Dank86's Hempy SOG - 8 Strains - One Box - 2011

[dank86]

Welcome to my 8 strain Hempy SoG.

As you can see, the grow will be taking place in a fairly confined area.

As of now, the seedlings are 11 days old (above soil), having popped on June 15th.

The medium is strictly 75% perlite, 25% vermiculite.

All 8 strains were germinated in seedling starter soil, then transplanted to one large Hempy container (20 gallon).

Lighting is 110W High Output T5's for veg, then switch to 250W HPS flower.

All 8 strains are femenized, but I plan to lose at least 2 to either male or hermie traits.

The Lineup

S.A.G.E
Kandy Kush
Kushage
Burmese Kush
Blue Widow
Cali Hash Plant (4 days younger than the rest)
Pineapple Express
Critical +

The goal here is for at least 6 to turn out female and pull between 15-30 grams per plant. This is just an educated estimate, but as I have never tried Hempy before, I may be surprised or disappointing depending on how things go.

 

[dank86]

Re: Dank86's Hempy SoG-8 strains...one box_2011

Everyone at 3 days old (except the calihash plant, which was born 4 days later than everyone else)

 

[dank86]

Re: Dank86's Hempy SoG-8 strains...one box_2011

The family at 11 days old, June 26th one day after transplant into Hempy meduim.

 

[dank86]

Re: Dank86's Hempy SOG-8 Strains - One Box - 2011

For anyone who's interest was piqued by the info and photos, thus far, I'll list a bit more about the set up and plan.

The grow cabinet: 30"Wide, 20"Deep, 48"High, painted flat white on the inside.
Veg: 110W HO T5 dual spectrum for 2.5 weeks.
Flower: 250W HPS and reflector hood with single cooltube port on top.
Growing style: Hempy (passive hydroponic). 20 Gallon rubber tub, with 2" water reservoir at the bottom. 75% perlite/25% vermiculite blend. I also added a bit of dolomite lime and myko stimulant just for good measure.
Nutrients: 12-0-12-12 (NPKCa) macro nutrient feed mixed with a 3-10-19 microbase feed through veg/ Tigerbloom with microbase through flower.
Exhaust: 4" Inline duct fan with passive intake for veg/ 4" 450cfm cage fan sucking air through the HPS cooltube port, pushing out through a carbon filter. The Inline duct fan gets switched to an intake fan during flower.

The plan overall in this variety fest of strains is to take 2 clones from each plant a few weeks into flower (hoping that 2.5 weeks of veg is enough for some mature side branching. If not, the cuttings will come straight from the top). Whichever strain is the healthiest/best over yield/quality smoke will be mothered for a perpetual setup. The cabinet will then become strictly a flower cab, most likely the same single res hempy style. Since the veg is fairly long for a SoG, there will probably be some LST, but if the cloning goes as planned, that won't be necessary.

If I left something out, or anyone has any questions or comments, feel free to leave your 2 cents. Otherwise, enjoy the show.

 

[dank86]

Re: Dank86's Hempy SOG-8 Strains - One Box - 2011

Quick update:

This is day 2 after transplant and everyone is still growing, which means roots are taking to the perlite/vermiculite medium. The Blue Widow is starting to yellow on the bottom set of true leaves, along with the entire Critical+, but the Critical seems to be naturally lighter in color all around. It was time to water, and since a few babies looked hungry I gave a 300ppm strength feed PH'd at 6.0. The runoff measured 6.9PH, so I watered a bit more with a plain water solution, PH'd to 5.5. I'll have to keep an eye on the PH, because it rose over a point in one day.

Other than that, everyone is healthy and seems to be liking their new home in the perlite/vermiculite. I can't wait until the roots hit the water table and a growthsplosion ensues!

 

[dank86]

Re: Dank86's Hempy SOG-8 Strains - One Box - 2011

Another Update

If anybody is watching, this is day 5 after the transplant from seedling starter soil-to one large Hempy container.

These pictures are from yesterday (June 29th):

Here we have:
Kandy Kush-back left
Critical +-back right
Pineapple express-front left
Blue widow-front right

Here we have:
Kushage-back right
Burmese Kush-back left
SAGE-front left
Cali hash-front right

The whole family 4 days after transplant

 

[dank86]

Re: Dank86's Hempy SOG-8 Strains - One Box - 2011

I also decided to go ahead and start the transition to flower late last night, which required setting up the 250W HPS and 450cfm exhaust to the carbon filter. Temps are going to be a battle with this HPS in such a small space, but they always are, and I always manage.

Here's a shot of the HPS in action with cool tube exhaust from the top.

I fed the last does of veg nutes last night and started the light cycle transition. They were on 7 hours of dark, but I increased that to 9 hours for their first night with the HPS. Tonight they will get 11 hours of dark and a full 12 hours of dark tomorrow night. That will put them at approximately 17 days of veg and I'll cross my fingers that they don't get out of control when the roots fully establish in the water table.

 

[dank86]

Re: Dank86's Hempy SOG-8 Strains - One Box - 2011

Update Time

The gals got their second light feeding of Tiger Bloom, with a hint of veg nutes. I may even have to up the veg nutes because they still have some maturing to do with such a short veg cycle (17 days). After the light cycle transition, which lasted for 3 nights (9 hours of dark, 11 hours then next night, and 12 hours last night), the stretching has begun.

It also looks as though the roots have discovered the water table, because growth has increased exponentially. I may have to do some early pruning to make sure everybody gets adequate light.

Here's the gang at 18 days old, with one night of flower under their belt

If anyone has questions about how these strains are growing, just ask and you shall receive.

 

[dank86]

Re: Dank86's Hempy SOG-8 Strains - One Box - 2011

Since everyone seems solely interested in pics, I'll keep the words short.

The roots seem to have hit the water table and the plants have taken off. Growth is mostly uniform, with the Calihash plant being considerably behind the others (it was born 4 days later than the other strains), which will certainly hurt yield. Several of the strains are growing like males, but no signs of sex, thus far.

Picture Update-3 days of flowering

 

[dank86]

Re: Dank86's Hempy SOG-8 Strains - One Box - 2011

5 Days of Flowering

Explosion Time!

 

[dank86]

Re: Dank86's Hempy SOG-8 Strains - One Box - 2011

Update: One week of flower

Roots are well established in the water table, and the 23-day-old babies drank ALL of it in 2 days!

I know veg is boring, so enough said:

 

[dank86]

Re: Dank86's Hempy SOG-8 Strains - One Box - 2011

No more veg nutes, just tiger bloom and some micro nutes (a little h2o2 as well). Babies look very healthy with a lot of side-branching. They are growing quite uniform for being 8 different strains.

5 confirmed females as today! Did some serious pruning of fan leaves to let light into the side branches. Cloning will happen in the next week or so.

26 days old: 10 days of flower

 

[Hash Hound]

Re: Dank86's Hempy SOG-8 Strains - One Box - 2011

Hey Dank

Nice setup. Looks like it might get pretty crowded in there soon.

Are you going to pull the males if they show up, or let any stay around to make some seeds?

 

[dank86]

Re: Dank86's Hempy SOG-8 Strains - One Box - 2011

Hey Dank

Nice setup. Looks like it might get pretty crowded in there soon.

Are you going to pull the males if they show up, or let any stay around to make some seeds?

Hey Hash Hound, thanks for stopping by. It was starting to get a little lonely in here, but since this is a commonly talked about setup (different strains in one medium and a Hempy SoG at that) I think it needs to be documented for all to see.

A lot of hype goes into the growing community without much scientific data to back it up, which is why I decided to show everyone that not only can you grow VERY different strains in the same medium, but they will all find a balance between nutrients, height (for light competition), and root space, just as plants do in any ecosystem.

To answer your question, I will most definitely be pulling any males, although in an ideal world my femenized seeds wouldn't produce males. So far, 5 out of 8 are confirmed females, so I'm actually hoping for at least two males or hermies, so I can free up a little room in there. If by some rare occurrence, they all turn out to be healthy females then I will be doing a lot of pruning to keep air flow at a maximum.

 

[ImWaldo]

Re: Dank86's Hempy SOG-8 Strains - One Box - 2011

With that hempy setup do you drain the res every time you water? and is pH 6 where youre trying to keep it?

 

[dank86]

Re: Dank86's Hempy SOG-8 Strains - One Box - 2011

With that hempy setup do you drain the res every time you water? and is pH 6 where youre trying to keep it?

Sometimes I just let the water evaporate if there isn't much runoff, but algae will grow pretty easily if you let it sit under the light for a day or two, so I usually pour a little h2o2 into the runoff res after I check pH. Emptying the drain res can be a pain and a mess if there is too much runoff, but during a flush (wich doesn't happen often with Hempy) I just move the whole hempy container to the bathtub (which is also a pain and a mess, not to mention its really heavy when freshly watered).

As for the pH going in, I usually aim for 5.5-5.8 because the vermiculite will raise the pH to well over 7 pretty quickly. Since you end up watering so often (every other day at least), it's pretty easy to balance the pH close to 6 if you pH your feed water to 5.5. pH swings are a downside to Hempy style, but I've seen it controlled well with pure perlite medium (which needs to be watered even more frequently than perlite/vermiculite mix).

I hope that helps answer your questions, thanks for popping in.

 

[ImWaldo]

Re: Dank86's Hempy SOG-8 Strains - One Box - 2011

Yeah, thanks. I dont know much about hempy at all

 

[Hash Hound]

Re: Dank86's Hempy SOG-8 Strains - One Box - 2011

Dank

My Northern Light grow was hempy. In a shower stall. Very convenient for a hempy. Attached a small garden hose with a watering wand to the shower spigot. Worked out great.

 

[dank86]

Re: Dank86's Hempy SOG-8 Strains - One Box - 2011

Hash Hound,

That was a very productive space you had there, and that one plant filled the entire space just about. I wish I had the convenience of a drain for the runoff. Still thinking about a solution to the problem.

 

[Hash Hound]

Re: Dank86's Hempy SOG-8 Strains - One Box - 2011

Hey Dank,

I was thinking if I ever tried growing in a closet or room to get some sort of large tray and drain it into a bucket.

Or one of those washing machine over flow trays and draining that to a bucket.