Japanfreak
New Member
Hempy Style
Hempy buckets are by far the easiest, cheapest and most cost effective way to grow hydroponically. In my 7 years of growing Ive done aeroponics, dwc, bio-buckets and Hempy and there is no comparing the simplicity.
No pH testing needed
No ppm meters
No stress about root rot
Hempy is a run to waste, hand water style of growing. Oh no run to waste! I hate to waste nutrients, you say? No worries, compared to dwc you actually use up to 8 times less water and nutrients. But I cant be bothered with hand watering, you say? No worries, youll actually spend a lot less time tending to your garden.
Hempy buckets can be made out of any plastic container such as trash cans, coke bottles, coolers and so on. You can make a hempy bucket out of anything that will hold water. You probably have something in your home right now that can be converted to a Hempy bucket.
How to make a Hempy Bucket.
Take your container and measure 2 inches up from the bottom and make a hole in the side. The hole doesnt have to be too big, about the circumference of a pencil. This is where the excess water will drain out. Youll need to put your bucket in a small dish or something to collect the run-off water. Any gardening store will have those things for planters and thats what most people use.
My twist on the design is that instead of just a drain hole Ive added tubes (hose connecters) to allow the water to drain out into a container so I can collect the run off easily and measure it if I have to. If you are planning a lot of buckets Id just do a traditional style one but for a few buckets my style really practical.
So why do you make the hole 2 inches from the bottom? The basic idea is that you are replicating a water shelf like in Nature. If you dig down far enough in your back yard youll hit water right? Well thats what we are doing on a very small scale.
What medium to use
The traditional medium for Hempy is a vermiculite and perlite mix but people also use coco and even hydro balls. Personally Id recommend that you just try 100% perlite because its easy, clean and reusable.
Watering and Feeding
To feed your plants you just hand water them like you would any houseplant. If youve never grown anything it might take a while to get used to, but believe me its as easy as pie. During the first week or so of veg youll probably have to water them every few days just a little because the roots havent reached the bottom of the bucket where all the water is, once they do youll only have to water about once a week. Ive gone 14 days between watering before. The important thing is that whenever you feed them you want to add enough so that roughly 30% of what you put in comes out the holes. This helps flush out built up salts and keeps the bucket fresh. Personally I feed my plants with every watering with good results.
Here is a pic of one of my hempy buckets, which is filled with perlite. Youll have to wash the perlite before you use it and its a somewhat messy job so you should do it in the bath. Big strainers work best for the job. Just run water through the perlite to wash away the dust and dirt that will be in the bag with it. Some perlite is almost pure white and other times its tinted grey which is natural. Just keep an eye on the water and when it starts to filter through clear your perlite is ready to use.
Here is the same bucket with 6 freshly transplanted clones. I have just watered them and you can see the water coming out the drain holes into my collection pot. I water them every few days during the first week. I just pour a little at the base of each plant. Eventually your roots will fill the whole bucket so you should water/feed the whole surface area.
Two weeks later after a trim Im ready to flip these to flower. Thats all there is to it. Ill feed them about once a week for the duration of the flower cycle. Other than that Ill only have to check on my garden to raise the lights.
Some thoughts and pointers
I had never hand-watered plants before I tried this style and it was hard to get my head around it before I tried it. Ive noticed that when hydro growers try hempy they tend to water too much at first as I myself did. My first run I was watering 2~3 times a week and I didnt have the best harvest. Plants actually do the most growing and look the best just before they need watering so dont panic and start over watering them. How do you know when its time to water again? If your plants start to look wilted or if they look hungry (paling of the leafs) its time to feed. Once the roots reach the bottom of your bucket (about a week) youll see the plants really start to take off and I suggest you try to wait as long as you can before you feed them, get to know your plants and keep records and youll get the hang of it in no time.
If you decide to use perlite you should plan on recycling it. Recycled perlite is actually better than new perlite. You can remove the roots by shifting through a metal net. Once you get as many out as you can you need to boil the perlite in water for about 5 minutes.
With most hydro growing styles water temp is a huge concern but not with Hempy. As long as youre not growing in 100 degrees I wouldnt even worry about it.
Dont use Lucas
I had used the Lucas formula with my other systems for so long that I didnt even think about using a different recipe and Ive noticed other growers doing the same thing. Bottom line is Lucas is meant for DWC and the ppms are too low for Hempy. Once I started using the recipe on the back of the GH bottles and the grow nutrients with some Epsom I got much better results. You can use any nutrients you wish and many people go organic but trust me, you dont want to waste your time using Lucas formula in Hempy.
Bud Porn
These are examples of plants that I grew under a 250 watt hps light in Hempy. I hit 0.6gpw on my 3rd Hempy grow and I think I might hit closer to 0.8gpw on my latest round with a 2 week veg/55 day strain.
Hempy buckets are by far the easiest, cheapest and most cost effective way to grow hydroponically. In my 7 years of growing Ive done aeroponics, dwc, bio-buckets and Hempy and there is no comparing the simplicity.
No pH testing needed
No ppm meters
No stress about root rot
Hempy is a run to waste, hand water style of growing. Oh no run to waste! I hate to waste nutrients, you say? No worries, compared to dwc you actually use up to 8 times less water and nutrients. But I cant be bothered with hand watering, you say? No worries, youll actually spend a lot less time tending to your garden.
Hempy buckets can be made out of any plastic container such as trash cans, coke bottles, coolers and so on. You can make a hempy bucket out of anything that will hold water. You probably have something in your home right now that can be converted to a Hempy bucket.
How to make a Hempy Bucket.
Take your container and measure 2 inches up from the bottom and make a hole in the side. The hole doesnt have to be too big, about the circumference of a pencil. This is where the excess water will drain out. Youll need to put your bucket in a small dish or something to collect the run-off water. Any gardening store will have those things for planters and thats what most people use.
My twist on the design is that instead of just a drain hole Ive added tubes (hose connecters) to allow the water to drain out into a container so I can collect the run off easily and measure it if I have to. If you are planning a lot of buckets Id just do a traditional style one but for a few buckets my style really practical.
So why do you make the hole 2 inches from the bottom? The basic idea is that you are replicating a water shelf like in Nature. If you dig down far enough in your back yard youll hit water right? Well thats what we are doing on a very small scale.
What medium to use
The traditional medium for Hempy is a vermiculite and perlite mix but people also use coco and even hydro balls. Personally Id recommend that you just try 100% perlite because its easy, clean and reusable.
Watering and Feeding
To feed your plants you just hand water them like you would any houseplant. If youve never grown anything it might take a while to get used to, but believe me its as easy as pie. During the first week or so of veg youll probably have to water them every few days just a little because the roots havent reached the bottom of the bucket where all the water is, once they do youll only have to water about once a week. Ive gone 14 days between watering before. The important thing is that whenever you feed them you want to add enough so that roughly 30% of what you put in comes out the holes. This helps flush out built up salts and keeps the bucket fresh. Personally I feed my plants with every watering with good results.
Here is a pic of one of my hempy buckets, which is filled with perlite. Youll have to wash the perlite before you use it and its a somewhat messy job so you should do it in the bath. Big strainers work best for the job. Just run water through the perlite to wash away the dust and dirt that will be in the bag with it. Some perlite is almost pure white and other times its tinted grey which is natural. Just keep an eye on the water and when it starts to filter through clear your perlite is ready to use.
Here is the same bucket with 6 freshly transplanted clones. I have just watered them and you can see the water coming out the drain holes into my collection pot. I water them every few days during the first week. I just pour a little at the base of each plant. Eventually your roots will fill the whole bucket so you should water/feed the whole surface area.
Two weeks later after a trim Im ready to flip these to flower. Thats all there is to it. Ill feed them about once a week for the duration of the flower cycle. Other than that Ill only have to check on my garden to raise the lights.
Some thoughts and pointers
I had never hand-watered plants before I tried this style and it was hard to get my head around it before I tried it. Ive noticed that when hydro growers try hempy they tend to water too much at first as I myself did. My first run I was watering 2~3 times a week and I didnt have the best harvest. Plants actually do the most growing and look the best just before they need watering so dont panic and start over watering them. How do you know when its time to water again? If your plants start to look wilted or if they look hungry (paling of the leafs) its time to feed. Once the roots reach the bottom of your bucket (about a week) youll see the plants really start to take off and I suggest you try to wait as long as you can before you feed them, get to know your plants and keep records and youll get the hang of it in no time.
If you decide to use perlite you should plan on recycling it. Recycled perlite is actually better than new perlite. You can remove the roots by shifting through a metal net. Once you get as many out as you can you need to boil the perlite in water for about 5 minutes.
With most hydro growing styles water temp is a huge concern but not with Hempy. As long as youre not growing in 100 degrees I wouldnt even worry about it.
Dont use Lucas
I had used the Lucas formula with my other systems for so long that I didnt even think about using a different recipe and Ive noticed other growers doing the same thing. Bottom line is Lucas is meant for DWC and the ppms are too low for Hempy. Once I started using the recipe on the back of the GH bottles and the grow nutrients with some Epsom I got much better results. You can use any nutrients you wish and many people go organic but trust me, you dont want to waste your time using Lucas formula in Hempy.
Bud Porn
These are examples of plants that I grew under a 250 watt hps light in Hempy. I hit 0.6gpw on my 3rd Hempy grow and I think I might hit closer to 0.8gpw on my latest round with a 2 week veg/55 day strain.
