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The Official Hempy Bucket Thread

Perlite has about a neutral pH of 7. If your runoff is way different than what you are putting in, that is because there are dry salts (from the nutes you feed) that build up when the perlite gets too dry.

For example, if you start with plain water with a pH above 7 and add nutrients and correct pH to 6.2, and your runoff pH is 5.5. That means you must have had lots of salts sitting around that were mixed into your most recent watering so your recent feed not only had a pH out of range, but was too strong. If the pH rose to 6.8, your probably not feeding your plants enough...

I never check run off these days, but when I did, my pH was always around 7.5ph. So does that mean I've never had salt build up?
 

Bobbo4200

Active member
Veteran
Thanks!! I forgot to ask if I could use any brand nutrient? Just check to make sure I have a ph of about 6?
I already purchased Ionic brand nutrients when I bought the recirculating system
 

someotherguy

Active member
Veteran
Perlite has about a neutral pH of 7. If your runoff is way different than what you are putting in, that is because there are dry salts (from the nutes you feed) that build up when the perlite gets too dry.

For example, if you start with plain water with a pH above 7 and add nutrients and correct pH to 6.2, and your runoff pH is 5.5. That means you must have had lots of salts sitting around that were mixed into your most recent watering so your recent feed not only had a pH out of range, but was too strong. If the pH rose to 6.8, your probably not feeding your plants enough.

The whole thing about allowing some runoff every time you water is to keep a stable pH. So, if you are putting in the correct pH and strength of nutrients every time, you don't have to worry about what is coming out in the runoff.
Well put man, a profoundly simple idea very deftly explained, kudos.

Peace, SOG
 
hey guys, startin to plan ahead for after this harvest. My first goal is going to be a nice bonsai mother. Does anyone have experience doing this hempy style? or should i keep my mother in soil? i want to get a perpetual SOG going next time around, but im gonna need some clones to do so, just look for some mommy help here :)
 

someotherguy

Active member
Veteran
hey guys, startin to plan ahead for after this harvest. My first goal is going to be a nice bonsai mother. Does anyone have experience doing this hempy style? or should i keep my mother in soil? i want to get a perpetual SOG going next time around, but im gonna need some clones to do so, just look for some mommy help here :)

As you may remember i've only switched to hempy-buckets about 5 months ago, i'm actually smoking my first hempy harvest as we speak.

In any event, these hempys were only an experiment at first but i was quickly won over to this very simple tech by the awesome results and began moving my mothers into hempys (i just cloned them all and started new moms) and out of organic soil about 2 months ago, ...1 more to go and i'll be done, lol.

Anyway, the only downsides i see so far are that, one, i can't ignore them like i used to in dirt, now i MUST pay more attention or they can dry out and die.

The second downside is the excellerated growth, i don't have much vertical space in my mother cab so with my moms in hempys i have to give them haircuts much more often, my moms now provide enough cuts to support an op 5 times the size of my little grow so most end up in the compost pile.

Peace, SOG
 

dubwise

in the thick of it
Veteran
I've kept a hempy mom for a while. This method works well for mama's but you need to know a couple of things. First off...allow yourself enough room for the roots. When we keep a mama, she's in a 15g tote and she's kept for about six months. I'm sure you can go longer if you want to. Also, be sure to give enough recovery time in between taking cuttings. One mama can give tons of cuttings in a span of six months, so if you go longer, then well...you should get even more cuttings from her. We feed our mama's 1 part maxibloom (KISS) and they do well.
 

Hydro-Soil

Active member
Veteran
An alternative is to keep Bonsai mums. Still get 50-100 cuttings but can fit a lot more plants in the same area/light.

Believe me... I traveled across country with 52 mums in 2 tubs. :D Not something I'd like to do again. Heh. Shame they're all dead and gone now. *sniff*

Yeehaa on the Mamas and Maxibloom. Short, stout, sturdy mums that grow fast and root fast. :D Can't beat that with a stick.

:)

Stay Safe! :D
 
Thanks a lot guys
@SOG- what size containers do you keep your moms in?

@dubwise- unfortunately, i dont really have the space or any other necessary equipment to keep a 15 gallon mom around lol...hopefully someday in the not too far future

@hydro- i am really interested in keeping a few bonsais, that way i could have all 3 strains that i currently have seeds for (juicy fruit, chocolate chunk, and more of the pineapple trainwreck im currently running). The thing is, all of the threads i can find about keeping bonsais are started from clones, can it be done from seed?

thanks in advance
 

Duplicate

Member
I think it could be kept pretty small as long as you keep pruning the roots. I don't know this for sure though as I've never tried.
 
I think it could be kept pretty small as long as you keep pruning the roots. I don't know this for sure though as I've never tried.
i thought about that, and then i thought about trying to prune a perlite and vermiculite root ball.....hmmm....i just dont think it would be practical?
 

Duplicate

Member
^ Why? It seems like it would be easier than soil to me but like I said, I've never tried. Also, I am imagining this being kept in something like a 32 Oz. plastic cup.

32oz-310x310.jpg
 
i just feel that it would be much easier to prune a soil root ball than a perlite one, perlite really isnt a sliceable medium...idk though ive never done it either
 

dubwise

in the thick of it
Veteran
If I had to do it...I'd wait until it was pretty dry before trying to remove some of the rootball. Why run a long term mom if you don't have the space? All that pruning would be a pain in the back-side. You could just rotate donor plants....keep one, take cuttings for a week, allow the plant to grow back, flip. Take newly rooted cutting and grow it out to take some cuttings & on & on & on.
 

Hydro-Soil

Active member
Veteran
@hydro- i am really interested in keeping a few bonsais, that way i could have all 3 strains that i currently have seeds for (juicy fruit, chocolate chunk, and more of the pineapple trainwreck im currently running). The thing is, all of the threads i can find about keeping bonsais are started from clones, can it be done from seed?

It works just fine. :D All my mums usually start from seed.... until I make a mum to replace it and that will come from clone. :D

Stay Safe! :blowbubbles:
 

someotherguy

Active member
Veteran
Thanks a lot guys
@SOG- what size containers do you keep your moms in?

@dubwise- unfortunately, i dont really have the space or any other necessary equipment to keep a 15 gallon mom around lol...hopefully someday in the not too far future

@hydro- i am really interested in keeping a few bonsais, that way i could have all 3 strains that i currently have seeds for (juicy fruit, chocolate chunk, and more of the pineapple trainwreck im currently running). The thing is, all of the threads i can find about keeping bonsais are started from clones, can it be done from seed?

thanks in advance

High man, i'm one of those guys who march to the beat of thier own drum so i'm prone to trying shit that more experienced growers would shun so my advice may have limited value, ...all i can do is share MY experience.

In any event, in the 4 plus years i've been at this i've learned that there are WAY more ways to skin this cat than one, lol, unfortunately, we all live in our own quasi-unique circumstances, so, to some extent, you have to find your own way, you have to let your circumstances dictate this sort of thing.

...i started out on a real tight budget so i tend to DIY stuff and i'm too arrogant to ask for help so i just wing it, ...anyway, heres a couple pics of the mother box i built right around the end of my first year of growing, and i built it to house my bonsai mothers all in cut down coke bottles, ...this cab has room for 21.

picture.php


picture.php


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...and just so you know, that box has 23 inchs of vertical space between the floor and the light so it was either bonsai moms or none at all. ...heres a shot of one of the old moms.
picture.php


...like i said though, i tend to say 'phuck convention' and do my own thing.

...not only that but my flower cab only has 33 inchs from the light to the floor so growing trees would be problematic, ...something like this was close to my 'sweet spot' back then.
picture.php


picture.php


...so don't wait, find containers that fit and just do it, ...you WILL suffer losses but you will also find the exact answers that fit your exact circumstance.

Peace, SOG
 
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