Blue Dream In Hempy Buckets With Modified Light Schedule

[Gorgar]

Strain: Humboldt Blue Dream, Feminized x 2.
Type: Hybrid, Sativa Dominant

Media: 2 gal Hempy Buckets. Bottom layer with expanded clay pellets and the top will be an approximate 50/50 mix of coco and perlite.

Nutes: Canna line of nutes (Start, CoCo A/B, Rhizotonic, Cannazym, PK 13/14 and Boost). Also using General Organics CaMg+.

pH: Target around 5.8, +/-.

Lights: 6 x 3590 COBs (2 bars of 3 each). These are DIY fixtures that are detailed here: DIY 3590 COB Fixtures

1 x MarsHydro 96x3 W Reflector. Will use the MH primarily in veg and will use it to supplement the COBs in flower if additional coverage is needed.

Light Schedule: Gas Lantern Routine and Diminishing Light Schedule: Modified Light Schedule
Veg - 12 On/5 1/2 Off/1 On/5 1/2 Off
Flower - Wks 1&2 -12/12
Diminsh by 1/2 hour each subsequent week
Finish with 9 On/15 Off

Environment: 5x3 grow tent. Indoor ambient humidity is approximately 50 - 65% right now, with how often the running of the central air factors into that swing. Humidity will lower after the summer when in flower. Tent temps should run from about 75 - 80 deg F. 2 circulatory fans provide air movement.

Pests: None, unless you count my wife.

Age: From seed.

 

[Gorgar]

Purpose: To document this grow for personal use in the event that it proves to be better in terms of maintenance (less watering and flushing in hempy buckets) and potency (modified light schedule) than in my previous Coco grows. My last grow was a single Blue Dream in a 3 gallon equivalent AirPot that was veged for 60 days and yielded 6.4 ounces of bud. I currently plan to veg this run for 6 weeks, but that is subject to change.

All comments, questions and suggestions are greatly apprecieated.

 

[Gorgar]

Catching Up: Seeds were placed in Rapid Rooters on 7/31 loosely following the procedure found here: Xlr8's Germination Technique

At onset:

A pic at the 3 day mark of the sprouts (yesterday):

Germination took place under a T5 and a humidity dome.

I vary my process from Xlr8 by placing the Rapid Rooter in a Solo cup with coco and some perlite and I mist twice a day to ensure that the Rapid Rooter stays moist.

Sprouts are currently under the T5 and humidity dome, but the modified light schedule is now set in place.

I am not sure when you start counting the Veg days, but I will be using today as the first day.

 

[Gorgar]

Veg/Day 3 (no, I'm not going to post every day, but I will update often so that a new grower will see what to expect...unless I screw something up!)

This is the pick from yesterday when the first set of leaves were developing:

Today I removed the humidity dome, fired up the MH LED (veg mode for now) and got some air moving in the tent.

Will probably start a light feeding in a day or two with the baby nutes.

 

[Mars Hydro]

 

[Gorgar]

Veg/Day 7

Plants are now at the 7 day mark after sprouting:

Feeding 1x per day with Canna Start and Rhizo plus some CalMag. Adding nutes until runoff and it doesn't take much at this stage.

Second leaves are forming nicely. The one plant was leaning over a bit, so I added a piece of BBQ skewer for support.

 

[dubnation]

subbed.

i'm growing about 10 days behind you. Using Xlr8's technique as well but haven't put them in solo cups yet. So far 8/12 have popped. Waiting on the other 4 before moving into solo cups and turning the lights on (T5 CFL).

My journal is up as well. First time creating a grow journal online.

 

[Gorgar]

i'm growing about 10 days behind you. Using Xlr8's technique as well but haven't put them in solo cups yet. So far 8/12 have popped. Waiting on the other 4 before moving into solo cups and turning the lights on (T5 CFL).

My journal is up as well. First time creating a grow journal online.

Hi dubnation, post a link to your journal here or put it in your sig. I'd like to follow along. This is my first grow journal, too.

I've only got three grows under my belt but on my first one I did not let the seeds sprout under a light...just complete dark. The sprouts were yellow and very spindly due to a lack of light from the start...but they recovered nicely. Now I just stick the Rapid Rooter in a Solo cup filled with Coco and some perlite and cover the seed hole so they have light (T5) from the beginning.

 

[dubnation]

cool, you are 2 grows ahead of me. but my first grow wasn't from seed, it was from a generous friend who gave me the girls at about week 6 of veg and i took them the rest of the way outdoors.

now my first start from seed.

i took your advice and turned on my T5 lights. Currently about 15" above and will move closer tomorrow. i think i will place the jiffy pellets direct in solo cups very soon.

i believe i made a signature. if not here's the link: Dubnation's - Indoor/Outdoor - Winter Grow Journal - 2016/2017

 

[Gorgar]

Veg/Day 14

At this point of growth, I'm trying to update on a weekly basis. Here they are at 2 weeks old:

At this stage they are drinking more and the roots look like they've reached the bottom of the cup. Still feeding the baby (Canna Start) nutes but will be starting the Canna A/B (mild dose) nutes tomorrow loosely based on the Canna feed schedule.

There's a shoot coming up after the third node, and that will be where I'll first top the plants. I usually top after the third and sixth nodes.

I anticipate transplanting in about a week and will document my Hempy buckets at that time.

 

[Gorgar]

i took your advice and turned on my T5 lights. Currently about 15" above and will move closer tomorrow. i think i will place the jiffy pellets direct in solo cups very soon.

Make sure that you place some media in the Solo cups...otherwise when the roots protrude out of the pellets they will die off. The media in the cups will also hold more moisture. You may already know that but I replied to a post a month or so ago where a new grower asked a question about roots protruding from his/her Rapid Rooters.

 

[Gorgar]

Veg/Day 18

The plants are continuing to grow well. They are drinking more so I will probably feed them twice a day while in the Solo cups. It will probably be a few days until I transplant because when I was mixing my media (coco/perlite) I ran a little short of perlite. I ordered some from the Big A because it looks like the HD only has a perlite that has MiraclGro nutes added in with it.

Both plants were topped three days ago. This pic is not the best, but if you look carefully you can see where the primary shoot was cut and the secondary shoots are now developing.

 

[Gorgar]

Veg/Day 19

The perlite got here early, so I went ahead and transplanted into the Hempy Buckets today. Here's one of the root balls:

They look good to me...and maybe a little farther along than the BD of my last grow around the same time.

The hempys have expanded clay on the bottom to cover the screen that I used (foot valve screen) and a 50/50 mix of coco and perlite. First the buckets were flushed with tap water, then pH adjusted tap water plus CalMag and finally with the nute mix. After placing in the tent, the buckets were watered with the fert mix until it was running out of the drain.

I'm aware that the drain could cause a potential blockage problem, but I'll keep and eye on it and just drill another hole if it needs it.

 

[Mars Hydro]

They grow very fast.

 

[Gorgar]

They grow very fast.

Hi Sara, yes...these Blue Dreams grow very well. And they are a very nice smoke. I grew the last one in a coco AirPot and now I'm giving the Hempy Buckets a go. They are vegging under a Mars-Hydro 96x3W reflector and I will add another one if I need more coverage as they grow.

 

[Mars Hydro]

Looking forward to more pics.

 

[Gorgar]

Veg/Day 28

Plants are getting bushy and continuing to grow, however I'm noticing some differences at this point between these Hempy buckets and the AirPots that I used for the BD last grow. The new/top leaves were pointing up for a while, but they seem to be spreading out a bit more now. There's also a little more twisting in some of the leaves. I'm guessing that maybe there's some more fertilizer uptake in the Hempys, but I don't know. I backed the dosage down a bit. I religiously check the pH but I think I'll check the runoff ppm to see if that tells me anything.

Only minor problem that I've noticed is that the growth of the secondary shoots, particularly on the one plant, seems a little stunted. I think that might be due to the fact that some of the upper fan leaves were blocking the light...so I pruned them off to expose the flowering sites to more light.

Again, I'm basically trying to see if a Hempy grow is a better way to do things for me.

 

[Tead]

I'm aware that the drain could cause a potential blockage problem, but I'll keep and eye on it and just drill another hole if it needs it.

Don't drill another hole... just use a toothpick (or whatever) to poke into the hole and jiggle whatever's blocking it.

 

[Tead]

I religiously check the pH but I think I'll check the runoff ppm to see if that tells me anything.

I've tried testing runoff in hempy before and just never been able to gain any insight doing it. While I wish you luck on your runoff testing, I suspect you may arrive at the same conclusion... many others have.

Also.... a note about the PH level of the feed mix.
Modern liquid nutrients lower the PH of water when you mix it up. The PH will naturally rise over the days between feedings. My PH target is 5.5. This allows the PH to drift up over the days between feedings and catches the nutrient uptake curve in a much better way. If you start at 5.8 you're at the very edge of uptake for a couple of the nutrients and your PH is going to naturally drift up. 5.5 puts you at a better place for those 2 nutrients and the PH drift up brings you into the sweet spot for all the others.
I suggest you test this and see the drift for yourself by mixing up a batch of nutes and monitoring it's PH for a few days.
Make sense?

Hempy pots are just so damn easy compared to other methods. I use it because I want to do hydro but no other method would work at 95f.

 

[Gorgar]

Hey Tead, thanks for stopping by with the valued advice. I was aware that my nute mix pH would creep up and had been starting these Hempys in the 5.6 - 5.7 range, but I like the 5.5 suggestion. I started to look to see if there was a pH down that 'held' longer, and saw some suggestions for Advanced Nutrients (I've been using the GH version). I'll stick with what I've got for now.

Could you please tell me how often you dump your Hempy reservoirs? The reason that I ask this is because today I dumped and measured the pH at 6.7 or so, but this is the first time that I really drained the buckets. My plants had seemed a bit stunted and a bit funky...but at least the pH issue can explain that.

When I was growing in Coco/perlite in Airpots my pH runoff was usually high but I did not really worry about it. But it's more of a concern now since there is a reservoir that is constantly feeding the plants. My ppm readings did not tell me much yesterday, because they were close to my nute mix going in. I was able to use that as a guide in my Coco grows, but now that I'm in Hempys it's a strange, new world.

Thanks again!!!