I unfortunately don't have as much space but I run a vertical (with quite a lot of plants in smaller pots) with my own compost made from home and garden waste, and a mix of recycled coco and what not, loads of mycorrhizae and a liquid feed made from molasses and alphaalpha among other things (B.A.C), and I only use rain water unless it's the dry season (really lmfao - Amsterdam dry season)
I can honestly say that nothing I see in Amsterdam tastes or smells like any weed that I grow. I am not claiming to be 100% bio organic but it's getting there. I was given a cut of Casey Jones (the HTCC entry) and when I let the guys smell the stuff I had grown I actually had to tell them what it was, lol.
I do love seeing hydro grows because everything works for different people and I just love the tech behind it all (after all, my first purchase was an NFT tray back in the 90's - came with it's own A+B no name nutes, lol),
I like to spend a good couple of hours watering and tinkering with my ladies as well, they like the good karma!!! I get the feeling that Jin also rubs and winds his body with his ladies though........I always kind of thought that hydro was a bit more work checking ph, ppm, all that stuff....I don't even have a ph/ec meter anymore.
And Jin, I think if you got a living soil where the bio organisms are working with the root system, disease and pest control is actually easier to control. Man I get mites and thrips (just finished a thrip battle) but my plants still get through harvest perfectly even when infected. Anyway, I don't want to turn this into a hydro v organic debate, I think both have there merits and place, especailly if oyu are apartment living/house living I guess.
Peace, DST