Hydro is known for faster growth. Is the coco growth the same since it is considered hydro from an environmental perspective?
If not, what is the best “hydro” system for a single plant? I’m thinking about getting away from soil for my next grow.
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I haven’t been sold to switch to coco. Always used hydroton. I think it’s system dependent also.
Have a look a my graphs page for current flood table running clones 13-11. They grow fast 
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Coco grows really fast compared to soil.
I water it about every 3 days for the first two weeks or so…but once the plant is established they get big fast. And then water daily.
This is usually right between 4 to 5 weeks from seed.
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Soil is the slowest method, followed by soilless then hydro. This is assuming everything is optimized for each medium. I’ve gotten five month yields approaching a pound per plant in RDWC with coco or Promix running at 3/4 pound per plant.
There are a number of different methods for hydro but in general it’s a much more technical approach and IMO absolutely requires high light levels along with a water chiller and air.
The easiest, most user-friendly system I’ve found to date are Autopots. If you search the forum you’ll see many examples of them in use.
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I started in soil with FF Ocean Forest and FF Trio of nutrients. At the time I was convinced that autos was a good starter plant. I grew white widow, blueberry, amnesia haze, and jack herer. The average dry plant weight was 3.7 ounces. With a low (1 plant) of 3 and a high (1 plant) of 5.7.
While still in soil I switched to advanced nutrients and also to photos. Northern lights and AK-47. Eight plants had a avg dry weight of 3.5+ ounces.
I wanted to give autopots a try so I bought a 1 unit XL system, filled it with peat & perlite (actually Bruce Bugbee’s peat recipe). And you got it I also switched to Jack’s 321. This one purple kush weighed out at 12+ ounces.
Staying with peat and Jacks I grew 4 purple haze in the 3x3. Never one to leave well enough alone I experimented with SIP buckets. I ran into issues and had to disassemble the SIP. Live and learn.
They had a avg weight of 4.1 ounces.
In May 2021 I finally switched to coco with Jack’s 321.
Two purple haze clones avg 6 ounce
three PH clones in autopots - avg 5.4 ounces (losses from mold)
Most recently I grew GDP and clones. All in coco and Jacks.
I did a single plant in the 3x3. It was crazy with 22+ ounces.
I did 4 clones in 2 gallon pots in the tent. They came in at 16+ ounces.
Two autopot GDP avg 6+ each. But then I grew 2 of the big girl clones in autpots. They avg over 12 ounces.
In summary I think it is safe to say coco significantly out performs soil. Top feed Vs autopot ???
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What about…Coco Vs. Expanded Clay Vs. medium less aeroponics
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no clue. no experience
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I did one grow in coco, and there’s no doubt I had bigger and faster growing plants, but the workload of feeding twice a day was too much for my liking. I followed the Coco for Cannabis websites instructions to the letter, and everything went very smooth. There’s no doubt you can get bigger plants and better yields in coco than in soil, but I switched back to soil because the difference didn’t seem worth the extra work and much higher nutrient cost with feeding twice a day.
I use Mother Earth Coco Peat. It’s a soil, but it has a decent amount of coco in it. So I can follow soil growing guidelines, but still get some benefits of coco growing, like not worrying about over watering. With the exception of the one coco grow I did, I’ve been using the coco peat soil for many years now, and it works great for me.
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I have done soil then flood and drain with clay pebbles and have now harvested 20 successful grows using coco and have outstanding results all under hlg 600r lights and jacks321. I have a perpetual harvest every 4 weeks now with 4 grow environments. Ive done 1 and 2 plant w scrog ive done 1 gallon sog and now ive settled on 3 gallon bags. I use clones. From cloner into solo cup for a week or so til i see good roots then into final pot or bag a couple weeks with good temp and humidity i top and use the tops for clones and start again. I couldnt imagine a better minimum hassle way to grow . WTering every day can be a drag so now all is automated. Happy to share the journal i madeabout that ifitwould be helpful
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It would be helpful to me! Seriously considering switching to hydro for my next grow! Trying not to jump in too quickly. Lol! But on some level I’m not sure what the questions are
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You can tag me anytime if i can help i will