By Luke Sholl Reviewed by: Mitchell Gorgichuk


There’s more than one way to grow cannabis. Despite the variety of options, essentially all techniques autumn into one of two categories: soil or hydroponics. Both cultivation methods are capable of producing healthy and productive cannabis plants, but require different equipment and management practices.

In soil growing, cannabis roots receive nutrients from organic matter and minerals in the soil, with help from microbes and the soil food web. In contrast, the roots of hydroponic plants extend into either air or water, receiving key nutrients through liquid solutions during constant or intermittent feeds.

Hydroponic techniques are often deemed a modern invention, but this form of agriculture spans back to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Floating Gardens of China. Soil-only purists sometimes disregard hydroponic cultivation as an unnatural method that doesn’t allow cannabis plants to reach their full potential. But in truth, both soil and hydroponic techniques can render equally superb results, despite their differences. The end product all depends on dialling in environmental conditions, meeting the nutritional and light requirements of plants, and selecting high-quality genetics from the get-go.

Soil and hydroponic cultivation are umbrella terms that cover a wider range of techniques. Soil cultivation encompasses sowing directly in the ground outdoors and growing in containers both indoors and out, and comprises practices and schools of thought including no-till, hugelkultur, and many others. Hydroponic growers also have a range of options to choose from, including deep water culture (DWC), ebb and flow, bubbleponics, aeroponics, and others.

Comparing Soil and Hydroponic Cannabis Growing

Below, we delve into the differences between soil and hydroponic growing. We’ll compare growing media, environment, nutrients, quality, difficulty, and everything else you need to know.

Germination, Transplanting, and Harvesting

⇢ Germination

All cannabis grows (apart from taking cuttings) start with germination. Soil and hydro growers can start seeds in the same way, or use techniques exclusive to each method.

To start, growers from both disciplines can use the glass of water or kitchen towel method before moving seeds into containers of soil or net pots of inert medium.

Soil growers have the option of sowing seeds directly into their final containers or garden plot, or they can sow into soil plugs before transplanting later on. On the other side, many hydro growers choose to sow into Rockwool cubes that slot into net pots, which are then inserted into hydroponic systems.

⇢ Transplanting

Once germinated, hydro plants typically remain in the same net pot and hydroponic system for the duration of the growing cycle. Soil growers, however, tend to transplant more often, depending on their preferences. Some swear by sowing seeds directly into their final home, whereas others transplant them into larger containers over time to give them room to develop a more expansive root system.

⇢ Harvesting

There are virtually no major differences in harvesting soil vs hydroponic plants. Growers can opt for wet or dry trimming with either method, and both require you to cure your buds sufficiently before sampling.

Growing Medium

The growing medium used is one of the major differences between soil and hydroponic cultivation. The term “medium” refers to a substrate used to sustain the life of a plant.

As the name suggests, soil growing uses soil to supply vital nutrients to cannabis plants. Roots uptake macronutrients and micronutrients via the process of diffusion. Some soil growers administer synthetic nutrients that plants are able to uptake immediately. Others rely on organic matter within the soil. Over time, soil organisms help to unlock the nutrients within organic matter and make it available to plants.

Water serves as the nutritional medium in hydroponics. However, plants also need structural support in the area between the root zone and stem to keep them upright in their net pots, for instance. Growers use substrates such as Rockwool, coco coir, or clay pebbles for this purpose. Instead of soil, roots are constantly or intermittently exposed to a solution containing all of the nutrients required to cultivate healthy specimens.

Some systems, such as DWC, constantly submerge roots in water and use air stones to ensure the roots receive a steady supply of oxygen. Other methods, such as ebb and flow, only periodically bathe roots in nutrient solution, allowing them to breathe in between feeds.

Growing Medium
  • Nutrition: Micronutrients and Macronutrients

Cannabis plants require specific minerals and elements in order to grow and survive. These substances autumn into two major categories: macronutrients and micronutrients.

As the name suggests, macronutrients are needed in larger quantities. The three main macronutrients for weed are nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus (NPK). Though vital throughout all stages of growth, the cannabis plant’s demand for each nutrient changes throughout its growing cycle. For example, vegging plants require more nitrogen, whereas flowering plants demand higher levels of phosphorus.

Micronutrients also help plants to fulfil key physiological processes, but they’re required in smaller quantities. These include boron, zinc, manganese, iron, copper, molybdenum, and chlorine.

Although cannabis plants grown in soil and hydro require the same nutrients, how these nutrients are administered, and in what form and quantities, differs—potentially dramatically.

⇢ Soil

Soil growers differ in their approach to feeding their weed. Some use only organic matter—such as manure, straw, woodchips, and compost—as a source of nutrients. These materials break down slowly over time to provide a wide spectrum of nutrients. While an effective and sustainable option, organic matter doesn’t contain immediately available nutrients, so starting with high-quality soil is key if employing this method.

Other soil growers use techniques such as Korean natural farming (KNF) to create plant ferments—applied as either a foliar spray or root drench—to supply a broad spectrum of minerals.

Many soil growers choose to go down the synthetic route, using veg and flowering formulas of liquid or powdered nutrients that are immediately available to plants, and administered according to a specific schedule.

Nutrition: Micronutrients and Macronutrients

⇢ Hydro

Hydroponic growers also have both organic and synthetic options when it comes to delivering the correct amounts of nutrients to their plants.

Most hydro growers use bottled formulas containing optimal quantities of these substances. Whereas soil growers can sometimes get away with feeding too much or too little—due to the buffering nature of the soil—hydro growers can’t. Aside from trace minerals, your water doesn’t inherently contain the nutrients plants need. However, not all hydro growers rely entirely on commercial nutes. Some use fish manure as a source. Aquaponics, a form of hydroponics, uses connected tanks of live fish to dispense manure directly to their crops.

Whereas soil growers deliver organic matter or liquid feeds into the soil (or onto the leaves), hydro growers administer nutrient formulas into a reservoir. The most basic hydro systems, such as the Kratky method, only contain a single container to which nutrients are directly added. However, methods such as recirculating DWC require growers to add nutrients into an external reservoir. A pump then distributes the solution to plants through a network of pipes.

Nutrition: Micronutrients and Macronutrients
  • Growing Environment

Despite their differences, both soil and hydro-grown cannabis plants require the same environmental conditions, demanding certain ranges of relative humidity and temperature throughout the seedling, vegetative, and flowering stages. Stage-specific parameters aside, hydro and soil plants can thrive both indoors and outdoors.

⇢ Indoors

Growing indoors gives cultivators almost complete control over environmental factors, including lighting and watering. Indoor growers using hydro or soil are also less likely to encounter pests if integrated pest management techniques, such as insect screens and good hygiene procedures, are adopted. That said, soil-grown plants are still at a greater threat of pest issues overall, regardless of the environment. Moreover, hydro growers using coco coir as a structural medium can autumn victim to coco-specific pests.

⇢ Outdoors

Hydro and soil-grown plants can also flourish equally well outdoors. Here, growers face more challenges in terms of adverse weather, pests, and disease. Hydro growers can also run into problems with reservoirs getting too hot during heat waves, but shade cloth and placing plants in a partially sunny spot can help to offset this issue.

Most outdoor growers choose to go with soil, as many gardens offer a free growing medium, or at least free space, in the ground. However, growing in a container, using soil or hydro, is a good option if you’re dealing with limited space or a garden covered in gravel or concrete.

Soil vs Hydroponic Cannabis: Making a Choice

Now that you’re more familiar with the differences and similarities between soil and hydro growing, let’s dive a little deeper into how they compare when it comes to choosing one over the other. In what follows, we touch on differences in price, space, difficulty, and flower quality. By the end of this section, you’ll be able to make a more informed decision about which cultivation method to proceed with.

  • Price

The price of a cannabis grow depends on a host of different variables. For example, if following a no-till method, it will cost a lot more to use soil if you need to cover a large area with compost at the end of every season than it will to grow a single plant using the Kratky method. The price of growing a single plant in soil will also vary depending on whether you grow indoors or outdoors, due to the cost of a grow tent, lighting, and other investments.

On the other hand, if you’re only growing a couple of plants, cultivating outdoors in the ground or in containers with soil will serve as the cheapest option. However, you can save a lot of money by growing hydroponically using the Kratky method outdoors (which doesn’t require an electric pump). More complex hydro systems cost slightly more. For example, DWC systems require electricity to power an air stone, and ebb and flow systems require an external reservoir and an air pump to push nutrient solution around.

Growing indoors will always cost you more money, to begin with. However, this investment makes sense if you have a short and cold growing season, or you want to keep things as discreet as possible. You’ll make slightly less on an initial investment growing with soil indoors or using a basic Kratky or DWC system. Things get more expensive when opting for more complex hydro systems, such as recirculating DWC, that require more pipes, individual containers, pumps, and an external reservoir.

Price
  • Space

Both soil and hydro operations can be scaled down to fit into small places, though not all methods allow for micro-growing. You can successfully grow cannabis in a small container or bucket indoors using soil or the Kratky method. But larger hydro systems will start to cause issues. If you’re growing in a larger indoor space, you have more room for complex hydro systems with external reservoirs—room you likely won't need if growing a few plants in soil.

  • Difficulty

If you have zero experience, or if you’ve grown a few vegetables here and there in the past, growing in soil will prove to be less of a learning curve. There’s something intuitive to sowing seeds in soil, and most high-quality potting mixes allow some room for error when it comes to nutrients and feeding.

The Kratky method and DWC serve as the easiest starting point for beginner hydro growers. These systems are compact, basic, and take up little room. The ability to depend entirely on bottled formulas makes feeding easy.

Complex hydro systems are more difficult than growing in soil. Investing in the right gear and setting up these systems requires a good amount of research. Plus, you’ll need to maintain the system during the grow, and clean and repair it in between operations.

  • Speed

Hydroponic plants typically grow faster than those in soil. Plants growing in a soil medium rely on the biological activity of soil life to free up nutrients before they can be absorbed by the roots. Although adding synthetic fertilisers speed up the process, the soil still acts as a buffer, and not all of these inputs stay around in the rhizosphere (root zone) very long. In contrast, hydroponic nutrients are constantly or very regularly available to plant roots and confined to a set space, resulting in faster growth during the vegetative phase.

Therefore, if you're looking for the quickest harvest possible from a photoperiod cannabis strain, it may be best to go with hydro. On the other hand, you can select autoflower genetics, which will flower after just a few weeks of veg, regardless of whether you use soil or hydro.

  • Yield

The final yield from a soil or hydro grow depends on several variables. Growing autoflower cannabis genetics in a small container of soil will yield less compared to a large hydro system housing huge sativa plants. Likewise, a small Kratky container won’t provide the same harvest as a plant grown directly in rich soil outdoors.

However, experienced hydroponic cannabis growers often report larger yields from hydro plants than soil-grown plants under the same conditions. Hydro plants tend to display faster and more vigorous growth during the vegetative stage, which results in the formation of more bud sites. Combine this with genetics predisposed to producing large and heavy colas, and you’ll find yourself harvesting substantial yields every time.

Yield
  • Quality

Both high-quality and low-quality plants can come out of soil and hydro systems. Again, the quality of cannabis has less to do with the growing medium and more to do with genetics and management. These factors hold far more sway over the quality of the end product. The environment, i.e. indoors vs outdoors, has more of an influence on factors such as terpene and cannabinoid production due to the potential influence of UV rays on the biosynthesis of these compounds.

  • Water Consumption

Counterintuitively, hydroponic setups actually use up to 90% less water than soil. Certain hydro systems recirculate water, whereas others house a small supply in a single container throughout the entire grow. Although some systems require topping up, growers end up losing less water than they do when cultivating in soil, where water runoff is the name of the game.

  • Pest Pressure

Both hydro and soil plants are more predisposed to pest pressure when grown outdoors. Indoors, soil plants are still prone to pest issues—bringing soil indoors can introduce eggs and live pests into the growing environment. Indoor hydroponic plants are certainly not pest-proof either, but they’re less likely to autumn prey to an infestation indoors.

These Strains Are A Great Place To Start

Whether you choose soil or hydroponics, both are capable of producing top-quality cannabis. However, if you are not sure which strain to start with, we have a beginner-friendly suggestion for both methods.

  • Soil

Soil is the traditional growing medium that has served growers for centuries. As we have alluded to though, soil can be a little tricky to manage, especially if it is your first time cultivating cannabis. With that in mind, we have picked a strain that is more forgiving than others to offset any small mistakes.

Somango XL

This flavoursome beauty benefits from indica-dominant genetics, and can be harvested in as little as nine weeks. Not only is that less time for things to go wrong, but Somango XL is considered ideal for both newbie and experienced growers. Her hardiness allows simple mistakes like nutrient fluctuation to occur without significant repercussions.

Somango XL

Somango XL
23_genetic background_1 Somango x Critical 47
33_Yield indoors_1 525 - 575 gr/m2
31_plant height outdoor_1 60 - 100 cm
25_flowering time_1 8 - 10 weeks
29_THC_1 THC: 18%
28_Type Blend_1 Sativa 25% Indica 75%
34_yield outdoor_1 550 - 600 gr/plant
32_plant height outdoors_1 120 - 200 cm
27_harvest period_1 Late September
22_Effect_1 Powerful , Stoned

Buy Somango XL

  • Hydroponics

Get hydroponics right, and it allows for some genuinely monstrous results. With complete control over everything your cannabis needs, managing the height of your towering beauty can become a real struggle. Our recommended strain for hydroponic growers takes this into account, without impacting yields or flavour.

Wedding Gelato 

Treat this “sickly sweet” lady right, and she will return the devotion with 20–25% THC. In hydroponics, the growth potential of a strain is a serious consideration. Wedding Gelato is ideal because she only reaches 60–100cm in height. The precision of hydroponics allows all of her efforts to go into developing dense, THC laden buds, rather than growing out of control.

Wedding Gelato

Wedding Gelato
23_genetic background_1 Wedding Cake x Gelato x Gelato 33
33_Yield indoors_1 450 - 500 gr/m2
31_plant height outdoor_1 60 - 100 cm
25_flowering time_1 8 - 10 weeks
29_THC_1 THC: 25%
28_Type Blend_1 Sativa 40% Indica 60%
34_yield outdoor_1 350 - 400 gr/plant
32_plant height outdoors_1 130 - 200 cm
27_harvest period_1 Early October
22_Effect_1 Calming, Euphoric, Physically Relaxing, Uplifting

Buy Wedding Gelato

Soil vs Hydroponic Cannabis: Which Do You Choose?

There you have it. You’re now aware of the biggest differences, and similarities, between hydro and soil growing. While these techniques don’t have much sway over yield or quality compared to other variables, they are very different when it comes to feeding and management. Thankfully, you can achieve excellent results in both indoor and outdoor environments. While soil allows growers more room for error in terms of feeding, and a more hands-off approach when using mulch and no-till approaches, hydro uses less water overall. So, which cultivation path will you tread?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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: