Hempy bucket alternative medium

Hi people, this may sound weird to you but I don't have access to perlite, vermiculite, clay pellets or coco. They are no where to be found where I live and I can't order them online too.

What can I use to substitute these mediums with for a Hempy Bucket grow?
Will marbles from sand work? I do have access to sand but I don't think the marbles will absorb and hold water, though. I guess they will just drain it down to the bottom and won't hold it any higher than that. Is this OK? Does a Hempy Bucket medium need to wick water to the top?

Also, I have a bag of soil mix and it has what looks like some sort of rather large bark pieces in it. What if I gather all those bark pieces and use them for my Hempy Bucket medium? Will they work?
That soil mixture has *some* perlite in it too. If I spend a few hours, maybe I will be able to separate the perlite from the soil and get myself like two ounces of perlite or something.

What other tried and proven mediums are good for a Hempy Bucket grow, other than perlite, vermiculite, clay pellets and coco?

Thanks!

Those are the tried and proven methods of a hemp bucket maybe you you try another form of hydroponics maybe a bubbling bucket just a suggestion

^ I would do that, but maintaining the salts and the pH of a real hydro system is difficult for a beginner like myself and it's also time consuming (the equipment is way too expensive for my budget too).
This is why I want to go Hempy, but I can't find any of the proven mediums for that kind of grow.

Just grow in soil. Its a easy and proven method. Just get the best "potting soil" thats available in your area. Try to get something that is labeled organic or get something that doesn't have added time release fertilizers.

Guerilla Kush said:

Hi people, this may sound weird to you but I don't have access to perlite, vermiculite, clay pellets or coco. They are no where to be found where I live and I can't order them online too.

What can I use to substitute these mediums with for a Hempy Bucket grow?
Will marbles from sand work? I do have access to sand but I don't think the marbles will absorb and hold water, though. I guess they will just drain it down to the bottom and won't hold it any higher than that. Is this OK? Does a Hempy Bucket medium need to wick water to the top?

Also, I have a bag of soil mix and it has what looks like some sort of rather large bark pieces in it. What if I gather all those bark pieces and use them for my Hempy Bucket medium? Will they work?
That soil mixture has *some* perlite in it too. If I spend a few hours, maybe I will be able to separate the perlite from the soil and get myself like two ounces of perlite or something.

What other tried and proven mediums are good for a Hempy Bucket grow, other than perlite, vermiculite, clay pellets and coco?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Sorry dude, I don't think that will work. Marbles do not retain moisture, it is just glass.. and the pieces of bark would not drain well, and probably rot fairly quickly
100% perlite hempies work fantastic, there really is no need for vermiculite. A bag of perlite is not very expensive, and a 5 gallon bucket from home depot is like $2.50

I love hempy buckets, they work great, easy to make, way easier to flush than soil.. and you know exactly what is going in and coming out.

If you do not have access to perlite, hydroton or vermiculite (though I do not use vermiculite), use soil.

They Hempy bucket is 'tried and true' for a reason.

You could try pumice/volcanic rock. no idea how it would work but it holds water.

You could even try packing styrafoam. Ithink it could work if yu watered often enough. Worth a try huh?


If you have special seeds or cuttings you may want to just use dirt though.

I had this same problem. I ended up using aquarium pebbles and hydroton clay pellets. The only problem I had with it was the fact that the pebbles don't retain moisture, which you can work around by just making sure to water often. Check out the link in my sig, It'll show you how I'm doing with my alternative hempy.

And don't use soil in your hempy bucket! It won't be a hempy bucket if you do. You should also check out the thread Moebius made, https://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/546006-world-hempy.html You should find a lot of useful info there

Anything that people use for hydroponic medium "could" be used for a hempy bucket.

Ideally you want something that has some water retention, isn't too heavy, lets air in but water through, isn't too expensive, and isn't terribly hard to reclaim.

Things people typically use:

Hydroton/expanded clay pellets, perlite, vermiculite, crushed lava rock, coco coir, gravel (cheap, but heavy!).

Things I've heard of using:

Rubberized pellet lawn mulch (supposedly really cheap and effective), lego (no kidding, the cracks retain water!), coarse sand, crushed styrofoam packing peanuts (they tend to "float", but they'll work), crushed brick.

They're suboptimal, but I've heard of people successfully running hydroponics on sawdust, shredded cardboard, and even shredded synthetic cloth. The first two, I think would run into drainage and/or rot problems. Shredded cloth could work, but I think drainage could be slow.

If you're really having trouble, just run a soilless mix, or (gasp!) actual soil. Every lawn and garden store (including Walmart) sells perlite for only a few bucks a bag. I don't know how you can't find that yet expect to find hydroponic nutrients!

Almost 4weeks, 8litre buckets filled with 50:50 pumice and vermiculite.

Working really well!

First grow ever btw.
5 strains
2 of the plants are autos
They spend all day outdoors in the sun (12 hours all year) and go under an led for 6 hours more.

The photos will be flowered outdoors at the 6 week mark.

If you had waited a bit longer you would be reviving a thread dead for 10 years. That’s always a plus here.

Dizzl136 said:

First grow ever btw.
5 strains
2 of the plants are autos
They spend all day outdoors in the sun (12 hours all year) and go under an led for 6 hours more.

The photos will be flowered outdoors at the 6 week mark.

Click to expand...

Your now going to get cruzified as your buckets are see through. Welcome to RIU.

Rocks and net pots my dude.

Lucky Luke said:

Your now going to get cruzified as your buckets are see through. Welcome to RIU.

Click to expand...

I'll change the buckets up next go round.

Being my first grow , it's helpful to be able to see the root development and reservoir level.

Plants so far don't seem to care. Could always cover them in panda film if problems occur down the line.