Hempy w/ small amounts of soil?

[the END]

Hello. I'm a pretty new grower, but very experimental and ambitious.
I have just began dabbing my feet into Hempy style growing, and with my next batch of seeds currently germinating in their peat pucks, must inquire about something I've wondered for a while now.

My proposed idea is to make a hempy style grow with a mix consisting of perlite/vermiculite/FFOF. I'd say about 9/3/1 proportionally.
I'm pretty sure I will try this out in a week or 2. I believe this mixture will be effective to giving the small seedlings quick and subtle access to their micro-nutrients, before getting into a regular feeding schedule. My guess is that it will be somewhat preventative in the shock or inhibition plants seem to get from mostly perlite mixes.

Have you tried this? What are your thoughts?

 

[bobman]

I think it could be done but why? It defeats the purpose. i just started hempy. my first trial hempy plant is about a week away from being done. About a month ago I pulled 4 15 inch potential mother plants out of 2 gallon pots and knocked as much soil as i could off, I even dunked them in water to try to get as much soil off as possible. There was still a good bit of soil left and they are doing fine but I think the soil remaining has slowed them down. I do perlite only hempys. You would be surprised how long perlite holds water. I read a lot of threads about vermiculite throwing ph off so I decided to do perlite only.

If i am reading you correctly, you r worried about feeding them and burning them. I clone in straight vermiculite and then transfer them no shock or inhibition. The plants will yellow a little when the are hungry. Just feed them very lightly at first, there are good recommendations in different threads about feeding schedules at different stages. I will never do soil again hempy is very easy and the growth is very very good.

 

[ballplayer 2]

bob, which direction does the vermiculite throw the pH off? I have been looking at the hempy style for a bit now. I am slightly intimidated by a perlite only mix. I would be starting plants in Rapid Rooters and/or Rockwool mini's. How often do you water young plants? established plants? Any general directions as far as EC goes?

Sorry for all the questions, thank you for any help you could provide.

 

[bobman]

not sure which direction, search some other sites. the info is somewhere, search a guy named boneman on rollitup or just search hempy at all the sites. i clone in vermiculite in 3 oz plastic cups and from working with it i just came to the conclusion that its very heavy and holds water very well. I just did not want to deal with a heavy wet medium and take a chance on a ph issue. the same with coco hempys. From my research all perlite hempy's just seemed the most bulletproof.

You can go 5-7 days easy without water as long as the plant has not outgrown the pot and your temps r good. Its a real easy method to lift and tell. For example I have 2+ foot plants in 2.5 gallon buckets and they just went 6 or 8 days. I am a little overwhelmed right now so I have not been real good with this batch as for as taking notes and figuring out the best way to do things but this is so so easy.

As far as ec I do not have a meter but I do have a ph meter and recommend one. The nice thing about hempys is you can give them plain water or feed them every time its very flexable. You can really control their growth and save on nutes if u have a long veg. If they started yellowing a bit u can give them a good feed or u can feed every time to speed things up. There are good feed schedules around for different nutes. I use gh nutes. I am using this method so I can learn how my water works so I can go on to other methods.

Hempy is very easy take the plunge don't worry. you will be glad u did.

 

[bobman]

Young plants r watered about the same they can go long too just watch them. After I cloned I put them in 32 oz containers and they went 5-7 days for a while. Once I started having to water every 1 or 2 days I moved them up. i was amazed at perlites wicking ability and ability to hold water.

 

[mrred]

if you want to try somethign else i recommend trying out coco, yea i dont think hempy coco is a good ideal, coco needs good drainage

 

[the END]

Well I went ahead and tried out my idea stated in the first part with 2 Sour Cream seeds. I think it will be quite beneficial given the very low humidity in my locale. Perlite drys very fast for me. I believe this will work fantastically for what I'm trying to achieve...

 

[bobman]

Just a piece of advice not trying to be rude but for a new grower its better to perfect the basics before experimenting. Especially when you switch systems. Good luck let us know how it works

 

[mrred]

its ok to experiment, just dont put all your eggs in one basket, try a bunch of different ways, and youll find out what works best for you