World Of Hempy

gr865

Well-Known Member
here's some food for thought.

I wish I never put vermiculite in my perlite > I think it all collects in the Rez and turns to mud. Same thing when you rinse out your perlite after a grow. I have been rinsing out the Verm and throwing away the build up of it when cleaning the perlite.

Ever thought about somehow fastening screen to the inside of your bucket right above the overflow hole to keep medium out of the Rez. ? :roll: They make some type of system that uses two buckets , one rez bucket and one medium bucket ? I think I seen these at the hydro store.
TWS, I have seen a person use one of those cloth bags, I think his was a 2 gal bag, for his mix and he sat it inside the bucket with Perlite in the rez.. Those bags are made to air prune the roots but if in a bucket the roots will grow right through the bags. It was an impressive grow.
I would not try the screen thing as when the vermiculite starts building up on the screen and plugs it you will create what is called a perched water table. Water would not reach the rez and would just stay in the growing medium.
That is why I switched to Perlite/coco and I think I will go back to a higher percentage of coco to perlite on my next grow.

GB, Yeah the stress level of that job was a bitch. I did it for 39 yrs and would not wish it on anyone. Growing the grass was the easy part, dealing with boards of directors, club presidents, greens committies, club managers, golf pros, members and staff was a pain in the ass. Staff got to be the worse over the yrs as it was more like baby sitting then running a crew. Also your job was in the hands of people who had no idea what it took to maintain medium high end country clubs. My last green chairman was a garage door salesman, LOL My budget the last yr before I retired was 1.4 million including payroll which was about 62% of the budget.
Anyway I am out of that now and have a little cottage biz that I took over for my uncle when he could not do it anymore. Much less stress, my shop is 15 paces from my back door, no people or employees, got a fridge full of cold Bud and my boss lets me smoke on the job.LOL

Peace out guys, all will be good.

GR
 

greatbranch

Well-Known Member
I came back to the hempy bucket, because I didn't want to use my PH meter anymore.
I do check my water PH a few times per year just to be safe. I don't do the PH ritual every day like in hydro. And the REAL reason hydro isn't for me was schlepping all of the damned water. Chloramine in tap doesn't play nice. I could have purchased a RO filter, but wanted to see if it was for me before the expense. I also had trouble ScrOGging with the net pots getting torqued, and I decided to come back home.
 

gr865

Well-Known Member
I do check my water PH a few times per year just to be safe. I don't do the PH ritual every day like in hydro. And the REAL reason hydro isn't for me was schlepping all of the damned water. Chloramine in tap doesn't play nice. I could have purchased a RO filter, but wanted to see if it was for me before the expense. I also had trouble ScrOGging with the net pots getting torqued, and I decided to come back home.
You must have good tap water, the pH of my tap water is almost 8 and the ppm is between 700 and 800 ppm, but my state still says it is good to drink. Hell I dont even cook with it and scared to shower in it, LOL.
 

greatbranch

Well-Known Member
You must have good tap water, the pH of my tap water is almost 8 and the ppm is between 700 and 800 ppm, but my state still says it is good to drink. Hell I dont even cook with it and scared to shower in it, LOL.
Wow! Yeah, with the exception of chloramine, our water is pretty good. PH of 7 - TDS - 75
 

gr865

Well-Known Member
GB, Yes I am hiring, but the requirements are tough.
38 yr old, brunette, 5'9" 130 lbs, body to match my imagination, hippy, rich and will work in the nude.
I don't think those requirements should be hard to match up. :wall::bigjoint:

GR
 

TWS

Well-Known Member
Can someone tell me the cons of Ebb N flow buckets ? do they get root rot and is rez temp important ?
 
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greatbranch

Well-Known Member
Can someone tell me the cons of Ebb N flow buckets ? do they get root rot and is rez temp important ?
I was waiting for someone to chime in, because I haven't tried it. Isn't it the same principle as a hempy, but with more moving parts? - the other connected bucket. Some have "soil"...some don't? The closer you get to full on DWC the more important res temp, oxygenated roots (pump), and PH become. Don't go to the dark side! ;)
 

WattSaver

Well-Known Member
Can someone tell me the cons of Ebb N flow buckets ? do they get root rot and is rez temp important ?
I'd have to agree rez maintenance & pumps. But I understand the question from the pics of your grow space, you've got it packed tight and watering each bucket must be a pain. When I ran a few Scrog's under the screen, I used a watering wand and submersible fountain pump.
 
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TWS

Well-Known Member
Thanks guys, thought I said a bad word. :mrgreen:

I have run DWC successfully and not so. I have a 8 site Rdwc system I built with chiller and all, on one side of my flower room but have yet to use it. My clones I was vegging in my vegg room in stand alone buckets failed to RR and it was just to warm and took up too much room and the air pump was just to loud. lol If I vegged in my RDWC system in my climate controlled flower room it would of been fine. It cost me some down time as im vegging up some new plants and have nothing to flower at the moment.. So I was wandering if I could just get a brain and drop 3 gal buckets of perlite with holes in the bottom inside of the 5 gal DWC sites and flood them ?

Your right GB, The more I thought about E&F buckets, it is just like an automated Hempy with some added responsibilities, a bit more electricity and more of a chance for something to go wrong . But unlike DWC the Pumps aren't running all the time and the rez air pump doesn't have to be as big and loud.

Watt, with a full time stressful job, im getting tired and some nights watering in 10 - 15 gals on just one side of the flower room does get tough . Im looking for a little leeway and maybe some vacation time . :bigjoint:
I can cram in :mrgreen: 18 plants aside in rows of 3 deep X 6 wide on each side flipping 2 - 2 1/2 footers pretty nicely so that's 36 pots with out the vegg room to water/feed. I like the water wand Idea and have thought about it for sure .

Any more insight on E&F buckets would be great. How big of a deal is root rot ? Can I Mod my DWC system into one ? Anyone know or use the Autopot system ? This one uses no pumps and is gravity feed thru the bottom when the Rez gets dry.


May the Force be with you :bigjoint:
 

gr865

Well-Known Member
TWS,
I tried E&F on my second attempt, first was DWC. I could not keep the rez cool enough for the E&F. The DWC grow was a fiasco, one the temp of the rez but the other was since it was my first indoor grow and first grow in 40+ yrs. counted on my local hort. supply guy to help. Oh he did, helped himself to my pocket book. He sold me organic nutes and supplements which did not work for shit, I got root slim extreme, killed all 6 plants. Those plants were giving to me by a friend who went to Colorado and brought back the clones, Two each GDP, OG Kush, and WW, That was a fking heart breaker. LOL Heart Breaker by Led Zeppelin, came on Pandora right after I typed that. The second grow was all temp related, just did not have the right temps. That was two clones I salvaged from the OG Kush and GDP. So, I switched to soil, now in Hempy's..

Well here are a couple of pics of the Black Widow regulars one month and a day since emergence. These were taken yesterday, today I topped them all and gathered clones from each plant (5) in all.
The pH issues I was facing I believe I have corrected. I spoke the the folks at GH and they worked with me over a couple of days to correct my issue. They felt that is was my straight rainwater the was causing the problem so they ask me to switch to tap water, but after I told me the makeup of my tap water they suggest a mix of rainwater and tap water. I have started making my water/nute with two gallons tap water, 7.5 7.9 pH and 755 ppm, with three gallons of my rainwater, 6.7 to 7.0 Ph. Am adding 5ml silica and 5ml Cal/Mag to either the regular watering or with the nutes. Prior to pH'ing the water has a 6.55 ph and 580 ppm. When I pH'ed this it was a snap, took no time. From now on I will charge my coir with this ratio.

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The clones today from the 5 Black Widows.
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Peace out,

GR
 

TWS

Well-Known Member
GR8 , your plants are looking great. The clones will perk up. Thanks for your experiances and letting me know Rez temps will be a key factor. I have two brand new chillers still in the box I bought 8 months ago for my DWC system I never ran . Might as well use them or sell them . :mrgreen:

My game plan is to vegg Hempy style with 2 gal smart pots sitting in a 2 gal hempy pot and just transfer those into the flower room ebb system for a perpetual grow. Can I use Perlite as the medium or will it float on the flood ? how deep or how much of the bucket fills up on flood ?

I reading up on Botanicare pure blend pro organic 1 part nutrient wondering why it doesn't list any micros on the bottle and if works in Hydro like it says or if guys are having issues with it. I knew a guy who used it in DWC and did fine so I hear but I never seen it. I might just use their CNS17 full synthetic line but I still wonder why micros are not listed on the bottle.
 

Javadog

Well-Known Member
I can add that I started out using Botanicaire and still use it.

It is pretty mundane, auto and self buffering....easy to use typically.

I have used it with soil and hempy but not pure hydro.

JD

P.S. It is exotic additives, mostly, that get me into trouble...
 

sky rocket

Well-Known Member
I think this is the fastest rooted clones I ever had. I started these clones on 1/12. I wasn't going to check for at least 14 days but I just had to look. So 7 days later these two super lemon haze clones popped roots. I'm sure they popped around 5th or the 6th day. The other clones are showing signs as they have the normal white pimples. I run 2 minutes on 8 minutes off with frozen water bottles in the res.
 

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gr865

Well-Known Member
My game plan is to vegg Hempy style with 2 gal smart pots sitting in a 2 gal hempy pot and just transfer those into the flower room ebb system for a perpetual grow. Can I use Perlite as the medium or will it float on the flood ? how deep or how much of the bucket fills up on flood ?

I reading up on Botanicare pure blend pro organic 1 part nutrient wondering why it doesn't list any micros on the bottle and if works in Hydro like it says or if guys are having issues with it. I knew a guy who used it in DWC and did fine so I hear but I never seen it. I might just use their CNS17 full synthetic line but I still wonder why micros are not listed on the bottle.
TWS, Can you please explain a bit more about the Hempy's, your going to use the smart pots and put them in the buckets over the rez filled with course perlite. Using Perlite as the medium will work fine especially in the E&F, you can use clay pellets or pebbles over the top of the Perlite to weight it down so it won't float.
You can set the depth of the liquid to where you want it. I would try and get it within an inch of the top of the Perlite.

I would also not use organic, to much hassle with spoilage. You will be able to flush the nutes from the plants prior to harvest.

Hope this helps.

GR
 
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gr865

Well-Known Member
Black Widow (MNS) in two gallon Hempy buckets Mainline (manifold) grow.

Well, here we go again, 5 Black Widow regulars, all popped on 12/27 and doing ok.
After soaking for 20 hrs in H2O I planted directly into two gallon 65/35 Perlite/Coco Coir Hempy buckets and they emerged in 4 days.
Had some issues with my mix and water. I charged the coco but did it with rainwater which was just to pure so the Cal/Mag did not take. Spoke with the folks at GH and they helped me discover the problem. I am now using 3/5ths rainwater and 2/5ths tap water. I had not been using my tap due to the high pH and ppm, pH of almost 8 and ppm of of almost 800. Mixing the two waters and adding 5ml/gal each of Cal/Mag and Silica worked on the coir. Now when I nute it is 6 ml FloraMicro and 9 ml FloraBloom per gallon, plus 3 to 5 ml each Cal/Mag and Silica. Feeding twice then will use just fresh mixed and adjusted water (heavy watering), then back to the feedings.
I waited till I had 6 nodes and made my first cut at the third node. That was yesterday and I kept the 5 tops and are trying to clone them, they were thick so I hope they take.


1/1


1/7


1/14


The following were all taken on 1/19










Hope to get three females out of the 5 beans, will clone no matter. Can't wait for this, friend of my just got back from Amsterdam an had this in a coffee shop, said it was the best she has ever had. Hell she is my age and we have a lot of herb under our belts. LOL

Peace out,

GR

 

TWS

Well-Known Member
Black Widow (MNS) in two gallon Hempy buckets Mainline (manifold) grow.

Well, here we go again, 5 Black Widow regulars, all popped on 12/27 and doing ok.
After soaking for 20 hrs in H2O I planted directly into two gallon 65/35 Perlite/Coco Coir Hempy buckets and they emerged in 4 days.
Had some issues with my mix and water. I charged the coco but did it with rainwater which was just to pure so the Cal/Mag did not take. Spoke with the folks at GH and they helped me discover the problem. I am now using 3/5ths rainwater and 2/5ths tap water. I had not been using my tap due to the high pH and ppm, pH of almost 8 and ppm of of almost 800. Mixing the two waters and adding 5ml/gal each of Cal/Mag and Silica worked on the coir. Now when I nute it is 6 ml FloraMicro and 9 ml FloraBloom per gallon, plus 3 to 5 ml each Cal/Mag and Silica. Feeding twice then will use just fresh mixed and adjusted water (heavy watering), then back to the feedings.
I waited till I had 6 nodes and made my first cut at the third node. That was yesterday and I kept the 5 tops and are trying to clone them, they were thick so I hope they take.


1/1


1/7


1/14


The following were all taken on 1/19










Hope to get three females out of the 5 beans, will clone no matter. Can't wait for this, friend of my just got back from Amsterdam an had this in a coffee shop, said it was the best she has ever had. Hell she is my age and we have a lot of herb under our belts. LOL

Peace out,

GR


Quite a nice little garden you have going. looking good. The coco story was good info. cant wait to see these girls grow up.
 

TWS

Well-Known Member
TWS, Can you please explain a bit more about the Hempy's, your going to use the smart pots and put them in the buckets over the rez filled with course perlite. Using Perlite as the medium will work fine especially in the E&F, you can use clay pellets or pebbles over the top of the Perlite to weight it down so it won't float.
You can set the depth of the liquid to where you want it. I would try and get it within an inch of the top of the Perlite.

I would also not use organic, to much hassle with spoilage. You will be able to flush the nutes from the plants prior to harvest.

Hope this helps.

GR

Im going to vegg in 10 L cloth pots full of perlite and set those in hempy buckets and hand water as normal in the vegg room ( closet ) . When ready for flowering I will move the cloth pot/plant only, into the flower room and into the ebb n flow screen pots.
The whole reason for the cloth pot is to keep the perlite/verm out of the system . The reason not to use hydroton as the main medium is I don't want to hand water in vegg twice or once everyday and Perlite imho is a great stable medium and a lot lighter and easier to clean.
On to the flood height ( I know nothing ).. Perlite wicks pretty darn good. Better than clay I think ? Im not sure if the perlite or cloth pot will float. I know I can raise the screen pot or maybe lower flood level or there might be room for some clay between the cloth pot and screen pot to hold the pot in place but I really don't think it will be an issue . A pot full of previous wet perlite is pretty heavy . soooo, since perlite wicks pretty good , better than clay and the cloth pot will retain water. I was thinking I only need flood 2-3 inches for an 1/2 hour ( many pots ) maybe only twice a day ? I don't want to be soggy ? Or I can go 15 min flood 3-4 times a day ? Not sure how long the system will take to flood yet . Anyways, Im excited .
All though im gonna flower in E & F, Hempys are the best thing that ever happened to me and like some things in life you wish you would of known a lot sooner.:leaf:
The garage room im helping my son with is kicking butt .Been feeding a lot less than the last runs and water only in between and they are happy. I don't wanna burn his plants. lol mine are mine and that's my fault lol :mrgreen:
 

TWS

Well-Known Member
Perlite Revisited


Anyone looking for a hydroponics system addition that is reliable, easy to use, easy to reuse and is quite budget friendly, should try growing their next crop in perlite. Read on to discover how horticulturists benefits from this time-tested growing addition.
Perlite, easily recognizable as little white rocks, is both cheap and easy to use, which is why you should reconsider using it to grow your plants. Perlite was one of the first reliable hydroponic growing mediums available to the horticulture market. You have seen it in the form of hard white bits in potting soil, but perlite can be used by itself in many hydroponic systems.
You can find varieties of perlite in liquid filtration systems, insulation and even soap. Growers add it to soil and soilless mixes to reduce compaction and increase drainage and aeration. The manufacturing process involves heating the raw material until it pops like popcorn, thus the porous nature of horticultural perlite.
I work in the gardening industry, and it’s my job to test different growing products and methods. In an effort to familiarize myself with all possible scenarios, I continue to experiment with various soil blends and all the latest and greatest hydro substrates. While perlite is often a component of these mixes, there are also benefits to using perlite by itself.
Benefits
Unlike most growing mediums, perlite starts out neutral in pH. There is no rinsing or buffering required in regards to correcting pH. Simply adjust the solution and water it in. Perlite will take on the acidity or alkalinity of the liquids that saturate it. Even when rinsed and dried, the naturally occurring pH of 7.0 isn’t going to harm a typical indoor garden plant species.
While it’s true that perlite is a non-renewable resource (volcanic rock), the supply on our planet is quite extensive. The current amount is expected to last hundreds of years. For me personally, environmental concerns are also a factor in choosing perlite. It’s super easy to reuse! Recycling this medium is simpler than most others currently available.
Perlite doesn’t hold onto nutrients the same way as soil, rockwool, coco coir, or even clay pebbles. You can reuse any of those mediums if you choose, but perlite can be cleaned in a matter of minutes, not days. When removing root balls, the medium falls away gently with a shake. Simply remove all visible organic matter (mostly roots) and rinse the perlite until the runoff measures less than 150 ppm.
If you need to sterilize the used perlite, just soak it in a 10% bleach solution. After 20 minutes of soaking, rinse thoroughly. Rain, dehumidifiers and reverse osmosis filters are always the preferred sources for rinse water. Actually, those are the best sources of water for most indoor garden applications.
There are even more benefits of using perlite in your grow space. It is one of the cheapest growing mediums you can find. It’s so lightweight that you can easily lift four cubic feet of it without straining. Plus, perlite is a staple in both traditional and hydroponic gardening, so you can find it at most garden supply stores. All of the above factors make perlite very easy to acquire.
Drawbacks
Now for the bad news. Perlite is messy. You don’t need to rinse it before mixing with soil, but you wouldn’t want all that dust in a hydro system. Perlite dust is not just a problem for pumps and tubing, but also for your respiratory system. It is listed as a “nuisance dust,” which means it can aggravate your eyes, mouth, throat and lungs.
Perlite is not considered carcinogenic, although the main component (alumina silicate) is. The research and safety information for perlite shows that it will aggravate pre-existing conditions, such as asthma, but does not directly cause lung cancer. Long-term exposure to high levels of this dust can cause a non-cancerous disease called silicosis.
The bottom line: wear goggles and a dust mask. You aren’t in any serious danger, but avoid the nuisance anyway. I’ve had perlite in my eyes and mouth, and since then I wear basic protection. Some growers prefer to fill their bags of perlite with water before opening to reduce or even eliminate airborne particulate.
Perlite works great in net cups, and even better in fabric pots. For hydroponics, get the large grade perlite (size #3 or #4). Ebb and flow, dutch buckets, DWC, and drip systems are all excellent methods for growing in perlite. I’ve also seen large plastic totes filled with the stuff, and the gardener watered by hand only when required. To my surprise, those plants where healthy and productive.
In Conclusion
If you need reliability, ease of use, ease of re-use, and budget pricing, try growing your next crop in perlite. On a side note, there is a new soil aerator going around that may outdo perlite because it offers many of the same benefits. This new stuff is made in North America from recycled glass so it is truly a renewable resource. It looks like reddish-orange perlite. Be sure to check a local grow store for more details. MY
Share your experiences using perlite with the editor of Maximum Yield by contacting editor@maximumyield.com /* */ This email address
 
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