National shortage of #4 perlite

J

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
There is a national shortage of #4 perlite. Amazon is out. All local stores are out in Grand Rapids with the exception of 1 bag. Growgreenmi.com has it available an hour and a half away from where I live. I had to switch to hydroton today for my hempy buckets. It might have been a good thing though. I can reuse my hydroton. I have never been able to reuse perlite because it breaks down too easily. It is a bit more expensive, because I will most likely need 2-3 more bags due to my failure to calculate my exact needs before I went to the store. A liter is approximately equal to 1 us quart. 50/4=12 and change. That means 1 50 liter bag will fill about 2.25 buckets. 5-6 bags for 12 buckets. Not bad. A bit more than I'm use to spending, but I intend to clean and reuse the hydroton which is really nice. Aside from fertilizer and electricity perlite has been my largest expense in the garden. It goes fast and it seems like there's never enough. Kinda like toilet paper, but way more expensive. I have to transplant 2 girl scout cookies, a ghost train haze #1 X moonshine haze #1, 2 jagers, a black widow, and a critical mass. I wasted 2 cycles on a hash plant. The strain produces decent buds, but the plant is very small and stays small. Pure indicas and indica dominant strains just don't get me very excited. The best strain I've ever grown or smoked in my life has been Blue Dream. I just ordered an 8 pack off seedsman. If you've never grown it you should. It doesn't just get you "high". It's an experience and you do not develop a tolerance to the strain. It's quite incredible.
 
.Smoke

.Smoke

Well-Known Member
I'm smoking a 50/50 blend of Blue Dream and MK Ultra today.
Good stuff :eyesmoke:

Nice heads up on the perlite. Glad I have enough atm.
 
cobshopgrow

cobshopgrow

Well-Known Member
let us hear your results.
i also just switched to clay pebbles for the hempys.
simply cause i cleaner to work with, can not say if its as good as perlite.

there are different opnions, but i think the PH is a bit troubblesome with the clay pebbles.
the PH tends to rise quite a bit, even after soaking them for a week in a ph regulated mix.
could be its specific to the stuff i bought, but somehow doubt it.

you plan to prep the pebbles somehow?
 
etruthfx

etruthfx

Well-Known Member
Perilite should by no means be a large expense of your garden. What soil are you using? Why not just use a soil with perilite pre-ammended Like Promix Hp with or w/o Cocoa? Also if you smoke all day everyday you will build up a tolerance and not get as high, that's a fact for any strain.
 
dbz

dbz

Well-Known Member
That sucks, fortunately a local store to me has about 10 4 cu ft bags, just ran by today.

Edit: Also have you tried home depot, you can order online from a different store and from what I see some of their stores have some.
 
Powertech

Powertech

Well-Known Member
The Blue Champagne (Blue Dream x Champagne Kush) from my last grow is absolutely amazing. I normally grow from seed, but it was a clone from a dispensary some family gave me. Wasn't expecting much, but it is one of the best I have ever had. Sooo glad i took cuttings before flowering, and those are halfway through flower. Unfortunately i didn't get cuttings again, but thankfully i gave a few clones away, and those have not flowered yet so i will be going to take cuttings sometime this weekend.
 
J

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
cobshopgrow said:
let us hear your results.
i also just switched to clay pebbles for the hempys.
simply cause i cleaner to work with, can not say if its as good as perlite.

there are different opnions, but i think the PH is a bit troubblesome with the clay pebbles.
the PH tends to rise quite a bit, even after soaking them for a week in a ph regulated mix.
could be its specific to the stuff i bought, but somehow doubt it.

you plan to prep the pebbles somehow?
Click to expand...
No sir. I rinsed thoroughly with RO water. The run off ran clear as it went in. Then I watered in with 1.5 gallons of 890PPM in each bucket. I only flipped 4 today to see what happens before I flip the rest tomorrow. Also, I had some good results adding general hydroponics flora nectar my last cycle which is just a sugar water product. The plants seemed to really enjoy it. I thought I would get crafty and get a better value for my money by using straight high brix molasses. I am discontinuing the molasses immediately. It's causing the root zone to stink. That's never a good thing. I plan to water in with a nice dose of 35% H202 at the next watering to clean things up. The foliage had an odd reaction. It seems like some of the plants really loved it, but a few others had some odd mottling in my fan leaves that is not typical that I attribute to the molasses growing bad bacteria in my reservoir.

No major issue, but I would definitely suggest anyone growing in hempy buckets to avoid straight molasses. Does anyone know of a cheap alternative to flora nectar? The application rates consumed the bottle I bought very quickly, and it was quite pricey for sugar water. I'll report back tomorrow with pictures on how the ladies took the hydroton move. I may experiment with coco again. I have stayed away due to a poor experience.
 
J

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
etruthfx said:
Perilite should by no means be a large expense of your garden. What soil are you using? Why not just use a soil with perilite pre-ammended Like Promix Hp with or w/o Cocoa? Also if you smoke all day everyday you will build up a tolerance and not get as high, that's a fact for any strain.
Click to expand...
I'm on the dark side of the moon sir. Synthetic hydroponic water to waste hempy buckets in 100% perlite. Hauling dirt and all the bugs turned me off to organic gardening. However, I plan to experiment with 2 plants next week. Good organic dirt nicely amended and I'll probably use the general organics base fertilizer. Dirt produces the best tasting pot in my personal experience. I didn't even use organic fertilizer before I switched to hydro. GH 3 part flora series several grows in a row with outstanding results. My fan leaves always started yellowing at week 4 in flower, but the quality of the pot was just spectacular. I didn't over feed and did a feed, water, water, feed regimen. Never exceeded 850 PPM. Stopped fertilizer and applied plain water for the last 10 days to get the ladies to yellow up nicely. I can grow great tasting pot in hempy's, but it doesn't hold a candle to dirt grown plants. There's something about dirt and cannabis.
 
J

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
dbz said:
That sucks, fortunately a local store to me has about 10 4 cu ft bags, just ran by today.

Edit: Also have you tried home depot, you can order online from a different store and from what I see some of their stores have some.
Click to expand...
I'm a little jealous. I'm not gonna lie. The last I checked the depot stocks that really fine perlite. It tends to turn to powder and accumulate in the hempy reservoir causing root problems. I remember cleaning out a bucket I had major problems with years ago after using that schultz brand perlite and it was nearly an inch and a half thick of cement like dust mud. Not good. Ever since I have used only #4. No problems since. But alas, that ship has sailed and I am now using hydroton. Gotta roll with the changes man. What else can ya do?
 
Bosgrower

Bosgrower

Well-Known Member
jonnynobody said:
There is a national shortage of #4 perlite. Amazon is out. ...
Click to expand...
Look for #3. It's a little bigger, less likely to break down, and usually less dusty ... and if you let the plant stem and roots dry out before emptying the bucket, you should be able to reuse it without a problem.
 
cobshopgrow

cobshopgrow

Well-Known Member
got you, my PH of the runoff was always about 1.0 higher then in the day before,or about that.
i have read several times its due to the material itself., clay pebbles.
see page 9 if you want.
it needed a long time going in with 5.5 till the ph was below 6.5 out.
just curious to hear results of others to get afeel for the material.

havent used molasses in a hempy, but am forth and back between sterile and bennies.
no idea if it would have the effect youre looking for but brewing the molasses with bennies as a tea is maybe worth a try.

youre right maybe, soil would be more atractive if it wont atract the bugs so much.
 
J

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
madvillian420 said:
they didnt have it by you or amazon = national shortage? lol wut
Click to expand...
Amazon has the most buying power of any company in the world. Do you think it's out of stock because they can't afford the inventory? If every local grow shop in grand rapids doesn't have it and won't be getting any for another week and the largest retailer in the world is out of stock I would call that a national shortage. Amazon increased the price for future inventory when it becomes available to $64.99 at a nearly 20% markup. I'm glad I can connect the dots for you. "lol wut." The most genius comment of the day. Making your mommy and daddy proud.
 
cobshopgrow

cobshopgrow

Well-Known Member
pricing is heavy, i would need to pay about half the price and its in stock.
not in your country so no help there.
 
J

jonnynobody

Well-Known Member
I transplanted a pineapple express (far left), 2 hash plants, and a black widow (far right) into the hydroton clay pebble filled 5 gallon hempy buckets 2 days ago. They're taking to the hydroton like a fish to water. The black widow should have been transplanted a week ago, and it was in bad shape 2 days ago. She brightened up nicely in her new home. New foliage looking lush and thick. I plan to clean and reuse the hydroton after each harvest. That's about $250 savings every 11 weeks or about $1000 per year. That savings pays my water bill for the entire year and leaves about $400 leftover. Good action.

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