Hey growers, I need some help with my first Coco Hempy bucket grow. I am on my 9th week and think I did something completely wrong. The plants seem really small and I think they should be flowering already but they are not. I have one "blue dream" and one "green crack" autoflowering plants (2.5g buckets) in a 2x2x4 tent. I have 6, 22w (replaces 100w bulbs ,16000 lumens)and two more ultraviolet bulbs to get the light spectrum as light set up. Have a fan and filter to keep it cool. Most of the time temp is between 77 to 86 but this week has been hitting close to 90 but the plants don't seem to mind. I use General Hydroponics Flora Grow, Bloom, Micro Combo to specifications they recommend and also make sure ph is around 6.0 with the pH pen tester. I water them every three days or sooner if they look like they need it. Always with nutrients. Ill post some pictures and see if anyone can tell me if this is normal or should i just start over. I was planing on using the SCROG method hence the twist ties. Thanks in advance.
A couple things - You don't have enough light and based on the pictures the lights are too far away from the plants - cfl's should be within inches of the plant, not only from the top but from the sides as well. I don't do coco/hempys but I do grow in coco and it should be fed everyday - you never let it dry out - this replenishes the nutes and pulls in fresh oxygen to the root zone. If it's been 9 weeks and those are autos - you're not going to get hardly anything. Autos are not a good idea for beginners - they are for experienced growers who can grow from start to finish with no problems. Did you defoliate? It looks like it. Attached is a pic of two plants that are 9 weeks old for your comparison.
Hey Mick, Thanks for answering. The lights were put up for the picture but are usually closer to the plants. I do agree with the lights i was thinking of getting a 300w light bar like this To add to the existing lights. There are so many conflicting tutorials lol. From what i had read the autoflowering plants were the way to go for beginners :/ and not to water everyday letting the plants tell you by bucket weight or leaves turning down. I can definitely see the advantage to watering everyday. yes i had defoliated because my plans were to SCROG the plants. Should I just let them grow freely next time? I wasn't expecting to harvest much this crop it was to see if it was something i could get into and even though i flunked i really did like it and prob start another when these plants are done.
I would check the actual watt draw on that light - I know it says 300w but I believe it's more like 140w - if that's the case it would only be good for one plant - maybe 2 if you add the other ones. The problem with information is that it's not always good information. Autos are the worst choice for a beginner (unless you're very lucky) - it takes a grower that can keep healthy perfect plants from start to finish with no interruption in growth. Like I mentioned above I have never done a coco/hempy, I just do coco, but I imagine the same basic principles apply - coco is hydroponics and should not be treated like soil - it should never be allowed to dry out. You don't defoliate when you scrog - you lollipop. I would just let them finish out - you've already gone 9 weeks. If you have photo seeds I would suggest it for your next grow. I share your enthusiasm for growing - Good Luck
Another thing - your hempy bucket should have a layer of hydroton, or stone on the bottom, and a ton of holes drilled in the bottom so that the water can drain. Then put that into another bucket so that it can drain into it - and it acts as a small reservoir. I put a couple of pieces of PVC in the bottom bucket to act as a standoff so that there's more space between the buckets. For these 3 plants I'm running 1200 W of LED and it's just about right. For LED I'd go for 600 - 900W in that space.
I'm a little confused, could you explain. Do you let the roots grow out of the holes in the first bucket so they reach the reservoir you created in the second bucket? I know that the original hempy has holes 2" above the bottom and that serves as the reservoir.
I think He has a different hydroponics set up. This is a rough drawing of the "Coco-Hempy" bucket im working with.
Yes I understand this method - I've done hempys before with great success. I don't understand how his method can work unless he's letting the roots grow out of the holes in the bottom of the top bucket and into the bottom bucket.
I made a hempy out of a self watering pot like the first pic. I drilled extra holes in the bottom so roots could get through. I also added hydroton where there would only be water so it would block light from reaching the roots from the side hole. And the drainage measures exactly 2" from the bottom like a hempy. I haven't seen anyone use these as hempys before and figured I would just use them since they where laying around. However these are pretty small for outdoors. Only about 2.5-3 gal of coco perlite per pot.