Drying Rack From Wally World For $6

[trichcycler]

when you start digging hydro you'll be surprised how every thing is considered a useable item in the garden, if not at least for a fleeting moment. the depot is a grow store in disguise

[Digitalmixx187]

Your right Grass, you take less than $500 and go out to the Home Depot, Walmart, and maybe an Ace Hardware and you could build a really nice, homemade hydro setup, or a setup to run soil/soilless mix!

I've been really considering putting together a homemade DWC setup with 4 buckets/growsites.

[trichcycler]

I could tell you were a tinkerer! good luck with the hydro. its a blast, waay fun. I have rafters full of used hydro systems. they all performed great. some more work than others, all eventually required a wet/dry vac on the ready. I'm really enjoying my dry dirty floor more than my wet dirty floor.

[zachw]

I could tell you were a tinkerer! good luck with the hydro. its a blast, waay fun. I have rafters full of used hydro systems. they all performed great. some more work than others, all eventually required a wet/dry vac on the ready. I'm really enjoying my dry dirty floor more than my wet dirty floor.

 

So did you give up hydro for this reason?

[Digitalmixx187]

Yeah grass, I would also like to know what pushes you from hydro to soil?!?

[Norby]

Check out my post on best tasting buds on earth from high times this month.  There is your answer.  Most of the entries come from organic in soil.  Only one came from a hydro set up.  Grass is a terpene hunter.  More of a quality over quantity type.

[Digitalmixx187]

I'd rather have smaller nuggets dripping with trichomes, and chocked full of terpenes, than big huge colas that are almost "terpless", and that's my new word for bunk "medical cannabis".

[trichcycler]

Norby got the prize!!!

 

I honestly see no difference in flower between hydro and soil, except the room is cheaper to control. I did however see slower growth in veg. This doesn't matter to me though, as I keep a veg room with the bulk of my count, like a shopping cart for flavors to come. In the beginning I would have fretted over the couple week delay, now it not even noticed.

 

I love hydro truth be told. The real reason I switched is what norby said. I was tried and true hydro, and actually bought EVERY hydro nutrient kit on the shelf. I settled on DM Gold line as my best. In the corner I set up five five gal pails with promix and five different organic ferts. I couldn't believe the differences in flavor, smell, and over all plant strength. I compared it to a cow hooked to a an IV with everything he needs, to the one allowed to forage for what they need. Some people love veal, some like beef more.

 

In the end I was unable to make any hydro system function properly with organic nutrients, and that was the deal breaker. I never looked back.  But know that the plants I grow now are much larger than when in hydro. These soil born ems are twice as tall and yield twice my hydro all in the same 65 day cycle . My plants veg until about 1 inches tall, 60 days.

 

hydro plants were a bit lighter in color, weaker in strength.  

[trichcycler]

I never had a complaint, and I loved my hydro, but with the obvious benefits from soil I knew it was the right choice for my plants. Now I just feed the soil, and the plants know exactly what to do!.    I retired my meters years ago, and my wet dry vac has seen nothing but dirt since then. Another important deciding factor was babysitting. I can leave my octos for five days without any worries. Hydro needed me daily, and even when it didn't, every day I opened the door with my fingers crossed. Power outages, wet mess, pump failures, ridiculous amounts of reservoirs needed for a perpetual garden, added RH, power usage, were some of the final factors for me.

[Norby]

Advanced Nutrients Organic line won and so did Vegamatrix and organic aptus all in coco.  the advanced nutes was timed auto feed.  Maybe they are coming out with organics that can be used in hydro?  The other 2 were hand watered.

[trichcycler]

the closest success I had was AN Iguana line in hydro. but alas, deficiencies raced the rotten res