So confused!!

[cweedgrower]

I’m just getting ready to start my first ever grow. I didn’t realize just how lacking I was on knowledge. I’m going to share my plan, and I need some insight on whether I’m going about this correctly and with the proper equipment, nutrients, and knowledge.

I plan to grow indoors, in soil. Starting with auto flowers. I plan to use a mix of coco coir and perlite. I have a grow tent that I plan to have three plants in, along with an oscillating fan, humidifier, and thermometer that also reads humidity. I plan to keep the tent at 75 degrees and the humidity at 65. I plan on using Flora Micro, Grow, and Bloom, along with CalMag for my nutrients, which I will use every other feed after balanced at a 6.5 pH. Regular pH balanced water every other watering, watering every 2-3 days. I have a pH soil tester. A 600w 2x2 mars hydro grow light.

do I have everything I need to get started? Do I need some kind of organic pesticide to keep bugs off my girls? What is drain to waste? What is ppm and how do I read it properly? I feel like such a newbie right now but I’m at the point where I’m so overwhelmed with information that I don’t even know what I need to research. I thought I had it all down but I keep finding new things to learn about. Help.

 

[WeedIsNotLifeJustSmoke]

Hope you have a healthy grow, try be organic, dont put extra nutes that it doesnt require. And water when dry every 2 days

 

[cweedgrower]

Hope you have a healthy grow, try be organic, dont put extra nutes that it doesnt require. And water when dry every 2 days

Thank you for the input

 

[B_the_s]

Coco is actually not soil. You're growing in a soiless media. Ideal pH for your water/feed is 5.8 instead of 6.5. Your soil pH tester might not be of any use.

There is nothing like the thrill and frustration of a first grow.

Plant them suckers and you'll learn. Also, DO read books, watch videos and listen to podcasts too. Growing can be as easy or as hard as you want.

 

[Gentlemencorpse]

So for starters, if your using just coco and perlite ... your NOT growing in soil. Coco is inert, and therefore is more akin to growing hydroponically. Your going to want to keep your pH more in the 5.8 area.

Here are some good resources for growing in coco:

Cannabis Grow Guide - Coco For Cannabis - Science and Practice

Cannabis grow guide: articles, tutorials, DIY projects & more! Dedicated to the science and practice of growing cannabis in coco perlite and other media.

www.cocoforcannabis.com

How to Grow Cannabis with Coco Coir | Grow Weed Easy

Ever wondered how to use coco coir blocks to make a cannabis-friendly rich potting mix? This tutorial breaks it down...

www.growweedeasy.com

For coco your going to want to water/feed daily... start at 1/4 strength on the nutes... its helpful to have a decent ppm meter (often called a TDS meter. TDS stands for total dissolved solids) but not 100% mandatory... ppm stands for "parts per million" and it is a measurement of the amount of dissolved solids in your nutrient mixture... this can also be measured as EC which stands for "electrical conductivity"

Drain to waste or DTW is a hydroponics system where you flood an inert medium or even just the root system of the plant with a nutrient mixture but don't recapture the runoff to cycle through the plant again ... its a fancy way of saying you water your plants and let the run off just go away.

 

[WeedIsNotLifeJustSmoke]

Thank you for the input

Appreciate that, biggest mistake people do is overwater and underwater, u could probably 1l each small pot plant so its water uptake is high. If u give it more water now i assume when its bigger itll require more water so will affect yield positive same with less water, less yield. Light positioning is important. Im not specific with how low i just find 1m from top leaves to light to be ok. I will further increase this as leaves grow taller.. Maybe by another 50cm higher and higher etc. Alot of great stuff on youtube too.

 

[Gentlemencorpse]

and @B_the_s makes a valid point ... what specific soil pH meter do you have?

 

[cweedgrower]

This is the pH meter I have. Also, I still don’t understand how to read ppm.

 

[Gentlemencorpse]

Oh, and don't worry about bugs until you got em ... theyre less common in coco than soil anyways

 

[cweedgrower]

Oh, and don't worry about bugs until you got em ... theyre less common in coco than soil anyways

Thank you

 

[cweedgrower]

Do I measure the ppm of the nutes before I use them then measure the run off?

 

[Gentlemencorpse]

This is the pH meter I have. Also, I still don’t understand how to read ppm.

Thats not a soil pH meter its a liquid pH meter... which is theoretically what you need, except ive used that one and its complete garbage imo ... better off with a pack of litmus paper as far as im concerned

For PPM the meter just spits out a number and you match it to what you want your nute mix to be at. Best bet is to find a journal you like by another grower using coco and copy the PPM they use .... but I ain't gonna lie ... I never measure PPM when I grow in coco... I just watch the plants, if they look hungry they get more nutes ... if i burn them they get less

 

[B_the_s]

This is the pH meter I have. Also, I still don’t understand how to read ppm.

yeah me either! i've been using the 0.5 PPM scale.

 

[cweedgrower]

Thats not a soil pH meter its a liquid pH meter... which is theoretically what you need, except ive used that one and its complete garbage imo ... better off with a pack of litmus paper as far as im concerned

For PPM the meter just spits out a number and you match it to what you want your nute mix to be at. Best bet is to find a journal you like by another grower using coco and copy the PPM they use .... but I ain't gonna lie ... I never measure PPM when I grow in coco... I just watch the plants, if they look hungry they get more nutes ... if i burn them they get less

Okay sweet thank you

 

[Gentlemencorpse]

Do I measure the ppm of the nutes before I use them then measure the run off?

Oh man, you definitely have information overload haha... don't worry about your runoff PPM AT ALL yet... if your plants start having issues figure it out then

For now just plant some damn seeds, stuff em in the coco ... don't feed for a week... then feed a weak nutrient mix every day... pH to 5.8

Thats virtually everything you need to do to start

 

[cweedgrower]

and @B_the_s makes a valid point ... what specific soil pH meter do you have?

And sorry THIS is the soil pH meter I have

 

[B_the_s]

and take pictures and share your experience

 

[cweedgrower]

Oh man, you definitely have information overload haha... don't worry about your runoff PPM AT ALL yet... if your plants start having issues figure it out then

For now just plant some damn seeds, stuff em in the coco ... don't feed for a week... then feed a weak nutrient mix every day... pH to 5.8

Thats virtually everything you need to do to start

Alright thank you!!

 

[cweedgrower]

and take pictures and share your experience

For sure!

 

[Gentlemencorpse]

And sorry THIS is the soil pH meter I have

Yeah. Sorry man, that was a waste of money... I'd return it. Those things won't help in coco and are super inaccurate anyways