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Hydro vs Soil

muskymojo

muskymojo

It's said that depriving plants from extra water will produce hotter pods. I was wondering if anyone has grown plants from the same seed in both hydro and soil and noticed any difference in heat. And if you were trying to produce the hottest possible pods, what methods would you use and why? Thanks! :mouthonfire:
 
i have been starting my plants in hydro then moving them to soil, mainly because they are 10 times the size of soil grown plants, i will know more this year, my caribbean red is now flowering as my hot lemon that were started in hydro, then moved to soil.
 
Ive never grown hydro but I agree from the pics on here from some of the growers that the hydro ones really take off fast and look healthy so they must like it, but a comparison between the heat levels of the two different growing methods would be interesting.
 
I have been overwintering some of my hydro plants. I reduced the amount of nutes added to the reseveroirs. The peppers they have produced in the last month are blistering. The Datils that came off that bush seemed 2x hotter
 
I've not done hydro but alot of friends has and based on that I believe if done right there should be no difference in heat levels. The inportance of using hydro is for fast starts and controled enviroment. if anything the hydro should only be slightly hotter but bigger and with more produce. Great test to try. Keep us updated
 
oooh I would love to know the results too, I read somewhere that too much food or not enough will cause the taste to be very bitter.
 
I grow in both hydro and dirt and try to optimize growing conditions and the same chile grown in hydro and dirt are about the same. Both plants were clones.
 
muskymojo said:
if you were trying to produce the hottest possible pods, what methods would you use and why? Thanks! :mouthonfire:
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For hottest pods you can use heat stress, water stress(depriving of water), or nutrient stress(increasing nutrient levels) but be aware that stressing a plant in any of these ways will usually deminish production and should only be done when pods have already formed.
I find that my mid summer pods and/or pods grown in my hot greenhouse are always much hotter than others
 
Thank you everyone for the replies. I am planning on burying some buckets in the ground this year and putting DWC buckets in them to help keep them cool. I have a bunch (too many actually) of soil plants started but waiting to start any hydro because they grow so fast. When do you think I should start the hydro plants? I can't plant anything outside until late May here. Thanks again.
 
I started a hydro vs soil a few weeks ago with Long Red Slims and Charleston Hots from Pepper Joes, but there too young to notice a difference. I really have no idea which would be hotter. BUT...I have a hydro vs soil using Beef Steak Tomatoes. So heres some pics...

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The soil ones are a bit darker green and have a slightly thicker main stem and about 4-5 branches. The hydro ones got a one week late start and have already caught up and they have about 8-9 branches.
 
Soil is always superior to hydro in all situations. Think about it, peppers dont grow in just water and a growing medium in the wild do they? No they grow in soil, hydro is simply not a naturl process and harsh chemical fertilizers are what you use in hydro gardening. Your peppers might grow faster but in the end you will get less peppers, less heat, and a bad aftertaste from your pods. Do the right thing and grow your chilis in soil, they will thank you for it and they will love life. Soil is the only smart growing medium for any vegetable, especially if your an organic gardener.
 
muskymojo said:
It's said that depriving plants from extra water will produce hotter pods. I was wondering if anyone has grown plants from the same seed in both hydro and soil and noticed any difference in heat. And if you were trying to produce the hottest possible pods, what methods would you use and why? Thanks! :mouthonfire:
Click to expand...


Also hyrdor is very easy to screw up. If one thing goes wrong all your plants will die in a matter of hours or less. Its a sketchy operation , i would recomen not using it. or if you must just start them with it.
 
-Soil is always superior to hydro in all situations.
-harsh chemical fertilizers are what you use in hydro gardening.
-Your peppers might grow faster but in the end you will get less peppers, less heat, and a bad aftertaste from your pods.
-Pepper plants dont start from cuttings, only from seeds.

WOW!! Not to be an ass or anything, but these comments are highly ignorant, and just plain FALSE!!! Please do some research or trial grows with hydroponics before making ignorant, outrageous, and false comments. If anyone wants PROOF that these statements are WRONG, just ask and I will post links so people can get EDUCATED!!

Well im not going to wait till people ask for the facts...so here they are. Mods, If they conflict with this site in any way, feel free to take them down.

http://www.simplyhydro.com/
http://www.hydroponicsonline.com/
http://magissues.farmprogress.com/WFS/WS01Jan10/wfs031.pdf
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/ghwebRL.html
http://urbangardenmagazine.com/
 
POTAWIE said:
Why not? Chile clones are easy enough to take

Anybody who feeds their plants with nutrients in the water is basically growing hydroponically. It can be organic or not.
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But in order to take that clone you had to grow it from a seed anyway. And you could only get one or two off of a young plant and it would either fuck up or kill that plant and theirs no guarantee that theyd take. Why not just start them all from seeds? It seems redundant to start from seed and then clone off an already established plant and then wait longer to get a rooted plant. Peppers take a long time to even get big enough to clone off of and by that time they would already be bearing fruit or ready to put outside so it doesnt make sense to me why youd take clones off them unless you somehow made a pepper mother, which i've never heard of.
 
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