I tried 5-gallon SIP (sub-irrigated planters). Looks to be basically the same concept as your Hempy Buckets. I used peat and perlite rather than coco. They worked fantastically until mid-flower. Ran into major pH issues and had to blow up the SIPs by drilling holes in the bottom of the outside bucket effectively removing the reservoir.
Fox farm trio feed schedule contains several flushes in it. The flushes are necessary because of salt buildup. I am not sure how the Hempy will fair. I imagine some sort of regular flushing must be necessary.
I used jack’s by the way. If I am to try the SIP again I would include one or two medium and reservoir flushes and I believe it would be successful.
This is one of three autopot. Coco and Jack’s
@jd77 The Dude from Dude Grows I believe is in Canada. His sidekick Scotty is the, or one of the founders of Real growers recharge.
Their vids are quite long & they post them near daily. Tons of info & humorous to watch.
As mentioned, Scotty is a big hempy fan due to the simplicity. He’s just never showed his exact internal setup yet.
Yes that is correct. This my little SOG grow. The six plants (clones) are in 1-gallon fabric pots, coco & perlite and fed Jacks. They are top fed Jack’s every other day full strength. This picture is of them on day 63 of 12/12 schedule.
Shorty afterward they were put on 50% Jacks (about 500ppm). I’ll feed at that rate about two more times, then I’ll give them a week of flawless finish. 48 hrs of lights out and chop.
This one has gone without a hiccup. Just now some of the leaves are starting to turn. Overall I think they are the healthiest plants I have grown so far.
I do catch and monitor runoff. Many Jack’s users do not. My old habit from soil.
If the runoff runs too high, like 2000 ppm for two consecutive times, I’ll back off and do Jack’s at 80%. You can check the SOG out and two others I have going at Another Clone SOG and TBD
My first grow using an autopot, and Jack’s I did not have to flush. I used a schedule similar to what I described above.
@beardless , thanks for the clarification & taking time to post the images. I remember seeing the first pic from hours of scrolling threads. I had it my head that coco HAD to be watered daily. If you pulled it off by watering every other day, especially in 1 gal’s, is promising info.
Also interesting is the fact you didn’t have to flush in autopots. It makes sense monitoring ppms & back off when they’ve had enough so salts don’t build in the coco. If the plant is using all/most of the nutes, it’s not unnecessarily hanging out in the coco. Amazing.
I think more it can be watered daily or even more often, but given my experience it does not have to be watered every day. The individual plants in the SOG only have three or four colas. Their demands are not as great as larger plants.
I am a long way from the Hempys and AutoPots. I am concerned with the seedlings.
For nine or 10 days since sprout, I do not think they look very good. The littlest girl sprouted almost a week after LSD 2. And no sign of the Criticals put in cups on 25 Oct.
Until Saturday I was attempting to maintain the temp in the grow room as close to 60 as I could for drying my first girl. Since then I maintained a comfortable temperature (68F) and relying on the light in the closed 2.3x2.3 seedling tent in a door open closet and a heat mat warming the cups to about 10 degrees above ambient and under a humidity dome would be sufficient to maintain a good growing temp. Seemed to be keeping the temp around 80 under the dome, but after I raised the temp in the room to 68, it was consistently in the low 80s. Lights on 24 hr, DLI was 22 (Photone and iPhone).
Removed the dome last night to lower the temp. Govee today said air temp in tent stayed below 70 all night, so I moved the heater into the closet and the InkBird sensor (controlling the heater) into the seedling tent. Dropped the DLI to 19, thinking the curl could be too much light.
The cups are moist (coco & perlite). I mist the Criticals daily. I watered LSD 2 & 3 twice last week with FF seedling mix with 10ml to each per watering, yesterday 20 ml FF week 1. LSD 1 got 10 ml seedling yesterday.
Any thoughts, good people?
They don’t look like they’re suffering from too much light.
I don’t let my seedlings get below 70°, between 70 and 85 is my happy place.
I’ve never done coco but I can say put the spray bottle away. For the ones that haven’t popped yet, try and put them somewhere warm and dark. I put my seedlings in solo cups on top of my lights so they get the heat but not blasted with light.
For the ones that are above ground, they look good enough to keep the dome off. The almost look leggy.
I know that above it was mentioned the coco you’re in should have nutrients already. So I guess I instinctively return to my basics. What Ph are you watering with?
I was thinking the yellowing and curling may be too much light. Could not think of anything else, even though I agree with the leggy comment.
Yesterday I decided to stop trying to finesse the environment and hit it with a hammer. Changed to 18/6 light schedule and increased lighting to 22 DLI. Put the heater in the tent and added a small humidifier. Maintained the temp from to 71-79F and RH 50-65.
You keep your seeds in your medium in the dark until they are above ground?
I am using Canna coco. I believe it was buffered but I do not think nutrients are in it. The waterings were at 5.8 and 5.9.
that is correct. The only nutrients your plants will get is what you give them. That is one of the benefits of coco. You know exactly what you are giving your plants. No guessing about what some soil is providing.
I am leaning that way too. But, I have given them a few drinks of the prescribed nutrients, though at a reduced rate. Perhaps increase the dose to 100%?
Should I water daily even if the cups are still moist? I have only given up to 20 ml at a time.
Big bloom is pretty harmless but it has no N. Grow Big is pretty potent. I think using at 100% with frequent watering would burn them up. I would try to go with measurable ppm range based on age / size of plants. This may help
