First Grow with Coco Coir

TintEastwood

Well-Known Member

Bushbaby11

Well-Known Member
Oh I was not aware that Coco required that much watering, my tap water is very high PH so I drive an hour to get natural spring water that has a PH range of usually around 6 to 7 . Maybe I should rethink the Coco. From what I am reading the girls really like the Coco .
Just buy some PH DOWN, saves you an hour drive all the time also buy some PH UP incase you put too much down in and go out of range
 

Bushbaby11

Well-Known Member
If you are giving it water, you will want to use nutrient rich water to very slightly past max capacity.

If the coco is dry it needs 100% added moisture until it cannot contain more moister. This is your water capacity.

When you have an active plant growing and you water daily, the plant may only have used 10% of the moisture since the previous day, and 10% may have been lost to just drying from natural environment causes. This drying can leave your medium too nutrient dense and out of balance. To combat the potential negatives you fill the medium slightly past capacity. This is watering to runoff, for me I have maybe 5%-10% additional runoff.

So you arent really flooding the coco daily but replenishing about 25% of the maximum water capacity daily, so everything is fresh and mimics a constant nutrient dense "soil".
Interesting to know, im new to coco, usually do dwc with great results! My cuttings have been in a week and are just settling in, i water a ring around the rhizo pot to make the roots go looking for it (bigger root mass) am i better off just soaking the whole pot? They're in 11L pots with about 7L of actual coco in (was running out of coco) i never water to run off YET as they're only babys and are settling in??
 

420drummer

Well-Known Member
I usually germinate the seeds in a paper towel then go right into dirt (small pot) can I do the same with coco or should I buy some jiffy pellets?
I plant my seeds directly in the coco. Last run I used some jiffy pellets and they didn’t take off as quick so I went back to planting straight in coco. No paper towel or anything just plant like normal.
 

Nappertunity

Well-Known Member
I germinate in a shot glass for 12-24 hours with tap water. (I have a tote with cheap coco I've washed and buffered, filling a solo cup or 4 inch square pot; I spray the coco with a regular garden spray bottle of tap water to moisten if needed) Then it goes into a moist paper towel for 24-48 hours. By then normally I know which seeds will have popped, but i always just pot them after 48 hours so I don't forget them.

When they start to emerge I normally give them a feeding once a week until they are bigger or start to get dry. Seedlings need much less moisture depending on your container size.

Generally when I see a couple of roots searching for water out of the bottom of the container is when I'll switch to 50%-75% strength nutrients and doing water to runoff. At first it isnt daily, but more like once every 4-7 days. Then the next time I water it is 3-5 days before I water again. Then maybe 2-4 days the next...ect until I am watering daily. When I'm watering ever 3 days is when I switch to 85% to 95% strength nutrients. When I have to water every day in veg is the moment I either want to transplant to a larger container, or switch to flower and do feedings multiple times a day, set on a timer.

I like smaller pots with more frequently fertigated water at lower ec levels.
 

TintEastwood

Well-Known Member

Hollatchaboy

Well-Known Member

TintEastwood

Well-Known Member
That's a pretty cheap ro filter.. do you have experience with it?
Worked great. Purchased one in 2017 and used it problem free for over a year. I almost bought a second one, but decided to upgrade to a bigger unit with higher flow rate. Same end product, near zero ppm RO.

 

Hollatchaboy

Well-Known Member
Worked great. Purchased one in 2017 and used it problem free for over a year. I almost bought a second one, but decided to upgrade to a bigger unit with higher flow rate. Same end product, near zero ppm RO.

Lol... yea I got that one...I was just wondering if the one you mentioned would be cheaper to buy than new filters.
 
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