The Official Hempy Bucket Thread

[DoomsDay]

I had the same issue, so just boil water in the morning and toss the shit in and stir. Zone out stirring over your cup of coffee. NY mix now is about 92 grams of maxi to about a half gallon of boiling h20. Once it breaks down, I move it on over to my res, start filling that and pour the hot shit in. Cycle my res with a pump for a few hours (typically overnight) to allow pH to balance then water. I get that shit that refuses to break down as well, but it's kept to a minimum now with this method.

 

[flexy123]

I am sort-of baffled....just measured (standing) runoff ph of my hempies. I am using an external reservoir and currently I water every 2-3 days, water in the reservoir sits for as long as it takes them to drink.

I feed 5.5ph (GH nutes + ph down)...and this standing runoff water in my hempies is 7.5ph!!

This can't be right.

I learned it's normal that ph might increase because water evaporates - but does this maybe mean I should rather water/feed MORE OFTEN and not have it stand and evaporate so that the solution never gets into this crazy ph range? I can't see it being good the nute solution/reservoir at 7.5! Something is way off....

Advice needed. Thanks!

 

[flexy123]

(to add, sorry I STILL can't edit my posts)

Each of my hempies has an outer container, slightly bigger than the actual pot. So I fill up until there is about 2" solution in the outer container. Problem is: When the plants don't drink fast and the solution stands longer...well it increases the ph obviously as I just found out. Should I worry?

 

[Trich_Tyson]

I wouldn't worry unless the plants are. The ph swing is natural. That's a big swing but if they aren't suffering. Mine swung just as much in perlite / vermoculite

The bigger the Rez the less the swing.. Or slower the swing

Water for a little extra runoff.

I fed like you last time. Without too much runoff. This round is auto 2x per day with decent runoff. Results so far are improved

 

[CASTLE212]

I am sort-of baffled....just measured (standing) runoff ph of my hempies. I am using an external reservoir and currently I water every 2-3 days, water in the reservoir sits for as long as it takes them to drink.

I feed 5.5ph (GH nutes + ph down)...and this standing runoff water in my hempies is 7.5ph!!

This can't be right.

I learned it's normal that ph might increase because water evaporates - but does this maybe mean I should rather water/feed MORE OFTEN and not have it stand and evaporate so that the solution never gets into this crazy ph range? I can't see it being good the nute solution/reservoir at 7.5! Something is way off....

Advice needed. Thanks!

When I used to use hempy buckets I always feed everyday. One of the main reasons I did this was because if I let the coco dry out my runoff PH always started to drift up. Once I started to feed everyday my PH still drifted a small amount but never out of range. I actually think the small drift in PH actually helped my plants take up mag better. That being said my PH never went past 6.2

 

[CASTLE212]

Forgot to mention I always use GH too plus additives.

 

[Der Raketmensch]

Hey hempy folks,

First time hempy run here. I just transplanted to a 5 quart hempy from a soil seedling tray, and am seeing signs of overwatering. I read through the thread and came across some posts regarding people transplanting rockwool cubes into hempy pots and having trouble with them retaining too much water. I think something similar is happening with the soil around the plant's roots.

Has anyone encountered this before, and if so, how did you deal with it? The moisture retention differential between the two media is presenting a tough nut to crack. I'm going to let it dry out for a couple days and see if that helps.

 

[Capt.Ahab]

Are you using soil ?

 

[flexy123]

Hey hempy folks,

First time hempy run here. I just transplanted to a 5 quart hempy from a soil seedling tray, and am seeing signs of overwatering. I read through the thread and came across some posts regarding people transplanting rockwool cubes into hempy pots and having trouble with them retaining too much water. I think something similar is happening with the soil around the plant's roots.

Has anyone encountered this before, and if so, how did you deal with it? The moisture retention differential between the two media is presenting a tough nut to crack. I'm going to let it dry out for a couple days and see if that helps.

Need more info:

What potting mix do you use, what percentage perlite/vermi..what size are the plants....and how often and how much are you watering them?

I made one mistake once, transplanting seedlings from rockwool when they were still way too tiny. Transplant them when they have a nice set of true leaves, better later than too early. Roots should come out the cubes before you transplant.

As you start watering the tiny seedlings you need to start it very, very slow and little...and only start with nutes about after 2 weeks.

Edit: Yeah and I am reading "soil", "soil seedling tray" etc...are you using jiffies or something? You should not put anything "soil" into Hempies, in general rockwool cubes are the best.

 

[Capt.Ahab]

A little bit of "soil" such as Jiffy pucks is ok. Use them all the time with no problems. I usually put them in their final homes at two -two and a half weeks in Solo cup Hempy pots and they are already getting a weak feed.. By then they have three to four nodes. It's all about watering the plant itself early in the process once put in the hempy pot. If you water the container for the first few days it is going to be too wet. I continue a weak mix of nutes for the first 5 days or so until the plant looks like it's roots have hit the reservoir. After the first week they are getting the recommended seedling mix and by week two in the Hempy pot they are ready for a good dose of nutes.

 

[Der Raketmensch]

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

The starting grow medium was 75% Ocean Forest, 25% Perlite, in a small seedling starter cup. I was having trouble with the soil being too hot for the seedling; it had twisted leaves. Had problems with this soil on the last run too, it wasn't buffered very well out of the bag, unknown to me. I had been looking into hempies for a little bit and resolved to try it in order to have a bit more control over the pH and nutrients in the medium. So that's where I stand and why I have a soil-started plant in a hempy.

I think where I went wrong was in misunderstanding Hempy's instructions wherein you are supposed to initially water more frequently. The fast draining character of the perlite/verm mix is harder for me to read. It must be wetter than I think. Less water during watering is definitely the way to go right now, full agreement with that. Plants have 3 nodes, fyi to anyone with any other thoughts.

 

[Der Raketmensch]

Also wanted to add that I'm a pretty new grower, doing it a year and have been feeling out the best method for me. Despite the initial snafu, I am pretty optimistic about the hempy.

 

[DoomsDay]

Hempys are the way to go. Switched over from soil, and to this day I consider and actually even planted a few plants back in soil, and I always end up face palming myself asking why the hell did I do that.

Hempy is easy, effective, and proven to work...

 

[Jellyfish]

Better than dirt, imo, but shhhhh, you'll upset the farmers.

 

[flexy123]

I am bummed because I got a €21 bottle FloraNova Bloom coming for trying out Lucas on my 3:1 perlite/vermi Hempies.

Now I found at least ONE post on some forum where someone claims Lucas is only for DWC and other hydro systems and not good for Hempies.

Has anyone tried Lucas with Hempies, what was their result compared to GH Flora Trio "normal" feeding?

** Some also claimed that using Lucas and Hempies would mean having to add CalMag...which also surprised me since I thought you will only need to add CalMag with Lucas when you grow in Coco? (Needing to add something again, like Calmag, would sort-of defy the easiness of Lucas, I mean the main benefit for me would be that I only need to use ONE thing, FloraNova Bloom, and nothing else...ok with the exception of ph down of course)

*** And re Lucas with GH Trio (only using Micro + Bloom), I already posted something about this here a while ago.
MAKES.NO.SENSE since you will require significantly more if you use Micro+Bloom than if you would just feed normal w/ GH bottle instructions. It makes no sense to me since the guy, Lucas (?) said something like "saves you from buying GH Flora Grow"....yes alright, but you'll still end up needing more w/ Lucas and GH Micro + Bloom...) I mean you can calculate yourself. (say, 8ml GH Micro, 16ml Bloom PER GALLON = 2.11ml + 4.11ml PER LITER - and feeding by bottle, GH Trio is is 0.7 (ZERO POINT SEVEN) for each in grow and then .5, 1.0, 1.5 = 3.0ml for bloom. Now compare to 3ml per Liter to 6.22ml this is MORE THAN TWICE as much

 

[Guest]

I have run FloraNova Bloom as a stand alone many times in the past. It is a solid bottle fert that produces good, if not great flowers.
I used it with hempies and coco. I ran 600HPS with the FloraNova.
My suggestion would be to take the Flora bottle you have and add distilled water to reach a 1:1 ratio. So grab a larger bottle that will allow for around 2L. Maybe a bit more so you can shake the hell out of it prior to using.
I then took my diluted mix and add 10ml/1 gallon (sorry for the mix of metric and imperial).
If I was just using Flora Nova Bloom with out diluting I'd still shake the hell out of it and only add 5ml/1gallon.
Never had to PH, and used it start to finish.
Your water quality and other factors may alter how much you actually use. (led or compact fluorescent).
Hope this helps

 

[Trich_Tyson]

When you google any cannabis growing related question that relates to opinion (most of it) you will be faced with a ton of answers that will leave you probably more indecisive than you were before searching.

I'm sure lucas will work just fine/great with hempy's. I'm sure some people have had poor experiences with hempy's and lucas.. It probably wasn't the combo that did them in.

I have never used lucas or the trio.. and probably never will.. but I believe lucas was formulated to reach ideal ratio of macro's and micro's for a plants entire life.
(heads up.. there is no ideal ratio for a plants entire life.. nor is there an ideal ratio for all plants and pheno's)

but a lot of these proven methods are a great starting base that WILL work very successfully. If you master the basic technique you can then build on it with supplements and finding the EC sweet spot. You can also move on to more basic minerals and salts and build your own ratio's based on your needs.. (I do none of this.. I'm a one part guy for the most part)

in re: to cal mag.. just get it.. common deficiency.. some plants need more some need less.. and if you move onto coco after this run (you probably will) you'll definitely need it. IMO doesn't hurt to have.

Costwise Trio vs. Lucas.. I didn't read your math.. but I'd assume lucas must be cheaper.. but as I said I think convenience, ease, and dial-ability are factors in choosing the formula.

 

[Twisted pleasur]

Switched to 5 gallon hempy's last night. From 3 gallon Air Pot's Looking forward to saving water and getting better results. Thank you guys for always keeping this thread alive. Always great posts and reads....

 

[justanotherbozo]

...just so everybody knows, the Lucas formula is more than just one thing and can be run using more than one product and in hydro or coco.

...basically, Lucas is KISS style feeding as far as i can tell.

What is Lucas formula?

peace, bozo

 

[Capt.Ahab]

Ive had great results with just Floranova bloom in Hempy buckets. Ive also had great results using both the grow and bloom and good results using just Maxibloom. They will all work.
I've also used Floralicious+ as an additive. Im not sure it is necessary but it certainly doesnt hurt.
Dont complicate things. Start at half strength and up the dose from there as the plants mature. They will tell you what the max they can accept is. It isnt rocket science.