Grow Mediums Curious about hempy buckets

[UrbanFarmer]

Earlier this week i saw a post on the "how to build hempy buckets" and it interested me. I use soilless medium, and i saw that hempy buckets basically use perlite as the medium. My question(s) is do i treat the ph of the perlite about the same as my soilless? Meaning dont change what im doing now? I know to fill the bucket up with nutes till runoff at the hole and ill ph that, but what do you do if ph becomes a problem considering you are keeping a reservoir of solution in the bottom of the perlite. Sorry if all this sounds noobish but i am looking for a way to go "more" hydro without jumping straight in to DWC.

Any info is greatly appreciated

 

[Epic Genetics]

a passive hydro bucket is very similar (requierments) to growing in soiless , if anything , id lower my ph a small bit , anywhere from 5.8 to 6.2 should work well , just watch your plants and let them tell you what makes em happy

peace

 

[*headpiECE*]

I like to get em even lower than that, as the liquid in reservoir may drift up a bit depending on how long it takes to be used up...I go for 5.5, 5.8 would be my absolute max high end...

I would use 80% perlite, 20% vermiculite...straight perlite doesn't retain much water and you'll be watering a LOT...make sure you rinse the perlite before mixing it with vermiculite as all that perlite dust will coagulate in the bottom of your container.

Hope that's some help...

 

[UrbanFarmer]

Info appreciated, but in a perlite medium with a pot "reservoir" is there a daily watering or flush? I wouldnt think that the solution would be left to sit for days without monitoring. Im just seeking knowledge that i dont have. Before i delve into a new venue of growing to me, i want to be as educated as i can. Nothing more frustrating than beans that for lack of info

Or maybe im trying to overthink the whole method

 

[*headpiECE*]

I respect that, good to go into any situation as informed as possible.

In my experience with hempys, you're looking at watering every 1-4 days depending on the strain, container size, and medium. Watering every day can be fine if your garden is small...fucking tedious shit if you're running a few 1K's and have a day job.

I preferred some vermiculite in my mix for water retention. I don't like to water everyday, especially by hand. So no, in my world, no daily watering...I shoot for every 3 days, maybe every other day once fully flowering. The water won't really be "sitting" in reservoir for very long at all once the roots have grown in down there. And I would do a light flush (1.5 times container size) with pH'd RO water every other week or so.

Over-thinking is sometimes a condition I suffer from as well...there is a small adjustment period from soil to hempys, but once you've learned your plants' wants and needs in that particular paradigm, it really is one of the easiest methods to do. Since you have prior grow experience, I'd say the learning curve will be short...

 

[UrbanFarmer]

The devil is in the details, i just like being informed. Ive got 3 AKR's at 11days old and 1 Dinafem Fruit auto at 4 days old in Sunshine #4 going atm. Figured id research as much as possible and prepare to try hempys for the next go around. I use 3gal pots so i figured i would stay in that container size. I use a 240w blackstar in a DR90 tent so space is limited. Was thinking about adding a 2nd 240 for complete coverage.

 

[Epic Genetics]

The devil is in the details, i just like being informed. Ive got 3 AKR's at 11days old and 1 Dinafem Fruit auto at 4 days old in Sunshine #4 going atm. Figured id research as much as possible and prepare to try hempys for the next go around. I use 3gal pots so i figured i would stay in that container size. I use a 240w blackstar in a DR90 tent so space is limited. Was thinking about adding a 2nd 240 for complete coverage.

if space is limited as you say then going to a passive hydro bucket might not be the answer , done with success you could easily outgrow your space

best of luck whatever you deside

peace