Hydro Systems VS Pots, Which is Better?

Growing in normal plant pots involves manually hand-watering your plants and lends itself better to water-retentive mediums like soil, coco, clay pebbles or Rockwool.

When you are growing a larger number of plants, hydroponics delivers the convenience of low maintenance and rapid plant growth. Hand-watering lots of plants is a time-consuming activity. A hydro set-up takes care of the watering for you daily. All that you need to do is top up the reservoir every few days and adjust the pH of your nutrient solution.  Once a week you will have to empty and replace the nutrient solution completely, however.

What About Initial Outlay?

The financial side of how you grow needs to take into account your future preferences. If you want to keep costs to an absolute minimum then using pots is the way forward.If however you want to grow a large number of plants, and you don't have the time to commit to handwatering consistently then hydroponics is a great alternative option.

Do you Need Technical Knowledge?

The technological side of hydroponics is very interesting. Pot growing is simpler and is generally thought to be less flexible in terms of fine-tuning your plants. Learning how to use hydroponics equipment opens up an entire spectrum of possibilities and options that pot growing simply doesn’t demand. Whether choosing pots or hydro, however, plants still need to be inspected regularly for issues such as under or over-nutrition, disease and pests.

What is the Difference in Quality?

Although hydroponics is the option suitable for reaching high yields, there’s no reason why a plant grown hydroponically could not reach the quality of a pot-grown plant. Due to this the issue of quality does not need not be a factor when deciding between hydroponics or pot growing.

How Much Attention do your Plants Need?

A primary issue with pot growing is the necessity for ongoing attention in that your plants cannot be neglected for any number of days due to the watering required. A hydroponic set-up on the other hand can quite easily be left alone for short periods if required.

The Benefits of Pot Growing:

• Lower initial initial outlay –All you need is a few pots, saucers and growing medium, all of which cost comparatively much less.
• A more straightforward growing technique that is suited to small gardens
• Delivers a natural technique of growing which is appealing to many 
• Allows for lots of choice in how you grow, so the use of Organic, Vegan, biological and natural feeds.
• Allows for the cultivation of a more elevated quality of organically or naturally fed yields.

The Cons of Pot Growing:

• Having to prepare fresh feed and then water many plants regularly by hand can be very time-consuming
• Plants cannot be left unattended for days without watering which is inconvenient for those with little spare time.
• Plant growth can be slower
• Pot growing typically produces lower yields

The Benefits of Hydroponics:

• Allows users to fine-tune the strength of plant feed strength and frequency of watering.
• Optimised plant feeding leads to incomparable plant growth and yields
• Relatively low maintenance, especially for large gardens with lots of plants.
• Hydro systems can periodically be left unattended for a few days at a time when necessary
• Hydro systems are great for the technically-minded grower due to the elevated level of automation
• Hydro systems allow for a more generous choice of growing mediums.

The Cons of Hydroponics:

• The initial set-up costs for Hydro are higher in comparison to Pot growing
• Hydro systems can only utilise chemical or mineral-based nutrients, so it is not suitable for those wanting to grow using organics.
• Hydro Systems require some level of knowledge and expertise must be set up and maintained with care to run accurately and smoothly
• Generally, gardeners naturally tend to favour one way of growing or the other, depending on their lifestyle and what they want to get out of their cultivation. Those with larger gardens or those looking to profit commercially from. their garden often does not mind the primary set-up costs and so will usually lean towards hydroponics. Those with smaller gardens however who are going for quality over quantity for their consumption often prefer to pay out less in start-up costs and so will naturally prefer pot growing. 

Although the technique of growing falls under either hydroponics or pot growing, there are several types of growing and system types within each of those categories for growers to explore and evolve their growing techniques. When it comes down to it the best system for you depends on your personal preferences.

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