Hempy Headquarters

[TorturedSoul]

I have a few tips that encourage large root growth in the top third of perlite hempies. I'll try to type up the tips and method involved in-between filling up moving boxes.


It involves several up-cannings, xylem stripping, rooting hormones, node removal, root pruning and frequent misting. It'll make a 5 gallon bucket one big root mass up to two inches from the top. It's not ground breaking stuff, but it is fun to perform if you like growing roots. Back to packing ...


Peace
Keith

Cannabis plants seem to not require much in the way of encouragement to grow roots from the upper (below-ground) portions of those plants. As far as that goes, neither do the above ground portions, if they spend any real length of time in contact with a moist substrate. Makes unintentional cloning a possibility, lol - just forget to tie that drooping branch up and you're likely to find that it has grown roots. So cut it off and stick it into its own container. The more "available" oxygen, the better. So choice of media (and the ratio that it is mixed at) could play a big part, I suppose. IOW, add enough coco coir, vermiculite, et cetera to the perlite to allow it to hold a little moisture and this seems to happen more readily. IMHO.

 

[SweetSue]

A hempy question, if you please....

I have this new clone in soil, a nice Lemon Haze, a chemovar I’ve been after for years.

Veg shelf

• SweetSue
• Apr 8, 2018

She has a long stem that I want to bury in perlite and get to root. I don’t want to grow in soil anymore, so I’ll be shaking off the soil and transplanting into a hempy pot.

What would I need to do to encourage that stem to break out in roots?

 

[BigBearNTexas]

If the “bark” is tender, I don’t think you would need to do anything, just bury it.

If the main stem is woody, you may want to scrape the areas that are going to be buried to damage the exterior off the stem.

 

[SweetSue]

If the “bark” is tender, I don’t think you would need to do anything, just bury it.

If the main stem is woody, you may want to scrape the areas that are going to be buried to damage the exterior off the stem.

Ok, that’s what I wasn’t clear about. Do you think it’d help to coat the stem with rooting hormone before I plant it in the perlite?

 

[BigBearNTexas]

It couldn’t hurt.

 

[TorturedSoul]

The anti-fungal powder, yes. The gel type... I wouldn't bother. Are you using straight perlite or do you still sprinkle in a little something else to help keep some moisture throughout the container?

You could tape the hole shut, water it more thoroughly, and wait until it has evaporated/been consumed before removing the tape and proceeding as per normal. [EDIT: If so, make sure you've got plenty of fresh air blowing across the plant to aid in transpiration. And, if you've got an air pump and stone laying around, sinking that in the container will help guard against root rot. So will H₂O₂ (contraindicated if you're using "organic" nutrients).] You increase the chances of stem rot a bit, though. You could also skip all that and alternate a regular watering (when you normally would) with giving it just enough to wet the upper regions. Again, that is more feasible if you've added a little coco coir or vermiculite (I'd probably soak the coco for an hour in a weak calcium nitrate solution to do a little cation magic after the usual round of rinsing it out, but that's just me.)

Been my experience that any plant expends more energy on root growth when there is NOT an adequate suppply of water already reachable by the existing root system. Plant Survival 101 . Remember how people who do not give their plants enough water at a time end up with a shallow root system?

WARNING: I'm no rocket surgeon.

 

[SweetSue]

This one was an easy fix TS. The stem was long enough that the roots are sitting in the reservoir already.

Lemon Haze transplant to hempy

• SweetSue
• Apr 8, 2018

Lemon Haze in transition

• SweetSue
• Apr 8, 2018

Lemon Haze (Day 1)

• SweetSue
• Apr 8, 2018

This morning she looks just fine, considering how battered her roots were when I dropped her in the pot last night.

Lemon Haze (Day 2)

• SweetSue
• Apr 9, 2018

The power of hempy: transplants thrive almost immediately.

This morning I found one of my clone cuttings had sprouted roots, so I planted her too.

Hempy planting: preparing the pot

• SweetSue
• Apr 9, 2018

Tape the hole and add 1/2 gallon of 1/4-strength nutrients.

Devil’s Carnival 1.7 (Day 1)

• SweetSue
• Apr 9, 2018

Grab the rooted clone.

Hempy planting

• SweetSue
• Apr 9, 2018

Drain all the excess nutrients.

Hempy planting

• SweetSue
• Apr 9, 2018

Remove enough perlite to fit cutting.

Hempy planting

• SweetSue
• Apr 9, 2018

Plant clone cutting and place far from the light overnight.

 

[KeifKeith]

This one was an easy fix TS. The stem was long enough that the roots are sitting in the reservoir already.

This morning she looks just fine, considering how battered her roots were when I dropped her in the pot last night.

This morning I found one of my clone cuttings had sprouted roots, so I planted her too.

Sue,

Just don't let the COB chews let you confuse the rice crispy treat (maybe its a sponge in the pic) and the used perlite ... extra crunchy with organic roughage!

Soil to Perlite repots work great, especially when you can tease out and keep the long main tap root. 3 days from now it'll kick back into growth like it started in that container. I like to float the whole soil rootball in bucket of water to tease out roots and soil, the water lessens fine root rips and tears, as opposed to the stream of the faucet where gravity and water pressure is a bit rougher. I love up-potting! I'm jonesing for a plant to torture ... ... I'll have to scratch my itch virtually and watch you for several weeks.

Peace
Keith

 

[Radogast]

A hempy question, if you please....

I have this new clone in soil, a nice Lemon Haze, a chemovar I’ve been after for years.

Veg shelf

• SweetSue
• Apr 8, 2018

She has a long stem that I want to bury in perlite and get to root. I don’t want to grow in soil anymore, so I’ll be shaking off the soil and transplanting into a hempy pot.

What would I need to do to encourage that stem to break out in roots?

This girl here was repotted from soil to perlite and back to soil. She'll be fine.

Haze x Kali China

• Radogast
• Apr 9, 2018

 

[SweetSue]

Rad, she’s a beauty. Temps have stabilized enough you’re back in soil again? Geez... she looks good.

 

[Radogast]

Rad, she’s a beauty. Temps have stabilized enough you’re back in soil again? Geez... she looks good.

I gave up the ease of sitting in my veg area and replaced it with a rainbarrel to cook soil in a watm area.

My half hearted attempt to grow in osmocote+ hempy didn't work for me.


These two girls are soil to hempy - and back to soil

Lilly and Haze x Kali China

• Radogast
• Apr 9, 2018

These two girls are the clone twins that went from soil to hempy - and stayed in hempy

Hempy

• Radogast
• Apr 9, 2018

I chopped them today

Ex Hempy

• Radogast
• Apr 9, 2018

The last of my hempies are 3 in the flower area, with two soil girls in back

Flower Area

• Radogast
• Apr 9, 2018

I'm not trying to talk about anyone else's experience - just hempy didn't work out well for me.

This is mostly because I don't want to learn about the subtle difference between calcium deficiencies that require cal-mag and calcium deficiencies due to nutrient lockout after too much cal-mag.

Some of my hempies recovered after correcting the PH, and some of them stayed looking ugly.

Several harvests were missed. My family needs harvests - so I went back to soil.


- - -

Again, not trying to talk about anyone else's experience - just that perlite-soil transplants seem to work out really well

- - -

I think my failures with hempy have come up enough, and today I finally committed to cutting the sickly hempy plants to avoid attracting pests, so I think it's a good time for me to no longer watch this thread. Good luck to you all. May you continue to have more success with hempy than I do

 

[FelipeBlu]

Greetings fellow hempites!

Sue has asked me to repost something here that I brought up in @Tead’s journal. He and others have had terrific success using PVC pipe as hempy containers.

However, although PVC pipe is very damn convenient, it isn’t one of the plastics that are safe for growing plants for consumption by humans or animals. There are toxic compounds that can be leached out of the plastic which can end up in the plant (especially if using a lower pH nutrient solution).

For information on which plastics are safe, and how to identify what you have, you can check out the following:

Grow Hack: Is That Plastic Safe for Hydro?

They even had an artist prepare this graphic:

A0E06DFA-5F90-4E1F-8259-039BCD54B929.jpeg

• FelipeBlu
• Apr 10, 2018

But if, like me, you don’t believe much you read in High Times, this is from Nat Geo/PBS:

https://www-tc.pbs.org/strangedays/pdf/StrangeDaysSmartPlasticsGuide.pdf

As Sue has found, there are a lot of other options available to repurpose as hempy pots. Safe growing!

 

[BTzGrow]

Good Share Bro, You pulled these out for me a couple of weeks ago when making some choice regarding some plastic I had bought for Hempy.

 

[FelipeBlu]

Well now, @Tead has replied (in his journal), and being better informed than I, tells us that PVC made since 1977 should have a NSF certification on it indicating that it is safe for drinking water use.

So it would appear that my concern is likely over-blown. But if you are dragging some old PVC out of your garage, please be aware of the potential hazards.

 

[BigBearNTexas]

So, two grows in a row, right at the 8 week mark, when my autos are done with their growth and are setting into growing buds, I’ve had a problem with yellowing and browning leaves.

I’m using an organic nute mix, Tappin Roots, which has cal/mag, but I don’t pH my runoff currently. Typically a flush halts the progress of the yellowing and browning, but I’m left with ugly plants for the last four weeks of flower until harvest.

Other than getting a pH pen, I’m thinking of doing some prophylactic flushing. I think half the problem may be a buildup of nutes creating pH problems and lock out, or perhaps it’s an overdose of nitrogen right at that point in the cycle.

Up until this point, the plants are vigorous and healthy looking.

I admit that I have been bad about taking the plants out and doing a overflow flush with nutes when I feed. I water to overflow, but I just let it drain into the bottom of the tent and let evaporate to raise the humidity. Means taking out the tent floor now and again and washing it, but so far it’s mostly been successful.

I’m coming up to the critical period with my Northern Lights Auto and am trying to avoid the problem this time.

Any thoughts?

 

[BTzGrow]

Sue, I have a really basic question regarding expected yield from the One Gallon Pitcher that you are using. I'm trying to decide on a couple of directions for my next grow. Basically number of plants. @FelipeBlu reminded me that there is a limit of plants legally allowed here in California. The other side is growing less plants but making an effort for higher yield though training and defoliation to gain more buds per plant. What do you feel is an appropriate expected yield for your size pitchers if you could guess an average?

 

[SweetSue]

So, two grows in a row, right at the 8 week mark, when my autos are done with their growth and are setting into growing buds, I’ve had a problem with yellowing and browning leaves.

I’m using an organic nute mix, Tappin Roots, which has cal/mag, but I don’t pH my runoff currently. Typically a flush halts the progress of the yellowing and browning, but I’m left with ugly plants for the last four weeks of flower until harvest.

Other than getting a pH pen, I’m thinking of doing some prophylactic flushing. I think half the problem may be a buildup of nutes creating pH problems and lock out, or perhaps it’s an overdose of nitrogen right at that point in the cycle.

Up until this point, the plants are vigorous and healthy looking.

I admit that I have been bad about taking the plants out and doing a overflow flush with nutes when I feed. I water to overflow, but I just let it drain into the bottom of the tent and let evaporate to raise the humidity. Means taking out the tent floor now and again and washing it, but so far it’s mostly been successful.

I’m coming up to the critical period with my Northern Lights Auto and am trying to avoid the problem this time.

Any thoughts?

Personally I think a good flush can’t hurt and may help. I’d flush thoroughly every couple weeks and see if that eliminates the problem.

I water from the top until it starts shooting out, then I stop and let it finish draining. Watering every other day keeps things running smoothly enough that I get away with occasionally watering just until I see a trickle.

I use RX Technologies nutrients, and so far they’ve given me no trouble with salt buildup. I don’t flush at all until the last week in the flowering cycle, where I used to flush between nutrient changes.......sometimes. I got really lazy at times and didn’t bother to flush. Some of my plants limped across the line, but still produced.

We don’t grow them for the fan leaves and these are very adaptable plants. Even my worst hempies delivered the goods.

BTzgrow, I’ve pulled near 4 ounces of Blue Dream out of close to the same size pot, and nearly the same of Devil’s Carnival and Carnival. I’d think with good lights, decent skills and strong genetics you’re looking at between 3-4 oz per. I’m happy with 2, happier with 3, jumping with joy to get 4. Lol!

 

[BTzGrow]

BTzgrow, I’ve pulled near 4 ounces of Blue Dream out of close to the same size pot, and nearly the same of Devil’s Carnival and Carnival. I’d think with good lights, decent skills and strong genetics you’re looking at between 3-4 oz per. I’m happy with 2, happier with 3, jumping with joy to get 4. Lol!

That's kind of what I have been picking up from here and a couple of other sources. 3-4 oz per X 6 to 9 plants would be a very interesting yield indeed. My space is 2x2.5feet and I can see that I could easily fit 9 plants in my waste baskets to start with and remove any males and still end up with a decent yield. I'm thinking having multiple plants to tend while sometimes tedious could be still be an over all fun experience especially when growing different strains and breeds.

 

[FelipeBlu]

It would be a terrific learning experience!

 

[BigBearNTexas]

Thanks @SweetSue! I guess I’m asking if I should start doing some flushing before I see problems. Sounds like it shouldn’t be an issue.