Hempy Bucket Vs. Soil, better for newbie?

I'm a total MJ newb with the lives of 3 dead seedlings weighing heavily on my soul.

I've kept potted house plants and outdoor veggie gardens before, all organic. I'm no stranger to basic horticulture, but a healthy MJ method has eluded me thus far. Probably because I tend to over-mother these darling little wonders. Evidently, loamy soils and over-excited, under-experienced mothers are easily a lethal combination. I've been doing a lot of reading here before I try again.

I'd like to grow MJ indoors (in a stealthy box) but I can't decide between Hempy bucket (traditional mix) vs. soil, both using 3-gallon pots and as much DIY organics as I can manage.

As a newb, I want a setup that's the most forgiving of mistakes and easy to maintain. Yield is of less importance then having a successful finish - I really don't want to kill any more precious seedlings/plants after I've promised them life.

I imagine soil might have fewer problems once I get it right, but HB might make up for this because corrections can be made very quickly.

Am I right in this assumption? Compared to soil, with a HB would I learn more about how to read my plants in less time? Would I learn cause/effect relationships of my mothering better with a HB setup then a soil setup? Or are HB mistakes so much more lethal then soil mistakes it's not worth the extra control?

If it makes a difference, in my box average temperatures are between low 70s to mid 80s Fahrenheit with peak summer highs in the low 90s. My average humidity is around 30-40 percent. I have about 7000 lumens per sq. foot of light with mylar lined walls, and enough exhaust fan power to exchange air in my box about 10 times a minute with a fan inside for circulation.

Thanks for reading this far.

Namaste.

Hempies would be the better route. I would also suggest you do everything in perlite. I would also recommend you use chemical nutes and focus on keeping things sterile when you're woking indoors.

you'd probably have a harder time killing something in soil, but an experienced gardener shouldn't have a problem with HB at all, and ur weed will grow faster and larger. On the other hand, if i was indulging in home brewed organic nutes, the last thing i'd do is add em to a hydro system because of all the sediments etc. i'd be afraid of dealing with. So i'd vote soil since ur clearly allready versed in organic ferts and soil growing, all the experts say the best taste of all is organic soil growing.

Thanks for the replies UserFriendly and Demosthenese. I was beginning to think no one cared.

UserFriendly, I can use chemical nutrients if I must. What about a bubbler in a big water jug to activate my ferts for a couple days before I give 'em to the hempys. It's the opposite of sterile, but pro-biotic should be the next best thing, no?

Demosthenese, from reading here I see a lot of people say organic soils make the best tasting buds, which is why I wanted to stick with organic nutrients. Deep in my hippy heart I love live dirt.

For now I'm going back to basil. I've already started a side by side comparison of the two methods with three different types of basil (from seed) to see which gives me a better result. No nutes for the Hempy's yet, but I can already see a bit more growth. However, the soil seedlings have darker, more fragrant leaves.

First time growing herbs indoors without the intentions of planting outside, so it's still fun to have at least some kind of green in my box.

hempy is the way to go
just use 1/3 vermiculite and 2/3 perlite
make sure only one .5 inch hole a few inches from the bottom of bucket
i use normal hydro nutes starting at 2.0 ec and reaching 3.0 ec during peak flowering......then flush for 1.5 to 2 weeks with rev os water and sweet berry at .5 oz per gallon
the perfect ph is about 5.8

vh13 said:

from reading here I see a lot of people say organic soils make the best tasting buds

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That's a myth.

vh13 said:

I'm a total MJ newb with the lives of 3 dead seedlings weighing heavily on my soul.

I've kept potted house plants and outdoor veggie gardens before, all organic. I'm no stranger to basic horticulture, but a healthy MJ method has eluded me thus far. Probably because I tend to over-mother these darling little wonders. Evidently, loamy soils and over-excited, under-experienced mothers are easily a lethal combination. I've been doing a lot of reading here before I try again.

I'd like to grow MJ indoors (in a stealthy box) but I can't decide between Hempy bucket (traditional mix) vs. soil, both using 3-gallon pots and as much DIY organics as I can manage.

As a newb, I want a setup that's the most forgiving of mistakes and easy to maintain. Yield is of less importance then having a successful finish - I really don't want to kill any more precious seedlings/plants after I've promised them life.

I imagine soil might have fewer problems once I get it right, but HB might make up for this because corrections can be made very quickly.

Am I right in this assumption? Compared to soil, with a HB would I learn more about how to read my plants in less time? Would I learn cause/effect relationships of my mothering better with a HB setup then a soil setup? Or are HB mistakes so much more lethal then soil mistakes it's not worth the extra control?

If it makes a difference, in my box average temperatures are between low 70s to mid 80s Fahrenheit with peak summer highs in the low 90s. My average humidity is around 30-40 percent. I have about 7000 lumens per sq. foot of light with mylar lined walls, and enough exhaust fan power to exchange air in my box about 10 times a minute with a fan inside for circulation.

Thanks for reading this far.

Namaste.

Click to expand...

Hey dude,
I can unequivically say that idf your new to the process that soil is the way to . Yes hempy has the lure of being quicker and "getting better yeilds"...but thats all non-scence. Weed grown in nutritious soil will grow vigorously. Plus it's harder to burn plants in soil (unless you dump a bottle of fertilizer in it). Soil is the way to go for ease of use.

VH, I am with Dago on this one. I use 75% perlite and 25% vermiculite but, I suspect that either will work just fine. In an effort to keep things simple I use GH Maxi nutes, start with 1/2 strength. I ph using a dropper kit so I can only ballpark it. There are folks here who say that you don't have to ph in hempy, I don't know I have not tried it. I don't think I will work with soil again. Take it for what it's worth and good luck!

I would recommend soil,
its dirty but better.
Get a glimpse of REAL nature.

My first grow finished about 2 weeks ago (using soil) and I have to say, I am making the switch to HB, but I am going to use 1 gal. pots. I did well on my first grow in soil with pretty minimal effort, but the advantages I have experienced with my mothers in hydro far outweigh the learning curve associated with the step over.

From the sound of it you're going to be watching them very closely, and that's all that's really required with and kind of hydroponics, things get out of hand when you get complacent and I doubt that will be a factor for you. I'd say the quicker you can have your plants respond, the better off you are going to be. Why not opt for faster growth, bigger yields, and faster response to the care you give it?

I know everybody says soil is easy but I don't buy it. Only plants I've every almost lost where in soil and as soon as I transplanted to hempy they were saved. I was told I got the wrong soil by people who know soil, but the guy at the garden center gave me soil for seedlings. If you go soil make sure to ask somebody which one to buy first.

Well soil, just like any methods, have to be understood fundamentally.
Whatever you chose to do, learn as much as you can about it before you start. Try and have as much ready to get before you plant those seeds (like lights, timers etc).
And yeah, some soil is too "hot" for seedlings, meaning the N-P-K value is too high.

Seriously, go with hempys! I use a 3:1 large grade perlite to coco mix. I use half strength nutes throughout the grow and additives. Feed 1 day every 2 days of no feeding. The plants grow enormous rootsystems and yield almost as much as My previous bubbleponics setup. The bud quality seems better with hempys then with DWC.

alienascii said:

Seriously, go with hempys! I use a 3:1 large grade perlite to coco mix. I use half strength nutes throughout the grow and additives. Feed 1 day every 2 days of no feeding. The plants grow enormous rootsystems and yield almost as much as My previous bubbleponics setup. The bud quality seems better with hempys then with DWC.

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Im very interested in hempy buckets I think I will try a couple out with the free beans I got from attitude. It looks so easy and less hassle than bubbleponics..

UserFriendly said:

Hempies would be the better route. I would also suggest you do everything in perlite. I would also recommend you use chemical nutes and focus on keeping things sterile when you're woking indoors.

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Imma newbie and leaning very heavily toward hempy. I need a passive watering system because I'm sooooo A.D.D. gonna f**k up any routine I establish not mention, in addition, I have some bitchin' pain conditions (Fibromyalgia, degenerative knees) and I want my babies to have a fair shot of surviving me. I've grown other types of plants outdoors and choose varieties that described as "tolerant" basically because if God didn't give it to them, heaven help them. I've killed every indoor plant I've tried. But I'm choosing to grow indoors now for a number of reasons; I live north, privacy and my arthritis is saying don't you dare get on the ground and do anything. I have a 9'L x 5'w x 6 1/2'H grow room in a 100 year old house where spiders have taken up host and will probably outlive me in this house. I don't wanna deal with additional pests so that's what makes me lean toward perlite and AWAY from soil. I'm pretty techie, comfortable with gadgets like PH testers and other stuff, and no stranger to building my own stuff as I will be DIY'ing the grow room and buckets. How technical hydroponics is raises no fear in me which is why I was thinking there was maybe a way to combine the concepts of both the hempy style buckets and bubbleponics. However, I'm heeding all nay sayers about newbies needing to learn the ropes of growing first before trying hydroponics/bubbleponics. That intimidated me, not to mention the fear of my electricity going out for whatever reason (forgot to pay bill or just blowing a circuit and forget to go the basement to just physically check cuz my knees hates stairs) :-/

I've had my beans for about a month now and anxious about getting my feet wet cultivating some quality dank trees that I can be proud of (for medicinal purposes of course) and like any mother I'm worried about murdering my precious babies. I'm thinking I'd better practice with the freebie beans I got rather than risk my total more expensive investment. I had to stick to short plants cuz my grow room is short and the 1000W hps 8" hood is huge taking up about a foot of that space. I've got plenty of food grade buckets (thanks to Walmart and my local grocers), so I have varying sized containers (2, 3 and 5 gallon). My lean is toward perlite because I saw a YouTube video where a fellow grew tomatoes with great success this way. The first year he did a grow in a greenhouse "hempy-like" 100% perlite with the 5 gallon containers watering them by hand and they came out fantastic. Then the following year, he reused the perlite and went on an powered-up those same containers with a full hydro system with buried reservoir and airstones, they still did well. I've scoured the internet and read tons of stuff on it and have yet to come across a grower experienced in both growing mediums to return to soil. Most of the ones I read, they swear by the perlite, which is WHY I'm leaning toward that route but still got some fears being a newbie. The only downside I've heard mentioned is as the plants get heavy they tend to lean because the perlite is so lightweight and cannot support the heavier plants. That seems easy to resolve by just staking 'em like you do tomatoes. I have yet to see anyone show pictures of a full complete grow from seedling to harvest (especially the autoflowers). My more expensive beans are Ganja-Dwarf auto feminized and Big Bud. I got Habiba freebies. I wanna get it right on my first try and not so concerned about yield. I just want a more passive watering system that is less taxing physically for an old lady like me and that my plants will be able to survive if I accidently miss a day (or two) of watering. I'm open to any advice.

Hempy Bucket.

Use Lucas formula with GH Flora Micro and GH Flora Bloom. All you need in the same ratio all grow. Though I do add CalMag as I use distilled water.

Hard to over water, once you see water coming out of hole then you're good. Leave it be til it feels light and repeat.

I've always had trouble in soil and bigs are an issue. I've yet to see a single big with Hempys and I run anything from personal stealth grows to commercial size warehouses.

I use straight perlite. No need for anything else for "wicking". I do sometimes add a SMALL amount of coco but it's not really necessary though it may allow you to water less. I always had an over watering tick so straight perlite is better as it will dry out faster.

Good luck and let me know if you need any more help.

Thefarmer12 said:

Hempy Bucket.

Use Lucas formula with GH Flora Micro and GH Flora Bloom. All you need in the same ratio all grow. Though I do add CalMag as I use distilled water.

Hard to over water, once you see water coming out of hole then you're good. Leave it be til it feels light and repeat.

I've always had trouble in soil and bigs are an issue. I've yet to see a single big with Hempys and I run anything from personal stealth grows to commercial size warehouses.

I use straight perlite. No need for anything else for "wicking". I do sometimes add a SMALL amount of coco but it's not really necessary though it may allow you to water less. I always had an over watering tick so straight perlite is better as it will dry out faster.

Good luck and let me know if you need any more help.

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Thank you sooooo much for responding. Yeah I've got a major problems with bugs of all kind of species cuz my backyard is dense with trees and like I said they had a hundred years to take up shop. I've bombed many times and the spiders just not going anywhere altho I did significantly reduce their population. I wanna succeed at a personal stealth grow and sure I can do it. I have nutes that came from the company I bought my beans from so I'll have to compare it to the GH Bloom/Micro stuff. I was planning to add the CalMag too. I chose theirs because its in power form (easier for an old lady to carry AND store in the very confined grow room space). Undoubtedly the GH line is probably comparable to what I have, I'll list the active ingredients, then maybe you can tell me. I do have one question, with all I read about autoflowers, the repeated theme was NO transplanting and nix on cloning. That's fine with me as I really don't wanna deal with the cloning (veg) part of the process. Just wanna kinda "set and forget" with exception of flushing and/or adding nutes. To date I've not come across anyone germinating in same pot it will remain in to harvest, I could be wrong and just nobody has shared a photo from seed to finish. In other words is it normal that all beans require a germ phase before final planting or can you start (germinate) the beans in the same pot it grows in. Is there any adjustments/admendments you have to add into 4 germ in the hempy, like, for example, those Rapid Rooters plugs or net cups?. Assuming you DO need to use them, do you leave the plugs on the whole grow or do you remove the germinated plant and submerge the plant directly into the perlite? I'm concerned about ANY transplant even at the germination stage as I read many times autflowers don't like transplanting. Any advice on that?

N yeah, I fear overwatering more than anything, rather leave them plenty of water in a bottom of a hemp bucket and they take up what they need instead of me guessing about that.

Soil is so easy a young child can pull it off....

However, I would send new growers to hempy, to avoid a lot of the bugs I see found more in dirt grows. Avoids Ph problems, as it can be flushed easily. Once they have a few hempy harvests, they are ready to go hydro or dirt on a larger scale, and expand the skillset...

vh13 said:

I'm a total MJ newb with the lives of 3 dead seedlings weighing heavily on my soul.

I've kept potted house plants and outdoor veggie gardens before, all organic. I'm no stranger to basic horticulture, but a healthy MJ method has eluded me thus far. Probably because I tend to over-mother these darling little wonders. Evidently, loamy soils and over-excited, under-experienced mothers are easily a lethal combination. I've been doing a lot of reading here before I try again.

I'd like to grow MJ indoors (in a stealthy box) but I can't decide between Hempy bucket (traditional mix) vs. soil, both using 3-gallon pots and as much DIY organics as I can manage.

As a newb, I want a setup that's the most forgiving of mistakes and easy to maintain. Yield is of less importance then having a successful finish - I really don't want to kill any more precious seedlings/plants after I've promised them life.

I imagine soil might have fewer problems once I get it right, but HB might make up for this because corrections can be made very quickly.

Am I right in this assumption? Compared to soil, with a HB would I learn more about how to read my plants in less time? Would I learn cause/effect relationships of my mothering better with a HB setup then a soil setup? Or are HB mistakes so much more lethal then soil mistakes it's not worth the extra control?

If it makes a difference, in my box average temperatures are between low 70s to mid 80s Fahrenheit with peak summer highs in the low 90s. My average humidity is around 30-40 percent. I have about 7000 lumens per sq. foot of light with mylar lined walls, and enough exhaust fan power to exchange air in my box about 10 times a minute with a fan inside for circulation.

Thanks for reading this far.

Namaste.

Click to expand...

Hempy bucket and Lucas formula is just simple and care free. Feed the same stuff every other day. It's really that easy. Good genetics are key too.