Hempy Bucket Feeding Schedule

yankeetransplant said:

Thot I would post this update of my Hempy grow...this pic is a 4 full days later than the last post...still is a significant visual difference in bud size, but more importantly to this post, is how they all started feeding heavier...I recently came off of many yrs of water culture growing, in which your nutes levels are the lowest of all systems...just the nature of the beast with water culture that roots feed very efficiently in a PROPERLY RUN DWC Bucket...I never found the need to run any higher than about 500 ppms in a water culture system...With a passive system like the Hempy bucket, those numbers are can easily go 30-40% higher than that for best results...As with ANY SYSTEM, let the plants dictate EXACTLY what they are needing...Ambient temps, light wattage, bucket rez temps, to mention a few things that will change how heavy ur plants may be feeding....But I just found the need to UP my ppms from 500ppm (were thriving there), to about a 620 to find the sweet spot again...Being on day 24 now, It wouldn't surprise me to see the need to run it up another 100ppms in another 5 days or so to support profuse flowering, but that would max them out...just for clarification, I am running numbers with 500ppm NaCl tds conversion, for those who are into exact number....its probably the most common in the U.S....not sure about other countries... These higher ppms are actually out of my comfort zone solely because of how lean I have been running for a cpl decades now....But, thats the nature of the beast with this system and many other passive systems...I know many ppl probably jokingly saying, wow, going WAY UP TO MAYBE 700ppms or so, but I am a lean feeder to begin with, and up my nutes ONLY if the plants justify it....Many ppl have NP running up to 1kppms or even a littView attachment 3967201 View attachment 3967207 le higher....That will require flushes, because I have NEVER SEEN A PLANT that thrives on a thousand+ ppms....Many use the feed, feed, FLUSH system, which grows plants just fine, but, I like steady nute levels that are tuned in at each stage of growth...THAT'S WHERE best results are found....anyways, just got this one pic for now...full crop pic and I have a close-up of a Cheese Candy...all my pics are only cell phone quality so they are never the greatest but usually make the point..

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yankeetransplant said:

Last picture of my Hempy grow was day 18 into flower....this was taken day 30 into flower...filling in nicely...cpl seedling pics which will be going into the next crop...Bomb seeds....It will be mostly THC Bomb and I have 1 NICE Bubble Bomb which was the best out of freebees I had...View attachment 3971130 View attachment 3971132 View attachment 3971110

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yankeetransplant said:

QUALITY NUTES, QUALITY NUTES, ETC,ETC.....I use the Dyna Gro line......A single use quality nute, Is all they need to thrive.......NONE OF THESE, SNAKE-OIL ADDATIVES, EVERYONE SAYS YOUR PLANTS NEED....They ARE NOT necessary.....Chose a good nute, LEARN IT, top water, and ALLOW some righteous runoff....They will reward you many times over to make that extra runoff a negligible issue...My current set up is only 5ft by 4ft plot, with a 1000w HID on a light mover (a fav.pc of equipment)...I use less than $75 in nutes to produce right at 30-32 jars....With a return like that, I DONT CARE if I 'wasted' $25 in nute run-off...Run-off is a HUGE pc of mind or for me.....YT

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yankeetransplant said:

The down spout is a great way to FLUSH the 'internal reservoir'....I have very small holes with rubber stoppers at the bottom side of each bucket....As a sanity check, and at any time, I can pull a rubber stopper to check how the internal rez's are behaving.....It VERY possible for pH to drift up, AND even more so, the TDS....if there is any type of deviation, its easy to dump a pH, AND TDS balanced solution down that spout and let it come out your drains.....It's better than dumping a BUNCH down over your root ball...PLUS, if its a pH fluctuation, you could dump a 5.0 mix on top of a rez that is at in the mid 6's to BALANCE IT...then check....Once your #'s are 'CLOSE', regular watering with pH and TDS correct solution will keeps thing stable (for a while), sanity checks once a week keeps it correct....
Feeding should be EVERY WATERING...I.ALWAYS water till I get about a third RUN-OFF.....I.rather do that and 'waste' a little nutes, than have fluctuations that would cause issues....I use 3 gal buckets...I've used 5 and found there is no difference with plants the size I grow....I water every 3 days, with good runoff, and it Rocks....When I transplant into the main room (from nursery), they are on ALMOST full strength grow nutes....Once under a halide, they really take off....Within a week, go to full grow nutes...They get full GROW nutes until a week into flower....GROW nutes are needed to support that heavy stretch, the 1st week of flower, even though the timer is 12/12....MOMENTUM going into flower greatly dictates how well they are going to do....Break that momentum, and they won't reach their full potential...that can easily happen, if they were swapped right over to flower nutes with the timer flip...Slower growth, premature yellowing (or worse def) can all happen during HARD STRETCH the lacks nitrogen.......THEN, I swap to Full Bloom formula, until its time to reduce it, in preparation for flushing......
also keep im mind, when I transplant INTO the main room, these are plants from cuttings I took off the last crop, they day after I put it into flower...Gives me time to root and get them prunned a cpl times and VERY READY to start growing...No MOTHER plants needed that way too...They have made adjustments to higher grow formula by then too...I usually up it a week prior to transplant too, to get them growing fast (under quality T5 lights)....Then all I need to do is increase the grow formula ONCE about a week-10day after transplant, Then swap to full bloom, 7 days into flower....EASY RECIPE to remember.....I am using 1000w HID lights...Someone using something like 400w lights, would need to be using LOWER TDS #'s.....Each grower needs to tweek recipes to WHAT THEY ARE DOING....YT

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yankeetransplant said:

I have actually discontinued my air stones....I had a family member as an apprentice for a cpl years, and was using air stones because I had a hard time stopping excessive watering....finally on board about watering practice, I discontinued the stones....I had advocated them to newer growers also just for that reason....ANY TIME your roots are ALWAYS SUBMERGED in water, Aeration of that water will prevent rot....Even without any rot, you want your roots HAPPY AS YOU CAN GET THEM...what goes on above ground, is goverened by what goes on below ground...Nervous waterers (over watering) have a hard time breaking that practice....Depending on plant size, container size, light intensity, Each grower needs to learn HOW LONG its takes your plants to deplete the water in the 2in deep internal reservoirs....its simple to add some every day to insure those internal rez's are full, but your also keeping those roots submerged...Those are the roots that are doing most of the work, and they are the smallest...as you move vertical up the medium toward the plant, those roots get thicker...WITHOUT stones, You must allow the existing water in those internal rez's to be depleted WITHOUT going BONE DRY...soon as it gets bone dry, you can also damage roots....ITS NOT splitting hairs either... Its easy after a crop to see how YOUR SYSTEM, SIZE BUCKETS, WITH YOUR SIZE PLANTS are behaving.....I have ppl drill a hole in the BOTTOM SIDE of the buckets...then plug it with a rubber stopper....It makes an easy way to see if the rez is empty....Helps you learn HOW FAST they are using that water up....I like to use rinsed lava rock in my bucket bottoms...I have a bed just above my 2inch drain holes...So even when the water gets depleted, the lava rock holds a bunch more in the pours....Its just important to allow oxygen to get to those 'feeder roots' at the bucket bases...So, if you like to constantly water, use stones...I ran an 70L/min PUMP with ONE 1inch barrel stone in each of 6 buckets....Enuf to provide plenty of added air to the CONSTANTLY standing water....THEY WILL grow fine without stones IF YOU LEARN how to manage watering IN YOUR SYSTEM....I currently use 3 gal utility buckets, with a 1000w light, with plants that are approx 2ft tall, 2ft wide at maturity...I water every 3 days from late veg thru 6 weeks of flower, and then go to every 4 days till they finish....When I pull a 'PLUG' prior to watering, it is never pouring out the hole....I haven't pulled one in a long time, cause I know how MY SYSTEM behaves...YT

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Hash Hound said:

This allows for a flush of the reservoir each time. This pic from a water farm is from something similar

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Vitech said:

This is my hempy setup that I did just randomly one day having random things lying around and wanted to try, found a seed and started the process. It was a lot of learning and still is this photo is 9weeks from broken soil seedling. Buds just starting to form. But I went from water once a week, to having to water it almost every 2-3 days. And started at giving maybe half a gallon or less in the beginning and now every feeding is 3/4 of gallon or more and no run off. If I p
Use 1 gallon exactly I get about 1-2 cups of runoff. So probably I’m watering a little less than I should at 3/4g. But I also have 1:4 v/p setup so that gives me wiggle room on drying out. It’s been an adventure and roll it up actually has been the only forum worth a damn for learning about hempy. Anyways just wanted to share my take. I know this post is super old. But it motivates me and I am still learning just from this one thread.

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yankeetransplant said:

BTW Vitech, what kind of light is that over your plant.., ???.....

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