Hempy Headquarters

[FelipeBlu]

So if you're suppose to do it gradually, how come we skipped a stage with mine? We went from Late Growth straight to Early Bloom and skipped the Transition phase.

Because your DDA1 was showing signs of being unhappy with the level of nitrogen it was receiving, and the quickest way to address that was to skip straight to the Early Bloom (1/2 dose), which has an even lower nitrogen level than Transition.

On the other hand, his plants are not showing any significant issues, so a more gradual transition is possible.

 

[TorturedSoul]

but the person did have some "of the month" credits to their name which is why i paid it some mind.

I wouldn't make too many assumptions. I mean... Even I managed to achieve that .

 

[FelipeBlu]

I consider it a great achievement to have escaped notice.

 

[TorturedSoul]

I noticed you a while back, bro. And, if I'd had the sense, I would have added "And if I answer a question, but FelipeBlu disagrees with my answer, I'll probably stop to wonder if I've made an incorrect statement."

Glad you're "here."

 

[FelipeBlu]

That’s all the accolades I can stand!
Shhh..

 

[RamenToppings]

I just rinsed the perllite several times in a small pool with a colander until I did not see dust in the water. The seeds are germinating in water and all have long tails so now I think I transplant to the solo cups.

Questions:

1. Do I need to dry my perlite, if so is there a fast effective method?
2. I have my solo cups, how high do I need to place the hole?
3. I am using rapid rooters and vigoro perlite, should I ph and use my tap water?
4. How much watering should I do for the initial transplant into the solo cups?

 

[TorturedSoul]

1. No. You'd just end up getting it wet again .

2. Inch, inch and a half? 20% or so of total capacity? I don't think you have to be all that exact. @SweetSue created a thread about germinating a seed and starting the plant down the "hempy road" in a 16-ounxe Solo cup (might have been an 18-oz. one). Maybe that will be helpful.

Hempy Solo Cup Germination: A SweetSue Picture Tutorial

Hempy Solo Cup Germination You’ll need: perlite (I prefer coarse) strainer you’re rinse perlite water for diluted nutrients 2 Solo cups (I like the 16 oz size) lid for Solo cup drip saucer to place under cup I use a leather awl to poke the hole and then cut a circle with scissors. You...

www.420magazine.com

3. I don't bother to adjust the pH of the water I use for germination. (I also no longer use the rooter/germination things, because the last batch I got had some kind of white mold or... something on a bunch of them).

4. If you're doing it hempy style... I'd soak it pretty thoroughly. I'd also make sure that the upper "level" stays moist until there's an actual plant (seedling). That shouldn't be a problem, because your cup will have a built-in reservoir, and perlite does have some wicking ability, but... you don't want the little root to dry up.

5. Good luck!

 

[politoed]

Your autos aren't even 4 weeks old yet. Are you sure that's when you should be switching to flowering phase nutes? I'm also growing autos and I just switched mine to flowering phase nutes on Monday and that was Day 42 for mine. @FelipeBlu ?

His autos are only 33 days old. If his auto will be harvested around the same number of days as my auto, aren't we getting a little ahead of ourselves with his?

hey hey so my plants are currently on day 34 so that would actually put them 6 days into week 5. this schedule whacked me out at first too but i saw it laid out like this and it makes sense, hope this helps:

days
1-7 week 1
8-14 week 2
15-21 week 3
22-28 - week 4
29-35 week 5
36-42 week 6
43-49 week 7
50-56 week 8
57-63 week 9
64-70 week 10

regarding my nute schedule, ive just been going with the flow and feeling my plants out. for example i was using 1/4 and half strength all the way thru week 2. i vary it based on the strain and their needs at the time, and the measurements in my journal are my starting points. for example, ive been going lighter on the gro on the grapefruits since they seem to need less, heavier on the bloom on the grapefruit and ogkush since they started throwing pistils earlier, heavier on the gro on the cream cookies since they are flowering slowest. ive also added calmag in and go 1ml heavier on the grapefruit since theyre the only ones showing deficiency right now. one feeding i even gave the grapefruits half strength last week just to ease up on them a bit.

i was asking about the flushing because of what i had read elsewhere, but also just to be prepared. ive seen some grow journals where the grapefruit im growing finishes in 56 days so some weeks might blend together, like theoretically a modification of weeks 5-12 on the flora schedule could happen all sandwiched within the next 3 weeks. i dont see that happening at all though, i think these plants will go 10 weeks, maybe even more.

 

[FelipeBlu]

Welcome to hempy, RamenToppings
1. I just drip-dry mine, and then when I fertigate right after transfer, I hold my finger over the hole, fill a few inches above the hole, and let go.
2. The holes on my cups are about 1-1/4” to 1/3/8” up.
3. You can use your tap water as long as you know that it’s good (have a water report). Otherwise, it’s probably best to buy RO (by 5 gallon at the grocery, etc.).
You should pH your final mix of nutrient solution to around 5.8 or so. It isn’t necessary to pH for seedlings. They really don’t have much root system yet.
4. Initially, I like to provide a little around it every day.
5, Be careful - it’s addictive!

 

[RamenToppings]

Welcome to hempy, RamenToppings
1. I just drip-dry mine, and then when I fertigate right after transfer, I hold my finger over the hole, fill a few inches above the hole, and let go.
2. The holes on my cups are about 1-1/4” to 1/3/8” up.
3. You can use your tap water as long as you know that it’s good (have a water report). Otherwise, it’s probably best to buy RO (by 5 gallon at the grocery, etc.).
You should pH your final mix of nutrient solution to around 5.8 or so. It isn’t necessary to pH for seedlings. They really don’t have much root system yet.
4. Initially, I like to provide a little around it every day.
5, Be careful - it’s addictive!

Appreciate it, how do you make the hole?

 

[FelipeBlu]

You can heat up the head of a nail. Hold it with pliers. If it’s the right size (~3/8”), just poke it in and pull it out quickly.

 

[TorturedSoul]

I use an old coat hanger, that I have straightened out the "hook" on. No pliers required, assuming that I don't completely forget physics (and hold the rest of the hanger higher than the straightened part that is getting heated in the flame). I can also stick it under the stove burner's grate(?), and the rest of the hanger keeps it in position, meaning it gets heated while I'm grabbing the cups and separating them.

But most clothes hangers are probably plastic these days. And many cook stoves are electric. So that won't work for everyone.

 

[FelipeBlu]

Ya, and a lot of newer metal hangers are plastic-coated to boot.

I find most heads have a lighter or torch.

One can also just skip the solo cup and use a “stadium” cup, which is not only a nice size (32 oz), but is a harder plastic that can be drilled. In that case, I would place the hole about 2” up.

Or go for the original “hempy” - a 2-liter soda bottle.

 

[politoed]

Ya, and a lot of newer metal hangers are plastic-coated to boot.

I find most heads have a lighter or torch.

One can also just skip the solo cup and use a “stadium” cup, which is not only a nice size (32 oz), but is a harder plastic that can be drilled. In that case, I would place the hole about 2” up.

Or go for the original “hempy” - a 2-liter soda bottle.

do you find the height of the container matters as much as the volume as far as plant development goes? i have these 5" square pots that have a 2.2L capacity but are half the height of a 2L soda bottle. im wondering if the shallow depth would cause the plants to stay smaller and i figured maybe youd have experience with that?

i have been able to drill my solo cups with my dewalt on a low setting, but it can get annoying dealing with the "sawdust" of plastic.

 

[TorturedSoul]

I used to use Solo cups to hold the media (expanded clay "ball" product) and plant when I was growing in big DWC reservoirs. That meant creating as many 1/4" holes as I could in each cup. I tried drilling, and found it to be a pain in the arse. I must have been running the drill speed too high. Always ended up with melted plastic on the drill bit. User error, probably .

 

[RamenToppings]

You can heat up the head of a nail. Hold it with pliers. If it’s the right size (~3/8”), just poke it in and pull it out quickly.

this is what I did, it worked great thank you.

 

[politoed]

I used to use Solo cups to hold the media (expanded clay "ball" product) and plant when I was growing in big DWC reservoirs. That meant creating as many 1/4" holes as I could in each cup. I tried drilling, and found it to be a pain in the arse. I must have been running the drill speed too high. Always ended up with melted plastic on the drill bit. User error, probably .

sounds like youre just too good at drilling and the cups cant hang imo

i feel like my "im a contractor" privilege is at play here, i always forget most people dont have a surplus of power tools laying around.

 

[FelipeBlu]

do you find the height of the container matters as much as the volume as far as plant development goes? i have these 5" square pots that have a 2.2L capacity but are half the height of a 2L soda bottle. im wondering if the shallow depth would cause the plants to stay smaller and i figured maybe youd have experience with that?

Think of the reservoir as the water table in a soil profile. Few if any roots grow into it, so it is a limit on your growing depth for roots.

You want to balance that against how much buffer you want your reservoir to provide. No matter what size, in the end, I’ve always had to fertigate daily at some point. So there’s really no point to sacrificing too much growing volume for reservoir.

That being said, I’ve found that about 20% of your container volume is a good reservoir size.

 

[politoed]

Think of the reservoir as the water table in a soil profile. Few if any roots grow into it, so it is a limit on your growing depth for roots.

You want to balance that against how much buffer you want your reservoir to provide. No matter what size, in the end, I’ve always had to fertigate daily at some point. So there’s really no point to sacrificing too much growing volume for reservoir.

That being said, I’ve found that about 20% of your container volume is a good reservoir size.

ah the 20% thing is interesting. i was thinking

shorter container/same hole height = more volume at same depth so more nutes/less frequent feed

based on your 20% thing, theoretically then youd place the drainage hole lower on a short fat square pot than a tall slender bottle pot, correct? since the line at which 20% volume falls would be proportionately higher on the taller container

 

[TorturedSoul]

sounds like youre just too good at drilling

Well, I have received many compliments throughout the years .

ah the 20% thing is interesting. i was thinking

shorter container/same hole height = more volume at same depth so more nutes/less frequent feed

based on your 20% thing, theoretically then youd place the drainage hole lower on a short fat square pot than a tall slender bottle pot, correct? since the line at which 20% volume falls would be proportionately higher on the taller container

As has been discussed previously in this thread, different media have differing ability to wick moisture. And container height is going to, therefore, effect how close to the top of the container can be maintained in a moist state by one's reservoir. This isn't a big deal, but it IS something to be aware of. Seedlings don't have a well-developed root system, so they're unlikely to have roots that reach the reservoir space. That's why more applications of nutrient solution tend to be required with very young plants in a hempy grow, even though the plant obviously isn't using a great deal of water or nutrients at that stage. Once the root growth is sufficient, you'll probably find that an every other day schedule works. Sometimes, even an every third day (but, as there is no active aeration taking place, I prefer to not go more than one day without watering). Then, eventually, as Felipe mentioned, your plant will be consuming enough that you'll be doing it every day. Possibly even more than once/day, lol.