What’s the least maintenance high yield way to grow

Dutch bucket hydroponics is the easiest way to grow with minimal maintenance if you use the right nutrients. I leave my plants for up to a week sometimes. It's a little more work setting it up but easier than other methods in the long run. You dont have to monitor your reservoir temps, you can run without air pumps, and if you have a water pump failure your plants can go several days without issues

If you want high yield and the lowest maintenance, grow photoperiod plants in some sort of hydroponic method. It will cost you heaps of time and money to set it up properly though. It is easy enough to automate irrigation in coco, which is bsically hydroponics anyway (all nutrients coming from fertilizers). Soil is best though, in my opinion, but I only grow for myself and am not interested in pumping out "product".

Part of the reason hydro works so well for yield is same as DWC- larger amount of Air, Water and Nutes are always there for the plant to use as needed vs soil that doesnt let air in when moist so its a constant juggle to get both in one after the other in a never ending cycle. if you can hack that cycle like with hydro or DWC then you speed up growth and potential plant size and yield. In theory if you add more perlite and coco to your soil mix your making it more like hydro and less and less like soil the more perlite and coco u add. This is something im yet to play with but want to- trying to figure out a hybrid soil/hydro system. Something like 40 or 50% soil and the rest 25%coco /25% perlite. And then tweak the mix;s ratios based on results. Im guessing you dont want to do that- So some kind of auto watering drip feeder system and coco or rockwool would be your best bet. The ph swings in DWC seem to be a nightmare for newer growers who are not used to fluctuating ph and nute PPM swings, So until you dial it in, your going to be doing ALOT of work getting the system tweaked just right. A black 40 or 60 ltr tub, a small low powered water pump like they use in fish tanks or outdoor ponds and a timer for that water pump, some hose and irrigation line, and some drippers from a garden center or irrigation website is all u need to make up an auto drip feeder. when the timer clicks on, water pump will pump the nute mix in the tub to the plants, and u adjust each dripper so plants get same amount at same time. When timer goes off , pump stops. Depending on how many plants that tub should last up to a week, need a bigger tub? go 200 ltrs water barrel. Thats what we used for hydro back in the day, and what id use now if i was to re set up an auto system. The horse shoe dripper/feeders are the better ones to use too. or the full ring better again. And coco is not watered everyday. Unless your humidity is like 30% and your pots are too small for the size of the plants. we ran 50 ltr pots with coco or rock wool and auto drip systems and it was easy. half a pound dry bud per plant too. The bigger your pot the less you will have to water too within reason. A 65 ltr pot isnt too large for a decent sized clone thats done 6 weeks in veg in hydro.

Yeah you’d want an automated coco system if you did coco. DWC is so damn simple and hands off for me. I’d do a RDWC or something with a large reservoir to help the swings in pH and EC. I do 15 gallon totes with 10 gallons of nutrient solution. Check it once a week and top off and it’s good to go. 10 min a week max. Once you get things nailed down you need only change solution once or twice the whole cycle..

Hydro can provide a lot but you have to watch ph closely until your dialed in. Coco is high matiance to keep wet, and ph in range. Both can provide bigger harvest then soil. Soil is easiest and less matiance. Plus more forgiving.

I grow in coco and feed every 48 hours with good results of around 10oz dried bud per auto flower . I run to waste every feed by about 20% and yes they get thirsty but I think it does the roots well to go searching for food .

if you set up something that can handle frequent irrigations, soilless will be as good as hydro. if you feed 2-3 times per day, it'll grow almost like hydro and still retain that room for error a solid substrate provides. you want more yield? increase your lights... add co2.... control temps and RH%. Mostly genetics beyond those factors. Max out your DLI relative to the amount of control you want to take on the environemnt, and get a pump and irrigation lines to automate things... pump with float switch for drain. doing everything perfectly won't change a low-yielding strain into a donk producer... it may improve it a bit of course.