First grow in Hempy

Hey, I'm starting my first grow so I figured this would be a good time to sign up and say hi and tell you about what I'm planting and my grow space. I've been experimenting with Hempy buckets using straight perlite and MaxiBloom with some leftover pepper seedlings I had from my vegetable garden, and they're doing really well so I'm going to go the same route for my first MJ grow. I have a Malana Bomb Auto from Barney's Farm that just sprouted yesterday in a Root Riot cube, so I have that in a ziploc with the zipper open sitting on the deck of my Aerogarden. It's going to end up in a Hempy inside my 24"x24"x48" grow tent under a 300w equivalent LED (Maxsisun is the brand, I believe--it was cheap on Amazon). I'm hoping to keep the plant from getting too tall because I'm growing in a short tent, so I'm thinking a smaller bucket than I'd use for other plants is the way to go. I'm trying to decide between a 2.5 quart and a 5 quart, and also trying to figure out when to transfer that Root Riot cube with the seedling into the Hempy under the bigger grow light. Right now it's just got the cotyledon leaves and there's just barely the beginnings of the first true leaves when I get up close and look at it.

Count Orlok said:

Hey, I'm starting my first grow so I figured this would be a good time to sign up and say hi and tell you about what I'm planting and my grow space. I've been experimenting with Hempy buckets using straight perlite and MaxiBloom with some leftover pepper seedlings I had from my vegetable garden, and they're doing really well so I'm going to go the same route for my first MJ grow. I have a Malana Bomb Auto from Barney's Farm that just sprouted yesterday in a Root Riot cube, so I have that in a ziploc with the zipper open sitting on the deck of my Aerogarden. It's going to end up in a Hempy inside my 24"x24"x48" grow tent under a 300w equivalent LED (Maxsisun is the brand, I believe--it was cheap on Amazon). I'm hoping to keep the plant from getting too tall because I'm growing in a short tent, so I'm thinking a smaller bucket than I'd use for other plants is the way to go. I'm trying to decide between a 2.5 quart and a 5 quart, and also trying to figure out when to transfer that Root Riot cube with the seedling into the Hempy under the bigger grow light. Right now it's just got the cotyledon leaves and there's just barely the beginnings of the first true leaves when I get up close and look at it.

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Welcome and good luck.

Cx2H said:

Welcome and good luck.

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Thanks!

It's been about a week now since my seed sprouted. I have my seedling in a Root Riot plug in a 2.5 liter hempy with perlite only, and it has 2 sets of true leaves and everything is nice and green but it's still looking pretty tiny. I've read that Malana Bomb especially doesn't like too many nutrients and I've been giving it just plain tap water every day. I intend to use MaxiBloom as my nutrients, but I'm unsure when to start using it, and should I go with 1/2 teaspoon per gallon to start, or even less?

Count Orlok said:

Thanks!

It's been about a week now since my seed sprouted. I have my seedling in a Root Riot plug in a 2.5 liter hempy with perlite only, and it has 2 sets of true leaves and everything is nice and green but it's still looking pretty tiny. I've read that Malana Bomb especially doesn't like too many nutrients and I've been giving it just plain tap water every day. I intend to use MaxiBloom as my nutrients, but I'm unsure when to start using it, and should I go with 1/2 teaspoon per gallon to start, or even less?

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Greetings, it's gonna need to be feed soon. Maxibloom is great but may need some Epsom salts too. Because the formula is 1 scoop maxi and about a grm of Epsom per gallon. I feed mine after about 7-14 days from seed and soon as rooted in clones.

OK, cool. Thanks for the help!

I've been feeding my plant MaxiBloom at 1/4 tsp per gallon the last few days, because I've read that this strain likes less nutrients and also that you should start weak with any MJ plant and increase as it gets older. I've never grown this plant before and it's starting to be noticeably bigger every day, but if this was a pepper plant I'd say some of the bigger leaves are looking just a little on the yellow side. Gonna try mixing up a new gallon of nutes with 1/2 tsp of the MaxiBloom and see how it does with that, and if I notice burning I'll fall back to the other bottle with the weaker nutes. None of my other plants (peppers, herbs, lettuce, etc) seem to have calcium or magnesium deficiencies when grown in a hydro setup with my well water and GH MaxiGro/Bloom so I've been holding off on adding epsom salts or CalMag, although I do have both on hand should it look like I need them. Hopefully I'm on the right track here, but if not I'll learn what not to do next time.

Check out the tutorial link in my signature for some ideas.

If you don't see it turn the phone around.

Good luck with your grow.

Dalek Supreme said:

Check out the tutorial link in my signature for some ideas.

If you don't see it turn the phone around.

Good luck with your grow.

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Thanks! That should help me a lot. It looks pretty thorough but easy to follow.

1/4 strength MaxiBloom is fine for this stage of growth - feed daily to run off and you won't be sorry. I never have to go over 1/2 tsp with my hempys.

MickFoster said:

1/4 strength MaxiBloom is fine for this stage of growth - feed daily to run off and you won't be sorry. I never have to go over 1/2 tsp with my hempys.

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That's good to know, thanks! I'll stick with the 1/4 strength for now in that case.

I'm at 3 weeks and 2 days since my seed sprouted. Plant is looking bigger every day. I've bumped the nutrients up to 1/2 tsp MaxiBloom and also 1/2 tsp CalMag per gallon of water. Plant seems to be liking it, except I've had some yellowing of the very oldest leaves (I noticed it when feeding 1/4 tsp MaxiBloom), so I'm keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn't creep up the plant but I believe that's often a sign of magnesium deficiency, yes? I'm also keeping a closer eye on the pH of my nutrients. Measured just now at my most recent feeding at 5.8 (I understand anywhere from 5.5-6.0 is in the good range for hydroponic cannabis, so please feel free to correct me if I got this wrong). I think it was a touch lower yesterday, maybe 5.7 or 5.6. If it goes above 6.0 before it's time to mix another gallon I will add some more pH down. I added a few cupfuls of clay balls on top of my perlite. It seems to be holding the plant better and also all but the very top layer of balls seems to retain moisture. I've also lowered the light a bit just now. It was around 28" above the plant, now it's 22" above. Not sure how much this will change things, but it's only a 300 watt equivalent so I'm not too worried about it being too intense. If anything looks off in the morning before work I'll raise it again.

Also thinking about starting another grow. I have Blue Microverse F4 seeds from Night Owl, and I have another slightly larger (32"x32"x63") tent and another cheap 300 watt equivalent LED grow light. Thinking about buying some cheap 50 true watt COB lights to supplement it, and also thinking about using 100% expanded clay balls in the Hempys on this next grow. Will the clay balls be worth spending $20-25 on when I have enough perlite and clay balls to do it like my current grow, or would you suggest sticking with perlite which I already have and spending the money on another supplemental COB light?

I did 100% clay balls with great success (gave up on perlite).

I like to do flushes with ph'ed straight up water then reset with a nutrient feeding. It cleans out the reservoir.

Dalek Supreme said:

I did 100% clay balls with great success (gave up on perlite).

I like to do flushes with ph'ed straight up water then reset with a nutrient feeding. It cleans out the reservoir.

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OK, thanks! That sounds like what I want to do then. The perlite is messy and clogs up the drain hole so I'll save that for something else. That's also a great tip on cleaning out the reservoir with water.

Count Orlok said:

OK, thanks! That sounds like what I want to do then. The perlite is messy and clogs up the drain hole so I'll save that for something else. That's also a great tip on cleaning out the reservoir with water.

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Yes. When you do a res flush (using ph'ed non-nuted water) first plug the drain hole with your finger, and fill it up (preferably to rim of container). The roots will love a nice rinse. Then give a nice helping of ph'ed nute water (the res will be mostly flushed of previous nute).

Be sure to wash clay balls before use. I like to use a mild bleach/water solution, then rinse/soak in water. Do this every time you reuse the balls.