Growing Marijuana in Hydroponics vs Soil - My Experiences

I started with hydroponics (growing in coco coir), tried out soil and organics, then went back to hydro (this time with top-fed DWC).

I'd love to hear what other growers think about the hydro vs soil debate. I know there's a diverse mix of talented growers out there, and each of you has knowledge to contribute!

Here are my experiences so far. I hope they might help another grower.  

Coco Coir

Overall, I thought growing in coco coir was the easiest for a beginner.

Plant the seeds and go. I used Fox Farms Nutrient Trio for hydro at half strength and everything went smoothly. I used the General Hydroponics pH kit to maintain a pH of 5.5-6.5 (optimum pH for hydro).

Here's a tutorial I wrote on how to grow marijuana in coco coir with CFLs. This is one of the cheapest/easiest ways to get started growing.

Here's a pic of my very first grow using this method!

Soil 

Next, I tried soil (using Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil mixed with 20% perlite). Growing in soil was pretty similar to coco coir as far as effort, I just hand-watered my plants and didn't need to do much else. I used Fox Farms Nutrient Trio for Soil every 1/3 watering at half strength. I used the General Hydroponics pH kit to maintain a pH of 6.0-7.0 (optimum pH for soil)

Even though I had better/more light from my previous grows and was using basically the same nutrients, the plants grew more slowly in soil than they did in coco coir, especially in the first few weeks of the vegetative stage. The yield was about the same in the end, but the grow took about 2 weeks longer due to the slowed growth in the vegetative stage.

I also had trouble with bugs during my soil grow, after never having dealt with bugs in coco coir. Luckily I caught the bugs early, soon after I initiated flowering, so I was able to get rid of them before my flowers started forming.

Overall, I was pretty disappointed with growing in soil my first time (compared to growing in coco coir). I had more lights so I used more electricity, yet the grow took 2 weeks longer for nearly the exact same yield. I thought that buds would taste much better from growing in soil than hydro, but they seemed the same.

Organic growing in soil

Next, in my effort for better-tasting buds, I decided to try out organic growing. Now, I didn't do this "the proper way" where I mixed my own compost, let it sit in the sun for 30 days, etc. I tried to take the "easy way" of using pre-mixed organic potting soil and nutrients.

I started with Fox Farms Organic soil and used the GO Box for organic nutrients. I didn't use pH Up or Down since these are not compatible with growing organically, but luckily my soil stayed in the 6.0-7.0 range naturally when I tested the pH of the nutrient water coming out the bottom.

I didn't get bugs this time, but I honestly didn't feel like there was any measurable improvement in bud quality over my previous attempt at growing in soil or coco coir.

At this point, I was done with soil for a while. Growth was slow, and I was ready to try something else.

Top-fed DWC / Bubbleponics / Bubble Cloud Hydro

I liked the idea of top-fed DWC ("top-fed deep water culture", "bubbleponics" or "bubble cloud hydro") because it seemed semi-automated.

Here's a tutorial I wrote on how to grow marijuana with bubbleponics.

After setup, basically all you do is keep the reservoir full of pH'ed nutrient water and tend to training the plants.

I use the General Hydroponics Flora Series trio for nutrients, Aquashield for root health, and the General Hydroponics pH kit.

This has been my favorite method of growing so far, though not necessarily the easiest for beginners (though I think a beginner could definitely do it as long as s/he started with good equipment and kept up with changing the reservoir).

This marijuana plant is only 6 weeks from seed

Plants grow very fast in the vegetative stage using this method.

I get plants that are as big as the plant pictured to the left by only 6 weeks from seed, so I only have a 6 week vegetative stage to get the size plants I want.

This biggest con is definitely changing the reservoir.

I'm a small person and water is heavy. Lugging the water to my grow room and mixing in nutrients is a workout. I bought a water transfer pump to pump out all the old water from the reservoir and pump in the new. It's okay for roots to be exposed to the air for less than 15 minutes while I change the water.

For maintenance, I tend to top my reservoir off with plain pH'ed water most of the time, and then do a complete reservoir change with fresh nutrients once the plants have used up most of the nutrients. I pH new reservoir water to 5.5, and it naturally rises up to about 6.5 as the plants use up the nutrients in the water. At that point, I change the reservoir.

I will change the reservoir early if I notice any problems with my plants. In this system, nearly every problem I've had has come from the pH being off.

As long as I have lots of bubbles in the water and use Botanicare Aquashield, I never have root problems, even when the temperature climbs into the 80s. I don't use a water chiller. Aquashield is all I used and it's definitely saved my plants from root rot.

I've been attacked by root rot twice.

The first time was before I started using Aquashield, which seemed to get rid of it within a few days. Now I use Aquashield with every res change.

Just recently I noticed one of my plants had the beginnings of root rot and I realized it was because the air pump (which pumps bubbles into the water) was broken and not putting off enough bubbles. I got a new air pump and dumped in some Aquashield and root rot was almost gone by the next day. New white roots had exploded out of the old mushy brown one. That's why I'd say Bubbles and Aquashield are the most important things I do for root health in DWC.

The maintenance takes about 20 minutes/week on average, and this system allows me to easily go on vacation for a week without worrying about the plants. Back when I had hand-watered plants, I couldn't leave the house for more than a couple of days. Vegetative growth is quick, and plants are healthy and happy.

As an added bonus, the buds produced by this method seem to be the best-tasting and smelling buds I've grown yet. Since switching to DWC, I get soooooo many compliments about how my buds smell/taste, and how smooth they are to smoke.

I'm not sure exactly why.

It could be the switch to General Hydroponics nutrients. It could be the fact that I'm able to keep nutrient levels low throughout the grow without worrying about deficiencies (I keep leaves green but avoid tip burn from high levels of nutrients). It could be that I've gotten better at drying/curing.

I definitely have lots more experimenting to do to see if bud quality can be improved even further.

Full-on Organic Growing

Some day I plan on mixing together organic soil like this and seeing what kind of buds that produces.

I've heard so much good stuff about organic buds that it seems worth it to keep trying. However, I'm very wary of attempting organics in DWC since it can clog up the tubing, and most people who've tried it advice against it.

What have been your experiences with hydroponics and/or soil growing?