Coco Grow questions

ymustuknow · Sep 8, 2023

Hello all,
I have a couple questions at the moment that I hope you can help me out with.

1) What kind of pot do you grow out of? I am looking at this kit: AC-PKB44 and it comes with some but are they good for a Coco medium?

2) I would like to have auto watering/nutes at some point. What do you suggest for this?
AC Infinity Self-Watering Fabric Pot Base
MARS HYDRO Auto Drip Irrigation Kit
Home made set up (if so, please list parts and links)

Any other info/equipment is appreciated and links make things easy.
Thanks for your time.

warble · Sep 8, 2023

$140 for five buckets, pump, timer, a couple of valves and some hoses. Sounds like a bargain. Buy two. You can't go to a hydroponics store and pick the same stuff and get to know a local person that probably knows how to grow? After you quit growing, I'll buy all your grow equipment for $20. Let me know when you list it on craigslist. 'Bout a pound.

ymustuknow · Sep 8, 2023

warble said:
$140 for five buckets, pump, timer, a couple of valves and some hoses. Sounds like a bargain. Buy two. You can't go to a hydroponics store and pick the same stuff and get to know a local person that probably knows how to grow? After you quit growing, I'll buy all your grow equipment for $20. Let me know when you list it on craigslist. 'Bout a pound.

Ok...

secretmicrogrow420 · Sep 8, 2023

honestly when using coco i always assumed it was better to water from the top of the buckets instead of the bottom because of salt buildup maybe im wrong but if you use the self watering fabric pot base doesn't that get the water from the bottom? wouldn't that cause salts too build up(if using salt based ferts)? when watering with coco people always tell me get 15-30% runoff, with your fabric pot base self watering thing i dont think its possible to get runoff. can someone with more experience please chime in

TCH · Sep 8, 2023

ymustuknow said:
Hello all,
I have a couple questions at the moment that I hope you can help me out with.

1) What kind of pot do you grow out of? I am looking at this kit: AC-PKB44 and it comes with some but are they good for a Coco medium?

2) I would like to have auto watering/nutes at some point. What do you suggest for this?
AC Infinity Self-Watering Fabric Pot Base
MARS HYDRO Auto Drip Irrigation Kit
Home made set up (if so, please list parts and links)

Any other info/equipment is appreciated and links make things easy.
Thanks for your time.

1. I currently run square plastic pots. The 4x4 tent with 6 plants has ~1 gallon pots I think. )maybe 1.5 gallon) the 3x3 tent with a single plant has a 2.5 gallon pot. I grow in coco with blumats for the feed. It's not perfect, but it works for me.

2. I use blumats because I wanted something that didn't rely on power. I fidget with them fairly often, but have left town for 5 days and they did their job. I wouldn't mind doing a grow with a drip system that actually feeds to waste because I do believe I am leaving some weight on the table with the blumats.

TCH · Sep 8, 2023

secretmicrogrow420 said:
honestly when using coco i always assumed it was better to water from the top of the buckets instead of the bottom because of salt buildup maybe im wrong but if you use the self watering fabric pot base doesn't that get the water from the bottom? wouldn't that cause salts too build up(if using salt based ferts)? when watering with coco people always tell me get 15-30% runoff, with your fabric pot base self watering thing i dont think its possible to get runoff. can someone with more experience please chime in

In theory, yes. I think people run smart pots though with coco. The thing I've learned about those is you gotta be careful about top watering because it can flush salts back through the pot wreaking havoc on the plants. I have no personal experience with them though. Just heard on a few podcasts people that use them talking about it.

Billy the Mountain · Sep 8, 2023

Maybe I'm misinterpreting, but how can top watering flush salts into the pot?
The whole idea behind top watering to runoff is exactly the opposite: to prevent the accumulation of excess salts in the medium.

curious2garden · Sep 8, 2023

Billy the Mountain said:
Maybe I'm misinterpreting, but how can top watering flush salts into the pot?
The whole idea behind top watering to runoff is exactly the opposite: to prevent the accumulation of excess salts in the medium.

I think they were saying with a smart pot self-watering system it would then wick the flushed salts back up? That's how I read it anyway but I'm not high so I could be confused.

TCH · Sep 8, 2023

Billy the Mountain said:
Maybe I'm misinterpreting, but how can top watering flush salts into the pot?
The whole idea behind top watering to runoff is exactly the opposite: to prevent the accumulation of excess salts in the medium.

Something about the auto pots, when they fill from the bottom, they push everything up into the pots. So, a build up naturally occurs up top in the pots. If you were to top water and flush completely it should rinse it out, but I believe it flushes back into the system. That said, once again I have no personal experience with them. Just what I've heard from users and the guys from autopots when they talked about them on a podcast.

manfredo · Sep 8, 2023

ymustuknow said:
Hello all,
I have a couple questions at the moment that I hope you can help me out with.

1) What kind of pot do you grow out of? I am looking at this kit: AC-PKB44 and it comes with some but are they good for a Coco medium?

2) I would like to have auto watering/nutes at some point. What do you suggest for this?
AC Infinity Self-Watering Fabric Pot Base
MARS HYDRO Auto Drip Irrigation Kit
Home made set up (if so, please list parts and links)

Any other info/equipment is appreciated and links make things easy.
Thanks for your time.

Welcome to RIU :bigjoint:

2 gallon plastic nursery pots are the standard for coco.

You can build a self watering system for under $100...including the pump, lines, and reservoir.

AC Infinity is a good brand of tent, it at least they were, but you can put together something better for less.

Your fist big decision is how big of a tent you have room for. A lot of growers like 2 tents...a smaller one to veg in and a bigger one to flower in, but you can do it all in one tent.

Under $500 you could build a real nice 4' x 4' setup....probably even a 4 x 8 with some patients and time. (sales)

ymustuknow · Sep 8, 2023

secretmicrogrow420 said:
honestly when using coco i always assumed it was better to water from the top of the buckets instead of the bottom because of salt buildup maybe im wrong but if you use the self watering fabric pot base doesn't that get the water from the bottom? wouldn't that cause salts too build up(if using salt based ferts)? when watering with coco people always tell me get 15-30% runoff, with your fabric pot base self watering thing i dont think its possible to get runoff. can someone with more experience please chime in

Top watering maybe the way. I am a newbie and just trying to gather info on what to use, how, ect. Thanks for helping.

ymustuknow · Sep 8, 2023

TCH said:
1. I currently run square plastic pots. The 4x4 tent with 6 plants has ~1 gallon pots I think. )maybe 1.5 gallon) the 3x3 tent with a single plant has a 2.5 gallon pot. I grow in coco with blumats for the feed. It's not perfect, but it works for me.

2. I use blumats because I wanted something that didn't rely on power. I fidget with them fairly often, but have left town for 5 days and they did their job. I wouldn't mind doing a grow with a drip system that actually feeds to waste because I do believe I am leaving some weight on the table with the blumats.

First off, thanks for sharing. Secondly, is there a reason that you fidget with them? This might be a deal breaker compared to other solutions that I may find.

ymustuknow · Sep 8, 2023

TCH said:
In theory, yes. I think people run smart pots though with coco. The thing I've learned about those is you gotta be careful about top watering because it can flush salts back through the pot wreaking havoc on the plants. I have no personal experience with them though. Just heard on a few podcasts people that use them talking about it.

Thanks for sharing. What's a good size of pot for this (I'll have a 4x4 tent) and which do you use? Do you have an example or link? Is there a way to prevent flushing salts through the pot?

ymustuknow · Sep 8, 2023

manfredo said:
Welcome to RIU

2 gallon plastic nursery pots are the standard for coco.

You can build a self watering system for under $100...including the pump, lines, and reservoir.

AC Infinity is a good brand of tent, it at least they were, but you can put together something better for less.

Your fist big decision is how big of a tent you have room for. A lot of growers like 2 tents...a smaller one to veg in and a bigger one to flower in, but you can do it all in one tent.

Under $500 you could build a real nice 4' x 4' setup....probably even a 4 x 8 with some patients and time. (sales)

- Do you have links to the nursery pots and watering system?
- I plan on AC Infinity 4x4 unless there's a good reason not to.....?
- I plan on just having just the one 4x4 tent for both veg and flowering.

Billy the Mountain · Sep 8, 2023

When growing hydro, the pot size is largely irrelevant.
Other than fertigation frequency, I've noticed no difference at all, between using 3, 2 or 1 gallon fabric pots with coco.

ymustuknow · Sep 8, 2023

Billy the Mountain said:
When growing hydro, the pot size is largely irrelevant.
Other than fertigation frequency, I've noticed no difference at all, between using 3, 2 or 1 gallon fabric pots with coco.

Good to know that the size really doesn't matter. So the fabric pots that come with the pack I am looking at (link listed above) will/should work?
Edit: It says they are 5-gallon Fabric Pots x8

manfredo · Sep 8, 2023

ymustuknow said:
- Do you have links to the nursery pots and watering system?
- I plan on AC Infinity 4x4 unless there's a good reason not to.....?
- I plan on just having just the one 4x4 tent for both veg and flowering.

Google "nursery pots"...I bought 20 at Home Depot for cheap.

Billy the Mountain said:
When growing hydro, the pot size is largely irrelevant.
Other than fertigation frequency, I've noticed no difference at all, between using 3, 2 or 1 gallon fabric pots with coco.

Right but you don't want 10 gallon bags, or even 7.... and how many times you fertigate can be a pretty big thing...like the difference between filling your res every 7 days, or every 4.

I just did a side by side test with plastic and fabric in different sizes, and in my environment the plastic worked much better. The fiber bags dry out faster and need more watering, but yeah, anything will work.

OP just needs to do some reading. Here's a good starter. I'd recommend all 67 pages.

A few things that I've learned about growing in coco with a drip systm DTW

Ok let me chime in with what I've learned about coco. The majority of my growing life was spent growing with organic soil, I used bio bizz nutes with compost teas and it was great, I grew in 12Ltr pots and watered every 2 days, wet-dry cycles..... Now I was happy growing like that but then I...

www.icmag.com

TCH · Sep 8, 2023

ymustuknow said:
First off, thanks for sharing. Secondly, is there a reason that you fidget with them? This might be a deal breaker compared to other solutions that I may find.

In the words of LaughingGrass, they are consistently inconsistent. Pair that with the fact that I like to tinker and they work pretty good for me.

TCH · Sep 8, 2023

ymustuknow said:
Thanks for sharing. What's a good size of pot for this (I'll have a 4x4 tent) and which do you use? Do you have an example or link? Is there a way to prevent flushing salts through the pot?

I said smart pots. I meant autopots. They are a system and I'm not sure what sizes they offer.

Bud man 43 · Sep 8, 2023

Coco perlite mix with sand topping
3 gallon fabric pots- I find that the 3 gallon is a good size for me to keep the plants from getting too big- although I still have that problem quite often- i can shorten my veg time to correct that in the future.
Top feeding 2x daily- always- no flushing
For a drip system I would use GH 3 part to avoid clogging-
I use the Gh 3 part alternating with Complete crop and Myco to help avoid salt buildup-
I have had good results averaging a pound of bud per plant- indoors with a 7’6” ceiling height limiting my plant size
All good trim and larf buds go directly into the box to make hash- I only jar the best buds.

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