Coco Growers Unite!

easysmoker said:

In case it hasn't been mentioned..

One thing I've learned with coco, test the EC of the waste water every time, if you don't know your plants very well.

If the EC comes out higher then what you poured in, lower EC levels on your next feed, depending on how much it's raised, determines how much less you feed next time. If the EC comes out lower, your plant could use a stronger feeding. +/- .2-.3EC difference is fine, continue your feed schedule.

eg; Feed with 1.5EC, it comes out at 2.0, lower your next feeding to at most 1.0EC, if it rises again, flush. If it comes out at 1.0, increase EC to about 1.7-1.8.

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This might be the best tip I have ever received.
For one thing, it is verifiable.

I tried it out and realized I have been over feeding a bit. Not much, but enough to possibly cause problems down the road. I flushed twice, which I would normally not do and my plants look amazing now. I really thought I was doing so well, but I was setting myself up for a lock out, maybe in flower.


Thank you easysmoker.

Now could I use Canna Aqua or Canna Terra Flores Or Vega in coco? Ive done some reading I know i can use the CANNABOOST but not sure what I could use for a base feed,Thanks!


~C That Cat?

I'm with you trousers. I haven't done this but have noticed that the feeding is quite different in different times. I've read of someone somewhere else plotting the ec in and out to find how much they eat.
I will have more time after the first of the year to do this with each strain to really dial in the nutes.

I realized I have a problem because I use 5 gallon pots from clone.
When I feed the whole pot is getting fed. The roots take a while to get every where so some of the nutes are not even touched. I flushed to waste twice. The next time I fed the ppm of the run off dropped almost 50%.

Good news.

For the 157 bad tips I have gotten from the interweb, this one was worth its weight in gold.

I religiously checked ph and ppm when I did flood trays, I do not know why I got away from it when I switched it to coco.
derp

Anyone?


~C That Cat?

C Cat said:

Now could I use Canna Aqua or Canna Terra Flores Or Vega in coco? Ive done some reading I know i can use the CANNABOOST but not sure what I could use for a base feed,Thanks!


~C That Cat?

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im finding that i can use any and all nutes i use in dirt for coco,as long as they are ph'd down to coco numbers 5.8-6.2 .just cant water the same,gotta have some runoff now and then to stop build up imo.im not familiar with those nutes^^^^ but i've run ionic,advanced,humboldt,and gen hyd plus a bit of dynagro here and there with no problems.

sixstring2112 said:

im finding that i can use any and all nutes i use in dirt for coco,as long as they are ph'd down to coco numbers 5.8-6.2 .just cant water the same,gotta have some runoff now and then to stop build up imo.im not familiar with those nutes^^^^ but i've run ionic,advanced,humboldt,and gen hyd plus a bit of dynagro here and there with no problems.

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This will be the 3rd run using CANNA,Love it. Only gonna use for bloom though ill be using FFGB for Veg,Thanks six!


~C That Cat?

LaudanumRx said:

I'm curious if other people are using straight coco chips as a medium?

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I am using 100% coco, and having great results. My goal over the past year has been to find the absolute simplest way to grow six plants for personal use, for the least money and personal wizardry possible. My wife has me very busy with home improvements and general domestic things, so I only have a little time each day, and there's no way I could ever be a weed wizard with all the paraphernalia and study involved. I don't claim to be any sort of expert at all.

But I grow super nice plants, using 7" square pots that hold 1.6 gallons, and nothing but coco coir, tapwater, and a generic fertilizer with micros. I pH with white vinegar, and hand water with nutrient daily allowing a good runoff. The only hard part was figuring out how much fertilizer to use at various stages, but that took only a couple grows. Now, it's stupidly easy.

PS: Just realized you were talking about chips. No, never used chips at all. My entire system is in these thumbnails:



Just wanted anybody else who's like me and doesn't have the time to get super fancy for your own personal stash, you don't really need to. It can be done really well using the simplest things. The biggest single factor is lights, as far as I can tell, and there's nothing so cakewalk easy as coco. I run two 400w HID ... a tubular-envelope metal halide and a HPS ... side by side in a homebrew reflector to illuminate a shower stall grow.

I was toying with the idea of adding chips to my coco. A friend says his yield went up a bit when he added chips.

I have read that in places as well trousers. May have to run one of two clones and see what it does.

Truncheon said:

But I grow super nice plants, using 7" square pots that hold 1.6 gallons, and nothing but coco coir, tapwater, and a generic fertilizer with micros. I pH with white vinegar, and hand water with nutrient daily allowing a good runoff. The only hard part was figuring out how much fertilizer to use at various stages, but that took only a couple grows. Now, it's stupidly easy.

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How much fertilizer(jacks?) are you using at the various stages?

BlazedMonkey said:

How much fertilizer(jacks?) are you using at the various stages?

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I grow Eldorado sativa, and it's really hungry in the beginning then tapers off. I grow 12/12 from seed.

I start using 1/4 tsp per gallon for two weeks after sprouting, and the coco is fully moistened with the same concentration when I plant the seeds. I'll be seeing really light new growth, almost golden, but which gradually turns a good green, and that's purely the Eldorado that does that, nothing else ever has.

At that point I increase to 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon per gallon for about the next four to five weeks depending on how rapidly the new growth becomes always green with no golden phase, then I dial back down to 1/4 tsp per gallon when I see even the merest hint of yellow leaf tips, which is generally well into major flowering. I'll flush each pot with a gallon of rainwater or purified water at that point, and then begin with the 1/4 tsp nutrients.

Every four weeks, I add 1/2 tsp of Epsom salts per gallon to one feeding.

I dial down to 1/8 tsp per gallon the last two weeks before harvest. It takes about 14 weeks total from seed to harvest with Eldorado.

Truncheon said:

I grow Eldorado sativa, and it's really hungry in the beginning then tapers off. I grow 12/12 from seed.

I start using 1/4 tsp per gallon for two weeks after sprouting, and the coco is fully moistened with the same concentration when I plant the seeds. I'll be seeing really light new growth, almost golden, but which gradually turns a good green, and that's purely the Eldorado that does that, nothing else ever has.

At that point I increase to 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon per gallon for about the next four to five weeks depending on how rapidly the new growth becomes always green with no golden phase, then I dial back down to 1/4 tsp per gallon when I see even the merest hint of yellow leaf tips, which is generally well into major flowering. I'll flush each pot with a gallon of rainwater or purified water at that point, and then begin with the 1/4 tsp nutrients.

Every four weeks, I add 1/2 tsp of Epsom salts per gallon to one feeding.

I dial down to 1/8 tsp per gallon the last two weeks before harvest. It takes about 14 weeks total from seed to harvest with Eldorado.

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Awesome info, thank you. and you feed with every watering correct? Also you just use jacks classic 20/20/20? no hydro ferts or change to flowering 1/3/2?

BlazedMonkey said:

Awesome info, thank you. and you feed with every watering correct? Also you just use jacks classic 20/20/20? no hydro ferts or change to flowering 1/3/2?

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Yes, I feed every watering, and I feed daily never letting the coco get dry. I only use the 20/20/20 and have found that switching to the bloom booster can lead to nutrient lockouts late in flowering and uglify the buds. No other fertilizers at all.

Truncheon said:

Yes, I feed every watering, and I feed daily never letting the coco get dry. I only use the 20/20/20 and have found that switching to the bloom booster can lead to nutrient lockouts late in flowering and uglify the buds. No other fertilizers at all.

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That sounds like a problem waiting to happen

Lucius Vorenus said:

That sounds like a problem waiting to happen

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Nope, the only problem I ever have is bugs now and then. It's basically drain-to-waste hydroponics using coco as the media. Simple, easy, and good plants.

My opinion is that coco coir is in fact a hydroponic medium, and you get the best results if you treat it hydroponically and don't think of it as soil. I get excellent results, using 100% coco coir, generic fertilizer, and tapwater. Just pH to 5.8 and treat it like hydro. It's practically impossible to overwater.

Truncheon said:

Nope, the only problem I ever have is bugs now and then. It's basically drain-to-waste hydroponics using coco as the media. Simple, easy, and good plants.

My opinion is that coco coir is in fact a hydroponic medium, and you get the best results if you treat it hydroponically and don't think of it as soil. I get excellent results, using 100% coco coir, generic fertilizer, and tapwater. Just pH to 5.8 and treat it like hydro. It's practically impossible to overwater.

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Well i don't know how long you have been growing but if you are watering to waste every single day in Coco and never letting it dry out, it can definitely overwater and will.

Truncheon said:

My opinion is that coco coir is in fact a hydroponic medium, and you get the best results if you treat it hydroponically and don't think of it as soil. I get excellent results, using 100% coco coir, generic fertilizer, and tapwater. Just pH to 5.8 and treat it like hydro. It's practically impossible to overwater.

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yep.


I do not drain to waste so I have to flush from time to time. I just check the ppm of the run off.

Lucius Vorenus said:

Well i don't know how long you have been growing but if you are watering to waste every single day in Coco and never letting it dry out, it can definitely overwater and will.

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I'm watering every single day with nutrients, in coco coir, and have zero issues. If you'd like to argue about it, you'll have to do it solo, since I came to share not to squabble.

Trousers said:

yep.I do not drain to waste so I have to flush from time to time. I just check the ppm of the run off.

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The only place I had to grow was this shower stall in an outbuilding bathroom. Turned out to be the coolest, because the runoff just goes down the drain, so I'm getting a mini flush every day.

When I started, all the plants grew bent because the floor of the shower slants towards the drain and the pots weren't level. So I was watching this bathroom makeover thing on the DIY channel one day, and they had this rich-man's shower and it had a teak platform in it you stood on made of slats with spaces between them.

I just went to Home Depot and got cedar furring strips and roofing nails, and made one just like it. Now the plants are all level.