Never used soil myself but hydro plants grow quicker and better yields I use pots and mix in some dolomite lime watering I start off one min every 4 hours then increase to 2 min flower cycle 2 min every 3 hours also its a good idea to put expanded clay balls on top cause one time I got moss on...
U. Wanna get a magnify glass 30x and look at the trichomes(resin glands) they start out clear then they start to turn milky white to amber that's when u wanna harvest if u let them turn Orange that's when there dying and not as potent