hempy...

Hey all,,, I would like to build a hempy bucket and try it. I bought (x2) 5 gallon paint buckets from Home Depot. Is a 5 gallon to big? I have read up on it and know that you drill your drain holes 2" from the bottom but I did have some questions. Could you put the hole higher up than 2" and would it help to add an air stone to the bottom of the bucket? Any input would be great! :beerchug-2: Have some LA Woman and some Barney's Red Dragon that needs a hempy home!

 

Oh and what pH and nutes are best? Should you use hydro nutes or soil pH and nutes??

 

you want to use hydro nutes with hempy, my man. :nanner-2:


why not drill the hole at 2 inches instead of trying to reinvent the wheel?


no airstone is needed, as the nute water is absorbed by the hempy medium.


you'll love hempy; it's easy and lightweight!


asssit:

 

The reason I asked about the holes would be because it is a 5 gallon bucket not a 2 gallon like the plans I found. I thought it would help to put the water line higher so it would not take the tap root fucking 3 weeks to hit water. And the air stone was just an idea. Thought if the roots would be sitting in standing water why not put some o2 in it... Thanks for the help but in typical GK fashion you 1st felt the need to be an asshole about a simple question.

 

http://www.growkind.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34674&highlight=DWHC


Hempy w/ airstone


U will need to put the hole at the bottom, put a pipe on a barb so u can control the water level to keep the perlite from floating and so u can flush between 'res' changes. Tried the same thing, but always had nute issues since I couldn't properly flush it. 3-4 weeks and everything would crisp and die, but it was the 1st shot. Growth speed was crazy with it so I am definitely going to be trying to work on it some more.


Start the girls in something smaller, like 2 quart before the transplant into the 5 gal and if u mix in vermiculite in with the perlite, 3/1 perlite/vermic u will get more wicking from the res.

 

Hey why don't you pump the brakes there dickhead. Mary just gave you an answer to your question and sound advice. Yet you call her an asshole? Shut your little fucking dicksucker. Mary is my mate misti's girl ( ), and if you slag her like that again I will shove my fist so far up your shithole that if you have a thought, it's going to have to squeeze it's way past my wristwatch.


All she said was why try to reinvent the wheel, and she's right. If you never saw a hempy bucket that was 5 gallons, you should do some more reading. If you never did a hempy bucket, you should do some more reading.


Just because you lack information on a set up doesn't make her comment shitty in nature. You should check your bad attitude at the door.


Now, ITCC gave you some sound advice too. Is he also an asshole?


Regardless...rather than trying to customize or tweak out a system you have never used, and obviously lack info on, why not try the system as designed, and then decide which, if any facets don't meet your criteria and then try to modify it to suit yor needs or wants. You gotta have a baseline for comparison, otherwise how will you know if any modifcations you make are beneficial or detrimental?


Before I went and switched up systems however, I would get the rest of my grow environment in order. You are the only person out of 1000's that has had MNS Critical Mass herm on them. So, I would say your set up needs some time invested to correct the problems already there. Switching systems is just going add to more problems.


Now, that is straight, no bullshit advice, and it's from experience. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, and chill out before you start slagging people for giving you good advice.

 

My last four grows have been Hempy and I LOVE it. But me, Im weird! I dont use buckets! I use red Solo cups to start, then move the plants to one gal. "Food Containers" from Walmart (made to store cereal, rice, sugar, whatever) in. They are rectangular in shape...having a "footprint" of about eight inches X four in., about 14 inches tall. I drill my holes about three inches from the bottom and fill the container with straight (rinsed) perlite.


By using these rectangle shapped containers, I can fit six-nine under my 600HPS, no problem! If you use thise big ass buckets...two will be all you can fit. That's ok IF you have some BIG plants. But I prefer nine smaller plants.....I let 'em veg til they are eight inches tall, then go to 12/12. My finished harvest p-lants are about 18", with an average yield of an oz per plant.


Hempy ROCKS! Im gonna go find a pic of my Hempy food containers...check out the next post.


Dixie

 

You're absolutely right. You cannot put a tiny seediling with three inch roots directly into a five gal bucket! You gotta start with small (16 oz) solo cups...then when the plant is six inches tall, move it to a bigger container. As I said, I dont nuse the big ass five gal buckets because it seems kinda ridic to me. My 600 HPS ccan penetrate fine to about twoo feet. So...why grow a plant taller than tqwo feet? Amnd WHY waste all that space with a couple of huge buckets?


I went and tried to download some pics of my ONE gal food storage containers but wasnt successful. Aaarrgh. I used to be able to download pics...but evidently forgot how OR there is a system screw up right now. Anyway, sorry....coulodnt get a pic right now.


But listen....ask yourself how TALL you want your two plants to be (assuming you have but one light and two five gal. containers will be all you can fit under one light). Is you light powerful enough to penetrate deep into a four foot tall plant??? If not...why even waste time with a big plants?


A two footer does NOT rtequire a five gal container! A ONE gal is quite enough. A rectangular container allows many more plants than round, big buckets.


Im so pissed I cant seem to make the pic download thing work....grrrr! I will keep trying. Meantime, I urge you to re-consider the five gal buckets, uinless you only have two plants, anyway. The Real Deal is, Hempy does NOT require that big a container! MANY one gal containers, each holding a 2 foot tall plant will give you an oz of dry, cured smoke per plant. Maybe two BIG ass plants in two five gal containers give as much total weight....but CAN your light penetrate all the way to the bottom branches? I only have one 600 HPS. Two feet is about all it can penetrate. So, I prefer nine ONE gal plants to two five gals. I mean....Id have to let the plants veg what...four months? to get them big wenough to really need a five gal container? They'd have to be what...four feet tall? And then...the bottom two feet wouldnt ge5t enough light, anyway!


So...for me (granted Ive only got five grows under my belt), a bunch of two footers works best for me, in ONE gal, tall, narrow containers.


I swear to god Im gonna get the damn pics downloaded.....grrrr.


Dixie


Dixie

 

This is true. Adding 1/4 verm does help the roots STAY moist between feedings. However, one the plant is in 12/12 mode, you should nute every other day, anyway. In fact, in the last three weeks of flowering, I nute daily! The plants drink up the nutes like crazy in these last three weeks. Frankly, I havent even bothered with vermiculite since my third grow.


I also broke tradition with the placement of my holes. I drill at three inches above the bottom, not two....because (since I use one gal containers) I want the roots to be in contact with the nutes more than just the bottom two inches. I think, the smaller the container, the HIGHER up you need to make the holes.


Another way I broke with tradition is....everybody says ya gotta make the the container light-proof, to keep the roots in the dark. I did this, at first. Then, I stopped spray-painting my containers....and surprisingly, NO less growth occured! Plus, the semi-transparent food storage containers I use allows me to SEE if mjy roots are over crowded.


By the time I harvest, the root mass fills up the entire bottom 3/4 of the container, solid. But, my pplants do not seem to suffer! I nute daily the last three weeks of flowering....so, I guess the roots "dont care" if they're crowded....long as they get their food, they're happy.


Dixie

 

I am not very well experienced and well into my first year of this art. Please keep this is in mind as I am not an expert and am only speaking on my experiences and limited understanding.


Here is what I run.


2 gallon Hempy buckets, hole 2 inches from bottom with no screen and I also drill holes around the top rim of the bucket spaced out evenly so I can tied down branches as needed. I just switched from 5 gallons as after 2 harvests the plants never came close to filling it. About a 3 week veg time but my first run I did a month veg. I found some winter shoe/boot plastic shoe trays and sit two pots on one and suck up run off from the tray with a power vac. If you have high humidity I recommend that you suck up the run off each time or the possibility of mold/mildew increase.


The 5 gallon containers I could water/feed every other day to every 3 days where the 2 gallon containers is every day in flower and every other day to 3 days in early veg ending with every day feedings/watering or every other day feedings, I let the plant tell me what it wants. Another thing on the 5 gallons, make sure they are dry before feeding/watering again as problems can result.


I do not add an airstone but I do not think it would hurt but unnecessary in my opinion. I have seen much debate on the subject but I have not seen anything persuasive to do it. I do run airstone in my rez of nutes which is always being mixed and in my regular water rez so my water is oxygenated already. I also add a cap of hydro peroxide per gallon to boost oxygen.


I shoot for an average of 2oz a plant have hit that every time. I feel that is a realistic standard goal. I will work to increase yield once I have my grow areas properly dialed in.


My strongest hempy advice. PH at 5.8 or you will likely run into a calmag issue. I have run into every time until I was schooled on the importance of PH in hempys/hyrdo. Understand, we give up buffers for explosive growth.





Lowest I go is 5.75 and will not go above 5.8. I initially used those drops but with hydro/hempy I wholly advise on getting a good PH meter as you just cannot dial in 5.8 with the drops. With that said, I see people who claim to use drops and/or dont even check PH but in my experience, this has caused me extreme PH issues.


I top and clone the tops and further manipulate the plant with pipe cleaners and bending techniques but I am merely learning but I have my canopy how I planned it.


I have used Fox Farms and have switched to Humboldt master A, B, Verde, roots, I use calmag, sweet and silica but will eventually switch to humboldt versions of those ntues. I am switching only because I got a deal on the humboldt nutes. Fox Farms I am still running on one last crop but new crops are on humboldt. Thus far, I like the humboldt but I have new genetics in the new crops so I can not say much on the difference on the nutes. Whatever line you go with, use hydro nutes. Hempys are considered hydro.


I also use straight perlite, I have used fine and course grade and the fine may need some slight clean up it works great but I will go with the course from here on out due to it holding up better while watering/feeding as the fine perlite gets disturbed. Its a little thing.


I have 2 rooms, veg (400) and flower (600). Like I said on yield, I go for 2 oz a plant and call it success. I will be vegging 3 weeks and make bushes by topping and tying down. If you bend your top branches down, be easy, and hold/secure them down lower than the lower branches the plant will think it fell over and send hormones and the like, the word auxin comes to mind, to the other branches that are now the higher part of the plant and treats it like its new tops. Once the new tops get to the size of the stem you have held down, release the bonds on that stem, you can just bend the top so its below the other stems, and you have an even canopy with lots of good tops. That is basically what I am doing now. Just topping I was getting 2 oz a plant but I suspect I will get 2.5 to hopefully 3 but if I just get 2 I am happy. I am merely hoping to even out the crop more rather than increase yield at this stage.


Hope that helps you and keep in mind. I am far from an expert and am relatively new to this art so please dont view my writings as more than that but it is what I am doing and my lessons learned. Since we all grow in different environments and whatnot those aspects will likely alter slightly from what works from one to another.


Edited in, regarding transplanting, keep in mind I am relatively new to this, I ended up shocking 2 plants with transplant shock and was so disappointed in the week which was lost from these two plants that I now go straight from cloner or seed directly to the container. With the cloner it is a none issue of the roots hitting the rez as I grow the roots that long before transplanting. Never had an issue with that.


With seeds, I also go straight in to the larger bucket. I did this with 5 gallon and 2 gallon size and naturally the 5 gallon bucket took more care. easy feeding daily but the roots hit the rez quick enough. The seeds put into 2 gallon, started in jiffy pucks, hit the rez in a week. If you are comfortable transplanting I do not think its an issue. In my experience I am not very skilled but well researched and I cannot see where I did anything incorrect in my transplanting but yet half my crop went into shock and cost me a week. Most people transplant up with seed but if can be done without issue to go straight into the larger pot. Just understand, it will go slow at first but once it hits the rez, you will absolutely know. What you do today, is visible the next day once it hits the rez.


Caution on drain hole placement:


I do not recommend putting the hole up farther on the bucket of 5 gallons. In my research the only people I seen run into over watering issues were those who did this. 2 inches are plenty of depth.


Oh, one more quick thing, determine you evaporation rate. I simply do a hempy bucket and fill with just water and let sit in the grow room. After a day you can tell the difference in what is evaporating versus what your plants are drinking. If you think there is more evaporating going on than plant drinking lower your nutes and/or flush. This is what I did until I got a pen that checks EC/PPM. The reason you want to do this, check your run off periodically, is evaporation will increase the nute concentration in your bucket, dried nutes on the bottom. To counter this I simply flush, not overly just a good strong watering but not a dedicated to flush once a week and I have not run into any over fert issues.


Happy Growing and much luck and success!

 

I like that tub idea Dixie, may have to give it a shot since I grow short. Got 2, 2x2 areas with only 24-28" or so available for the plant for flower.


Thought I don't nute feed that often in flower. Only one of my strains is a heavy feeder and likes high N through to week 5 and is a 8 week flower. If I use the pure Useless's on her, she's yellowing by week 3-4. I just up her N.


On the other hand, my best strain is a no feeder, but forms nice larger and denser buds than my heavy feeder which is totally wacked. I can flush her for 20 days and she still has a ton of green leaves. I basically start her flower nutes using the week 3 schedule as my week 1. In veg, I only need to nute her 1 time a week if that, then its just water, and even then I find I can over N her and she gets too deep green.

Not just the size, its the overall height of the container that dictates hole depth. If you have a short 1 gal bucket vs a tall 1 gall bucket, if your holes are the same height on both, your short bucket will have issues. Saw this 1st hand since I was trying to grow short, so I used large wide containers 1st and with the hole like 1.5" from the bottom, always had nute issues. Hole height around 10-15% of total container height is a good rule to follow if what I found. I moved that hole down to like .75" and then they would thrive in the same bucket.

 

DUDE!!! I am NOT WORTHY!


LOL...for real, man...that is some WAY good info. I checked my pH back when I first started growing, about a year ago. A quarter tsp. of vinegar did thgen trick...so I havent even bothered to check since then! I didnt know it was THAT critical, duh. Still, I get about ONRR oz per plant. So clearly, you're doing something way better thanh me. OK! I'll be checking ph tomorrow!


I use Botanicare Grow and Botanicare Bloom, plus "Big Bud" during 12/12. I think these are pretty good nutes....so, maybe my flaky pH patrol is why Im getting half the weight?


Shit, man. LOL!


What kinda light you got? How tall are your plants at harvest? What containers do you use? Reason I ask is, I generally veg for five weeks, then flower around 8, one 600 HPS. My plants are maybe two feet at harvest.


I mean....other than my lax attendance to pH...what could be the diff between my one oz and your two?


Man...I would LOVE to produce 12 oz instead of six, LOL!


Dixie

 

Thanks, Useless.


I was going to respond this morning, but had to walk the fuck away.


I will say this: Mary is rarely on here (posting, anyway) and you treat her like this?!


Not Cool.


And here we go, quoting an entire post :bravo:

 

Ya settle down there bro. I'm on my 4th run with hempy and can't think of how you can get much simpler. You do have to start small and up the bucket size as you go. If I'm doing from seed I start them in plugs then right into 32 oz. cups. After about 3 weeks in those I step up to the bigger buckets. It in no way takes WEEKS for the plants to hit the res. I typically see them take off again within 3 or 4 days during which I just pour solution around the base of plant to hit the roots before they get there. I've used 2, 3.5, and 5 gallon buckets and the only difference is time in between waterings. The 2 gallon I'm currently using need watered about every 2 or 3 days. The size of the perlite also changes how often they need watered. Smaller pieces is a bigger PITA but holds more water and requires less frequent feeding. I would think someone who is away frequently would prefer the smaller pieces. The big and chunky is WWWAAYYY easier to work with in terms of rinsing, but doesn't hold the solution as long. So those are things to be considered when deciding which route to go.

 

keep in mind, there are many factors that go into the yield and not just the method to grow. I clone in an aero cloner, bubble cloners work well too but for me it took a bit longer than I liked but I know people who clone in the same time I do with my aero with their bubble cloner so I think its largely an environmental factor. Anyways I do not pot in 2 gallon buckets until the roots will reach the bottom of the 2 gallon rez. About one week once the cutting begin to show roots. This was true for me in both types of cloners. Doing this saves me from having to transplant into different size plants.


I believe the type of genetics you use is first of importance. If you have known seeds than it easier to grow but I started on bag seed and this is what I got my 2oz per plant with on several crops. I am confident this next crop will be slightly larger but my intent is to learn and get experience planning and managing the canopy. This will give me more tops. I will then experiment in the next succession of crops with ranging amounts of tops so some plants will have larger colas but fewer colas than others. At least I hope hehe.


I have switched to new genetics and these truly are race horses compared to my bag seed plants. With the nutes, I do little more than the basics I but will increase in additives crop by crop so I can see the effect myself. I am sure your nutes are sufficient but I am not very experienced in nutrients so my advice is limited.


My best advice is to learn each part of the process and perfect it the best you can. Dialing in your environment is key and using good genetics. I am just a pup yet but a well researched one at that.


They say a pictures is worth a thousand words some pics of my last grow and it shows the 5 gallon containers I used. You will notice the calmag issues. Also notice the size difference in the two plants that were transplanted. In this instance I did not let the roots grow as long as I do now and potted them in a container with another plant until they got of size for their own container. It did not work out for me but it gave me the opportunity to test out different size plants and yields. The smaller plants too a week to recover from shock, that is the only difference. Previously the plants of the same size yielded 2 oz a plant and on this grow they averaged 2 oz a plant. She is a very medium smoke.


https://www.opengrow.com/index.php?autocom=gallery&req=user&user=2040&op=view_album&album=1336&sort_key=idate&order_key=ASC&prune_key=*&st=0

 

I'll agree Blitz was out of line.:new_cussing: :nonono: Blitz, please be careful how you respond to another member, not cool how you responded.


Mary was just responding with a honest answer, no need to for name calling.


Lets keep this thread on the subject of the question, and everyone play nice.


Useless, Thanks for defending Mary, but please hold back a little next time.


:eusa_clap:


Hempy is a simple passive hydro system that works well. That's how I grow and the only way now. The nice thing about the system is it is flexible in it's simple design. What I mean is it can be adjusted to different grow needs. When I first started growing Hempy I used 5 gallon buckets but later found the smaller buckets worked better for me. the 5 gallon buckets are good if you are trying to grow a 6 foot plant. Does the hole have to 2 inches from the bottom, no not every time. I have a friend who grows in 5 gallon buckets and his hole is 3 inches from the bottom. I think that helps in his case because he grow plants that are 6 feet or taller, and when they get that big they drink allot more, so the deeper reservoir is better.


I grow in two gallon buckets and some three gallon buckets, but have been gradually switching to 2gallon bucket lately. Both have holes drilled 2 inches from the bottom. The guide I started is just to get people going. I only use drops to check my PH and have never had a problem. That works for me. Some people may use PH meters and what not and that it cool to.


I use only straight Perlite mix and now use the Canna nutrients which the plants love. you guys know what my plants look like.

 

LOL That was quite reserved actually. Believe me (or ask others) I can toss a verbous verbal assault the likes of which would have heads spinning. I, in fact, was light on him. Nobody talks to my MaryMary that way. And for the record, I did in fact give him some advice that was good natured and focused on him getting his grows dialed in. I could have kept bashing him, as he deserved it, but that doesnt make a productive thread. I said what I had to say, and then gave him some sound advice.


There is a lot of good info in this thread by the Hempy users. Hopefully Blitz reads it and puts it to use.


Cheers

 

ROFLMFAO. Blitz, if you're going to neg rep me at least have the nuts to sign it. Not that I give a hoot about it anyway, I already was given pos rep for the post. LOL Besides, they are just green dots on a screen. But, if you notice, I didn't neg rep you. I would rather,as I have done, call you out in a post or even PM. If you have something negative to say, say it out loud pal. I assure, I have thick skin, I can take it. :roffl: :roffl: :roffl:


Like I said in my last post above. I said what I had to say about your bad mouthing Mary, (it was uncalled for, period. You should apologize to her) and then gave you some sound advice on your grow. The advice was serious.

 

ok, guys. this is the end of it, i hope.


i posted in the best words i had. i certainly did not mean to insult the poster.


i hope he will apologize to all of us. if not, we just have to accept that some people enjoy spouting off.


this is one of the reasons i don't post often. i'm old and handicapped, and i don't need the abuse.


grow on in peace, please! asssit:

 

Cheers Mary. This ones for you sweetie. asssit: