Too Old's Indoor Hempy Auto Fem Candy Cane - 2014

pH levels are what you would use with hydro ? Are there any advantages over regular hydro/DWC in terms of ease or yield ? Sorry for the many questions, but I have never heard anybody do this before, and I love to pick brains apart to learn ;)
 
After PlanetJ asked about the hydro aspect of this grow, I grabbed my journal and started thumbing through it. It turns out that so far, to day 42, I've hauled 100 litres and used 80 litres of water for two plants and three small humidity control trays. That's almost two litres a day average. The girls are now getting one litre a day each (previously it was 750ml daily). That's the equivalent of almost 6mm or 1/4" of rain per day/per plant. That's a lot of transpiration going on!
 
https://www.420magazine.com/gallery/data/500/Nutrient_Chart2.gif

As far as ease and yield go...
Yield: Hydro and passive hydro generally have an increased yield over growing in standard soil mixes. Bear in mind, training, genetics, and attention to detail will affect yield y.

Ease: passive hydro like the hempy method, are in my opinion, the easiest form of growing out there. Because you can't over water it, and if you mess up the ph, or something gets locked out, flushing is a breeze compared to any other method.
 
PlanetJ - sorry, I was off in physics land computing water usage. pH'ing is the same for all grows, you just have to regulate it to your medium. I don't grow in soil, but I think for dirt your pH range is 6.3 -6.8. For my set-up, I use the hydro range of 5.5 -6.1, and in reality, I use 5.8 religiously. Is it easier? For two to four plants, I find it easier to water by hand. It's probably cheaper as well, as I don't have to change my reservoir nutes every week, so I am not dumping them down the drain. As to yield, I couldn't tell you. I don't have any numbers to compare for soil. Back in the day, I was getting, on average, one pound per 1000w HPS. Now, I get some nice buds on each plant. Overall, it's way easier, cheaper, more fun to do two plants than it was to do "a lot".

Pretty well what jinn said. lol.
 
I liked the physics part too, but I still do not fully understand how you got to the numbers given .. or how it works ...

- water with nutes stays in bucket ? or is it drained to reservoir/waste/something ?
- if no reservoir, does that mean you have 10 liters of nutes + water in each bucket with perlite ? Does that not require an airstone or something for oxygen ?

Or did I just read sloppy ?
 
:popcorn:

I've enjoyed catching up here & watching the explosion from seedling to vegging. Even thinking about trying the all Perlite method. I've cloned in Perlite before but never grew a plant from start to finish in it..
 
PlanetJ - If you drill one hole about 1/2" up from the bottom of the pot, it does two things. Provides a drain for excess water, and, keeps a reserve in the bottom of the pot "just in case". The perlite has enough surface area to provide water/nute retention, and also supplies good air spacing for the roots. So, although the roots are constantly moist, they also have very good exposure to oxygen. Coco works the same way, as does hydroton.
 
jinn said:
https://www.420magazine.com/gallery/data/500/Nutrient_Chart2.gif

As far as ease and yield go...
Yield: Hydro and passive hydro generally have an increased yield over growing in standard soil mixes. Bear in mind, training, genetics, and attention to detail will affect yield y.

Ease: passive hydro like the hempy method, are in my opinion, the easiest form of growing out there. Because you can't over water it, and if you mess up the ph, or something gets locked out, flushing is a breeze compared to any other method.
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Good information! :thanks:
 
Welcome Ranger275, the door is always open and there's always room for more. Thanks for stopping in.
 
jinn said:
except I thought the hole was normally 2" from the bottom of the pot, and the hole size was 1/2"
Click to expand...

ooops......I never was real good at following instructions. Oh well, too late now.

Yeah, you are probably right. I was more than likely thinking of the hole size when I was typing that. So, PlanetJ, listen to jinn, move the hole up, it gives you more volume in the reservoir.

Thanks jinn.
 
too old said:
colorfuldayze - I've grown under CFLs, and they are great! You get much different results from CFLs, which I like. It seems the plants are more compact, bushier, and it's almost like they beg to be topped to double up on the bud sites. It could be failing memory, but I think I recall them recovering from trimming and topping way faster, as well. The only downside, to my thinking, was the sheer number required to keep the plants bathed in light. Turned that situation around by seeing just how many lights it was possible to hang over/under/around my plants. (Quite a few, as it turns out!) Just be careful the leaves don't touch the ballast end. As to the switch from MH to HPS, I am guessing, leaning towards your theory with the red light, just not sure when to do it. It's easy with photos, but this auto thing is a new learning curve. Like I mentioned, once the stretch has competed, I'll switch then. With the Snow Whites.....wait and see what happens here.
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Hiya too old, I let your response on our lighting discussion slip me. Partly my vintage and I realize I miss things when I check in to 420 on my phone during the day. Thanks for the info and update. I also concur w/ drcannabi re: this being a fave thread too old as I also did not know about many of the techniques you are employing. Well done and thank you for sharing sir. All the best to you

:thankyou:
 
Mini Update - Day 51 from sprout - Day 1 Flowering - Yes, it is official, the girls have blossomed into mature beautiful ladies. The stretch has gone from a max of 1-1/2" overnight to a mere 3/4" last night, so I'm thinking the majority of stretching is done. The aroma is noticeable as you approach their home from about fifteen feet. It is their night time right now, so later this afternoon, I'll slip in and change to the HPS bulb. Will try to post some pics later this evening. Keep green, all.
 
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