My First Coco Grow!

Dan Kone · Jan 16, 2012

I've always just done flood and drain rockwool indoors, but this time I've decided to stop being lazy and have converted over to DTW coco. Think I'm a fan!

I just started week 5, but it's all looking pretty sweet right about now. Other than a small spidermite battle (which I won) and a Calcium deficency early on, every thing looks very healthy and smells delish! Just starting to get some of that purple on the buds. Sorry for the shitty photos, only have an iphone camera.

There is no point to this thread, just excited that everything is going so good with all the dramatic changes I made to my system so I thought I'd share with the class.

Oh yeah, strain is The Purps.

Dan Kone · Jan 16, 2012

Oh, and a more full shot of the room. Blue dream is behind the purps, but that won't get fun to look at up close until next week or so.

berrykid · Jan 16, 2012

nice m8 looks like ur gonna have a nice ending i wnated to try coco but dnt know shit about it lol +rep :blsmoke:

Dan Kone · Jan 16, 2012

berrykid said:
nice m8 looks like ur gonna have a nice ending i wnated to try coco but dnt know shit about it lol +rep

TBH I didn't know shit about it either other than bud grown in coco seems to taste more like organicly grown bud. Also I was doing 6x6 rockwool cubes before and was running into root mass limitations with them. I'm doing 5gallon pots /w coco now, so I can basically grow whatever size plant I want.

The only thing I regret about this grow is not mixing in peralite or using coco mulch instead of bags of coco. I feel like I could have gotten better results with that. Right now I can only feed every 4 days or so. I think I'd prefer a mix with better drainage so I could feed more often. I feel like if I attempted daily feeding right now I'd end up with root rot.

So I'm still learning this medium, but for a first run I'd call it a huge success so far!

itsaplant · Jan 16, 2012

Im kind of newbe, when you say week 5 thats week 5 what?
Thanks.

Dan Kone · Jan 16, 2012

itsaplant said:
Im kind of newbe, when you say week 5 thats week 5 what?
Thanks.

That's 5 weeks after changing my light cycle to 12 hours on/ 12 hours off in order to induce flowering.

The flowering cycle for that plant is ~8 weeks. So I've just started my 5th out of 8 weeks. Meaning they should be ready to harvest in about 3-4 weeks.

itsaplant · Jan 16, 2012

Dan it looks really darn impressive.
Im on my first ever garage grow and they are all still small after 2+ months of vegging from clones.

My plants are all still 2 feet tall and not very impressive like yours.

+rep.

Dan Kone · Jan 16, 2012

itsaplant said:
Dan it looks really darn impressive.
Im on my first ever garage grow and they are all still small after 2+ months of vegging from clones.

My plants are all still 2 feet tall and not very impressive like yours.

+rep.

Thank you.

You'll get there! No one is born with grow knowledge.

berrykid · Jan 16, 2012

have u ever tryed dwc why did u switch from hydro to coco just wondering cuz im in soil and wanted to switch to under current dwc it gets tireing after awhile carrying all that soil can u explain the feeding in coco how much times a day or how much times a week do u feed do u have to add cal+mag and is pest a problem just curious m8 if its worth it ill def switch over to coco and ur on track they look 5 weeks in im subbed

Dan Kone · Jan 16, 2012

berrykid said:
have u ever tryed dwc

Nope, never.

why did u switch from hydro to coco

My theory is buds grown in coco taste more like organics but grow more like hydro. Although it's entirely possible that I'm completely full of shit.

My next cycle I think I'm switching to coco mulch, which as I understand it, you can hydro feed it. Seems like the best of both worlds.

After that I'll probably spend a couple cycles dialing down exactly what I want out of my growing medium with some combination of mulch and bagged coco. That's another reason coco was appealing to me. There are so many different types of coco that you can kind of mix together to make the medium of your choice.

But the main reason was really that I felt my roots were being limited by the rockwool medium I was using. A 6x6 cube is only going to hold so many roots. a 5g smartpot holds much more.

Also I felt like I could get less salt build up/better final flushing by doing drain to waste rather than flood and drain.

just wondering cuz im in soil and wanted to switch to under current dwc it gets tireing after awhile carrying all that soil can u explain the feeding in coco how much times a day or how much times a week do u feed do u have to add cal+mag and is pest a problem just curious m8 if its worth it ill def switch over to coco and ur on track they look 5 weeks in im subbed

Right now I'm feeding every 3-4 days or so. I'm using bags of canna coco coir with a tiny bit of peralite mixed in. But with coco, you can change that depending on what type of coco you use. Bagged coco like Becuzz holds water a long time. If I used that I imagine I'd be feeding every week and a half. Mulch as I understand it behaves sort of like rockwool croutons and you can feed several times a day like normal hydro. And of course you can mix it to get the desired medium.

I'll try to post more updates as frequently as I can.

berrykid · Jan 16, 2012

nice thnx m8 3-4 days shit i feed mines every other day in soil ffof soil that would be nice ima study coco a lil cuz shit i might switch up im tired of hand watering every other day thats my second reason why i wnna change to hydro all u gtta do is monitor them and change the resv once a week

Dan Kone said:
Nope, never.

My theory is buds grown in coco taste more like organics but grow more like hydro. Although it's entirely possible that I'm completely full of shit.

My next cycle I think I'm switching to coco mulch, which as I understand it, you can hydro feed it. Seems like the best of both worlds.

After that I'll probably spend a couple cycles dialing down exactly what I want out of my growing medium with some combination of mulch and bagged coco. That's another reason coco was appealing to me. There are so many different types of coco that you can kind of mix together to make the medium of your choice.

But the main reason was really that I felt my roots were being limited by the rockwool medium I was using. A 6x6 cube is only going to hold so many roots. a 5g smartpot holds much more.

Also I felt like I could get less salt build up/better final flushing by doing drain to waste rather than flood and drain.

Right now I'm feeding every 3-4 days or so. I'm using bags of canna coco coir with a tiny bit of peralite mixed in. But with coco, you can change that depending on what type of coco you use. Bagged coco like Becuzz holds water a long time. If I used that I imagine I'd be feeding every week and a half. Mulch as I understand it behaves sort of like rockwool croutons and you can feed several times a day like normal hydro. And of course you can mix it to get the desired medium.

I'll try to post more updates as frequently as I can.

Dan Kone · Jan 17, 2012

berrykid said:
nice thnx m8 3-4 days shit i feed mines every other day in soil ffof soil that would be nice ima study coco a lil cuz shit i might switch up im tired of hand watering every other day thats my second reason why i wnna change to hydro all u gtta do is monitor them and change the resv once a week

Ouch! hand watering blows. Got to drip or flood. It's just worth it.

Dan Kone · Jan 17, 2012

berrykid said:
nice thnx m8 3-4 days shit i feed mines every other day in soil ffof soil

Well coco isn't going to hold moister any longer than soil. If you're watering every other day that's a sign that your pots are too small for the size of plant you're growing and they are probably extremely rootbound. That problem is best solved by growing in bigger pots or flowering smaller.

berrykid · Jan 17, 2012

there in 5gallon bags they were in 3g 4 weeks ago but idk there 4 weeks in flower and there just drinking up

Dan Kone said:
Well coco isn't going to hold moister any longer than soil. If you're watering every other day that's a sign that your pots are too small for the size of plant you're growing and they are probably extremely rootbound. That problem is best solved by growing in bigger pots or flowering smaller.

berrykid · Jan 17, 2012

there only 2 1/2ft tall that aint to big for 5gallon bgs and no signs of root bound i think its cuz there in flower

Dan Kone · Jan 17, 2012

berrykid said:
there in 5gallon bags they were in 3g 4 weeks ago but idk there 4 weeks in flower and there just drinking up

Yeah, don't mess with them now, just know for next time, that's why that is. A 5g pot of FFoF will hold water for about a week without roots in them even outside.

Dan Kone · Jan 17, 2012

berrykid said:
there only 2 1/2ft tall that aint to big for 5gallon bgs and no signs of root bound i think its cuz there in flower

hmmm. I've grown a lot of plants in FFoF /w g5 pots. What you're describing is unusual, but hey, if they want that much water give it to them.

Definitely think about an autowatering system next time though. Saves you sooooo much time and effort and timers don't forget to water, people do. If I had to water everything by hand, I'd never do anything else. I am watering 6 of them by hand right now. I'm testing out that purple maxx stuff. Hasn't done anything so far, but I've still got weeks to go.

shankae · Jan 17, 2012

Hi Dan that Purp looks awesome man. Im useing bagged coco at the moment and I mix it 50 50 with perlite ,great drainage so I can use a drip system that I run for half hour stints 8 times a day.
What I think is good is if the timer shits itself and doesnt come on for a couple of days and I dont catch it,the plants dont dry out too quick like they do in straight perlite.It stays moist enough I think to last for probably nearly a week( although Im not that keen to try it) but have gone 3 days with no ill affects.
And I think with the 50 50 mix youd have to try pretty hard to drown your plants as well.
Just my 2 cents worth anyway .

shankae · Jan 17, 2012

just on another note are you useing proper coco nutes??

Dan Kone · Jan 17, 2012

shankae said:
Hi Dan that Purp looks awesome man. Im useing bagged coco at the moment and I mix it 50 50 with perlite ,great drainage so I can use a drip system that I run for half hour stints 8 times a day.

See, that's whats up. I want to do this.

What I think is good is if the timer shits itself and doesnt come on for a couple of days and I dont catch it,the plants dont dry out too quick like they do in straight perlite.

Had that problem many times. I stopped using those cheap ass digital timers because of it. Aside from a power outage, the analog ones are pretty reliable.

It stays moist enough I think to last for probably nearly a week( although Im not that keen to try it) but have gone 3 days with no ill affects.
And I think with the 50 50 mix youd have to try pretty hard to drown your plants as well.
Just my 2 cents worth anyway .

I may have to try that out.

My First Coco Grow!

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