Still don't quite understand Hempy watering method

Hello,
I'm still wondering, when watering your plant in 100% perlite before the plants roots have hit the rez, you do not give it nutes and you water to about 40-50% waste correct? And then when your plants root hit the rez or about 3-4 weeks into Veg you start giving the plants nutes right? My main question is after the roots have hit the rez, how much drain to waste do you water to each time you water?

Also please define Drain-to-waste just to be sure I'm using it correctly, from my understanding draining to waste 50% of a 3 gal bucket would be when 1.5 gal of water is drained from bucket out of 2 inch holes. This would mean I'm watering 1.5 gals right? So basically you give the plant half the amount of the size of it's container everytime you water?

Oh yeah by the way I'm working on my first time grow that's why I'm such a newb lol

i always took it to mean if 1 gallon in 1/2 gallon out. Can't really go on a specific formula for container size and such as each plant will drink different ratios at different times in its cycle.

urban1026835 said:

i always took it to mean if 1 gallon in 1/2 gallon out. Can't really go on a specific formula for container size and such as each plant will drink different ratios at different times in its cycle.

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If the rez is always full then wouldn't 100% of the water you pour in go out? or no because it soaks the perlite and roots and the rest of the water flows out... if this is the case how would one control the amount of water expelled from drainage hole? always water same amount and let perlite get same wetness before each watering?

you would be talking a recirculating system if you are using a rez. Drain to waste is exactly that draining run off into your waste so you are just tossing out the waste part

urban1026835 said:

you would be talking a recirculating system if you are using a rez. Drain to waste is exactly that draining run off into your waste so you are just tossing out the waste part

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I'm not at all understanding you... is hempy bucket not done with a rez lol? from my understanding there's a hole at 2 inches above bottom of bucket below that is a rez of water for roots.. when rez only goes up two inches but until roots hit that would you not be watering and excess water would drain out hole?

yeah but I dont really consider that inch or two a real rez as you still treat hempys as a drain to waste system so if you are aiming for 50% runoff just dont even consider that inch or two of water at the bottom of your hempy. Treat it like you would a pot in a drain to waste top water system.

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urban1026835 said:

yeah but I dont really consider that inch or two a real rez as you still treat hempys as a drain to waste system so if you are aiming for 50% runoff just dont even consider that inch or two of water at the bottom of your hempy. Treat it like you would a pot in a drain to waste top water system.

pm sent

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I see, so again how does one make 1.5 gal expel from pouring 3 gal in?

not so much trying to get half of that to come out as the amount going in is irrelevant. It may only take watering with a half gallon to get a quart to come out. Does that make more sense?

dont worry about being exact about amount of runoff. The point is more just make sure there is PLENTY of run off so no excess salts build up from daily feeds.

50% run-off is way too much and a waste of nutes.....most would go with 10-15%

when the seedling is young its roots don't reach to the reservoir, thus you need to water often (at least daily) until it can establish deep roots

I start using nutes in about 2 weeks, but start with 1/4 strength and work up to full strength in about a week

I would think a 2 inch hole is too large, you will have allot of perlite draining out....typically the hole is about the size of a dime or nickel

once your hempy is established, allow it to go bone dry before watering/feeding, this will draw more oxygen into the roots system

you may require cal-mag if your water is soft....I use about 1 ml per litre, or 4-5 ml per gallon

good luck...and check out "World of Hempy" lots of info in that thread

ISK said:

50% run-off is way too much and a waste of nutes.....most would go with 10-15%

when the seedling is young its roots don't reach to the reservoir, thus you need to water often (at least daily) until it can establish deep roots

I start using nutes in about 2 weeks, but start with 1/4 strength and work up to full strength in about a week

I would think a 2 inch hole is too large, you will have allot of perlite draining out....typically the hole is about the size of a dime or nickel

once your hempy is established, allow it to go bone dry before watering/feeding, this will draw more oxygen into the roots system

you may require cal-mag if your water is soft....I use about 1 ml per litre, or 4-5 ml per gallon

good luck...and check out "World of Hempy" lots of info in that thread

Click to expand...

Thanks for the timeline for nutes finally lol, and yeah i was thinking 50% runoff is gonna blow through nutes lol.. my hole is not 2 inches large it's 2 inches up from bottom of bucket lol