Why Hydro Kicks Dirt's Ass ?

Originally Posted by ru4r34l

I am reffering to growing and not the final product as I have tasted some of the finest dirt grown weed that can compete with there hydro grown bretheren any and every day.

Here is my quick three reasons

• Dirt is labour intensive (potting, preparing soil, soil removal); growing more than 25 plants and it takes time to move all the material and restart your operation. Hydro on the other hand, a sizable operation (25+ plants) can be harvested, sanitized, and back in operation in just a few hours.
• Hydro gets to the finish line faster
• Hydro hands over the controls to the grower, no medium as a buffer and if problems arise there is always the immediate flush (DUMP)

Now there are cons, again my quick three:

• Electricity is a must, unless you gonna blow bubbles with a straw through your rez.
• Timer, meters, and such get pricey
• Gets to the finish line later

Now Hydro (InOrganic vs Organics ) is something that needs to be discussed.

regards,

it is not necessary to bubble a reservoir usually, and will freak out an organic one. Air actually only enters the water as dissolved 02 when the surface is broken, not by the bubbles in the water. Return flow form a flood and drain will dissolve much more 02 than a large bubbler in four hours. I use 12 volt solar (from lights) to run small pump fountains in the res's also. Lights off from a powerfailure is critical though. It cost me a few thousand dollars(few plants) to have an auto generator installed, plus special gen ready ballasts. My cell tels me when I lose power, and I dont break a sweat now.

I'll discuss inorganic vs organic in hydro, I think its fascinating work, and organic is tough

Hydro can be so much easier than soil, there are less variables to control manually
the main causes of harming plants is over watering and over feeding
too much newbie love kills plants ,
folks starting out or with limited experience are not sure how often to water and feed plants
at the different stages of growth, as well as taking into account container size medium used drainage, environmental conditions
all contributing to how often to feed and water with soil

with hydro these problems can be avoided from the start, never having to worry about how often to water or feed plants
a handy little ppm/EC meter that gives you all the information needed
keeping plants healthy is very easy

soil and organic growing require more patients and skill imo
more personal judgement and experience on the part of the grower is needed
i think its harder to teach this kind of judgment needed with soil growing

with hydro its easy to teach folk to follow a simple list of instructions if they stick to them, the plants will grow without problems growing can be successful with no previous experience of hydro or growing plants at all
making a mistake in soil can cause longer time to show itself, the soil needs to be leached etc, this in itself can cause more issues
making a mistake in hydro is hard to do in the first place, unless you are not paying attention
but if a mistake is made, emptying the reservoir and filling it again with fresh food is less disruptive than leaching soil
which could cause over watering during the leaching and it could remove micro nutrients from the soil that may not be replaced

peace