Coco - Perlite - Smart Pot - Hempy Bucket

[EarlBuddy]

So, now that the last grow finished - the first time I used Smart Pots and was amazed! - I thought about a solution for the next grow not to water that often, but still have the root pruning effects...

I could have taken some buckets - like the Hempy Bucket - and drill a lot of holes above the 2 inch mark... but I already have the Smart Pots, so I decided to take perfect fitting kitchen bowls as a tank, drill a "Hempy Bucket" - hole at 2 inch, fill the Smart Pots with a drainage layer of hydro korrels of 2 inch, above that the 50/50 Coco/Perlite-mix, give this into the bowl, and.... voila:
"The Smart hempy Bucket"

I hope that one plus of this modular setup is, that I can take of the tank in late bloom to avoid mold and be able to flush the girls without the rest in the tank...

used Setup:

- 2,0m x 1,8m areal
- 1 x 400W Philips HPI-T+ pn AaW medium for veg
- 2 x 600W dimmable electric ballasts with AaW medium with Philips SON-T Pia + and lightrail for bloom
- active intake air 400m³/h
- 2 Floorfans
- 2 Fans
- active carbon filter 650m³/h
- Nutes: Canna Veg & Bloom A + B, Cannazym, PK13/14, MineralMagic, Hesi SuperVit, GHE pH- veg & bloom powder, GH ph- bloom;

Genetics (clones):

8 x OG Kush (Dinafem)
2 x AK-48 (Nirvana)
2 x Blue Hash (Dinafem)


Images will follow soon...

 

[EarlBuddy]

 

[stoned40yrs]

Good idea, should work fine. I would imagine the bowl will be filled with roots also so I don't know about removing the bowl in late bloom and setting the smartie down on a mass of roots hanging out

 

[EarlBuddy]

Good idea, should work fine. I would imagine the bowl will be filled with roots also so I don't know about removing the bowl in late bloom and setting the smartie down on a mass of roots hanging out

well - stonedforteroyears - the roots hangin` out... that`s a point, but anyway, I don`t have to remove the tank at all in late bloom, just water them, empty the tank afterwards and get`em back into the bowl.. But we will see, it`s an experimental grow.

 

[UNREGISTRD]

springpots are way better... Just threw away all my smartpots and never been happier...

 

[Sforza]

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=55286&pictureid=1290306&thumb=1]View Image[/url]

Looks good!

Did you consider filling the smart bag up completely with the 50/50 Coco/Perlite-mix and putting 2 inches of drainage layer of hydro korrels into the bottom of the bowl? That would involve eventually having roots in the bowl, but it would also give you a deeper and larger area for root development?

 

[Sforza]

springpots are way better... Just threw away all my smartpots and never been happier...

It does not take much to make some folks happy, I suppose.

So you have never in your entire life been happier than when you threw away all those smart pots that you spent good money on?

In any case, thanks for the heads up on the Spring Pot idea. They do look like an evolution in the right direction.

 

[RetroGrow]

Also tossed my smart pots when I discovered Hempy buckets. Hempy buckets are very cheap, and blow smart pots away in terms of yield.

 

[Sforza]

Also tossed my smart pots when I discovered Hempy buckets. Hempy buckets are very cheap, and blow smart pots away in terms of yield.

Isn't what Earl is doing the best of both worlds? Is there something special about using a plastic bucket instead of a smart pot?

As long as there is good drainage and a two inch reservoir, from the plant's vantage what is the difference between a plastic bucket with a two inch reservoir and a smart pot with a two inch reservoir?

 

[stoned40yrs]

Isn't what Earl is doing the best of both worlds? Is there something special about using a plastic bucket instead of a smart pot?

As long as there is good drainage and a two inch reservoir, from the plant's vantage what is the difference between a plastic bucket with a two inch reservoir and a smart pot with a two inch reservoir?

Don't screw with Retro about his hempies, Maxibloom or asprin

 

[RetroGrow]

Isn't what Earl is doing the best of both worlds? Is there something special about using a plastic bucket instead of a smart pot?

As long as there is good drainage and a two inch reservoir, from the plant's vantage what is the difference between a plastic bucket with a two inch reservoir and a smart pot with a two inch reservoir?

Let me restate. To each his own. If you like smart pots better, by all means use them. Coco is a hydro medium, and Hempys are a passive hydro system. Frequent watering brings better results, due to re-oxygenation of the rez. I have had better results with Hempy buckets, and also with 100% coco, no perlite. But other people's methods don't confront me. Whatever turns you on....

 

[DoubleDDsNuggs]

I saw something similar to the hempys but using a smart pot. maybe you can check it out to give you some ideas. http://alaskagrowbuckets.com/

 

[noyd666]

Don't screw with Retro about his hempies, Maxibloom or asprin

 

[EarlBuddy]

Hey folks, whats going on here.. well, anyway, as I wrote before, it`s an experimental grow, I never tried that before. Also hempy buckets I never tried before, but had some of these bowls around and the Smarties already, so...

@ Sforza:
"Did you consider filling the smart bag up completely with the 50/50 Coco/Perlite-mix and putting 2 inches of drainage layer of hydro korrels into the bottom of the bowl? That would involve eventually having roots in the bowl, but it would also give you a deeper and larger area for root development?"

So for this, I shouldn`t have the drainage-hole, or should have it a bit higher for a seeper res - this I didn`t want, I try to avoid roots hanging out. The SmartPots stand directly on and in the plasticbowl.

@ DoubleDDsNuggs:

Yeah, thanx! That`s almost the same, yes.



Why did I think of this solution?

- It`s summertime and I found out, that for my circumstances (no A/C, so higher temperatures) the smartpots did way better than some simple plastic buckets (not Hempys). Measured the temps in the pots and the smart pots had 2 to 3 degree Celsius lower temps.
Also my bubbler won`t work right now as the water temps would get to high and I can not cool them down.
So instead of growing in a mix of soil, perlite and coco (50 / 25 /25 % - also in SmartPots) what I did last time, where I had to water every second day, near the end almost every day, I was thinking of a possibility of a reservoir. But on soil, even only 50% I didn`t want to do it.
So the idea was:
- still holding down the temps at the roots
- avoiding soil and instead using a removable tank (maybe easier to flush without it, so just take it off) => passive hydro = higher yield ;-)
- makes handwatering possible with the same intervals as on a soilgrow

Just my thoughts

 

[EarlBuddy]

Isn't what Earl is doing the best of both worlds? Is there something special about using a plastic bucket instead of a smart pot?

As long as there is good drainage and a two inch reservoir, from the plant's vantage what is the difference between a plastic bucket with a two inch reservoir and a smart pot with a two inch reservoir?

That`s what I thought bro!

 

[UNREGISTRD]

Isn't what Earl is doing the best of both worlds? Is there something special about using a plastic bucket instead of a smart pot?

As long as there is good drainage and a two inch reservoir, from the plant's vantage what is the difference between a plastic bucket with a two inch reservoir and a smart pot with a two inch reservoir?

THe difference is the plastic pot will hold the water and the fabric pot will have roots growing out of it into the reservoir..IMO the fabric pot will do better...roots get airpruned instead of overgrown in a plastic bucket!.

 

[UNREGISTRD]

It does not take much to make some folks happy, I suppose.

So you have never in your entire life been happier than when you threw away all those smart pots that you spent good money on?

In any case, thanks for the heads up on the Spring Pot idea. They do look like an evolution in the right direction.

Never been happier... And what made me really grin is when we went to transplant the new babies into the springpots and I didnt even need my helper...

The money i threw away on the smartpots has made up by deleting man hours...

 

[EarlBuddy]

THe difference is the plastic pot will hold the water and the fabric pot will have roots growing out of it into the reservoir..IMO the fabric pot will do better...roots get airpruned instead of overgrown in a plastic bucket!.

....? I don`t really understand! OK, The Springpots are maybe easy to use, with the spring holding it open... but it`s the same fabric used for the Smart Pots. I don`t know about the plastic pot you talk about.

 

[Vishus]

I think he meant your perfect-fitting kitchen bowls.

 

[Vishus]

Or re-reading, he might have been referring to hempy buckets, which would likely be plastic pots essentially.