100% Perlite Hempy question.

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
If you remember the original Hempy bucket thread said to water until you get 10-20% runoff each time inorder to refresh that res. I haven't been doing that at all and now I see why I should have listened to Hempy.
yep, there's your problem. treat a hempy like coco, you have to have a decent amount of runoff.
 

Bookush34

Well-Known Member
i fed lightly and fed 2x a day in bloom.

what is your normal EC range? i was at 0,8 to 1.0 EC max.
I feed every watering. 1x a day.

I use ppm on a 500scale.

Veg I am 350ppm for the first 2weeks. Then 750ppm for the remainder weeks of veg.

Bloom i start at 900 ppm usually get up to 1400ppm with out issue.

That’s total ppms.
250-300 is cal-mg
100-150 is additives
The rest is bloom or grow.
 

Earlyriser76

Well-Known Member
Bloom i start at 900 ppm usually get up to 1400ppm with out issue.
I couldn't get to 1400ppm with either Maxibloom or Mega Crop without doing real damage. That could be a reason to switch to Flora nova Bloom in pots that tend to buildup like these hempy buckets.

I need to buy flower nutes anyway so I think I'll try a flower run with Bloom and keep my run off PPM's between 900-1400 and I shouldn't have issues.

Here's a photo of the last time I vegged with tap water at 750ppm (4.5 grams per gallon) of MaxiGrow + 1 gram per gallon Epsom salt from rooted clone to flip. Cheap, quick and easy to be accurate with a gram scale I find.

This veg combo worked well for me as you see from this photo until the buildup in the res wreaked havoc across the tent. These plants are sad looking today as they try to finish up.

4.5 grams of Maxigrow per gallon is said to be this NPK ratio in case anyone in the world cares and I find it works quite well.

N 120ppm
P 26ppm
K 148ppm

1showtell.JPG
 

Earlyriser76

Well-Known Member
how do you get rid of the runoff in your tent? a wet/dry vacuum?
I remove them from the tent when I really have to really deal with them.

It's a great question and wish I had a better answer. A drain to waste system could be set up where the runoff would drain below the pots but I haven't got that far. Another idea I had was a drain tube I would put inside the hole of the pot and drain the runoff out of the tent. Vaccum works. and this thing I got at the dollar store.

https://hardwareonlinestore.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&view=productdetails&virtuemart_product_id=194100&virtuemart_category_id=27801&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIt-GT_baE4QIVRkSGCh20PQMhEAQYASABEgK7DfD_BwE

What to do about the runoff is why I wasn't doing it. I asked someone in the hempy thread how important run off was and he said, he didn't do it. Now we know he was wrong.
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
A drain to waste system could be set up where the runoff would drain below the pots but I haven't got that far
that's what i did. many years ago i built a rdwc out of 27 gal totes with a built in drain. i did hempys after that and just kept the buckets inside the totes. then i added a res with a pump and some tubing and made it auto feed for the hempys. could go away for 2 weeks without a problem.

i do the same thing now with GH waterfarms. auto feed/drain to waste
 

Earlyriser76

Well-Known Member
that's what i did. many years ago i built a rdwc out of 27 gal totes with a built in drain. i did hempys after that and just kept the buckets inside the totes. then i added a res with a pump and some tubing and made it auto feed for the hempys. could go away for 2 weeks without a problem.

i do the same thing now with GH waterfarms. auto feed/drain to waste
Sounds great. I have a dtw system but would have to grow 2 less plants to fit in my tent unless I went down to 2 gallon pots vs 3 gallon.

I can do 6 DTW in 2 gallons or 4 DTW in the 3 gallon.

Right now 6 of the 3 gallons will fit in the tent but I have no automated watering system and no way to deal with the runoff at all.

The question is will I be giving up any yeild going from 3 gallon pots down to 2?
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
Sounds great. I have a dtw system but would have to grow 2 less plants to fit in my tent unless I went down to 2 gallon pots vs 3 gallon.

I can do 6 DTW in 2 gallons or 4 DTW in the 3 gallon.

Right now 6 of the 3 gallons will fit in the tent but I have no automated watering system and no way to deal with the runoff at all.

The question is will I be giving up any yeild going from 3 gallon pots down to 2?
a bit longer veg would make up for it i would think.
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
If I put a rooted clone in a 2 gallon can I run it 90-120 days without it becoming root bound?
that is a damn good question. i don't know, never run 2 gal hempys. i would guess you'd need to feed at least 2x a day, maybe 3 to make up for it. i'd do some searching on the world of hempy thread here in the dtw section.
 

Earlyriser76

Well-Known Member
that is a damn good question. i don't know, never run 2 gal hempys. i would guess you'd need to feed at least 2x a day, maybe 3 to make up for it. i'd do some searching on the world of hempy thread here in the dtw section.
I've tried up potting in perlite but the root ball always fall apart. Any tips for transplanting perlite to perlite?
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
I've tried up potting in perlite but the root ball always fall apart. Any tips for transplanting perlite to perlite?
no....if i was running straight perlite, i'd start in a half gallon container, let it grow as big as possible in that pot, then when it was pretty root bound, i'd carefully slide the whole mass out and drop it in it's final pot. about the only way i can think of without getting a fair amount of damage, and at least a week of recovery, if not two
 

Earlyriser76

Well-Known Member
no....if i was running straight perlite, i'd start in a half gallon container, let it grow as big as possible in that pot, then when it was pretty root bound, i'd carefully slide the whole mass out and drop it in it's final pot. about the only way i can think of without getting a fair amount of damage, and at least a week of recovery, if not two
I even thought about something like a newpaper pot that I could plant. https://www.hgtv.com/design/make-and-celebrate/handmade/create-newspaper-pots-for-seed-starting-pictures
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
no....if i was running straight perlite, i'd start in a half gallon container, let it grow as big as possible in that pot, then when it was pretty root bound, i'd carefully slide the whole mass out and drop it in it's final pot. about the only way i can think of without getting a fair amount of damage, and at least a week of recovery, if not two
unless you get it really soaking wet where it kinda sticks together and transfer really quick. but if the perlite is dry it just crumbles away. i've never tried it. i mainly just stuck to 5 gal hempys.
 

Earlyriser76

Well-Known Member
The clone just needs to go into the pot it run's in.

Even if you transplant from 1 gallon to 3 gallon you should wait two weeks before you flip. If you run the clone in the same pot you can flip any day you want.
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
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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