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: 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: amzn.to/2FmbvQk
- Rockwool: amzn.to/2FlzhMm
- Clay Pebbles: amzn.to/2TcolDr
- Mechanical Timers: amzn.to/2OG5Qny
- Lighting Rack: 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: amzn.to/2DDsrA7
- 3/4 Irrigation Hose: amzn.to/2DGGqFk
- 1/4 Dripper Hose: amzn.to/2FuH1eO
- Barbed Coupling: amzn.to/2RVAN9v
- Adjustable Dripper: amzn.to/2TbGhy4
~ DWC System ~
- Air pump: amzn.to/2Fuw3X4
- Air stone: amzn.to/2TcnIK5
- Air tube: amzn.to/2qJoTE3
~ Aeroponics / Fog System ~
- Ultrasonic mister: amzn.to/2RMU0tQ
~ Soil System ~
- Potting Mix: amzn.to/2RPQS0j
Got questions? Hit us up on social media (@GetUrbanLeaf) or email ([e-mail]) and we'd be happy to help you out!

[@rosewood513]

Thanks for taking the time for us. I have an aeroponics system, it grows well bit on a small size. I am all set up for the kratky but wasn't sure if it would work. Now I know. Thanks

[@lizardking5002]

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.

[@GetUrbanLeaf]

Lizard King we are well aware of the limitations of the experiment - that’s why we made a point to list them out(!!) But hey, if you don’t like our video you are welcome to make your own! ✌️🌱

[@ethanleech7971]

This provided great insight into Hydroponics, especially for a beginner. Thanks for sharing Rob!

[@GetUrbanLeaf]

We're so glad you liked it!

[@natestrings673]

Really great video on different forms of systems. Thanks

[@mytech6779]

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.

[@77Fmydog]

great video! i really enjoyed watching this i am new and got my first aerogarden but i want to make some other systems and this really helped me decide whats best for me! you forgot about that

[@jezaneth2703]

More of this experiments. Very informative

[@TheSateef]

very interesting, i'd hope you run this again with more details

[@Aerogrow]

Good stuff!; adding in EC/PH to test cycle would be awesome!

[@csevergreen1478]

Thanks for sharing this.. This will be of a great use indeed!💚👏

[@DeepakGupta-pw3pr]

did you run the fogger 24/7? or cycled?

[@harrysibben7583]

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!

[@buffalosoldat]

Cool test. I wish you had more subs, you totally deserve it!

[@damienomen68]

Hell yes.

[@Duci1989]

Very nice video! Appreciated.

[@idee7896]

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!

[@GetUrbanLeaf]

Wow, thank you!

[@kaydog890]

No. It's terrible. Genetic variation is huge. If he had used clones all off the same mother we may be able to make some conclusion. Choose your hydro system on desired size and willingness to maintain, not a potential 5% yield increase.

[@willytaylor1940]

@@kaydog890 Aeroponic always gives the biggets yield out of any other hydro system. Fact.

[@atomizer2665]

@@willytaylor1940 Thats not always the case. Most so called aeroponic systems are actually hydroponic. A genuine aeroponic system will happily produce hydroponic results if you dont understand the concept and run it like hydro :).

[@buntbar2438]

Great Video!

[@hecklemeditationmusic1304]

Great video, good anylitics, dont forget to have some fun.

[@satoru8026]

You are amazing. Tks from Brazil

[@JohnDoe-pb5cx]

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

[@afishl1]

Yeah, like high pressure aeroponics

[@chris7987]

@@JohnDoe-pb5cx What an ignorant fool you are.

[@MalaysianTropikfusion]

@@JohnDoe-pb5cx That was very rude of you.

[@mmattdude6194]

How was anything he said rude. Plus no one cares what you think.

[@mahargleopenaws]

Lovely experiment

[@liquidambar3688]

The 40 watts and replacement discs used by the little fogger are more relevant than the few cups of water used when calculating the running costs,

[@justinomar9210]

Not only that but his aeroponic. system was 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

[@patmontes2]

What lights did you use?

[@AntonySimkin]

They look like high output T5 tubes (fluorescent)

[@Iamlilcreator]

Have you ever record how much water consume till harvest using kratky method on lettuce and pak choy? Because i want to start one and information from you really do help me on decide which container to use. Thanks

[@Palacinka13]

Try to find Kratkys original texts. I think he states that around 4l of nutrient solution was required for lettuce

[@GetUrbanLeaf]

Erwin Limarno Prof Kratky is a pretty friendly guy. We've chatted with him - he's based in Hawaii these days I believe. Worth reaching out to him and asking!

[@LUISSM3]

Which tomato seeds are the ones that give so many tomatoes without overgrowing the plant? My tomato plants in the Kratky method grow big, go up to 2 m or more and many of them don't even grow tomatoes. They form some flowers that eventually dry without bearing fruit. And what formula of mutrients did you use that worked on both tomatoes and lettuce? I use different formulas and yet I have almost no tomatoes. And with these solution temperatures in the range of 25 degrees you didn't have Pytium problems? In hot weather, even with H2O2 added to the solution I have terrible Pytium attacks on the roots. My cultures are outside on a balcony

[@GetUrbanLeaf]

LUISSM thanks for checking out our vid 🙏 These were tiny tom (or Tim?) tomatoes. They're a special dwarf variety and great for indoors

[@LUISSM3]

@@GetUrbanLeaf And where can I find these seeds? In your links do not have the seeds. And the nutrient formula used?

[@jasonklisowsky]

What if you used a smaller netpot to same room, Instead of clay pebbles to fill in the cracks and space?

[@GetUrbanLeaf]

Hey Jason - yeah that could work! That's actually kinda how our own products work - a long skinny net cup that enables greater contact with the solution around it. Is that what you meant?

[@gb4728]

what variety of tomatoes were you using?

[@GetUrbanLeaf]

GB - I believe these ones are the tiny tom variety. They’re pretty common!

[@ABMaybeCrazy]

Great content

[@GetUrbanLeaf]

Thank you CJ! Glad it was useful :)

[@personalitycat9842]

If you do this experiment again maybe use tomato cuttings.

[@Laprisamata]

Nice comparison. It would also be nice to see a side-by-side comparison of two Aeroponic systems - one using an ultrasonic fogger/dry fog, and one using a nozzle/high-pressure pump, to assess whether droplet size affects yield etc.

[@GetUrbanLeaf]

Yeah for sure - good call. Which one do you think would do better? ;)

[@atomizer2665]

@@GetUrbanLeaf The ultrasonic wouldnt make it to harvest unless you included some form of hydro to prop it up, this includes having the nutrient reservoir inside the root chamber..thats dwc ;) High pressure aero would do much better assuming you had the right hardware in place and dont run it like low pressure aero (sprinklerponics), aka soak the heck out of everything. The upper tier of aeroponics is air atomised aero, its not very common. It uses compressed air to create the mist and offers tight control over the flowrate and droplet size range.its not one for the inexperienced or the shallow of pocket ;)

[@GetUrbanLeaf]

@@atomizer2665 thanks for the info! Yeah I guess you'd call what we did (and labelled aeroponics) a hybrid of DWC in the bottom and ultrasonic mist in the upper. Is your comment about 'propping it up' in reference to the lack of nutrients in the mist?

[@atomizer2665]

@@GetUrbanLeaf Its not the nutrients its the droplet size.The density of droplets (fog) required to supply sufficient moisture deprives the roots of oxygen. Genuine aeroponic roots have a very distinctive structure that is unlike anything else. kzbin.info/www/bejne/o3-9ioVva9ebrbs For comparison, roots in a commercial "Dominaero" ultrasonic fog based aero system circa 2009, kzbin.info/www/bejne/gpDElZ6nZ7h3mrM

[@Aerogrow]

Just about to run a somewhat similar test, Doing kratky vs aero high pressure at 50micron/100PSI vs cheap fake-aero setup with like 10 psi pond pump and basically a sprinkler head. Probably no question the high-pressure will do better; but the question is how much. Does it justify the 3x-4x cost when just growing veggies. My current hypothesis is it makes a lot more sense to run HP aero when your crop is a bit more valuable then a "tomato" and even a marginally larger yield easily makes up for the added cost.

[@CancerArpegius]

I love how scientific this video is.

[@ManlyStubble2000]

I'm an analyst and I love the data

[@19pedro95]

The dwc plants would’ve been the biggest if they didn’t run out of water!!

[@michalkozakowski1]

love you

[@Jotto999]

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.

[@ciousli]

Agreed. It's a good idea for a video/experiment but the execution was really bad. It is what it is.

[@user-cf5hf3qn9v]

You didn't make comparison taste with mart one......

[@emileharel5310]

Hey guy, can I Contact you somewhere?

[@GetUrbanLeaf]

Yep! We're listening :) You can also try our website...

[@anthonyrossetti7509]

wow dude your water temps in the aero system are astronomical ! not really aero though it's fogponic i am experimenting right now with a home made 6 site fog cloner i made with a cheap Chinese $3 fogger from ebay , a small tote from dollar tree and 6 2" net pots and 6 2" neoprene collars i am using an arduino pro mini and a relay to cycle the fogger , i have it set to 1 min on and 3 min off currently so did you use a cycle timer for your aero setup and are cool temps as important for growing with aero as they are for cloning? you go that high of a yield with the water temps that high? i read of cloning (cannabis cuttings) that water temps should not exceed 80 degrees F when i had the fogger on 24/7 my water temps were way too high ,i had it set to 30 sec off and 3 min on at first and the water was too hot so now i set it to 1 min on and 3 min off and i set the tote on cryo paks and i got it down to around mid 60's F looks like your temps were running around 100 F or over at some point and average about 86 F is that right? and you got those results with that high of a water temp? also did you measure the temp of the solution or the temps of the air fog? where was your temp probe actually placed? if you used a timer what was the interval set to? i also had an idea to use a peltier to chill the water , i think it could work for such a small tote i am using for the 6 site cloner not sure what the best was is to set t up to chill the water though

[@ccs_ainz1920]

I swear using the kratky method never fails

[@GetUrbanLeaf]

CCS_ AINZ simple, but effective! 👍🌱

[@vandyniyomkham5032]

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.

[@ollie9777]

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

[@GardensoftheAncientsHerbal]

Enough air in the water tomatoes will germinate root and grow out to flower above the water.

[@davidkusztor9278]

Oh it is new for me. So aero system request only an ultrasonic mister?

[@fish9468]

No, it’s not true aero. It’s a fogponics system. The rules for aeroponics were set by NASA that says that you need a specific pressure and specific droplet size from a nozzle.

[@atomizer2665]

@@fish9468 Pressure isnt important, i have aeroponic systems that run 0psi water pressure. NASA has never posted any pictures of roots that look remotely aeroponic :)

[@fish9468]

@@atomizer2665 nasa doesnt have to 'post pictures', it's a national space administration not a tiktok girl posting screenshots of her ex.

[@ldegrave6965]

High Pressure Aeroponics is the only true Aeroponics.

[@atomizer2665]

high pressure aero is ok but it doesnt offer as much control as AA ;)

[@juancarlosguevara5526]

@@atomizer2665 What is an AA?

[@atomizer2665]

@@juancarlosguevara5526 It stands for Air Atomised which uses compressed air to create the mist. It provides instant response, even mist coverage and control over the liquid flowrate and droplet size range.

[@hiddengarden3866]

Atomized aeroponics wayyyyy harder to control considering the droplet size is too small to deliver proper nutrients at the roots. Which is why the examples with larger droplet sizes or DWC appear to be much more healthy. Great idea for a test but I would really dial in each form of hydro before considering one or the other.

[@atomizer2665]

@@hiddengarden3866 Air Atomised aero is very easy to control because it allows you to control the droplet size and liquid flowrate independantly. I think you may be thinking of ultrasonic fog which is entirely different and only useful for water features ;)

[@afishl1]

Unfortunately it sounds like a fogger is not really the way to go for aeroponics

[@metalrott324]

Using a fogger or a Micro Bubbler/bubbler in the Kratky method would probably be the best over all. Growth, Cost, Simplicity.

[@horseblinderson4747]

That just makes it dwc though, honestly they should probably ventilate the boxes two to four times a day staggered in between waterings.

[@GetUrbanLeaf]

Metal Rott yeah I think Michael is right. But yes - air and ventilation is definitely important!

[@MalaysianTropikfusion]

@@horseblinderson4747 Newbie here. Why would the reservoir/nutrient solution need ventilation?

[@horseblinderson4747]

@@GetUrbanLeaf Specifically in response to what you're asking 1 so that it doesn't mold 2 plants breathe through their roots

[@Themicke90able]

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

[@aegisstari1494]

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.

[@TheWingnut58]

I grew up in the country and we grew 90% of what we ate....all conventional dirt gardening. Everything you mention is exactly why I never considered hydroponic gardening for many years....then I discovered the Kratky method. I now grow 3 times as much in less than half the space and about a 10th of the labor. Screw pumps, screw test meters, screw grow lights, screw all the nitty detail....and most importantly, screw dirt!

[@arakwar]

BUt the complexity makes it far less appealing than the other systems. The time spent on managing it could be spent on caring about more plants rather than trying to optimize only one container...

[@aegisstari1494]

That just depends on how you look at it. With DWC you will be out of the grow phase weeks or even months before other methods. You'll spend less time in the long run on dwc because your crops will be done growing much sooner. Also the yields are much much higher, so you get more (usually much more) from 1 plant vs 4. This is just my personal experience and i've grown all sorts of crops dozens of different ways. Kratky and aeroponics has dwc beat on up front cost,user experience,energy, and maybe space, but DWC is king of speed and yields.

[@atomizer2665]

@@aegisstari1494 I`ve run every method over the years and nothing beats aeroponics for speed when done correctly :).

[@aegisstari1494]

@@atomizer2665 I don't see how thats possible. I can get full lemon trees from seed to loaded with fruit in 4 months. Aeroponics physically can't deliver the nutrients fast enough for this kind of growth. If you want cheap and easy to set up systems, Aeroponics, if you want extreme growing speed, DWC. Aeroponics waste very little where as DWC is an energy hog and not nearly as efficient. However you give up efficiency for speed and yeild, which is far, FAR greater.

[@Technik500]

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.

[@Krack2805]

re-do?

[@GetUrbanLeaf]

What you thinking Krack? We're up for doing it again for sure. What would like to see us do differently?

[@amirsyazwan5976]

@@GetUrbanLeaf add aeroponics water sprinkler to the test. looking forward for it.

[@horseblinderson4747]

@@GetUrbanLeaf ventilate the boxes staggered half way between waterings.

[@horseblinderson4747]

Although probably not Ultra necessary with dwc

[@MushroomMagpie]

@@GetUrbanLeaf Actually test the dwc without letting it go dry

[@justinomar9210]

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

[@ilducedimas]

The amount of water used by the aeroponics is oddly high.

[@GMT439]

So you didn't bother with NFT which is the most popular system in use worldwide then? Why not?

[@GetUrbanLeaf]

because we were new to it, and just getting started! this video is from before we even made our first product….

[@GMT439]

@@GetUrbanLeaf You should have not made this video until you had more experience then. NFT is the most productive Method.

[@nathanlittlewood6690]

We aren't perfect nor do we pretend to be. We're learning and like to think we always will. If we waited til we knew everything, we'd never publish a single video and that would mean what modest knowledge we do have would never be shared You're entitled to your opinion, but this is not really aligned with ours. And since it's our channel, we'll continue to do what we like with it. Thanks!

[@markrich3271]

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.

[@GetUrbanLeaf]

Mark Rich totally. It’s definitely not without its limitations!!

[@PoulJulle-wb9iu]

how is drip the "less simple" lol

[@GetUrbanLeaf]

Poul Julle less simple = more complicated...? The reason we say that is that you have to worry about a pump, pipes, drippers, connections, return water, etc. There's just a lot of things that can (and do!) go wrong with it, I'm our experience. Plus the cost of all those components adds up pretty fast, especially if you're dealing with small scale hobby size setups. We're all about learning and collaboration here though, so if you have some experience to talk about we'd love to hear it!

[@PoulJulle-wb9iu]

@@GetUrbanLeaf small scale indeed

[@newvocabulary]

Tests deep water setup. Doesn't add water. Thinking.

[@Xingqiwu387]

WHY do Americans not have any ready-made fogponics systems for sale? Everything has to be built, put together using plastic buckets and spare parts and made with drilling holes etc. Sheeeeesh!

[@GetUrbanLeaf]

Weihan Xingqi we do. Maybe you’re not looking hard enough ;)

[@Xingqiwu387]

@@GetUrbanLeaf I can't look any harder than Google can, and nothing pops up except DIY buckets with x-places to drill holes for tubing that has to be bought and taped and strapped etc.

[@GetUrbanLeaf]

I can assure they exist. We have competitors that offer them. Good luck! Nate

[@Xingqiwu387]

@@GetUrbanLeaf THANKS for the info. It would be nice if your competitors actually marketed their products so that potentially interested parties could find and buy them.

[@yoononymous4838]

Maybe try again without so much human error.

[@cooller8888]

this is totally wrong :D pump up your drip system timer to run once or twice per hour and than we can talk about yield and simplicity :D 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 ...

[@firebladeflow]

Excellent Experiment Idea, executuin unfortunately extremely flawed. Thus the results are meaningless.

[@jaydendiaz1181]

My dude you look like ur reading of something are you

[@youtubetruthlife4750]

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.

[@GetUrbanLeaf]

Funny how the simple things in life often turn out to be the best, isn’t it?!

[@shuckarelli]

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

[@DrLove911]

Aeroponics is not a fogger . It's micro misters . . And kratky sucks

[@scottdeaussie]

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.

[@GetUrbanLeaf]

When we did the experiment we actually had no plans at all of making a video about it. That idea actually came about a year later. We know it’s not perfect, and we’re upfront about the shortfalls, but we figured sharing something was better than sharing nothing. We are all about learning, encouraging and sharing ideas here. If you don’t like it, you’re welcome to find yourself a new KZbin channel to follow :)

[@pauljackson8239]

Dum experiment

[@jonosterman2878]

I am sorry, but you should have just thrown this entire experiment out. You need to plan it better. Spend more time planning and designing it. You must built it in a way that is easily replicated--and this is important--by AN IDIOT. So, this is how actual science experimentation is done. It is not that hard, it just takes a little time in the planning stage. Make everything as simple as possible and create proper controls. I know the excuse, that it is just for fun, but if you are going to present data as scientific, you should try harder to actually make it scientific, because otherwise people might not understand that the data you have here is pretty much meaningless.

[@GetUrbanLeaf]

Jon Osterman thanks for the feedback, and yes you're right there are MANY variables here many of which were not controlled for. Truth be known we actually did this experiment over a year before making it into a video. At the time it was for our own educational purposes, and never intended to publish the results. Had we done so, we would have done as you suggest. In the end we figured there might be something others could learn from it, so we made a video about it. We don't claim to have used the scientific method. Our goal is just to help educate and share some of the knowledge we've accumulated. If you're looking for scientifically accurate data I recommend you refer to a science journal / publication or watch another KZbin channel - there's plenty out there to choose from. Best of luck to you 👍

[@jonosterman2878]

@@GetUrbanLeaf The method is not hard to practice, even in small, personal experimentation that no one but you and friends will see. If you are using such data and conclusions for your own benefit, don't you want the most accurate and meaningful data as possible? Francis Bacon didn't mean for it to be something only eggheads do.

[@youtubetruthlife4750]

@@GetUrbanLeaf All the butthurt people who dont wanna simple Kratky to beat their system.

[@JO-sc7qi]

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

[@elizabethwinsor-strumpetqueen]

Amateurs.....waste of time