There is no best way to grow. Often, when someone uses those words, it translates to either the most recent method they used or the first method they used (and got a successful harvest). People treat cannabis like it's some kind of special plant that is in its own class in regards to... everything in the universe. And they get fixated on whatever happens to work for them. That probably gets reinforced by the fact that they're usually #%&^ing stoned when they think about it (if they think about it
). The hempy method is a compromise between a traditional soil grow and active(ly-aerated) hydroponics. As such, it has both good points and bad ones.In regards to the growing of cannabis, it's just a plant. And not even a particularly difficult one to grow, at that.
I used to recommend people start down the path by doing a single-plant DWC grow in a relatively large (20 to 25 US gallons) highly-aerated reservoir. It removes a lot of variables. The large reservoir is more stable, It's less supportive of an insect population than soil. When the gardener does a thing, the results are generally very quick to show. Assuming great airflow, the plant has an excellent defense against high temperatures. If done as a proper SCROG grow - and assuming a decent (length of time) growth phase - one plant can easily fill an eight square foot space with "wall to wall" buds; it could even do the same with a larger grow space, although the reservoir capacity should be scaled up accordingly. Instead of buying bags of soil and/or perlite or another media... the gardener can grab a red Solo cup, drill/melt as many 1/4"-sized holes in it as they can, fill it with some kind of expanded clay media, jam the cup into a hole cut into the center of the reservoir's lid... and done. A 16-ounce or 18-ounce cup full of media and end up with a plant that requires you to go find a saw at harvest time. Even a small 10-liter bag of the stuff will last several years. Only one plant, so no need to mix multiple batches of nutrient solution. Easy enough to learn - and provides enough knowledge in the process - that the method makes for a great 4th-grade science project for the teacher to use as a teaching tool (using a different plant, of course
).. I won't state that it's idiot-proof, because the universe has a remarkable ability to produce some top-shelf idiots, lol - but it's close.However, that's not the best way to grow cannabis - because, again, there isn't one.
and since she was supposed to be my mentor, I let her convince me.
As always, her heart was in the right place.
Hey, Felonious, use the dirt to fill in holes in the yard, and go DWC - and lose the issues in the process. (Just kidding... sort of.) Oh, and your General Hydroponics stuff works great in DWC (or any other hydroponic setup).
It's okay. If you mean hand-watered, it's just another passive hydroponic method. I suggest he "go active." I cannot say that he'll end up deciding that it's going to be what works best for him, of course. But if he can "figure out how to pour piss out of a boot without having to have the instructions written on its bottom," as they say, it'll work for him, and work well. It's a nice blend of simplicity and... awesome, lol. You don't need to use the size reservoir I mentioned above, of course. I feel that a five-gallon bucket is a bit small, but lots of people use them. If he wants to run multiple strains in the same grow space, reservoirs of five- to ten-gallon capacity (each) would enable him to fill that space.
It never expires or spoils. It's a great soil lightener for soil-grown plants, in the cannabis grow space, for houseplants, in the food garden outdoors, etc. You'll undoubtedly find a use for it, even if you end up deciding that hempy / hand-watered passive hydroponics isn't the way you want to grow cannabis.
Hanna meters are good. Did you get calibration solution aswell?
it.
I'm in