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Hydroponics has many advantages, such as faster growth, higher yields and always just enough water, nutrients and oxygen. On the other hand, a purely organic culture also has a lot to offer, namely protection by microorganisms, a very extensive diet and, according to many, a better taste. However, you can also combine these benefits by using compost tea in a hydro grow.
Cannabis plants in a hydro system grow super fast and generally (with exceptions) deliver considerably higher yields than cannabis plants that grow on soil. However, organically grown cannabis plants receive protection from beneficial microorganisms and a much more extensive diet of nutrients. To give you an idea, the soil life in an organic culture releases more than 90 elements, while mineral hydro nutrition contains only 15 to 17 macro- and micro-elements.
Microbes for a more diverse diet
If Mother Nature provides plants with more than 90 elements and isotopes (atoms of the same chemical element), why do they also grow well with only 15 to 17 minerals from formula? That’s because bottle feeding has been made as economical as possible for efficient growth and flowering. And not to imitate nature as closely as possible. Or in other words, mineral formula contains only the necessary elements to grow and flourish.
Microbes, on the other hand, produce more than 90 elements that are also more absorbable biologically, and in various forms, called isotopes. So it is clear that microbes provide a much more diverse diet for cannabis plants, and a good compost tea contains all of these elements and isotopes. This is probably also the reason why cannabis enthusiasts often appreciate the taste of organically grown weed better than that of hydro weed.
Mineral formula contains only about 15 elements. Microbes make up to 90 elements and isotopes! Image: VectorMine, Shutterstock
Symbiotic balance
In organic soil, a complex balance prevails due to a symbiosis between plants and soil life. Where a hydro grower mainly focuses on the care of his plants, an organic grower devotes all his attention to the care of the soil life. Soil life protects the roots and produces the diverse diet for the plants. In return, the plant excretes up to 50 percent of the sugars it produces through photosynthesis specifically to attract microbes.
This natural symbiosis between plant and soil life is completely absent in a hydrological culture with mineral plant food. That is why we sometimes say that there are only two ways of growing, namely hydrologically with minerals, or biologically with an active soil life. If you grow on soil with mineral nutrition, you slowly degrade that soil into a substance that is only needed to provide support for the roots.
Hydro growing with compost tea
Still, as a hydro grower you can take advantage of the microbes and their diverse diet, and combine the yields of a hydro grow with it. You do this with living compost tea, which you make by infusing organic compost in water that you aerate with an air pump. The microbes will multiply, producing a diverse array of nutrients in the process.
However, most hydro growers will be hesitant to use organic matter in their hydro system. If you ask them, they will tell you that compost tea will foul their system with brown slime, or clog their drippers. However, the opposite is true, because the microbes in good live compost tea actually clean hydro systems. Don’t worry about the health of the microbes themselves. While the minerals in your formula won’t help the microorganisms in your compost tea, they can handle it.
Growers have very positive but also negative experiences with compost tea in hydro systems (see warning).
Use 1 part live compost tea to 20 parts nutrient water with each nutrient change. It is important for this that the feed water is not too hot (below 21 degrees) and is continuously well aerated by an air pump and an air stone, so that it bubbles considerably. Never make the compost tea in your hydro system itself, but in a separate container beforehand. Wait until the compost tea has stopped smelling and filter it well before adding it to your hydro system.
Warning
Finally, a word of warning. You can use compost tea in any form of cultivation, and hydro growers in particular have the most to gain from this, given the large difference in absorbable nutrients. However, growers have varying experiences with compost tea in hydro systems. Some swear by it, but there are also growers who have bad experiences (root rot) with it.
We therefore advise you to be careful with compost tea in combination with hydroponics. Therefore, try it first with a new culture, or with a single plant. Another safe option is to use compost tea only when root rot occurs. You don’t have much to lose anyway and compost tea can sometimes quickly remedy root rot.
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