To Hydro or not to Hydro - that is the question

I'm a total newbie. Should I skip going the hydroponic route since I'm such a newbie or should I go balls to the wall and go with hydroponics on my very first grow?

CoryTrevor said:

I'm a total newbie. Should I skip going the hydroponic route since I'm such a newbie or should I go balls to the wall and go with hydroponics on my very first grow?

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Well I'd say to each their own. I'm on my first time grow myself and have gone the hydroponic route. I'm so far happy with my grow but it certainly was a wallet shock. So if cost is a concern then soil is probably a better option. Hydro is more maintenance as well so keep that in mind.

What will your set up be like (height, lights, ventilation, etc.)? Some of these things are important things to consider when choosing your own type of grow.

Yea, I agree with him. soil is less maintenance and less money and being your first grow, you would probably get more buds in the end. I say go soil first, see how a plant grows and matures, get a feel for your environment, heat, humidity, bugs, that sort of thing.

Encomium said:

Well I'd say to each their own. I'm on my first time grow myself and have gone the hydroponic route. I'm so far happy with my grow but it certainly was a wallet shock. So if cost is a concern then soil is probably a better option. Hydro is more maintenance as well so keep that in mind.

What will your set up be like (height, lights, ventilation, etc.)? Some of these things are important things to consider when choosing your own type of grow.

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Price isn't too much of a concern here. I've got to measure the area I am dealing with, but I am hoping to have to grow tents eventually where one would be for veg and the other flowering. I'm looking to grow 12 - 24 plants, but will probably be starting out with less since I am learning.

How many square feet do you think I would need for 12 plants (hydro vs non hydro)? I'm going to be growing in my basement and have about 7 feet in headroom. So I will have to get a grow tent that will fit that.

CoryTrevor said:

Price isn't too much of a concern here. I've got to measure the area I am dealing with, but I am hoping to have to grow tents eventually where one would be for veg and the other flowering. I'm looking to grow 12 - 24 plants, but will probably be starting out with less since I am learning.

How many square feet do you think I would need for 12 plants (hydro vs non hydro)? I'm going to be growing in my basement and have about 7 feet in headroom. So I will have to get a grow tent that will fit that.

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Al B Fuct has an excellent sticky on his perpetual grow. I believe he uses 2.6 plants per square foot but this is for hardened clones straight into flowering and with pruning. I personally started 6 seeds with 1 dying out (or rather me just removing it due to improper potting) and 1 removed to serve as a mother for future clones. So I have 4 plants now in a small 3 x 3 x 5 foot tent, 2 small ebb and flow setups utilizing roughly 65 - 75 % of the tent square footage (think 2 rectangles inside the square tent for the E&F) with 2 in each grow tray and I don't think I could fit another decent plant in there without pruning branches off (which I did not). Even using soil medium I could scarcely imagine a decent set up that had more than 5 healthy plants inside my 3 x 3 tent and 5 plants being quite crowded IMO.

Alternatively, after daily searching and reading on various forums there are numerous ways to increase yields that actually either decrease the amount of plants or increase the amount of plants in a square foot via SCROG (Screen of Green) or SOG (Sea of Green -> see Al B Fuct's sticky in the Hydroponics section of the forums).

Again, I'm happy with the way I've gone about it seeding 6 plants fully expecting a couple to either die out or be weeded out by me. 4 Plants is what I intended to end up with to flower with my best plant being used in the future for clones (after my first *fingers crossed* harvest).

That was the long answer (sort of). Short answer would be if you do NOT plan on pruning or training plants (bending stems etc) then I'd say 4 plants in a 3 x 3 area is good so for 12 plants about 24 square feet.

Thanks for the responses guys!

if this is your first grow go with soil. theres less that can go rong.

CoryTrevor said:

I'm a total newbie. Should I skip going the hydroponic route since I'm such a newbie or should I go balls to the wall and go with hydroponics on my very first grow?

Click to expand...

If your good with instructions and sifting through misinformation and growing inside I would say hydro. If outside soil wins.

if price is no object, then do both. Start some seeds for mothers in soil, then clone to hydro.