What cost more to grow in soil or hydro

[joedaddy805]

I was wondering what would be the cheaper way to grow. I was thinking of trying the hydro thing but not sure of the costs. If its a lot cheaper to grow in soil ill just stick to soil. But if i do try and grow in hydro i plan on doing it outside and use the sun instead of lights.

 

[CronicHempHog]

it can be a lot cheaper to grow in soil the main thing is if you can make your own soil without paying for anything
extra to make it
what I mean is if you buy eggs to eat you have eggshells so you can use the eggshells as a byproduct but you haven't actually spent money for it specifically for the grow
because good soil does not need to be feed nutes
that's if you can make your own supersoil with what you can get for free without buying anything
the only thing you need is the seeds and pots unless your doing it outside in the ground then only soil
small starter pots and seeds
hydro is an expense all itself you can only do certain types of hydro outdoors on these types of plants because heat is bad for the roots sitting in hot water is bad
so more likely indoor with lights more costs
hydro equals buying nutes you cant do it like soil you have to buy nutes
but theres trade offs too hydro faster only limited by space you have so if you got the right size container
and a wharehouse height in space you could get a tree out of hydro and youd get it faster than an outdoor grow
but most people don't grow hydro like that lol way cheaper to do it in the dirt all the nutes your gonna have to use
compared to making a good soil and not having to add nutes
ok im rambling hope I helped

 

[KingJohnC]

Your costs would be higher in hydroponics only because the reservoir volume and larger amount of nutrients you will go through. Building a Super Soil is not inexpensive either.

SubCool's Super Soil recipe

[video=youtube;eWM2c7dvwaA]

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[greenergrass]

you should look into coco its technically hydro but its allot like soil definitely cheaper than other hydro set-ups, also having all the hydro water and air pumps and that cost allot more electricity to run

 

[CANNATAINMENT]

Soil FOR SURE. You have to buy soil every cycle and its additives. Hydroponics is the way to go. faster growth, bigger yields, and cost effective (once you purchase the necessities). Water if free at your sink.
yes you may need more nutes then expected but not totally true. plants don't need tons of nutes, but you will have to change out resivor weekly forcing you to add more nutes each change out. with that being said I'd go hydro- aeroponics. check out Aeroflo 60. you will use only 1/4 of what you use regularly.

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Depends on how you look at costs & requirements for your own needs !

Ye outside is the cheapest option you can amend soil depending on structure/drainage & PH value you can get advice on this which you simple have to feed once a week with nutrients including general watering during in any dry months... yield could be much larger but quality may differ !

Indoors under lights...

Soil grows is still cheaper in the long due to total amount of nutrients used depends on how may plants ya growing, with hydroponic water based systems nutrients are used more often plus cost of water if on a meter (not applicable to all parts of the world) plus wattage used by lights on the old electric bill etc

How ever with a good set up you can achieve a regular harvest every couple of months if not monthly but requires work 'n' time on hand to achieve... ye that is a full time occupation it self !



So some maths needs to be done on personal usage per month to cost per month of growing to see its worth while indoors but all depends on average yield, strain dependant tho... it normally takes 2 or 3 grows indoors to break even on indoor grow set ups or basically several months after initial equipment is purchased.

Works out cheaper to grow your own either way

 

[MacEFL]

If you are going to do it outdoors then with out a doubt it will be cheaper with soil. Heck, it's a weed. Plant it and it will grow! Yes, some good nutes will help it along. But,if your native soil is any good at all you can just add a few things. Some compost and a couple other things like lime and bone meal. Maybe some worm poop. You CAN spend as much $ as you have but it will grow and will medicate you without. Hell, get a few seeds out of that bag you got last week and throw them on the ground at the right time of year they will grow and if they are female they will flower. With hydro you of course have you initial investment in equipment. You WILL have to buy nutes. You WILL have to dispose said nutes every week or two and replace. And when you replace your nutes you WILL have to clean your res.

Sorry Fuzzy Duck but I respectfully have to disagree with your statement that it takes 2 or 3 indoor grows to break even. My first grow was 6 plants. Indoors in soil. I used Fox Farms soil, Advance Nutrients nutes, and bought a ballast, hood and bulb. I bought fans and a dehumidifier. I built my room with materials I already had save some panda film. I ended up with 12 ozs. It should have been at least double that but hey, it was my first grow. But I would have spent at least double buying meds versus growing my own. Including electricity. Plus, now I own the equipment! So a second grow only costs electricity, soil if you so choose and some nutes, again if you so choose. I am only talking soil here, I do not know how much Hydro equipment costs.

Joedaddy, I just looked again at you original post and see that you have had a couple of grows at least. So please don't think I was talking down to you. Just answering your question the best I can.

 

[joedaddy805]

MacEFL don't worry i never once felt you were talking down to me. I only see all advice as a good thing. Oh and just cause i have a couple grows still doesn't mean i know what I'm doing. If that was the case i would be giving help instead of asking for it.

I always appreciate all the help everyone gives me on this forum. Nothing but great people here.

 

[CANNATAINMENT]

I'm telling you hydro is the way to go:

5g Bucket - $2.98
5g bucket lid - $1.98
Airs stone - $4.99
aquarium air pump - $9.99
Nutrients ( easy - advance nutes, veg and bllom 1 part ) -$25.00
net cup - $0.70
Rock wool cube - $1.00
Water - FREE ( usually from your sink )

total 1 time investment (minus nutes) - just about $45.00

no need to buy your soils and additives like pear lite and such every time. Not to include the nutes you still have to buy and your pots. long term hydro is the way to go getter returns.

Bubba kush & blue dream update - pt.3 - YouTube

 

[CascadianDank]

Your costs would be higher in hydroponics only because the reservoir volume and larger amount of nutrients you will go through. Building a Super Soil is not inexpensive either.

SubCool's Super Soil recipe

[video=youtube;eWM2c7dvwaA]

[/video]

I made a batch of Super Soil over the summer and have harvested 8 Blue Dream plants using it so far and have a few others in it now. I have over half left and have been reusing it for transplanting clones into. I havent used any nutes in almost 6 months.

The initial cost was about 250 bucks but that made about 90 Gallons of Super Soil. The amendments were about $100 to $120 of that and all but 1 or 2 were measured to full boxes for the recipe so that cost is unavoidable. The rest was for 8 bags of Roots soil which you can buy less of and make smaller batches by using less amendments. I wasnt even thinking about or realizing at the time that I was still gonna need to buy another 15 bags of Roots for the top half of my pots which would be another 200 bucks or so.

All said and done Ive got somewhere between 4 and 5 hundred bucks worth of soil taking up all my spare space but I produced the best smelling and tasting bud Ive had in my 20 years of smoking and 4 years of growin my own.

I dont know which would be cheaper to start up with but I would have to say in the long run soil would be cheaper if you make your own because you can reuse it and add to it over time rather than spending ridiculous amounts of money on bottled nutes as long as you grow.

 

[CANNATAINMENT]

so your total for 6 months of growing is about $450.00 with a potential additional 6 months( a total of 12 months or 4-6 grow cycles) ...and by the way the more you reuse your soil the less effective it will be. in almost all gardening you have to re soil.

my method cost about $45.00 including NUTES ( that would last 2 cycles aka 6 months of grow ). My recommended nutes cost $25 so for 6 grows you would need to only buy nutes 3 times at $25 = $75.00 for 12 months of growing. with a benefit of higher yields and faster growth. which in the end you get back more then your initial investment with your first grow using just 1 bucket.

Not to dog on your methods, because I do believe soil is a good way to grow as well if done right. we all have our own way but for a newbie or some one looking to grow effectively and cheap hydro ------------ is the way to go, and even better areoponics, yet more expensive and more for advance growers.

 

[Backpackin420]

I wouldn't say one is more expensive then the other and both can grow outstanding cannabis. It all depends on what you buy and what you want to put into it. Sure you can go to the store and buy a bag of good soil and some 1 liter bottles of nutrients just a basic 3 part system and it is going to be cheaper then hydroponics and will still grow some good cannabis to boot.

 

[CascadianDank]

I still have over half of the Super Soil and I am reusing the used Super Soil without re amending and without using nutes. I have already gone 6 months so the potential is more like 2 years or more.

Youre forgetting that with your method you have extra costs for PH reading and adjusting and buying water or RO filters because tap water isnt good for hydro in most cases.

For a new grower I would suggest soil over hydro 100%. I started out with Hempy buckets and GH 3 part with good results for 3 years. Wasnt hard at all but took time to mix nutes and adjust PH which can get old when mixing multiple gallons one at a time and different amounts of each depending on growth phase because I grow perpetual. With the soil I just bubble my tap water in a bucket and water my plants with it. No mixing or PHing.

A little over a year ago I switched to soil and the problems I had are documented in my first journal linked in my sig below. I was the main problem because of my hydro past. I was creating problems because I was trying to add nutes too soon and adjusting ph up and down. With good soil you dont have to do anything, just add water so I think a new grower would have an easier go at that than messin with ph adjustments and measuring bottled nutes.

I dont grow for profit so higher yield dont matter but with around 1/3 of my Super Soil I got 15 OZs of Blue Dream which would make me a whole lot more than the 450 bucks I spent and again, Im now re using it for my vegging clones. I could have done better but let the plants get too tall so got less than 2 OZs per plant. Those are documented in the other link in my sig below.

Ive smoked alot of hydro, soil less with hydro nutes and outdoor over the years and none tasted as good as the organic soil grown Ive been smokin for the last few months.