Techniques for Novices to Succeed with Hydroponic Cultivation

[0:05] What's up, you amazing listeners and those tuning in from Homegrown Cannabis Co.'s YouTube channel. I'm your host, Chronic from the Cannabis Chronicles on Instagram and YouTube, and I'm back with an amazing episode of the Homegrown Podcast, brought to us by Homegrown Cannabis Co. Be sure to show them love for all their support of this show and making sure all these amazing episodes go out to you wonderful
 

[0:26] listeners and viewers out there. Head over to www.homegrowncannabisco.com and check out their wide variety of top-notch cannabis seeds. In today's very, very special episode, I have an amazing guest, one of the co-owners of Visionary Hydroponics, one of the lead developers of the HydroBucket, HydroLid, and HydroPod, Mitchell Gorgacuk. Please give a big round of applause for welcoming him onto our show. Thank you so much, Mitchell, for coming onto the show.
 

[0:57] Hi, Derek. Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be here with you, and yeah, it's nice to see you again. Yeah, it's great. For those of you who don't know, his "It's nice to see you again," there is an episode that you guys can go check out of Mitchell and I having some fun conversation on my YouTube channel, the
 

[1:14] Cannabis Chronicles, which is more of his backstory into growing. We got into talking about him being a father, growing cannabis. It was really a wholesome conversation, and I recommend everyone going and checking out if you want to see what Mitchell is like outside of cultivation, what his backstory is like, and all sorts of fun, juicy details. In this episode, we're going to break into some more
 

[1:39] dived-in topics towards his company called Visionary Hydroponics that he runs with his partner. It is an amazing company, and I can't wait to break into it. But to start off, I always like to ask my guests a little fun questions to kind of get this going. Now, what was your goofiest hiccup or your biggest novice mistake of 2022 so far in your garden?
 

[2:07] Oh, in my garden, the biggest hiccup, man, I don't know. I'd have to think about that. Floods . Yes. I think that number one, that's it. I was filling one of my 1,000-liter reservoirs from my house cistern, and I thought I turned it off and I had to leave, and it wasn't until I got 40 minutes away that I realized
 

[2:34] that's what that timer was for . And so I flooded my building pretty good, but there you have it . So there you guys and gals, here you have it. Flooding. We've heard that from actual several growers who've grown hydroponics, and even Kyle Kushman said he's flooded his place. So it's kind of funny, whether you're filling up feedings, like large
 

[2:59] gallon-sized feedings or filling up reservoirs, flooding seems to be the number one kind of mistake that no matter what level of cultivation skill, you can definitely make it. So that's great. Now that we got the fun question out of the way, we're going to break into the actual backstory of Visionary Hydroponics. So how exactly did Visionary Hydroponics
 

[3:21] come to be, and how did you and your partner meet and make this whole dream come true? Let the listeners really know your backstory. Sure. I was a stay-at-home dad. I was growing kids and cannabis. And it was at that point where I came onto the idea for the HydroBucket. And I didn't want to do it alone. I know my strengths.
 

[3:45] I know what I like to do and what I don't like to do and what I can succeed at. And so I had the idea, I materialized it, I got through the patent process, and then I called my buddy Dennis. And I've known Dennis for over a decade. We've worked a lot in the past together. And I just asked him, "Are you interested in helping me?" I
 

[4:08] can do what I can do on this side of it, and if you want to do the daily operations, and help me with everything, and I help him, then yes. We were able to get together and take it to the next level where we could actually get it into production and turn it into a business. And see, that's so amazing because here you have two people who
 

[4:31] weren't in cultivation. You're a family man, you have kids, you're growing your own garden, and now you've been able to step into the industry with one of your friends, longtime friends, and I'm sure it's helped even bolster that relationship between you two and open up new memories, new opportunities, and all sorts of things. So that's really amazing.
 

[4:51] And now, what were the feelings like watching your guys' creation actually come to life through various models, or where you fine-tune your bucket? What was the feelings like getting such feedback from the community after putting it out? Well, nerve-wracking for one. It was a big process and a slow process. But also, it was that feedback from the
 

[5:19] community that got us so far. We couldn't have got this far without that return and people contacting us. And a lot of the journey has been, I wouldn't say organic, but a lot of people would just get in touch with us and say, "Hey, we love it. You solved these problems for us." And that's what really hit home for us, when we started getting high-level people who really
 

[5:42] understand cultivation, just contacting us out of the blue and saying, "Hey, you solved all my problems for this growing method I either use now or I used to use and I got rid of it because we were using five-gallon buckets." So yeah, it was the feedback from everyone that has really, really helped us. That's awesome. It's really good to hear.
 

[6:03] And for those wondering, if you've never heard of Visionary Hydroponics or HydroBucket, I highly recommend checking them out at HydroBucket on Instagram, or check out their website. They're super amazing. I'll have Mitchell put the website links and everything at the end so you guys can have all the socials in one spot. But they're these really groundbreaking five-gallon
 

[6:23] buckets that have a side access so that you don't have to lift your mesh pots off. They're really-- It sounds like such a simple thing to add to a bucket that no one's done up until this point that they did, and it really has made such a groundbreaking experience to hydroponics for novices and even veteran growers. So I love the HydroBucket and I recommend everyone going
 

[6:46] and checking it out. And now continuing with what you were saying, in the early development stages, what directions were you two choosing with your brand and how you wanted to impact the community? Was there a direction from the start that you knew you wanted to make this bucket the industry standard for deep water culture growers, and really set the tone of this is how hydroponic buckets should be built, this is what
 

[7:09] their design should look like? What was kind of the aspirations or your brand goal when coming into this industry? Coming into the industry, how I approached it was really just sharing what I do. Right? That was a big component of it, and connecting with growers one-on-one, because we could have that immediate understanding or a connection on a purpose-built product versus something that's adapted
 

[7:42] technology, right? So yeah, that was a big part of it, definitely. Okay. That's awesome. Yeah. It's really good to hear, because adapted technology and just moving things along in the industry is really how cannabis is progressing so much. Through getting actual dialed-in numbers to exact parameters this day and age, and feeding blends that are so responsive and just reactive to
 

[8:11] hydroponic methods and everything. It definitely is that technology that's stepping up the game for home growers and allowing home growers to experience new forms of growing that they may not have otherwise attempted to. So, with entering the immense community and the industry with so many products, your outreach has been quite immense so far in organic growth. What has that been like for you guys, just as
 

[8:36] an owner of a company and as someone who created something, what's it been like to get opportunities to go to conventions? And were there any conventions or in particular people that you've been able to meet that were idols or dream events that you got to go to? It's been fantastic. It's been mind-blowing. I've always wanted to grow cannabis my
 

[9:00] whole life. So it's a dream come true to get to grow cannabis, but let alone have an impact like this, which I'm just so thankful for the opportunity to stumble into this, right? So, that's been fantastic. And then going to conferences has been another thing. I love to teach, I love to talk, and I love to grow plants, and I just love to share my
 

[9:27] experiences. And so getting to go to attend Lift last year, last fall, was fantastic. That was great. We had a tiny little booth. A tiny little company amidst giants. So it was really fantastic to participate in that way. And then also going down to Washington last year and going to the Autoflower Cup. That was- Oh, yes. Yes
 

[9:52] ... such great contacts happened out of that. But just getting to get out and meet people that have been in the industry a long time and are so significant, right? Such a significant place to visit. And personally, I needed that. I think we all needed that, but everybody was just like, "Oh, we get to hang out with each other and share some
 

[10:13] love." So it was fantastic. That's awesome. And it's so true. The last few years it was nice to see these conventions, conferences, and different cups finally come back and people hanging out. And I've enjoyed watching the posts of your booths and of the different events you guys have gone to. So it's definitely been cool seeing. I didn't get to go to this year's Autoflower Cup, but hopefully this upcoming-- Or
 

[10:35] last year's Autoflower Cup. Hopefully, this year's Autoflower Cup I'll get to swing by. But that's amazing. I love that the outreach has been great and people have accepted you guys, and you guys are really being welcomed in because when I first found your guys' company and product, I really thought it was something amazing and I saw the mass potential for it because I've been
 

[10:53] using five-gallon buckets forever, and it's always either a five-gallon bucket with a little tiny hose on the side, or you need to use a siphon pump to pump it out. So it's definitely just amazing that you guys did such a simple little hack to a five-gallon bucket, basically, and you created this amazing product that is really groundbreaking.
 

[11:12] So now what's been the biggest highlight for the company? Was it a specific event, the Autoflower Cup? Was it a specific sales mark that you guys hit? Between you and Dennis, what's the biggest highlight or high five, congratulations, pat yourself on the backs that you guys have succeeded with your company so far as of now? Oh, that's a good question.
 

[11:39] Really a lot of it goes back to working with people like Homegrown Cannabis Co. When we get to a recognition of a certain level trumps everything. So when we hear from certain people that we love your product and it's groundbreaking and it really is significant, that's enough for us to proceed full steam ahead and not worry about the other details. Right?
 

[12:04] The rest, we're doing our best to make the business work. And it's so far so good. We're having a great time. We're successful at growing it. But Yeah. It really hits home and is the most significant points when we got that external feedback from certain people. That's awesome. Well, us over at Homegrown Cannabis Co absolutely love working with
 

[12:27] you guys, and it's been a great partnership. And the buckets have been amazing. Parker's about to put them to use, and you guys are going to see that in a crazy grow series. So that'll be really cool to see. I'm about to build my recirculating deep water culture series with the eight buckets. So, we have a lot in store for Hydro Buckets.
 

[12:44] So for those listening, definitely, really if you've never owned a business or you've never stepped foot into an industry, what he said about having the respect of these larger companies or bigger names really shout out your product, it is a big feeling. It's basically like imagine you're writing a college essay or a college paper and out of 250, 500 people in your lecture room,
 

[13:07] your lecturer picks out your essay because it's groundbreaking. That recognition is something to really put that fire up underneath you and get you motivated to go do stuff. And with that motivation, Hydro Buckets not only created one product, but they've created multiple products now. Right. And since releasing the Hydro Bucket, which is, I'm telling you, one of
 

[13:28] my, if not my all-time favorite bucket I've ever seen in existence. So, they created the Hydro Pod and Hydro Lids, which I want to talk about those, and I want to know what it's been like for your company since releasing those two products. Has the feedback been even crazier since releasing them? We just recently released the Hydro
 

[13:52] Lid and the Hydro Pod, and we're getting a great response. We felt with the Hydro Bucket, we had not an incomplete product because the whole industry was designed around a five-gallon bucket. We're talking about deep water culture buckets. And so, we felt like we could still apply, it was very much applicable. Mm-hmm. But once we have our own lid,
 

[14:17] then that completed the package. But the fact that we were able to go through the patent process with the Hydro Bucket and understand what's patentable, what's not, what are features that stand out, and then make the Hydro Pod and Hydro Lid in that same fashion is like, "Okay, we need seven features that make it work. So, let's build them in. Let's make a lid that has seven
 

[14:45] features." We kept looking for more features just everywhere we could, trying to make it the best product we could. And it's an amazing lid. For those who haven't seen it, it's got low-stress trainer holes on the side, which is one big thing that annoyed me about mesh pot lids. So for those who don't grow in hydroponics, maybe you're listening to this on Spotify and you're not getting the
 

[15:04] whole video face-to-face effect of the watching the YouTube video or the actual video on Spotify. Hydro buckets, generally, not just hydro buckets, but five-gallon buckets and even just using a hydro bucket, you would use a six-inch mesh pot lid. So it would basically go around the diameter of the five-gallon bucket, and it would create basically a mesh
 

[15:31] pot to hold your Hydroton, Leca clay pebbles, rockwool, whatever you're using for your hydroponic grows. Their lids have pretty much all those nice fancy features dialed into a very minimal sleek design with low-stress training holes so you don't have to poke holes through your own lid, and it's got super fancy features with the Hydro Pod, which I'm going to let Mitchell take over and tell
 

[15:54] me more about the Hydro Pod because that's actually something I didn't know, and he didn't tell me about that one when we last talked. I only got a sneak preview of the Hydro Lid. So tell me kind of what the Hydro Pod is designed for, what the Hydro Lid really, what you guys developed it for to be best at, if it's best for clones, if it's best for seedlings, if it
 

[16:15] does both. Let them know. Sure. Thank you. So the Hydro Lid and the Hydro Pod. Number one, we're excited to grow with very little or no medium whatsoever. And I know we have to use a little bit unless we're using clones. So the Hydro Lid and Hydro Pod, it'll work for clones or seeds with just a little
 

[16:35] bit of rockwool. Right? And I think that's an easy, very easy... What I want to show people for starting seeds is one single plug of rockwool is all we're going to use per plant. Sweet. And we're going to put that into the Hydro Lid. So we don't have any maintenance or man-hours or resources spent as much on a before and after a grow.
 

[16:57] Really, it's just one plug that we prep, and then those roots will be able to come through and grow in a way that provides more air and airflow in the root zone compared to roots that are covered in Hydroton and that style of net pot. Also, what I found with growing with standard net pots, that is that I like to transfer things.
 

[17:29] I've had a grow method that I did not like to just plant in one pot and then it stays there for its life. It's not that efficient when you're growing in hydroponics. Yeah. I would rather mature four plants in three gallons per week instead of four plants in each plant has its own three gallons or five gallons.
 

[17:51] You can really be efficient in this grow method. So what I found was when I had four plants in a DIY lid in a three gallon, when I went to transfer each plant out of those little holes and all that stuff, it was really damaging to the roots. Yeah. So that's another reason why we developed the Hydro Pod in the
 

[18:11] shape that it's in, is it's in that conical shape, so it allows transfers To come out of a four pod Hydro Lid, soon to be released. Oh. And so we can mature four plants in a three gallon and use three gallons per week for a couple of weeks at least, and then once it's time to transfer those out,
 

[18:34] again the conical shape, we're going to be able to pull those hydro pods out and put them in single pod Hydro Lids, and now they deserve their own five gallon space for growing. Yes. I am so happy you always give me such juicy details and like- ... "Oh, it's coming out next." I am hyped on the four po- because I was literally switching my
 

[18:56] mothers over to do not big mothers anymore, but maybe three to four colas that I clip a cola off and I go ahead and start my clones from it, and I was going to keep my mothers in kind of one singular bucket, three or four to a bucket. Man, oh man, you guys are just producing groundbreaking items- ...
 

[19:12] after groundbreaking items. So, and for anyone who wants to see their products, I have videos on my channel. Icangrowbro on Instagram, and @hydrobuckets on Instagram. They have multiple posts. Icangrowbro is Mitchell's personal page. And so for those wondering what these lids look like and what he's talking about concave and why it makes a difference, when you're transferring,
 

[19:39] let's say from a neoprene collar and you're just transferring out of a makeshift cut hole, and there isn't a concave nice smooth curve that the roots can kind of brush up against, you damage a lot of your roots. You'll notice that sometimes you pull root masses off, sometimes your roots will get twisted. Sometimes it can just lead to actually ripping the entire
 

[20:00] mass or chunk of your roots out. So having these different buckets to grow and flourish your roots, and what he's talking about with vegging three plants when they're small, you should really check out his page, icangrowbro. It really puts into perspective what he's talking about and why these lids are going to be so groundbreaking is because up until now, you've either had to use
 

[20:23] a soldering iron, a drill saw, or something to cut holes in plastic lids and stick neoprene collars in them or make makeshift little net pots to transfer from, and it's been kind of a headache. So, and those processes really damage your roots, which in hydroponics, damaging your roots can be, I mean, that can put you back a
 

[20:42] few weeks if it's severe enough. Right. So I love... Man, I'm so hyped on these lids now. So that's just going to flush us right into the educational content of this episode. Since we pretty much hit all the items that you guys are really coming out with. I'll let you, like I said, spiel off that website and everything at the end
 

[21:01] so people can check out these Hydro Buckets and Hydro Lids. For people who do go and purchase your product, they snag a Hydro Bucket, they purchase a Hydro Lid, and they get a Hydro Pod for free from the deal I saw on your website. Yes. What advice do you have for them as a first time novice grower to start their seeds and have a
 

[21:22] successful germination process? What germination process would you recommend and how would you go about the first two weeks of life with their setup? Okay. So, yeah, definitely the thing to do for anybody is to check out our IG, and that's where I really like to show everyone what I do through video, and through reels and stuff, and
 

[21:46] just show them the hands-on. But yeah, so how I like to start seeds is I like to do the paper towel method because I find it frustrating to put a seed into something and then be not sure if it's growing. I've always found that just that's not me. I like to get it going. But that being said, with
 

[22:08] great genetics these days, I haven't had seeds not pop. For the most part, things have been very successful. So, it's about deciding whether you want to start a taproot in a paper towel. That's what I like to do. I like to use a little bit of Germ Genie. I found that was just a game changer just in
 

[22:33] getting seeds to just boom. Within a day, cannabis seeds were popping, you're really nice. And then once I get those, I transfer them into a prepared rockwool cube. Okay. And how do you prepare your cubes? What's your preparation solution? Yes. For the cube I will buy... If I don't have a solution, there are some companies that make a solution to you just soak it
 

[23:01] in that solution, and it's ready to go. That's very convenient for a lot of people. If not, you can just soak it in pH'd water with a little bit of Germ Genie, with a little bit of microbes. You can do these things. But for the most part I'll keep it water only, pH'd with maybe a Germ Genie or something.
 

[23:19] And then even at that, you can plant directly into that, and then at that point we're taking the rockwool cube. It just so happens that I do have a Hydro Pod- I see ... and a Hydro Lid here. Okay. So the viewers are going to get a show here. If you guys are listening, check out the video.
 

[23:36] Yeah. So here's the Hydro Pod, right? Okay. And so this is the foam collar that we use for clones, but when we're talking about seeds the best way to do it is we're going to take this, and this is great because I was just about to make a video today and post for people. We're going to cut a hole just
 

[23:56] larger or slightly smaller than this diameter into this foam puck, okay? And until we make our own at Visionaire Hydroponics and supply them, we're going to have to do a little bit of DIY, but cutting this is very simple. Yeah. And then we're going to place this prepared rockwool with our seed in it. We'll place our seed in it either dry or
 

[24:18] we'll open it up, and we can place the taproot down, close it, and then we'll take this and we'll just simply Pac-Man it- Mm-hmm ... through. We'll just put it right in the center. And then we'll place that in a hydro pod. Ah, okay. And at this point, it can go into the hydro lid. Yep. So- And look at that hydro lid, ladies and gentlemen.
 

[24:45] Reflective- Yeah, and there's- ... nice. And there's the hydro lid. It will be in black. This is a white one. Special edition. That's cool. And so- So you got the special edition for yourself for that reflective. Yeah, right. Cool. So then once we have it in the hydro lid, I will take it and I'll put it in a three gallon or a hydro pod, it doesn't matter.
 

[25:09] But for the most part, I don't have any fluid underneath at this point. Okay. For the first week, until I see roots emerge through the bottom of the rock wool, I will just use PH'd water- Mm ... again, with maybe some minor additives, and I'll just water once or twice from the top, and just a drain to waste.
 

[25:28] Or you could even take your hydro pod and you could just dip it in a five gallon bucket- Right ... and soak it for a minute, and place it back. Once we do have roots that emerge, and we want them to come down to the bottom of the hydro pod. Okay. So we'll continue that process until we get them down, and that does not take
 

[25:51] long. No. At that point, that's where we put it in a hydro bucket, we fill it up with water, and we hopefully have four of them right in the lid. And we're just trying to get those roots into deep water culture. That's the hardest part. Once the roots are in deep water culture, once they touch down, it's just party time. They just go crazy.
 

[26:16] And one note that I'd like to tell people is that when we're talking about vigorous growth and no pause, it's all about the taproot. Mm-hmm. If we were to take these plugs and we were to put them, say, in a seed starter tray. It's a common way to start them. Mm-hmm. And when that root comes down and it bottoms out,
 

[26:42] that tells the plant that it needs more lateral roots. And that's not a bad thing, but what you do is you create a porcupine. When you have a porcupine, now we have roots growing laterally and down to the bottom, all looking for that fluid. And they will get it, and it will take off. But if we allow the
 

[27:04] taproot to emerge, to not stop in anything, and it will not experience a pause, and if it can just get down into fluid, into the deep water culture environment, then the rate of growth is just staggering how fast these plants go because it's just no pause whatsoever. Yeah. And even though that sounds like a small pause, porcupining a cube,
 

[27:30] it is a week. That can change your growth by about a week. And then at that point, we're in deep water culture, and then we're looking at just maintaining our fluid each week, which is very, very easy with small plants. And really, it's just the easiest thing, actually. So.. And that was an amazing explanation. I love everything you said, and I do exactly... It's amazing.
 

[27:54] I use the same little tips and tricks you use for your germination process. I use the Germ Genie paper towel method. It works every time. I love placing the tap roots right into the rock wool. It is very good. Let's take a grower through what does your average week look like? Because there's a big stigma about hydroponics and it being
 

[28:15] daily uptake being... Apparently, I can't speak. The daily upkeep- ... being absolutely ridiculous, and three, four hours a day, or 10 hours a week, or this. What's your week like? Take us through a week of maintenance in, let's say, a third or fourth week vegging plant. A third or fourth week to vegging plant. Yeah. My weeks are typically always the same.
 

[28:42] I like to access the fluid and be in there as little as possible. I like to spend my time up top on the plants and in that spot. So my week is basically filling on Monday. I'll get a fresh batch of nutrient solution on Monday, and then it is good for a week. I like to swap that out for a
 

[29:12] week, each week, just to start fresh. When plants are not large, they don't consume a lot, so you really want to start fresh each week. But aside from that, I will check with young plants, say, in the third or fourth week of veg, I will check the pH maybe midweek. Okay. It depends, and maybe at the end of the week.
 

[29:42] For the most part, if it's not too crazy and I have it dialed in and I'm familiar with those genetics, I'm familiar with the nutrients, I know what it's going to be after the third day or the fifth day. I know what the temperature's going to be. This is what I love about indoor growing, is that we control all aspects of
 

[29:58] everything. So there's very few surprises in my garden. And often, I will not be in my garden for every three days. I just won't be in there. That's awesome. Yeah. That's because the hydro bucket or the deep water culture environment provides the plants with everything it needs. The only thing we really have to maintain or take care of is our
 

[30:23] pH and our temperature. Those are the two main factors. If the pH is out of range, then we're going to have a bad experience. And if the Temperature's out of range, that's not good also. So as long as you know that your pH and temperature are in range, the plant has access to everything it needs, and it's going to
 

[30:45] do everything those genetics and environment allow it to. Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. And speaking of pH and temperature, I would love to know, do you like to use a fluctuating pH through your grow? Are you a consistent pH range person? And one big pro of the hydro buckets is the fact that I know I was joking with you earlier about the white lid being
 

[31:11] reflective. They are not white lids, guys. They are black lids. I was totally just teasing earlier. They are black lids for a particular reason. They actually help reduce the amount of hot temperatures going into the actual reservoir. So, that's something that in the YouTube episode that I had with Mitchell, we talked about because I used to have issues with my water temperature, and he was telling me to wrap
 

[31:35] my buckets in insulation or put them in a more shadier spot of the grow room or try to build up more of a canopy to shade the actual buckets. But the actual black color does help immensely. I think my buckets stay around 68 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit easily. Yeah, that's fantastic. And it's all about managing that temperature, right?
 

[31:58] One great tip in managing temperature is that each hydro bucket, each deep water culture environment, has an air stone. We have to keep it well oxygenated. And this is a question that comes up is, why do you wrap your hydro buckets in insulation if you're using the same temperature of the grow tent to put that air through an air
 

[32:19] stone into your solution? And my answer to that is that I have full control of the air that the air pump has access to. So, this is fantastic. I never have my air pumps in the grow environment because I'm creating a grow environment that's ideal for the foliage, for the plant. That's a different environment than my nutrient solution. So, I will
 

[32:44] have my air pump outside of the tent, and if it's summer and it's too hot, then there's things that we can pull air from somewhere, from a shady spot or whatever the coldest air that you can find. Wherever it is. And you can get a small duct and a small little furnace. They're just these four inches, and then you have
 

[33:08] cold air being supplied directly into your nutrient solution. I've even had a great idea that you could use a cooler, and this is a recommendation from a different grower. You can put a cooler and just put refreezable ice packs, the cooler style, and that's going to keep that air cold, always going into your root zone. So there's little hacks we can do to manage temperature.
 

[33:33] That's awesome. Even just little things like that, like placing your air pumps outside of your tent. So many growers wouldn't think about drastically reducing the actual temperature of their reservoir. And for those growers listening, why temperatures of hydroponic reservoirs are so important and why it's important for you novices to really pay attention to temperatures and pH in hydroponics early on is because
 

[33:57] with temperature, if you go ahead and get hot temperatures, you're going to start breeding root slime, root rots, all sorts of weird bacterias and the slime is the main one. Once slime gets on the roots, it's really hard to get rid of, and it can be very drastic to the actual grow process. Yeah. Now, I'd like to go on and continue with some more questions
 

[34:17] about PPM feedings and what you max your plants out, what ranges you like to stay within, because these growers out here may not-- Some growers listening may want to get a hydro bucket after listening to this, but they don't know everything about growing cannabis when it comes to hydroponics. So when it comes to pH ranges, are you sticking within
 

[34:37] 6.0? And then when it comes to PPM, what's about the highest you like to feed your plants? Yeah, good question. I don't stick to pH. I stick to range. Mm. 5.5 to 6.5. That allows me flexibility to only check the hydro bucket every three days. I will not lift that lid and the side lid and check that
 

[35:01] fluid under three days. I refuse to. So I'm always good for three days, and that's pretty good, right? That's a nice stint. But yes, I'm keeping it between 5.5 and 6.5. But I rarely adjust in the hydro bucket because I know what goes in at the start of the week, and then after doing that for a week or two, or a grow or two, or a year or two,
 

[35:25] you know your notes. You keep notes, and you know at mid-week what it needs. It needs the temperature to go down, it needs the pH typically to go down, and it needs the concentration to be diluted. And that never changes. So after three days or four days, I simply top up with cold pH'd water- Mm-hmm ... and dilute that parts per million.
 

[35:51] And I put everything from close to out of range to perfectly in range, and that allows me to ride out the rest of the week with the nutrients that are in there. And that's awesome- Yeah ... because you're probably helping yourself balance the, if they're eating or dropping the PPM range or just shifting it, you're helping push it
 

[36:07] more closer back into range, help give them that last little food for the week. Yeah. Exactly. And at that point, you can do some additives as well if you do understand your plants. But like Kyle and Parker were talking on a previous podcast, that it's about NPK ratios. It's not so simple. You can't mix up your week's nutrients, let it consume those and
 

[36:32] the fluid anyway, and then the nutrients that are left at the bottom, just simply add more on top. That ratio is going to be out of whack, and that's bad. So, this technique of every three days diluting with water allows you to soften that imbalance at the end of the week. Mm-hmm. It really is a lot lesser of a degree when
 

[36:57] you just use a midweek dilution of water only. And that leads to parts per million. I will feed my plants all the way up to 1,500 parts per million. I do enrich- Okay ... in my flower room, and I'm not afraid to push them fairly hard. It depends on the cultivar, right? Yeah. But yeah, 1,350 to 1,500 is typically
 

[37:21] where I'll start my week. Okay. And that allows me to know, and this is key, I know that within three to four days if I start strong, it's really strong. When I check on day three or day four, sometimes it'll be 1,700 parts per million, 6.4 and 78 degrees. But that's an extreme example. And then I'll back down.
 

[37:49] Yeah If that was starting at 15, I'll back that down to 14 or 13 so that midweek dilution is perfect and it gets to ride 1,200 out, 1,200 parts per million for the rest till the end of the week. That's awesome. That's a great system. And for those novices listening, I would really take notes on what he's doing to approach his grows on a
 

[38:09] weekly basis because you don't want to find yourself constantly pH adjusting. One thing that people don't really talk about is using natural pH adjusters or even chemical solvent pH adjusters. You are adding some form of PK within the reservoir, just basically how pH adjusters are made, especially natural ones. There's going to add a lot more PK to your res.
 

[38:32] So you do have to be cognizant of when you're adjusting pH, how much pH adjuster you're actually putting into the reservoir because that can actually increase the PPM, which can cause a toxicity within your plant. So, maintaining a PPM 1,500 or less at the plant's peak pinnacle feeding is really great, and it's always dependent on the cultivar. Like you said, you should start with 1,350.
 

[38:56] That's a really good range for a high-end feeding, and just see what your plant can take. That shifting pH range, guys, it's really, really important to not just stick to a pH because plants do uptake various nutrients in various pH ranges in different amounts. So if your plant's sitting in 5.5 to 5.9, it's going to be absorbing that calcium and magnesium and your vegetative
 

[39:21] hormones or vegetative nutrients a lot more than if it was at 6.3, where it would absorb PK a lot heavier. So, amazing knowledge and really good advice, tips, and tricks coming from Mitchell, which we're going to go into the last week of harvest since you've talked about the week to week, what you do for vegging, how you push them into flower.
 

[39:43] And now let's talk about are you a person that feeds all the way up until harvest in hydro, or do you go ahead and give that one-week flush or two-week flush? I have been experimenting with different things. I find that I like the plants to be gradually finished and taken off of nutrients, and using a potassium only-
 

[40:14] Mm. Like a potash only or a potash with amenities only for the last two weeks. Okay. This is how I tend to get just amazing fades- Mm ... on the plants. And I find the fades really contribute, in my experience, to really white ash, really clean smoke- Yes ... really nice flavors. No bitterness. No nastiness. It's just really, really nice.
 

[40:43] The harder I fade it, the better. But that is really by stopping any nitrogen whatsoever as we go from bloom to the end, of course. But then, yes, I will do the potash only at the end. And lately, I used to do a flush for one week. Call it a flush. That's a loaded word. Yeah. But I used to give it
 

[41:14] water only- Yes ... for the last week. And I don't find that's the definitive factor in creating the greatest flower. I've actually given up that procedure in the last couple grows, and I found it's just that transition. Yeah. Knowing when to change your nutrient solution and transition towards the end is what's done it for me. I love that you say that because it's all about reading your plant and just seeing
 

[41:48] what your plant does. And I found that too. There are some harvests where I don't get that really pretty fade because the plants uptake too much nitrogen, and I didn't get enough water through the medium to flush out what it has in the medium to allow it to actually use what's in its fan leaves. And so what Mitchell's actually talking about for you all to understand,
 

[42:11] if you're not grasping how nutrients work and why it would affect the taste or smoke or any of that. So when plants absorb nutrients, they're not absorbing nutrients and then instantly putting them to use necessarily. They are absorbing them, and they're storing a select amount of specific nutrients in their fan leaves, which is why fan leaves can go from very dark green to a lighter
 

[42:34] green to lime green to yellow if they're basically being drained of all their nutrient supply. And so whenever we fade plants, we're actually taking, and so why he kind of made a joke about the whole flush word because flushing is kind of a mythical Not mythical, but it's just not a term that really actually is scientific based, because you can't really flush a plant necessarily.
 

[42:58] What we're actually doing is the act of ridding the grow medium of all accessible nutrients. And if you're in hydroponics, you would do water, so the plant is forcibly using all the nutrients that's inside of its fan leaves, which creates a nice fade. It creates a more rounded taste and flavor. My theory behind that is you're allowing the plant to get rid of all those,
 

[43:23] even if we use organics, that type of kind of like how a pine or oak tree will put out acids in the soil. Those tannins or whatever you want to call those flavors, those terpenes from the actual nutrients being stored, I truly believe it affects flavors if that's still in there. So I agree with that, and I love that you said that because I'm not
 

[43:43] big on the word flush, but I also like to create that fall fade to get those smoother flavors and taste. And I'm sure aromatically it probably smelled better for you when you were doing those things as well, right? Well, absolutely. It smells great. And the aromas are fantastic, the aromatics, but also it's beautiful. I just love growing plants and when you can have that fade,
 

[44:08] change by the day and go from green to purple to pink to black, just all these things, it just blows me away. I can't get in there to look at it. And this speaks to hydroponics. Hydroponics allows you to... I tell people, consider this. If you don't put it in, it's not in there. That's where we start. So we have full control.
 

[44:32] So when we want high nitrogen, it has high nitrogen. We change the fluid out. If we want whatever we want, we put it in there and it's immediate. So we can really, week by week, affect exactly what we want that plant to do. And when you get in sync with your plants and your cultivars, it just allows you to have full control.
 

[44:56] And I don't mean to scare anyone off by full control. Some people think maybe that's a scary thing or it's too involved, but absolutely not. It's the easiest thing in the world. Mm-hmm. No, I totally know what you mean by that. And I agree with you. When you're first starting, it can seem that full control could seem a little scary. What does he mean?
 

[45:17] Do I have to control everything? No, no. What he means is literally your roots are free floating in water. Okay? So if they're using tap water, they're going to have some minerals within that water, but essentially there's no food in that water. You get to give them everything and anything. So if you buy synthetic, they become synthetic bud.
 

[45:38] If you buy organic, it's an organic bud. If you buy all-natural, it's all natural. So it's really wonderful with how versatile hydroponic is, how easy it truly is, and I always have to say this to people, my best first yields ever were always in hydroponics. I struggled the most with soil growing just because what happened with me was I would feed and mess up a pH towards the end or
 

[46:05] in flower, and that damage wouldn't show for four or five days, and then by the time I fixed it, it was another four or five days, and it had been a week at 7.0 pH, and now my flower's jacked up. So with hydroponics, you have a pH issue, you can fix it right then and there, and your plants can be adjusted, and it's really, really,
 

[46:23] really such a wonderful... If you've never grown in hydroponics, I really, truly, wholeheartedly think everyone should snag a HydroBucket and just test out a deep water culture plant. I think it's an immensely fun experience to see those roots just come down and create some serious root balls. So, beyond that, it's really rewarding and it can really make or break someone's grow space in the sense
 

[46:50] of like for me, I'm transitioning completely to hydroponics right now because it's just become too expensive for me in my apartment to deal with soil and all that other headache. So there's a lot of benefits to it. And with this episode coming to a close, I have a few more questions for you, and the last few questions are
 

[47:06] actually going to help get these growers and listeners started so that they can go purchase your HydroBucket. They can grab a HydroLid. They can get that HydroPot. But there's also certain tools that are necessary to start. And I want to hear what tools you think are absolutely necessary to start hydroponics that you cannot go without, that you need to get right off the
 

[47:27] gate. You need a mixing bucket. You need a pH pen and a parts per million pen, and that's going to give you temperature. So again, those are your three things that we're monitoring in your nutrient solution is pH, parts per million, and temperature. So we have to read this, and there's so many different pens and varieties on the market. So I recommend people go out and get yourself a
 

[47:51] nice pen. I started out with the liquid, the General Hydroponics drops. And I still keep that around because you never know when your pen will fail, or you never know. You drop it, you step on it. There's a million reasons. You want to keep that pH in range. So either get some hot tub strips- Yep ... right? Close enough. We're just dealing with until our new pen comes in,
 

[48:15] or some drops. So you have to do that. And you have to keep track of your temperature. A mixing bucket, I like to use a drill with a paint mixer. Mm. I'm not a huge grower, not massive, but I still mix 100 liters at a time. So I just, like so many things, I go to the local hardware store, and I get a great big
 

[48:37] Rubbermaid garbage bin, and I mix into there. And then aside from that, I mean I think that's about it. There's only three factors to look after. We do need a pump, so that's not it. We do need a pump to get the water out and to get the water in. Yep. It just makes it very nice and convenient when you have a little pump.
 

[48:59] But the HydroBucket's patented shape allows for a small aquarium pump, and this is again depending on the size of the grow. If you have one HydroBucket and you're testing it out, you can get the smallest aquarium pump that you want. It's only going to take a couple minutes to pump out three gallons. Yep. And then you could just mix up in a
 

[49:23] side bucket and just pour it in there. So you don't even need to pump it back in. The side reservoir of the HydroBucket allows you to just pour it right in. I actually have videos of what you're talking about, of me doing that, and I have a gravel- Oh, awesome ... where I was pumping. So yes, guys- ... everything he's saying is legit.
 

[49:40] Sorry, continue. I had to add that. Yeah. So awesome. So, exactly. So you have to get the fluid out. I like a pony pump just because, again, I'm changing fluid out of 20 HydroBuckets at a time, usually 10 one day, 10 the next day. So I like to just drop one end in, and it's a non-priming or a self-priming rubber impeller pump.
 

[50:07] So the pump is in the middle. You have a hose on one end, and you have a hose on the other end. So it allows great flexibility to just turn it on and just drop a hose in to drain and then switch it around and just turn it on and just fill again. That's awesome, and it really is
 

[50:24] having those little submersible pumps. I have one whenever I'm doing all the buckets. If I'm just doing a singular one and I just have to change a little bit, I'll just use my little gravel hand pump because it's really easily accessible. But yeah, when I'm doing 10 gallons, 15, 20 gallons, I'm definitely using that submersible pump. And having that little just extra space to
 

[50:46] work with so I don't have to lift my lid, mess with the roots, it makes a drastic difference in experience with my back pains bending over that amount of time- Right ... trying to lift a plant that's heavy. All of that comes into play. So, I love that you added that submersible pump to that tools list, because I was
 

[51:07] hoping you were going to add it. I was like, "I hope he says pump, I hope he says pump." So yes, those are really the necessities. Really, seriously, you guys could get started with just a bucket, a lid, some rock wool, your seeds, those necessities, and some nutrients, and you're golden. You literally can get started- Right ... growing,
 

[51:25] and it's awesome. Now, what are some of the tools that you may have purchased over time that aren't necessary, but you think if you're going to get into hydroponics, like, "Hey, you probably should get this down the road or invest into it"? What are some tools that you think maybe some growers should look at? That goes into more of just the garden itself, not
 

[51:46] necessarily hydroponics. I found when I started off growing, I spent a lot of time not necessarily dealing with my plants, but manually controlling the environment. Mm. Environmental controls was crazy. I was spending all my time. And then once I was able to get a controller, even just small little modules that makes a fan exhaust by itself. Yep.
 

[52:13] Magic, right? Just fantastic. And that goes all the way from controlling every aspect of your garden. So picking up a little controller here and there just to manage your flow and your temperature, those really allow an automated environment, and once you have an automated environment, you're really spending all your time on your plants, right? It just purrs.
 

[52:38] Yeah, and you know what? That's so good to have those, too, because I started without controllers and I was spending like, "All right, let me try to adjust this fan over here, add a fan here. Let me try to do what I can to make these things work." And then when I finally got controllers for each one of my tents, it's
 

[52:56] literally just click a button, set it. "All right, this fan-" Yep ... "set to this temperature. Everything's good." They know when to turn on, turn off. It definitely is less of a headache to the point where you as a novice, it might sound like a lot to spend this kind of money at the start on some things like a controller
 

[53:13] or some of these fans that are a little more pricier than the cheaper buys. But in the long term of things, if you know you're going to be a grower and you know you want to grow, it actually saves you a lot more time and energy and effort saved because you can focus on fundamentals and not have
 

[53:28] crappy wasted harvests that in a sense cost you more because you spent all that money on electric that whole time to yield subpar products. So I love that you said fans. I love that that's a big necessity in the sense of if you're upgrading your garden, you're like, "Yo, get the controllers, environment dialed in," because that is a big
 

[53:47] one. That is a big key to a gardener's success. And honestly, headaches. The amount of frustration you'll have in your garden comes from environmental reasons most of the time, between PM, all sorts of things. So yeah, I love that response, and I think we're going to finish off with one of my favorite questions that I always ask everyone, and I try to switch it up here and there and make it a
 

[54:12] little different so it's not the same question. But I want to know what have you learned up until this point, whether it's about life, your spiritual experience, growing cannabis, owning your own business with your partner, just what has all of that taught you at this point in your life, being a father, just everything. If you had one piece of solid advice to give to
 

[54:34] a gardener or someone listening that is just a quality piece of advice, what is something that you yourself is kind of maybe dawned on your mind lately or really spoke out to you? That's a great question. I would say everything is a lesson. Everything is a lesson presented for us to grow. There's learning to deal with our frustrations, whether it's at home or in the garden,
 

[55:07] and getting overridden by those emotions is the practice. When we get past that and we look at what is presented to us, everything's an opportunity to grow, whether it's in the garden or personally or spiritually, it's all right there in front of us at every minute of every day. So I love that aspect in the garden. I used to get bothered,
 

[55:32] and still sometimes I get rubbed the wrong way when something happens in the garden and it catches me. But for the most part, all my experience comes from problems that I've had, or hiccups, or little errors, and instead of getting turned off by that, I get turned on by it now because that often starts a thread that I wouldn't have put myself in that position to
 

[55:56] get more knowledge firsthand. But it happens, and when I accept it, then there goes that thread and I get more knowledge. So yes, accept your teachings, whether it's in life or in the garden, it's all there for us to improve on ourselves. I love that, man. That's a really wonderful piece of advice and it's really awesome because every time I do these interviews,
 

[56:20] I always like to ask that piece of advice question because I think it's really wholesome hearing what every individual has to say, and it's always different and it's always so wonderful. And I couldn't agree more because I have, just in the last year of my life alone, had to learn and work on self-patience and not being so frustrated with things, and understanding that lessons are meant to teach us.
 

[56:42] And those teachings from those lessons can be so invaluable sometimes that all that headache that you went through, you don't even remember it. Whenever you look back on it, you just remember all the wisdom that you gained from this experience, and I really love that you said that. That is a wonderful takeaway. And without further ado, Mitchell, please roll out the red carpet for all of your socials,
 

[57:05] where they can find your products, any deals that you guys have so that they can take advantage of them right now, and anything you'd like to add for your company. Yes, thank you, Derek. Yeah, we can be found at www dot-- I can't believe I said www, I haven't said that in about 15 years. Yeah, we can be found at
 

[57:27] Visionary Hydroponics. Visionaryhydro.ca is our website, visionaryhydro.ca. We are also on IG, that is our main platform, that's where I love to do most of my social media. @HydroBucket, also @ICanGrowBro is where we can be found, and we do have a YouTube page as well. We like to neglect that quite a bit, but we're working on that. Yeah.
 

[57:59] That's awesome. Guys, gals, please go give them some love. Dennis and Mitchell really have created such an amazing company and product. They're very supportive of this industry. Ever since reaching out way back when, they have been extremely supportive of my channel, of Home Grown. They have a wonderful partnership with Home Grown, and we really are excited to see big things coming from
 

[58:24] Mitchell and Dennis and Visionary Hydroponics. And we can't thank you enough for coming on to this episode. I can't thank you enough, man. It was a fun episode. I always love chatting with you. And it was really, this time I really enjoyed getting more in depth into the education of hydroponics, your products and everything, versus our little YouTube chat that was more of your
 

[58:41] backstory and everything. So for those wondering, there is a YouTube interview with Mitchell's backstory if you want to just see his personal stuff and kind of a chit-chat between us. But other than that, give a big round of applause for Mitchell for coming on. Go follow them. Make sure to show Home Grown Cannabis Co some love at
 

[59:00] www.homegrowncannabisco.com. You can check out all sorts of different educational content, their top-notch seeds, and you can actually ask Mitchell or any of our other previous interview guests questions for the future because we always do more interviews with our guests because we love having them back on. So if you have a question for Mitchell about hydroponics, his products, or
 

[59:23] anything Visionary Hydroponics has to offer with Dennis and Mitchell involved, you can go ahead and tag @Kronic at www.homegrowncannabisco.community. That's K-R-O-N-I-C, and you can ask me your questions for them. In the next amazing interview, I'll be sure to ask him. So who thinks we should have Mitchell back on for another groundbreaking hydro episode? Because I sure do. All right, thanks ladies and gentlemen for
 

[59:48] tuning in. Much love, happy growing, and peace. Hey, home growers. I'm Parker Curtis from Home Grown Cannabis Co, and I have a question. Do you want a 10% discount on our amazing seeds? Sure you do. Head over to homegrowncannabisco.com, fill your basket, and use this exclusive code in the checkout, Garden10. You'll get 10% off anything you buy, and normal terms and conditions apply.

[1:00:11] See you in the garden.