Hempy buckets are essentially a passive hydro system. The bottom of the bucket is a rez. Yes, you want to be doing atleast daily waterings in hempy buckets and yes you would be using more water/solution than with hand watering soil pots. But, you would be replenishing the rez everytime you water and in theory fix any ph swings that are happening inside the rez. Yes your coco will remain moist which in my opinion is best when using coco. Also, have you played around with your PH you are feeding with. I know when i used hempy buckets i was feeding at a different ph then what my regular soil pots were liking. I think it was higher then 5.8 but i can not remember. My ph meter has been in a drawer for a couple years now. Not saying im correct on this issue, but its something to consider.
Ok after doing some research I’ve found that Hempy Buckets and AutoPots are accomplishing the same thing. AutoPots just automatically replenish the water in the bottom of the pot.
AutoPots are said to require weekly top feed run throughs to wash out any built up salts and balance the pH and EC so I’m sure Hempys would be no different.
Regarding pH and EC I pre-check my coco before I even plant stuff in it, and always keep things between 5.8-6.1 as is recommended for Coco-coir.
I’m thinking you’re onto something but less pH and EC and more along the lines of “old, stale water” where there is lots of water but it has no oxygen in it since no new water was added to it since the pot was first filled. There was even a noticeable amount of algae forming on the surface of the pots I’ve had problems with most recently.
So to test this theory I transplanted 4 new seedlings from 4" pots into their final 3L pots and for the next week I’m going to water them to runoff every day.
The up-side is that if this is what my problem is then my top feed recirculating system in the other tent should kick ass. I wish the plants in there were done now so I could move the new ones in and really put the theory to the test.
Edit: I’ve done a lot more pondering and I’m really thinking it’s an oxygen problem. I think back at the times I didnt have these kinds of problems with stunted seedlings and it was when I either used starter pots that required more frequent watering or when I only added a little water around the seedling every day when starting in larger pots. Or even when I had them on an auto watering system from day 1.
The big difference between then and now is these days I saturate my coco on the first day I plant the seed, then no new water is added for sometimes up to a week.
It’s all making sense now!! I need to add more water more often even if that means I gotta water a 3gal pot every day that only has a tiny seedling in it.
And to prevent EC and pH swings those waterings would have to be to a decent runoff %.
I think your onto something as well. Hope you get it sorted out.
What are all those little white dots on the leaves, looks a bit like PM?
Yeah they do look pretty bad. I hope your solution works man, perhaps start them in a soil medium, and when they are at a certain size/age transfer to the coco, where they can deal with the higher nutrients. I know its not the best solution for autos, but maybe better than them burning up in the first few weeks and the whole process getting slowed that way.
Ya I was gonna say to go grab a bail of promix and try that for a few plants. If the problem persists then at least you’ve ruled out coco.
Sorry you’re having these issues man, I’m going through the same thing with endless unbeatable PM right now and I know how mind breaking it can be 
Even though we’ve been chatting in discord, issues i was coming up with was compacted coco to the point of stagnant water saturation, yes smaller pots and all, but once i started thinking about more fullfied up coco and trying to avoid compaction and anaerobic conditions of say having it sealed up in a plastic bag.
Those things helped…
@beacher will have to come over and see if i can offer any suggestions just from an environmental stand point, second set of eyes …
My most recent seedlings were started in 4 inch pots, then it only took like 5 days and the roots were at the bottom of the 4inch so theres just no time for up potting with these autos at all.
The problem at its core I think is too much water initially and things just staying too wet too early and as @Mr.Sparkle said things get soggy and anaerobic and low oxygen.
But it’s so tricky because I have to start them in their final pots so I’m always torn between do I wet the whole 3gal pot or do I just wet the middle 4 inches or so and keep adding water as it dries until the plant can handle more water.
And then do I add nutrients during this time or just straight water? I’ve done both and have starved seedlings out from giving them just straight water but it may have actually been not enough water so idk.
I kinda want to start over but dont want to reset just to have the same issue again in a week
I’m starting to think that the no transplanting/topping etc rules for autos are not so set in stone.
I joined a small autoflower only forum a while back because I heard about it on a podcast. These guys are SERIOUS about autoflowers, and they top, transplant and even scrog autos. It made me uncomfortable to even see at first lol, but they are definitely having great results.
Due to my pm issues I’ve had to keep heavily defoliating all my plants including autos and the couple I have on the go now looks really great, no stress that I’ve observed. In fact I think they benefited from it. Again I believe that many consider that a big no no with autos…
Maybe next batch try starting a couple in tiny pots and then just move them up to larger ones like you would with regs, I’d be willing to bet they wouldn’t be that much different or behind the ones started in final containers.
Hell yeah I’m fine with being rough on autos, not really into topping but everything else is fine.
As for transplanting that’s what I tried most recently in small pots, but even after 5 days the roots were at the bottom of the pot. Its definitely been my experience that when autos reach the bottom of a pot they stop bushing out and just leg out instead and that’s not the kind of plant structure we want. So if I can only get 5 days from sprout out of a 4" container before this effect starts to occur it’s not helping the plant at all especially when I go to transplant at day 5 it’s hard to do because so much of the 4" pot hasn’t been filled with root yet it just shot straight to the bottom. End up damaging the few roots that are there.
That is true that they seem to determine their final height based on where the roots hit bottom. Maybe some kind of stackable ‘bottomless’ pot, where you pop the bottom off and put another one under as required…kinda like Jenga?? Lol
Of course another option could be just rocking more smaller autos if you’ve got the seeds available.
Thanks that is excellent information and I agree, the thought had actually crossed my mind in the past (re: blasting p and k to get enough n)
Funny enough I had already watered my newest seedlings and transplants with megacrop instead of maxibloom.
I am thinking about resetting this grow but I want to make sure I have a good strategy for the first 2 weeks in 3 gal pots as far as how much to feed and water them.
Gotta re-use the coco too so I will have to wash it out, squeeze out the water so it’s not soggy and fluff it up before putting new seedlings in it. Should I wash it down to very low ppm then just use water for the first week or should I wash it down then pre-charge it with a nutrient solution?
Some girls born on 420!
In here are some Dark Spark autos for next round indoors, and some photoperiods for my outdoor.
Day 12
Well I guess they’re starting to come around, kinda, maybe, idk. They definitely were stunted a bit but hard to tell how much time I lost it’s too early to tell.
I’m not sure what I did maybe just the new water I added the other day. I haven’t fed or watered them since and now I’m trying to decide if I want to hook these Blumats up or go back to hand watering ever day or do I just let things dry out as the pot is still very heavy.
The others in the tent I’m not sure what the plan is, a few of them will end up in the SP250 tent as their pot size is what that system is configured for.
Day 1000
No seriously it’s like day 70 or something on these but feels like forever. And they still have lots of new pistils and growth below the canopy so I wanna push them a but longer but will need to move new plants in here soon ahhhhhh hurry up!
I lowered the feed on these to 1.4ec 3x a day as they tend to spike the ec pretty fast near the end of their life in these recirc systems.
Happy 420!!
Looking very good Trev, you got some nice colors on them. 
Looks nice mate! keep it up. I have same plans to grow in same set up.
Hey @daneur! It’s good to see you posting here. Embrace the spirit of OG and let’s Grow! Welcome brother…
maybe calcium or mg was being locked out causing deficiency?? you said half lucas formula, so is that 3.5 gr/gallon? what ppm is that? do you let them dry out, and do you feed every watering? maybe there’s bacteria in your coco or res/feeding system??
i don’t think you need to water whole pot, only where the roots would be, will take a long time to dry out. looks like they are coming around now but they’re still pretty light green/yellow unless that’s just the white balance… if this happens consistently with your seedlings somethings off for sure
Thanks for the input everyone, been a busy few days.
Plants are coming around big time. Since my last update I’ve only fed them once for the sole purpose of adding new oxygen, since the pots are still really heavy I gave them about a liter each.
New seedlings are coming along, middle row is from a “Northern Outdoor Reg Mix” by Seedsheaven, donated last summer by @McMuffin . Not sure what strains are in here but I’m northern and I’m outdoor so im counting on some fem gems in these. Also a Cali-O x Durban as it was a good strain last year and finished way earlier than expected. Rest are Dark Sparks that either didnt make the cut or still waiting to see if I want to keep em.
Also picked up some supplies for the outdoor garden. 350lbs of seafood compost and 2 bails of peat to amend into my existing soil compost. Hope that will be enough for a couple no till beds. More on that in the coming days.
Definitely want some tips on what else I can add to the mix to spice things up. Lots of biochar on hand, some agricultural lime, 5lbs of gaia green 2-8-4 dry amendments and some ewc.
Please enlighten me as I’m still a noob with this organic stuff but I think I got the basics down.