PLEASE HELP !! Gravel and Coco medium

I've been looking around for a while and i can't get any info on it.

What mix of Coco fiber and Gravel would i use in a passive system like a Hempy bucket so i would have to water about once a day??

I'm also making a ebb and flow but i can use gravel for that since watering is more often.

I could use other shit like
Sytrafoam crushed up,
broken clay pots,
Marbles,
sand,
whatever i can get locally.

I'm in India so i can't get the perilite and vermiculocite, hydroton, or lava rocks.

Does anyone know suitable replacements??

First I'll post the hempy info...then my own thoughts on your situation.

Hempy Bucket
Hi every one i thort id add this system of growing i use and have used from the erly to mid 80s , As most of you that know me will all ready know that im a belive in simplicity and things that work and i only realy state facts that i have experencet from hands on.

I like the hempy bucket becouse of its simplicity and the price of the system (ITS FREE ) to make and has no moveing parts that can fail and once the plant has started its root system you can basicly water and forget it for 2 days or 3 depending on temps and you can grow eny strain from sativa to indica in it .

I basicly got the idear from my first hydro kit i ever got that was a tamato hydro kit and i found it realy easy to understand ,It was basicly an aquponic set up and the guy i had got it from i whent back a few years later telling him about my creation and how i got it from his idear 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 couse root rot so on well there all rong becouse 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 tryed 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 eny colour but clear as you will end up with algy forming as the nutes react to the light .

The size of the bucket can very from 1 gal (4lt) to 5gal (20lt) ruffly i personaly like useing a 10 lt bucket and have had up to 14 oz 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 personaly i found the perlite / vermiculite a lot better in meany ways.

All you need to do now is basicly add the rooted clone or seedling water with nutes and thats it,I would water it daily until the tap root and root system has headed down to the res but once you see a desent growth rate id then start to water every 2 days.

The only thing rong 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 nutes i like useing a PH of 6.2 PH .

If you want to ask me questions feel free .

If you want to see the resolts of the hempy Bucket let me know and il tell you were to go to see them.

Like i sed im not stateing this methods is the best just saying its a option and a free one and it works and works well ................hempy


Now...all that being said...you don't need perlite...and you don't need vermiculite...as vermicylite is terrible to work with anyways.

I have had good success using nothing but coco in a hempy bucket...but I like the coco chips or croutons...which is a much more chunkier coco material. The coir is fine...but I find it doesn't work as well as the chunky types.

If you can find a product called turface...I suggest you mix that with your coco. I'm really impressed with the growth rate from turface.

Worst case senario....I would find something to put in the bottom where the rez sits. Something that is hard and doesn't absorb much water like the coco will. I'm not sure what is available where you live....but over in NA...we can buy horticultural charcoal. I have used this in the rez and it works great. You could even use marbles...then fill the bucket with your coco. Unused Lava rocks for a gas grill will also work well.

If you don't have any experience with coco growing...please let me know...and I'll share a few tips to help you avoid any pitfalls.

Drink!

If you don't have any experience with coco growing...please let me know...and I'll share a few tips to help you avoid any pitfalls.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick reply. Sounds good.

I have no experience with hydroponics or soil growing. So any advice would help.

I just started my first soil about 3 weeks ago. I got 4 plants in my 400W cab. The drainage in my soil sucks ass so now i want to try something else.

I was reading and the hempy bucket looks like the easiest method And coco seems like a medium that would work well.

I was thinking about using as many 2 ltr bottles as i can fit into my 24in X 30in X 60in tall cabinet using the hempy bucket system.

Another thing is that I can't get coco coir like compressed in a brick.

I was planing on getting the outer coconut fibers and grinding them down. Would this work??

I would find something to put in the bottom where the rez sits. Something that is hard and doesn't absorb much water like the coco will.

Click to expand...

I thought the prupose of the reservoir was so the medium could act as a wick once it starts to dry out.

May be i could put a inch of rock at the very bottom and have a inch of coco fiber under the drain hole on the side.

Since my containers would be so small should i change the hight of the drain hole or anything else?? Instead of 2 inch from the bottom make it higher or lower?
I would be able to water it everyday so i don't think i would need larger reservoir.

I didn't realize you were going to use 2ltr bottles. You may need to water everyday if you use 2ltr bottles. I would say forget about a rock type rez as well.

I don't understand why you can't get the materials you need where you live...but of course you would know better than I about your locations. Is ordering online not an option?

Grinding up your own coconut husks seems to be alot of work...but hey...why not if ya can do it. Might be pretty cheap that way.

Be sure to rinse the husks in HOT water to remove any salt buildup before using in your pots.

Get some sort of cal-mag solution. If you can't buy it ready made...can you find molasses. It would be a decent substitute. Cal-mag is essential for at least the first run of coco.

Reused coco works better than in the first run. I would suggest you try and keep at least half your coco nice and chunky as opposed to the fine grade of coir. Using half coir and half chunky will allow much more oxygen into the root zone. Straight coir tends to bind up and get waterlogged when used by itself.

I personally think you would get better results with a bigger pot...but you know your space better than I.

There are many sites around discussing coco experiences. here's one to get you started:
https://www.cannaseedcollective.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=2319

If it's not alright to post links on this site...then please remove it mods. My apologize.

Drink!

hydroponics isn't really that big in India. I can't any equipment here that is prebuilt.

I just ordered a rainforest 66, 4lbs of nutrients, continous tri ph/tds/temp tester, and ebb and flow drain kit. shiping on just that stuff was $200

And that's without the hydroton included in the rainforest.


I want to experiment with how big of a container they need for a hempy type container.
and I've seen the coconut fiber available at nursuries around here so i can get that and grind it or chop it into smaller fibers
I just read the link. what i would get would be like uncompressed profit disks

I have one cabinet but i figured i can do 2 grows at once.
Just move shit around every 12 hours. I'm usually home or the servent and the driver are here so it's not really a problem.( love cheap labour)

I have 4 plants growing(norther lights, nev haze, cinnimon, and grapfruit) right now which i will probably keep as mothers and use them for cuttings once my nutrients and rainforest get here.

Do you know what kind of spectrum and how much wattage i should give to a mother?

Would warm spectrum be better since it would cause the plant to stretch longer better cuttings?

Keep your mother under something about 5000K. That will work well. You shouldn't need alot of light for a mother...depending on how big you let them get. The larger they get...the more light will be needed to penetrate below the canopy.

I don't bother with mothers anymore. I clone from clones...and I don't have to worry about keeping mothers alive and pruned. I found it to be a pain in the arse.

For Hempy's...I like something in 2Gal(8 ltrs) range. You can go to any old store and buy cheap waste baskets made of plastic in about that size and drill the hole 2" up from the bottom.

I wouldn't be so quick to chop the coco you are planning on getting. Would you be able to post a pic of what it looks like?

Drink!

It's my first grow so i have to get clones from something.
I want around 30-40 clones so i figure i might as well mother them.

Right now they are under a 400 watt MH and 2 CFL. I want to get some decent growth out of them before i start cuttin them up. Once they are big enough to take 40 clones from i will put them under a smaller bulb and move the clones here

I'll go get the coco later today and post the pic tonight.

""
I could use other shit like
Sytrafoam crushed up,
broken clay pots,
Marbles,
sand,
whatever i can get locally."
/
Laughing and laughing 17 years later,
Same situation, i live in the atolls, make my coco buy hand with cheese grader type wash board and buffer too...
i am will running trials with coral rocks maybe an 1 inch and half, and thought about stryofoam packing foam and other bits of plastic to help keep the air ..
thanks