Anyone with Hempy bucket experience?

Indoor Growing
#52

Make sure you wear a mask bro cos that dust is very toxic. You should really rinse the bags through before using it. I used to sit the bags in a bath or shower tray, use a fork to make loads of punctures in the bottom of the bags, nick off a top corner and flush for ages with a shower attachment. Then i’d flush it further using a large strainer before using it. Been a few damaged lung cases over the years from repeated exposure to that dust.

For me it’s a poor choice being more expensive here than pre buffered coco, same with vermiculite. The dust from that stuff is toxic too and imo it’s a poor medium. I messed around with it quite a bit back in the 90s and actually got better results from shredded up bits of old seat cushion foam :rofl: I’d much sooner use rockwool but for me coco beats the lot :+1:

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#53

If it were cheaper, I’d use perlite for the drainage layer and pure rockwool croutons on top. It really is a superior medium, much more neutral pH and holds both more air and more water. I’ve done it before but I’m not tryna use $100+ for media per cycle. If I had a flood tray, though, with multiple daily waterings and smaller containers, it’d be croutons all day.

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#54

I just built some Hempy buckets for my next run. I got some 2.5 gallon containers, and they were not black so I duck taped a few layers around the bucket to block the light, before I drilled the holes near the bottom. I also slapped a bunch of those GLG stickers that I had sitting around on them for decoration. I am using hydrocorn as the drainage layer, and a 75% perlite 25% vermiculite growing media, and am using FloraDuo and CalMag for nutrients.

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#55

Are you going to do a grow log on here? Would love to follow along!

#56

Thanks for the encouragement, I was thinking about it. I do enjoy reading other people’s grow logs here, so I might as well join the club :smiley:

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#57

Here’s a link to my coco hempy grow. Just coco and clay balls , charge on pot up and Maxigro , Maxibloom nutrients .

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#58

I had a perfect run with perlite hempys earlier in the year, and now I’ve got 7 plants in them and its a complete disaster. Severe drooping like they are overwatered, I emptied the reservoirs 24 hours ago and still no improvement. I think I’m gonna try and transplant them to soil tonight because I’ve wasted too much time this run.

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#59

Check your runoff pH.

You can’t overwater perlite. I had some runs where I was fighting high pH initially. It just requires correction with low-pH input feeds. Really the only way they can go wrong is pH, pests, or underwatering.

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#60

You’ve got OTHER issues…overwatering is NOT an issue in Hempy Buckets. As stated, check PH closely. Humidity will put them in a tail-spin. Good luck, be well/safe.

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#61

How often have you been feeding them? roots don’t take well to being submerged in the same nutrient mix for several days with depleted oxygen levels. If you have root rot you can often smell it if you stick your nose close to the buckets. If they smell funky i’d pop some out the buckets to have a closer look. Brown, slimy rotten roots are obvious, in that case scrap the affected plants. Healthy looking white roots mean you can recover the plants with a bit of care and regular (daily) fertigation within the correct ph and ppm ranges. Good luck dude!

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#62

They get watered every two days, three at most. 5.8ph and the last feed was 500ppm. I don’t know what else it could be, they look overwatered to me. Humidity is at 55-65. Temps 15-23c. I pulled one out and the roots are white and no egg smell or anything, i’ve flushed with hydrogen peroxide. I think they don’t like the cold nights perhaps and the perlite above the res is staying too wet.

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#63

Wow, that’s a new one on me.
What are you using to water with?

#64

Have you checked the PH of your runoff as Vernal stated above?

#65

They are getting 1.5 litres (6 litre buckets)pumped through one spot quickly so that its going in quicker than it can drain. Tap water is 29ppm/7.1ph out the tap and sits out 24 hours or more. I guess I’m getting about 30% run-off. Exactly the same way I did it last time, same buckets, same nutes. Only difference is the time of year and temps which were about 5c warmer last time.

This was the last run, and I’ve been singing hempys praises ever since…

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#66

That’s the the one thing I haven’t done, cheers. To be honest I transplanted most to soil last night, and soaked a bunch more seeds to go into soil today in case they don’t make it. I kept a couple in the buckets though so I can try and figure this out, I’ll check it this morning.

I’ve been googling around for a couple of days and found quite a few people who seem to have had similar problems over the years, but i havent seen it resolved.

Thanks guys for all your help and suggestions.

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#67

Check the PH and maybe your ppm on your runoff. You may have a ph or nute buildup in your hempy bucket.

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#68

Then there is an outside chance you might have some sort of viral or bacterial infection.
Infections show up when the temps rise, no doubt.

For example, bacterial wilt in cucumbers is spread by the spotted and striped cucumber beetle.
On hot days my cukes would slump like they have not had water for days despite my having just soaked them.
After years of failure with such a simple crop, I stumbled on a cultivar that has strong resistance to wilt, the amazing County Fair cucumber.
Not only is this cuke immune to the predation of these nasty pests they skip over them to attack my trap crop.
And I bomb the HELL out of them with Dawn dish soap and water spray.
Drown you !#$$#@'s!

Most likely your municipal tap water is causing this.
Most communities have adopted the use of chloramine disinfectant.
I discovered this when I moved into my present home, the smell of chlorine just reeked from my faucets.
After about 3 weeks of drinking it I started to get severe intestinal cramping and bloating.
A $40 whole house carbon filter (replacement filters are about $30 and last a couple months) fixed it for me, at least in the smell dept.
I still had terrible results using it for my grows.
In order of preference:

  1. Rainwater
  2. Zerowater
  3. Bottled distilled (88¢/gal)

Chlorine and chloramine are toxic to fish, other aquatic animals, reptiles and amphibians . Unlike humans and other household pets, these types of animals absorb water directly into the blood stream Don’t keep these animals in water that contains these disinfectants. Unlike chlorine, chloramine cannot be removed by letting water sit out for a few days.

https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/public/chloramine-disinfection.html

Even though the CDC says chloramine is safe for plants…don’t trust everything from the CDC!

ps That last grow is a beauty!
But something changed since then and I’ll bet it’s your water.
Plus the roots just sit in that water.

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#69

That’s just not true at all. Chloramine and chlorine in the municipal water supply is just fine for plants at any level they’d use. Especially in sterile hempy buckets, which I actually run currently and have for years. I have never dechlorinated, let water sit out, ever, anywhere.

OP, I’d wager this is a pH issue, in hempies it usually is. Runoff pH is everything.

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#70

What part of “Chlorine and chloramine are toxic” don’t you understand?
Maybe in vermy’s world up is down and inside is out.

#71

@spaceman, I have actual current and years past experience with hempies. It’s all I use anymore. I suspect you have none.

Perhaps if OP has a question about deer bladders and what herbs to stuff them with, you’d have some valuable input, other than “chemicals bad”.

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