so i have a bucket, some coco/perlite, PBP and ph strips...

[spaceboy]

Is this enough for me to do a hempy bucket? The coco i have are just blocks from the pet store. Can anyone tell me how your suppose to rinse them? Also will ph strips be ok to use if i have no other kind of tester? I'm still a little new to how ec's effect the coco. Any advice would be great, thanks!

 

[stonedar]

I'll give it a whirl you just throw them in some water does it have instructions as to how much? room temp or slightly higher works better. let it sit for 45 min to an hour then break it up as much as you can.
now you gotta put it in something with some drain holes, not huge holes
if you have some Final Flush/Florakleen/Clearex make some of that up according to the instructions (florakleen is cheapest) and run about as much solution through the coco as you used water to expand it. 5-6 gallons per bale or 1-2 gallons though a brick. if you don't have a flushing product you can use a weak (say 10%) nutrient solution. what you are doing is releasing the salts. if you use straight water use about 3 times what I said above.
now it's rinsed and ready to be pre-conditioned for use. water it just like you would a young plant according to PBPs feeding chart. ideally you would add some Cal/Mag now.
your coco is ready for planting.

yes pH strips are fine if they measure between 4.0 and say 9.0

as I am sure you know just drill a hole about the size of a pencil about 2 inches up from the bottom of your bucket. fill to the hole with perlite. fill above the hole with coco/perlite mix (I like 2 parts coco 1 part perlite but everyones different)

I personally start in small pots then transplant to the hempy after a couple weeks from seed or start clones right in the hempy. keep the hempy moist, they grow slightly faster if you water/feed them everyday but alot of growers use hempy to allow them not to water everyday which works fine too. most growers will feed less often when they are rooting and step it up as they get older.
coco likes pH from 5.8 to 6.5 or so it seems to be forgiving on pH

 

[stonedar]

P.S. 5 gallon buckets are pretty big for a coco hempy you can get by just as well with a 3 1/2 gallon, or grow trees

I sometimes plant 3 clones in one 5 gallon hempy, a short veg then flower

 

[spaceboy]

Thanks for the excellent information! I think that answers just about all the questions except, i do actually have some cal-mag as well and was wondering how much i should use of it. I am using tap water and from what i hear its pretty bad here. I think about 600ec.

 

[stonedar]

jeepers thats pretty high, I dunno I think I'd skip it.

I'm so far from a pbp expert its like I'm on mars but what additives you planning to use?

 

[spaceboy]

pbp grow is 3-2-4, i also have some liquid karma, sweet and cal-mag, all botanicare and some liquid sea weed. Do you think I could use all of those like I have in the past with promix? I'm not sure if thats what you mean by additives, if not is there something else i should be using?

For mix I am planning on just using a mix of coco and perlite.

 

[stonedar]

liquid karma is seaweed so you got two products the same there, at least thats what is say label

alot of people like Hydroplex

I am for sure the wrong person for PBP info, hopefully someone else will chime in

by additives I meant everything other than pure blend pro, like cal/mag, liquid karma, and junk like that, just FYI

GH Flora/Maxi/Floranova I know, Fox Farm I know, jack's classic thats me. most of my days have been perlite/vermiculite bags with a drip system

it's only been the last year and a half or so that I been doing Hempy, it's so easy it's like hydro for geriatrics

 

[spaceboy]

I just realized i have the complete technaflora lineup, its a starter kit called recipe for succes that i got for free. If anyone has any expierence with these nutes can you please tell me what i should use to charge and how to charge?

The plant i am transplanting is in a cup with roots of promix. Can i just put it in the rinsed coco and then feed as normal to charge? If i do that it seems like it would be pretty damp.

thanks

 

[stonedar]

flush it slowly it breaks up and will come out the drain holes otherwise. I'm sure using the recipe for success would be fine. feed it like at early veg strength to charge it. you want it to always be damp thats the beauty of coco even wet it has air in it.
by all accounts technaflora is good stuff

 

[spaceboy]

Thanks a lot stoner! I am about to smoke a bowl and get this baby started

 

[spaceboy]

I have her in there now and its been 2 days. Its a pretty small clone in a cup (not for very long) and I'm just wondering if i should let it dry out pretty good so the roots can get a chance to run a bit or how often i should be watering?