KISS my Hempy

KISS = Keep It Stupid Simple
Hempy = a simplistic method of hydroponics (drain to waste)

My desire is to provide a thread on the basic concepts for those considering hempy ..... not meant as a beginner's guide but rather just a demonstration on how easy hempy can be.

I welcome feedback and ideas on making hempy even more simplistic, but would prefer to limit discussions on complex or controversial techniques.

People often say that rookies should start with soil, but I disagree. Hempy does have extra details to consider, but it's resilient to over-watering and has the ability to recover from over-nutes quickly (common rookie errors).
Keep it stupid simple, and get the crop to harvest...don't matter how big or small it may be.

Jan 2nd, I started to germinate 3 seeds in rock wool which are sitting upon an old modem for the heat .
I have used several methods to germinate, but this one is really simple as it's more or less "plug & play".
Place seed pointy end down in the rock wool (or peat plug, or soil cup) water and place in a warm dark environment until sprouted.

These seeds are "Crop King" feminized auto's (Revolver, Early Miss & Dwarf Low Flyer)...I grew these last summer for my indoor sunshine grow.

I transplanted the gals into 2 litre pop bottles today...I used 3:1 perlite/vermiculite

I start with washing the perlite and vermiculite to get the dust off, if not it will form a gummy paste on the bottom of your container.


Then I mix the perlite and vermiculite to get an even mixture


I refill the strainer and re-wash again


Then fill the pop bottles (with holes pre-cut)


add the seedlings


soil cap them (add about 1 inch of soil on the top)


Place in plastic jars for stability and to contain any drippings


watered them, then under the lights


They will be a bit slow until the roots hit the reserve, then they will kick into gear

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GrowUrOwnDank said:

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Edit: I have only tried my old school hempy bucket generic method the way I learned it which I believe is the most common way(prob not best, but conservative) way of doing it. I have only used a standard 5 gallon bucket with 5/16 to 3/8" hole drilled 2 inches from the bottom and 80/20 perlite/vermiculite mix. I have used this same bucket and the medium at least 5 times I think. And the material looks like it just came out of the bag. I am using MG medium. The first time I washed out the medium in the bucket to get some of that added fert out of it and have had no problems. In a perfect world, I would probably try and buy larger perlite. The MG has tiny perlite but it will work fine.

I have also only grown autos in it and I love autos because they are hardy and carefree, especially in hempy. I think the 5 gallon bucket is overkill because although I get a good root mass, they do not come anywhere near filling up that bucket. The autos are usually ready to pull 8 to 10 weeks and just do their thing really. I have used a lot of Dinafem(Road Runner and Critical Jack-love it- World of Seeds Afghan Kush Ryder-Awesome and Sweet Seeds Speed Devil-kinda generic but decent product and fast as always hardy and carefree. I have had 100% success with the autos mentioned above.

But, my next auto grow I am gonna size down, because the autos don't get large enough for that size of bucket and I think the pop bottles may be about the perfect size for autos. I will probably just use a 2 or 3 gallon bucket though. I only grow 1 plant and my wife and I don't drink pop.

I get my water from the super market, filling up a 5 gallon water bottle for .30 a gallon. Usually I feed water or feed water water depends on what I feel the plant needs and can take. I wait for the medium to get dry and the container to get light before the next watering. Although I may poor a small amount of PHed Water at the center of the roots just to be sure in between. I usually PH as close to 5.8 because my PH tends to creep up for whatever reason. Maybe twice later in the grow(flower) I will PH plain old tap water, my PPM is under 100, and maybe flush good with 2 gallons. Theory is I am washing out residual buildup from the nutes. Nothing crazy. Just let it drain cause don't want to drown the roots. Remember this is a 5 gallon bucket. When feeding a mix up a half gallon and poor about 1/3 at a time allowing it to wick up over a couple of hours. Theory is your not just wasting Nutes by pooring all at once and it draining out the hole.

Poppin beans. Drop em in very small amount of warm water in a Dixie cup for 24 hours. Then put them in jiffy pellet or I use Pargro quick drain cubes these days and place that in the Dixie cup. Couple of days or 3 or 4 later I have had 100% success and then I place the seedling in the window sill. In the winter I put them under a small lamp with a standard small CFL at night. Pretty much light em up 24hours. At some point I add some perlite to the cup and yes it has a hole 2 inch from the bottom. I move them to te final bucket(about 2 maybe 3 weeks old), when good roots develope and just water or feed.

I use GH Flora 3 part nutes and have some left over from Technaflora "Recipe for Success" but the latter has like 9 parts to mix. Both are great I just like the simplicity of the 3 part but will use the other at least once or twice during flowering. That's all I know about that because I have never used any other nutes. I am sure others work fine as well. I go by the instructions and mix at a percentage of 25 to 100% maybe, later in the grow. Depends.

I am really conservative. It is easy to obsess over your plants and end up over watering or burning them up with too strong nutes. After 2 weeks of straight tap water only, I begin my first feed at about 25% of what the instructions call for and go from there.

Then for autos I use 18/6 or even 12/12. I don't need a lot of smoke and am not trying to grow a pound or anything. Just enough for personal smoke in the evenings to help me relax and sleep mostly.

LED and CFL. I have 2 LED lights both are at least 3 years old the older probably 4. They are 3 and 5 watters and I know the last has like 7 diff spectrums. They are generic Chinese from ebay and yet work fine. I may also use some of those ginormous 65 actual watt CFLs from the home improvement stores. I have grown with just 4 of those(were $20 a piece) and they will wok fine. I may use 1 LED or both and even supplement with a CFL if I think it needs it. If I were a noob just starting out. I would think really hard and careful about the light that will work best for you and just buy that. Otherwise you can spend a lot of money for stuff that sits packed away in your closet. Basically you should only need 1 light for 1 plant or 3 or 4.

Remember, this post is about autos and hempy. I honestly have never grown photo. And I am conservative so I am sure there is a better way.

The thread starter in my opinion of having more experience than I and better results will hopefully give us a few tips in this thread to modify and improve our Hempy method.

Sorry OP didn't mean to hijack and as always feel free to critic my method. THX.

always seems so slow at first, as the plants are putting their energy into the roots.

I water every day when they are young, but once they have good roots I'll water every second day

I have been feeding light nutes...will be full strength soon, then I'll make a post on how I mix nutes



cheers

Looking nice and healthy man! You've almost talked me into using pop bottles. Looking forward to learning about your feeding schedule too.

P.S. Done some studying on Lucas Formula. What Are your thoughts about using the GH Maxibloom powder or FloraNova as opposed to the 3 part Flora? I like cheap but I want it to work good too. Like this.

http://lucasformula.com

GrowUrOwnDank said:

Looking nice and healthy man! You've almost talked me into using pop bottles. Looking forward to learning about your feeding schedule too.

P.S. Done some studying on Lucas Formula. What Are your thoughts about using the GH Maxibloom powder or FloraNova as opposed to the 3 part Flora? I like cheap but I want it to work good too. Like this.

http://lucasformula.com

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Honestly, I wouldn't know the pro's and con's of using any type of nutes....I just picked MaxiGro/Bloom (powder) because it was the most basic Lucas formula and was available at my local grow-store.

Theses GH nutes have treated me well and I have it dialed-in for my environment, so if it ain't broken, don't finger poke it.

I would consider trying Dyna-Gro, as many seasoned growers swear by it

ISK said:

Honestly, I wouldn't know the pro's and con's of using any type of nutes....I just picked MaxiGro/Bloom (powder) because it was the most basic Lucas formula and was available at my local grow-store.

Theses GH nutes have treated me well and I have it dialed-in for my environment, so if it ain't broken, don't finger poke it.

I would consider trying Dyna-Gro, as many seasoned growers swear by it

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Maxibloom powder sounds good to me then. Almost out of bloom in my Flora series. Thanks.

GrowUrOwnDank said:

Maxibloom powder sounds good to me then. Almost out of bloom in my Flora series. Thanks.

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At first the basic Lucas formula said to use MaxiGro in the veg stage and MaxiBloom for flowering, but latter on said you can use MaxiBloom from start to finish.

I had bought my nutes before reading the updated version, but I still think the MaxiGro does have some advantages during veg...but not essentail

ISK said:

At first the basic Lucas formula said to use MaxiGro in the veg stage and MaxiBloom for flowering, but latter on said you can use MaxiBloom from start to finish.

I had bought my nutes before reading the updated version, but I still think the MaxiGro does have some advantages during veg...but not essentail

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Yeah I've got over half a bottle of GH flora grow left. But will go with the Maxibloom when I run out of the Florabloom. Love the idea of having to only mix one thing and it seems cheaper than liquid nutes. Cheap and easy is great in my book. Thanks again for the info. I figure your stuff looks good just wanted an opinion from someone with experience.

I think I went a bit too aggressive with the nutes as I'm seeing signs of over nutes....so I'm backing off for awhile and just using straight water

I'm running full nutes now and have the gals under a 600 watt HPS....a few pics on mixing the nutes

The Lucas formula says 7 grams per US gallon (3.89 litres) but I use gun powder scales which are in grains (107.4 grains = 7 grams)

So since I'm only mixing 1 litre, I use 27 grains of nutes per litre....or approx a heaping 1 ml spoon full


Then I use a Pace Picante jar with about a cup of hot water, add nutes then use a milk frothier to mix (I can leave it in the jar mixing while preparing the next step)


Then I fill the mason jar 3/4 full of cold water and add about 1 ml of Cal-Mag


Then add pH up....I use about 0.5 ml...then add another drop or two if required


Then test the pH using GH drops....add more pH+ if require


then water as required

Hey ISK. What's your opinion on 0.5 L tall (beer cans) hempy SOG? Also why do you soil cap?

grapefruitmarmalade said:

Hey ISK. What's your opinion on 0.5 L tall (beer cans) hempy SOG? Also why do you soil cap?

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I have never used a 500 ml beer tin before but I'm sure it would work. I have used 16 oz solo cups which is about the same volume...see pic from a previous grow

Soil capping is something I learnt from @WattSaver from the World of Hempy thread....he's the subject matter expert

in theory it can provide some nutrients while they are young (but a soil core is better for that) and also prevents exposing light to the upper roots

I use a soil cap to prevent the perlite from spilling out when I tip over the bottle to drain out any old water before re-watering (this is only when they are very young...after that it's not required)

But mostly because soil looks better than that ugly perlite

ISK said:

I have never used a 500 ml beer tin before but I'm sure it would work. I have used 16 oz solo cups which is about the same volume...see pic from a previous grow

Soil capping is something I learnt from @WattSaver from the World of Hempy thread....he's the subject matter expert

in theory it can provide some nutrients while they are young (but a soil core is better for that) and also prevents exposing light to the upper roots

I use a soil cap to prevent the perlite from spilling out when I tip over the bottle to drain out any old water before re-watering (this is only when they are very young...after that it's not required)

But mostly because soil looks better than that ugly perlite

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Man those Dixie cup plants are SICK bro. Damn amazing. I might just have to get some Maxibloom now and just change my whole hempy style and steal your methods.

GrowUrOwnDank said:

Man those Dixie cup plants are SICK bro. Damn amazing. I might just have to get some Maxibloom now and just change my whole hempy style and steal your methods.

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Funny thing is that I called them Dixie cup as you just have....if fact started a thread called "Hempy from Dixie cup to Bucket" but was corrected as they are actually solo cups

thanks for the feedback, and feel free to steal my methods, which are really not mine at all....everything I learnt was from RIU...mostly from the World of Hempy

grapefruitmarmalade said:

Hey ISK. What's your opinion on 0.5 L tall (beer cans) hempy SOG? Also why do you soil cap?

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A soil cap has several advantages. It holds the perlite in place, which is nice during watering. It keeps the light out of the perlite. I've noticed when breaking down buckets with the cap the roots are much denser higher up in the bucket, so effectively it increases the root zone in a perlite hempy. The soil also acts like a sponge and helps with the wicking action of the perlite. On larger buckets that are hard to lift or if they are fixed under a screen, it is a great indicator of when the bucket needs watering. If the cap is dry then the rez is getting dry, and it's time to water.

WattSaver said:

A soil cap has several advantages. It holds the perlite in place, which is nice during watering. It keeps the light out of the perlite. I've noticed when breaking down buckets with the cap the roots are much denser higher up in the bucket, so effectively it increases the root zone in a perlite hempy. The soil also acts like a sponge and helps with the wicking action of the perlite. On larger buckets that are hard to lift or if they are fixed under a screen, it is a great indicator of when the bucket needs watering. If the cap is dry then the rez is getting dry, and it's time to water.

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thanks Watts....I knew you could explain soil capping better than I

Hey ISK, very nice documentation. I still think everyone needs to have a soil grow under their belt, before they do a hempy. Just so they can see first hand how much more forgiving and easy the hempy is.

Hey ISK loving it man. You're hempy methods and I follow the "World of Hempy" thread too. When I saw the soil cap, I was like? WTF? I know now. trying to educate to plan for next time.

Anyway, I started a thread and would love yours and everyone's input how to make a plan.

I am still in awe of those solo cups.

https://www.rollitup.org/t/my-grow-cabinet-rig-and-style-with-a-little-swag-share-yours-poll.858339/