Hey everybody, pretty new around here but I've used the site as a resource for a while. I'm currently running Hempy buckets for the first time, on a really small scale. This will also be the first time I grow in anything other than organic soil. So here is the basic setup: One 150w hps in vertical cool tube vented out of the space. Temps stay in the high 70s/low 80s with ambient temps being about 5 degrees cooler. Space is about 20" by 18", open on one side to a large space 18" by 32". Plants were started in peat and are now in very small hempy buckets (3-4l childrens plastic sand pale). They are all in the 6-7 inch range, close to same in diameter (some obviously stronger than others). Approximately 2 1/2 weeks from seed. Up until yesterday they were fed nothing but distilled water and lived in small starter size pots with straight peat. Sooo... My first question is: what effect will the peat have on the hempy system? As the res is just water at the bottom that dries up periodically, does the peat have the potential to rot or otherwise hurt the plants (pH etc.) The buckets I am using are very small and, these girls won't be vegged more than a week after the roots hit the res, if that. Still, I'm worried about things like plants becoming root bound as they will in soil. Is this a consideration or is it more that I may just have to water mOre frequently as they progress? Also I was wondering if anyone would care to share their experiences with technaflora nutes as I am extremely new to hydro and that's what I have. Forgot to mention I'm running some free seeds I picked up off a friend, nirvana ice and some random seeds from a mixed bag. Three ice, two of the others, total of five. Probably will cull the weaker of the unknowns and grow out 4. So, not my first go, but my first go with hydro and with such a small space. I didn't appreciate the amount of work that went into proper ventilation and airflow in these tiny ass grows, that 150 had temps in the 100s bare bulb... Props to the micro masters. Damn sorry for the long post.. Thanks if you made it this far haha
Thanks man, I most definitely have pics but am unsure how to post them here in the city. They say that the plants will explode when they hit the res... Well we are two days from transplant and they are throwing out new growth like it's cool. No way the roots hit the res yet, or maybe there is? I'm using all technaflora, got that nerdy looking starter kit (saw it in the store and laughed, told they guy it looked like a little kids chemistry set haha, walked out the door 30min later with my chemistry kit lol). Anyway, when I watered after transplant I used root 66 and sugar daddy at 1/3 strength, seems to be working. This hydro thing is mighty exciting
Hey brother, I'm new to hydro, also, and originally built a system that's way overkill. On the side, I'm going to build a very simple and effective small scale Hempy grow, like this: http://forum.grasscity.com/indoor-marijuana-growing/794190-nirvana-white-widow-hempy-sog.html I think it's a great idea to read that thread, you should get a lot of info for your grow. I have three suggestions for you right away: 1) Consider replacing your peat with coco, perlite, or a mix of the two. Peat can change the PH of your nutes pretty drastically. 2) The plants you have already germinated, I'd suggest taking a mother plant, and use clones to flower out in the hempy buckets. These will grow uniformly in your space, and you'll be flowering more mature plants. 3) Research, for your consideration of using the "Lucas Formula." It's such a simple, and proven method of using nutes, I think it will compliment your grow nicely! Straight from the source: Ask Lucas - Cannabis-World Hope this helps! Cheers, Past
Thanks for stopping by, They were started in peat as originally they were going into a homemade soilmix, they are now in hempy buckets with a 3:1 perlite/vermiculite mix (as per the original instructions, I'm down to mix things up a bit next time). The question about the peat was if the small amount they were started in would affect the pH in the buckets (buckets are small, 3l). I'm right there with you on the mother, part of the reason for the switch to hydro (aside from the bad soil mix........). The plan is take clones of the best two and flower all the plants, saving the best clones of each as mothers in small hempys. As far as things go this is a trial run with so so genetics to kinda get my feet wet; no one is worried about losing these lines lol. If all goes well I'll invest in some quality genetics and equipment and start running hydro on a little larger scale. Lucas formula and the simple ass way of growing massive buds was what originally caught my eye. Like I said, I've only ever grown in organic soil, which simply cannot compare in terms of growth rate and final yield, not without massive amounts of work, anyway. I basically just picked up technaflora's whole line of stuff, though so I figure I might as well use it. As a first timer I'm inclined to just follow the directions, at least until clones have been taken. Good luck with your grow, post me a link if you have a thread about it.
Ah, I see. That makes sense now. If your plants are growing, and there aren't any signs of deficiencies, I'd just have to guess that the little bit of peat in there isn't really harming anything. The fun part about growing is experimenting and learning along the way, for me at least. I've heard good things about Technaflora, but I don't have any experience with it. I'm using General Hydroponics FloraNova Bloom, as per Lucas suggests, for simplicity. I don't have a journal yet, as my current grow isn't really noteworthy yet. I'm currently growing a few mothers (Chocolope, Kalashnikova, and Vanilla Kush) While that was going, I germinated 5 Onyx seeds (autoflowering) All those were stunted, so I germinated my final 5 Onyx seeds, of those one made it, and the rest were stunted. I thought I'd run some autoflower plants through, while growing out my mother plants. So right now, I basically have one autoflowering plant that I just put under the LED today. Perhaps I'll start a journal on that one.. In WA State, Medicinal users can have 15 plants. My main tent has 4 plant sites, I'm planning a small perpetual hempy grow (like the link I posted above) with an auto feed system, for 6 plants, and that will leave me room for 5 mother plants to supply the two flowering tents with clones. I have yet to build the hempy bucket tent out. When I have something worth looking at, I'll post it though. Cheers, Past
Sounds pretty tight, I would love to get my hands on some of that kaleshnakova... I'm gonna run the technaflora as per the instructions (adjusting for strength..) this go and do a Lucas side by side on the next. Gonna shop around for some genetics in the next couple of weeks, high yielding indica types, suggestions welcome That auto fed hempy with the ww was nasty, you should (if you haven't) check out a thread link posted in there to icmag where some dude does amazing things with hempy. Plant limits being an issue, why not grow larger bushes? Sog is great but if your limit is only numbers I'd grow out some monsters in like 5 gal hempys.
The Kalashnikova is a cross of White Widow x AK-47, so it should be a pretty sweet end result. I think that's a great idea, to follow the instructions on the nutrients, and test Lucas on a subsequent grow. I used to grow back in the day, all from bagseed, before I really ever heard of all these strain names. Well, of course, I've heard of the majors, but they were usually unavailable, like urban legends. So I can't really recommend any specific strains. I can, however recommend using The Attitude to order from. I pay a bit extra for the guarantee delivery option, just in case, and I've been very happy. I've placed two orders in the past couple months and received my beans as expected. Go to their site, and just research. You'll get some nice freebies, too! Be sure to check out their promotions. You just missed a fantastic Summer promo where they gave away 10 different premium genetics when you purchase over $40 of other seeds. It was a cool deal, and a good way to diversify my available gene pool. SOG is an old method (I used to use it back in the day) and works great. It's more for a constant stream of small harvests every couple weeks. It definitely isn't the method to use when plant numbers are a variable. Where I live, MMJ growers can have up to 15 plants, which is why I chose a setup to grow out 4 large plants, which will give me room for 5 clones (one for good luck) and 5-6 mothers. But I've decided to keep 5 mothers, and leave room for 6 clones. So I'll be able to grow 4 big plants in my DWC, 6 in a hempy bucket/drip system, and 5 mothers. I'll just stagger the flowering periods and have a diverse little grow op. I figure the SOG/tall stick plants will be good for sativa clones, and the 4 SCROG plants will suit indica dominants. I think this type of setup will allow me to have the most fun with my grow while experiencing different methods. Cheers, Past
Dude that sounds like a great plan. I am all about diversification in the head stash. Used to grow true sog with rooted clones in soil beds... You pretty much said it, and that's the goal lol... Harvest every 2 weeks, true Perpetual. This go is to figure out hydro, specifically hempy, to then run mini hempys sog style. Gonna figure out how to post up pics now.