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No till hempy bucket!

Streft

Member
Hey everyone hope I get someone's attention with this thread. I'm a big fan of hempy buckets this my second year growing with them. I'm also very intrigued with the whole no till approach to container gardening. I've been into the organics of outside gardening I've been composting and vermicomposting( have two worm bins in the base ment) for a couple years.

The first attempt I made at growing cannabis inside I went with subcool super soil mix or my own variation of it. And almost instantly had what I think are root aphids or some other little nasty bug eating my leaves and generally pissing me off. Before I even got to the flip on that first girl I ripped her right out of that dirt washed her off and went to straight perlite hempys and gh maxibloom. Boom no bugs ever that was the last time soil has been in my tent. I've had zero pest problems since I like that! I've had decent yeilds in hempys and love the ease of growing style. And I'm sure someone's gonna be (if u like it and it works why change) I get that too. I think I'm missing out on the organic side of things inside and think (I know) my bud would taste better if it wasn't getting just salts.

So here's my question will a no till setup work in a hempy style container. Such as say a 20 or 30 gallon tote with perlite or lava rock in the bottom? Or say a 30 gal smart pot on top of a perlite or lava rock wick system. Anyone dabble in this or know a guy who use too or something? I'd love being directed to a thread or journal or something that deals with this.

I should add this is going in a 32 x 32 tent a 30 gal smart pot on a wick would be abt perfect for the space but I think I could do a 35 gal tote too. Any advice would be appreciated.
 

Klompen

Active member
I would imagine you'd have to feed it aerated compost tea solutions on the regular, and probably wait a while after finishing one run to reuse the medium. Otherwise I can't see how the old roots would do anything other than breed pythium....
 

MJPassion

Observer
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Check out Earth Box systems...


Minus the perlite/lava they're almost exactly what you describe.
 

Dropped Cat

Six Gummi Bears and Some Scotch
Veteran
My experiment with a soil hempy is ongoing.

My res is a 50/50 of DE and coco, my idea of a mostly inert res.

Roots penetrate, but not as messy as full soil.

I like your plan of lava rocks in the rez for your big pots.

I tried soil full on, but got pests soon after, and messy wet roots, all culled.

All my soil is pasteurized and bennies added back.

BTI added for good measure.

Worm casting teas with some guanos.

Micro grow, 16 oz pots.

After a couple weeks, no pests, we'll see.

Your no till would benefit greatly with removal of as much root mass as possible,
per Klompen's post.



subbed.
 

SamsonsRiddle

Active member
skip the hempy and look up noobwannabe's ghetto sip thread, i think it's on here if not check google.



then read organics for beginners thread. the first post gives a recipe for your base mix and the first dry amendment mix is a great place to start.



one HUGE tip if you do decided to take a fabric pot and put it on top of some type of perlite or lava rock reservoir (kitty litter bins work well and have many sizes, kiddy pools might be better for bigger pots) - add a little extra aeration to your mix.
 
Last edited:

BullDogDad

Active member
one HUGE tip if you do decided to take a fabric pot and put it on top of some type of perlite or lava rock reservoir (kitty litter bins work well and have many sizes, kiddy pools might be better for bigger pots) - add a little extra aeration to your mix.

Yep, and supposedly aids the root pruning which is what fabrics are designed for right? That and aeration.

So a good question, because I’m new to this style I see the fabric pots being used in this no til style virtually across the board, so much as to assume it was necessary.

So can we successfully do no til container gardening in conventional plastic containers of equal size or is the function of the fabric pot that vital to a successful living system?

Also I see discussion of pasteurizing soil which I think is totally impractical for my situation, but non the less I’d like to hear what others having used this system have to say about pests of whatever kind they’ve encountered? Was this a major problem? Am I misunderstanding that if you truly take the time to establish a living complex in your container complete with not just bacteria and fungus but also predatory nematodes and protozoa, predatory soil mites etc. that it becomes difficult for pest species to gain competitive edge thus are kept in check even when present?
(ideally pest species not present)
 

Dropped Cat

Six Gummi Bears and Some Scotch
Veteran
Well, if you have a plan and materials in place, then pests can be controlled.

Never eliminated, but controlled. Predatory nematodes and protozoa, predatory soil mites etc. is a good start.


Great thread!
 

chilliwilli

Waterboy
planting garlic, onions or shallot helped me with those little fruit fly like fuckers when i started growing in 90l tubs with notill mix. they have no holes for run off so if u overwater them they are like a hempy.
was thinking if a soil hempy hybride is possible? maybe place fabricpots in or on a bed of perlite so that the fabricpots can suck up what they need and water from top when it gets dry?
 

chilliwilli

Waterboy
So can we successfully do no til container gardening in conventional plastic containers of equal size or is the function of the fabric pot that vital to a successful living system?

imo u want the pot for notill as big as possible.

fabric pots or air pots promote root development and help with water management but are not necessary.

earth box is very nice. maybe with a water level indicator for the resovoire and a big stripe of fabric glued over holes in the wall.:party:
 

Nannymouse

Well-known member
I would think that a bed of lava rock would be better than perlite, because perlite tends to float and move around. Dunno if the perlite would 'stay put' as well as lava rock. If i were ever to do something on the order, i would add chunks of the readily available limestone 'rocks' in the growbag somewhere, dunno if near the top or bottom would be better.
 

SamsonsRiddle

Active member
the best way to combat pests is to make your plants as strong as possible. using a little neem seed meal and some crab meal will give your plants a stronger immune system, or at least make them more immune to certain kinds of pests. Perlite does float, but if you use it as a reservoir like the thread ghetto sip you don't have to worry about it. it never floated on me, but i had some fabric pots on top of them.



seriously, if you can read the two threads i suggested you're golden
 

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