LED Grow Light Forum

Ok, small steps then, I have weighed cost vs life and come to the conclusion that this next grow will remain soil. The light will change and hopefully by the end of the next grow my finances will change and I can switch to some type of hydro. I will focus on controlling the environment and saving to upgrade further aka dehumidifier water chiller and a hydro system that I will most likely build myself.

That sounds perfectly reasonable and responsible.

Why and what light will you change to?

hey purp,

yeah, what SME said. the ice probe would help for a 2 gal bucket maybe. don't waste your money on it.

why don't you do a mostly soil grow next time? try one hempy bucket to get your feet wet in hydro. you'd only need a 5 gal bucket, a drill, and some vermiculite/perlite to get started. and then you could compare growth in soil vs hydro.

RKY

I definitely think a comparison grow is in order, my question about hempy buckets is I see a lot of designs and I would like to use hydroton but how do I go about putting it together? should there be a drain in the bottom so it can be flushed quickly if needed? how do you test ph and such in a hempy? I would prefer not to have the mess of perlite to be honest.

hey purp,

i use all perlite. and you are right about the mess factor. any inert grow media will work though

construction:
one 5 gal bucket, a 5/16 hole about 2 inches up from the bottom of the bucket. done.

just measure the pH of what you will be watering. 5.8 just like other hydro. you can use lucas formula with just micro/bloom of GH nutes. simple.

the space at the bottom of the bucket is your "reservoir". impossible to over water. will just run out the hole when it's at proper height. if you need to flush, use plain water until it runs out the hole

my prediction, your growth and yield will be MUCH higher in the hempy vs soil

RKY

I'm not sure hempy buckets would work as well with hydroton, it wouldn't wick like perlite does. I think coco might work though.

I gave up on perlite years ago. He could try it though... *shrug*

I like coco in my soil mixture seems to retaining moisture well. Will coco mess with the ph? Would 100% perlite be the safest way or perlite/vermiculite mixture if I use perlite it will be done outside. Should the perlite be rinsed with Phed water before a plant goes in? I like the Idea of changing 1 variable at a time and since changing the light is pretty much know what is going to happen increase heat/light psft/lower humidity. When I get the light if I only want to run at 600w do I need a 600w bulb or can I tune down the 1000w bulb?

hey purp,


i chose perlite for 2 reasons; it's washable and reusable and it's pH neutral unlike vermiculite and coco

i rinsed it with well water to get rid of the dust, etc. but when a plant is in, use either pH'd water or nute solution.

and you don't have to start with a 5 gal. you can use something as small as a solo cup with a hole on the side for younger plants. then move them into bigger buckets as the roots get bigger. once the roots are long enough to hit the "reservoir" at the bottom of the bucket, it's game on. then they really take off.

but good point about only changing one variable. if you change alot, you won't know what works/ doesn't work etc.

RKY

Coco will buffer the pH so if you prepare it before use it should be relatively stable after. Most bags of coco will say what the pH is on the label someplace, look for 6 or 7 and adjust to 6.5 before use. Coco can also buffer some nutrients a bit so it's not as neutral as perlite or hydroton, it's kind of in between soil and hydro.

You should probably use the rated size bulb and dim it down and only "overdrive" it during that last 2-4 weeks of bulb life. If you overdrive a bulb for it's entire life it won't last nearly as long and there's only a slight gain in output.