Ok now im lost...

Ok guys i have a small soil grow right now(my first grow ever). I want my next to be hydroponic but i am completely stumped on which way to go. I wanted to go aeroponic because how much space it saves compared to things like E&F but someone told me i wasnt really experienced enough for that. I then set my mind on E&F because it seems pretty easy to build. Now im hearing about DWC. I really have no idea on which way to go. Please help with this guys. My main points of interest are cost and ease of build, space effectiveness, and something i could kick ass at given my inexperience. Thx all.

my experience with hydro was not good...worst tasting weed i ever grew...but i was total noob way back then but i ended losing a couple plants midstream so i don't want to discourage you from hydro but you may want to grow with something like coco for a few grows to get a good handle on what you want to do and direction to take....then you wont be as tied to your grow and it is more forgiving when things arent exactly correct...just hate to see you get 5th week of flower and have a major issue and lose the entire crop...jmo TVwolfman :hippy:

I second the coco. You'll have to treat it like hydro (more frequent waterings, lower ph), but you can just as easily grow in pots (smaller pots than in soil) and handwater. I'm making the switch on my next grow. :twocents:

I really hate to link to another forum, but until cdot has its own dedicated coco section... Growing in Coco Coir

For ease of use. We have stuck with top feed drip system. When the system is set you can walk away for days if not for just checking PH. But no matter what you get you won't walk away. LOL.

We are trying DWC now and like it. Just the thing about watering untill roots reach the water. Maybe a hybrid drip at first and dwc for the rest.

If you don't have a guru near you then watch abunch of utube video to get an idea of waht it takes.

We want to try the Areoponics but the cost right now in hard time is too great.


I say any system you want for what ever reason. It doesn't matter you will have to learn each one you try anyway. Learn and be a pro with what you want. Most learn one way and never change.

I am using E/F for my first grow and almost 4 weeks into it, it's going great. I'm amazed at the ease of use and rapid growth.

Maintaining the system will keep you busy, but I have found it very manageable and affordable.

well guys i know you said to do the coco coir thing but i think i feel confident enough to do the DWC. I think im gonna go that route. What nutes should i look into for a DWC system?

Most popular are General Hydroponic's 3 part and some cal-mag plus.

Any of the main brands for hydro will work good. They are all formulated for hydro.

Don't forget a good water source.

hey no sweat TV...you will do fine and learn along the way...wish you nothing but success with yur grow...just wanted to share my experience...you need to do what you feel comfortable with so i'm not going to bash your decision...we just shared our opinion...i;ll be watchin and rootin for ya all the way :thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by stra8outtaWeed

hey no sweat TV...you will do fine and learn along the way...wish you nothing but success with yur grow...just wanted to share my experience...you need to do what you feel comfortable with so i'm not going to bash your decision...we just shared our opinion...i;ll be watchin and rootin for ya all the way :thumbsup:

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That's right Weed. We can all get along. LOL

I don't care if it's soil or hydro just as long as you keep growing. Who knows in a short while we can all meet in Cali and have a smoke out.

The day we can all sit down and share and compare will be the best day ever.

lol sounds awesome guys. Im glad i started smoking and growing. Ive never seen such a tight knit group of people that is the pot smoker lol. I finally ordered my seeds last for the hydro grow. I got 12 white widow feminized and 12 purple high unfeminized seeds. I have been wondering for a while now but i suppose since i got u guys here ill ask. Ive been researching CO2. Now of course i do not have the money for a CO2 tank and stuff and i saw that some people just spray the plants with carbonated water. This would be ideal for me. I am just not sure how to do this. To my understanding u shut off all ventilation and just spray em and let em bask for bout an hour. Any truth in this? Also would you spray around the buds or what? wouldnt want em gettin wet right?:pimp:

I don't think it's necessary. Without a bottle, regulator and sealed room it'll probably be a waste of time. The benefits will be insignificant if any, and spraying during flowering can cause mold if the buds get wet :( Better to focus on dialing everything in first, then think about the CO2 when you can do it up right :twocents: http://boards.cannabis.com/advanced-...ent-guide.html

yup..btf is correct :thumbsup:

whichever method you choose for co2 enrichment its not cost effective to notice a difference...so do some reseaerch and when it is feasible then get the right system. bottle, electronic ignitor generator(propane or NG), i just put one in but it is the burner with a pilot light...if you have a small space a single burner is all you need and run on a timer until you can afford the monitor controller....in other words one step at a time and you'll be happier learning when you can do each step correctlly and not spend more money and effort on shortcuts.:hippy:

I was thinking.. Is it a possibility to use the little 12 gram CO2 cartridges? The flower room is going to be very small. I wonder if i dispensed however many CO2 cartridges and then sealed it in for an hour or so a day. Any thoughts guys?

You are better off getting a good air flow through the room. without the right setup, being keeping your water chilled and bringing the room up to about 90 degrees. It won't do much.

But if you don't have alot of fresh air flow a little from time to time will not hurt. Mostly I just breath heavy on the girls when I go check them out. LOL.

I know I do this every time BUT

If you do get CO2 equipment remember this.

CO2 is heavy than air and can flood a room or whole house killing every air breather inside. Oderless tasteless and painless.

BE VERY CAREFULL.

Well, Damnit, I just have to post some words of encouragement here. First off I am a noob at this, my first grow. I chose aeroponics, (well at least that is what I think it is) and I could not be happier. I think My plants have done very well, as you can see by the pics posted. Have I made mistakes, well yes, as a matter of fact I have made many. That is what the forum and the folks who are here are for. When we screw up, they bail us out until we become old timers and can add some advice to help the noobs out.Just my 2 cents worth, and feel free to dispute what I say, but: I found the 3 part nute system too complicated and switched to flora nova 1 part system. One part for veg, and another part for bloom. Start out with low nutes, hell, they won't starve to death in a couple of days. PH seems to be far more important than your PPM. Use a EC and a PH meter to set your nutes, don't think you can just guess and get by. Check your plants AT LEAST every other day if not daily. I let mine go for 3 days, and brown leaf tips. Put a fan in your grow area for air circulation. Your plants will love it .
But most of all, read. There is some very good advice (on how to set up your grow room, your hydro system and how to take care of your plants) on this and other great forums on the net. There are also some very good books on usenet for your reading pleasure. But most of all, enjoy the grow! Try what you feel comfortable with, and realize that this is a learning experience. If you lose a few plants, (and you probably will) find your mistakes, move on. OK, the noob is climbing off the soapbox now, and thanks the old timers for letting hin have his 10 minutes.

All I will say is whatever route you decide to take just dont get discouraged when things go wrong because they will. If you stay with Hydro the most important thing you need is a good reliable and waterproof PH meter. PPM meters are nice but not as important (IMO) as a PH meter. I grew for well over a year without PPM meter and all was fine using a tried and true formula and watching how the plants reacted to what they were giving. All growing really is (IMO again) is being able to read what your plants need. Lastly dont rush things. If you have been vegging plants for 3 weeks and they look like they could use 1 more before flower then give it 1 more. Dont just jump in and say well it's been 3 weeks and I was told afetr 3 weeks start flower, thats only if plant is where you want it to be at that time. Have a nice day and welcome to the world of Cannabis :jointsmile:

Good luck on your grow, sounds like you're gonna be fine with it. Let me know on the outcome, after this being your first grow i would like to ask for you to give a final thesis on what you found crucial for your grow to work and possible weak points. Not many people do that at the end, maybe because of shame. It's just a request, though. Handle it!

Peace

o.k., if you're gonna try hydro, i agree with the folks that suggest coco coir. that's all i grow in now, and it's probably the easiest hydro method out there. plus, coco is re-usable for at least 3 grows.

one thing I would suggest for a noob moving from soil to hydro is a soiless mix like Sunshine Mix. it's offers some of the benefits of soil while giving you the performance of hydro. it is made mostly with peat moss, but also contains dolomite lime which helps keep the ph stable. dolomite lime also releases calcium and magnesium slowly over the long-term, eliminating the need for cal/mag plus.

it looks just like soil, but there are no nutrients in it, and it's nearly impossible to over-water if you use sunshine mix #4. this particular mix is the most aerated Sunshine offers, so it's well-suited to growing cannabis. I get performance from sunshine mix equal to that of rockwool, without the ph problems that noobs can sometimes have with rockwool.

props to the coco community!!!!

st8 mentioned that the hydro weed was the worst tasting ever. I have run into hydro weed like this, and it's usually because the medium wasn't flushed properly, and the bud tastes like fertilizer salts as a result. make sure whatever technique you use, you give the plants only water for the last week. this will avoid that horrible tasting herb we find all too often, and your kidneys will thank you.

good luck!!!!!!