100% Perlite Hempy question.

Roger A. Shrubber said:

transplanting is one of those things. you can do it well, with healthy plants, and every once in a while, you're going to get a pissy one, that doesn't like it. most of the time when i up pot, they might slow down for a day or two, then they're back to growing again. then there'll be that one, that even though you could swear everything went nice and smooth, acts like you tore half the roots off and stepped on the other half...so just do the best you can do, and give em' the time, if they need it.

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Hi Roger!

When you transplant, for the first 1 or 2 days while it recovers, do you put it under full light? 500umols?

I have reccently swapped to pure perlite in air pots. I transplanted a fairly root bound plant to a larger pot (half gallon to 1 gallon). It has been under light for a week and it is going lime green, dead spots on lower leaves and drooping. It progressed worse and worse. I believe my light is too much 500umols under T5 cold white bulbs.

Im letting the perlite get very dry, just before the plant droops, to encourage root growth. If I water often my plants droop....It seems I am always over watering in perlite.

Porky101 said:

Hi Roger!

When you transplant, for the first 1 or 2 days while it recovers, do you put it under full light? 500umols?

I have reccently swapped to pure perlite in air pots. I transplanted a fairly root bound plant to a larger pot (half gallon to 1 gallon). It has been under light for a week and it is going lime green, dead spots on lower leaves and drooping. It progressed worse and worse. I believe my light is too much 500umols under T5 cold white bulbs.

Im letting the perlite get very dry, just before the plant droops, to encourage root growth. If I water often my plants droop....It seems I am always over watering in perlite.

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i do set them off to the edge for a couple of days, don't want to put too much stress on the root system, until it gets established in its new pot. sounds to me like your plant is trying to grow and is not getting enough food from it's roots yet.., i'd back off the light for a few days and see if it starts to perk back up.
i also feed weak (about 250 ppm) bloom food the first watering after transplant, they like the p and k to build roots

i don't run 100% perlite anymore, because i was having similar problems...if i didn't water every day, they dried out too much, but when i did water every day, by the third or fourth day, it looked like they were over watered, i would let them dry out a little, then they started with the drying out too fast shit....
i went to 70% coco coir, 30% perlite, and all those problems went away. now i water every other day, till i just start to get a little run off (by the time you see it start, it's going to put out at least a pint) have no problems with looking overwatered, and every other day seems like plenty to keep them growing rapidly.

Roger A. Shrubber said:

i don't run 100% perlite anymore, because i was having similar problems...if i didn't water every day, they dried out too much, but when i did water every day, by the third or fourth day, it looked like they were over watered, i would let them dry out a little, then they started with the drying out too fast shit....
i went to 70% coco coir, 30% perlite, and all those problems went away. now i water every other day, till i just start to get a little run off (by the time you see it start, it's going to put out at least a pint) have no problems with looking overwatered, and every other day seems like plenty to keep them growing rapidly.

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I'm about done with it too. I fixed my nute buildup problem but then realized I had a PH buildup problem. PH was 5.2 going in and runoff 6.9.

I flushed again yesterday with 5.8 which washed away all my nutes. By that time my PH was still near 6, PPM at 300. So I went about adding nutes at 1300 and PH of 4.5 to try and hit the PH 5.8 and 750 PPM. I didn't get very close and I ran through a bunch of nutes and a shit load of time. No two pots are running at the same PPM/PH.

I have 36 gallons of perlite in 12 - 3 gallon pots. I'm getting ready to throw most of it in the trash.

Earlyriser76 said:

I'm about done with it too. I fixed my nute buildup problem but then realized I had a PH buildup problem. PH was 5.2 going in and runoff 6.9.

I flushed again yesterday with 5.8 which washed away all my nutes. By that time my PH was still near 6, PPM at 300. So I went about adding nutes at 1300 and PH of 4.5 to try and hit the PH 5.8 and 750 PPM. I didn't get very close and I ran through a bunch of nutes and a shit load of time. No two pots are running at the same PPM/PH.

I have 36 gallons of perlite in 12 - 3 gallon pots. I'm getting ready to throw most of it in the trash.

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this is how i grow. i make my nutes, ph them, feed my plants, and throw the runoff out.....i've never once checked run off ph, or runoff ppm....ever. if you put it in right, it'll be right....if you invent problems, then you'll have problems....
hempy buckets are a hybrid between hydro and soiless media....no need at all to check run off for anything until you actually have a problem...there is no "res" in the sense that there is in hydro...so you can't "manage" something that doesn't actually exist....

hempys are the easiest thing ever, even easier than kratky buckets, which do actually have a res....don't complicate the easiest thing ever.....

Hmm


It's wierd, some plants grew fine in perlite and others are struggling.


Here are the leaves of my struggling plants..I don't know what it is besides root issues..over watered I feel .

Earlyriser76 said:

I fixed my nute buildup problem

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Earlyriser76 said:

So I went about adding nutes at 1300

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there's the cause of your nute buildup. you don't need anywhere near 1300ppms unless your plants are 6 foot tall trees.

Porky101 said:

Hmm


It's wierd, some plants grew fine in perlite and others are struggling.


Here are the leaves of my struggling plants..I don't know what it is besides root issues..over watered I feel .

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what's all the white spots on pic 1? have you checked the underside of the leaves for bugs?

rkymtnman said:

what's all the white spots on pic 1? have you checked the underside of the leaves for bugs?

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I do have bugs.

But my plants still grow fine with the bugs...aslong as I keep the numbers down.

This progresses from when I transplant into a larger pot and then the plant starts drooping and all these issues arise.


I was growing in coco perlite and found I was over watering them. Dead after one water (Ok it was sitting in a small saucer of water).

So I decided to switch to perlite. No more dead plants, but over watered, stunted and overall slow growth.

Once they established in the perlite, they are fine. It is getting them going which is difficult.

Porky101 said:

Once they established in the perlite, they are fine. It is getting them going which is difficult.

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it's because perlite doesn't retain any water/moisture. which is why 3;1 perlite/vermiculite is better than all perlite.

and i'd try to fix your bug issue vs ignore it if it were me.

Porky101 said:

This progresses from when I transplant into a larger pot

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i wouldn't do that either. start in the same pot you're going to finish in. a 5 gal bucket worked perfect for me from start to finish

rkymtnman said:

it's because perlite doesn't retain any water/moisture. which is why 3;1 perlite/vermiculite is better than all perlite.

and i'd try to fix your bug issue vs ignore it if it were me.

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How do I get rid of them? Please tell me?


I know it doesent retain a lot of water..that is why I like it... Less chance of root rot.

Some plants are doing very well in pure perlite .. Others are constantly over watered looking .... So frustrating


Here pics of my plants in pure perlite..they seem to be growing slowly..

Porky101 said:

How do I get rid of them? Please tell me?

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first you need to figure out what bugs you have. do you have a scope/loupe to look at them under magnification? you can't see mites with the naked eye.

Porky101 said:

I know it doesent retain a lot of water..that is why I like it... Less chance of root rot

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if you water daily with runoff, your chances of getting rot are very small. that's one great thing about hempys. i do tomatoes outdoors and they get up to 100F in my greenhouse. no rot ever.

rkymtnman said:

first you need to figure out what bugs you have. do you have a scope/loupe to look at them under magnification? you can't see mites with the naked eye.

if you water daily with runoff, your chances of getting rot are very small. that's one great thing about hempys. i do tomatoes outdoors and they get up to 100F in my greenhouse. no rot ever.

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That's what I am trying to do in pots..I want to water daily once they are established. It is getting them established that is tricky .

Porky101 said:

It is getting them established that is tricky .

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yes it is. i watered many times a day when they were small. once the roots hit the lower res, it's not a problem. and that's the other good thing about vermiculite: it makes it 'airier" in the hempy which makes it easier on the roots. i'm sure you've noticed that all perlite will get very clumpy/sticky when you water?

rkymtnman said:

yes it is. i watered many times a day when they were small. once the roots hit the lower res, it's not a problem. and that's the other good thing about vermiculite: it makes it 'airier" in the hempy which makes it easier on the roots. i'm sure you've noticed that all perlite will get very clumpy/sticky when you water?

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Yes I have noticed some plants in perlite, after I water them, they are still light. Then another plant in the same size pot when I water is heavy. The perlite clumps together.

Are you suggesting vermiculite to stop this?

I was thinking of using hydroton to stop it.

Porky101 said:

I was thinking of using hydroton to stop it.

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that would work too.

Roger A. Shrubber said:

.don't complicate the easiest thing ever.....

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I tried for years to perfect this perlite grow. I'm done with perlite. I have 6 plants in flower ripening and 6 in veg. I have a bunch of clones I'll plant soon and going to switch to coco/perlite in a DTW system and see if I can get better results.

My results are not terrible now. I grow every run much more than I can consume. My flowers are strong and I have large stock pile. It's not like I'm weedless or I've killed any plants in all this. I'm just seeing a slight nute lockout and trying to find the culprit. I have not found it yet.

At first we found the nute buildup. I corrected that but am still getting the lockout. About the only thing left is PH.

I could do 2 gallon fabric pots 70/30 coco/perlite or 2 gallon hempy buckets at 70/30.

I have been feeding at a PH of 5.2. Shouldn't I be been feeding at 6-7?



I also read that Drip clean from House and Garden @ 1 ml/ gallon works great to dissolve salts and eliminate the need for flushing.

Feed at ph6