/Coco, 1 In Perlite, Who Will Win?

Awesome, I'll check it out ...now copy the link address to your journal and go to your account page and paste it in your signature...it'll follow you around

 

[Sativa1970]

Every grower has to find the genetics and methods that fits them. It's a living system. You have to find the harmony for your grow. I grew in soil for decades and it was simplest method but tends to have pest problems and slow growth.Tried eb and flow but I could never get it dialed in so the plants always looked a little weak with low yield. Drain to waste had faster growth and healthy plants. I didn't use an automated system this time so it was time consuming. I had to keep charts to keep track of who got how much water on what days and when was food or flush days. Still had spider mites visit. Kraky never had healthy roots and that affected the growth a lot. Added air bubblers for DWC and found a system that works for me.Fast healthy plants. No pests or molds. Bulk of the maintenance is adjusting lights and pruning.
I tried growing tomatoes and peppers in kraky and DWC and I won't do it again.One golf ball sized pepper per plant and not a single tomato worth eating.It was a constant battle to just keep them alive.For me they belong in soil.

 

[SmokingBud]

Every grower has to find the genetics and methods that fits them. It's a living system. You have to find the harmony for your grow. I grew in soil for decades and it was simplest method but tends to have pest problems and slow growth.Tried eb and flow but I could never get it dialed in so the plants always looked a little weak with low yield. Drain to waste had faster growth and healthy plants. I didn't use an automated system this time so it was time consuming. I had to keep charts to keep track of who got how much water on what days and when was food or flush days. Still had spider mites visit. Kraky never had healthy roots and that affected the growth a lot. Added air bubblers for DWC and found a system that works for me.Fast healthy plants. No pests or molds. Bulk of the maintenance is adjusting lights and pruning.
I tried growing tomatoes and peppers in kraky and DWC and I won't do it again.One golf ball sized pepper per plant and not a single tomato worth eating.It was a constant battle to just keep them alive.For me they belong in soil.

@Sativa1970 That's some great info from your many years of tinkering around! I'm a little jealous you have arrived at what works for you. Hopefully, I will find my groove soon. I have some cherry tomatoes that are looking pretty good after 8 weeks in RDWC and might just work out, but don't know if they will be worth eating yet I also have a tomato in 5 gallon Kratky that is very large and finally budding. Lastly I have some peppers in a double bin of flood and drain with a little pump underneath. I just learned a CalMag deficiency is slowing down my tomatoes because it was also the problem with my girls in my first grow I just started. So much tough learning

@MochaBud nudged me to try soil. @odinsmaster nudged me into hydro/coco and my 3rd girl is perlite like my RDWC tomatoes. I'm quickly learning the differences and see how you insight matches up to some of my experiences.

Please take a peek at my first grow if you have time. They are about 3" tall. I would love your insights if you can pop in from time to time

 

[Dogboy01]

I'm wrapping up my 1st grow in a tent using fox farm ocean soil and their trio nutes. I made plenty of mistakes and still ending with a sizable harvest. My 2nd grow should be phenomenal. I enjoyed this post.