I wanna shake your hand one day sir. You have not only educated me but inspired me to keep thinking outside of that damn box. You are the OG of the light community. Please keep doing what YOU love and what we love!!!
it requires more work initially and a lot of patience before you get into the topic and understand everything you need too (EC, pH, etc). BUT after you reach that level of knowledge you definitely have way less work and way fewer things to be stressed about.
i just switched from dwc to coco, i loved dwc it was super fun and i was doing really well with it but i was getting tired of hauling buckets of water around and realized how much i liked the feel of watering by hand, i def recommend DWC it was a great time. Remember tho Coco is hydro its just hydro that looks like your using soil
@@f_youtubecensorshipf_nazis no fun? you can feed your plants exactly what you want, it's literally the best you can do for plant life and this ain't fun to you? :D
@@BossTweed69 You need to run soil, Quality over quantity each and every time. Ran hydro for over 9yrs and have ran soil side by side for last 2yrs now. Organics hands down. if yield is all you're after then fair enough hydro it is. but not if end product quality is your aim.
What is not being considered here is space management. From looking at this with the fruit production, hydro seems to make less fruit in ratio to veg matter. If we were dealing with cannabis, this would require intense defoliation, pest control, lst, water and nutes, and extra heat to manage plants this size. If it were to come to scaling, you can put in about 4 times the soil plants in the same space constraints of one huge hydro plant and produce more fruit in total. Less nutes, less watering frequency and less vegetable matter to deal with. Trust me I am an aeroponics guy, but when it comes to efficiency and fruit per sq/m, i think you can scrog a bunch of smaller soil pots and get more than 1 or 2 huge hydros. If you do a hybrid beneficial bacteria soil mix with perlite and coco, you can get more frequent feeds and get a good balance between coco and soil. Basically I do this now using hydro nutes but with blended compost teas. Amazing product.
Not really, as most of these differences can be affected by Crop Steering tech, using different EC, room and feed temps, night temps, you can make the plants grow how you want them. Google a few guides, it is a fascinating subject
Egh no lol. You yust flip them to flower earliear before they grow out of controll and minimising efficency. in that experiment plants were much to big for that tent and light to efficently produce more fruit.
I had plants in soil root as much as your hydro , the root system was that well developed that you could have removed it from the pot and used it to smash a double glazing window and no soil would have been left on the floor, type of soil and bacteria/ fungi is key with soil more than coco and hydro.
If you’ve never grown hydro, I could see where you would think this. Hydro root masses are unmatched. Not just the density but their actual strength. I’ve been able to basically make ropes from some of the roots from my tomatoes.
@@gasser5001 now do this outdoors and see the difference, wasting electricity indoor growing. Going to to have root rot doing hydro outdoors unless you run a water chiller. More electricity use again.
Hi! Back in 2018 I wasn't able to grow indoor and I knew it would be the case for 2 years so I had to grow enough outdoor and I asked a friend for clones cause he had 2 strains that I really enjoy that he grow hydro...I planted direct in soil and I made fermented plants juice rice water coconut water green compost wormcasting etc...only natural amendments I only bought bloom bat guano molasses and coconut water...results more sweet to the taste and to the throat plus a little detail it was more smelly and I forgot a little jar for more than a year and it was even better when my friend's one after 4 months start to loose terps very fast according to him...🤔! I still keep thinking that we are what we eat and it's the same for plants...and I want quality I can't buy from a plug...all those synthetic nutes aren't for me anymore and I still manage to get 1.7/1.8gpw on average with living soil that I never change and yes I have worms who live their best life in it (I have to remove some every 3 months and replace it with fresh soil (about 2 liters on 35L)...the thing is that I have 10 to 12 weeks to veg so an eternity to get plants big enough for a good flowering so it's not relevant to me as I could have the messy tent like the hydro one in this video but with living soil!
Hey Shane, really appreciate the effort dedicated to doing this. Cheers man! Also, I am enjoying viewing all the different ways people are giving their input.
hello Shane, I just want to say thank you for your work, your sharing, your honesty and for the human being that you are! I imagine you already know that, so thank you, I've been following you for quite a while now, I also bought one of your Aray 8 lamps (which I find incredibly effective, I had excellent results, welldone sir) and I will surely take the last 5x5. Thanks again and ALL MY RESPECT!! sorry for my English I am Portuguese and live in Switzerland, but a "human being" above all.
I've just finished my most succesful grow yet in soil - using Plagron Batmix with Canna bio nutes with a little Guano top dressing 2/3 thru the grow....! Curious that the soil faired so poorly in the test - started off well...!
I primarily grow with coco on a flood and drain table. For the beginning of my grows fertigating once a day is enough. When they start reaching the walls, I double the fertigation amount. So instead of 2-3 times a day I do 4-6 times a day. This improved my yields. I don't have any proof other than my notes though. Not sure if you have done this but it was a significant improvement in my yields on coco.
I view my coco as semi hydro and if moister is 1-5 I like to keep it above 2. Top water for the first 4 weeks on autos, then bottom feed for the remainder
I think you'll find better results with drain to waste, it's not much more water/nutrients usage. That way you always have the same strength solution each fertigation.
@green285 I would spend more time making nutrient solutions that way. I have done drain to waste in the past. While you can get it perfect with drain to waste, my plants don't seem to mind the variation of flood and drain. You can still apply the same principles to drain to waste, though. Although using double the nutrients used is double the work to make them. Having the ability to walk away from the tent for a week or two is my goal. I may revist drain to waste but would want a mixing robot for the nutes. It's getting built and programmed now but will take time. Im documenting my journey. I don't know when a video will be out for it. When I started hydroponics A and B nutrients were new. I'm probably just stuck in my own ways. I change my res every two weeks on a schedule. I also top off with fresh solution.
Good on ya for biting into that chili! These videos are pure gold, next light I'll buy will definitely be migro, your work on this channel is bar none the best out there when it comes to lights and growing 😊
I was watching an interview with the head of the "L.A. Cannabis Co", established in 2007, on FCP02(Future Cannabis Project - Channel 02). From a few weeks ago titled "The state of The Cannabis Industry in California", I believe. Around the 44:50 mark, he mentions changing the facility from Hydro, using Rockwool, to using Living Soil in 5 gallon fabric pots. They've completed about 30% of the conversion, and a primary reason for it was an increase of 30-40% at harvest for individual plants. It's near the end, at that time mark, above, when they finally get into changing the facility, and the differences are spoken about. A very interesting little 10-15 min talk on the differences they've found (starting around the 44:50 mark), right before the end. That's the most recent "research" I've heard on larger yields with Living Soil, and very interesting. Thanks again, Shane!👍💯🙏✌️
Problem is most growers will try living soil for a couple of runs and compare it to hydro and give up. living soil just keeps getting better and better, with each harvest you see quality and quantity increases and after 4/5 runs it surpasses hydro. those just looking for a quick turn over and high yields just wont see the benefits instantly and won't stick with it, which is a shame because once soil is dialled in its effortless runs. I still run hydro but that yield makes it's way to others jar's, my organics stay with me.
@@gavincooke1982Look at the yield of product here v useless leaf. He could have fitted 2 more plants in the soil tent and doubled the weight of chillis. That already beats the Coco and hydro crops that filled the tents with leaf.
Good stuff, CO² will be interesting. I'm keen on living soil for: *The low environmental impact *Cheap as I can make most inputs & dont replace media *Time effective, water and a couple of top dresses Running those tests 4 times in the exact same media with fert you have made on site I think would have very different results.
This is a fantastic channel and your objective and scientific approach to this entire thing is spot on. I wish more companies did business like you do, thanks for all the content.
Considering you're not going to eat the leaves, I'd say given the ratio of fruit to foliage weight, soil is the winner. You could have grown 4 in soil, equaled the yield, taken up less space along with probably less nutrients and water, less work overall, and less plant waste to dispose of.
No lol. The tent and light is much to small for plant of this size to produce more fruit. In hydro you can flip plant much sooner, before it grows out of control like in case like this chillis lol. Hydro is win win there is absolutley no debate.
I've been watching your content for a little bit, and first of all, I'd like to thank you for sharing your experiences and knowledge. You definitely earned my subscription after you ate that pepper 🌶 🤣 I'm new to gardening so my opinion on which is best doesn't hold any validity but I I'm really after quality as opposed to quantity. I guess I'll learn more as I go. Thank you!
Something to think about this test is that results for hydro are skewed due to not enough of light for the amount of growth at later stage so the fruits slowed development exponentially the more light-eclipse was progressing with overgrowth. Literally at last most important stage there was not enough light for the giant volumetric size and too small light box. Me thinks the soil and coco results are fine while hydro results underperform due to unexpected extreme growth. Hydro a victim of it's own success in this case. I would assume with proper sized (double) and more light at last stage of growth also coming from sideways to penetrate canopy, the result might be 1.1 to 1.5kg maybe? and definitely more sugar. To many of fruits hidden in the darkness of top layer of bushy leaves.
Makes perfect sense. I learned the hard way, when you increase 1 link, you have to increase them all. I had to read up where I went wrong after what I tell you. I grew hydro some years ago and left for a few days and came back and my plant was 3-4 feet taller, leaves were about 6 inches wider.but the stalks were paper thin. Right before I left, I cleaned my area (I knew I’d be gone for a few days), but clicked on on the timer. I didn’t realize I didn’t turn the timer mode back on. SMH. Co2 was all gone, water was really low, but I was amazed. Having said that, if it was continuous, the temp should have been increased, more co2, larger water and nutrient reservoir and I would have been more blown away than I was.
I grow soil ( outdoors ) but then I'm not 100% organic. I'll amend the soil with slow release mostly organic fertilizer and at the peak of growth i'll supplement with Floranova grow/bloom. It's my unprofessional opinion that the organic soil grow could have had better results. I'm fully in agreement that hydro can't be beat as far as nutriment availability is concerned. You could probably make the mix a little hotter.
Great ending. I just received my Uni-T meter and used it with the app for the first time yesterday. Let's just say I needed to make some changes to systems I've had in place for years. That tool is fantastic. Now I just need to complete my conversion to a hydro setup...
Coco makes a grown man cry! As a pepper grower myself, I wonder how has the polination been done and rate of success for each. Thanks Shane for your work, sweat and tears! ;)
@@coloradodirtbike5930 nope, they need a little push, wind or bees, indoor requires shaking, or swab intervention (IMHO this last one resulting in better results)
Clackamoots living soil with a swick setup can get coco like results. The only evidence is go to the forums and see the results. Hydros will always be yield king but the others will be close. Not everyone has the time, space or money to do such expirements so good on you and thank you!
Great comparison Shane, can you tell us how much nutrients/supplements did you use in each of the methods, it would be nice to know the cost of production for each, which was the most cost efficient method, money per gram?
Excellent content! Can’t wait for Co2 tests. Do you know what the horses eat? As hay that’s fed to them can be full of pesticides stunting growth. Just a thought
Great video and really detail. There only one thing i didnt agree with is the result. If you are doing a compar from soil, coco and hydro then you should use the same nutrients for all three madium to get the right end result.
Did that the last test but this one was bout organic soil with organic nutrients vs hydro methods with synthetic. The point is to compare different inputs
Living soil yielded so much compared to the other two in fruit, considering it looked to be several times smaller. Is that not evidence of there being something special there? (Genuine question I'm learning with you). Also the fruits being ready and starting to mature faster. This is what I would have expected, the only surprise to me was how close the yield of LSO was to the other two given the size difference. I definitely think hydro can produce as good fruit as LSO, it just seems to be easier to get super smelly sweet fruits from LSO, especially when using special soil mixes with mycorhizzal fungi and worm juices. I really don't know, but as a layman when I get some well cared for soil that's rich with life it seems to always produce very tasty fruit, my attempts at hydro have been fine, but it has felt like a trade of on quality for yield, probably because I don't know how to feed it properly. I want to do more of both for fun. This was really cool to see, thank you.
If you tested the nutrient density of the fruits you would be picking the soil grown every time, as well as some people think they can feed a plant they'll never be able to feed it as well as the plant can itself. You can force a plant to do whatever you want with chemicals but most times it's an inferior product when it comes to any markers besides appearance
@@ottoflouer1750my guess is bacteria and fungi, microbes in the plant helping with the efficiency of nutrient processing and pre processing required nutrients in the soil before exchanging them with the plant. Maybe the hydro plant is larger because it is doing more of the work, nutrient processing itself and in the bacteria in its cells, so instead of being small and efficient and trading resources, it's spending those resources on growing larger.
I grow tomatoes on Canna soil and do 500 grams of dry material per square meter. Personally I am not fond of Biobizz fertilizers because they leave too much to the imagination. I always use Bio Nova. And looking at the size those plants should not have had any fertilizers so likely were overfed. Also you need to keep the soil very moist, just not so much that the roots are always under water. I plant 16 tomatoes per square meter in 11 to 14 liter pots and after 2 weeks of flower I water every 48 hours with runoff that the plants must take up in 24 hours. It's a little slower than hydro but much better end product.
I think the reason Hydro wins over the coco is because the hydro system can grow much larger root mass, in the coca there is only so much room available for growth also the roots are getting oxygenated water and the coca isn't. I love growing in Hydro and if your goal is large yield and less pests hydro is the way to go
Looking at the results. If we’re dealing with space restrictions, wouldn’t coco’s results make it the winner if we’re worried about the actual fruit weight? Hydro created more biomass but it also almost took double the amount of space.
Coco and Hydro costs are way higher, using vastly more water/time. Plus you used different nutrients... Soil needs to be living to be truly effective, just as Mother Nature intended. Microbes, mycelium, worms and all the other micro organisms make for healthy plants.
In my experience, if you put peppers in smaller pots, they veg for a shorter amount of time and start producing fruits earlier and less of them. The entire plant kinda stays small. In larger pots, the plants veg longer and develop fruits later and ripen a lil later. That's just my experience with peppers in particular. Maybe the plant just has an easier time rooting out in coco and hydro, thus vegging longer?
the food no longer tastes like anything... and you're happy about it too. I prefer the small harvest, tasty, fragrant, natural and with all its organoleptic properties.
Great videos. Greenhouse Hydro taste is not really the same. I would like to know about total inputs used. Did the hydro take twice as many nutrients as the soil? Just looking at the data. Plant mass vs nutrient used. Too bad the soil couldn't double it's yield while keeping plant mass to fruit yield ratio. Wonder how my peat vermiculite would do?
impressive, ive been growing in soil for 13 years and always been worried to change to coco, well i took the dive and wish id done so so much sooner, wasted years growing in soil for average yields, i have a coco plant running at week 5 bloom and wow am i impressed, i use a self watering system 4 irrigations a day and what a change, i have my last soil run going in a 2.4 tent but after that coco all the way in all my other areas, thanks for your vids, also stopped using hps and just bought my first led fixture, excited to use it, thanks for your content
I used to grow outdoors .....over twenty years ago. Now I have a license and just started my first set of ladies into the flowering stage. There 3 weeks in the 12/12 light cycle in a 4x4 room with a Bestva bp4000 (415 actual watts). I'm using ocean forest/happy frog mix with some perlite and extra peat moss . First grow indoors is going way better than expected as a direct result of watching your tips . Thanks for the info. My room is a 4x8 but I can only grow 6 glowering plants at a time so I have it blocked off in half. My question, if anyone can help, is this..... I have an extra 200watt Led grow light.....if I use both lights together.....is it enough to go from veg all the way through flower with a total of @620watts of LED lighting or do I need 2 400Watt lights for that much room(4x8) ? Any tips would be greatly appreciated ........thanks !
U can use as much watts as your plants can take in ppfd or light photons, that’s dependent on the environment they are in. Your vpd, or your RH and air temps. Leaf temps technically will make up your vpd numbers. There are plenty of charts that can help u dial in your lights and vpd. Ur in week 3 of flowering just finishing up your stretch. Now is time to start lowering temps and rh and getting more light to them.
@@mickyB11 thanks for the response. My rh stays between 52-65% Temps between 68-77 ! My light guage says I'm at around 1,000-1,200 just below the tops of the plants ! They seem to be very happy as they're covered in trichomes already !
In defense of the organic soil, TRUE organic living soil is almost 100% hands off. The worms and aminos do all the work. Coco needs watered sometimes several time per day and you are always fighting against calcium and pH problems. Hydro needs a 4-year degree in molecular biology to pull off successfully and you are at the mercy of the mechanical setup. I would also like to see the nutritional content of each broken down. My money is on the organic being almost double the other two. I know I was being factitious, but I stand by what I said.
I use biobizz in soil myself, why don't you just use the biobizz light mix (my choice) or all mix soil? I found that the roots fill a standard 18ltr pot no problem and i get about 125g dried product average per plant. I do however use their root juice and topmax as well though. Taste is always excellent.
Did that before on the last test with light peat moss soil. I was then told it wasn't a true test because it wasn't organic soil. Cant' satisfy everyone..
That hydro plant is very impressive when it comes to size. I'm surprised the light didn't burn the plant more that close to the light!In the end synthetics will always win in size.I've learned not to eat animals/food from most stores with all the synthetics crap added to them because it causes health issues so I wont use it in my plants, if I'm going to consume them. The taste test was the best part of the video I just wish you ate the other two.also chili peppers are probably hard to do a taste test with because of the heat that lingers in your mouth for so long. Thank you for taking your free time in doing these videos for us.
nice test , Im sure Biobizz & Ecothrive will be rather pissed about the results I use Ecothrive products & they are excellent so I dont think its a reflection of what they do . Results talk loud & nice one for doing this & enjoy your chillies 😎
It would be interesting to see a hydro only comparison, I have tried a DWC with natural fertilisers and it has been a slow and small grow. If it were what you were using it may have been different. May try some variations, RO v non RO, natural v chemical ar a mix of the two.
Unfortunately, there's no excellent so called Natural hydroponic nutrients on the market that would beat even a cheap well put together synthetic source
Have fun with the ph pen and EC meters. Wait till you have to get a water chiller cause of water temps. Here in California too hot to run that and electricity expensive. Indoor growing is not an option anymore. Living soil outdoors just have to water, soil buffers the PH. Top dress dry amendments 1 time every month for Veg.
@@aychemara been doing it over a year, no EC pen, I do use a PH pen but it was 11 dollars on Amazon. For nutrients I just use general hydroponics flora macro. It’s cheap, lasts a full harvest and that’s it. No RO water, no PPM checks. I have never had to worry about water temps either. I have my tent in my HVAC room of my house. My air from the tent gets pumped out of the room. The air for the buckets come from an air pump that’s outside the tent so it’s not pumping hot air into the water, for instance it was 105 the other day in Missouri. Nada problem. Almost 90% of the stuff you see in here is bullshit bro science. It’s a plant, and a very easy one to grow at that.
Good video friend, where others see better the hydro (which I do not understand) I see that it is much better the living soil. In the living soil a third of the harvest are fruits and more mature. In the hydro they are a sixth part of fruits and it still has maturation. It is impressive the amount of fruits that live soil produces. There is room for two more plants and we could say that it would give 1200 grams of fruit and could be harvested earlier. I am also sure that the flavor improves with the live soil. Thanks for these contributions
Please research Matt powers and build a soil about living soil . You have a fraction of the microbiology you need to help in decomposition of the organic matter. the hydro is insane though nice work
Im gonna add a couple cents in here. Its not the substrate that made the difference this time its that organic requires time to convert microbial food into usable nutrients and it just takes longer theres no question about it. If you are using different nutrients on the hydro and the coco that auto uptake well what you are doing is a nutrient uptake test. We all know this was gonna happen but in order to test the substrate you have to use the same nutrients on all three of them. There are secrets to coco with dryback and Ph which dramatically affects uptake, coco is generally calcium deficient as well and a good shot of amino acids can increase calcium uptake by 5000% so you can offset those differences, another key to coco is leaf temperature VPD and humitidy which also affect up-take and then finally EC if enough photosynthesis is taking place you should be getting a lot ATP production and a lot of uptake...you can really get it uptaking much more like hydro if you do it right. looks like you did fine Im just making a point that apples to apples to apples those would all be a lot more even.
This is a fascinating experiment!. I have a couple of ideas for a follow up experiment with additional data collection: First, measuring the oxygen present around the roots of each medium (dont know if this is possible or how you'd do it). There is a chance the hydro outperformed because the other two mediums lacked oxygen. Second, measuring the amount of microbes present around the roots of each plant. Most farmers i know test this with a simple microscope test. the reason i'm asking this is that the plants potted in the non-water mediums look waterlogged and lacking oxygen, and i wonder if those variables could be showing the difference here. Hydro systems usually have an air pump in the system supplying adequate oxygen (which affect both the plant and the micro organisms). I would totally love to see a follow up about this, this is really interesting.
What a guy! Since I switched from soil to coco my rather restricted space looks more like the hydro setup did here when it comes to chop time. If I went hydro I'd run completely out of headroom and blow the bleeding roof off! I've got a nice new light coming for better coverage and increased headroom and I'm looking into Blumats now for some coco watering "automation". I'm sticking with coco. I like that I can treat it a bit like soil with the ability to use organic supplements and beneficial microbes etc. along with the dry powder nutrient mix I use. The quality of product, convenience and stealth are every bit as important as yield to me and so far coco is ticking my boxes nicely.
I have been fretting because I cannot garden as I do not get enough sun. I have been thinking to try hydroponics in my garage to supplement my food supply but had doubts as to the yield since this is for survival, not a hobby and I won't be bothering with lettuce or the other easy-to-grow tomatoes etc that most do. I am interested in growing root crops if possible using aeroponics and grow towers to get more crop space out of the garage footprint. Haha. I cannot handle those peppers raw like that. You are a brave soul and cute too!
Good to see you taking one for the team with the taste test!
I wanna shake your hand one day sir. You have not only educated me but inspired me to keep thinking outside of that damn box. You are the OG of the light community. Please keep doing what YOU love and what we love!!!
This was one of the best tests I’ve seen with plants, thanks Shane. This video was also super funny when you ate the pepper.
Hydro will always provide the greatest return. Most people think it is more work, but i strongly disagree. Solid content. Thanks Shane!
it requires more work initially and a lot of patience before you get into the topic and understand everything you need too (EC, pH, etc). BUT after you reach that level of knowledge you definitely have way less work and way fewer things to be stressed about.
@@cooller8888 Same for coco....soil is more forgiving than the other 2
it's less work and absolutely no fun
i just switched from dwc to coco, i loved dwc it was super fun and i was doing really well with it but i was getting tired of hauling buckets of water around and realized how much i liked the feel of watering by hand, i def recommend DWC it was a great time. Remember tho Coco is hydro its just hydro that looks like your using soil
@@f_youtubecensorshipf_nazis no fun? you can feed your plants exactly what you want, it's literally the best you can do for plant life and this ain't fun to you? :D
Loyal to the soil 💯Living soil
You need to try hydro, it's 100% better and easier to right any wrongs.
@@BossTweed69 You need to run soil, Quality over quantity each and every time. Ran hydro for over 9yrs and have ran soil side by side for last 2yrs now. Organics hands down. if yield is all you're after then fair enough hydro it is. but not if end product quality is your aim.
Ive grown weed in both and i can say is for quantity you take hydro for taste and quality you take soil
@@gavincooke1982what about coco?What soil do you use?
@@gavincooke1982 Ever try compost tea hydro?
What is not being considered here is space management. From looking at this with the fruit production, hydro seems to make less fruit in ratio to veg matter. If we were dealing with cannabis, this would require intense defoliation, pest control, lst, water and nutes, and extra heat to manage plants this size. If it were to come to scaling, you can put in about 4 times the soil plants in the same space constraints of one huge hydro plant and produce more fruit in total. Less nutes, less watering frequency and less vegetable matter to deal with. Trust me I am an aeroponics guy, but when it comes to efficiency and fruit per sq/m, i think you can scrog a bunch of smaller soil pots and get more than 1 or 2 huge hydros. If you do a hybrid beneficial bacteria soil mix with perlite and coco, you can get more frequent feeds and get a good balance between coco and soil. Basically I do this now using hydro nutes but with blended compost teas. Amazing product.
Yeah yuo are ritgh , but its a very good experiment of how change the potencial grow just changing the media of the grow
Not really, as most of these differences can be affected by Crop Steering tech, using different EC, room and feed temps, night temps, you can make the plants grow how you want them. Google a few guides, it is a fascinating subject
Yeah but the weed can't produce the terps in soil compared to hydro
Egh no lol. You yust flip them to flower earliear before they grow out of controll and minimising efficency. in that experiment plants were much to big for that tent and light to efficently produce more fruit.
@@MikeMisiewicz
What do you mean exactly? Why should you get less of them in soil?
I had plants in soil root as much as your hydro , the root system was that well developed that you could have removed it from the pot and used it to smash a double glazing window and no soil would have been left on the floor, type of soil and bacteria/ fungi is key with soil more than coco and hydro.
If you’ve never grown hydro, I could see where you would think this. Hydro root masses are unmatched. Not just the density but their actual strength. I’ve been able to basically make ropes from some of the roots from my tomatoes.
@@gasser5001 now do this outdoors and see the difference, wasting electricity indoor growing. Going to to have root rot doing hydro outdoors unless you run a water chiller. More electricity use again.
Coco & organic dry amendments for me.. done both the yield is less organically but the taste is superior just my opinion.. thank for the test 👍
Hi! Back in 2018 I wasn't able to grow indoor and I knew it would be the case for 2 years so I had to grow enough outdoor and I asked a friend for clones cause he had 2 strains that I really enjoy that he grow hydro...I planted direct in soil and I made fermented plants juice rice water coconut water green compost wormcasting etc...only natural amendments I only bought bloom bat guano molasses and coconut water...results more sweet to the taste and to the throat plus a little detail it was more smelly and I forgot a little jar for more than a year and it was even better when my friend's one after 4 months start to loose terps very fast according to him...🤔!
I still keep thinking that we are what we eat and it's the same for plants...and I want quality I can't buy from a plug...all those synthetic nutes aren't for me anymore and I still manage to get 1.7/1.8gpw on average with living soil that I never change and yes I have worms who live their best life in it (I have to remove some every 3 months and replace it with fresh soil (about 2 liters on 35L)...the thing is that I have 10 to 12 weeks to veg so an eternity to get plants big enough for a good flowering so it's not relevant to me as I could have the messy tent like the hydro one in this video but with living soil!
Hi Shane IV been enjoying watching the results of this test.Amazed how different the results are. Thanks for OPENING OUR 👀👁️.
TAKE CARE SIR
Hey Shane, really appreciate the effort dedicated to doing this. Cheers man!
Also, I am enjoying viewing all the different ways people are giving their input.
Thanks
@@MIGROLIGHT Video for you to prove wrong with actual FACTS : ruclips.net/video/XO-gQ27GQ_Y/видео.html
Great content and very thorough! Keep it up Shane, you are treasured among this community!
you took the words outta my mouth. This guy is a life savier, bringer of knowledge and honesty!😅 Thank you
Agreed both your comments..
hello Shane,
I just want to say thank you for your work, your sharing, your honesty and for the human being that you are! I imagine you already know that, so thank you, I've been following you for quite a while now, I also bought one of your Aray 8 lamps (which I find incredibly effective, I had excellent results, welldone sir) and I will surely take the last 5x5. Thanks again and ALL MY RESPECT!! sorry for my English I am Portuguese and live in Switzerland, but a "human being" above all.
I've just finished my most succesful grow yet in soil - using Plagron Batmix with Canna bio nutes with a little Guano top dressing 2/3 thru the grow....!
Curious that the soil faired so poorly in the test - started off well...!
Great Test Shane, I loved hydro but it can be finicky. I run pure COCO but feed like hydro Oxygenating your solution really helps.
I primarily grow with coco on a flood and drain table. For the beginning of my grows fertigating once a day is enough. When they start reaching the walls, I double the fertigation amount. So instead of 2-3 times a day I do 4-6 times a day. This improved my yields. I don't have any proof other than my notes though. Not sure if you have done this but it was a significant improvement in my yields on coco.
I view my coco as semi hydro and if moister is 1-5 I like to keep it above 2. Top water for the first 4 weeks on autos, then bottom feed for the remainder
I think you'll find better results with drain to waste, it's not much more water/nutrients usage. That way you always have the same strength solution each fertigation.
@green285 I would spend more time making nutrient solutions that way. I have done drain to waste in the past. While you can get it perfect with drain to waste, my plants don't seem to mind the variation of flood and drain. You can still apply the same principles to drain to waste, though. Although using double the nutrients used is double the work to make them.
Having the ability to walk away from the tent for a week or two is my goal. I may revist drain to waste but would want a mixing robot for the nutes. It's getting built and programmed now but will take time. Im documenting my journey. I don't know when a video will be out for it. When I started hydroponics A and B nutrients were new. I'm probably just stuck in my own ways. I change my res every two weeks on a schedule. I also top off with fresh solution.
@@hazardouschurch1
I mix nutes about every 3 days and drain to waste with about a 10% run off. Flush every 3rd feeding.
@@hazardouschurch1 dos-a-tron for the delivery of nutrients but it can be pricey up front cost. But pays for itself in no time
Good on ya for biting into that chili! These videos are pure gold, next light I'll buy will definitely be migro, your work on this channel is bar none the best out there when it comes to lights and growing 😊
Outstanding Professor thank you. ( thanks for the taste test and taking one for the team !)
these are the videos I enjoy watch, pure honesty and non bias. you got a SUB!!
I was watching an interview with the head of the "L.A. Cannabis Co", established in 2007, on FCP02(Future Cannabis Project - Channel 02). From a few weeks ago titled "The state of The Cannabis Industry in California", I believe.
Around the 44:50 mark, he mentions changing the facility from Hydro, using Rockwool, to using Living Soil in 5 gallon fabric pots.
They've completed about 30% of the conversion, and a primary reason for it was an increase of 30-40% at harvest for individual plants.
It's near the end, at that time mark, above, when they finally get into changing the facility, and the differences are spoken about.
A very interesting little 10-15 min talk on the differences they've found (starting around the 44:50 mark), right before the end.
That's the most recent "research" I've heard on larger yields with Living Soil, and very interesting. Thanks again, Shane!👍💯🙏✌️
Problem is most growers will try living soil for a couple of runs and compare it to hydro and give up. living soil just keeps getting better and better, with each harvest you see quality and quantity increases and after 4/5 runs it surpasses hydro. those just looking for a quick turn over and high yields just wont see the benefits instantly and won't stick with it, which is a shame because once soil is dialled in its effortless runs. I still run hydro but that yield makes it's way to others jar's, my organics stay with me.
@@gavincooke1982Look at the yield of product here v useless leaf. He could have fitted 2 more plants in the soil tent and doubled the weight of chillis. That already beats the Coco and hydro crops that filled the tents with leaf.
Good stuff, CO² will be interesting.
I'm keen on living soil for:
*The low environmental impact
*Cheap as I can make most inputs & dont replace media
*Time effective, water and a couple of top dresses
Running those tests 4 times in the exact same media with fert you have made on site I think would have very different results.
This is a fantastic channel and your objective and scientific approach to this entire thing is spot on. I wish more companies did business like you do, thanks for all the content.
thanks for the feedback :)
Thank you Shane - it was yourself that got me to try coco and it's now my fave indoor medium.
Thanks for the great content,the smile at the end also. Can’t wait for the co2 chill grow
Considering you're not going to eat the leaves, I'd say given the ratio of fruit to foliage weight, soil is the winner. You could have grown 4 in soil, equaled the yield, taken up less space along with probably less nutrients and water, less work overall, and less plant waste to dispose of.
No lol. The tent and light is much to small for plant of this size to produce more fruit. In hydro you can flip plant much sooner, before it grows out of control like in case like this chillis lol. Hydro is win win there is absolutley no debate.
@@NotHumant8727 lol, then you're using too much nitrogen for a crop such as chilis. Lol
Great stuff. Thanks, Shane. I'd love to see a test with coco in all three tents, varying the fertigation frequencies.
Same here
With coco drain to waste is best.
I've been watching your content for a little bit, and first of all, I'd like to thank you for sharing your experiences and knowledge. You definitely earned my subscription after you ate that pepper 🌶 🤣 I'm new to gardening so my opinion on which is best doesn't hold any validity but I I'm really after quality as opposed to quantity. I guess I'll learn more as I go. Thank you!
Thanks
Something to think about this test is that results for hydro are skewed due to not enough of light for the amount of growth at later stage so the fruits slowed development exponentially the more light-eclipse was progressing with overgrowth.
Literally at last most important stage there was not enough light for the giant volumetric size and too small light box. Me thinks the soil and coco results are fine while hydro results underperform due to unexpected extreme growth. Hydro a victim of it's own success in this case. I would assume with proper sized (double) and more light at last stage of growth also coming from sideways to penetrate canopy, the result might be 1.1 to 1.5kg maybe? and definitely more sugar. To many of fruits hidden in the darkness of top layer of bushy leaves.
Makes perfect sense. I learned the hard way, when you increase 1 link, you have to increase them all. I had to read up where I went wrong after what I tell you. I grew hydro some years ago and left for a few days and came back and my plant was 3-4 feet taller, leaves were about 6 inches wider.but the stalks were paper thin. Right before I left, I cleaned my area (I knew I’d be gone for a few days), but clicked on on the timer. I didn’t realize I didn’t turn the timer mode back on. SMH. Co2 was all gone, water was really low, but I was amazed. Having said that, if it was continuous, the temp should have been increased, more co2, larger water and nutrient reservoir and I would have been more blown away than I was.
U should do a organic super soil mix instead of those junk organic bottles
100%
You are a National Treasure, mate.
I grow soil ( outdoors ) but then I'm not 100% organic. I'll amend the soil with slow release mostly organic fertilizer and at the peak of growth i'll supplement with Floranova grow/bloom. It's my unprofessional opinion that the organic soil grow could have had better results. I'm fully in agreement that hydro can't be beat as far as nutriment availability is concerned. You could probably make the mix a little hotter.
Great ending. I just received my Uni-T meter and used it with the app for the first time yesterday. Let's just say I needed to make some changes to systems I've had in place for years. That tool is fantastic. Now I just need to complete my conversion to a hydro setup...
Amazing testing ! a lot of information packed in Thank you for putting in all that work to make this video happen.
Coco makes a grown man cry!
As a pepper grower myself, I wonder how has the polination been done and rate of success for each.
Thanks Shane for your work, sweat and tears! ;)
Comment right from the trenches.
In shook each plant every other day to spread the pollen around but that was all. The majority of the flowers produced fruit.
Peppers are self pollinating I thought?
@@coloradodirtbike5930 nope, they need a little push, wind or bees, indoor requires shaking, or swab intervention (IMHO this last one resulting in better results)
@@educaracas726 have you ever grown super hots indoors? I heard some people say it's a waste of time, just wondering if it's possible.
Clackamoots living soil with a swick setup can get coco like results. The only evidence is go to the forums and see the results.
Hydros will always be yield king but the others will be close. Not everyone has the time, space or money to do such expirements so good on you and thank you!
Tus videos son pura calidad. Sos el mejor MIGRO nunca me fallas. Saludos desde Argentina
Great comparison Shane, can you tell us how much nutrients/supplements did you use in each of the methods, it would be nice to know the cost of production for each, which was the most cost efficient method, money per gram?
Thies ist exactly what i want to know, aswell. For this case we can calculate what we try Next year in our 2.5 ha greenhouses ;)
Please watch previous episode where I went through the nutrient schedule. ruclips.net/video/Ep_oh-YS4t0/видео.html
Excellent content! Can’t wait for Co2 tests. Do you know what the horses eat? As hay that’s fed to them can be full of pesticides stunting growth. Just a thought
What was the frequency of fertigation for the coco ?
Best video proof I've seen that hydro outperforms the competition.
Great video and really detail. There only one thing i didnt agree with is the result. If you are doing a compar from soil, coco and hydro then you should use the same nutrients for all three madium to get the right end result.
Did that the last test but this one was bout organic soil with organic nutrients vs hydro methods with synthetic. The point is to compare different inputs
Imo it's a win for the coco. A manageable plant & canopy with well developed fruits and the highest sugar content.
love it, going through the pain of eating the chillis .... Test from seed to tasting them
Living soil yielded so much compared to the other two in fruit, considering it looked to be several times smaller. Is that not evidence of there being something special there? (Genuine question I'm learning with you). Also the fruits being ready and starting to mature faster.
This is what I would have expected, the only surprise to me was how close the yield of LSO was to the other two given the size difference.
I definitely think hydro can produce as good fruit as LSO, it just seems to be easier to get super smelly sweet fruits from LSO, especially when using special soil mixes with mycorhizzal fungi and worm juices. I really don't know, but as a layman when I get some well cared for soil that's rich with life it seems to always produce very tasty fruit, my attempts at hydro have been fine, but it has felt like a trade of on quality for yield, probably because I don't know how to feed it properly. I want to do more of both for fun. This was really cool to see, thank you.
If you tested the nutrient density of the fruits you would be picking the soil grown every time, as well as some people think they can feed a plant they'll never be able to feed it as well as the plant can itself. You can force a plant to do whatever you want with chemicals but most times it's an inferior product when it comes to any markers besides appearance
@@ottoflouer1750my guess is bacteria and fungi, microbes in the plant helping with the efficiency of nutrient processing and pre processing required nutrients in the soil before exchanging them with the plant. Maybe the hydro plant is larger because it is doing more of the work, nutrient processing itself and in the bacteria in its cells, so instead of being small and efficient and trading resources, it's spending those resources on growing larger.
I grow tomatoes on Canna soil and do 500 grams of dry material per square meter. Personally I am not fond of Biobizz fertilizers because they leave too much to the imagination. I always use Bio Nova. And looking at the size those plants should not have had any fertilizers so likely were overfed. Also you need to keep the soil very moist, just not so much that the roots are always under water. I plant 16 tomatoes per square meter in 11 to 14 liter pots and after 2 weeks of flower I water every 48 hours with runoff that the plants must take up in 24 hours. It's a little slower than hydro but much better end product.
Your efforts are much appreciated.
I am looking forward to the co2 test.
Thanks
Different nutrients on each tent...?
I think the reason Hydro wins over the coco is because the hydro system can grow much larger root mass, in the coca there is only so much room available for growth also the roots are getting oxygenated water and the coca isn't. I love growing in Hydro and if your goal is large yield and less pests hydro is the way to go
Well done Shanè both on the grow and trying to handle that chill 😂
Looking at the results. If we’re dealing with space restrictions, wouldn’t coco’s results make it the winner if we’re worried about the actual fruit weight? Hydro created more biomass but it also almost took double the amount of space.
Coco and Hydro costs are way higher, using vastly more water/time. Plus you used different nutrients... Soil needs to be living to be truly effective, just as Mother Nature intended. Microbes, mycelium, worms and all the other micro organisms make for healthy plants.
Dam, hydroponics is beyond impressive.
In my experience, if you put peppers in smaller pots, they veg for a shorter amount of time and start producing fruits earlier and less of them. The entire plant kinda stays small. In larger pots, the plants veg longer and develop fruits later and ripen a lil later. That's just my experience with peppers in particular. Maybe the plant just has an easier time rooting out in coco and hydro, thus vegging longer?
Cool! Pretty sure that's a watering/irrigation issue, not a soil issue. Use blumats next time!
Excellent side by side experiment, Shane. The taste test at the end was truly epic. Thanks for the education and the comedy.
Loved the tasting at the end, a few more and Chili Klaus will be proud
Another great video, I loved the taste test brother!
Chillis are about my limit on heat. Hydro has always been my favor. Simple and less gnats in most cases.
the food no longer tastes like anything... and you're happy about it too.
I prefer the small harvest, tasty, fragrant, natural and with all its organoleptic properties.
Great videos. Greenhouse Hydro taste is not really the same. I would like to know about total inputs used. Did the hydro take twice as many nutrients as the soil? Just looking at the data. Plant mass vs nutrient used. Too bad the soil couldn't double it's yield while keeping plant mass to fruit yield ratio. Wonder how my peat vermiculite would do?
impressive, ive been growing in soil for 13 years and always been worried to change to coco, well i took the dive and wish id done so so much sooner, wasted years growing in soil for average yields, i have a coco plant running at week 5 bloom and wow am i impressed, i use a self watering system 4 irrigations a day and what a change, i have my last soil run going in a 2.4 tent but after that coco all the way in all my other areas, thanks for your vids, also stopped using hps and just bought my first led fixture, excited to use it, thanks for your content
ha ha ha the hiccups brilliant!!!!! Lots of love from Limerick lads! Love your lights and videos.
Glad you like them!
I would think stress maybe lead to the soil finishing faster.
I used to grow outdoors .....over twenty years ago. Now I have a license and just started my first set of ladies into the flowering stage. There 3 weeks in the 12/12 light cycle in a 4x4 room with a Bestva bp4000 (415 actual watts). I'm using ocean forest/happy frog mix with some perlite and extra peat moss . First grow indoors is going way better than expected as a direct result of watching your tips . Thanks for the info. My room is a 4x8 but I can only grow 6 glowering plants at a time so I have it blocked off in half. My question, if anyone can help, is this..... I have an extra 200watt Led grow light.....if I use both lights together.....is it enough to go from veg all the way through flower with a total of @620watts of LED lighting or do I need 2 400Watt lights for that much room(4x8) ? Any tips would be greatly appreciated ........thanks !
U can use as much watts as your plants can take in ppfd or light photons, that’s dependent on the environment they are in. Your vpd, or your RH and air temps. Leaf temps technically will make up your vpd numbers. There are plenty of charts that can help u dial in your lights and vpd.
Ur in week 3 of flowering just finishing up your stretch. Now is time to start lowering temps and rh and getting more light to them.
@@mickyB11 thanks for the response. My rh stays between 52-65% Temps between 68-77 ! My light guage says I'm at around 1,000-1,200 just below the tops of the plants ! They seem to be very happy as they're covered in trichomes already !
In defense of the organic soil, TRUE organic living soil is almost 100% hands off. The worms and aminos do all the work. Coco needs watered sometimes several time per day and you are always fighting against calcium and pH problems. Hydro needs a 4-year degree in molecular biology to pull off successfully and you are at the mercy of the mechanical setup.
I would also like to see the nutritional content of each broken down. My money is on the organic being almost double the other two.
I know I was being factitious, but I stand by what I said.
"Hydro needs a 4-year degree in molecular biology to pull off successfully and you are at the mercy of the mechanical setup."
Wrong
@@Ufkatuale I guess you told me, huh?
I use biobizz in soil myself, why don't you just use the biobizz light mix (my choice) or all mix soil? I found that the roots fill a standard 18ltr pot no problem and i get about 125g dried product average per plant. I do however use their root juice and topmax as well though. Taste is always excellent.
Did that before on the last test with light peat moss soil. I was then told it wasn't a true test because it wasn't organic soil. Cant' satisfy everyone..
How often was the coco fertigated each day?
Ive had this suspicion with the organic soils over pure cocoa for a while, really glad you took the time to prove it :)
Different nutrients, though.
I didn't get on with biobizz either.
Organic coco works really good
I just found this channel, I’m so glad I did! 😁
Very illustrative, and thanks for the testing in the end ;-))
That hydro plant is very impressive when it comes to size. I'm surprised the light didn't burn the plant more that close to the light!In the end synthetics will always win in size.I've learned not to eat animals/food from most stores with all the synthetics crap added to them because it causes health issues so I wont use it in my plants, if I'm going to consume them. The taste test was the best part of the video I just wish you ate the other two.also chili peppers are probably hard to do a taste test with because of the heat that lingers in your mouth for so long.
Thank you for taking your free time in doing these videos for us.
nice test , Im sure Biobizz & Ecothrive will be rather pissed about the results
I use Ecothrive products & they are excellent so I dont think its a reflection of what they do . Results talk loud & nice one for doing this & enjoy your chillies 😎
We need to see the soil done with dry amendments, microbes, mulch etc.
Is there a difference in the flavor of the chili? Is one more "hotter" than the other? Thanks
What sort of results could you expect from feeding through a wick system?
It would be interesting to see a hydro only comparison, I have tried a DWC with natural fertilisers and it has been a slow and small grow. If it were what you were using it may have been different. May try some variations, RO v non RO, natural v chemical ar a mix of the two.
Unfortunately, there's no excellent so called Natural hydroponic nutrients on the market that would beat even a cheap well put together synthetic source
I made the switch to hydro, not only is it super fun, but it’s a fraction of the work as soil. And my god, your plants just explode with growth
Have fun with the ph pen and EC meters. Wait till you have to get a water chiller cause of water temps. Here in California too hot to run that and electricity expensive. Indoor growing is not an option anymore. Living soil outdoors just have to water, soil buffers the PH. Top dress dry amendments 1 time every month for Veg.
@@aychemara been doing it over a year, no EC pen, I do use a PH pen but it was 11 dollars on Amazon. For nutrients I just use general hydroponics flora macro. It’s cheap, lasts a full harvest and that’s it. No RO water, no PPM checks. I have never had to worry about water temps either. I have my tent in my HVAC room of my house. My air from the tent gets pumped out of the room. The air for the buckets come from an air pump that’s outside the tent so it’s not pumping hot air into the water, for instance it was 105 the other day in Missouri. Nada problem. Almost 90% of the stuff you see in here is bullshit bro science. It’s a plant, and a very easy one to grow at that.
😂 it look like it punched you in the face with hotness great video can’t wait for the next episode
Well, that was illuminating. Looking forward to the next, Thanks Shane
Great work Shane as per usual, can I ask how often did you change the water in the dwc buckets .
Keep up the great work bro 😎🤙🇺🇲 much love from Pennsylvania 🥳
That was epic. Thank you very much Shane.
Good video friend, where others see better the hydro (which I do not understand) I see that it is much better the living soil.
In the living soil a third of the harvest are fruits and more mature.
In the hydro they are a sixth part of fruits and it still has maturation.
It is impressive the amount of fruits that live soil produces.
There is room for two more plants and we could say that it would give 1200 grams of fruit and could be harvested earlier.
I am also sure that the flavor improves with the live soil.
Thanks for these contributions
I am here for weed...and stay for chilli 😅
Great experiment. Would you consider a DWC vs Areoponic vs Fogponic grow? Thanks again for this.
Please research Matt powers and build a soil about living soil . You have a fraction of the microbiology you need to help in decomposition of the organic matter. the hydro is insane though nice work
100% this. I did write a similar comment about Jeremy from bas channel but it seems to have disappeared
So choose soil to keep it short?
how often was the coco watered? please and thank you
Thank you for sharing your results and comparison, Great video!
Solid content. I think the hydro probably needed another week or so for the fruit to finish up.
good lord, that hydro setup went crazy!
if you look at biomass vs. yield soil is far ahead, intresting
Outstanding content as usual! Shane the Boss🥸
Im gonna add a couple cents in here. Its not the substrate that made the difference this time its that organic requires time to convert microbial food into usable nutrients and it just takes longer theres no question about it. If you are using different nutrients on the hydro and the coco that auto uptake well what you are doing is a nutrient uptake test. We all know this was gonna happen but in order to test the substrate you have to use the same nutrients on all three of them. There are secrets to coco with dryback and Ph which dramatically affects uptake, coco is generally calcium deficient as well and a good shot of amino acids can increase calcium uptake by 5000% so you can offset those differences, another key to coco is leaf temperature VPD and humitidy which also affect up-take and then finally EC if enough photosynthesis is taking place you should be getting a lot ATP production and a lot of uptake...you can really get it uptaking much more like hydro if you do it right. looks like you did fine Im just making a point that apples to apples to apples those would all be a lot more even.
This is a fascinating experiment!. I have a couple of ideas for a follow up experiment with additional data collection:
First, measuring the oxygen present around the roots of each medium (dont know if this is possible or how you'd do it). There is a chance the hydro outperformed because the other two mediums lacked oxygen.
Second, measuring the amount of microbes present around the roots of each plant. Most farmers i know test this with a simple microscope test.
the reason i'm asking this is that the plants potted in the non-water mediums look waterlogged and lacking oxygen, and i wonder if those variables could be showing the difference here. Hydro systems usually have an air pump in the system supplying adequate oxygen (which affect both the plant and the micro organisms).
I would totally love to see a follow up about this, this is really interesting.
What a guy!
Since I switched from soil to coco my rather restricted space looks more like the hydro setup did here when it comes to chop time. If I went hydro I'd run completely out of headroom and blow the bleeding roof off!
I've got a nice new light coming for better coverage and increased headroom and I'm looking into Blumats now for some coco watering "automation".
I'm sticking with coco. I like that I can treat it a bit like soil with the ability to use organic supplements and beneficial microbes etc. along with the dry powder nutrient mix I use.
The quality of product, convenience and stealth are every bit as important as yield to me and so far coco is ticking my boxes nicely.
Did you use RO water on the coco plants aswell or just in the dwc?
Yes, same for Coco and RDWC
I have been fretting because I cannot garden as I do not get enough sun. I have been thinking to try hydroponics in my garage to supplement my food supply but had doubts as to the yield since this is for survival, not a hobby and I won't be bothering with lettuce or the other easy-to-grow tomatoes etc that most do. I am interested in growing root crops if possible using aeroponics and grow towers to get more crop space out of the garage footprint. Haha. I cannot handle those peppers raw like that. You are a brave soul and cute too!
Great review but you always need a pint close by when experimenting with peppers!
Coco always produced the best yields for me and the best product. I had more control over nutrient uptake and never got locked. Huge root base.
Shane, do you partake in 'medicinal herbs'?
Smoked for 30 years straight but not so much any more. More an occasional thing now, maybe once a week
I knew hydro would win :D nice work Shane! beautiful plants