Tead's Indoor-ish, Winter, Hempy, OGK, SOG

No worries Lexort... it's why this site lives.
So, there really can be many variables that play into the watering/feeding game.
Keep in mind, the overall goal is to maintain a good wet/dry root cycle. This is a passive system with no aeration or water flow. The roots need to dry like a soil grow. The time to maintain this cycle depends on specific medium mix, local temps and airflow, pot size, and plant size... plus probably a few that are not coming to mind at the moment.

Having said all that... I currently water every 4 days. I use a 'lift the pot' and dig a bit into the medium to judge moisture level.
I feed with every watering. I know some alternate, but in my world I'm happy with the constant feeding routine.
As for managing PH... I don't really 'manage' it in any way. I set the PH of my mix at 5.5 (to allow for a 4 day drift) and feed away. End of PH management routine. I've seen many try measuring the runoff... been there myself... but it's a pointless thing that may induce insanity.... trust me on this one.

Happy to see you've been doing some reading and research. Awesome. There are many different variations on the basic theme. No doubt you can find a version that will work well for you.
 
Ya i been trying to find as much info as i can on hempy but certain things i couldn't find answers to lol. Maybe you can clear something up for me about ph, do you let your nute water sit before you adjust the ph and if so how long and if not why?
 
Well.... one doesn't generally want mixed nutes hanging around. I mix what I need when I water and pour any excess on my vegetable garden.
I store my water for a few days in a large plastic water jug. This allows for off-gassing of chlorine. I assume this is what you're referring to when you ask about letting the water sit.

I have a small garden with only 4-5 plants. Usually 2 in veg, and 2 in flower. My babies usually drink less than 1/2 gal each feeding. This works out to 1 gal of each mix per feeding. Sometimes I need to mix up more, but not normally.

Mix routine... 1/4tsp Silica, shake, 1tsp epsom salt, shake a lot, 2tsp milk (too cheap/lazy to order CalMag), shake, 2 1/4tsp DynaGro Grow, shake, adjust PH to 5.5 using PH down. Feed the babies.

That's it... easy.
 
I think I might sit just here, if ya don't mind :)
 
Well as far as letting it sit i was actually referring to letting the ph stabilize in order to get a accurate reading. I had been told to do that or read it or something lol im thinking i ph wrong maybe. I usually mix in my floramicro shake then add my epsom salt shake then add florabloom shake let it sit for an hour or two then check ph and adjust as needed. Does this seem rite? I only mix a gallon of nutes at a time since on feed day all my plants will share that gallon.
 
O ya if it means anything i use distilled water so i don't think i have to let the chlorine evap off since im pretty sure distilled dont have it.
 
Hey lex ive been using hempys too with great success.. tap water mix nutes adjust ph then feed with no issues .. your method is ideal but sometimes its just a painstaking process.. Isnt a little chlorine a good thing?
Mix routine.. in 10 litres canna coco A 20ml , canna coco B 20ml , grotek calmax 20ml , pythoff 2ml (precaution) , adjust ph 5.8
Water every 2nd day with small runnoff and bam!
sorry tead hope u dont mind
 
Wish i could just use my tap water but it is way too hard ppm is like in the 500s. I been having ph issues for a while now and alot of it stems from my ph fluctuates when trying to get a reading and I just recently calibrated my ph pen and it still jumps a little when reading ph. Like when i first ph my nute water it will look like it is at 5.8 but after a couple seconds it starts to drop and bounce between 5.5 and 5.4 so idk what to think about that. Ever since I switched to distilled water i been struggling with ph. When i used my tap water i ran into nute lock out from too many PPM's, just can't win.
 
Wanted to jump in & add that I've grown in hempy buckets for a long time. I'm on the original thread (I was Mad Farmer) when he was kicking these out on another site. I was sold on them for tons of reasons.
Anyway, I did a comparison grow on here awhile back of Hempy buckets vs. fabric pots.

The rootball on the 3 gal Hempy was monsterous. Way bigger than the 5 gal Smart Pot.
The plants yielded a lil better too.

I've grown in soil, coco, flood n drain, dwc, rdwc & currently soilless. But, I've always had my Hempy buckets going.
 
Sorry 'bout the delay... working on a duplex we picked up the other day for a song. Lots of tiling, painting, and other various significant repairs.
I see absolutely nothing wrong with letting your nutes sit for a few hours. I was thinking you might have been talking days.
Your feeding routine seems just fine to me.
Distilled water actually has pluses and minuses. It's clean, so nothing in it at all. One might want an additional source of base minerals for one's ladies. I fall into the later category and use city water at about 200ppm from the tap. I've seen the city water report but have little faith in it. Whatever's in the local liquid seems to keep my ladies happy, thus keeping me happy.
 
rhetorrikz said:
sorry tead hope u dont mind
Click to expand...

Don't mind one little tiny iota even.... matter of fact, welcome! Feel free to chime in whenever you wish about whatever's on your mind.
So... I've always viewed chlorine as something I don't want in my water. I curious about your "isn't chlorine a good thing?" words.
I did know a grower that used a dunk in a heavily chlorinated pool water as fix for a touch of root rot... but sure wouldn't recommend the method.
I let my water sit in a big 10 gal water jug for a few days. My 10gal sits in the grow room. I fill a 5gal bucket with it, then fill my 1gal jugs by dunking them in the 5gal bucket. Easy Peasy.... something's supposed to follow the easy peasy words, but I forget....
I was watering every 2 days for a long time. Over the last year or two, I've moved to a 4 day feeding cycle. My plants enjoy letting their roots dry a bit more. Of course, there are many variables that fall into that decision... heat, humidity, pot size, etc... In my little world, 4 days is working out best.
 
lexort420 said:
Wish i could just use my tap water but it is way too hard ppm is like in the 500s. I been having ph issues for a while now and alot of it stems from my ph fluctuates when trying to get a reading and I just recently calibrated my ph pen and it still jumps a little when reading ph. Like when i first ph my nute water it will look like it is at 5.8 but after a couple seconds it starts to drop and bounce between 5.5 and 5.4 so idk what to think about that. Ever since I switched to distilled water i been struggling with ph. When i used my tap water i ran into nute lock out from too many PPM's, just can't win.
Click to expand...

So.... when I use my ph pen, it does take a long time for the numbers to settle. At first it climbs, then falls and finally settles on a number. I let it set in the water for about 2 min before I read it.
500ppm out of the tap?!?! Holy shit brother.... that's WAY high. I'm near 200 and believe I'm way high. I might suspect some issue with your plumbing allowing some sort of pollutant in your water. Water utils publicly publish their numbers. If their published report (usually found online) differs significantly from what you're getting, then something is afoot. I highly suggest you investigate the issue as it's one of those sorts of things that may cause your spleen to explode.
 
O im sure its my citys fault they are a bit overdue on replacing the greensand at the water plant. Greensand its suppose to be good for 10-15 years my city hasnt had new greensand since 1992 so i know its the citys fault thus why use distilled now lol. Ya know im gonna have to try letting my ph pen sit for two minutes maybe thats what im doing wrong thanks tead. With a freshly rooted clone how long do you think it would take for the roots to hit the res of a roughly 1-liter maybe a little more container? And do i water daily til they do? I ask because I just stuck a clone in a pure perlite hempy lol. Working on switching over lol.
 
I usually start looking for roots at the 2 week point using this method.
However, the perlite clone method kinda sux. It's been a product of my lazy ethos. I was at the hardware store yesterday and picked up a small plastic tub, black spray paint, and a hole saw set. Making myself a DIY bubble cloner later today using said parts and a fish tank air pump.
Be sure to give them a couple of sprays every day... I usually add 1/4tsp grow nutes to my spray mix for the clones just to give them a little sumthin sumthin.
 
Hmmm maybe I wasn't too clear lol my clone was rooted in a jiffy pellet then thrown into a hempy bucket its showing roots already just wondering how to deal with them til the roots hit the bottom. I got confused by your response felt like we weren't on the same page maybe im just too stoned and tired and am wrong lol
 
Stoned communications.... it gets to be an art sometimes. When both xmitter and receiver are stoned, issues can be entertaining... or just confusing.
Anyway... I was wondering as I was typing. I'd guess rooted clones might take 1 or 2 weeks to really get down to the bottom of a 1L container.... that's incredibly small. I have no real experience with containers that small... just guessing.
 
Well a rough estimate is better then nothing thanks tead. Would you recommend light nutes before the roots hit the res? Once again sorry for all the questions lol not trying to side track your journal lol
 
lexort420 said:
Well a rough estimate is better then nothing thanks tead. Would you recommend light nutes before the roots hit the res? Once again sorry for all the questions lol not trying to side track your journal lol
Click to expand...

I'd use a 1/4 strength mix for well rooted clones just starting off. I next step them up to 1/2 strength, then 3/4, then full as they grow.
Not side tracking one bit... doing exactly the opposite IMHO.

Here's a side track for ya.... been seeing 1/2 naked ladies in the French Quarter lately. Their top halves are painted in "artistic" ways.
While I'm usually in support of such things, we really need some quality control in that specific tourist attraction....
 
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