Hempy Headquarters

[Chris Scorpio]

Hello all hempy bucket growers out there! I am just getting my feet wet with hempy while doing some dwc on the side and need some guidance.

I have been getting pretty frustrated with dwc especially during the seedling period as plants are so fragile and dwc is not forgiving at all.

I was given some very large clones this weekend and I moved them to 5 gallon canna coco+perlite mix hempy with a rock base. These clones came in 16 oz Solo cups so they were pretty pissed and root bound. I am not 100% sure how to go about nute feed half way this stage considering how big these are! My buddy uses soil and organic stuff so I can't really translate nute schedule.. I use GHflora trio and calimagic for nutes, RO water and I added some Mykos at root level when I moved them to their hempys.

Obviously the roots are not near the bottom yet so should I water every day or every other day? Its been 2 days and the coco still feels moist at top....

What should ec/ppm be at this stage? First feed I went a bit heavy (1.5ec) based on some quick research that I did since Coco and perlite have no nutrients. Is that too much?

Any help for those out there would be awesome! Here is a pic of my current set up.

I'm a bit cornfused

Are u running those 5gal buckets as a Hempy with a single hole?

Not sure it's going to wick the same with all that Coco in it

Interesting concept though

 

[informin]

im not sure for coco, but for perlite/vermiculite doc bud says 2-3 times till roots hit the res. Do each watering until at least %10 runoff.

you have to mix 1.5 gal feed for 5 gal. if you can, add an enzyme product and superthrieve to the watering.

i've checked my notes and found that 1/4 ratio for watering. so for 5 gal pot it sholud be enough 1, 1.25 gal watering. checking the run off will be helpful. there should be %10 run off.

im not even a grower. i just transfer what Doc Bud did for hempys. I will follow his hempy threads for my first grow which will start in a week. Im waiting for the shipment of my lights.

 

[Dro]

I'm a bit cornfused

Are u running those 5gal buckets as a Hempy with a single hole?

Not sure it's going to wick the same with all that Coco in it

Interesting concept though

That's correct. I have a 1/4 inch hole that is 2 inches from the bottom of the bucket. The bottom of the bucket has about 2 1/2 inch of rocks, then topped with a mix of 70/30 coco/perlite (besides the black bucket that I went 100% coco to experiment).

Here are some pics.

 

[Chris Scorpio]

You ran it like this before?

Why not just do Coco?

 

[Dro]

You ran it like this before?

Why not just do Coco?

No, this would be the first time trying this. Main reason I didn't do just coco on fabric pots was to reduce the amount of maintenance. Hempy seems to be a good compromise.

 

[Chris Scorpio]

I'm worrying the Coco won't wick the water up to the roots. Coco dries out fast as well
And the rocks displace a lot of water so the rezz wornt be very big
In my 5gal bucket if Hempy I made my 1/2" hole over 3" above the bottom for more rezz for the larger volume of area

Hope it works for u

 

[Dro]

I'm worrying the Coco won't wick the water up to the roots. Coco dries out fast as well
And the rocks displace a lot of water so the rezz wornt be very big
In my 5gal bucket if Hempy I made my 1/2" hole over 3" above the bottom for more rezz for the larger volume of area

Hope it works for u

Yeah I am monitoring them daily and so far they seem to continue to grow and get used to the new environment. The coco is definitely still moist and dark in color after 2 days of no water. I ended up giving them half gallon each plant last night but seems like coco is keeping some of that water.

I am thinking about making the hole bigger as I did notice that it takes a while for the run off to come fully drain.

 

[Chris Scorpio]

Ya, that's a small hole

I do 1/2" like I said

 

[Buck5050]

I think I went 3/8" on my pvc tubes. No doubt 1/4" is to small. Any little debris would limit flow for sure.

 

[BigBearNTexas]

Coco wicks just fine, as done the coco/perlite mix. I run about 50/50 coco perlite, and haven’t had problems with drying out. And as long as the roots are above the reservoir, they won’t drown, because the medium only holds a limited amount. And if they are large enough for the roots to hit the res, then they will be directly feeding from the nutes there. Don’t forget that hempy is passive hydro, not soil, so you don’t have the problem with overwatering that soil has.

I judge when to water much like soil though...if the pot is still pretty heavy, the only reason to water/feed would be to flush the res. Other than that, I let the plant tell me its needs.

 

[SweetSue]

Cool, that's a good starting point for sure

Thank all

I used RO water with my Carn and she suffered without Cal/Mg additions. Just my experience.

 

[SweetSue]

that's my single cbdream on this run. really shoulda added some more. may go seed hunting for a cbd plant.

Might I suggest CBD Critically cure from Barney’s Farm?

@Buck5050 ... damn! Those budsicles look amazing!

 

[SweetSue]

hi everyone,

what a great community !!

i will sprout some Damnesia (Strain Hunters) in a week and they will be done in hempy. Sprout medium will be Doc Bud's solo cup recipe with an addtion of Plant Success Great White mycorrhizae and Mammoth will follow it as a inoculater in flowering stage. OC plus will be the only base nute with Vegamatrix Prime Zyme for enzymes.

I'm growing impatience for my first grow, and couldnt stop myself for a quick announcement. All advices are welcome.

informin.

This is an interesting approach - a LOS/hempy hybrid?

I’m not positive, but I think the whole myco/microbe scene is more for soil, and will likely be a waste of money in hempy.

I’m with Felipe here. I come from both LOS and Doc’s current High Brix Blend, and I can tell you that the myco won’t perform the way you expect they will in containers, growing indoors as passive hydro. It can take myco up to four months to establish the community that will benefit your plants in the expected manner. It’s an additive that’s most valuable for outdoor plots or no-till gardening, IMO.

Mammoth manufacturer says it works in hydro. So i think it will be ok in res.

Of course they tell you that. They sell the product. Great White has too many types of microorganisms that compete with each other. After researching more closely I wasn’t comfortable enough to use it in my living soil after I purchased it.

Doc's solo cup is lower half perlite, upper half soil/perlite %50. Its perfect for germination and first grow stage with Great White and Osmo plus. In Doc's ''unlucky queens'' thread plants did not experience any stress after transplant to 10 liter bucket.

We’ve learned from experience that germinating in perlite only is so simple we can’t believe it’s not the method of choice for most growers.

you have to water 2 or 3 times in a day until roots hit the res.

No you don’t. Doc isn’t the authority for what we’re learning here on this thread. Doc was developing a growing method and hempy was his starting point. You won’t find him growing in perlite anymore the same way you won’t find us fighting our way through the kit.

im not sure for coco, but for perlite/vermiculite doc bud says 2-3 times till roots hit the res. Do each watering until at least %10 runoff.

you have to mix 1.5 gal feed for 5 gal. if you can, add an enzyme product and superthrieve to the watering.

Doc must not have understood the physics behind the way perlite wicks up, but again, there’s no reason to water seeds or seedlings more often than every four days or so. I plant my seeds in hempy cups of perlite soaked 1/4-strength nutrients, slap a dome on them and three days later, like clockwork, I have a new seedling.

Easy-peasy.

Coco wicks just fine, as done the coco/perlite mix. I run about 50/50 coco perlite, and haven’t had problems with drying out. And as long as the roots are above the reservoir, they won’t drown, because the medium only holds a limited amount. And if they are large enough for the roots to hit the res, then they will be directly feeding from the nutes there. Don’t forget that hempy is passive hydro, not soil, so you don’t have the problem with overwatering that soil has.

I judge when to water much like soil though...if the pot is still pretty heavy, the only reason to water/feed would be to flush the res. Other than that, I let the plant tell me its needs.

And BigBear becomes our voice of reason.

I haven’t tried a coco/perlite mix, having so much success with straight perlite. I suspect it’s handled best by letting things get a bit drier. The simplicity of watering every two to four days will keep me using just perlite. My plants never dried out.

 

[Dro]

Thanks everyone. I increased the size of the hole to 1/2 inch with a 90 degree bend. The all coco hempy was definitely clogged and main reason why the top was still very moist. It definitely flows out nicely and I don't think it will get clogged now.

Here is the improvement

 

[SweetSue]

Thanks everyone. I increased the size of the hole to 1/2 inch with a 90 degree bend. The all coco hempy was definitely clogged and main reason why the top was still very moist. It definitely flows out nicely and I don't think it will get clogged now.

Here is the improvement

Ok.... love the spout.

 

[Dro]

@SweetSue thanks for clearing up some of those concerns! That's why I went hempy to reduce the amount of watering time. Coming from dwc I don't really think about watering so it's a bit new to me lol

 

[BigBearNTexas]

Now a clogged hole would be a major problem. I’ve found that once my medium settles, I’m good for the rest of the grow. With a freshly potted plant, I will sometimes have to poke around a couple of times to get a good flow, but generally the the second or third water/feed, it’s done compacting.

 

[FelipeBlu]

I foresee possible clogging Issues with this spout.

How high above the inside bottom of the bucket is your hole? Looks low for the size of the bucket, which means a smaller reservoir for a bigger plant,

 

[FelipeBlu]

My rule of thumb is:
1” high in solo cups
2” in 32oz stadium cups to 2 gal buckets
3” in 5 gal buckets
I haven’t gone bigger than that yet!

 

[TorturedSoul]

Does that maintain the same ratio of reservoir size to container size between the three containers?