The Official Hempy Bucket Thread

[Lowman]

Also, the use of the rectangular container works (IMO)better for blooming vertically. We've been able to build vertical scrogs and I don't really know how I could do that with a round container. Again, many thanks to all of you who are willing to help a fellow gardener out.

I having been slowly switching over to rectangle Hempy's myself. I stretch out a tomato cage(snip the back wires to open it up) in front of the plant after it has vegged for awhile...and tie the branches to the cage so even the back branches are now in the front.

It can still be done with a round container by just using the same technique I described above. Just not quite as effective. I have found that the rectangle Hempy allow the roots to spread from side to side....which in turn makes the plant spread from side to side while vegging.

 

[rustymetal]

Hey guys, I have read the first 15 pages then went to end of thread and read about 20 pages. I have some questions I haven't seen answered. I really want to use hempy for my next round which I will be taking clones for in the next few days.

To give quick info I have been doing soil for a few years and have had good results. I am looking to speed up and simplify everything. I recently started SCROG and am very happy.

1. Growth Rate
-Compared to soil(and active hydro) what would you say the growth rate of plants are? Faster then soil? Slower then a good hydro? about the same?

2. Temperature
What are the adverse effects of excessive heat or cold? In winter My ambient night is 55f and day between 65f-70f during day. Summer my ambient/night can be from 70f-90f (low 80s most likely). I read a lot about active hydro res. temp. problems to roots and such.. Please tell my if hempy is ok with a range of temperatures.

I don't have any problems with soil except some bugs and change venting/fans/equipment when season changes.

3. Clones
Can you clone directly into hempy? I hear mixed reports of it in this thread. What do you think about using a normal hydro/DWC/Airstone "bubble-cloner" type of device to get a few inches of roots then moving them to hempy?

4. Pests
Do you get any bugs or mold with leaving the top uncovered? Would there be an adantage to cover the top and keep the pot moist or would this create mildew and scum?

I have a problem with fly gnats that live in my soil. Are these gnats ever able to live in hempy?

5. Run-off water
Is this water only good for the drain? can it be kept and saved? My understanding is it has to be removed from the grow area - correct?

I have 5gal bags sitting in a 5x5 / 1 inch lip / square pan. I then have my screen which sits ontop of that. After a few weeks veg in the screen my mobility is completely stopped. Is there a small water pump or something easier then a wet/dry vac I could use to send the extra water 10ft to a sink?

Should I possibly make a hose connection on my drain and drain into a bucket - then manually draining/save?

Here is my setup, these plants are new to that screen and arnt grown into it. It's hard to see but at the bottom there is wood square similar to the screen but with poly to catch water.

 

[dubwise]

@rusty-Hello! I hope to help answer a few of your
questions to the best of my ability and experience.
Others I'm sure will chime in with some much needed
assistance as well. I can't really answer the first
one, as I have no experience with soil, however, I think t
that the growth rate is a bit slower than an active
hydro setup. I do think that the hempy buckets handle
temperature fluctuations better than the active hydro does...
hempy buckets seem to be much more forgiving. Yes you
can clone directly into a bucket but it takes getting
things right to be effective (watering schedule & environment)
I like to get my cuttings rooted beforehand because the
schedule for the room is more important to me then the
schedule of one or two plants here & there. I don't think
you need to cover the medium to prevent pests. You can
get gnats but they are very easily exterminated and
with a proper environment, they should never come back.
The runoff water should just be dumped. We're not talking
about gallons...so unless you're running hundreds of
plants, runoff shouldn't be that big an issue. I am by no
means an expert and I hope this helps out a little bit.
Best wishes on your upcoming endeavors.
dub.

 

[100% Dundee]

1. Growth Rate

2. Temperature

3. Clones

4. Pests

5. Run-off water

All of these answers are just in my opinion/from my personal experience, your mileage may vary of course.

1. I observed a very noticeably increase in growth rate switching from soil to hempys. I was using FFOF soil with extra perlite added, so not the best soil but not the worst either. Should be comparable any hydro setup I would think.

2. Temperature seems to affect both my soil plants and hempy plants the same, I haven't noticed any issues running my hempy plants in the same exact environment I was running the soil plants in. My box never gets to the temperatures as cold/hot as you mentioned though.

3. You sure can clone directly into hempys, you just have to make very very small hempy containers. It works basically the exact same as any other wicking type clone method would. I used 3oz apple sauce containers to make baby hempys for cloning into. I no longer do that as it was a pretty slow method, now I either use my walmart cloner or straight into rockwool. Using an aero cloner would be a perfect way to start clones for hempys. Whatever method you want to clone with should work with hempys.

4. I have no pests, bugs, mold or anything in my grow environment so I can't really comment on this either. If you already have them in your grow, I wouldn't expect them to go away just by switching to hempys. I have had algae grow in my containers/media before, never much though and it doesn't harm the plant in any way.

5. As far as runoff is concerned, I guess that depends on what you are feeding them and how much runoff you get. I have done it both ways before, re-using my runoff and tossing it out. What I settled on was dialing in my watering amount so that I get very, very little runoff and just discarding it(maybe 5%). I did not notice any adverse affects when I was recycling it though while I was running lucas formula + additives. I would give the runoff water from my flowering plants to my mothers and clones, they loved it.

 

[dubwise]

I'd like to totally agree with Dundee with his points about runoff, I too feel like you can get your plant dialed in to where you know exactly how much to feed in order to get a reduced amount of runoff

 

[someotherguy]

Good morning rustymetal and welcome to ICMag.

As dub and dundee have answered most all of your questions already I only offer my two cents because i'm a former organic soil grower who switched to hempy's about 8 months ago, plus, I have some limited active hydro experience (i ran DWC's for about a year) so I think I know where you're coming from.

...first i'd suggest you run coco hempy's rather than straight perlite or a perlite/vermiculite blend because working with coco is very similar to working with soil so it will feel very familiar to you and your plants will love it. (if you search there are several coco hempy threads, one even authored by hempy himself)

...another reason to consider coco would be how easy it is to clone in straight coco.

...here are a couple pics i've posted before but which illustrate my potting up of two clones that are 21 days from the day I cut them from the mom, ...also, because these are in coke bottles you can clearly see the different layers, perlite on the bottom, coco on top.

...you can also see that the clones weren't done in mini hempys, I tried cloning in mini hempys and found I had better luck using my old soil cups filled with moist coco and it is just so freakin' easy, lol.

...anyway, good luck and have fun, you're gonna love how your plants grow AND how simple and easy it is.

Peace, SOG

 

[100% Dundee]

What kind of coco are you running SOG? I am really considering picking up some to give it a try since vermiculite is such a hassle to come by, but I don't know what brands to look for. And I like the looks/consistency of the coco you are using in those cups.

 

[grassott's dad]

...I don't have any problems with soil except some bugs and change venting/fans/equipment when season changes...

Hi Rusty. Let me quickly tell you about my experience.

When I grew in soil I had probs with them bugs too. You will also get bugs if using coco, but I don't think they'd do any harm and are quite easy to treat. I now grow my Hempy buckets with perl/ver 3:1 ratio mix with a layer of hydroton on the bottom and I don't have any probs with bugs. (Well, only the odd gnat or two, once in a blue moon, but no where near as much as when I was growing in soil).

Here's some of my mate's past work...

Day 1 flower. About 2 gallon buckets. 10 weeks in veg (including 2 weeks for cuttings to root). 280w cfl (veggy lights), day temps 75*F, night temps 65*F, RH 55%, osc fan and extractor fan (figures are veg area and are approx).

They then went under just 400w hps when going into flower, and ended up like this...

Get your environment right, feed them the correct hydro nutes, follow Hempy's original instructions as described on the first page of this thread (bucket size is important. Anywhere between 1 - 5gal. Hempy uses 2gal in his garden) and enjoy your Hempy bucket growing. How long do you plan to veg your girls for? Are you going to grow perpetually?

Also regarding cloning, you can place rooted clones directly in the final Hempy bucket. Just remember to water them daily, just around the stem for about a week or so until the roots hit the rez. When you notice explosive growth you can assume the roots are in the rez. Then water the buckets until run off every 2 - 3 days, keeping an eye on what the plants tell you. Like this...

The best way to learn though is to listen to your plants. Get stuck in, learn from your plants, follow the basic instructions as described by Hempy himself on the very first page, get your light, water and air in check and enjoy.

 

[someotherguy]

What kind of coco are you running SOG? I am really considering picking up some to give it a try since vermiculite is such a hassle to come by, but I don't know what brands to look for. And I like the looks/consistency of the coco you are using in those cups.

Mornin' man, I always just buy my coco in 5kg bales and the grow shops local to me carry both the General Hydoponics and Botanicare bricks.

...at $11.00USD per bale I prefer the GH to the $16.00USD per bale Botanicare but both are about the same to work with.

...it is recommended that you rinse your coco before you use it but I really am pretty casual in my approach to things so i've never bothered and so far at least i've not had any issues, admittedly i've only been using it for about 8 months but I run a SOG so i've pulled 4 harvests in that time and I am VERY pleased with my results.

...btw, these were all fed K.I.S.S. style so no fancy additives at all, just 1tsp Maxibloom per gallon with about 10mls of Silica Blast to raise the ph and 5mls of cal/mag as a preventative. ...i've recently started to add molasses during the 2 week flush but i'm not sure yet whether it's benefical to the plants or if it's just making me feel like i'm doing something, lol.

...also btw, I chose 2liter pots because most of my experience has been with high-density micro-SOGs inside my flowering cab, ...i've since bought myself a 4 x 4 Secret Jardin so i've already abandoned them in favor of 3liter pots and i'm preparing to try a run with a few in 2 or 3 gallon hempys in a V-SCROG similar to Marlo's 'Wall Of Weed', ...if you have any trouble finding his threads let me know and i'll post up a link.

Peace, SOG

 

[rustymetal]

thanks!

thanks!

dubwise, 100% Dundee, someotherguy, grassott's dad
thanks for you great responses!

My questions are asked because I am tired of soil, hydro is so much cleaner and efficient. But hydro is complex and could set me back. Not to mention the thousands of variety of setups you can do and money spent.

Hempy I pretty much I just have to switch my pots and medium nutes, which i need to reup soil/nutes this run anyway. a full hydro is too much for me right now.

I have 'perfected' my soil in past 3 years and don't really want to spend 3 just getting a hydro to what my soil is. If you understand my logic?

@someotherguy
well I am going to use a bubble cloner and get a few inches of roots before I plant in a 5gal hempy.

@grassott's dad
My only bug problem ever has been soil gnats. I'm fairly sure they are coming in from the FoxFarm OF soil. I usually don't touch the bag for a month or more after I buy it and still when I open it the next week I see them.

I'm vegging for 6weeks and flowing for 8/9, turning down light period if they don't finish fast enough. I don't include rooting or red party cup plants as part of my vegging time.

I have well decided I am going to start some hempy buckets. But likely variations related to a active hydro. 5gal buckets w/ net pots, drain caps, get some tubes for draining but probably not going to use unless needed. Might post construction pics for you all but other then that back to lurking for a few years....

 

[Jellyfish]

Hydro stores want you to think "hydro is complex", but it ain't. Hempys prove that. What could be simpler, it's a bucket with a hole in it! Good luck!

 

[someotherguy]

...yeah, lol, been there, done that.

...like I said, I ran DWCs for nearly a year, ...but that level of complexity was always a pain in my ass so I was always looking for a simpler way of doing things that would give me comparable results, ...in cloning AND in my grow in general.

...which is what kept me searching for close to 4 years before I finally decided to try those 'hempy' things, lol.

...if simplicity and speed are your goals, why add that level of complexity?

...btw, do a search for 'passive plant killer' by delta9, he is using a more complex hempy version of his own design that has captured many converts since he began posting his results.

...me, I like things simple.

Peace, SOG

 

[Bobbo4200]

Hey everyone!,
Started my first Hempy Bucket in a 2.5 gallon bucket about a month ago. Things are going great, & they do grow much faster than the soil I am used to. I am using Ionic Hydro Nutes in the bucket, & was using Flairform GreenDream Grow and Bloom with the additive Budstorm in Soil. On the Grow, & Bloom bottles, it says use can use those nutrients in Soil or Hydroponically. On the Budstorm adddtitive, it neither specifies whether to use it in Hydro, or Soil. Although I know it works in Soil because that's what I've been using it in. So my question is, can you use the Budstorm additive in the Hempy bucket? Or do you think I don't really need it? I have been going full strength with the Ionic Nutrients, actually maybe a little more... Well thanks for the help!! I can't wait til this thing starts budding!!! ;0)

 

[dubwise]

@rusty-hydro does not have to be expensive at all. The hempy bucket is efficient in all ways. The medium can be cleaned and reused (not sure about coco, but perlite/verm mix can be reused), you can run Jacks Pro Hydro or GH Maxibloom throughout the life of the plant...the buckets can be cleaned and reused. It's totally cheap. That saves you $$$ that you can spend on beans!
@Bobo-I'd run one of the plants with the additive and one without and make the judgment call on your own. You've got absolutely nothing to lose. Good luck with your grow and keep us posted!

 

[Bobbo4200]

Thanks for the quick response! I only have one Hempy going so far though, lol. I actually have another question, what about seeds? Do I just start them in Solo beer cups with the 3 to 1 perlite/vermiculite mix, & then transplant them into the Hempy? Thanks again guys!!

 

[dubwise]

Yeah man, you can start 'em in mini hempy's and as they out grow the cups move them into their next pot. Most folks, in my estimation, start the seeds with the paper towel method & transplant to the hempy bucket, but you can certainly direct sew them into the medium.

 

[Bobbo4200]

Thanks again Dub! Sorry, but I do have another question: what do I use for Nutrient solution? Clonex for clones? Strength? Thanks again, sorry bout all the questions!

 

[Capt.Ahab]

Im thinking about running a few Hempy buckets and have a question regarding the NAPA #8822 oil dry as a medium. I have a couple bags of that here in my shop, along with perlite and vermiculite. Has anyone used the Napa oil dry straight up instead of perlite alone or would a combination of the two or three ingredients be better?

 

[Jellyfish]

That NAPA oil dry stuff is made clay isn't it? I would think it would mess with your pH, but I can't say for sure, because I've never tried it. Perlite/vermiculite work fine, and is cheap enough, so what is your reason for wanting to try it? Not putting down the idea, it's a friendly question. Good luck.

 

[Capt.Ahab]

No it's not clay. It is calcined fresh water Diatomaceous earth. Ive read plenty about it being a perlite substitute but I want to know if anyone has actually tried it straight up or in combination with vermiculite and/or perlite.