An Idiot's Guide to Hempy

I am on my third hempy grow -- old gatorade bottle cut in half. For some reason, this time around, I am getting some green sludge on top of the perlite. I have 4 layers of duct-tape around the bottle, but nothing on top. I am pretty sure having something covering the top would have prevented this.

Any way to remedy this? Should I be worried? I read that DWC growers use a little hydrogen peroxide to clear this up. Is that advisable with the hempy style?

And advice appreciated.

Sounds like algae which shouldn't hurt the plant but some people don't like it. You can cover your medium to block the light or like you said treat it with hydrogen peroxide but I've never bothered. Then again I've always had some green but not a sludge.

I've been experimenting with using coco coir on top to stop algae... I guess it does use up some nutrients, but not sure how else it harms anything. If anything, you need more media on top that stays dry... I've found with my 2.5 gallon pots, the top inch stays dry enough to discourage algae.

greenpark13 said:

I am on my third hempy grow -- old gatorade bottle cut in half. For some reason, this time around, I am getting some green sludge on top of the perlite. I have 4 layers of duct-tape around the bottle, but nothing on top. I am pretty sure having something covering the top would have prevented this.

Any way to remedy this? Should I be worried? I read that DWC growers use a little hydrogen peroxide to clear this up. Is that advisable with the hempy style?

And advice appreciated.

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Yeah its just algae, and is 90% harmless. Japanfreak is right, it will munch on your nutrients a bit (which is the reason it is there in the first place) but there are ways to minimize it. The best pointer I ever received for hempy watering was when you water, pour 20% more than your res will hold in ONE SPOT, as fast as you can.

This will cause the "water table" to rise quicker than your bucket can drain it. The benefit to this is that as your bucket drains, it pulls air through the perlite aerating the roots. If you water fast and the runoff comes out with more force, it will pull more air. The other benifit to this is that it does not keep the surface completely moist. I used to water my hempies like soil, soak the entire surface and let it all drain down, and I noticed that since I have been watering in one spot (I usually water about 1/4" in from the edge) that the top stays drier and the algae is in a smaller spot and dies off before the next watering most times.

Also, once you get a nice canopy going, this will shade the surface of the perlite and not let enough light through for the algae to survive. Of course, growing in small bottles like that you may never get a canopy dense enough to shade, and in that case you could cut round pieces of white paper just big enough to cover your bottle. Poke a hole in the middle big enough for the stem, then cut a line from the outer edge to the hole and slide it over the top of the bottle. When its time to water slide it off, that will stop the algae for sure. For an extra precaution you could even use white on one side, black on the other and have the black side down.

Best of luck
KB

What if i use a small air stone and aireate the water in the hempy bucket...what are your thoughts on this ideal

Many people have tried it but none has reported back that it improved anything. If you want to do it go for it I say.

Many thanks for the advice. It makes for a much less stressful weekend -- I can only tend to the plants at certain stealthy times, and the weekends tend to be difficult. Pouring the water in one spot sounds like a good idea. I will probably make a cover for it too.

I just finished curing a Big Buddha Automatic (NL X Bonkers) hempy style. The buds seem more dense than my previous non-hempy grows.

ive beengrowing hempy for 2 yrs now and always get great results.plants yeild anywhere from 3 oz to 7 oz depending in strain under a 1000w hps.i too have had the little bit of algea on top of my medium,it never hurts usually dies off but i pick it out if it gets thick.ggod luck hempy rules.

DSB65 said:

What if i use a small air stone and aireate the water in the hempy bucket...what are your thoughts on this ideal

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Same as Japanfreak, I have heard of people trying this with not much improvement. Plus, why bother with an airpump and stone? Thats sort of the point of hempy is to keep it simple. Might as well go DWC if you're gonna use a stone. Just make sure you fill the containers enough to get roughly 20% drainage as the drainage creates a vacuum pulling air down through the perlite. Also water fast and in one spot, that way the "water table" rises quickly allowing the hole to drain faster and longer.

KB

I'm really liking the Hempy buckets!!! Is there anyway to transplant an 2 week old seedling (one set of true first leaves) from soil into a hempy bucket with perlite? And I can't remember if I read this yet, but when you start hempy buckets, do you start using nutes right away?? entire time??? Thanks for this very informative thread. Sub'd

I transplanted seedlings out of soil into hempy before and they took right off, but I was using poor soil and didn't really have a choice. I just used room temp water in a bowl and washed off any soil that natural feel off with light washing. I think you can expect some transplant shock but it wasn'T as bad as I would have thought it was.

You would start nutrients when the seedlings are the 4th set or so of leafs.

I feed every time I water but some people alternate feeding with just watering, you really have to experiment and see what works best for you.

Thanks... I have her growing in MG right now, but have two huge bags of both FFOF and Perlite... so I am considering my options. Maybe for the next grow, its hempy time.

Nice thread japanfreak.
I enjoyed the read. And some helpful tips
From ob1 thanks also.

captbooyah said:

Thanks... I have her growing in MG right now, but have two huge bags of both FFOF and Perlite... so I am considering my options. Maybe for the next grow, its hempy time.

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Sounds like a great chance to do a comparison grow. If I were you I'd do both.

Waiting on some White Widow seeds... Thinking I could do one in MG, one in FFOF, and one in a hempy bucket. Might as well right, I have all the stuff I need. LOL just need to get some nutes...

I grow my mothers in hempy, and keep my vegging and flowering plants in a DWC bubbler. I love both.

I love having my moms in hempy. Best way to keep them in hydro, can abuse the shit out of them

what about the puppy chow mix?

or hydroton by itself?

i SOG on ebb tables & cant stand using dirt for my mothers. i'm a dirty dirt hater to the max.

reducing my mother plant count & switching to a different method has been on my "to do"list for a hot minute. i started to flower off moms and now i want to switch to hempy.

this can be done buckets inside of buckets (keeping in mind the 2" height of the hole).

i'd like to ditch soil completely. i use 75l of hydroton at a clip & have no issue cleaning it.

it's like you mention earlier in the thread about having a system to clean & the right tools.

what size is the perlite you use?

thanks

I've heard of people using hydroton but don'T know much about it. The common mediums are perlite, cocco, perlite&vermiculte. I've never heard of puppy chow mix.

I try to get larger sized perlite because I recycle it and it breaks down over time but there's not much selection where I live, no small medium or large.

puppy chow is perlite & hydroton mixed together.

thanks for the quick response.

definitely gonna try it using chunky perlite.

good write up.