The Official Hempy Bucket Thread

[Jellyfish]

hand watering sucks.. and I can't do it everyday.

You don't have to, that's the beauty of hempy buckets.

 

[dansbuds]

looks good yankee!

now i have a few questions. i keep hearing people talk about switching from hand watering to some sort of reservoir system once hitting a point they feel hand watering to be too time consuming / laboring. ive ran a full hydro system in the past with the res and all that nonsense and it was a headache and a half to keep the thing at proper ppm, pH, etc etc etc.
I too hit a point where i got sick of water canning each individual plant, so using some 1/4 tubing and some t connectors, made little halos that sat inside of each pot and had a feed line coming from it. all of these feed lines connected to a drip line manifold (the ones that split a 1/2 sprinkler line into 8 drip lines) and connected that to the top of a sump pump. when i need to water, mix a 15 gal batch of juice, drop in sump pump, click on, and bam. watered. no need to maintain a res.

am i missing something that is beneficial by maintaining a constant res or ....? just seems like you guys give up the labor of hand watering to take on the headache of keeping this reservoir at proper pH, ppm, temp, etc etc. i get that some of you have the time to be in your garden numerous times a day to check on these things, but for those of us that cannot.... oy!

yeah you are missing something if you have to check a rez daily .
i check my 18 gallon rez's like every 3 days & thats only to see if it needs refilling . my 55 gallon , i'm lucky if i have to check it once a week . Ph rises slow enough thaat i don't have to readjust my 18's at all . & my 55 gallon i may have to adjust it back up by the 5th day or so . EC stays the same , its always at room temps . clean nutes ,so i don't have to have a circ pump . etc ..... dunno what your problem was ..... but not all rezs are like that .

& a timed feeding is a helluva alot better than mixing & hand feeding every day or twice a day like i have to do in late flower .

& by auto feeding a Hempy bucket & not hand feeding it .... its still a Hempy bucket .
Did you guys forget what the hempy bucket was originally designed for ??? so you DON'T have to feed it every day , thats what the rez in the bucket is for , so you could if you needed or wanted to feed every 3rd or 4th day .
it was only with the addition of coco to a hempy that the daily feeds came into play . coco reacts better to more feeds of fresh nutes & O2 every day .

it really hasn't been a Traditional hempy bucket in a long time . its more of a DTW bucket with a shallow rez . when coco was introduced the hempy method basically went out the window .

 

[Trich_Tyson]

You don't have to, that's the beauty of hempy buckets.

I don't.. I go 2-4 days depending on the time of week. Toward the end of my week I go about 4.. and the pots feel bone dry... I was kinda thinking in terms of coco, which I think most people are doing. I went old school perl/verm.. hopefully coco on this next run..

I agree that automated watering is an awesome addition to the buckets.. I would if I could.

Yankee's flood table rep's sound rockin.. if I were running a multiple light show I'd buy in. For my scale it's over the top..

I am curious about how you guys are setting up drip lines, and if it's something I could implement in my little closet.. something to research.

If i could even rig something up with a pump in my bucket and some drip lines just to speed the process up that would be a HUGE time saver.

 

[bugman52]

i hand feed my hempy in veg most the time, but when they go into bud they get a drip line,an get fed 1 minet 3 times a day

 

[dansbuds]

I don't.. I go 2-4 days depending on the time of week. Toward the end of my week I go about 4.. and the pots feel bone dry... I was kinda thinking in terms of coco, which I think most people are doing. I went old school perl/verm.. hopefully coco on this next run..

I agree that automated watering is an awesome addition to the buckets.. I would if I could.

Yankee's flood table rep's sound rockin.. if I were running a multiple light show I'd buy in. For my scale it's over the top..

I am curious about how you guys are setting up drip lines, and if it's something I could implement in my little closet.. something to research.

If i could even rig something up with a pump in my bucket and some drip lines just to speed the process up that would be a HUGE time saver.

heres a quick easy set up thats adaptable to any size grow .
18 gallon rubbermaid tote set inside an auto parts shipping container so the sides don't bulge out when its full . a 296gph pump in it with a seconds on timer from mist king . 1/2 hose from the pump to the tray & its looped in the tray . no dead end line for more even feeding , then 1/4" lines off the 1/2" to hydro halo drip rings on the top of the pot . i suck the runoff out with a small shop vac .

 

[Jellyfish]

I don't.. I go 2-4 days depending on the time of week. Toward the end of my week I go about 4.. and the pots feel bone dry... I was kinda thinking in terms of coco, which I think most people are doing. I went old school perl/verm.. hopefully coco on this next run..

Yeah, the original hempy recipe always worked so well for me, that I never saw the need to switch to coco. But maybe someday.

 

[bugman52]

i started my hempys in coco so i cant comepair ,but coco rocks in them.

 

[Trich_Tyson]

Thanks dan.. simple and easy.. Gunna look into something like that.. I would probably use it to feed "as needed." I can't think of any container that would fit in there without sacrificing production area..
Have the 1/2" hose go thru the door, and when i want to feed, just pop it on to the pump.. no more waiting for lights on..

 

[Lyfespan]

heres a quick easy set up thats adaptable to any size grow .
18 gallon rubbermaid tote set inside an auto parts shipping container so the sides don't bulge out when its full . a 296gph pump in it with a seconds on timer from mist king . 1/2 hose from the pump to the tray & its looped in the tray . no dead end line for more even feeding , then 1/4" lines off the 1/2" to hydro halo drip rings on the top of the pot . i suck the runoff out with a small shop vac .

View Image

http://www.amazon.com/Little-Giant-VCMA-20ULS-Condensate-Removal/dp/B000SM342Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449207214&sr=8-1&keywords=ac+condensate+pump
dans hook the trays together with hose or pvc throw that pump inline and now your set up for drainage

 

[DoomsDay]

Yea I'm watering once every 2 to 3 days on 100% perlite. I tried the vermec mix, and have yet to try coco, but I've been reusing the same perlite for over a year so I'm not complaining.

 

[dansbuds]

i've thought about that , but my drain is to far away & i don't want a waste bucket adding RH to the room . so i just suck it out & dump it in the slop sink . when i'm gone camping & stuff during the summer i just cut back on the feed time so i get little or no runoff whilei'm gone . then when i get back i'll feed them to alot of runoff to wash out any built up salts .

works pretty good .

 

[MichaelJ]

I'm currently setting up for my first hempy grow. I haven't read 100% of the thread but I have read a good deal of it. In the last few pages I noticed where someone said "on days when I feed plain water". This may have been said by someone that is using an automated watering system, I've read so much I'm really not sure at this point. I've not seen this anywhere else, so I'm wondering if there was something I missed. Do those of you that are doing manual watering use just plain water on some days or nutes in every time?

 

[dansbuds]

plain water on the last week or 2 for the flush for some folks , but fed every time before that with coco or the verm/perilite mix.

 

[DoomsDay]

I like ti mix it up with watering. I'll typically do 2 water cycles of nutes, then the next time they need water, it's just pH balanced water and maybe some calmag. No scientific data to back up my reasoning, they just seem to like it.

(May also be the fact I'm using the last of my GH nutes which are super salty.)

 

[Trich_Tyson]

I fed every time. Flushed 2 weeks. Wasn't enough for me case I didn't ween them off. Wish I woulda flushed more. Didn't get much of any senescence.

 

[Jellyfish]

I like ti mix it up with watering. I'll typically do 2 water cycles of nutes, then the next time they need water, it's just pH balanced water and maybe some calmag. No scientific data

I do the same thing in VEG, but not during flowering.

 

[DoomsDay]

I've tried it without the water between fertilization runs and I always needed up with lockouts or some other form of problem. Maybe I don't let enough run off during watering....

 

[flexy123]

Guys,

after a lot of "research" into Hydro after one year of "meh" growing organic in soil experience I decided I want to go Hempy. It looks way easier and most importantly A LOT more flexible than "ready systems", like the Wilma system which limits me to certain pot sizes.

However, I am totally new to Hydro!

So after reading a lot about Hempys I had 100L Perlite, 125L (!) Vermiculite and also Coco Coir ordered. Talk about a HUGE ASS package which I had sent to my landlord's office, lol.

To my horror I found the Vermiculite too fine. I first had a 7L bag of Plant!t Vermiculite which looked ideal to me, some chunks as large as 1/2".

THIS vermiculite is hardly more coarse than sand.

My question is, aside from using this bigass 125L bag for seedlings, can I use this fine vermiculite in hempies? I am asking since someone said the fine grade sinks to the bottom and causes root rot. (On the other hand I already ordered coarser vermiculite, grade 3, which will hopefully be the right coarseness). I want it as coarse as the perlite.

* My other question is about my coco coir.

I first planned a mix like 50% perlite and 50% coco and skipping the vermi altogether, until people mentioned CalMag issues when they use CoCo. Since I have bad experiences with Cal/Mag deficiencies from growing organic in soil I immediately skipped the idea mixing perlite and coco. (Because if I do Hydro I want to do it right from the start). Is it true that Hempies with Perlite/Coco are causing problems like that?

 

[flexy123]

(how do I edit a post here?)

 

[Capt.Ahab]

The fine vermiculite will be ok in your 3/1 Perlite/Vermiculite mix. Just put a layer of pure Perlite on the bottom of the buckets just past the drain hole and you will be all set.
Ive only grown a few coco Hempy pots but rinsing and charging the coco before using it and the occasional shot of calmag during the grow cycle prevented any problems.