Soil, Coco, Hydro: What growing media should I use?

Soil vs Coco vs Hydro

It's easy to get confused by the array of different growing media and what they mean for your plants, and to make sense of which is best for your situation. The growing media is simply the anchor for the roots of your plant and a medium for water, oxygen and nutrients to the roots of the plant. The difference between them comes in how much control you get over the plant, and how forgiving it is of your mistakes.

Firstly, soil is very forgiving, but mistakes can take days to appear and days to fix. It's best if you want a more hands-off approach (for example if you go travelling a lot, and can't constantly cater to your plants) and are willing to accept a longer grow cycle for an easier one.

On the opposite end, hydro is much faster but incredibly unforgiving. A broken pump or a pH imbalance can be felt in hours, with much worse effects on the plant, but also means if caught early it can be fixed straight away. It provides a much faster growth cycle and absolute control over your plant, but with great power comes great responsibility and it becomes much easier to misjudge parameters and kill your plant. It's best for if you enjoy tinkering with your plants and you have the time to attend to it everyday.

For most growers, however, coco is the sweet spot. You negate most of the risks of hydro, and even if something grows wrong, you have an inert media to cushion the blow to your plant and give you time to fix it, and you also get a significantly faster grow cycle than soil. For most growers, who want to finetune their plant but also be able to experiment and make mistakes without instantly killing it, coco is the way to go.

Below is a table to demonstrate simply the differences between the different mediums:

The most important take-away is that forgiveness and control are mutually exclusive, meaning the less control you have, the more forgiving it will be to your mistakes and vice versa. 

What specific media should I buy?

Soil

For soil, the most hands-off media you can buy is BioBizz All Mix: https://greenspirit-hydroponics.com/products/biobizz-all-mix-organic-soil?_pos=2&_psq=all+mix&_psid=d05cac0a8&_ss=e

With it's large mineral deposits, you won't need to feed your plant for 2-4 weeks, making it one of the most risk free and low maintenance soils you can buy. 

Coco

For coco, the Canna Coco Professional Plus: https://greenspirit-hydroponics.com/products/canna-coco-p?_pos=1&_sid=61134c3c9&_ss=r

is the best for negotiating between fast grow times and low risk, with the Gold Label 60/40 and Clay Pebbles: https://greenspirit-hydroponics.com/products/gold-label-60-40-coco?_pos=4&_sid=ae2c62aea&_ss=r

for better aeration. Coco is definitely the best choice for an ambitious first-timer, as long as you have the time and resources to properly nurture your plant.

Hydro

If you want complete control of your plant and you're wiling to accept more risk and an unforgiving grow cycle for a faster one, then Oxypot: https://greenspirit-hydroponics.com/products/oxypot-multi-plant-dwc-systems-2-plant-system?variant=56515573580159

is the purest and most beginner-friendly entry into hydroponic growing. It's worth mentioning you should keep light out of the reservoir to avoid algae, and keeping a spare pump on hand, as a few hours of a broken pump can easily suffocate and kill your plant. If you choose to go the hydro route, it's worth following a step-by-step tutorial as it is significantly less forgiving than soil or coco.

So What Medium Should I Choose?

It's important to know that there's no wrong medium, just different ones depending on the level of maintenance you can give the plant. For an ambitious beginner who's wanting a solid yield without making it their full-time job, coco hand-fed is almost always the right choice. Soil for more casual growers who don't really want to have to tend to their plants all too much, and hydro or semi-hydro for the tinkerers who want to control every aspect of what their plant recieves. Remember, control and forgiveness trade off, and each media type just sits somewhere on that spectrum.

Don't worry if you feel like you chose wrong though, as almost every grower ends up changing the way they do things as they get more experienced and more confident in their abilities, so it's just a learning curve.

If you're still unsure about what to pick, come visit us in store or call 0114 275 3353 and one of our shop staff will help you depending on your specific situation.