Hempy buckets size

Guerilla Kush

Active Member
People who grow weed in soil know that the larger the pot is, the faster the plant will grow and the bigger it will become. So, using a pot that is as large as possible is recommended.
Hempy buckets are said to be more productive than soil pots in terms of speed of growth and final size of the plants. Do hempy buckets also need to be as large as possible too, in order for them to work properly, or do they eliminate the need of a large pot because of the abundance of water and nutrients?
 

thecoolman

New Member
Like all proper hydro systems hempys reduce the size needed because there is plenty of water and air so the roots don't need to search as much for it and can put
there energy into growth of the upper plant instead. With that being said size does matter as the solution in the bottom can easily fill completely with roots and
having a larger area can feed more roots resulting in a larger plant. Using a 5 gallon with 2 to 3 inches of solution (no more than 3 inches) will grow some big ones!
I once grew some plants (30 in a couple titan flow and grow systems) these are different but also benefit from a reservoir about 2 inches deep at the bottom of the 4 gallon container
like hempy the plant growth explodes when the roots hit the reservoir. Eventually the reservoir filled so much it pushed the net pot above up a inch or so! Some theorize
that adding medium that holds a little more water than perlite sometimes in layers of varying ratios to retain more water up higher in the bucket gives room for more feeder roots while still
maintaining plenty of oxygen if done in proper ratios. Give it a run hempys are easy and awesome! Good luck
 

Guerilla Kush

Active Member
Thank you for your answer. Appreciated!
So, my hempy buckets need to be large buckets anyway. Too bad, because space was my main concern and I thought that hempys can save me some space while producing same yields as larger in size soil pots.
My box is going to be only 1' x 1' x 3' feet in size. There will be room for only one plant in a 5-gallon bucket in it. I think I can put 3 smaller 1-gallon buckets in there, but I guess they will produce small and slow plants.

One thing I don't understand about hempy buckets is why the roots don't rot when they hit the water on the bottom.
I mean, yeah, perlite and vermiculite are porous and there's plenty of oxygen from the air that is in between the particles, but still - the water pool on the bottom does not get oxygenated by anything. Doesn't it get swampy and stale?
Also, doesn't the solution on the bottom get more concentrated with each new watering?
I am thinking of pre-oxygenating the watering solution with peroxide or with an air stone before I pour it into the hempy bucket. Is this a good idea?
And finally: how much faster do plants grow in a hempy bucket as opposed to soil? Is the difference noticeable?
 

thecoolman

New Member
No hempys can grow bigger plants than a equivalent size soil container and a good bit bigger. With that size 1 gallon is more than big enough. They dont rot plants develop special water
roots just like when a tree is growing next to a river and different roots to anchor them down. There is drain holes on the sides 2 to 3 inches up from the bottom water utill you get run off out of the holes. Also the water in the reservoir gets used up before it goes bad. If your worried you can use some hydrogen peroxide in the water and not the kind at the pharmacy but the kind at the hydro store.
 

Gyroscope

Well-Known Member
Look at this DWC/Hempy. The little bit of perlite has not been watered in 2 weeks and is still moist from the roots wicking up the moisture.

 

Gyroscope

Well-Known Member
Pretty cool but I would think the light would devastate the roots in that clear container
You would think so, but so far they get bigger every day. This is just a test. The next ones will be painted. I think it is a myth about the roots and light. The thing I am watching for is algae.
 

Guerilla Kush

Active Member
No hempys can grow bigger plants than a equivalent size soil container and a good bit bigger. With that size 1 gallon is more than big enough. They dont rot plants develop special water
roots just like when a tree is growing next to a river and different roots to anchor them down. There is drain holes on the sides 2 to 3 inches up from the bottom water utill you get run off out of the holes. Also the water in the reservoir gets used up before it goes bad. If your worried you can use some hydrogen peroxide in the water and not the kind at the pharmacy but the kind at the hydro store.
Thanks, I know the principle of the hempy bucket, I was just wondering about the 1 or 2 inches of water on the very bottom. Now I am starting to get the picture - the plant sucks in the water before it can go stale.
 

Guerilla Kush

Active Member
That bottle is a cool setup, but I have read that roots should be kept in the dark indeed.
So far this one looks to be going good, though. The question is: for how long?
 

Guerilla Kush

Active Member
You should check out what this guy did with 2 Liter hempys:
White Poison
Wow, the size of those mother plants is unbelievable for the 2 liter soda bottle containers he used.
Yesterday I was at the supermarket looking around for tall and narrow containers that would save me space and I thought of using soda bottles too, but I assumed their volume would be too small for the job. Now I know that 2 liters is more than enough.
I think I will use a larger grow box too because I'll be LST-ing them and they could become quite wide.
 

Gyroscope

Well-Known Member
^ How did your 2l grow turn out?
Was it a real DWC hydroponics or was it a hempy bucket?
They are turning out very good. It is 2 liter hempies with perlite only.12/12 from seed. The holes are 2-1/4" from the bottom. I packed them in close and kept them defoliated. Buds on sticks with just the main cola. I have a few sativa phenos that are not the the greatest with this method that will be a little late. My next run I will try half of them doing 2L/DWC. I think they will out preform the perlite with less fertilizer too. I may even do a journal.
Here is a crappy pic from June 28:

 

Guerilla Kush

Active Member
That's a nice grow, man!
Did you defoliate them from the get go or did you allow them to gather some light for a week or two before removing the leaves?
 

Gyroscope

Well-Known Member
That's a nice grow, man!
Did you defoliate them from the get go or did you allow them to gather some light for a week or two before removing the leaves?
Thanks.
They were a little over 3 weeks old before I cut them the first time. The buds are dripping with trichs and starting to get a little top heavy. I need to get some bamboo sticks. These are the best smelling buds I have ever grown. Just touching a bare stem makes my fingers stinky.
 

Guerilla Kush

Active Member
Awesome. Will be looking forward to seeing the yield results. These plants look like they will be ready for harvest in a week or so, but the microscope knows better.
 

jela10

Well-Known Member
The single most largest impact on my hempy bucket experience (which has been amazing) was the container size. I started with 3.5gal black buckets with the hole 2" from the bottom and my first plants grew too large for my tent. So I cloned them and started over in 2gal buckets with the same hole spacing from the bottom thinking the smaller bucket would limit the root system....man was I wrong...the plants still exploded compared to my previous soil grows… so I got different lights and managed things differently to cope with the larger plants. So, what was that impact??....the watering amount....with the 3.5gal bucket I had to mix a ~1.5gals of water/nutes per feeding. Now with 2 gal bucket it only takes me 1gal per feeding with just enough overflow of the hole to say I got some flush. The higher frequency of watering during heavy flower is the same too despite the smaller res in the bottom (every other day). Mixing nutes is a no-brainer now and water container size for trips to the water store are easier too. I need to tell you this is with a coco hempy setup (perlite bottom 2", coco rest of the way to top). Nevertheless, I have done 2 autos, and 2 photo-period plants in shrimpy little 2 gallon buckets that simply kicked ass....both the auto’s were massive bushes @37-38" tall vs. the little 2 footers you see around here. Every plant has been an awesome yielder with hardly any maintenance. I don’t flush or do anything but feed nutes every feeding…
 
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