Hempy Buckets

Yes, but no vermiculite, 100%perlite, 2 gal, 1/4 inch hole 2 inches from bottom. I believe the vermiculite is just to prolong watering chores and my whole deal is constant circulation with 1 gal ph tap water ever 48 hours so the vermiculite is just an unwelcome sponge. The thing about hempy is stripped down balance. Plants are never outrageous but anything to make them that way creates another unbalance which must be addressed and before you know it your back to where it was you left. Many start with hempy and move on. I moved on and ended up hempy.
As for nutrition, I'm still newer but getting very dialed in with my autos and have found the 1 gallon flush to be the key. I run very low like 200 ppm in my tap water. But yes I started with the vermiculite/perlite mix and now and probably forever will only use 100% perlite. It's both a bitch and wonderful. Took me a while to figure out how to keep it from showing up everywhere in my house.
Back to nutrition, the beauty of the 2 gal perlite hempy is they respond so quickly and any mistake can be corrected immediately. Can't tell you how many times I fed a new food, then googled, then changed mind and flushed and re fed with the same old food all in about an hour.

 

as far as nutrition goes I am having exceptionally consistent results with foliar feeding only during the period from germination until roots reach reservoir. I constantly spray ph water to hydrate plant and keep medium (perlite) salt free and oxygenated. And then foliar feed the actual plant until roots reach reservoir. I can guarantee a mix of foliage pro and protekt during this stage. But once roots hit reservoir all bets are off and then main concern will always be burning. Also, with the foliage pro and protekt I switched from gh ph down to dynagro ph down and it seems to work better for me with this mix. It is 0-5-0.
I don't have a foolproof flower formula and I don't think it matters much really. I just know I don't like that foliage pro sitting in my reservoir. After all the bunking and debunking I'm back on the original high P flower myth. Still kind of new with hydro, but I have a lot of organic plant reading so the perlite hempy makes it pretty easy to give them what they ask for and they seem to ask for no more N and more and more P in the adolescent weeks. But you won't go wrong with that foliage protek t mix until then. I learned about the protekt from an old Jacks grower who switched to dyna gro and came back to Jacks but brought his protekt with him. It's a real bitch to use so I figured there must be something to it. And yes, it just produces exceptional specimens. Keeping them that way is my challenge. I add it first and 2 ml in a gallon of my tap puts it at about 9 or even 10 ph. A ml of dyna gro ph down will then get it to an acceptable range that won't take the foliage pro way out of it's range when I add it and 2 ml of foliage pro will put the whole thing about 6.0-6.2.

 

so, I feed 1 liter/quart every 12 hours and then flush with 1 gallon ph tap every 48 hours.
my current flower formula is to 1 gallon of my approx ph 7.8 tap in order
2 ml protekt
1 ml dyna gro ph down
1 ml dyna Bloom
1 ml Magpro
Works but I'm not selling it or guaranteeing it and any other brand would probably work, but you asked
Dyna gro gets you if you start with one then it is designed to work with the others

 

I'm toying with an experiment to increase root volume. It would involve placing a 10x2 inch saucer in the bottom of an airpot or smartpot 5 or ten gallon and then filling the whole thing with perlite and placing it in the oversized saucers I'm using now for my 2 gallon hempy buckets. 8x2 inch would be the same size reservoir I'm using now in the bottom of my 2 gal, and I don't want to get much bigger or I will need electricity, but more medium and better air pruning. I miss the airpot roots. 10 inch saucer will fit in the bottom of a 5 gal smartpot and I have one, my 10 gallon airpots might be a little overkill. Just an idea. Another endless so called "improvement" on an already perfect method.

 

Fwiw I am going to go with a variation here. A 100% perlite sip grow. I have my seedlings in perlite now. I will try to feed 1/4 strength nutes and see where I am at. I am thinking that I might be able to avoid salt build up this way. I have never had salt to prob with soil grows and I have usedfull strength nutes in my sip sowhats the dif? Soil has natural salts in it already too. If it works it will be super easy. Of course if anyone has been there done that, please let me know

 

pure 100% perlite. Burned everything to a crisp until I discovered plain old tap water. And small flush doesn't seem to do it for me. It needs a lot of volume to clean the salts from the perlite and they will build up tremendously with a slow drip. But I would go full strength on those seedlings, and then actually cutback for flower. Just feed and feed and feed them all the time full strength, but only foliar feed until roots are established and they can withstand a full gallon of water being slowly poured on them to clean the perlite. But yes a drip works just fine, even better if it keeps everything moving. That's the key, circulation/oxygen. Otherwise bad bacteria or just plain old salt will get you. But if there was ever a time for full strength it is in 100% pure perlite. I love/hate the stuff.
edit:when I say full strength, for me in my tap water that is only about 250ppm

 

well I ordered an 10x2 inch aluminum cake pan $8 amazon for the bottom of my 5 gallon smart pot. A 12 would probably fit but a 10 is no doubt, and the most important thing is to keep the pan level.

 

I'm putting a 10x2 inch saucer in the bottom of a 5 gallon smartpot in lieu of the 2 inch reservoir in my 2 gallon hempy. The smartpot will sit in the same oversized saucer the hempy is in now. It just gives me more root space but the hempy principal still applies. Medium sitting over a 2 inch reservoir which is constantly replenished. The 5 gallon smartpot sitting in the big oversized drain saucer with the 10x2 pan in the bottom of the smartpot filled with 100% perlite will be my hempy improvement fiasco. Instead of water running out the 1/4 inch hole above the bottom of the bucket the water will just run over the top of the aluminum pan. It's just a way to keep everything the same but increase medium size and add air pruning. Still hempy.

 

f'n brilliant! I like it BUT the evap from the smart pot will cause you to water a lot more--no?
Help me get my head around what I propose to do. Instead of constantly replenishing the liquid in the pan to wick up the medium in the smart pot, why not make the pan a big SIP rez and set the smart pot on top of the rez and let the nute solution wick up the smart pot filled with perlite and let it do its thing? Essentially a standard SIP but no soil.

 

I don't know about evap. My perlite hempies never get dry, but I give a 2 gal hempy 1/2 gallon a day. That's the thing, I started with perlite by using it to germinate a seed and just kept using it. I thought it would be too dry to even germinate a seed. The looks are deceiving, and I only previously had used it to increase drainage, but it is sort of more like gravel. But yeah, traditional hempy relies on human labor. I had to leave town and left my hempies on a bluemat system and they did just fine for 5 days. There are ample opportunities to automate if you can keep the reservoir fresh. If staying human the secret is to keep the reservoir small enough it can be completely replenished before it gets funky. Growing pot in nothing but perlite in a 2 gallon bucket has really made me rethink the way I thought about what I was doing when growing in soil. At anyrate, the pan inside prevents the plants from sitting in their own runoff. But I don't think it makes any difference if the runnoff is leaving out a 1/4 inch hole 2 inches from the bottom or simply running over the lip of a 2 inch pan as long as the plant roots are not sitting in the runoff.

 

got my 5 gallon smartpot hempy planted. So far very good. No hole to worry about plugging. A little less portable than a 2gallon food grade, but I like it and am definately going to a 12x2 pan for my next seed in a ten gallon airpot and then probably run them side by side from now on. But 10x2 in a 5 gallon smartpot is about perfect. Would be hard to conceive and operate if not first getting some traditional 2 gal food grade experience.

 

i’m running a modified hempy in a roughly 3 gallon garbage can in 100% perlite. i say modified because i rigged a aquarium pump and air stone to it. i more or less did it as an experiment. i have 4 plants in soil and the one hempy in my 4x4 tent. it’s only my second grow, first indooor. i’m about 2.5 weeks into flower now. I absolutely love my hempy bucket!!! it’s been the strongest growing and lowest maintenance of all my plants (all clones from the same mother) the buds that are appearing on it are larger than on any of the ones in soil. i feed gh flora series full strength drain to waste and calimagic. i’ve had numerous issues with the 4 plants in soil but none, none whatsoever with the hempy. next indoor grow will be 4 5gallon hempys with air stones. it’s a no brainer. it’s that easy. i already have 6 clones in mini solo cup hempy buckets in my veg room waiting their turn! somebody would really have to show me something amazing for me to consider any other method for indoor in the future.

 

I realize this thread is almost 6 month old, but wanted to comment on your original Hempy Bucket question....
I run a 4:1 perlite to vermiculite, so mine is a little drier since its 80% perlite....
I Do run a 2 inch layer of either growrock, river rock, expanded shale, rinsed lava rock, or anything similar in the bottom, AND an air stone...as far as the 4:1 mix, I found its the best and wouldnt trade it for a coco coir mix...Coco clogs the type of drains I have and the vermiculite is cheaper....ANY soilless system I have ever run gets that same mix.....Its the perfect ratios for healthy root systems.....The 2 inch layer of some type of rock, causes the roots to move sideways over that 'bed', and ultimately there is a thick mass of spiraled roots laying on top of it, as they drop only what they need down into the rock/water bed reservoir.....I have done DOZENS with and without airstones, only to find that the difference is they WILL VEG considerably faster with the airstones....Its great for any nervous waterers....Otherwise, its imperative that hempy growers only water when it gets down to just damp...AND YES, I have seen ppl have less than thriving roots in wet hempy buckets.....The ORIGINAL hempy design calls for 3:1 perlite to vermiculite to offer the dryer mix....I go a little drier and add a stone for VERY healthy roots and insane veg rates.....I went back to this Modified Hempy design after running every hydro system ever developed, and even a cpl of my own....Its now 39 yrs since my 1st crop and I will NEVER run any hydro system except this type of Hempy buckets...Its foolproof, simple and grows great bud....I DO run a plantlet here and there in an open space (if I have open space), when I'm checking out a new strain....Those, I typically run a smaller container with just the 4:1 mix straight to the bottom (as the original design)...If they do well like that, they really thrive in the modified bucket...But again, Very close attention must be paid to watering frequencies like that....the modified version is very forgiving and nearly impossible to over water....I can water like every 3rd day, regardless of the strain or size of the plant in the buckets....Its just a root friendly system....adding the rock bed and and an airstone is cheap, easy and removes ANY possible pitfalls....What happens above ground is governed by what is happening below ground...Pic of current crop, 5 weeks into flower....Green Crack, Bubble Bomb and Peyote Critical, in 3 gal buckets (6 plants total), under a 1k HID on a light mover....Closet is 4ft wide by 5ft deep.....Depending on strains running, it averages right about 30 jars (oz's) or very close to it.....YT

 

I would have started sooner but I could never find any hempy buckets for sale. I didn't realize DIY was just a 1/4 inch hole in a bucket. I tried the vermiculite first time, but I like pure 100% perlite better. Started with 2 gallon food grade buckets, now use 5 gallon smartpots sitting in a 16 inch saucer. The saucer is the reservoir. It gets drained often. 6 months? Hempy never gets old. But it does need to be bumped twice a year.

 

The original DTW was exactly what your doing....It works just fine...the only advantage the Hempy added, was the 2 inch hole to create an INTERNAL reservoir...a little less watering with that extra 2 inches inside....Back in the early 80ies, everyone started filling the drip trays to water less...problem was, fertile water exposed to light....The trays grew algae....It was best to just let them drain after watering, but NOT leave the standing water in the trays....THATS HOW the Hempy idea originated...Put the drain hole/holes higher to create that internal res....It wasnt called a Hempy bucket then but dont believe that some person named HEMPY developed it....it was used nearly 10 years before he used the internet to share the technique....whether or not, he took credit, IDK.....
But the simplest hydro is the drain to waste (dtw)....In fact, a lot of the 3alight club growers STILL USE simple DTW set ups...You can google 3alight and its those who are puling 3lbs per 1k light and thats has been slowly creeping toward 4 a light....That alone shows how effective it really is.....The MARKET has brainwashed many into thinking these elaborate cutting edge hydro systems are needed to grow the best weed...Couldnt be any further from the truth....No plumbing, external rez, pumps, chillers, bubblers etc....Straight up simplicity!!!!.....And grows buds as good, or better than any other complex systems.....Nothing to break down....chose a nice medium, and a quality nute, keep the pH of your mix correct and rewater before it goes totally dry....It sounds to easy, BUT IT IS JUST THAT EASY!!!!....Hydro is so simple if ppl would just let it be that way....I can even begin to tell you how many ppl I have turned onto growing and started them with DTW, and they ALL had a killer harvest FIRST TRY....Its a shame more dont listen to experience instead of what the mainstream growing industry is saying....Its now a multi-million dollar market for equipment and nutes (dont even get me going on the BS nutes out there), AND they DEPEND on the inexperiened grower to keep their doors open and wallets fat.....YT