Hempy Buckets...friend or foe?

First off, RIU is incredibly awesome. I try and do research on here almost everyday. So thanks for all the good advice.

I don't think Hempy buckets like me haha. This is my third attempt and growing hempy style....and after all those failed attempts I'm really losing my mind.

Trying to grow a Fem Auto Easy Ryder. She is 23 days old! and looking so pathetic.
Honestly there is so much different advice on RIU about troubleshooting hempy setups and sick plants that I don't know anymore which way to go.

Germ'd her in rockwool and transplanted rockwool straight into final resting place (2gal bucket). PH runoff is at 6.0-6.2 constantly. Watering with chlorine free tap water PH'd to 5.8. Temps at 75-79F. The past week and half I've been giving her 1/4 strength Thrive Alive B1 Red. I am doing Water-Feed-2 Days Off and keep repeating. No pests.

Quick run down on my setup:
-Grow cab with intake and outtake fans.
-Reflective mylar in every square inch of the cab.
-1 inside standing fan for more circulation
-Hempy bucket with 100% perlite
-Fem Auto Easy Ryder
-Using "Recipe for Success kit" nutes.
-Currently using 3 x 23 watt CFLs. 6500K.
(I have a 200w CFL 6500k and 2600K...but haven't used them on her yet)

Alright...bite your tongue and try not to scream haha. Here are her glamour shots.
If I can't grow her successfully....please chop me up and feed me to the grow gods. I'm not worthy

Thanks again.

i dont think you see alot of growth in hempy buckets until the roots hit the res at the bottom so you might notice the growth speed up soon , also id stick the other lights on if you can control the temps ...

Thanks RobbieP. Yea I've always heard that once the roots hit the res they explode with growth. I know all strains are different, but every other Hempy grow thread I've read on here have more growth at 2 weeks than I have at almost 4 weeks. Yea thinking I'll switch to my 200W CFL 6500k tomorrow. Might have to add another fan and leave the cab half open during the day. Temps may be a problem.

In your honest opinion does she look sick or lacking nutes?

Thanks for your re-assurance though, it definitely helps.

imo she does look behind in terms of age and size but i dont have and experiance with autos ... did you know you can 12/12 a seed from start to finish and it will grow like a auto , takes about 10 weeks but you get 2 - 4 oz ... and on the plus isdes theres loads more varieties that the autos lol

I've kept my mothers in hempy buckets for about ten years, flower in dwc. The rockwool is a problem when transplanting into a big container with no roots in the bottom. You should go from rooted rockwool into a dixie cup hempy style for 1-2 weeks then into the 2 gallon bucket. You'll get better root growth in the dixie cup then when you transplant at about 3-4 weeks of age there's more established roots that can move down. If you plan to go straight in once rooted try jiffy pellets instead as they will retain more moisture. I've grown roadrunner in mop buckets stared with jiffy pellets then dixie cup finally into #4 perlite with super excellent results. Also what is your humidity at? The auto's i've grown absolutely loved high humidity till about day 35.

I had the same problem when I did hempy for my micro grow. My solution was to let the plants grow inside the rockwool for as long as possible and then transplant to smaller dixie cup like johndeer said, and then to bigger container. You will notice a big difference by letting them grow in rockwool for 2 weeks with a 1.5" cube because there is a lot more air to water ratio to allow for quick root growth. Then when you put them in perlite they will want to expand out.
Good luck

jonhdee said:

I've kept my mothers in hempy buckets for about ten years, flower in dwc. The rockwool is a problem when transplanting into a big container with no roots in the bottom. You should go from rooted rockwool into a dixie cup hempy style for 1-2 weeks then into the 2 gallon bucket. You'll get better root growth in the dixie cup then when you transplant at about 3-4 weeks of age there's more established roots that can move down. If you plan to go straight in once rooted try jiffy pellets instead as they will retain more moisture. I've grown roadrunner in mop buckets stared with jiffy pellets then dixie cup finally into #4 perlite with super excellent results. Also what is your humidity at? The auto's i've grown absolutely loved high humidity till about day 35.

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Thanks Jonhdee. Yeah you are absolutely right. I will definitely use the Dixie cups for awhile next time around. I've always heard that RW was not the best starter medium for germ and growing due to PH craziness. But I have always been told it the most sure shot way to get a seed to germ and sprout successfully for a hydro style setup. So far the RW seems to be retaining moisture pretty well which sometimes scares me about overwatering.
My humidity has been fluctuating 60%-80%. Is that bad?

alexonfire said:

I had the same problem when I did hempy for my micro grow. My solution was to let the plants grow inside the rockwool for as long as possible and then transplant to smaller dixie cup like johndeer said, and then to bigger container. You will notice a big difference by letting them grow in rockwool for 2 weeks with a 1.5" cube because there is a lot more air to water ratio to allow for quick root growth. Then when you put them in perlite they will want to expand out.
Good luck

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Thanks alexonfire. Good to know that there are some seasoned growers like yourself that have gone through these same issues. So you just let them grow in straight RW with no perlite for 2 weeks? you don't throw them in a small cup with perlite before putting them in the larger container?

The recommendations are spot on. Explosive growth starts when the roots hit the reservoir. Staging through 2 or 3 different sized containers will get better growth. It appears that growing in straight perlite is much more maintenance intensive. Adding vermiculite really speeds up root growth. For that small of a plant in straight perlite, I'd probably water 4 or 5 times a day, 1/2 cup per watering. There isn't much danger with the reservoir filling up and spoiling because the roots are nowhere near the bottom.

Good luck.

Hempy is about as easy as it get. Focus on root growth and don't worry about the surface growth. It will come!

The ones in my journal were started less than a week before you started yours, for a comparison.

Girdweed said:

Hempy is about as easy as it get. Focus on root growth and don't worry about the surface growth. It will come!

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Nice! thanks Girdweed. Thats some encouragement right there. I'm definitely learning as much as possible. I'll up the waterings and see how she reacts. Thanks again.

If I were you I would take the rockwool cube out of the the perlite until you see an improvement and then put them back into the perlite. That is just me talking from experience, I bet your roots havent started to spread out to the perlite yet and they need more air until you water them. I would totally agree with Girdweed, EXCEPT in your situation you should not be increasing waterings, this will not heal your plant problem.

My best results for hempy method:
- 2 weeks rockwool
- Transplant to small cup with 1/4 vermiculite, 3/4 perlite for 2 weeks
- Transplant into final container with straight perlite

Will someone please explain to me what a hempy bucket is?

alexonfire said:

If I were you I would take the rockwool cube out of the the perlite until you see an improvement and then put them back into the perlite. That is just me talking from experience, I bet your roots havent started to spread out to the perlite yet and they need more air until you water them. I would totally agree with Girdweed, EXCEPT in your situation you should not be increasing waterings, this will not heal your plant problem.

My best results for hempy method:
- 2 weeks rockwool
- Transplant to small cup with 1/4 vermiculite, 3/4 perlite for 2 weeks
- Transplant into final container with straight perlite

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Ok sounds good. I'm truly thinking this might be the way to go. I'm just afraid of damaging those roots or some sort of transplant shock since she's not in tip top shape.

lordjin said:

Will someone please explain to me what a hempy bucket is?

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I'm no professional on hempy buckets...but everything I learned about them came straight from this helpful thread:
https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/59705-hempy-collective.html

To make sure not to damage the roots you should tip the container sideways to allow for the loose perlite to fall away from the roots rather than yanking it out.
Transplanting with perlite can be a little bit tricky because it doesnt hold together like soil does. I find tipping the container completely upside down to "catch" the roots and then put them in a hole in the new bigger container.

You can knock alot of the perlite off the roots when you transplant and I've never seen any ill effects towards my plants, never seen the use of using vermiculite with the perlite just one more thing to have to buy in my book. Hempy buckets are about as easy as they come for maint free hydro growing. First thing you need to make sure of is that the container you have is dark colored because just like dwc(I flower in this style currently) you will get light leak and alge will choke your roots out from the great source of water in the bottom of your bucket. I only water my mothers every three days enough till water comes out the side and fills the drip pan about a half inch. I feed every time I water and never flush, even in flower up till the week before harvest. If you run a conservative ppm and use the kiss method you will have stellar results. Use a good base nutes so you don't have to try and get a phd in chem to figure out the best profile for your strain with mixing multiple bottles of crap to get a decent profile. If you have any one of these situations: shitty air exchange, high heat, crappy lighting, ph swing from mixing 20 fucking bottles, use even less nutes. Plants love stability and simplicity so keep it regular for them. If you do these things you'll be getting a great product and yield from any setup. I've flowered in hempy buckets under t5's in the summer time and averaged 2.89 oppl from ghs white widow with just cns17 grow and bloombastic.

alexonfire said:

My best results for hempy method:
- 2 weeks rockwool
- Transplant to small cup with 1/4 vermiculite, 3/4 perlite for 2 weeks
- Transplant into final container with straight perlite

Click to expand...

This is pretty spot on for what I do as well.

I missed the rockwool bit. There is no reason to put into bucket until roots are visible through rockwool. Good catch, alex!