Hydro Vs Soil?

I have noteced that most people on here grown in Soil. It is also my belief that Hydro is more desirable (to smoke). Im on my first grow and im doing hydro. What are the benefits of Soil over hydro or hydro over soil? I would love to hear both sides. Is it as simple as Soil is easier? Hydro is easier?

Personaly I havent started hydro yet, but my next run I am leaving soil and going to hydro. I started in soil because it seemed easier and because people say that you can taste the difference, but since then I have tried both soil and hydro in smoking and if hydro is done correctly you cant taste the difference at all. I also like the idea of hydro for being able to correct or give them exactly what they need without having to rely on microorganisims to break it down. (oh yeah am doing organic soil) Would rather play god to my girls then to wait on the bacteria to do it for me. just how I feel about it and with that question your going to get 100000 different responces that noone will agree on and it will turn to a flame war at some point

Snoogins

I cant say I agree most grow soil in here as I think its the opposite more growing hydro, bubblponics, aero, flood and drain,soiless drip and such. Having done both hydro is by far much easier and its cleaner faster and inside yeilds more usually.Its so much easier to correct issues in a hydro grow and you get my output in less area. Once you go hydro its rare you go back to soil and if your hydro and go soil you usually come back..Speed yeild, and strength for hydro..Now is soil you get more color options it seems and a bit different taste on same strains.

jsamuel24 said:

Personaly I havent started hydro yet, but my next run I am leaving soil and going to hydro. I started in soil because it seemed easier and because people say that you can taste the difference, but since then I have tried both soil and hydro in smoking and if hydro is done correctly you cant taste the difference at all. I also like the idea of hydro for being able to correct or give them exactly what they need without having to rely on microorganisims to break it down. (oh yeah am doing organic soil) Would rather play god to my girls then to wait on the bacteria to do it for me. just how I feel about it and with that question your going to get 100000 different responces that noone will agree on and it will turn to a flame war at some point

Snoogins

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I agree about the 10000 different opinions. It kind of what in looking for, i just want to see what the majority thinks...maybe its cheaper to grow soil and the reson more people on here grow in soil...

hydro all the way , maybe i just suck at growing in soil but my hydro plants grow twice as fast and look much healther

personally i think hydro is easier as long as you have the money for a chiller to keep your water cold enough. with soil its harder to tell when to feed because you dont exactly know how much your plants are taking in. with hydro if you fuck up its easy as dumping out your res and remixing nutrients. but so far im a strong believer in soil usually has superior flavor. personally i do both hydro and soil because i like how hydro works, it's faster, and more yield. hydro goes to patients. the stuff i keep for myself is usually almost always done in soil. smoking you may not know the difference. but when i vape i can almost always taste chemical. the only time i dont taste any is when the smoke was grown in soil and when it was flushed properly and not burned from feeding. now i could be wrong. maybe the hydro i've vaped just isnt good enough as far as flavor goes. its always fine smoking though most of the time. just my personal experience. i havent vaped a whole lot of different people's hydro. usually it gets smoked. i will always do both. i just like the difference and comparing them. i dont think their really is one way that is truely better than another. it's really just a matter of opinion. in nature its grown in dirt. at least i never heard of a land race strain that was grown in a non soil medium. however with indoor grows our conditions are better than mother nature anyway. we never get a cloudy day. also whats nice about hydro is if you have a killer air pump and air difuser, keep that waster low 70Fs your plants will be fucking amazing compared to any soil as far as speed and yield. also there are a couple rumors about hydro. some say you dont have bugs and dont have to water. not true. when your plants get big you will be filling that res everyday. fungus gnats can get bad in hydro. they stay at the top of your roots. dish soap mixture spray kills them but probably shocks your plants. i've done it and it didnt kill the plant now did it even seem harmed. just rinse very well. both have their ups and downs. i dont think anyone can truely say one is better than the other. and thats why i do both.

soil produces a better taste... bt hydro is easier to maintain

Pizza I never use coolers as my res temps dont get high. I keep my res right at 68 F no chillers. I prefer concrete floors where I do setup and if by chance my res temps go up its a simple fix. A couple frozen bottle of water in the res or fill a metal coffee can with pound dry ice and toss it in the res and temps drop fast. I run 4x4 tables 4x8 tables 18 bucket self made ebb n grow bucket setups 55 gal res,and a few different aerogrows. My diy tub aero setups I did the how to build journel on and the 32 site aero posts setup I did the how to build journels no res temp issues.

they both have there pros in cons i personally am doing soil because that's easier for me, and its also like common sense to grow in soil. that's why a lot of new people choose soil over hydro, new people get a lil intimidated when it comes to hydro because they don't understand it that' all. I would like to do hydroponics next round see how it goes. and hydro is faster when it comes to vegging only once flower comes around still gotta wait as long as everyone else and i've seen amazing yields def a lot more in soil and again that's probably because there's more soil growers. good luck bud.

Hydro vs. Soil = even, imo.

Well the general idea is that an indoor hydroponics setup will let you "dial in" your nutrients in a more precise manner, so over time and with experience you should be able to produce a crop that's higher in yield and possibly more potent. On the other hand outdoor organics is generally considered to be better tasting, easier to implement, healthier to consume, more cost effective, and much more friendly to the environment.

I've been growing outdoors for many years and each year I run some plants in synthetic nutrients and others in organic nutrients. Taste & smell wise, I'm not able to tell the difference. I've gone as far as to give away samples to my friends and family. Not once in all my years of growing has anyone been able to figure out which strains were grown in organics or synthetics. This is even while these same people claim to be able to tell when they buy from dispensaries. I don't discount their claims that they can tell the difference, but its much harder when a person grows a plant properly.

I also noticed that between indoor gardeners and outdoor gardeners, those that grow outdoors tend to get bigger plants, while those indoors usually have to do more tricks, like growing Sea of Green style to see yields that surpass outdoor growers.

Furthermore, when I watch people who grow organically in soil and outside, they rarely have problems with PH or nutrient deficiencies. Where as hydroponic growers usually have to have grown for several seasons before they really have a handle on things.

This is my first grow, I am 9 days into flower. I have a flood and drain system with 4x4 RW cubes on cocomat in a 4x4 table with a 1000w lumitek ballast ran Mh for veg and am running HPS for flower. Before I started to grow I did about 2 months of reserch, buying books, reading on the internet (rollitup) preping a grow room in my house, buying all the items to get going etc. I was shocked and still am at how many people on here will reply to peoples problems and try to answer questions that they really know nothing about. People post pictures of plants that look like that have AIDS and people reward them. I have however seen some very smart people on here and have learned alot from them (you)..for that I thank you...i look forward to more debates in the hydro soil conversation. here are a few pics of my plants right now...9 days into flower

cant figure out why my pictures wont show up here...

The site got hit again as the owner doesnt believe in spending money on a secure server and the web site has piss poor security. You should always use something like photobucket to add pics here also as the owner will n ot let you remove the pics even if you have a security issue. What you put here is his and thats final. If you use photobucket you control your images.

marc88101 said:

View attachment 2158317View attachment 2158316View attachment 2158318This is my first grow, I am 9 days into flower. I have a flood and drain system with 4x4 RW cubes on cocomat in a 4x4 table with a 1000w lumitek ballast ran Mh for veg and am running HPS for flower. Before I started to grow I did about 2 months of reserch, buying books, reading on the internet (rollitup) preping a grow room in my house, buying all the items to get going etc. I was shocked and still am at how many people on here will reply to peoples problems and try to answer questions that they really know nothing about. People post pictures of plants that look like that have AIDS and people reward them. I have however seen some very smart people on here and have learned alot from them (you)..for that I thank you...i look forward to more debates in the hydro soil conversation. here are a few pics of my plants right now...9 days into flower


View attachment 2158316

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???????????? lol okay

FilthyFletch said:

Pizza I never use coolers as my res temps dont get high. I keep my res right at 68 F no chillers. I prefer concrete floors where I do setup and if by chance my res temps go up its a simple fix. A couple frozen bottle of water in the res or fill a metal coffee can with pound dry ice and toss it in the res and temps drop fast. I run 4x4 tables 4x8 tables 18 bucket self made ebb n grow bucket setups 55 gal res,and a few different aerogrows. My diy tub aero setups I did the how to build journel on and the 32 site aero posts setup I did the how to build journels no res temp issues.

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thanks a lot for the info bro! i'll have to look into that. i had to get a chiller for my co2 generator so i figured i'd run a copper coil in the res. i did think about putting bottles of frozen water in the res. i just dont want it to touch the roots in case it fucks them up. i need to construct a new hydro system. i just just 5 gallon buckets with the net pot on top. one of those air diffuser things. its like foam tubing with a bunch of tiny holes supposed to be better than an air stone. then a powerful air pump to each 5 gallon. http://www.gardensupplyguys.com/SDA550.html is the pump and the diffuser http://www.thehydrosource.com/Pumps_Irrigation/Diffusers_Air_Stones/Oxygen_Shield_Air_Diffuser_OS5 might be overkill but theres a shitload of bubbles in that water. i didnt want to share a res because the plants are in different stages. this way i can harvest more often. just sucks that it's a lot of work to keep up with. with i could rep you more. your very helpful here!

merkstillgrows said:

???????????? lol okay

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do You disagree with that????? and if so, why????

This is a shot of a 4x4 tent with a 600 watt hps light 2 weeks veg 6 weeks flower..Flushing now day 2 so bout 2 days they come down...

Is that ^^^ really necessary?

Hydroponics has NOTHING on organics in soil, taste wise. Sorry water lovers.

FilthyFletch said:

The site got hit again as the owner doesnt believe in spending money on a secure server and the web site has piss poor security. You should always use something like photobucket to add pics here also as the owner will n ot let you remove the pics even if you have a security issue. What you put here is his and thats final. If you use photobucket you control your images.

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Any website can get hacked. It's not about the servers. A lot of times the OS that the server uses or the software that the forum is built on will have security flaws that the webmaster has little control over. I run my sites on Amazon Cloud Hosting and they can still get hacked. Its harder to shut them down via a denial of service attack, but then Amazon wins big time, when I have to pay for all that bandwidth. Better to put limits in place and let the site do down then risk racking up thousands of dollars in bandwidth costs trying to fight a bot network. Also remember that RIU only has 2-3 sponsors. I doubt they make as much as people think.

I do agree about keeping your photos and more importantly your grow journal off site. I wouldn't do Photobucket. Instead, it'd be better to pay $5 a month and host your own WordPress site. Then you have complete control of your content and you can even put some ads on the site to generate money.

Sorry for fuzzy pics cell phone..Heres 3 from last week to kinda get a size idea