Maybe switching to passive hydro

[winterwhisper]

After seeing the results an ease of growth with hempy buckets I'm considering it but i'd like to not waste all of the items I purchased for the RDWC. Can I use the hydroton for the reservior level of the hempy's? Also I'm thinking ahead to the harvest time. Does one simply shake out the stem from the pot with hempy's and reuse or what? Do we have to sterilze the cocoa hempy mix or what?

 

[TrichGobbla]

If you need any help I got some knowledge with passive hydro. In coco/perlite as well as just 100%perlite I'd love to help if I can

 

[winterwhisper]

I would appreciate any help. I'm starting to rethink this thing but it's too late to turn back now. I went out and bought new 5 gallons buckets today and some coco and perlite but it seems it's going to take way more than the 3 bags the hydro store gave me. gggrrrrr. The only thing I'm going to do is save on having to buy some more hydroton to put in the res...as I believe the res really only serves the purpose of acting as a res to which the roots will grow down to and therefore doesn't NEED a wicking agent. I cut and made a sieve looking kind thing that will sit inside the new bucket....kind like a goldminers pan with lots of holes that will sit conveniently above the drain hole. I'm going to transplant some blooming big girls so I hope this doesn't kill them. Am I wrong in this thinking of leaving the rez pebble free? I'd also like to establish a top feed timed watering system. I haven't done any research on that yet. I's really like some suggestions for this type of grow if you have any.

If you need any help I got some knowledge with passive hydro. In coco/perlite as well as just 100%perlite I'd love to help if I can

 

[TrichGobbla]

No my man, no turning back now for sure. Ok, let's see. Firstly you will absolutely need the hydroton or 100%perlite or even river rocks in a bag from walmart. These will act as the wick themselves seeping water to the coco mix. The gold pan idea is a good idea, but without something to touch the actual water if the level goes down past the bottom of the coco and it's dries, your roots will suffer. The res medium is a must.
Anything at all hit me up sir! I'm mostly Full Hydro (active) but I love my passive grow too....



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[winterwhisper]

Oh crap ! well by the time I read this I had already switched the big gals to the new buckets. I thought though that since the big root masses are so close to the res I could get away with not putting anything there. Arfter all I'm, just waitign for these to finish flowering..2 out of 3 are pitiful frankly so I wouldn't loose sleep if they dies but I'd still like to salvage them. The real deal with be to plant my clones.
Guess I gotta get some more perlite but the small ones are hell to deal with. It's like my local hydro doesn't use their own stuff they sell...the chunkier one is $35.00 per bag! Thank goodness the coco I got looks like to may go the distance for the remaining 7 buckets...that is if i still use the 5 gallons. what size are your buckets..they're black so they're either 3 or 5.

How do you water?

 

[TrichGobbla]

Oh crap ! well by the time I read this I had already switched the big gals to the new buckets. I thought though that since the big root masses are so close to the res I could get away with not putting anything there. Arfter all I'm, just waitign for these to finish flowering..2 out of 3 are pitiful frankly so I wouldn't loose sleep if they dies but I'd still like to salvage them. The real deal with be to plant my clones.
Guess I gotta get some more perlite but the small ones are hell to deal with. It's like my local hydro doesn't use their own stuff they sell...the chunkier one is $35.00 per bag! Thank goodness the coco I got looks like to may go the distance for the remaining 7 buckets...that is if i still use the 5 gallons. what size are your buckets..they're black so they're either 3 or 5.

How do you water?

Oh its gonna be just fine my man, as you know these plants are so very resilient. And do you have amazon or Ebay? That's where I get my perlite and coco. Maybe alot cheaper online sir..
And my buckets are 3.5 GALLON yes black and 5 will work perfectly sir!


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[winterwhisper]

I do hope they are going to be...many times they don't act so resilient. I'm so9 disappointed my first grow turned out to be so puny. I can't wait to start out my clones really into some good growth. Only one our of 7 is really getting a good start out of the gate as she did before....a really good but tall grower...buddah's hand.
I tried staking her up with a dowel but thats not quite working. Too late to do a net so I'll have to devise another system for support. I wanted to buy local becasue frankly I didn't have the time to wait with the shoftiong around of my plants. I'm also having trouble curtaiing off my two grows..one thats flowering and the one vegging. This orka bites becasue if it's lack of flexability....fine for walls..thats it...not good for curves and rolls up doors etc. anything that requires fluidity. well time to sack out..have a good green one sir!

Oh its gonna be just fine my man, as you know these plants are so very resilient. And do you have amazon or Ebay? That's where I get my perlite and coco. Maybe alot cheaper online sir..
And my buckets are 3.5 GALLON yes black and 5 will work perfectly sir!


Sent from my SM-T230NU using 420

 

[winterwhisper]

Hey Trich......It seems I'm right back where I started from when I first started growing from soil to hydro and now back toa format where I can't see the moisture content in the "dirt". So how do I know when to water my coco/perlite or coco/hydroton buckets ? I can't use my regular plant moisture meter to gauge . I have been putting only about a cup in every day as that is how much it takes without producing runoff. I suppose when the time comes that more is required for runnoff than the plants have been drinking. So until that time comes how to gauge when to water?