Hempy Bucket Experiment

[Cave Hill Cole]

Hi everyone,

Recently I have been hearing a lot of rumblings about the benefit of "hempy buckets" as a really simple, cheap and effective hydroponic method. My normal flower room setup consists of four autopots on a reservoir system, which works great. However, I currently have five plants in my veg tent that I want to fit into the next run. so that means, I need to sort out a way to fit another plant in the tent. The fifth plant is a stocky little Afgani from 1995 (Roof 95 by TH Seeds), and needs to be elevated to get enough light and not be shaded by the other plants. I thought I would take this as a chance to experiment with a hempy bucket. They are cheap and very mobile.

https://softsecrets.com/gb/2017/06/08/g ... y-buckets/



Hempy Bucket Parts
- 5gal bucket
- clay balls (i am using clay balls instead of perlite)
- Plastic tap (not necessary, but my preference)
- Coco (I also add worm castings, bokashi, sheep pellets & granular granular mycorrhizae)
- Plastic tube (i am using a tube off an old vacuum cleaner)


Method
1) Measure approx 5cm from base of bucket, draw a hole. Drill through the whole and attach the tap.
2) Fill bucket with clay balls just slightly over where the tap enters the bucket
3) Push the tube down, through balls to the bottom of the bucket
4) Add worm castings, bokashi, sheep pellets & granular granular mycorrhizae
5) Put plant in bucket and fill in with coco...and that's it






You are suppose to water until you see the solution come out of the bucket/tap. The bucket now has an air pocket with am area to contain the nutrient solution for the roots to feed. Apparently the benefits of the hempys are: 1 You cant over water them, 2 that you don't have to water them as often. Only every 2-3 days. I have read reports of people who reckon they have left them for over a week, up to 2 weeks, between watering. You don't have to add all the worm castings, bokashi, sheep pellets & granular granular mycorrhizae...that's just me, I like to add organic inputs to my coco.

I am going to chuck this hempy bucket into my tent for the next grow dairy I got coming up. So I will document this little experiment and see how she does compared to my autpots. If it works..it could be a really useful, cheap utilitarian style of growing

[JJ]

Do you water into the tube or is tube a vent

[JJ]

just did some searching around,, this is a go for me to try, thankx

[Cave Hill Cole]

Do you water into the tube or is tube a vent

Haha good question. The tube is a watering pipe..it goes straight through to he bottom layer of clay balls. Once the water level gets up to the whole/tap..it flows out. The advantage apparently is that when you water/fertigate, you dont have to get the coco wet. So you can increase the oxygen to your roots and also avoid things like fungus nats, like wet environments to live in. You don't have to use the tube, you can just top feed and let it soak through to the clay balls until it runs out the hole/tap.

[JJ]

seems when plant is small roots don't reach to bottom res.yet,have to top water till then.did see others use all perlite more frequently watering tho ,coco holds some water,dep time you have

[Cave Hill Cole]

seems when plant is small roots don't reach to bottom res.yet,have to top water till then.did see others use all perlite more frequently watering tho ,coco holds some water,dep time you have

Yeah you right, if the plant is small and doesn't have roots that reach the bottom you have to top feed the coco. But once the roots grow deep enough, then you can just use the watering tube. Its the same deal in autopots.

[Cave Hill Cole]

one other thing...the colour of the bucket is important. You want a dark/black bucket if possible. If the bucket were white, apparently the UV can penetrate the plastic. Making you susceptible to algae/root rot. If you only have a white/lighter color bucket, you can always wrap it in reflective tape as a hack.

[Cave Hill Cole]

Greetings everyone,

So here's a bit of update on the hempy bucket experiment. My little Roof 95 Afi is loving the hempy bucket. She is currently 2 weeks into flower. Her structure is extremely small and stocky. the last time I grew this strain out I had trouble yielding a decent amount. However, she seems really be responding well to the hempy setup. She might be small, but she is just stocked to the brim with bud sites. I have braced her in a atlas training cage, which goes very well with the hempy bucket. Hopefully if I build the support "the bud site will come".

Another great thing about hempy buckets, I have found, is the ease of watering. I have a funnel and hose setup, going directly to the reservoir at the bottom of the bucket. Then a hose at the bottom going to the drip tray. I pour 2.0ltrs every 2 days....and and as Captain Beefheart says "Job done" . It super easy..you just dump it into the funnel, wait a minute for the runoff to end and done.

[IMO]

Definitely want to run one of these

[Norseman]

Great write up @Cave Hill Cole. This looks like a must try for sure. Just the ease of watering and the fact that you don't need to water every day is a win win for me.