Right on brother. I've seen people scare others away from supplementing co2. The idea being, to learn how the plant grows without it, & you will be better when you use it.
That is totally illogical. It's like saying you will be a better driver, if you learn to drive on an automatic first...then later on, learn stick shift. How is that going to make you a better driver...assuming driving stick is the end goal. I submit to you, the better stick driver, all else equal, will probably be the one who has been doing it longer.
You are still learning how to grow, whether you supplement co2 or not. In fact, I would argue that using co2 for a noob would help their cause...not hurt it. The plants are more tolerant, stronger, to buffer any mistakes you might make. All you have done is supplement the atmosphere with more co2. What is the danger here, that you will stop using co2 & fall apart? Unlikely. It's the same plant, one is just growing with more vigor. But apparently, that is a bad thing to some people? You will be a better grower if you work with less vigorous plants? It doesn't compute. I jumped right in with co2 & never looked back. If you have the funds & know how to run it in your setup safely, I would encourage it. On a limited budget, a few other things come first (good light, temps, schedule)
Hydro, I paid more attention to the warnings. "Oh, it's so picky, you have to always check your ph, you can lose a whole crop with a little mistake, it's what the terrorists want you to do, blah, blah, blah."
While most of the above is true, I tried a single DWC bucket just to see. It turns out, in my opinion, hydro is far easier than soil. I can't predict the future here, but I don't see myself going back to soil. Hydro (at least for me) is cheaper, easier, faster, stronger, higher yield, higher quality, & even though terpene tests show that soil typically has more terpenes, when hydro is done right, it smells & tastes wonderful. All the best product I've had, have been hydro.
I've been gardening (other crops) for almost 30 years. Cannabis is a hard plant to master in soil. Take that back, it's extremely hard to master in soil. Much props to those who can do it. It's a lot of work, & you have to know the timing of your plants/soil amendments like the back of your hand. That is what makes it hard in my opinion. Getting a good product from it is infinitely harder than getting good veggies or fruit.
Hydro, especially DWC, everything is instant. You mix the nutes the way someone in the know tells you to, make sure the PH is fine, air pumps working etc. Any problems (though mistakes are hard to make if you concentrate) will show up very quickly. Soil, you might massively over feed, you may not know it for a couple days, then you flush. But by then, the damage is done.
I have never lost a plant in hydro (watch me wipe out my whole crop now because I said that) I have never even burned a plant in hydro. Think about that. In hydro, I have never burned a plant. In soil it's like walking a tight rope with this plant, maintaining everything "just so." Even if you wouldn't call it burn...in soil, I would often have faint signs of +
If anything, I would push people towards hydro. Yes, mistakes can possibly be disastrous, but I find it's harder to make those mistakes than people would have you believe. & part of learning is making mistakes. You have to learn to eat it (embarrassment, admitting you made a fatal error, etc) but making any mistakes will teach you far more quickly. But really, if you get a proven recipe, all you do is "add to water & mix." So, yes, you can screw it up, the same way you could screw up a batch of brownies, or spaghetti sauce. Does that mean you are going to stick to Snicker's bars & Spaghetti=O's? It really isn't that hard.
For people like me, that have no "preference" as to medium, how can you say, "no" to cheaper, easier, faster, better? My only regret is that I didn't switch a long time ago...or even better, start with it in the first place.
My Medusa Cross of White Widow x Starfighter.
