I want to get peoples opinion. A lot of ppl swear by hydroponics or aeroponics because of the yields and timeliness of the plants. on the other hand i also hear a lot of ppl rant and rave about how great the taste is in soil and how it cant be all organic. It will mainly be for personal use so not too expensive, but price is subjective.

I hear a lot lights. ML for veg and HPS for flowering. a lot of ppl even use CFL's and produce good yields off of the plant. ive heard the ideal is 2 MH and 1 HPS. i've read about UV lights and plan on getting a terrarium 10.0 UVB light to see what kind of difference it has on the plants anyways.

1. What type of set up do you prefer; Hydro, Aero, Soil?
2. If i was only getting one light what should i get to accompany my 10.0 UVB terrarium light that would be the cheapest? note: I may only use on half of the plants to compare.

all input is welcome!

Get a 600W HPS to start off with. Soil is best for beginners, keep it simple and learn what you're doing.

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I did my first grow half assed in soil under an incandesent bulb and got only 6g from a 2ft. plant. I'm now starting hydroponics in a closet sized area. I'm finding that hydroponics is better if you plan on growing more than a couple plants in a tight place. As for your light, go on craigslist and get a HPS for cheap because HPS ballasts can take a MH or HPS bulb. I think that if you buy a hydroponic system from a store or craigslist ready maid it could save a lot of stress, time and effort. I made my ebb n flow system out of rubbermaid and it works but there's always that voice in my head wondering if I fucked up royaly somehow (I did at first when I tried to use pvc rather than regular tubing) You could use soil at first but you'll probably end up moving to hydroponics in a grow or two. I like hydroponics so far but it all depends on your budget. Keep in mind that if you go organic in soil the organic fertilizers can get a little pricey. DEFINATTLEY GO TO CRAIGSLIST (I paid fifty for a full HPS light)

Ideally, you'd use a MH for just veg....and a HPS for just flower. 400 watt units are more efficent than 600 watt units. If I remember correctly, a 400 watt puts out just as many lumens/kelvin as a 600 watt but only uses 2/3 of the power.....

A bubbleponics setup is super simple and cheap to setup. You'd probably have $25-30 in a functioning system. Then you need to add in PH up/down and fertilizer, net pots, and clay pellets. Keep in mind that everything you buy is re-usable.

Soil or hydro it is all personal preference.

~Outlaw~

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soil and 600 hps. does me proud...........

Jesus, I don't have to quote to denounce the replies from dum and outlaw.
dum- 6g under a regular light bulb...
Outlaw-400W puts out same lumens as 600W

I agree hydro vs soil is personal prefrence, after you learn the basics.

With soil and 600Ws, you'll get something even if your a complete fuckup. And learn how to do it better.

With hydro you can fine tune the feeding for maximum growth, but you can get great results in soil with good skills also.

Soil is pretty hard to mess up.

Hydro is pretty easy to kill your garden if you don't know what you're doing.

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if soil vs hyrdo is a prefrence, what is yours and why?

[QUOTE=outlawcustombikes 400 watt units are more efficent than 600 watt units. If I remember correctly, a 400 watt puts out just as many lumens/kelvin as a 600 watt but only uses 2/3 of the power.....
[/QUOTE]


incorrect


incorrect.... 400w=55000 lumens, 600w=95000 lumens, 1000w=147000 lumens. the 600 is faaaaar more efficient than a 400, an extra 40000 lumens for just an extra 200w, do the math, the 600 is the most efficient hps, and a 600 isnt a great deal hotter than a 400 either, 600w gives you the best bang for your buck!

firstly not all ballasts run both mh and hps, i started growing in flood and drain hydro 7years ago, did it for a year then switched to organic soil growing, never looked back, hydro buds dont even compare to well grown organic buds.

get a 600 watt HPS soil is for beginners. but if you have some money to spear build a aeroponic system its pretty cheap heres a link

The 30 minute 6 plant aero build

get some simple GH nutes the advantages is faster veg/flowering and bigger yileds