Hi guys,
I am thinking of growing for my own personal use at home.
I have enough room for a small grow tent & am only planning on growing 2-4 at a time (just enough for personal use on a cycle).
I’m not sure whether to use soil or Hydroponics, i understand that using hydroponics will provide me with a better yield & bud should it all go to plan… but then also understand its more difficult to grow like this.
For a first time grower would you guys say i could get decent results? Also is there any hydroponic set ups that cater for a small amount of plants that anyone knows of? (2-4 plants as i have only been able to find rigs for 5+ plants)
Thanks to anyone who reads & thanks with a cherry on top for anyone who replies trying to help me
Certainly not! In both hydro and soil you have to provide enough nutrients, aeration. But yield is more limited by genetics of the plant. If you don’t have any other reason for choosing hydro than that you think hydro means better yield and bud, go with soil.
Soil is easier for beginners I think because it is more fail proof. In hydroponics everything is much faster, but you need devices to control all variables - pH, EC.
I’d suggest few rounds in soil just to get the idea what is it about.
For example there are General Hydroponics Rainforests for 6 plants, and you can just leave some plant sites empty. Check out for example this grow - Rainforest is configurable by selecting lid (platform) inserts (I’m even using 3-plants lid inserts instead of 1-plant inserts):
Gday @Reece77 …have a look into coco as a medium. I’m on first grow aswell, and was keen on an ‘inert’ medium like expanded clay, but my lack of knowledge in identifying issues with the plant stopped me from using it. It’s true hydro will allow you to feed aggressively as the medium will not hold or supply any nutrient to the plant other than what you supply it, so a build up of excess salts is less likely if a proper regime is followed. Soil is the other end of the spectrum, if a plant doesn’t or can’t uptake nutes properly toxicity can occur due to imbalance. It’s pH buffering can be an issue also. Buffering is the mediums ability to withstand pH fluctuations without causing the plant stress. It’s advantages are it will hold more water so if a pump fails the plants won’t keel over quickly. But too much water can also lead to root rot and diseases. I went with a coco coir and coco chips blend 50/50 mix. Allows more airation of root system so thereby reducing the chance of rot, but will hold some water giving somewhat of a failsafe in case of pump failure/issues. You can feed more aggressively than soil with a better (lower) pH range. But it’s a different A + B nutrient to hydro so look into them aswell. The coco with hold onto micro nutrient different to soil and hydro and if you use hydro nutes I would think it may give the plant nutrient burn. Depending where you live, the quality of coco will differ, but rinse it before potting so that any salts the coconuts absorbed when on the trees, usually near costal areas, are rinsed. Best to buy quality, the price isn’t much different. Anyway, you’ve come to the right place, I’m only new to it all so hopefully more experienced growers can assist you also. Plenty of good people on OG
Also in regards to pot set up, will come down to run to waste or recycle, irrigation method, medium choice, etc Best to look at advantages and disadvantages of each and make your decision then
honestly for a new grower i would highly recommend starting on soil, since it is so forgiving and doesn’t require consistent pH checking and nute mixing…
you can get into that after you tackle your first soil grow, but you should get a feel for the easy basics before you try to take on the more advanced stuff.
get yourself some 1 gallon pots and a bag of Fox Farm Happy Frog and some Megacrop (one part mix and super cheap for the quantity) and get a first run going.
it’s easier than you think, just gotta be vigilant and caring lol
Basicly Hydro is easyer, but it can seem very complicated.
I find many guys have a way to make things sound uber complicated, so they can stand out as “rocket scientist” or something.
With hydro, you can change your media if you screw up your pH or nute ballance. It will cost a little, but you can pour it down the drain and replace with a fresh batch.
All you need to do, is monitor your nutrient water with a Ec and pH meter. Read of digital numbers and compare to a chart.
Soil - well it’s a different ball game.
You can’t really change media, so it’s IMO not as forgiving.
If you screw up your nutrient ballance, you could easy be in trouble for the rest of the grow.
Personal im a hydro grower, im sure many soil growers will have a different view on this.
The pro’s for me.
I don’t deal with over watering
Flushing is easy
My watering is automatic = no under or over watering.
Better yeild
Con’s
It cost a bit more getting started!
Personal I can’t taste the difference between well flushed hydro and soil grown.
I know some people can, so I would advise to take that in mind as well.
Also id like to say, I have much respect for soil growers.
And I know ppl who have just a great succes in soil/coco, as I have had with regular hydro growing.
Soil is more forgiving, make up a mix and add dry nutrients water with some Teas once in awhile and your good I never have had to measure EC, PH, conductivity nutrients from a bottled or any of that other jargon, if things aren’t dialed in , in hydro things can go bad really fast in hydro IMO
In soil get your microbiology up and happy and its smooth sailing then entire cycle!
Soil and non-soil set-ups have an extended a learning curve. My favorite part of gardening.
Soil is easy at first, but when things go wrong, it is hard to turn the ship around.
IMHO, hydro is complicated from the start to the finish because of the tubes, nute mixes and schedules, but some are masters of this craft and swear by it.
Start with bag seeds or cuts from an unlimited supply what ever you decide. It hurts less when it costs only your time.
With a small grow one way to make it almost fool-proof the first time is to use a premade organic soil mix for cannabis. They come with nutrients and aeration and everything mixed at the right levels, you just supply plain water.
My favorite companies for this are Coast of Maine in the east and Roots Organics in the west, or Foxfarm, but in legal states there are many smaller companies selling custom cannabis mixes too.
Coco coir or soil and an autopot system.
Mix one big barrel of nutrients and the plant feeds itself. It has to be one of the easiest systems I’ve seen.
Dead simple, no pH and EC meters required, excellent quality bud (much better flavour than local dispensaries). No flushing and other “dicking around”. Use plain tap water, but fill your container and let it sit for 24 hours at room temp to let the chlorine dissipate.
LC’s Soiless Mix #1:
5 parts Canadian Spaghnam Peat or Coir or Pro-Moss
3 parts perlite
2 parts wormcastings or mushroom compost or home made compost
Powdered dolomite lime @ 2 tablespoons per gallon or 1 cup per cubic foot of the soiless mix.
…Check the link in my sig line below for cheap earthworm castings. Free shipping to the eastern USA.
Or, if you use Pro Mix or Sunshine Mix…
LC’s Soiless Mix #2:
6 parts Pro Mix BX or HP / Sunshine Mix (any flavor from #1 up)
2 parts perlite
2 parts earthworm castings
Powdered dolomite lime @ 2 tablespoons per gallon or 1 cup per cubic foot of the soiless mix.
If you use a 3 qt. saucepan as “parts” in the amounts given above, it equals about 1 cu. ft. of soiless mix and you can just dump in a cup of powdered dolomite lime.
I say use em all eventually. Cannabis is fun so I’m sure you’ll fall in love and do all sorts of different kinds of cultivation. First is environment do you know what light and what area you have for growing? As a medium I would choose coco. It does not have nutrients like soil so you’ll have to feed the plants. It’s also more forgiving than most other hydroponic mediums. Flora flex has a 4 plant system of drip irrigated small 4” pots that comes with pre measured coco to make it easier. They sell the pre measured coco so you can just order up more for the next cycle. The cost for the kit and first round of coco is 89$. The irrigation easily plugs into a regular timer for automated feeding. Timer cost 15$. Your also gonna need a reservoir I suggest a 5 gallon bucket. Next is nutrients. I would suggest a cheap 1 part nutrient you can use start to finish. My favorite is vegbloom soft cause it’s dry so you don’t pay for the water you just weigh it out and mix it with water. It’s 20$ a lb that should get ya a full cycle no problem. Last but not least is water. Chlorine in tap hurts plants and buying and hauling RO water is expensive and time consuming. If you have access to well water that would be great if not I suggest a “small boy” water filter. They cost around 120$ but they remove the chlorine out of your tap. After you mix your nutes and water you need to ph the solution. You can do that with a ph pen which is what I use but kinda expensive or just the drops they sell at the store. Now your ready to rock
then entire cycle!
