soil DWC hydro or Soil for indoor basement grow?

R1dreamer

R1dreamer

Hey everybody
 
I am in the process of building a new 4' x 4' growbox for a basement grow for super hot Chinenses. 
I was initially intending of going strictly LED but last night I completely changed my mind and bought a 600 watt HPS with dimmable digital ballast.
I was also intending of going strictly DWC hydro for my grow but now I'm feeling a strong urge to go soil (well soil-less potting media such as promix).
 
I have had very successful vegetative growth in DWC before but pod production was rather unsuccessful.... I see that not many growers on here use hydro but stick to soil.
 
Should I go for soil and abandon hydro for my little Chinenses? Please help me decide.
 
Thanks in advance
 
Many people love Coco with drip to waste. is like combination of soil and hydro, easy buffer with the coco. easy to control nutrients in one big reservoir vs many smaller buckets.
 
DWC is good though, not sure why you failed to get pods.
 
juanitos said:
Many people love Coco with drip to waste. is like combination of soil and hydro, easy buffer with the coco. easy to control nutrients in one big reservoir vs many smaller buckets.
 
DWC is good though, not sure why you failed to get pods.
Click to expand...
 
Well actually I'm pretty sure I didn't get pods because my nitrogen was high, humidity was less than 20 percent and I was not patient at all. After about 2 or 3 weeks of about a million flowers falling off i pulled my plants out of the water, got them in soil outside.
 
Why aren't more people using DWC for indoor grows?
 
Thanks
 
Coco drip to waste sounds interesting
 
most people just grow outside because they dont have space
 
or their wife won't let them use their spare closet or whatev  :tear:
 
Sometimes I dream about living in Florida where I could grow outside to my hearts content. Unfortunately i have 8 months of winter.

Maybe half my plants in coco or soil and the other half in DWC?
 
Yeah i get that, living in IL its the same way with the cold, i have a basement grow with soil. I tend to bring mine out in the summer months if i can though. Way easier and a lot less maintenance. But indoors i do a soil grow, My habs grow great inside (Just a tad small) same for my peter peppers, bisbas etc.  And i started around 40 other varieties inside over the last year with pods. But like i said my pods tend to be on the smaller side. But i dont go full bore with HPS lighting or HID. I Just use 6 T8 fixtures with daylight. 
 
R1dreamer said:
Is it true that Hydro pods will never taste as good as soil(less)?
Click to expand...
I'd like to have someone answering this question, because already "germinate" in my mind too. Never had a hydro, and now I try to find the +/- comparing to soil grow (garden). I was about to start a topic with this question, but let's see, maybe will find out here.
 
I hate soil indoors because fungus gnats.. no matter the soil source they all ways seem to show up. I have no issues getting pods with DWC but they do seem to be runtier on average than outdoors but that may be related to lighting as well. 
 
D3monic said:
I hate soil indoors because fungus gnats.. no matter the soil source they all ways seem to show up. I have no issues getting pods with DWC but they do seem to be runtier on average than outdoors but that may be related to lighting as well. 
Click to expand...
 
Can i ask you (or anyone else) what nutrients you are using and if you are happy? I think i will stick to DWC but try a new nute. I was thinking general hydroponics Floraduo perhaps?
 
I've only done DWC with peppers outdoors so far, and they grew pods by the hundreds. I had Trinidand Moruga Scorpions, Carolina Reapers, and Jalapenos all in the DWC. They all did VERY well in the DWC outdoors.
 
Maybe with your new light, if you did the exact same thing as last year (plus taking the nitrogen down a bit), I think you will be more successful.
 
Just my thoughts. Best of luck!
 
mrgg*
 
mrgrowguy said:
I've only done DWC with peppers outdoors so far, and they grew pods by the hundreds. I had Trinidand Moruga Scorpions, Carolina Reapers, and Jalapenos all in the DWC. They all did VERY well in the DWC outdoors.
 
Maybe with your new light, if you did the exact same thing as last year (plus taking the nitrogen down a bit), I think you will be more successful.
 
Just my thoughts. Best of luck!
 
mrgg*
Click to expand...
Thats great to hear. I also bought a cool mist fan and wick style humidifier with integral hygromter and shut-off  that will be placed in the box to control humidity.
 
Another similar question from a beginner:
What would be better to go pure hydro (Kratky) with expanded clay pebbles as a substrate or stay with regular soil in a pot, OR grow in a cup with soil but put the cup in jar and fill the jar with nutrients (hydro+soil)?
I don't want a humongous plant but I do wish for it to be large and healthy enough to bare fruit. It'll grow on a windowsill.
 
it's up to your personal choice... i wouldn't say one way is necessarily better than the other they have their pros and cons but all will eventually give you the result you want (plants with pods)
 
R1dreamer said:
Sometimes I dream about living in Florida where I could grow outside to my hearts content. Unfortunately i have 8 months of winter.
Maybe half my plants in coco or soil and the other half in DWC?
Click to expand...

8 months of winter? Where are you located? I'm in northern British Columbia and have a short, cool growing season at 90 days. I actually switched over entirely to coco because I wasn't able to get the results I wanted out of soil. Granted I've never tried DWC so I can't speak to that. I can talk about coco, like a few others here, should you decide to go that route. There are a number of glogs here that you can check out if you want more information on it.

Neil
 
Blister said:
8 months of winter? Where are you located? I'm in northern British Columbia and have a short, cool growing season at 90 days. I actually switched over entirely to coco because I wasn't able to get the results I wanted out of soil. Granted I've never tried DWC so I can't speak to that. I can talk about coco, like a few others here, should you decide to go that route. There are a number of glogs here that you can check out if you want more information on it.
Neil
Click to expand...
I'm in Edmonton. I can't put anything out until May long. And even then its risky.
 
kartupelis said:
Another similar question from a beginner:
What would be better to go pure hydro (Kratky) with expanded clay pebbles as a substrate or stay with regular soil in a pot, OR grow in a cup with soil but put the cup in jar and fill the jar with nutrients (hydro+soil)?
I don't want a humongous plant but I do wish for it to be large and healthy enough to bare fruit. It'll grow on a windowsill.
Click to expand...
 
 
Hydro will get you big plants almost every time (of course, depending on how green your thumb is), but the trick with soil is to use large pots. The bigger the pot the bigger the plant (to a certain extent), and easier to regulate watering and feeding.
 
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion in a 10 or 15 gallon pot (I forget which). It grew to the top of the pipes and bent over from there. Those pipes stand around 7'6" tall iirc.
IMG_20140819_175952_702_zpspfyknkri.jpg

...
 
We're not that far off in terms of growing climate. I'm in Quesnel, BC. The season here is short and cool. Soil just didn't work out for me because you tend to need a larger pot to grow bigger pants. The problem I found was that the larger pots held too much water for too long.

Things changed when I switched to coco (which is hydro-like) because I could grow much larger plants in smaller pots. The smaller pots allowed me to water more often. Watering more often allowed me to feed the plants more often. It also allowed me to cycle the plants through a wet-to-moist cycle almost on demand and finally produce a decently hot pepper.

I still have work to do in terms of finding the right sized pot in relation to the plant and my climate. I think I'm getting closer, but I still have a lot to learn.

Neil
 
mrgrowguy said:
Hydro will get you big plants almost every time (of course, depending on how green your thumb is), but the trick with soil is to use large pots. The bigger the pot the bigger the plant (to a certain extent), and easier to regulate watering and feeding.
 
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion in a 10 or 15 gallon pot (I forget which). It grew to the top of the pipes and bent over from there. Those pipes stand around 7'6" tall iirc.
IMG_20140819_175952_702_zpspfyknkri.jpg

...
Click to expand...
Good god that's nice!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top