Little buds

[Cinco]

LOL, perhaps I’ve finally found someone who can explain the fascination with coco coir.

It seems like every other beginning grower suffering from overwatering and other issues is growing in coco, based on my anecdotal observations of this site.

What are the advantages of this medium? I’ve always grown in soil and it seems way more forgi

Coco is cheap, neutral, reusable, and almost impossible to overwater once roots fill the pot. I fertigate 4x daily in flower, and daily in any size filled pot, clones and juvenile plants included. It grows big plants in small pots, and gives a lot of the benefits of soil and hydro without the downsides of either.

I would say I see far more beginners dropping seedlings in overly hot soil and watering way too much than screwing up coco coir.

 

[Flowki]

What are the advantages of this medium? I’ve always grown in soil and it seems way more forgi

Just about everything ;p.

Soil or organic growing isn't as ''good on the environment'' as we'd all hope. It's hard as hell to get good results for most growers who don't have years of agricultural experience. All the energy used running organics, including the lights and total W is not used efficiently when you realise this, so the notion that organics is better environmentally falls away. Soil also has a higher risk of ''pests'' and you then kill those like vermin even though it was your own incompetence that facilitated their existence. To me it all just adds up to too much of a piss take to justify. Gotte draw a line somewhere, even though we are all wasting W as a matter of fact.

Coco/synthetic is probably no more damaging to the environment than indoor organics all things considered. Further more it is far easier to get greater results and that goes some way in justifying the energy cost that goes into it. We are all wasting energy here, least we can do is reliably get the best out of the plants. I am not saying organics can't be done much more economically and sustainably than coco/synth but most people are not at that skill level. Some outdoor growing of vegetables would make far greater sense until a person is truly a green thumb, rather than wasting all that energy on bad indoor crop after crop.

I don't know why you think most people in coco have over watering issues. They must have had bad coco that was left outside to get wet and anaerobic. Maybe they are feeding bad water in combination with no run off. I run blumats for example and they are watering all day. You can feed manually every day too, with good water and coco this is never a problem.

The real risk in coco is under watering, because it is only flexible to a point. If you feed every day the roots will get use to this and litterally depend on water every day, fail to do that and they will not thank you for it. If you feed every other day they will get use to this in the same way. At a push you can go every 3rd day but it would take a slightly bigger pot. You have to be honest, figure out how many days you wish to feed and stick to it. If you feed every 3 days you will however get lower yield more like with soil. Despite all the bullshit voodoo guro hippie tales out there, yield is directly relative to water amount used. This is why coco growers yield far better than most indoor organic growers. It is harder to get wrong, holds more oxygen and as a result lets you water safely every day (blumats or drip feed being the most optimal although more tricky). It's really that simple, unlike soil, although I don't take pleasure in saying that.

Also fully agree with Cinco on hot soil.

 

[nl5xsk1]

Your doing great, there are some great bits of advice, keep it simple, focus on one major change at a time. Your plants look healthy.
Better leds should be first on your list, I missed what kind u have?

 

[Mrs. Weedstein]

Coco is cheap, neutral, reusable, and almost impossible to overwater once roots fill the pot. I fertigate 4x daily in flower, and daily in any size filled pot, clones and juvenile plants included. It grows big plants in small pots, and gives a lot of the benefits of soil and hydro without the downsides of either.

I would say I see far more beginners dropping seedlings in overly hot soil and watering way too much than screwing up coco coir.

Just about everything ;p.

Soil or organic growing isn't as ''good on the environment'' as we'd all hope. It's hard as hell to get good results for most growers who don't have years of agricultural experience. All the energy used running organics, including the lights and total W is not used efficiently when you realise this, so the notion that organics is better environmentally falls away. Soil also has a higher risk of ''pests'' and you then kill those like vermin even though it was your own incompetence that facilitated their existence. To me it all just adds up to too much of a piss take to justify. Gotte draw a line somewhere, even though we are all wasting W as a matter of fact.

Coco/synthetic is probably no more damaging to the environment than indoor organics all things considered. Further more it is far easier to get greater results and that goes some way in justifying the energy cost that goes into it. We are all wasting energy here, least we can do is reliably get the best out of the plants. I am not saying organics can't be done much more economically and sustainably than coco/synth but most people are not at that skill level. Some outdoor growing of vegetables would make far greater sense until a person is truly a green thumb, rather than wasting all that energy on bad indoor crop after crop.

I don't know why you think most people in coco have over watering issues. They must have had bad coco that was left outside to get wet and anaerobic. Maybe they are feeding bad water in combination with no run off. I run blumats for example and they are watering all day. You can feed manually every day too, with good water and coco this is never a problem.

The real risk in coco is under watering, because it is only flexible to a point. If you feed every day the roots will get use to this and litterally depend on water every day, fail to do that and they will not thank you for it. If you feed every other day they will get use to this in the same way. At a push you can go every 3rd day but it would take a slightly bigger pot. You have to be honest, figure out how many days you wish to feed and stick to it. If you feed every 3 days you will however get lower yield more like with soil. Despite all the bullshit voodoo guro hippie tales out there, yield is directly relative to water amount used. This is why coco growers yield far better than most indoor organic growers. It is harder to get wrong, holds more oxygen and as a result lets you water safely every day (blumats or drip feed being the most optimal although more tricky). It's really that simple, unlike soil, although I don't take pleasure in saying that.

Also fully agree with Cinco on hot soil.

Well, those are some very thorough explanations! I’ll stick with soil but at least now I have a sense of why folks like coco. Thanks for taking the time!

 

[Smitty421]

Do you count day 1 of flowering as the day you changed your lights or when you first started seeing pistils? Some growers do it from the day they change the lights and some do it when they see pistils. I choose to do it when I see pistils. If you go by this logic and started when you changed your lights, you may actually only be in week 3 or 4. Either way you should be looking at trichomes to determine when to harvest and not a calendar day. You probably already know this and just want to have an estimate of time left so you can modify feedings accordingly. I don't see a point in doing LST already weeks into flower. Like Mrs. Weedstein said, just let her be. Buds tend to bulk up most in the last few weeks.

I like this link, I believe at the time of your post you were in week 3-4. https://www.growweedeasy.com/cannabis-flowering-stage

Hey thanks for the input! I was going off the day I switch the light to 12/12. They seem to have stopped most of the upward growth this week.

 

[Smitty421]

Supercrop as JC indicated (bend colas).

Use those strong black clips, clip to bucket and use plant ties to lean the stems outward to open more in middle.

All this can maybe help but quite honestly mah man, those are healthy looking small plants and has everything to do with weak lighting which has been indicated already. Not sure how long you vegged for but maybe veg lil longer next round.

Yeah the lighting is my biggest error so far I think. I vegged that for 8 weeks. Can’t wait to upgrade for my next attempt

 

[Smitty421]

That's what I did and she has small colas forming... she's only in mid week 3 since I flipped to flower schedule.

Wow that’s awesome!! I’m gonna definitely implement lst my next go

 

[Smitty421]

Go with coco next time and try Cana A+B as it's very simple for a new grower. On this site you will find plenty of good info and pre-made cob/led units, Quantum boards seem to be the steady popular choice over the last few year. Looking at your space It would seem 400 total Watts of Quantum boards would suit you very well. Not sure on the prices these days, if it is too much then a single cheap open wing CMH will serve you well too. Get the 3k kalvin bulb as you can use that for both veg and flower.

A cheap 6 inch outlet fan on it's low setting should see you ok for the led fixtures in summer, high setting for the CMH. You don't need an intake fan. Get a half decent digital thermometer and put it under your plants in the shade. You want the temp at the root zone to be over 65 at all times, but try not to let them get over 75. With a cheap out-take fan you may have to manually turn the out-take off in the colder months to keep the roots warm enough. Cold/hot root temps are one of the most over looked aspects of growing.

If you have the cash you can invest in a thermostatic cut out switch, I highly recommend THIS. If the temp at root zone drops below 70 it will turn the out take fan off and put the heater on, very simple yet effective, well worth the positives of plant health and saving on heating. If your growing area isn't enclosed try to do what you can to limit heat escape (buy a small tent tbh) as it will become a massive problem in winter. Theirs honestly no point having good lighting if you can't keep the environment in line. If money is an issue you'd be far better off with 200W of decent led, a small tent and the above.

Cana is one of those things, if you are going to do it you need to meet a certain standard to maintain plant health or it's kinda pointless otherwise.

Thanks for all this useful info!! Have the area at 70 Fahrenheit and 65% rh small oscillating fan keeping the air moving nicely. I’ve read about bumping my rh down the last few weeks of flower so I’m going to do that. One question is have about flushing is how do I know when I’m close to two weeks out? I want it flushed clean but don’t want to have too many Amber trichromes

 

[Smitty421]

Don't worry, they will pump up, just give them lots of FF BB, as that is stuff that will really grow them buds. Yeah, screw the FF TB until the end, use it only the last few weeks, as FF TB is really only a so-called bud hardner. But, if you do end up with mostly small buds, do like my buddy does, he calls it popcorn kush, and charges people more for that shit, LoL!

Awe damn see I didn’t know that. I’ve been feeding with the TB since I started flower once a week. I also did not feed any in veg. Next go I’m gonna feed from the beginning. Thanks for the knowledge . Popcorn kush that’s great

 

[Smitty421]

Your doing great, there are some great bits of advice, keep it simple, focus on one major change at a time. Your plants look healthy.
Better leds should be first on your list, I missed what kind u have?

Thanks! I have a cheap led bought from a big box hardware store. I didn’t want to invest the money on expensive lighting before I knew what I was getting into lol. So far I have learned a lot and I appreciate all of ya for taking the time

 

[Mrs. Weedstein]

Thanks! I have a cheap led bought from a big box hardware store. I didn’t want to invest the money on expensive lighting before I knew what I was getting into lol. So far I have learned a lot and I appreciate all of ya for taking the time

LOL, now you’ve been recruited into our cult.

 

[Flowki]

Thanks for all this useful info!! Have the area at 70 Fahrenheit and 65% rh small oscillating fan keeping the air moving nicely. I’ve read about bumping my rh down the last few weeks of flower so I’m going to do that. One question is have about flushing is how do I know when I’m close to two weeks out? I want it flushed clean but don’t want to have too many Amber trichromes

I don't know how strong your nutrients are or even what they consist of sorry. What I can say is that you don't need to flush at all unless you have a toxic issue. If your feeding strength is not too strong and the plants have healthy green leaves, not too dark not yellowing, I wouldn't change much tbh. By week 7 you could half the amount of strength but use the same watering volume just to ensure their are no last minute build ups as the plant lowers N demand etc (if you knew it was an 8 week strain). There are more complicated ways to do it but half strength for the last week is an easy way to look at it when your leaves are a nice green, maybe with slight fading even.

I can't help you with when the last week is, this depends on your strain but can also depend on your preference and even environment. Certain total environments are heavily speculated to reduce flower time.

All I feel safe to suggest is try to keep the leaves a nice looking green for as long as possible, give the plants 3/4 strength nutes in what you ''think'' will be the last 2 weeks. This will be a happy medium unless you specifically know flower duration.

To get a greater handle on this you will need to read up on elemental ppm and work out what your nutrient line consists of. You will then have to find info on what ppm value MJ likes. It's a long process but a worth while one. You will be completely winging it otherwise.. and likely to be going off of the advice of bro science growers.

CannaStats - Nutrient Profiles for Cannabis

This page provides a common language spoken by all fertilizer solutions and a way to mix them for growing cannabis hydroponically. Sometimes referred to as the Lucas formula, this page explains the true origin of this well known proven formula and the project that led to its discovery. Emphasis...

www.angelfire.com

This link won't make much sense to you right now, but once you understand elemental ppm it will. I don't know how scientifically accurate it is as of recent date but it has certainly served me well in being in the right ball park. I use half the amount of nutes I use to use directly because of this chart with no effect on plant health, so that's half the nutrient money saved and half the chance of running into toxicity issues in mid/late flower.

I am no expert on toxicity or even under feeding. All I know is when I follow this type of guide in the link I never see issues of discolouration. In other words I am not an expert in it because I don't need to be ;p. Keep root zone temps in line and you will also avoid having to be an expert in leaf colours as that creates imbalances too.

 

[Smitty421]

I don't know how strong your nutrients are or even what they consist of sorry. What I can say is that you don't need to flush at all unless you have a toxic issue. If your feeding strength is not too strong and the plants have healthy green leaves, not too dark not yellowing, I wouldn't change much tbh. By week 7 you could half the amount of strength but use the same watering volume just to ensure their are no last minute build ups as the plant lowers N demand etc (if you knew it was an 8 week strain). There are more complicated ways to do it but half strength for the last week is an easy way to look at it when your leaves are a nice green, maybe with slight fading even.

I can't help you with when the last week is, this depends on your strain but can also depend on your preference and even environment. Certain total environments are heavily speculated to reduce flower time.

All I feel safe to suggest is try to keep the leaves a nice looking green for as long as possible, give the plants 3/4 strength nutes in what you ''think'' will be the last 2 weeks. This will be a happy medium unless you specifically know flower duration.

To get a greater handle on this you will need to read up on elemental ppm and work out what your nutrient line consists of. You will then have to find info on what ppm value MJ likes. It's a long process but a worth while one. You will be completely winging it otherwise.. and likely to be going off of the advice of bro science growers.

CannaStats - Nutrient Profiles for Cannabis

This page provides a common language spoken by all fertilizer solutions and a way to mix them for growing cannabis hydroponically. Sometimes referred to as the Lucas formula, this page explains the true origin of this well known proven formula and the project that led to its discovery. Emphasis...

www.angelfire.com

This link won't make much sense to you right now, but once you understand elemental ppm it will. I don't know how scientifically accurate it is as of recent date but it has certainly served me well in being in the right ball park. I use half the amount of nutes I use to use directly because of this chart with no effect on plant health, so that's half the nutrient money saved and half the chance of running into toxicity issues in mid/late flower.

I am no expert on toxicity or even under feeding. All I know is when I follow this type of guide in the link I never see issues of discolouration. In other words I am not an expert in it because I don't need to be ;p. Keep root zone temps in line and you will also avoid having to be an expert in leaf colours as that creates imbalances too.

Thanks a lot I will definitely due some more reading
And learning! I appreciate all the help and advice!!