Complete Newbie Looking for Hempy Advice

So I've been researching a lot on indoor op's and decided that I'd like to pursue the Hempy method of growing.

My initial priorities for a grow op:

- Cost. It has to be as cheap as possible. I am only doing this for personal use and will only be started with no more than 6 plants. Not interested in ballasts, HPS bulbs, or anything else that raises cost but obviously produces a larger more refined grow op. This is a micro op.
- Easy setup. I am not trying to set up a huge room with ventilation, A/C, carbon filters, and all that. Like I said, this is for my own personal smoking use and am not even doing more than 6 plants.

So Hempy sounds about right. From what I've read I plan on using a 100% perlite medium in my containers.

I am going to be growing using CFL for my lighting. Planning on using 6700K during the first 4 weeks of vegging on about 18/6 and then dropping to 2700K during flowering at 12/12.

I have not decided on using a grow box. I am thinking about just using my walk-in closet. Thoughts?

What type of containers will I need for the Hempy grow? I want one plant per container but I am not sure how big or small I may need. Will a typical 5 gallon bucket work and then just modify it as I need to or is that way too big? I know in a typical hydro setup you have a separate res but in hempy you have your res in the same container. Does this mean whatever container I do use I don't need a "tray" for the plant to rest in? I just dump the perlite in and start growing? Thinking about using a screen to cover up the drain hole so my perlite doesn't just squirt out everywhere.

What kind of nutes should I be looking at? I was considering getting these:

http://www.dyna-gro.com/795.htm - During VEGGING
http://www.dyna-gro.com/3126.htm - During FLOWERING

Am I completely oblivious to nutritients? Do I need a lot more than just this or can I just use the ones above and have good results? I know about AN also. I know according to 99% of people it produces the best results over everything. Again, cost is a factor. I am not trying to spend hundreds of dollars on nutrients on a grow-op when I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. I just want to see an operation from start to finish with smokable bud in my bong at the end of it and a heap of experience under my belt. Once I know what I'm doing I will feel better about investing more money.

Boneman on this forum recommended CAL-MAG PLUS also for his Hempy grows. (http://www.planetnatural.com/site/cal-mag.html) Should I also get this in addition to the 2 things listed above?

What else am I needing for this grow op? Am I forgetting something? Leaving something out? Any advice that can point me in the right direction or am I on my way there already?

Not starting this for a little bit longer. Still doing research just looking for ideas.

Hup, I am a current Hempy grower here is what I have found out.

* I use 1 part vermiculite 3 parts perlite in the buckets. Try it.
* You will need to vent the closet if that is where you are going to grow. 6 plants are going to require a ton of CFL's. I would start with 2-3 plants.
* You don't need 5 gallon containers, smaller is fine 2-3 gallon. You do need a tray, water until the water drips from the hole. Yes, cover the hole with a screen.
* Nutes, cheap an easy? GH Maxi series is what I use. I also use a GH pH drop kit to test and adjust pH. I don't add anything to them and just flush with water.
* I would not veg by time but, by size. Don't go too tall with CFL's.
* You starting from seeds? I start in rockwool cubes 1.5 inches. Move them to solo cups, mini hempy, poke a hole with ball point pen up about 3/4 inch from the bottom. Water twice per day, when they are ready to move to the buckets cut off the bottom of the cup and burry 3/4 of the cup in the bucket. Water twice per day until the roots have reached the bottom where the water and nutes are. I water in the top of the cups that's where the roots are.

Good luck with this, let me know if I can help you out.

@ow.douglas

Interesting. Thanks for your post man. I read that the vermiculite seemed to throw off the ph levels in the long run and perlite just seemed to work good by itself according to Boneman. How have your results beeen with your 1:2 mix?

You think I will have to vent for sure even with a few plants? I might have to just build a grow box then. I figured with only CFL's the heat would be a non-issue especially during flowering stages. About how many CFL's would I be looking at during the last stages of my grow before harvest with 6 plants? I was thinking no more than 3 per plant. One placed directly above, and then 2 sort of offset/angled from the sides rigged together in a cheap DIY reflector hood. I do totally agree with you that with CFL's the plants should not be allowed to grow too tall otherwise I'm going to be looking at so many CFL's it would look like a UFO taking off in my closet (or grow box). So good advice on judging by size rather than time. I might be flowering after 2 weeks of vegging in that case.

Definitely consider less than 6, however. I just don't want to do more than 6. Most likely I will do 2-4.

This GM Maxi Series? (http://www.discount-hydro.com/productdisp.php?pid=59&navid=12) Would I need any other nutes or would I just be using MaxiGrow during veg and MaxiBloom during flowering?

I haven't fully decided on my starting base. Rockwool cubes are interesting because they seem like they would require the least work to setup while seeds are rumored to produce overall a better bud by the end of the day. Regardless I feel it is out of the relevancy of this grow op. Mostly this op is just to teach me the things I will need to know and understand first-hand before I invest a lot of money into a slightly larger indoor with 18-24 plants. That's not for a while though

I heard about the 16oz cup theory as well. I will probably have to do that starting out regardless which route I take. For your 2-3 gallon containers what do you use/recommend? I know for sure gardening pots already have holes in the bottom so I don't think I could recycle any of those. Any other thoughts? Would a 3 (the really large soda bottles) liter soda bottle work flipped over with the bottom cut off and then either modify the bottom cap with some PVC to become a drain hole for the res or just drill a hole in the side for the res. I'm unsure of how much "room" the roots of the plant will require with a hempy grow, or how long they will get. I'm assuming since I am growing with CFL's I will be doing a type of SOG "Sea of Green" grow (with the exception of special trimming on the bottom) where they aren't that tall and thus their roots aren't gonna be that big anyways.

Thanks again for the post. Very informative.

EDIT: One more thought I just had. About how tall should my plants be before I start the flowering stages using my CFL grow?

Hup, there are seasoned hempy growers here that claim that they don't pH at all, that it's not needed for hempy. I don't check the pH after the water is added to the bucket, so I can't say what my pH is in the bucket. I have done very well with 3:1 not 2:1 as you noted. It helps hold the plant better and hold water a little better. Do one of each and see what you think.
If you are going to have that closet door shut all day, fresh air is helpful and will assist with temps. If you have the door open and the room dark a little dorm fan should do it. How many lights? I would check in the CFL Forum. I have CFL's and use them. When I have them in the solo cups I can put 2-3 under one 42W CFL in a home depot reflector, $10. I use t5's and CFL after that.
Those 2 little bags are all that I use, $30 and you are done. I mix it in a one gallon jug, fill 1/2 way with hot tap water to get them to dissolve. Fill the rest of the way with water and let sit over night for the temp.
I use any container I can get cheap/free. Go to the dollar store and see what they have. I bought large kids beach buckets there for a buck. For that amount I would stay away from the pop bottles.
I go to 12/12 at about 10 inches, I have 2 Northerlights that are about 3 weeks from harvest they are about 3 feet tall now.
Hope this helps, let me know.

Hup, did you give Dyna-Gro/Hempy a go?

As of right now I have not started it yet. I am still prepping an area for the grow. I am also now at the crossroads of should I just save myself a lot of first-timer errors and just stick em in soil while experimenting with hempy on a smaller side-grow with maybe a single plant to learn how it all works.

I will keep you posted. Thanks all for advice.