Rockwool hempys

Blue brother

Well-Known Member
hey all thanks for stopping by.

I just wanted to post some pix and a few ideas for other dtw growers.

I love rockwool, it's cheap, it's inert, it's sterile and it has good water to air ratio.

I love drain to waste, using this method means I can literally set and forget my nutrient tank. I never worry about ppm or ph fluctuations, my girls get full strength fresh nutrients every time they're watered.

I love hempys, these are what my growing systems have evolved into, from rdwc to flood and drain to drip and eventually these awesomely simple black buckets with a hole in. They work very very very well.

Most people in this area of the site will be familiar with hempys but for those who aren't il explain. A hempy bucket is just a bucket with a hole drilled a couple inches from the bottom, 1 hole that's it. The bucket is filled with media (in my case rockwool mini cubes). When I wAter (from the top) the water travels down through the bucket soaking the cubes as it goes until it reaches the bottom of the bucket, the bottom couple inches of the bucket then fill up with water until it reaches the hole and starts to over flow.
This ensures that after each watering there is a reservoir of water at the bottom of my bucket. This acts like the underground water table that plants roots feed from in nature. Et voila the hempy bucket.

Now since I stRted this I've read a lot about why rockwool won't work. However in my experience it does work, and very well. I think it may be down to the fact that I use the most water repellant rockwool mixture you can buy for hydroponics. I water every 3 days, and by this time the cubes in the top part of the bucket are almost completely dry. The cubes in the reservoir are still wet but that's not a problem cos imo they should be.

I think if you were to put a rooted rockwool grown clone straight into a 15 litre bucket full of wet cubes then you will see overwatering stress and you probably will have trouble letting the medium dry out.
But I don't do that I start off plants in small rockwool starter blocks, then when they're rooted through I put them into the 4" blocks then when they're rooted through those they go ontop of a 6" block, only once they're through that do they go into the hempys. This ensures that they have a substantial and hungry root system before hand.

Here's some pictures of my grow.
 

WattSaver

Well-Known Member
I'd have to agree with you, there is no easier system to grow in than Hempy. I got a bag of gro dan mini cubes a while back but haven't given them a try yet. I was going to use them just in the rez but now seeing yours I think I'll try a full bucket.
 

Blue brother

Well-Known Member
I'd have to agree with you, there is no easier system to grow in than Hempy. I got a bag of gro dan mini cubes a while back but haven't given them a try yet. I was going to use them just in the rez but now seeing yours I think I'll try a full bucket.
What I do suggest is that you make sure the plant has a substantial root system before going into the big bucket or else it takes too long to drink and u end up with bad oxygenation or having to overwater.
 

WattSaver

Well-Known Member
I've never used rockwool in any grow, just trying to glean a little info on its use. I do understand the large root mass need. And have preached not to exceed 5" between root mass and rez at transplant for fast transition. And you've blown past that, so I'm very interested in the medium and process.

To me it looks like your rez hole is at least 12" below the top of the crouton RW. Can you tell me how long it took for the roots to hit the rez from the time you set the block on the bucket?
 

Blue brother

Well-Known Member
I've never used rockwool in any grow, just trying to glean a little info on its use. I do understand the large root mass need. And have preached not to exceed 5" between root mass and rez at transplant for fast transition. And you've blown past that, so I'm very interested in the medium and process.

To me it looks like your rez hole is at least 12" below the top of the crouton RW. Can you tell me how long it took for the roots to hit the rez from the time you set the block on the bucket?
Approx 4 days before I could see roots through the hole. What I do is let the block almost dry out before transplanting to a wet medium so the roots are forced to travel straight into the new medium.
 

WattSaver

Well-Known Member
Looks really nice Blue. Keep posting I want to see em' finish. Got 3 clones for the next run might do a coco, perlite and rw croutons.
 

Blue brother

Well-Known Member
Looks really nice Blue. Keep posting I want to see em' finish. Got 3 clones for the next run might do a coco, perlite and rw croutons.
Thanks for the compliment WS.
Have you heard of fytocell. I heard from a good source that fytocell is the absolute bees knees for hempys. I wanna maybe try 1 bucket of it on my next grow and see what the fuss is about.
 

Growan

Well-Known Member
In your first pictures there is some sort if a manifold system. Do you have automated feeding to begin with and then hand water once you're in the big buckets?

Could you run me through your method, cos I'd like to design a auto system to use in my garden?
 

Blue brother

Well-Known Member
Yeah that manifold is for the veg cupboard. I have built a small drain to waste drip system which consists of a 30l tote for a res, a garden gravel tray with a drain, a 15l waste bucket, a small pump, hose, drip manifold and drippers. Nothing too complicated or expensive. I don't even have it on a timer I just flick a switch to water and flick it again to stop.

In the flower room I have my hempys in grow Bag trays with drains, they drain down into a 50l bucket. For the watering of my flowering plants I use a 120l drum with a pump and hose. I used to have a larger manifold with hoses going to each hempy but found some produced more water flow thN others. In the future il probably sort it out with some pressure regulators, but for now I'm happy hand watering.

Hope this helps
 

WattSaver

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the compliment WS.
Have you heard of fytocell. I heard from a good source that fytocell is the absolute bees knees for hempys. I wanna maybe try 1 bucket of it on my next grow and see what the fuss is about.
I checked out fytocell it's a very interesting medium. But I'm not sure it would work with the control release nutrients I use. But it sound like it would dry out evenly from it's 60% max water content.

Do you have a bag of this stuff? How coarse is it? Do you think a person could a person recycle it?
 

Blue brother

Well-Known Member
I checked out fytocell it's a very interesting medium. But I'm not sure it would work with the control release nutrients I use. But it sound like it would dry out evenly from it's 60% max water content.

Do you have a bag of this stuff? How coarse is it? Do you think a person could a person recycle it?
Nah mate I'm currently awaiting its arrival in my local hydro store but as soon as I do Il let you know, I think it has a foamy flakey soft texture, if that makes Any sense lol
 

Blue brother

Well-Known Member
This is brilliant. I've just started perlite + rockwool grow but I'm going to give this a try next time around
Thanks mate, I would have never known it worked had I not tried it so yay to me for trying new things eh? Hahaha. I had originally plAnned on using a a5050 mix of rockwool and hydroton but later opted for the more water repellent rockwool. Just makes it that little bit simpler. In theory Fytocell would be a step simpler still due to its neutral ph but I'm yet to test it :(
 

Growan

Well-Known Member
Yeah that manifold is for the veg cupboard. I have built a small drain to waste drip system which consists of a 30l tote for a res, a garden gravel tray with a drain, a 15l waste bucket, a small pump, hose, drip manifold and drippers. Nothing too complicated or expensive. I don't even have it on a timer I just flick a switch to water and flick it again to stop.

In the flower room I have my hempys in grow Bag trays with drains, they drain down into a 50l bucket. For the watering of my flowering plants I use a 120l drum with a pump and hose. I used to have a larger manifold with hoses going to each hempy but found some produced more water flow thN others. In the future il probably sort it out with some pressure regulators, but for now I'm happy hand watering.

Hope this helps
Yeah it does. Sounds like a neat and fool proof setup. I like it. :)
 
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