Handwatered hydro? What medium?

I am thinking of moving away from peat/soil based grows. I would like to continue handwatering. I need something that can do with watering 1x or max 2x a day. I can only spend an hour or two a day for garden responsibilities.

I am willing to try any medium, but it is going to need to be able to hold some water. I will just placing the medium in assorted pot sizes from 2-5 gallons. So pure perlite or growstone probably will not be an option. I am looking to get away from the unpredictability soil/peat mixes. My plants seem to go into deficiency as soon as I transplant. Then I am fighting to get them back on track for what feels like the entire grow. Watering with good runoff seems to help, but also takes a toll on my roots (visual inspection) and has even led to overwatering (leading to hermies during flower, which then go back to normal flowering when water volume reduced).

I have tried pure coco, but I must have overwatered too early on or overfertilized, though my runoff numbers were on point. I didn't like the way my plants looked, dark but dull at the same time. They always looked deficient in something.

Water volume and frequency are always the toughest thing to dial in for me.

If you guys have any suggestions and ratios for handwatered hydro mediums please tell me what they are or post links to threads with detailed info. I will be browsing the hydro section as often as possible. Thank you for your time and help.

Perlite and Hydroton Hempy Buckets will fit your bill precisley. Check out the "I Grow Hempy Style" link in my signature for info and the link to my grow diary for proof.

3 to 1 perlite to vermiculite in hempys works great as well.

Check out The Official Hempy Bucket Thread


Or just believe RockinRobot, as he is giving you The Official Hempy Medium Recipe. Others use coco, but there's a learning curve, I believe. Hempy buckets are your best bet.

Two thirds Perilte and one third vermiculite is the ultimate inorganic media for hand watering to waste. Perlite on it's own is good if you are wicking nutrients from below. Expanded clay (hydroton?) is no benefit for hand watering as it absorbs no nutrients or water and thus just takes up space, so reducing the available space for roots.

I use perlite/vermiculite and can get 22oz from one plant in a thirty liter pot under 600w.

Cheers

Your description, or question is so detailed it almost answers itself. 100% coco holds more water I would say in case you need to wait longer between watering times. 100% perlite would dry out much too quickly to be left unattended all day. For my plants that came from the nursery and are going into all organic soil, I transplanted into fabric pots for the first time with 1/3 coarse perlite, Fox Farm Ocean Forest, and Recipe 420. I would not sweat the details other than premium potting mix, further aerated. There is a spectrum as far as up front cost or difficulty level, hand water soilless with fabric pots is likely one of if not the most cost effective ways to go. Then you aren't too far away from a flood table really, which is simpler than a million drip lines and cubes of rockwool, but it still takes a lot to get all the environmental variables set up and if you aren't looking to get that involved with learning hydro terms and everything then you are way better off buying bags of soilless mix and good nutrients. Hand watered they can take quite a bit, more than soil and go longer in between without wilting or looking overwatered.

There are all these little quirks, like I try to stay away from fiberglass insulation at all costs, but other (I should say many many) growers stick by and have success with even 100% rockwool. So I would I try rockwool now or keep refining my way? Either or, I don't think it really matters too much overall.

Pouring a cup near the main stem is a lot different than submerging the whole pot until bubbles stop appearing. This transpires more than any plastic pot I've used which isn't surprising since the medium is lighter too.

Look up "Hempy Bucket" and/or "PPK" and see if that's what you're looking for. Passive hydro, you'll be topping it off once a day.

classic hempy recipe is working a charm for me. 3:1 perlite:verm


everything seems to veg faster than in coco, less gnats too

Thank you for the suggestions.I have a couple extra clones I can experiment with next time. I'm thinking I will attempt a perlite/vermiculite mix and possibly a coco plant while I use up the last of my sunshine mix.

Get a 4x4 ebb&flow tray , fill with coco , transplant clones in it and get down. At MOST you'll water once a day... It kicks ass...

I am going 3:1 perlite/vermiculite hempy buckets

I know you said you tried coco, you might want to check out 3:1 Cocoerlite. It drains better then straight coco get for hand watering and so easy to try. You can buy a bag of pre mix for $10-$15.