By Steven Voser Reviewed by: Miguel Ángel Garcia

Growing weed hydroponically is not as straightforward as doing so in soil. Moreover, there are many different hydroponic setups you can opt to use. Each is slightly different, offering a distinct process and varying levels of complexity.

When growing hydroponically, a key consideration is which growing medium to use as a substrate to anchor your plants. As there are many options, and choosing can be hard, we’ve compiled a list of the best options below, outlining the pros and cons of each potential choice.


Weed Meets Water: Understanding Hydroponics

Growing cannabis (or any other plant) hydroponically involves exposing the roots directly to water/nutrient solution. Unlike when growing in soil, nutrients are delivered to the root system almost instantly. But it doesn’t mean the cannabis plants float helplessly about in a tank of water. Instead of soil, they are held in some inert medium, such as Rockwool, that provides structure and allows the roots to grow down into a water reservoir where the nutrients are held. Other variations include flooding the roots with nutrient solution before draining it, or dripping it onto the inert medium.

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How Does Hydroponics Work?

The key with hydro setups is that, in all cases, the plant’s roots are directly exposed to aerated water, and receive their oxygen and nutrients (and of course water) directly from this source. To aid the absorption of nutrients, hydro growers tend to use synthetic, ionic salt nutrients, which are more easily and rapidly absorbed by plant roots than organic matter.

The downside to these nutrients is that they are more likely to cause overfeeding problems, and can damage the soil biosphere when growing conventionally. But with hydroponic grows, ionic nutrients are considered more suitable than organic nutrients.

Hydroponic grows must be highly aerated—usually through the use of an air stone and pump—so that the roots don’t suffocate when submerged in water. In a soil grow, roots will die if they are constantly soaked (because they lack sufficient oxygen), and so this must be dealt with when growing hydroponic weed.

The Role of Growing Media in Hydro Systems

As mentioned, although hydro grows relinquish the need for soil, a substrate is still required. The reason for this is that the plant must be able to stay anchored, and to grow upright and strong. Without some substrate to keep it in place, a plant would grow into a weak, dangling mess. What’s more, a substrate allows the roots to be submerged in/exposed to water while the aerial parts of the plant remain dry and healthy.

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The Best Growing Media for Cannabis Hydroponics

You might be wondering what to use as a substrate for growing hydroponic cannabis. The good news is that you have many options; the bad news is that these options might seem overwhelming.

Fortunately, each option is viable, and you can choose whichever one you desire—although some are more suited to specific setups compared to others. Below, we will outline the properties, pros, and cons of each choice.

Clay Pebbles

Clay pebbles or pellets, otherwise known as LECA, were once the go-to choice for hydroponic grow-ops. These days, however, they are not so favoured, as they are heavier than other options yet don’t hold as much water. This can present an undue burden without offering the returns of other choices.

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Pros:

  • Tried and tested method
  • Great aeration
  • Easy to use
  • Reusable


Cons:

  • Heavy
  • Don’t hold water so well
  • Require users to adjust pH

Rockwool

This is another popular choice that’s cheap and highly versatile. It holds water very well, allowing for good hydration, and can be placed in baskets or just lodged into holes in buckets and other containers. This quality makes it a great choice for DIY setups where you need a substrate that fits any space.

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Pros:

  • Cheap
  • Fits into many spaces
  • Retains water well
  • Good for DIY setups

Cons:

  • Not biodegradable
  • High pH might need adjustment
  • Rockwool fibres will irritate the skin, eyes, and lungs (it’s infuriating), so adequate protection must be worn when handling it
  • Hard to reuse

Perlite

Perlite is a popular material for growing various organisms, as it is an inert medium that can be added to a variety of substrates to improve aeration. When growing hydroponically, it can be used by itself as a substrate, given that the water provides the nutrient-rich medium. Perlite must be placed in structured containers, as it's a form of volcanic glass that expands into lightweight, porous granules when heated.

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Pros:

  • Lightweight
  • Cheap
  • Well-aerated
  • Can be reused

Cons:

  • May wash away in some systems, as it’s very lightweight
  • Dust should not be inhaled
  • Obtained through strip mining, which can be damaging

Mapito

Mapito is made from mixing Rockwool and polyurethane., and works in a similar way to Rockwool, but with a few differences. Unlike Rockwool, in which roots will intertwine and become fixed, plants can be removed from mapito as it is not bound up to itself—it is made up of flakes. Moreover, mapito has better oxygenation compared to Rockwool, thanks again to its flakey nature. Finally, water retention can be considered slightly better too.

Pros:

  • Great water retention and aeration
  • Plants can be removed without damaging the root ball

Cons:

  • Bad for the environment
  • Needs soaking to avoid pH problems

Coco Coir

Coco coir is a good choice for hydro grows, and can be used alongside other options such as clay pellets so that it doesn’t hold too much water. As a byproduct of coconuts, coco coir does not have the same negative environmental impact as other options, and it’s fully biodegradable, so can be properly disposed of after use. Popular and better for the planet, this should be the choice of environmentally conscious hydroponic cannabis growers.

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Pros:

  • Environmentally sustainable
  • Can be used in a range of setups
  • Widely accessible

Cons:

  • Best used in combination with other options, as water retention can be too high
  • Can’t be reused so much

Vermiculite

Vermiculite is similar to perlite but holds water well, rather than improving aeration. Often, the two are used in combination. Vermiculite is so absorbent that it can function well as a wick, so it can be used in wicking hydroponic systems, or simply as part of a perlite/vermiculite mix—50/50 works just fine!

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Pros:

  • Great water-absorbing properties
  • Trusted by many growers
  • Great for wicking systems

Cons:

  • Highly absorbent and best used with perlite

Peat Moss

Peat moss, often sold as peat plugs, is an organic option made up of inert, acidic fibres. Though it works well for hydroponic growing, it comes at an environmental cost. Peat takes thousands of years to form (it’s sort of halfway to oil), and peat landscapes are therefore precious and take millennia to restore. For that reason, digging up peat and using it to grow weed is probably not the best choice, given that there are more sustainable options, such as coco coir.

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Pros:

  • Good water retention
  • Lasts years
  • Free from disease

Cons:

  • Expensive
  • Bad for the environment
  • Highly acidic

Rice Hulls

Rice hulls, like coco coir, are a product of agriculture. However, while they are useful and have good water retention, they are not the best choice unless you already have some lying around. Due to their nature, they degrade quickly and so the substrate must be replenished even within a single life cycle, which can be an unnecessary challenge. What’s more, they are unsterilised and can come carrying disease.

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Pros:

  • Environmentally sustainable
  • Good water retention

Cons:

  • Degrade quickly and need to be replaced
  • Can come carrying diseases

Hydroponic Growing Media: Plenty to Choose From

Growing cannabis hydroponically comes with a whole set of challenges and rewards. It’s certainly more hands-on than growing weed in soil, but it can be faster and yield better results—if executed well. The main reason you should grow hydroponically is if you’re interested in this novel growing technique, and would like to challenge yourself and increase your skills as a horticulturist.

If you decide to dive into this challenge, you’ll need to decide on which hydroponic medium is best suited to your needs. Have you decided already, or will you experiment with a few?

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Privacy Policy - Royal Queen Seeds

To ensure a safe online environment and guarantee adequate data protection, we strictly comply with all legal requirements. In this privacy statement, we provide information about how and for what purpose data is collected, safety measures, storage periods and contact details.


COMPANY NAME: SNORKEL SPAIN, SL (hereinafter ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS)

C/ Vilar d'Abdelà, 5 (nave 1) CP: 08170 de Montornès del Vallès

+34 937 379 846

support@royalqueenseeds.com


The present Privacy Policy sets out the terms on which we will treat personal data at ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS; this includes any personal data collected through our website https://www.royalqueenseeds.com/ as well as any other data we process in the course of our business activities.

ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS collects the following personal data for the purposes listed below:

SECTION 1 – PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

1.1 Account purchases

Account purchases can only be made if you are in possession of a personal account. When you create an account or purchase something from our shop, as part of the buying and selling process we collect the following personal information that you provide to us:

This information is required for delivery. In addition, when you browse our shop, we automatically receive the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer. Based on this information, we can optimise your online experience and at the same time protect our online environment.

Purpose of data collection

We collect and store account-related data for the following purposes:

(a) to carry out obligations arising from any contracts between you and us, and to provide you with information, products and services that you may request from us;

(b) to set up, manage and communicate with you about your account and your orders;

(c) to conduct market research and analysis;

(d) to confirm your age and identity, and to detect and prevent fraud.

1.2 Newsletters

With your explicit permission, we may send you newsletters about our shop, new products and other updates. We send newsletters based on your explicit consent. In the event that you purchase a product, and in accordance with current regulations, we may send you commercial communications in accordance with the legitimate interest of our company, always about products or services similar to those you have purchased or contracted. In any case, you may exercise your right of opposition through the channels announced in this Privacy Policy. The following information is collected in relation to the newsletter:

We do not need to know the sex of the person in order to send the newsletter (data minimisation: by law we must ask for data that is strictly necessary to provide the service, and in this case knowing the sex is not necessary to send the newsletter).

Purpose of data collection

The data collected is used to:

(a) personalise our emails, including your name and gender;

(b) provide gender-specific content.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by using the link provided in the newsletter or the contact information provided in section 2.

1.3 Customer service and contact form

In order to provide appropriate support, our customer service employees have access to information related to the account. Consequently, their support will be highly effective and friendly. The data provided in our contact form is used by our CRM provider, SuperOffice. We will only use your details to respond to your message.

SECTION 2 – LEGITIMATE INTEREST

If you have purchased any of our products, please note that we may process your personal data for promotional purposes, based on Royal Queen Seeds' legitimate interest only to offer you products or services from our company and about products or services similar to those you have purchased. You may exercise your right to opt out of future messages by the means set out in this Privacy Policy or through any notification you receive.

2.1 How do you withdraw consent?

If you change your mind, you can withdraw your consent for us to contact you for the purpose of collecting, using, or disclosing your data at any time by reaching out to us at: support@royalqueenseeds.com.

SECTION 3 – DISCLOSURE

We may disclose your personal information if we are required to do so by law or if you breach our Terms of Service.

SECTION 4 – HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR DATA?

At Royal Queen Seeds, we will not retain your data for longer than is necessary for the purposes described in this Policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data; however, the longest period we will normally hold any personal data is 10 years.

4.1 Account information

Data relating to the account remains relevant for as long as the consumer is in possession of an account. Therefore, the data remains documented for as long as the account exists. When our customers delete an account, the associated data will be deleted within a reasonable period of time. Requests regarding the inspection or correction of stored personal data or the deletion of an account can be sent to support@royalqueenseeds.com.

4.2 Newsletters

In the event that you give us your consent to inform you about our products or services, we will keep your data until you express your wish not to receive any further communications from us. However, we regularly (every month) carry out a relevance check. Registered customers (and their personal information) will be deleted whenever customers do not reply to our request. In addition, our newsletter mailing has an opt-out feature. Consumers can withdraw their consent by using this opt-out feature.

SECTION 5 – COOKIES

Cookies are small information files that notify your computer of previous interactions with our website. These cookies are stored on your hard drive, not on our website. Essentially, when you use our website, your computer displays its cookies to us, informing our site that you have visited before. This allows our website to function more quickly and remember aspects related to your previous visits (such as your username), making your experience more convenient. At Royal Queen Seeds, we use two types of cookies: functional and analytical.

5.1 Functional Cookies

Functional cookies are used to enhance your online experience. Among other things, these cookies track what is added to your shopping cart. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

5.2 Analytical Cookies

Analytical cookies are used for research and market analysis. The data collected with these analytical cookies is anonymous, making it unusable for third parties. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

SECTION 5 – THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

Third-party services are required to conduct transactions and provide our services. In general, the third-party providers we use will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to enable them to perform the services they provide to us.

However, certain third-party service providers, such as payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies regarding the information we must provide to them for your transactions.

We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these providers so that you can understand how these providers will handle your personal information.

In particular, certain suppliers may be located or have facilities located in a different jurisdiction than yours or ours. Therefore, if you choose to proceed with a transaction involving the services of a third party, your information may be subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which that service provider or its facilities are located.

Once you leave our website or are redirected to a third-party website or application, you are no longer governed by this Privacy Policy or the Terms of Service of our website.

Web analytics service (anonymous data)

On this website we have integrated an element of a web analytics service (with anonymisation functionality). Web analytics can be defined as the gathering, processing and analysis of data about the behaviour of visitors to websites. An analytics service collects, among other things, data about which website a person came from (the so-called referrer), which sub-pages they visited or how often and for how long they visited a sub-page. Web analytics is mainly used for website optimisation and for a cost–benefit analysis of internet advertising.

Courier service

To complete deliveries we use a courier service. This courier service carries out the delivery between our company and the consumer's home. To complete these logistics, the company requires access to the consumer's name and address information.

Mailing service

Royal Queen Seeds uses a third-party mail service provider to send its newsletter. This provider has access to limited account information related to opt-in consent (e.g. email address).

Marketing services

Royal Queen Seeds has the support of a company that specialises in marketing and communication activities. Their access to personal information is very limited and mostly anonymous.

Payment services

At Royal Queen Seeds we use external payment services to handle our transactions (e.g. credit card payments).

SECTION 6 – SECURITY

To protect your personal information, we take reasonable precautions and follow industry standard best practices to ensure that it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.

If you provide us with your credit card information, the information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL) and stored using AES-256 encryption. Although no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, we follow all PCI-DSS requirements and implement additional industry standards that are commonly accepted. Information related to the account is protected with a hashing method. This method transforms the information into a generated hash. As a result, confidential information is protected and invisible, even to us. In addition, our databases are exceptionally protected against unauthorised access. For example, access to the database is only possible and permitted via approved IP addresses (e.g. from Royal Queen Seeds headquarters). Other attempts and addresses are rejected at all times.

Furthermore, data is anonymised as much as possible, so it cannot be directly linked to a specific consumer. With this data, however, we may be able to carry out market research and analysis. In addition, the third parties concerned (e.g. mailing service) are examined prior to our collaboration, comply with the GDPR from the EU and receive a processing agreement. Within Royal Queen Seeds, employees are assigned different access permissions. Specific permission provides access only to information that is strictly required to perform a task. Digital security measures are subject to change and must meet high requirements to ensure the safety of online customers. That is why, at Royal Queen Seeds, we appoint a security officer. Regular verification and improvement of security measures (where necessary) are part of the role.

SECTION 7 – CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please check back regularly. Changes and clarifications will be effective immediately upon being published on the Website. If we make substantial changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated so you will know what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.

SECTION 8 – YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO: