Aside from how the agencies want to label things, the biggest thing I see different between hydro and organic is how the food is supplied to the roots. One is a symbiotic relationship and one is not. I think symbiosis is definitely beneficial, and applaud your efforts into furthering the data. I've tried the indoor soil route before with all sorts of organics but switched to hydro because of my ability to select and know exactly what the plant is getting. For me, with soil or organic, trying to diagnose or treat became an issue. At any given time I was clueless as to what the medium was composed of, ie what's broken down and how fast and what colonies are surviving and which aren't and what does flushing do (?) ect ect.
I currently use net pots with coco/perlite/neem and run chemical nutes in the DWC bucket, but top off the net pot medium with additional or extra additives to give a bit of an organic punch (just extra
floralicious+, so not super organic I guess). from time to time. Also if my res gets messed up and I lose some res roots ive fed via the top net pot and kept the plant going.
I'm going to be running Ful-Power this next run. Its a fulvic but not sure if it's "organic."
This is the podcast that turned me on to humics substances...
In this episode, we interview Dr. Robert Faust, President of Bioag. Robert Faust attended the University of Delaware College of agriculture. His major was entomology and applied ecology. Later he received a B.S degree from University of the State of N.Y, an accredited university in Albany...
www.kisorganics.com