It's that time of the year for my newest grow. I've been growing in coco for years with the same nutrients so I decided to switch it up this time. I just finished an auto closet grow in hempy buckets under a T5 fluorescent light fixture with good results. I like to change things up to keep things interesting. I'm starting earlier than usual because I anticipate the mainlining will add a couple weeks for the additional training. Strains: Nirvana - Pure Power Plant Fem Nirvana - Blue Dream Fem Buzzer's - White Widow/Cackleberry Fem Buzzer's - Cackleberry S1 Fem I plan on 5 plants. I planted 10 seeds total (normal for me) in case some weren't viable or I have a mutant or something. I'll determine which strain will be 2 plants after 2-3 weeks of growth to determine if I have a superstar. Mainlining I chose mainlining for a couple reasons. I've never done it before and I didn't think mainlining would take up as much horizontal space being that I'm doing 5 plants instead of my normal 4. I plan on following Nugbuckets' mainlining method with 8 main colas. www.growweedeasy.com/mainlining-nugbuckets Hempy Buckets I'll be doing original Hempy Buckets - 5:1 perlite/vermiculite. Starting in solo cups and finishing in 3-1/2 gallon buckets with a drain hole 2" from the bottom. As I mentioned above - I just finished a hempy run and nothing is easier. That was my first grow in years that I didn't have to deal with fungus gnats and the run off pH was always exactly the same as what went in - never varied. I used less nutrients with hempy as well because I didn't have to feed daily.
Nutrients and Additives I plan on using 3 different nute lines for experimentation. GH Flora Series - 1:2 Micro/Bloom, GH FloraNova Bloom, and GH MaxiBloom. No grow nutes. I'm using Silica Blast as usual and I'll be using Hydroguard for the roots instead of SM-90. I don't usually use bloom supplements but at the prompting of Tbone Shuffle and a few other people, I plan on using Liquid KoolBloom and Dry KoolBloom. Germination I soaked my Rapid Rooters in purified water and squeezed out the excess. Then I placed 10 seeds into the Rapid Rooters on Friday 10/26. You gotta love those Rapid Rooters. 4 days later on Tuesday 10/30 all the seeds popped. I ran 1/4 strength nutes through my perlite/vermiculite Hempy cup and placed the babies in them.
Awesome Mick, I’ll be following along. Just started my first ever Nugbuckets mainlines today, 14 days from sprout. Felt so wrong cutting that much off so young Soil2Coco’s Multi Strain Journal
I'll be feeding all of the sprouts GH Flora Series for the first couple of weeks until I narrow it down to 5 plants. I've been doing 2ml Micro and 4ml Bloom, 1ml Silica Blast, and 2ml SM90 per gallon of tap water every day to substantial run off to replenish the nutes in the small res at the bottom of the solo cups. I'm using the last bit of my SM90 and when I run out (which will be soon) I'll switch to Hydroguard. I'll post a pic at one week from sprout - Tuesday. Thanks for the interest.
The sprouts are one week old today and are all doing well. I need to start less seeds in the future. I always start too many seeds - I anticipate 1 or 2 won't sprout and that I may get a slow poke or 2, but they almost always pop and I never get a mutant or anything. It's going to be difficult and probably painful to eliminate half of the plants so I only have 5. My program remains the same - 2ml Micro, 4ml Bloom, 2ml Silica, 2ml SM90 per gallon of tap water to run off every day. It's been over 10 years since I used FloraNova Bloom and Hempys - can't wait.
Mick you should draw a line somewhere in your garden on tape, the first 5 or whatever to grow up into that line are the winners! lol
Update: 2 weeks from sprout - they grow up so fast. Seems like just yesterday they were just baby sprouts. Lol. The Blue Dreams were a little pale so I upped the Micro to 3ml per gallon and Bloom to 3ml per gallon. They all seem to be healthy and growing pretty good. I feed once a day. I plan on transplanting in the next couple of days - I'm preparing my 3-1/2 gallon buckets now with my perlite/vermiculite mix. In order to get rid of the dust in the perlite, I fill two 5 gallon buckets with water and dump some perlite in the first one, swish it around, then scoop it out and place in the second bucket for a final rinse. I only did 2-1/2 buckets yesterday and there was over an inch of powder in the bottom of the first bucket - considerably less in the second. If you don't rinse out the powder it will form a sludge in the bottom of your Hempy buckets. I'll post my transplant process in the next day or so.
You have the hempys down man. I bet that sludge is one reason my first all Perlite Hempy died. My other one isn’t looking too good, halfway through flower but it’s only in a 3.5 qt pot so that’s probably why. Upped my feeds to twice a day to compensate The soil ladies still kicking ass though. Soil2Coco’s Indoor Multi Strain Journal
I started preparing my 3-1/2 gallon buckets today for transplant tomorrow. I forgot how much work it is - I'm also getting old. Lol. I decided to make a few changes to my bucket. Besides the hole 2" from the bottom - I also drilled a hole at the bottom of the bucket. I can use this hole to drain the res if necessary because of nasties collecting in the bottom of the bucket, or if I should need to flush for any reason. It will eliminate having to tip the bucket. When not in use, I will tape it. Sorry for the blurry pics. I also decided to put a layer of hydroton approximately an inch - covering the bottom hole but not the top one. This should help with drainage when flushing is necessary. I covered the top hole with screening to prevent the perlite from falling out when I feed - not necessary for the bottom hole because of the hydroton. Once I get the plants transplanted I will put a layer of river rock on top of the perlite - it eliminates gullies from feeding and algae on the perlite. I know that algae is not a problem - it just bugs me. Haha. Tomorrow - transplant time.