SOG, soil vs hydroponics

Hi guys,

I'm new to this hobby but have some experiences with aquarium, gardening, hydroponics (to be specific Kratky aka passive hydroponic)

I'm considering SOG soil vs hydroponics (drip system using gutter pipe).
What's the normal yield per plant for each method?
I'd prefer to work with hydroponic, I understand that hydroponic will take more "dialing in", and where I live, accessing to nuts can be costly.
But I hate handling dirt/soil, so I will only take this route if hydroponics dont yield substantially higher.

Thanks,
Q

i don't know in terms of numbers but here is a comparison of my first grow in soil and my second grow in coco coir multifeeding4 times per day. Recirculating my nutrient too so the cost isn't bad as a drain to waste. These are the same strain and everything, around the same lenght of veg if not less in hydro

soil (3 gal pots)

Hydro (1 gal pots, plants 3-4 times bigger)

Hydro all the way.
Especially since you don’t have great access to nutrients.
Dry nutrients all the way. Get a large 20# bag of your base npk and trace elements. Grab a 2lb bag of pure epsom salt. Worry about mono potassium phosphate (kno3) and other bloom helpers later. Your set for years.
Fuck dirt. Dirt is for outside.
fuck coco coir. That shits strait trash. You've got the background to set up and handle hydro. It’s best. Hit it up.
decide your hydro style. Build it. Automate it. Get yourself a blue lab nutrient meter. Do some research. Stay away from liquid prefabbed brand name snake oil nutrients and your on the path to victory.
Good luck.

steve870 said:

i don't know in terms of numbers but here is a comparison of my first grow in soil and my second grow in coco coir multifeeding4 times per day. Recirculating my nutrient too so the cost isn't bad as a drain to waste. These are the same strain and everything, around the same lenght of veg if not less in hydro

soil (3 gal pots)

Hydro (1 gal pots, plants 3-4 times bigger)
View attachment 4540994

Click to expand...

Wow, what nuts did you use in your 2nd setup? do you recirculate the nuts return? Can you tell a difference in taste?

Morbid Angel said:

Hydro all the way.
Especially since you don’t have great access to nutrients.
Dry nutrients all the way. Get a large 20# bag of your base npk and trace elements. Grab a 2lb bag of pure epsom salt. Worry about mono potassium phosphate (kno3) and other bloom helpers later. Your set for years.
Fuck dirt. Dirt is for outside.
fuck coco coir. That shits strait trash. You've got the background to set up and handle hydro. It’s best. Hit it up.
decide your hydro style. Build it. Automate it. Get yourself a blue lab nutrient meter. Do some research. Stay away from liquid prefabbed brand name snake oil nutrients and your on the path to victory.
Good luck.

Click to expand...

quick tack on I guess for responsibilities sake.

You’ll need a bag or pail of calcium nitrate also.
A medium like expanded clay pellets or my preferred, expanded glass.
Some way to gage PH levels, strips or meter. Strips is fine. And PH up and down, or vinegar and baking soda even.

keep your reservoir cold or run a sterile res with pool shock or and alternative.

I mean obviously the research is required. But it’s not hard.

What's the size of space for flower, veg and clones? I don't run a drip system but DWC in a 4x4, 4 plant scrog with a 100 liter res. I just recently switched to soilless for the summer and am running a SOG for the time being.

And what lights are you running? Growing for profit? SOG is great but a lot of constant work.

QeedFarmer said:

Wow, what nuts did you use in your 2nd setup? do you recirculate the nuts return? Can you tell a difference in taste?

Click to expand...

i used plain old 20-20-20 from miracle grow, root farm flower nutrients, ph down, calmag and a little bit of chelated iron.

Basically my plants are sitting on top of the nutrient tank with holes punched in the lid and i have a small 15$ pump with a manifold that send the feed in the pots using .25$ drippers. So the runoff goes back in the tank and i top the tank up with water as plants consume it. I keep track of how much water i add so that when i replaced it all once i flush my tank and redo a nutrient solution, i also monitor ec and top off nutrients as my plant use them. Ph doesn't move really bad like people told me it would. I havent harvested yet so i can't comment for the taste but the smell is great

Morbid Angel said:

fuck coco coir. That shits strait trash.

Click to expand...

LOL.

Hashishh said:

What's the size of space for flower, veg and clones? I don't run a drip system but DWC in a 4x4, 4 plant scrog with a 100 liter res. I just recently switched to soilless for the summer and am running a SOG for the time being.

And what lights are you running? Growing for profit? SOG is great but a lot of constant work.

Click to expand...

4x4 for flower, havent think of space for veg yet
Lighting is a single Chinese QB 250W 3500K, but Im willing to invest in one more
Im growing for fun but after much research, I settled with SOG, as I dont have to train the plans (like in SCROG), maxium yield, minimum runtime
What sort of contant work that I may have not heard of???

twentyeight.threefive said:

LOL.

Click to expand...

It’s all good mate. I just playin. Coco is proven and fine. Just not for me.

... fuck coco tho. Especially in looped hydro. Shits glorified dirt. Just mess. Poor mans hydro. Straight trash.

Such disdain for coco when Steve870 is showing off a solid grow running coco.

JrCaps said:

Such disdain for coco when Steve870 is showing off a solid grow running coco.

Click to expand...

Morbid Angel said:

It’s all good mate. I just playin. Coco is proven and fine. Just not for me.

Click to expand...

im sure that Steve870 could pull a decent grow off another medium as well. Just not a coco fan mate. Steve’s stuff looks nice.

It’s definitely the archer not the bow.

QeedFarmer said:

4x4 for flower, havent think of space for veg yet
Lighting is a single Chinese QB 250W 3500K, but Im willing to invest in one more
Im growing for fun but after much research, I settled with SOG, as I dont have to train the plans (like in SCROG), maxium yield, minimum runtime
What sort of contant work that I may have not heard of???

Click to expand...

I run an entire seperate 4x4 for clones and moms. Currently my cycle allows for 9 rooted clones every 3 weeks. Taking and tending to clones constantly turns into a chore after a while. Watering in the soilless medium is an almost daily task due to small pot sizes and high plant numbers (I use the 8" green ones I believe they're only about 1-1.5 gal), and mixing nutrients every 3ish days gets old quick.

Yes the yields are good but I found it to be much less work running 4 plants in a scrog with 7 gal pots or in DWC. I haven't found my yields any more or less running either style, just the SOG allows me to crop in a perpetual cycle with less trim.

I was thinking of a system to run my DWC "trays" in a SOG. 4 seperate containers all spaced 3 weeks apart. I use a wooden box made of 2x10 and OSB then lined with 3 layers of vapour barrier.

Not sure as I've never used a drip system but I've always been under the impression they clog up fairly easy but as I said I've never done it first hand. A few people I know that run large numbers of small plants use flood and drain and it seems to work well for them.

Are you leaning more towards hydroponics?

QeedFarmer said:

Hi guys,

I'm new to this hobby but have some experiences with aquarium, gardening, hydroponics (to be specific Kratky aka passive hydroponic)

I'm considering SOG soil vs hydroponics (drip system using gutter pipe).
What's the normal yield per plant for each method?
I'd prefer to work with hydroponic, I understand that hydroponic will take more "dialing in", and where I live, accessing to nuts can be costly.
But I hate handling dirt/soil, so I will only take this route if hydroponics dont yield substantially higher.

Thanks,
Q

Click to expand...

A lot of your question comes down to the quality of the end product your are looking to produce. I have traditionally been a hydro guy using greenhouse powders, dwc, nft, coco, perlite, multiple bottle lines etc.
Recently decided to try a true biologically active nutrient approach and Oh man is it simple and the quality through the roof!!
I have long been looking for that supplement that brings the true "organic" aspects to finished quality in hydro and it just isn't there.
You can check my "organic" grow in my signature.

Morbid Angel said:

Hydro all the way.
Especially since you don’t have great access to nutrients.
Dry nutrients all the way. Get a large 20# bag of your base npk and trace elements. Grab a 2lb bag of pure epsom salt. Worry about mono potassium phosphate (kno3) and other bloom helpers later. Your set for years.
Fuck dirt. Dirt is for outside.
fuck coco coir. That shits strait trash. You've got the background to set up and handle hydro. It’s best. Hit it up.
decide your hydro style. Build it. Automate it. Get yourself a blue lab nutrient meter. Do some research. Stay away from liquid prefabbed brand name snake oil nutrients and your on the path to victory.
Good luck.

Click to expand...

Masterblend is the best nuts I can get easily, i read that tomato is closet to cannabis in term of nuts demands, will Masterblend tomato (5-12-25) works?

Hashishh said:

I run an entire seperate 4x4 for clones and moms. Currently my cycle allows for 9 rooted clones every 3 weeks. Taking and tending to clones constantly turns into a chore after a while. Watering in the soilless medium is an almost daily task due to small pot sizes and high plant numbers (I use the 8" green ones I believe they're only about 1-1.5 gal), and mixing nutrients every 3ish days gets old quick.

Yes the yields are good but I found it to be much less work running 4 plants in a scrog with 7 gal pots or in DWC. I haven't found my yields any more or less running either style, just the SOG allows me to crop in a perpetual cycle with less trim.

I was thinking of a system to run my DWC "trays" in a SOG. 4 seperate containers all spaced 3 weeks apart. I use a wooden box made of 2x10 and OSB then lined with 3 layers of vapour barrier.

Not sure as I've never used a drip system but I've always been under the impression they clog up fairly easy but as I said I've never done it first hand. A few people I know that run large numbers of small plants use flood and drain and it seems to work well for them.

Are you leaning more towards hydroponics?

Click to expand...

Yes, Im very much leaning towards hydroponics, hate working with dirt!
The (drip) system with sum tank, I'm going to build, will eliminate watering, just top off and dump in more nutrients as needed.
Doesnt SOG benefit from less electricity cost due to shorter cycle?

QeedFarmer said:

Hi guys,

I'm new to this hobby but have some experiences with aquarium, gardening, hydroponics (to be specific Kratky aka passive hydroponic)

I'm considering SOG soil vs hydroponics (drip system using gutter pipe).
What's the normal yield per plant for each method?
I'd prefer to work with hydroponic, I understand that hydroponic will take more "dialing in", and where I live, accessing to nuts can be costly.
But I hate handling dirt/soil, so I will only take this route if hydroponics dont yield substantially higher.

Thanks,
Q

Click to expand...

How about Living soil? We r using and the results seem really good. You can buy which is quite pricey but you can also make your own.