Gonna do a hempy grow so i have some questions.

I have done several grows in soil that didnt turn out all that well, but that was due to not having the right equipment. I am now wanting to do a hempy grow and will soon have the right equipment. I will be getting a 4x4x7 grow tent and a 600w hps light and the advanced nutrients ph perfect grow/micro/bloom nutrients. From what i have read a 75/25 mixture of perlite/vermiculite seems to be highly recommended. Please correct me if i am wrong. With that said, are there any certain brands or sizes of each that work best? I plan on using 2gallon buckets. That will let me fit up to 16 in the tent, but i would probably stick to around 8 as i am only wanting to grow enough for me and my wife..which is usually about an ounce a week. I will be hand watering these buckets.

any suggestions on the brand/type of vermiculite / perlite, etc?

catfishclyde said:

any suggestions on the brand/type of vermiculite / perlite, etc?

Click to expand...

I don't think it makes much difference....many folks prefer course perlite but it costs more so I just use the cheap stuff....vermiculite is all about the same (IMHO)

just be sure to rinse your perlite well before using or there will be allot of chalk dust on the bottom of your hempy

I always run large coarse perlite I also add about 1/2" of coco to the top so the perlite will not float or get light directly on the roots.

By right equipment, I hope you mean pH tester and ppm meter! 75/25 is great, you will get huge yields, just be prepared for the vigorous growth, especially coming from soil

vitamin_green_inc said:

By right equipment, I hope you mean pH tester and ppm meter! 75/25 is great, you will get huge yields, just be prepared for the vigorous growth, especially coming from soil

Click to expand...

I have never used a PPM or pH meter.....I just use pH drops to get it in the right ballpark, hempy's are not that fussy

They can be fussy, and a pH meter, would in fact be pH drops, because a meter is used to measure....also, PPM is extremely important, but I bet you would say, I just use tap and whatever the Nute label says...which is cool, except for everyone's situation is different. If you are trying to teach noobs you need to set them up for success, hence the proper tools to use hempy and get the best results

ISK said:

I have never used a PPM or pH meter.....I just use pH drops to get it in the right ballpark, hempy's are not that fussy

Click to expand...

I was olanning on using The AN PH perfect grow micro and bloom nutes. Those are supposed to balance the pH from what I have read. Do I still need a meter? Don't know if I'll use tap water or bottled water.

Those are overpriced, heavily. Google Lucas formula, you can use much, much cheaper alternatives. You need to check your PPM, or how hard your waters is, and your PH, or how alkaline it is. Its only like 15 for a PPM meter on Amazon, and you can get the test drops at the same place for like 12. I would go ahead and order these pronto, so you can see if you will need to use RO water or not. Don't buy the AN though for real. Its a waste of $

vitamin_green_inc said:

They can be fussy, and a pH meter, would in fact be pH drops, because a meter is used to measure....also, PPM is extremely important, but I bet you would say, I just use tap and whatever the Nute label says...which is cool, except for everyone's situation is different. If you are trying to teach noobs you need to set them up for success, hence the proper tools to use hempy and get the best results

Click to expand...

PPM is not important in hempy (when using the basic Lucus formula) ....and pH drops are not a meter but rather an indicator

PPM is not important when using the basic Lucas formula huh?

but if a noob that has no clue what they are doing attempts to follow the Lucas formula, and comes on this forum or any other forum to question and learn, how are you supposed to be able to help?

Hypothetical Noob-"the clone/seedling is only two weeks old, and I read that you can bump it up to full strength, just watch the plant for any signs of overfeeding, so I gave them 3/4ths of the little scooper in Maxibloom."

Please tell me how much simpler and more rewarding it would be for the noob to be able to simply state their PH, yes you are technically correct drops but who cares: you are arguing semantics from your very first post.

PPM, which would allow ANYONE with Lucas formula, or DTW Coco growing, or perhaps even true Hydro experience, to help.

Like I said, equip yourself with the right tools and the experience is much more rewarding/stress free. You more than likely understand this, but my original advice still stands for the noob who was going to buy AN pH perfect without even knowing his PPM or PH.

@catfishclyde what size pots are you attempting for/what size is your grow space? Hempy is one of the best methods, besides true hydro, for SOG.

Vitamin.....I was planning in 3 gallon pots. Tent will be 3*3 with a 600w mh/hps light. If a grow takes 3 months start to finish I am trying to get around 10-12 ounces each grow. Enough for myself and wife so we don't have to keep going to the dealer. I very much appreciate your help and advice.

vitamin_green_inc said:

PPM is not important when using the basic Lucas formula huh?

but if a noob that has no clue what they are doing attempts to follow the Lucas formula, and comes on this forum or any other forum to question and learn, how are you supposed to be able to help?

Hypothetical Noob-"the clone/seedling is only two weeks old, and I read that you can bump it up to full strength, just watch the plant for any signs of overfeeding, so I gave them 3/4ths of the little scooper in Maxibloom."

Please tell me how much simpler and more rewarding it would be for the noob to be able to simply state their PH, yes you are technically correct drops but who cares: you are arguing semantics from your very first post.

PPM, which would allow ANYONE with Lucas formula, or DTW Coco growing, or perhaps even true Hydro experience, to help.

Like I said, equip yourself with the right tools and the experience is much more rewarding/stress free. You more than likely understand this, but my original advice still stands for the noob who was going to buy AN pH perfect without even knowing his PPM or PH.

@catfishclyde what size pots are you attempting for/what size is your grow space? Hempy is one of the best methods, besides true hydro, for SOG.

Click to expand...

I'll repeat myself ....PPM is NOT important when using the Lucas formula....not required

Do you understand the basic Lucas formula?....7 grams per gallon....end of story

why do you want to make this more complicated for a rookie?

I was planning on growing the Barney's farm critical kush if that makes any difference.

catfishclyde said:

I was planning on growing the Barney's farm critical kush if that makes any difference.

Click to expand...

Going from seed, I like to use Rapid Rooters-16oz solo cups made into mini hempys-3 or 5 gallon. 3 gallon is good, but you will want to do a little bit of training for max yield. You should be able to achieve your goal quite nicely in that space with that light. Have you thought of how many you want to run?

I was going to use uncle bens topping technique to get 4 main tops for each plant and was thinking of growing 4 at a time.... Maybe 5 if they will fit?

Sounds legit. Run it. I would definitely research Lucas formula, get the ph drops(shutout to ISK), the ppm meter, order the beans and run that ish. I would start out transitioning from mini hempy to 3 gallon, but that's how I learned it.

OP, I use this setup almost EXACTLY.
3.5 gallon final bucket.
I do 100% Perlite (so i can reuse it. Same 2 bags for the last year)
AN 3 part.
600w light
4x4 grow space.
I do vertical Donuts. (no hood barebulb)
For perlite. Use SUPER course perlite. If you cant find it and have amazon prime, i bought 2 100L bags from them.
Buckets i got from amazon as well. they had a 10pack of 3.5 gallon black for like 40 shipped.
No PPM meter
No PH testing
My Hard Water comes out at 7.5 ph
8 3.5 gallon buckets produce enough for me, mom, stepdad smoking 1.5 ounces/ week.
I do a feed water feed schedule using equal parts of all 3/gallon seed to finish. (I have been cutting it down to half the grow during the last 3 weeks of bloom).
Pretty easy setup to learn on.
If I could make one recommendation. Get/make a clone bucket that matches the final pot you will be in. If you let the roots in the cloner run long to the bottom of the bucket, you wont get the "Hempy Lag" as the roots grow to the Reservoir. Grow them long and gently transplant them so the roots start in the rez. A 1.0gallon Cloner bucket on amazon for 40 bucks, or DIY even cheaper.

To respond to the PPM/PH/Lucas Formula debate, Lucas was designed to not NEED those things. if you fuck up your mix and your plants look wrong, dump the rez (tilt it until its empty) run the same amount of water through it that your pot is. So the OP is using 2 gallons buckets, flush with 2 gallons of water. You've just reset everything. Dump rez, and feed at 1/2 strength.

Secondly, Maxibloom Dry fucking sucks. Hot water, dissolve, or stir, for 5 min or whatever, fuck that shit. If you live where its humid, keep that shit DRY in a Tupperware container. Humidity fucks thats crap up. If you want to do a single bottle, Floranova Bloom. Its liquid. Its all you need.
Also, Depending on your water, the OP may need some cal mag. Its pretty common to see with hempy grows.

Clyde, Gl on your grow. Hempys are a easy way to get started. However, Hempys are finiky until you hit that rez. my cutting always looked shitty till then. IMO, they are a easy transition from commercial bag soil. (no testing of ph ppm). I personally am going back to soil. Less plants, bigger pots, organic no-til. My change has nothing to do with the quality of plant Hempy can perform. I dont like using bottled nutrients. I only bring this up, because I will be able to use my perlite that i have for when i make my soil. I'll also have 12 3.5 gallon hempy buckets for free +shipping in Feb. lol

Canna coco coir and perlite 60/40 respectively. Canna coco A and B + calmag. I don't go any stronger than 10ml per 10L for Canna A and B nutrients. Calmag at 5ml per 10L. I do that every feeding from small clones to 2 weeks before harvest. Flush with 1/4 strength 2 weeks 'till harvest, no calmag.

Always have at least 30% run off and water at 5.8 pH. If run off is lower than what you put in, water with 6.5 pH the following watering to bring up coco pH. Do this until your run off is between 6.3 and 6.5 then resume giving it 5.8 pH.
If run off is pH is too high, water with 5.5 pH until run off is around 5.5 to 5.9pH.

Look at my nice purple buds

vitamin_green_inc said:

They can be fussy, and a pH meter, would in fact be pH drops, because a meter is used to measure....also, PPM is extremely important, but I bet you would say, I just use tap and whatever the Nute label says...which is cool, except for everyone's situation is different. If you are trying to teach noobs you need to set them up for success, hence the proper tools to use hempy and get the best results

Click to expand...

+rep