Has anyone tried using all hydroten in their hemp buckets? Im thinking of giving it a try. I realize it would probably need watering daily but that's okay. Pros/ cons?? Id like to hear your thoughts
Yo Big! What you describe is going to act somewhat like a manual version of flood and drain table, or ebb and flow system. That said it would work fine if you could water it for 15 minutes every couple hours AND changed over the standing stagnent nutrients.... Because of that *AND* part, a Hempy bucket filled with hydroton will not work, or be practical. The clay media has too little surface area, so the water will evaporate too quickly. The standing water, below the hole in the Hempy bucket doesn't have enough wicking action from the media, to give it more surface area, to in turn evaporate it quick enough to prevent all the dissolved oxygen from falling out of the solution. Or the short answer: This will not work. It does have a use in Hempy buckets (filled with 75% perlite and 25% vermiculite, as per ol' Hempy, himself The Official Hempy Bucket Thread - International Cannagraphic Magazine Forums ) However, if you put it on top of the substrate, it will prevent algae from growing on the surface.
Thanks past I appreciate your post you seem very knowledgeable on the subject. Im just getting into hydro and am trying to get the best boom for my buck without getting in over my head. My grow area is a walk in closet that is 5'x5'. What would you reccomend I have a 1000good watt hps and was planning on doing a hemp scrog with 4 plants. -BIG
Hey Big Blue, I've done a lot of homework, and spend most days doing more! I love growing, and learning more about growing. Especially, hydroponically. I'm writing a book about it now, actually. 5' x 5' with a 1k light, sounds like an awesome grow area!! I love Hempy buckets, too. I've never grown a Hempy SCROG before, but that doesn't mean you can't. I think it's a great idea. Can your light power a metal halide bulb? That's what you'll want for the veg portion of your grow, before going 12/12. The thing about Hempy buckets.. if you want to take them to a sink to flush them, it will be difficult to do with a scrog. I'd be tempted to drop a clone in each 5 gallon bucket, and trim all the branches except the top 2 full size sets, then top it. Make 4 kolas per plant. .. Build somewhat of a screen attached to each bucket that will spread these new shoots out a bit, and grow out 16 mega buds. I'd defoliate at 21 days into flowering cycle, to maximize light exposure to the buds, and allow enough air to circulate around them. That's just me, but that's the way I'd go. If you do choose to SCROG, which is a great method, I'd suggest making 4x screens, each one can attach to it's own bucket independently. This will allow you to rotate them, get in and out of them. It will be easier to manage than 4 plants tangling up into one mega screen. Just my opinion. Keep in mind that you might need to flush your Hempy buckets. If that's the case, you don't want the plants bound to a screen... Hope you start a journal when you can!
Hope you don't mind my hijacking your thread, but it is related to hempy-buckets. I just finished loading up my 3 gallon buckets and transplanting my seedlings yesterday. Then, while reading this thread, I realize I screwed up and instead of 3 parts, I accidentally mixed 2 parts perlite to 1 part vermiculite. SOOOooo, any idea how a 33% vermiculite mixture will preform??? I can assume it'll hold more nutrient solution and conversely less oxygen, but any thoughts on whether this is a possibly fatal problem? Though it'd be messy, I can still pull em, remix or add perlite, and then replant (UGH ) but I'm hoping this will be unnecessary BTW I do have about 2" of lava rock in the bottom res. Thanks in advance for any info/advice ;D
I think you'll be JUST fine. The vermiculite will hold more water/nutrient solution, and yes, therefore less oxygen. Just make sure you let them get pretty light before watering again. The only thing I'd be careful of is a salt build up. You might want to flush every few weeks, or at least water with PH neutral water and check the run-off. If you were to change it, now would be the best time. But I think you'll be okay. Just watch how much/often you water em.
Thanks O.P., much obliged ;?D After thinking about it some, I believe that another drawback is that it might take quite a bit longer for the roots to reach the rez since there's going to be more nutes/moisture in the surrounding media. Now I'm not sure if that's the case, that is in a normal HB system, are the roots forced to grow towards the rez in search of nutes, or is this just a part of the normal root growth pattern? With 30 buckets I decided to adjust half of them - the seedlings were small enough that I just scooped em out, set em to the side, took out about a quart of the media, then added back straight perlite, mixed it up and replanted. BIG PITA, lol, but I didn't want to have a complete failure in case the aforementioned error were to lead to problems. If I remember, I'll try to post back results, whether good or bad
