I think mostly what the aeration table, or bucket insert with fast draining bottom, is for is to increase the amount of fluid in the res by physically preventing the perlite from filling that space in the bottom of the main bucket.
I have seen instructions for doing it both ways, and neither had any complaints.
I just happened to decide to try the bucket-in-bucket method for my first try. (*I'm running 100% perlite, except for the soil that came with the 3/4-gallon transplant).
As for links, I read quite a few threads and most referenced back to Hempy's guidelines:
(mixed with other's keen observations)
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You can start your seed in soil, as long as it is a very small amount (just enough to bust your seeds)
Then you can transfer it into the buckets.
You dont want tooo much soil in this mix as it holds alot more water/food than the perlite.
The soil doesnt let the food all drain to the bottom resavoir, and can throw your bucket out of wack.
I do know of a few ppl though that use a small amount in a small cup, and add it to the bucket during transfer.
I actually had a clone given to me in soil. I took the plant out of the bucket, and dipped the roots into water. washing them off.
I got as much of the dirt off as possible and put her into the hempy bucket. She never showed any stress from the transfer, and just took off!
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The Hempy Bucket
Hi every one i thort id add this system of growing i use and have used from the early to mid 80s , As most of you that know me will all ready know that i am a believe in simplicity and things that work and i only really state facts that i have experience from hands on.
I like the hempy bucket because of its simplicity and the price of the system (ITS FREE ) to make and has no moving parts that can fail and once the plant has started its root system you can basically water and forget it for 2 days or 3 depending on temps and you can grow any strain from sativa to indica in it .
I basically got the idea from my first hydro kit i ever got that was a tomato hydro kit and i found it really easy to understand ,It was basically an aquponic set up and the guy i had got it from i went back a few years later telling him about my creation and how i got it from his idea and the look on his face and smile sed it all ,Iv spoken to a few people in the hydro industry about it and they all tell me it wont work it will course root rot so on well there all wrong because this method works and they say a picture is worth a 100 wards right lol.
I AM NOT SAYING THIS METHOD IS THE BEST BUT What i am saying is its a option and a easy cheep way to grow hydroponicly and nothing more, I have tried a lot of methods and have all ways gone back to this.
To make a hempy bucket is simple all you need to do is this
Get your self a bucket any color but clear as you will end up with algae forming as the nutrients react to the light .
The size of the bucket can very from 1 gal (4lt) to 5gal (20lt) ruffly i personally like using a 10 lt bucket and have had up to 19 oz cured yield from a single bucket but it depends on the strain and given phino .
Once you have your bucket then get a drill and drill a drain hole in the side of the bucket about 2 inch from the bottom , The drain hole can be around 7/16.
And the medium i use is perlite/vermiculite at around 3 to 4 parts perlite to 1 part vermiculite.You can use volcanic rocks but personally i found the perlite / vermiculite a lot better in many ways but you can use only perlite to.
All you need to do now is basically add the rooted clone or seedling, water with nutrient rich water and that's it.
I would water it daily until the tap root and root system has headed down to the res but once you see a decent growth rate id then start to water every 2 days.
The only thing wrong with it is you need to hand water and you get run off from the drain hole thats it and as far as checking your PH well the only time you need to do that is when you mix your nutrients i like using a PH of 6.2 PH but if your water is 7ph or close then mix your nutrients as directed on the bottle and you will be in the range recommended.
Like i sed i am not stating this methods is the best just saying its a option and a free one and it works and works well
-hempy
23 /11/2010 UPDATE -
Since i first posted this to the community and shared my method it seams a few people have run with this method and put there spin on it and have been posting it around the boards and saying hempy sed this or that now i will not take responsibility for any of these peoples wards or spins on this method if your plants fail or dont do to good blame them not me.
You need to think for your selfs in all honesty the formula i have given you all to go along with the method is full proof i state my reputation on it and if you know me away from the site you will know my ward means more to me than any ego bull shit these few seam to feed on.
I see some saying dont feed your plants until it starts to grow and the roots hit the rez feed only water well the medium has no nutrient value what are your plants meant to feed off just water ? think about it a little dont just take peoples advice with out thinking about what there saying.
Dont water until you see your plants wilt come on are you guys honestly believing these people ?.
Water once a week with nutrient rich water and only water in between if needed are you seriously going to do this and expect your plants to remain happy and healthy.
My advice is this use the basic formula i have given you it works you will know as much as these try hards or more soon after you read this post you have any problems or questions contact me at Mr nice co site.
I dont care if you put your spin on it i dont care if you dont follow my advice or formula i dont even care if you like me or hate me but i do care that some people across the boards are telling people hempy sed this or that when i have not and are coursing peoples plants to suffer or worse fail that upsets me and it is wrong.
Use your heads its very simple the medium is to anchor your plants the nutrients is what feeds your plants and gives them all they need to grow into happy healthy plants rocket science it is not.
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Hempy Bucket
The whole concept of hempy is to achieve a good relationship in the roots between O2, H2O, & food, in a simple inexpensive setup. This is achieved through a passive hydro with a small rez. Large enough to spread out the watering frequency, but small enough to eliminate the creation of slime, algae, or other pathogens you see in standing water hydro systems.
Let’s talk about watering. I’ve seen many posts already on how much to water, and when. I’m not saying that any other method is wrong, but this is the original method and why. The thought to watering is to flood water, meaning to water fast and fill the whole top surface with water so it drains as a column of water through the medium. And water with enough water to make 1/3 run-off. So if it takes 3 qts to fill your rez in the bucket then water with 4 qts H2O. What this does is to push out all the old air in the bucket through the hole and then as the water column level drops in the medium and starts to flow out the hole it creates a vacuum behind it and will pull fresh air down into the medium behind the flowing water. So the concept is while giving fresh water, old air is pushed out and fresh air is brought in.
As far as how often to water, the theory says to run them dry, so as to not build up any pathogens or excess salts.
Medium:
Almost any clean soiless medium will work with varying results. I’ve seen and used some of the following.
Glass beads – Will work once roots set, it has no wicking ability
Pumice (lave rock) – I’ve tried it and it will works, wicks better than glass but not great, it does hold air and water well though
Straight vermiculite – Used alone will not dry out without affecting the plant which caused many problems in my experiment and several others I’ve seen. Sorry MoeBius but I’ve seen no helpful effects in using.
Peat – Only saw one experiment, it didn’t work. Peat & vermiculite want to have water and will take it from wherever they can find it, if the moisture content drops to low it will take whatever moisture it can from it’s surrounding, even from your plant. These will always be the moist materials in any substrate.
Coco – This is one of the best hempy mediums around, I personally had a bad grow because I purchased inferior material, my bad but from all the grows I’ve followed I’d say this is a winner.
Perlite – Overall the most and easiest to use and the original product of the hempy. Size doesn’t seem to matter much. I would recommend rinsing prior to use to get rid of the dust.
Even though I’ve recycled buckets of great grows using un-rinsed small perlite with perlite dust mud in the bottom and it didn’t seem to affect.
So it’s a personal thing.
I currently use large (size 4) to get more cycles out of it.
Mapito – This one is new to me but it looks very promising, seems to have the proper attributes.
Expectations or Limitations
Since a hempy is in a confined space (bucket size), then root growth can only go so far, same as in a soil grow.
But from what I’ve seen and experienced there is a about a 20% increase in yield compared to a soil grow with the same pot size, environmental conditions, and nutes.
I’ve seen better growers than myself get better results.
joke
