Actually, I think Hempy Buckets may be cheaper to operate than dwc.
DWC is cheap to start,
but then has heat issues,
where the HBs do not.
I am going to try HB pretty soon.
Here is a synopsis of HBs by DR Smitty:
THE HEMPY BUCKET
What you need:
1 bucket- $3 ( i cut a 5 gal bucket down to 4 gal)
perlite- $15
( i bought the 20lb bag for $15,
instead of 1lb bag for $6,
you'll use it!)
vermiculite - $15
(also the big bag,
of the coarse stuff)
Hydro nutes- your choice.
Other than seeds or clones, and RO water,
that's all you need!
I checked the pH twice throughout,
and ppm once.
I realized I don't need to worry about the ppms,
and the pH was fine,
so I never had to adjust anything.
Take the bucket and drill a 1/2" hole
into the side of the bucket,
two inches up from the bottom.
This two inches is what forms your water table,
and acts as your reservoir.
Fill the bucket with a 75% perlite,
25% vermiculite mix.
Be sure to wet it down before you mix it,
the dust is nasty!
Punch a hole in the mix
to place your rooted clone or seedling,
and then fill the bucket to one inch below the rim
with perlite/vermiculite.
Water with the appropriate nute load
until the water drains from the hole
in the side of the bucket.
That is really all there is to the set up.
You may have to water every day
until the roots hit the bottom,
which for me was about 10 days.
At that point, water every 2nd or 3rd day,
with your normal nute loads,
just until water comes out the hole.
You'll have to place something
under the bucket to catch the water,
but once you get a feel for the buckets,
you'll have only a few drops of run off everytime.
The Pros and Cons:
To be honest, I've not found any real cons,
just small pains.
I would rather deal with them,
however, than some of the troubles I read about.
Things like:
Before I figured out how much water to give them,
I would just run 2L of water off every plant,
every other day.
At first I thought, no biggie,
but then as I watched my nutes get blown through
like it was a cheap bottle of tequila on cinco de mayo,
I adjusted accordingly. True con averted.
Catching the runoff.
I went and bought a few of the plastic stackable shelves at the dollar store,
and some cups to catch the runoff. Con #2 resolved
Some people say that it's a chore to water every other day.
It takes me 5 minutes every other day.
I spend more time than that ogling,
when I should just walk past my closet,
so I don't count that as a con.
The pros:
The plants respond quickly to mistakes like over watering,
over fert, etc.
I count this as a pro, because they fix just as quickly.
There are no lingering ill effects from experimentation.
No soil = no pests. As we pull into May,
and I read about all the insect problems,
I think about the one fly I have caught in that closet,
and how quickly he was dispatched.
No reservoir to keep cool, no pump to go bad, etc.
The vermiculite holds enough water up top to keep the upper roots wet,
and the two inch res on bottom is gone before it can go stagnant.
You refill it every other day when you water,
and the mix keeps nutes nice and aerated in an 85f closet.
Easy nute application.
I use the one part to make it mindnumbingly simple.
Full strength, every time I water.
If it's too hot, you simply back off a bit on the nutes
the next time you are watering.
The plants tell you quickly what they want.
Space saving. I can veg up to 9 plants
in the new and improved 4x4x7ft area,
flower up to 4 in the same space.
The plants look right now like they could pull 3.5 - 4 oz per,
and that's more than I need to get by for 2 or 3 months!
So, like I said, just one super easy method for noobs like me
to grow better than they ever thought possible.
If you've got any questions, I'll be happy to answer them.
Just be ready to sell out to the fact that it can be that easy to grow weed!
The hardest part for me was believing that it's really this simple,
but it is...
edited for spelling and clarity by earl