10-Steps to Growing in a Bucket
Step 1. Prepare a pH Balanced Water Reservoir.
Clean & Rinse Your Reserve - The day your seeds or clones arrive rinse, out a bucket or tub with isopropyl alcohol to kill anything in it. Then fill it up ¾ with water after thoroughly rinsing the alcohol out.
Balance Your pH - Next, prepare your pH testing kit. The water where I live starts out at a pH of 7.4 straight from the hose. Your ideal pH is 6.5. To get your pH down add in a VERY SMALL amount of “pH down.” Give it a good stir, then re-test your pH until you get it to 6.5.
Always Water Your Plants with pH Balanced Water -You also want to let the water sit out overnight to let chlorine gases evaporate.
Step 2. The following day prepare your soil.
Get Your Hands Dirty - Put half a bag of Kind Soil in the bottom of your SmartBucket. This soil is PERFECT for growing in buckets. I’ve used several different setups with great success in the past, but they require way more work and money. This just requires pH balanced water. PERIOD! No other work.
This is what the bag of Kind Soil looks like and when you take a smell of it you’ll notice RIGHT AWAY it’s extremely strong. It’s so strong in fact it will burn your plants if their roots get to it too early in their lives. That’s why we only use ½ of a bag per grow and then fill up the rest of the plant with ProMix.
DO NOT MIX THE SOILS TOGETHER - Just let the Pro Mix sit on top of the Kind Soil. The plant will grow just fine until its roots start to reach into the Kind Soil and with perfect timing explode as it begins to autoflower.
You’re now ready to start planting your seed…
Step 3. Planting Your Seed
Give Your Soil a Good Soak – Use your pH balanced water reservoir to soak your soil. Pour about 1 liter of water all over the top of the soil so that the entire pot gets nice and damp.
Soak Your Rapid Rooter (Seed Starter) – Rapid Rooters work great every time. I like to take mine and dunk them straight into my pH balanced water to make sure they are soaking wet all the way through.
Plant Your Seed Starter & Drop in Your Seed - Dig out a hole in the center of your bucket and bury your starter. Leave the top of your seed starter uncovered. Your Seed Starter should already have a hole perfectly made for your seed. After your starter is securely buried in the middle of your bucket, simply drop in your seed!
Place a Dome Over Your Seed & Move It Into Your Grow Bucket – Spray the inside of a small clear plastic cup or dome with water until it’s soaking wet and then place it over the seed. This creates high humidity which helps your seed successfully sprout.
Step 4. Add A Shade Cloth & Turn On Your Bucket!
Take off the Lowest Spacer of Your Grow Bucket - and drape a shade cloth over the bucket. Make sure to cut your cloth big enough to cover the entire diameter of the bucket. You don’t want it to sink into your bucket.
Put Your Grow Bucket Back Together & Power It On! – If your bucket has multiple fans - ONLY TURN ON THE TOP FAN – we don’t’ want the humidity dome to accidentally get knocked over or the little seedling to be blown around.
That’s It!
In 3-5 Days Your New Seedling Should Be Sprouting!
Step 5. No Need to Water! Just Patiently Wait For Your Seedling to Sprout!
Don’t Try to Sprout Your Plants Outside of the Grow Bucket… this will likely shock your plant when you end up transplanting it into your grow bucket and can take 1-2 weeks for your plant to recover and continue it’s growth.
To get the fastest grow possible and best yield you want to plant it directly into your grow bucket! The shade cloth will block 90% of the LED light for the initial week when your plant is too young to handle the high levels of light.
Step 6. Remove Humidity Dome - Switch Shade Cloth
After one week remove the plastic cup and switch from the dark shade cloth to the semi-dark shade cloth and switch to an 18/6 schedule.
Use your timer to turn the lights on from 5pm-11am and off from 11am-6pm. To do this set the arrow at the current time, press down the tabs where the light should be on and leave them pressed up when they should be off.
Step 7. Check the Dampness of Your Soil
Check for the top of your soil to get dry near your plant… only then provide it more PH 6.5 balanced water. Over-watering your plant will cause root rot and make your plant halt growth! Only water if your top soil is dry. If you haven't watered in several days and your plant is starting to look "droopy" you may also consider watering.
I like to use a baster to water my seedlings to help control exactly how much water I am giving them and to keep from damaging them. When they are this young one baster every 2-3 days should be plenty but you should be checking your soil daily.
Step 8. Remove Shade Cloth & Turn on All Fans
After week two, or once you start to see new growth, remove the shade cloth and turn on your bottom fans to provide fresh cO2 and strengthen your plant.
At this point your plant is going to begin growing extremely quickly.
IMPORTANT: Watch Your Plant Carefully After Removing Shade - If the top leaves of your plant begin to curl and turn yellow your plant is getting TOO MUCH LIGHT. Put the shade back on and let your plant recover. After it's healed and continued growing try removing the shade again.
Step 9. Continue Watering, Remove Spacers
Continue to water your plant as the soil dries out and try removing a spacer or two. Usually ½ gallon of water will keep the soil wet for 3-7 days and as the plant grows it will dry out faster and faster.
If your plant is thriving try removing a spacer or two to give it even more light. If after removing spacers your plant begins to yellow it is getting too much light (light burn). Add back another spacer and keep monitoring your plant. Hopefully however, your plant will welcome the increase in light. As your plant grows, keeping adding spacers back into your bucket to make it taller.
Here are some healthy King Tut plants I'm growing in buckets.
Step 10. Enjoy the Ease of Autoflowers
By Using Autoflowering Plants - you won’t have to do the "plant maintenance" other growers have to do like topping, FIMing, Mainlining etc... All you have to do is continue watering your plant pH balanced water and diagnose any problems that may arise. When it gets anywhere from 9-12 weeks old your plant will be ready to harvest. (Your seedbank should provide exact information on when to harvest based on which strain you buy.)
If you follow all of the steps I've outlined here, your plants should be producing buds similar to these plants once you're ready to harvest!
Auto White Widowby Ekrof
Auto Blue MysticBy 5johnny5
Auto Tangerine DreamBy weedpostingthrowaway
Auto Bubblicious Harvest!!!By 5johnny5
That’s IT!
Follow These Instructions Exactly and You’ll Be Growing Better Ganja in Your Closet Than You Can Get Anywhere Else!...and it'll take you just a few minutes a week to do it!
