When using a res how to FEED with every other watering??

Ive been feeding every watering for the past few grows. I water every 48hrs basically.

I am going to try water, water, feed, this next time around. What is the best way to do this when running a drip from a res? would I need another res and a whole other drip line or is there some sort of manifold I can get that would allow this all to run on the same system?

Thanks in advance!

My bro said you want your drippers to only run 15 minutes per day and use them at a highter flow rate once per week to flush out the salt build up.
He said that should fix your problem.

KAL EL said:

My bro said you want your drippers to only run 15 minutes per day and use them at a highter flow rate once per week to flush out the salt build up.
He said that should fix your problem.

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I don't technically have drip emitters. I just run the straight 1/4" hose into the pots and water for 1 min every 2-3 days. That gives each plant about 2 party cups of water.

I tried using the 2gph drip emitters but they constantly clogged and kinda sucked.

I'm also a zero runoff using Smart pots in large trays

i will have him chime in or something, i don't know enoguh about coco

KAL EL said:

i will have him chime in or something, i don't know enoguh about coco

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cool cool thanks man

The point of using a res is they are being constantly fed nutrient solution, which is why you get such vigorous growth using hydro, if your worried about nute burning, use half strength nutes for a while and warm them up to full strength.

You get the non nuted feed from doing say week 1 would be feed week and week 2 you drain the res and fill up with just water and drip just water for a week, rinse and repeat. This also helps to prevent salt build up in the res and planting medium. If you see any deficiencies in the water week, just add a touch of feed. Also by doing this it kind of pre-flushes your plants throughout the grow so you don't really need the full 2 week flush at the end of flowering just continue the same cycle, so long as you chop on a water week they'll be nice and clean.

I've done this every grow with passive hydro (hempy buckets) and is now my plan in DWC anyway same principle.

Thanks man.

Let me ask you this. Whats the advantage of doing the Hempy buckets over just a pot of Coco? Don't you have to water the hempy buckets more often?

Lucius Vorenus said:

Let me ask you this. Whats the advantage of doing the Hempy buckets over just a pot of Coco? Don't you have to water the hempy buckets more often?

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Watering is less frequent with a hempy. When you finish a watering there is always 2" of water in the bottom of the bucket. And it's hard to overwater using buckets. I don't think that there would be any advantage in growth rate between the 2. It's just the hempy bucket is so simple.

I've been growing with 3gal Osmocote Hempy buckets for the past 2 yrs, I've thought about trying other ferts, and growing method, but the results are good and it just doesn't get any easier.

WattSaver said:

Watering is less frequent with a hempy. When you finish a watering there is always 2" of water in the bottom of the bucket. And it's hard to overwater using buckets. I don't think that there would be any advantage in growth rate between the 2. It's just the hempy bucket is so simple.

I've been growing with 3gal Osmocote Hempy buckets for the past 2 yrs, I've thought about trying other ferts, and growing method, but the results are good and it just doesn't get any easier.

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Osmocote the little ball fertilizers?? are you talkin about you do that instead of Perlite or Coco on the top of the hempy? How often are you watering? I was thinking about doing a couple of HEmpys. I do straight Coco now. I was thinking about just using 5 gal Home Depot buckets since i have a bunch and just popping a hole a few inches up from the bottom. I guess my main question would be. Doesn't the roots need to get to the bottom of that bucket or else that water is just sitting there for no reason or does it leach up to the roots at the top of the bucket if you have a small clone in it?

The roots do get to the bottom of the bucket, in the usual root growth time, the water does 'wick' up as well I think Osmocote is a volcanic rock with similar properties to hydroton clay pebbles. If you have enough water retention young seedlings and clones work amazingly!

I've done 100% Perlite hempy's, these aren't great as you need more water retention in the medium for early stage growth, and you need to water pretty much daily :/

Also done 50/50 Perlite/Vermiculite which works the absolute best out of what I've done as the vermiculite gives great water retention and the perlite gives drainage.

Finally done 60/40 Soil/Perlite this is the second best but you can use organics with the benefits of a reservoir.

You can also do 100% Coco Hempy's as it has good water retention and drainage properties, I reckon though, you'll have to water 2-3 times a week. Just an educated guess

Definitely try hempy it is so damn easy, it's actually impossible to over-water I use 10 litre and 2 litre hempy's, the 10 litres I can thoroughly water once or twice a week and not have to worry and the 2 litres I water about 3 times a week.

At the moment I am experimenting with yield in the 10l vs 2l pots, so far the plants in the 2l pots are bigger than the 10l ones and have stronger colas at the moment we'll see about the final yield. (maybe it's because the smaller pots get flushed out more so the reservoir isn't stagnating or fluctuating PH too much) But it's an experiment and we'll see XD

Stay Frosty!

Basically any of my Coco pots i currently have would be a Hempy if I just drilled a hole a couple inches up from the bottom correct? Or would i need to put perlite in the bottom?

Lucius Vorenus said:

Basically any of my Coco pots i currently have would be a Hempy if I just drilled a hole a couple inches up from the bottom correct? Or would i need to put perlite in the bottom?

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Basically yes no need for perlite or anything just coco

but don't your coco pots have holes in the bottom for drainage? in hempy the hole 2 inches up is the ONLY drainage

Matchbox said:

Basically yes no need for perlite or anything just coco

but don't your coco pots have holes in the bottom for drainage? in hempy the hole 2 inches up is the ONLY drainage

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Yea they do but I can make a 5 gal can. I guess my question is whats the advantage of having that hole 3 inches up vs the ones at the bottom? I understand its a resevoir but would't it be a resevoir of waste water that already went through the medium? Basically wouldn't it be water you would otherwise want to have run off?

I build a modified hempy bucket. It's mainly perlite, with a soil core around the root ball. Here's my build. I start clones in soil in a solo cup. After good set of root transplant into 1/2 gal of soil with 1 tbp of OC+ and veg. When I flip to 12/12 I transplant to hempy, I'd do it sooner but my veg box is small. I use 3 gal buckets or just cut off a 5 gal below the rims so its 3 to 3.5gal. Drill a 7/16" hole 2" up from the bottom of the bucket to the bottom of the 7/16 hole or close to that. Fill bucket to about an inch above the hole, here I add a tablespoon of OC+ or OC 14-14-14, another layer of perlilte and another tbp OC. Drop in the soil core with the girl at top elevation fill around with perlite, I finish out the top 2 to 3" around the root core with soil again and put another tbp of OC in this soil. Now just water with ph-ed water. So 4 tbs for the full run at a cost of about $0.64.

A true hempy is soiless, and best results i've seen are with perlite and coco. You can just start your fully rooted clone in the coco or perlite full size hempy, and the medium will draw the moisture out of the rez, and bring it up to the roots.

I wouldn't use a 5 gal bucket it's too tall in my opinion, but I've never tried so I can't say for sure. Most hempys are in the 2 to 3 gal size (7 to 11 liter). I'm trying a test run with 2 liter bottle hempy buckets If it works I'm going to try a SoG in pepsi bottles.

How big of a plant can you really grow in a 2 liter bottle though? they also kinda fall over pretty easy.

How does Hempy fit into a commercial environment?

1st I didn't address your stale water question, and I had this same concern when starting buckets, and I think the secret is letting the plant suck the rez dry, and when watering always use 25 to 50% more water than it would take to fill right up to the hole, and keep the rez small don't drill a hole 3, 4 inches up.

Lucius Vorenus said:

How big of a plant can you really grow in a 2 liter bottle though? they also kinda fall over pretty easy.

How does Hempy fit into a commercial environment?

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2 liter bottle this will be straight from solo cup clone into hempy at 12/12. Just looking for 1 good kola per bottle. Again I earlier said Test run, it's all theory at this point.

Commercially the benefits would be minimal, unless gardening time is a major consideration. You'll get a better yield with areo, or DWC. Any system that induces lots of O2 in the roots, hempies pull O2 down into the medium during watering with suction of the water running out the hole, and then is open to the air, same as you are currently running with coco air-pots, but it ain't no air stone. A hempy is simple and you don't need a bunch of timer, coolers etc, unless you have a auto water system. The only other benefit I can think of is that they keep a cleaner environment compared to any drain thru system even if you don't use saucers and let drain. The place where most fungus, and bacteria grow is where water nitrogen and light intersect. Sounds like a drip or drain tray. If you drain out the bottom of the pot your roots are in contact with this area. A hempy drains 2" above the drain or tray.

So I don't think that the hempy is the commercial silver bullet. But it is a real simple easy method for growing your own meds.

My lights come on it 1/2 hr, I snap a current shot at day 40 and post.

Thanks Watt. Good info and some great food for thought. I love hearing what others do.

KAL EL said:

i will have him chime in or something, i don't know enoguh about coco

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Hey guys- I can sure try.

What nutrients are you feeding with?
At what concentrations? (In ml/gallon if you can, rather than ppm)
And you're in straight coco? Or cut with perlite? If so, what % approx.?

What problems are you experiencing? Have pics of the plants?

And why do you suspect that alternating feeds with plain water might remedy it? Personally, I really don't like the idea of giving straight water to plants in coco, except during the final flush. I know a couple guys who do it, but the benefits of it are questionable IMO. I guess the best way to approach it in this case is just to have you explain why you are leaning toward doing that exactly.

Peace-

Dig

Lucius Vorenus said:

Yea they do but I can make a 5 gal can. I guess my question is whats the advantage of having that hole 3 inches up vs the ones at the bottom? I understand its a resevoir but would't it be a resevoir of waste water that already went through the medium? Basically wouldn't it be water you would otherwise want to have run off?

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Well the idea is your medium has very good drainage, generally more than if you had the holes in the bottom. The point of the res instead of it being run off, is the water in the res is very highly oxygenated due to the cascading motion of the water through the medium (waterfall effect) and roots love this, it allows them to take up a lot more nutrient solution.

It's like in DWC, when your plants are in the net pots, they grow quite slowly but as soon as the roots hit the res the plants take off and grow ridiculously fast, Hempy has a similar effect it just takes longer for the roots to get into the res.

Lucius Vorenus said:

How big of a plant can you really grow in a 2 liter bottle though? they also kinda fall over pretty easy.

How does Hempy fit into a commercial environment?

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Well it depends on the method, I use a Screen of Green XD and the screen supports the massive amount of growth I have. If doing a single cola, yes they are prone to toppling over

In answer to your second question, hempy is the lowest maintenance passive hydro system you will probably ever find... with large enough pots they can go a good long time without being watered so less work looking after them. You can also add a drip line to them and have a 24 hour drip which will give some even more amazing results! This way all you need do is change the res once a week and that is absolutely everything as far as looking after them goes (aside from the usual visual health checks etc in any method)

So it has it's commercial benefits in the low maintenance, high yield area and cheap setup cost, but if your seriously looking for properly commercial yields etc, like WattSaver said Aero or DWC will probably give you a bit more BUT in my opinion I reckon the start up cost of an Aero or DWC system, though it will produce more bud, the bud to cost ratio and probably the highest profit margin after expenditure would be in Hempy's just 'cause they only cost like £4 a bucket.

Probably just repeated a bunch of stuff WattSaver said but all in all aside from the potential commercial benefits I agree

Here's my 10l Hempy ScrOG from my last grow for you



A touch over 3oz dried and cured from 1 plant under 250w of CFL!

Enjoi, and Stay Frosty!!