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Post by Lone Alaskan Gypsy on Feb 5, 2016 18:37:08 GMT -9
It's common knowledge that hydroponics gardening allows you to grow bigger, better, stronger plants. But it's also common knowledge that hydroponics gardening requires a lot more knowledge, precision, and financial investment to be successful. When you account for the time you have to invest in hydro-gardening, the learning curb, and the products you need to buy in order to be successful- does it really make hydroponics gardening a better investment?
I'm an organics gardener- a person who grows with cuttings and seeds, in dirt, in as natural conditions as I can create. I've always felt like I don't need to make huge investments (of either time or money) to make my plants successful. With that being said, it just seems to me like hydroponics is a lot of work- and requires a lot of money. You need the knowledge of all of the nutrients, the proper supplies, and the TIME to devote to checking on your plants regularly in order to ensure everything goes smoothly. At the end of the day, in terms of cost, is it really more effective to grow hydro?
At the end of a single grow (of the legal amount of plants), what is your total investment of time and finances? And why do you choose to put the effort into hydro (is it just for the higher yields or is there some other appeal that I'm missing)? It seems to me like growing naturally just takes a lot less commitment from both my time and my bank account, and although I don't get as much bud at the end of the grow, I would assume my net profits (if I sold my product) would be nearly equal to hydro-growers with larger yields because I made less of a time and money investment in my grow.
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Post by skunkybudz4me on Feb 5, 2016 20:48:15 GMT -9
Yes the startup cost for hydro growing can be spendy, depending on what you want to do. If you want a single plant setup that your using in a small closet or grow room, your looking at about $150.00, grow basket,light, tube & connectors, water & airpump, air stone, and rubermaid tub,not including nutrients.
With this system you will only need to replace the lights (grow/bloom)on a three grow change out, other then that theres no other costs unless a water or airpump go out.
For a system where you can grow between 6 to 8 plants, it will run about $1000.00 to $1200.00 maybe less with some shoppig around. Theres a full hydro starter kit, being sold at Sams Club for $999.98, Ive given it a quick once over when I was in there. It's agood system IMHO, Id upgrade the quality of bulbs wthout question, as soon as it was affordable. Ive had alot of people talk bad about T5 light systems, but Ive hD no complaints myself, good size plants, buds and good quality, plus the electricy bill only went up about $5.00 a month, compaired to a HPS light.
If you make our ow nutrients, then your saving cost, but if you buy, buy in bulk, plain and simple. My nutrients would last for 3-4 grows before id have to buy again.
So when I add it up, after spendng a bit of time working in a grow store, grow all year round, clean grow environment (ive had nats one time, and thats because I put a starter plant for the garden with dirt in the pot, in my grow room), I could leave my plants for up to a week without checking them. That helped when I want to go camping, or take a roadtrip.
Hopefully this will help answer some of your questions.
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Post by Lone Alaskan Gypsy on Feb 5, 2016 21:27:31 GMT -9
That definitely answered a lot of my questions; thank you skunkybudz. Where do you purchase your grow nutrients in bulk at? Online?
It's really interesting that you got your grow set up to a point where you didn't even need to check your plant for a week- that's awesome. I guess I was always under the assumption that hydro-growing was so time consuming because you consistently needed to be monitoring everything that was going on within the grow to ensure nothing ever went wrong.
Great tips! I'll definitely have to take a look at the grow kit at Sams Club the next time I visit.
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Post by skunkybudz4me on Feb 6, 2016 11:49:35 GMT -9
That definitely answered a lot of my questions; thank you skunkybudz. Where do you purchase your grow nutrients in bulk at? Online? It's really interesting that you got your grow set up to a point where you didn't even need to check your plant for a week- that's awesome. I guess I was always under the assumption that hydro-growing was so time consuming because you consistently needed to be monitoring everything that was going on within the grow to ensure nothing ever went wrong. Great tips! I'll definitely have to take a look at the grow kit at Sams Club the next time I visit. Most of the time, I would by from my local grow shop, unless I ran across a deal online. It can consume alot of time if you want it to, but Ive know guys who would check their stuff once a week for ph & ppm levels, and just let it go jungle growth style till bloom, then trim them down and let them do the same during bloom, good buds, great smoke, and they always had alot of free time. I like to sit and spend time with me kids, make sure things are blue printed and balanced, so if I do happen to need to go some where for a few days, it's pretty stress free. |
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Post by Lone Alaskan Gypsy on Feb 8, 2016 16:56:16 GMT -9
Awesome, skunkybudz. Wow, you definitely enlightened me to the positives of growing hydro. Gotta be honest, you've grabbed my attention. I spent a few hours yesterday scanning some articles online. I might try experimenting with it if I can get the financial leeway to invest in everything.
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batshit
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Post by batshit on Feb 11, 2016 21:13:07 GMT -9
Take a look at Hempy buckets. Its hydro, but the EASY way.
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Post by skunkybudz4me on Feb 12, 2016 12:09:29 GMT -9
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batshit
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Post by batshit on Feb 13, 2016 15:19:15 GMT -9
SkunkyBudz,
That system looks like a LOT of fun! As long as I had someone else to do the prep work on the system! But you know that system is going to give you great growth rates.
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Post by skunkybudz4me on Feb 13, 2016 18:48:13 GMT -9
SkunkyBudz, That system looks like a LOT of fun! As long as I had someone else to do the prep work on the system! But you know that system is going to give you great growth rates. If im not mistaken Batshit, its plug and play, the only real tuning is your timers. And yes, I agree, this system will be fun and the growth should be off the charts. Honestly, the ease of moving all that water in one container on wheels, sold me.....lol |
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