Hydroponics Systems side-by-side – Aeroponics vs Drip, Kratky and DWC

Hydroponics Systems side-by-side – Aeroponics vs Drip, Kratky and DWC

Join Urban Leaf’s Dr. Rob for a review of 4 popular hydroponics systems side by side, and a discussion of the results and lessons learned along the way.

Learn more about Urban Leaf here: https://www.geturbanleaf.com/

To replicate this experiment, you will need:

~ Misc. Parts ~
– Plastic Totes: these are large volume / low weight. They’ll be much cheaper at Home Depot / Walmart than online.
– Net Cups: https://amzn.to/2FmbvQk
– Rockwool: https://amzn.to/2FlzhMm
– Clay Pebbles: https://amzn.to/2TcolDr
– Mechanical Timers: https://amzn.to/2OG5Qny
– Lighting Rack: https://amzn.to/2qLjRXK

~ Drip System ~
– Clay Pebbles: (the bag above is pretty small. Look for a bigger one if you want to do this setup as you’ll need a lot)
– Water Pump: https://amzn.to/2DDsrA7
– 3/4 Irrigation Hose: https://amzn.to/2DGGqFk
– 1/4 Dripper Hose: https://amzn.to/2FuH1eO
– Barbed Coupling: https://amzn.to/2RVAN9v
– Adjustable Dripper: https://amzn.to/2TbGhy4

~ DWC System ~
– Air pump: https://amzn.to/2Fuw3X4
– Air stone: https://amzn.to/2TcnIK5
– Air tube: https://amzn.to/2qJoTE3

~ Aeroponics / Fog System ~
– Ultrasonic mister: https://amzn.to/2RMU0tQ

~ Soil System ~
– Potting Mix: https://amzn.to/2RPQS0j

Got questions? Hit us up on social media (@GetUrbanLeaf) or email (help@geturbanleaf.com) and we’d be happy to help you out!

50 Comments

  1. If your going to do a experiment you have to do it right!! This is just a video of how not to do an experiment and shows nothing!!! Fail!!! And you didn’t do a aeroponic grow you did a fogphonic grow completely different grow

  2. sounds like a failed experiment. the drip would likely have gotten 2nd place if went to harvest and the DWC would have likely been in 3rd place if it didn’t run out of water. A DWC is pretty much a kratky that uses air. which would help the plants grow faster. Other than this coco coir would most likely be the closest thing you’d get to aeroponics, that’s if you do it right. aeroponics and coco coir are the hardest to master but if done right can produce 3 times the amount of soil.

  3. 1) I definitely appreciate the effort and the attempt.
    2) The results are worthless and people trying to make decisions should disregard it entirely. Again, no shame — science is hard and you were trying, which is more than most people can say.

  4. Yeah mate, we are all human thanks for putting in the effort. Try doing it again. I’m really interested how it pans out with the DWC. It uses that much water for a reason. Keep up the good work!

  5. DWC without a doubt will grow your plants faster and give more for your return. The problem with DWC is maintenance. You need proper water PH specific to the plant you’re growing. It’s also important to properly balance the PH of what ever medium you use to hold your cuttings/seeds like soaking your hydroton blocks in ph balanced water for 24 hours before introducing a seedling. The temperature of the water could also be specific for certain plants so that’s also something to look out for.. There are different nutrients for different grow phases which means completely changing your water multiple times. You need way more oxygen (best to line the bottom with bubble stones) and light that will feed the plant the energy necessary to process perfect nutrient absorption . It’s best to use a combination of HPS and Metal Halide lights and stay FAR away from and low wattage low lumen lights, like LED or LCD. I use HPS for the grow phase and Add a metal Halide half way through the grow. It’s also important to add a water pump to the bottom of your reservoir to deliver nutrients to cuttings whose roots haven’t touched the water yet. If you do DWC right, it literally has no competition when it comes to yields, growth, and time. Nothing else touches it.

  6. Your aeroponic. system is a hybrid of Dwc guarantee the roots were in the water so it wouldn’t be as good also no water temperature control so none of the systems expect for the drip were running at optimal conditions which is crucial in dwc as water temps dictate the amount of dissolved oxygen where as the drip doesn’t rely on the water to get it’s air if your gonna do a test do it properly otherwise it’s not a fair test

  7. How can you possibly say that you compare the deep water culture system to these other systems when you fail to maintain the deep water culture system to its necessary requirements you can do better I hope

  8. this is totally wrong 😀 pump up your drip system timer to run once or twice per hour and than we can talk about yield and simplicity 😀 if you can feed the plants constantly why not do that? if you watering just a few minutes a day just do a drip with coco or soil no pebbles …

  9. How is this a good test when the dwc died and the soil was not watered enough. Without each growing style maintained correctly it’s flawed from the start.

  10. This is the coolest experiment ever, you should redo it and fix the issues you had because I’m very interested. It would be cool if you used aeroponic sprayers that release the correct micron size droplets. Also if you made or bought the best soil you can because soil can be amazing as well

  11. This is one of the best comparisons videos for the reason that because it factored in human error. We are all humans and need a realistic view of what we may face. Great job!

  12. Unless they were all clones there could be a large difference from plant to plant. Daily ec / ph need to be probed daily and adjusted. Different systems will eat more daily. Human inconstancy seems like the biggest factor here.

  13. The video is good, BUT! the metod with the tomatoes NOT being pruned might have change the result significally. Isnt the commersial tomatos growing with that system, because of the result?

    i know i am 3 years too late, but better late than never, or so iv´e heard xD

  14. Not too surprising considering that the Aero an Kratky were positioned to get much more light, which would easily be the limiting factor in this particular setup.

  15. Its always funny when people diss the experiments where Kratky wins. These people cant stand nature and the simplicity of it. Kratky is for people that knows the power of letting nature do its job with least amount of human interference.

  16. in the nicest wat possible this was generally a bit of a fail. the fact you didn’t water the control meant you had nothing to compare it to and letting the dwc run out of water just threw off the whole test. you really should have started again from scratch. nevertheless you gave it a shot. so well done on trying.

  17. Why do an experiment but then only do it half assed? So effectively you have’nt done an experiment, you’ve made a half assed attempt to grow hyroponically but failed.
    At least you were honest and divulged early so i could stop watching the video and move on to another video.
    Don’t get butt hurt i have no interest in this channel now but if you want to compare systems how are you going to do it if you’re only half involved, do it properly or don’t bother.
    Maybe title it different now, somthing along the lines of “trying to grow with different hydro methods” you have’nt compared shit

  18. If you’re not going to invest the time to do this experiment correctly why bother posting your findings, they’re skewed and totally inaccurate. You need to dedicate time and effort to ensure a fair comparison- you did not. Thumbs down from me.

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