tips for first time hempy bucket?

within the next week i will be starting my next grow. this will be my third time growing but my first time using hempy buckets (i have grown in soil and DWC before). i'm so pumped to start as it's been a while since my last grow (journal in my sig below).

i'm mainly switching to hempy buckets from DWC for the convenience of them. DWC is a lot of up keep and although i enjoyed it and did well i don't think i'll have as much free time to be checking on my plants multiple times a day. also, i want to SCROG and i felt that it would be easier with hempy buckets since i wouldn't have to move, clean, or empty them at all.

i've read a few articles about hempy buckets but i wanted to ask a few questions:

1) how big of a bucket should i use? i've read that anywhere between 2-5 gallons is fine. i was thinking around 3 gallons.

2) does the shape of the bucket matter? can i use a tub for example? is there a limited height that i need (since there needs to be some room for the water at the bottom)?

3) how often should i water with nutrients? i've read so many different answers for this. some say to use nutrients with every watering (for example every three days), some say to alternate plain water and nutrient water every second day, etc. i'm assuming it's pretty much up to me and the plant but i wanted to hear some suggestions.

any other tips/advice from you hempy experts would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

Edited by greennewb, 08 August 2012 - 05:02 PM.

So I'm currently on my 3rd week of flowering. First time growing with coco and I did do a Hempy bucket for testing/comparison. I'm using a 2gal bucket, depending on how much room you have I would do 2-4gal. Don't beleive container shape matters just use the bottom 2 inches as res. I figured out the hard way, you want to feed nutrients every time you water. I heard mixed opinions like yourself so I alternated feeding/watering and got horribly slow growth. Once I started feeding every watering they exploded. I do alternate low dosage feedings though if I suspect they are on the verge of nute burn. The frequency of watering will change depending on size and atmosphere but I water my hempy every 3-5 days compared to my non hempys that get watered almost everyday.

So I'm currently on my 3rd week of flowering. First time growing with coco and I did do a Hempy bucket for testing/comparison. I'm using a 2gal bucket, depending on how much room you have I would do 2-4gal. Don't beleive container shape matters just use the bottom 2 inches as res. I figured out the hard way, you want to feed nutrients every time you water. I heard mixed opinions like yourself so I alternated feeding/watering and got horribly slow growth. Once I started feeding every watering they exploded. I do alternate low dosage feedings though if I suspect they are on the verge of nute burn. The frequency of watering will change depending on size and atmosphere but I water my hempy every 3-5 days compared to my non hempys that get watered almost everyday.

cheers Bizzerk.

crazy! and welcome to the hempy bucket world

i just recently switched from dwc to a perlite hempy bucket setup

i'm using perlite instead of hydroton clay pebs because i want more feeder roots than tap roots, to get fat fruits instead of fat stems

using a 5 gal painters bucket inside another 5 gal painters bucket so that there's a gap at the bottom to have a return line to a separate res/control bucket (obviously)

most certainly always have nutes in the res water, as it's run hydroponically (no soil to get nutes from)

also, the water runs through the system much faster than normal soil

most people run their perlite or hydroton hempy bucket water systems for 15 to 30 minutes every six hours (four times a day)



i use a high quality airpump and airstones in my res/control bucket, so my h2o is completely saturated with air

this means i can run my res/control bucket water through my system 24/7, and it's working out amazingly

my buddy who also does hempy buckets but only does 10 minutes 4 times a day is amazed at my results and is thinking about switching

you see, again, i came from dwc

us dwc guys are used to having our roots immersed in h2o 24/7, because of oxygen saturation




anyways, here's another perlite hempy bucket setup with a 600w hps:

http://forum.grassci...nt-monster.html

thanks for the comments obsstar. i was planning on using 100% perlite as well. i will most likely be growing just one plant at a time so i will not be using a separate res or timer for feeding. i'll just be feeding the old fashioned way.

what do you mean by the following comment "most people run their perlite or hydroton hempy bucket water systems for 15 to 30 minutes every six hours (four times a day)"

i'm assuming you mean that your air pump turns on in your res/control bucket at these times. is this correct? i've never actually read about using an air pump for hempy buckets. i do have one that i used for my DWC though so i could add it in.

thanks for the comments obsstar. i was planning on using 100% perlite as well. i will most likely be growing just one plant at a time so i will not be using a separate res or timer for feeding. i'll just be feeding the old fashioned way.

you're welcome and nice!

what do you mean by the following comment "most people run their perlite or hydroton hempy bucket water systems for 15 to 30 minutes every six hours (four times a day)"

i'm assuming you mean that your air pump turns on in your res/control bucket at these times. is this correct? i've never actually read about using an air pump for hempy buckets. i do have one that i used for my DWC though so i could add it in.

nay

most res/control buckets have a submersible water pump in them that pumps the water to the individual plant sites/buckets (there's actually even more complicated setups with multiple water pumps sucking water back to the res and/or circulating water in the res, but no need to go into that)

using a control bucket makes things a lot easier, even if you only have one plant/bucket

with a separate control bucket, you can fill it up with however much water you want, set the timer and let it go, refilling it with water when needed

in my setup so far i have not needed to refill it throughout the week, but i have not yet gotten into flowering (i just switched to this type of system), let alone late flowering

i'm pretty sure in late flower both girls will drink between a gallon to two gallons a day

i swap out the res/control bucket water every week, just to keep things clean (treat it exactly like dwc)

and yeah, a separate control bucket makes water changes SO much easier than dwc (if you did not have a separate control bucket for dwc like i did not, you know what i mean)

a separate control bucket also allows you to make water changes while it's lights off

also, like you said, you don't have to move the individual plant buckets around so you can do scrog

that's actually the same reason why i switched....i really wanted to do scrog again (did it in the past with soil with awesome results)





watering in perlite.....

most people run their water pump in the res, pumping water to the plant, for 15 to 30 minutes, every 6 hours (which means 4 times a day it runs for 15 to 30 minutes)

they say not to run it more than that because you will drown or overwater the plants

this is because the roots are not getting any oxygen



i have seemingly solved this issue by putting airstones in my res, to saturate the water with oxygen, exactly like in dwc

i got the idea from doing dwc in the past and being well acquainted with dwc

i don't know if there are any downsides to running the water pump 24/7 like i am, other than overwatering which i have taken care of.........the only other thing i can think of is extra wear on the water pump, and possibly having the water pump burn out faster than traditional systems






also, watering by hand may be very hard to do with pure perlite

i don't know if coco holds water better, but with pure perlite

you will want to water every 6 hours at a minimum

and use your dwc/hydro nute schedule because again, there's no nutes in perlite for the plant to absorb like with soil

Edited by obsstar, 08 August 2012 - 06:54 PM.

thanks obbstar