I'm putting together some words describing my techniques. Please feel free to review and comment below... or just go smoke a bowl. Even Melon Farmers are welcome to comment.
It's totally not finished and a work in progress.
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What's a hempy bucket?
Hempy is a form of drain-to-waste (DtW) hydroponic growing. It utilizes a nuetral medium (I prefer straight perlite) and a bucket with a small hole in it. They are really heat tolerant and enable hydro grow rates in a garden that would rot instantly using other hydro methods.
Sounds too easy, doesn't it?
Let's start with the bucket. You can do many different bucket sizes and shapes. Your determining factor here is really just plant size. If you want to grow a monster, you'll need a bigger container (bigger roots = bigger plant). If you want to fit some nice producers into a tight area, perhaps a simple 2L soda bottle would be a better fit. I’ve seen hempy grows in anything from drink cups to those big plastic moving totes.
Next, we need to fill that bucket with something. There are too many options to list here. You can use any neutral medium. Seen it done in pea gravel. 70% perlite + 30% vermiculite is another common option. Pure perlite is my choice.
Some mediums are better in different environments. I'll touch on environments shortly.
A small hole in the side of the bucket is your next task. The idea is to create a small reservoir in the bottom of the bucket. On a 3-5 gallon container, about 2 inches of space is good. The hole itself needs to be small enough to keep the medium in. I use a 7/16 drill bit to make my holes. You shouldn't worry about the hole letting a bit of the medium go thru... as it settles, this will stop. I use a nail to poke in the hole if it clogs.
Environment conditions will drive 3 different aspects of your hempy options.
First, your medium selection will differ depending on temps and RH. A cooler environment calls for a thicker medium. In my personal hot swampy world, a thin mix works better and I use pure perlite.
Second, the size of your container might differ. A solo cup sized grow might dry out way to fast in a hot garden.
Last but not least... your watering/feeding frequency might change depending on your local conditions.
We normally think of hydroponics needing to be near 70f to avoid things growing in the reservoir. Hempy buckets are much more tolerant. I've seen 100f temps in my garden without any issues developing in the bottom of the bucket. The frequent replacement of the nutrient mix avoids issues in the reservoir.
Nutrient regimes in hempy buckets follow standard DtW hydro routines. My nutes have a published schedule for DtW hyrdo. Not all have DtW directions and one would follow the standard hydroponics schedules.
I have seen some really interesting nutrient selections ranging from standard nutrient programs (Dyna-Gro, Fox Farms, GH, etc...) to baby formula and even human urine. They've all worked great. Use your favorite.
PH is an important issue here. Your target PH in hydro is 5.8. The nutrient mix will sit in your bucket for a few days. As it sits, the PH will drift. In my world, it drifts up as time goes on. Some simple testing of the mix showed it drifted about 1 - 1.5 points a day. I start my mix at 5.5. Day 2 I should be at 5.6 or 5.7. Day 3 will leave me around 5.8 or 5.9 (drift slows over time).
Feeding is a simple job. I do it every third day. Just top water evenly around the pot. The nutrient mix passes over and near the roots wetting all the medium with the mix. You want to get at least 30% runoff out the hole. This flushes out the old nutrient mix and replaces it with the new mix. I water with a plastic plant saucer underneath the bucket to catch the runoff.
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MUAH!!!