¡Hola 420 amigos(as)!
I hope you all are staying well and happy in these strange times. I believe that there’s nothing better than growing beautiful plants outdoors in the sun, especially the yerba buena, to get you out of your indoor doldrums. So let’s get started already!
I’m beginning the 2020 growing season with some self-pollinated photo-period seeds. Two are from a very fragrant and stony Berry Bomb that my brother @BTzGrow grew out in 2018. The other is from one of the Gold Leaf x Grape Ape ‘crash test seeds’ that I grew out last year.
I know, mixed genetics, and possibly hermies, but they are from good lineage, and I really enjoyed the smoke. And, I plan to start the first crop of Autos (some from known breeders and some selfed Auto Kryptonite seeds) in a week or so.
Anyway, the strains don’t matter to me as much as the strategy. And just growing and experimenting in general. I have enjoyed working with the hempy method the past couple of years, and this year will not see a change on that - I really like the ease and results!
Briefly, in case the gentle visitor is unfamiliar with the method, hempy is generally understood to be a form of passive hydro (although I have dabbled with automated fertigation in the past).Take a suitable plastic container - lightweight yet durable, not clear, and with no existing holes (no nursery pots). Drill a hole in the side about 2” up from the bottom, fill with your medium of choice, plant, and fertigate every 1-3 days. The small reservoir will help to sustain the plant in-between.
To start the seeds, I use 12 oz solo cups, with a 3/8” hole about 1” above the bottom. I use #2 perlite (Vigaro from Home Despot), which I recycled from previous grows by picking out roots, rinsing thoroughly over a 1/4” screen, and dipping for 2-3 minutes in hot water (over 160F). I then mixed up some MegaCrop to ~EC 0.5 (250ppm on a 500 scale pen), adjusted the pH to ~6, and soaked the perlite a bit before filling the cups.
I soaked the seeds in tap water (with a few drops of H2O2) until I saw that the husk had cracked open (~24 hours), and then gently used tweezers (don’t squeeze too hard!) to position them (pointy-end up) about 1/2” into the top of the perlite.
After gently fertigating with more of the above 0.5 EC solution, I covered the cups with plastic wrap (held in place with a rubber band, and placed them in a warm place.
And after a day, the first two baby sprouts popped up - the BeBo siblings:
The morning (2 days ago) that I saw them, I put them out in the sun. Might as well get them used to the big fireball sooner than later!
Once the young plants fill the cup with enough roots to bind the perlite, I plan to pot them up to a 2 gallon bucket, with a 1/2” hole about 2” above the bottom, filled with chunky #4 perlite. Since these are photos, and it’s only the beginning of April, they will probably end up in 5 gallon buckets before they start blooming.
Well, that’s probably enough info to get us started - let’s grow hempy!
I hope you all are staying well and happy in these strange times. I believe that there’s nothing better than growing beautiful plants outdoors in the sun, especially the yerba buena, to get you out of your indoor doldrums. So let’s get started already!
I’m beginning the 2020 growing season with some self-pollinated photo-period seeds. Two are from a very fragrant and stony Berry Bomb that my brother @BTzGrow grew out in 2018. The other is from one of the Gold Leaf x Grape Ape ‘crash test seeds’ that I grew out last year.
I know, mixed genetics, and possibly hermies, but they are from good lineage, and I really enjoyed the smoke. And, I plan to start the first crop of Autos (some from known breeders and some selfed Auto Kryptonite seeds) in a week or so.
Anyway, the strains don’t matter to me as much as the strategy. And just growing and experimenting in general. I have enjoyed working with the hempy method the past couple of years, and this year will not see a change on that - I really like the ease and results!
Briefly, in case the gentle visitor is unfamiliar with the method, hempy is generally understood to be a form of passive hydro (although I have dabbled with automated fertigation in the past).Take a suitable plastic container - lightweight yet durable, not clear, and with no existing holes (no nursery pots). Drill a hole in the side about 2” up from the bottom, fill with your medium of choice, plant, and fertigate every 1-3 days. The small reservoir will help to sustain the plant in-between.
To start the seeds, I use 12 oz solo cups, with a 3/8” hole about 1” above the bottom. I use #2 perlite (Vigaro from Home Despot), which I recycled from previous grows by picking out roots, rinsing thoroughly over a 1/4” screen, and dipping for 2-3 minutes in hot water (over 160F). I then mixed up some MegaCrop to ~EC 0.5 (250ppm on a 500 scale pen), adjusted the pH to ~6, and soaked the perlite a bit before filling the cups.
I soaked the seeds in tap water (with a few drops of H2O2) until I saw that the husk had cracked open (~24 hours), and then gently used tweezers (don’t squeeze too hard!) to position them (pointy-end up) about 1/2” into the top of the perlite.
After gently fertigating with more of the above 0.5 EC solution, I covered the cups with plastic wrap (held in place with a rubber band, and placed them in a warm place.
And after a day, the first two baby sprouts popped up - the BeBo siblings:
The morning (2 days ago) that I saw them, I put them out in the sun. Might as well get them used to the big fireball sooner than later!
Once the young plants fill the cup with enough roots to bind the perlite, I plan to pot them up to a 2 gallon bucket, with a 1/2” hole about 2” above the bottom, filled with chunky #4 perlite. Since these are photos, and it’s only the beginning of April, they will probably end up in 5 gallon buckets before they start blooming.
Well, that’s probably enough info to get us started - let’s grow hempy!